Mysuru gears up for grand Dasara finale

Jamboo Savari by Arjuna and 11 other elephants will bring down the curtain on 10-day Nada Habba

07/10/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,MYSURU

Awash with colours: The illuminated K.R. Circle in Mysuru on Sunday. M.A. SRIRAM

The stage is set for the grand finale of Mysuru Dasara with the caparisoned elephants all geared up for Jamboo Savari to mark Vijayadashmi on Tuesday. .

This will be followed by the torchlight parade and a display of equestrian events by the police personnel at Bannimantap Grounds, which will bring down the curtain on the 409th edition of the Mysuru Dasara.

Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa will perform the puja to the Nandi Dhwaja between 2.15 p.m. and 2.58 p.m., after which the procession with the elephants and the tableaux will roll out.

Elephant Arjuna with the golden howdah will begin his march between 4.31 p.m. and 4.57 p.m. to bring the curtain down on the 10-day Nada Habba.

Arunachal Ayush institute hit by staff shortage

Local residents who donated land in the hope of getting jobs are disappointed

07/10/2019, RAHUL KARMAKAR,PASIGHAT

North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine, Pasighat, Arunachal Pradesh. SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

More than a decade after it was approved, India’s easternmost national institute under the Ministry of AYUSH is struggling to operate with a skeletal staff. The institute is also on a collision course with local residents who donated 40 acres of land for it in the hope of getting jobs.

11 institutes

The North Eastern Institute of Folk Medicine (NEIFM) in Pasighat, the headquarters of Arunachal Pradesh’s East Siang district, is one of 11 national institutes under the Ministry that oversees the development of Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homoeopathy (AYUSH) systems of healthcare.

The others include the National Institute of Siddha in Chennai, the National Institute of Unani Medicine in Bengaluru and the Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga in Delhi.

While the Centre had approved the establishment of the NEIFM in 2008, it took almost a decade for the institute to be set up. Separately, the process of filling up 22 sanctioned posts began in 2016, but only four — a medical officer, zoologist, administrative officer and an accounts officer — were appointed two years later.

Two posts, including that of the Director, were filled on deputation from State government departments.

The absence of the requisite number of specialists has restricted NEIFM to an outpatient section. The institute’s 50-bed hospital has been unable to admit patients, while its seven laboratories — equipped with the latest gadgets — have been lying unused.

These include the phytochemical, pharmacology, Ayurveda research, life science, herbarium and new drugs, and folk medicine laboratories.

Director on deputation

NEIFM Director Pekyom Ringu, an Indian Forest Service officer on deputation, declined to comment on “internal matters” but acknowledged that the institute was under pressure from former landowners.

“We were guaranteed third- and fourth-grade jobs for giving up our land,” said a former landowner, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But officials of the institute are now telling us that the Ministry has decided to halve the existing 44-45 contractual workers.”

The NEIFM employees too have been awaiting residential quarters that were to have been built before the appointments were made. The Ministry has now reportedly said that the quarters would be provided only when all the posts are filled up.

“But the process of interviewing candidates has been postponed,” said a person connected to the institute, declining to be identified. “Moreover, officials of the Ministry are reluctant to come here for the interviews; candidates are required to go to Delhi without the possibility of reimbursement of their expenditure,” the institute insider added.

Why No Takers?

The diminishing popularity of ME/M.Tech programmes is a cause for concern. These programmes need to be strengthened with innovative schemes, academic flexibility and the inclusion of emerging technologies

07/10/2019, P. V. NAVANEETHAKRISHNAN

Close to 80% of seats in the ME and M.Tech programmes at engineering colleges, under the purview of Anna University (Chennai), remained vacant after the admission process was completed this year. This is definitely a matter of concern for educators, particularly in technical education.

The field is already suffering from diminishing popularity at the undergraduate level, and one of the major causes is the dearth of competent postgraduate and doctoral teachers. According to a recent review committee report of the Tamil Nadu government, there are 1,930 vacant teaching posts in the 33 government/university departments/colleges and 85 polytechnics in the state. Since today’s students become tomorrow’s teachers, this trend of decreasing admissions in PG engineering programmes could forecast a worsening of the situation, not only in academic degree programmes, but also in engineering research.

It may, however, be interesting to know that even during the times of higher popularity of engineering education, admission in postgraduate programmes was not always as coveted as for undergraduate programmes, even in IITs, IISc, NITs and constituent colleges of Anna University.

Failing popularity

The reasons are many, one is that for most students, “education is for a job”. While a good undergraduate degree in engineering is often sufficient to fetch you a decent job, a postgraduate degree may not improve the prospect too much. This is most apparent in areas like computer science in which we have faced a dearth of teachers with postgraduate degrees, for a long time. It is funny that a postgraduate degree may even reverse the charm of just an undergraduate degree, since, ultimately, you may end up as a ‘teacher only’, which you may despise (unjustifiably).

The second reason is that the two-years that one spends on the ME or M.Tech programme is too much as a professional experience of that length could bring in more benefits to the student. For this reason, some join the course in lieu of a job and quit the moment they get one. This attrition leads to valuable seats being left vacant since it would be too late to fill them with those wait-listed. Migration to other institutions for reasons such as better academic status, placement history, credibility, the possibility of financial assistance and the like is another reason for the attrition.

Some institutions are indulging in disservice to education by conducting half-baked PG programmes in engineering without proper infrastructure, faculty, periodic assessment, attendance requirements, and so on, but are awarding degrees verging on fake degrees. These institutions do not complain of low admission. Such academic offences must be dealt with greater severity and admonition than economic offences.

Solutions

One way of making the ME/M.Tech programmes more inviting is to strengthen the ‘teacher-candidate’ scheme that we had in reputed institutions like College of Engineering, Guindy in Chennai. Under this scheme, bright raw BE/B.Tech graduates, with an aptitude for teaching, were taken in as lecturers for undergraduate classes, with reduced workload, and simultaneously allowed to undergo the relevant postgraduate programme in the same institution for an extended duration, with the condition that they would serve as teachers in the same institution after finishing the course. This not only helps to add better and motivated postgraduate students, but also assures quality teachers to replace the contract teachers who have limited tenures and responsibilities.

Another way is to bring back the old system of one-and-a-half-year ME/M.Tech programmes that we had some years ago. The resulting reduction in the duration of the programmes will be definitely more inviting to many. We will still be better than some of the western countries where one-year postgraduate programmes are offered. M.Sc programmes in Advanced Mechanical Engineering at the University of Birmingham, the U.K.; MS programmes in Computer Science at the University of British Columbia and Western University, Canada; and Computer Science and Information System at the University of Utah, the U.S., are samples of 12-month programmes.

Introducing emerging technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) with data science, IoT (Internet of Things), quantum computing, augmented and virtual reality, blockchain and cybersecurity, microbots, and stem cell therapy as specialisations, at the postgraduate level, will add value to the programmes.

Providing for dual specialisation within the same major discipline and dual programmes in different disciplines will also enthuse takers. Duration, of course, will be longer. Catering to smarter candidates, accelerated programmes that allow them to finish the course on a compressed timeline will also be helpful. With the choice-based credit system in vogue, an overload of credits can be allowed, enabling early course completion. Possession of professional experience can be given credit to reduce the course load.

A recent announcement by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) chairman, Anil Sahasrabudhe, stated that postgraduates who plan to become engineering faculty will be required to undergo eight modules of training and three weeks of internship should not be a deterrent, but a welcome feature for those with a real aptitude for teaching.

The diminishing popularity of postgraduate education is definitely deplorable. The undergraduate programmes are often only the gateways to higher education and never complete in themselves. This is because, at this level, most fundamentals are exposed to the learner in a diffused way; the real and deeper understanding of at least some chosen specialised area is made possible only in a master’s programme. It is imperative, therefore, to save our ME/M.Tech programmes.

The writer is a former professor and Director, Entrance Examinations and Admission, Anna University, Chennai.

Over 2,000 guest lecturers go without salary for four months

07/10/2019, PON VASANTH B.A,CHENNAI

The inordinate delay in conducting transfer counselling for faculty members of government arts and science colleges by the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE) has resulted in more than 2,400 guest lecturers working temporarily in these colleges going without salary for at least four months.

S. Suresh, joint secretary, Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers’ Association (TNGCTA), said this was the first time the transfer counselling for permanently-employed faculty members had been delayed beyond September.

The DCE had invited applications but was yet to announce the date for counselling.

V. Thangaraj of Tamil Nadu All Government College UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers’ Association said disbursal of of salary for guest lecturers in Shift I of these colleges was linked with this transfer counselling.

“Once this process is over, vacancies in colleges may change and accordingly some guest lecturers may have to shift to other colleges or lose their jobs. The DCE waits till then to assess the final count of guest lecturers in each college,” he said.

The DCE officials confirmed that the guest lecturers had not been paid the salary for June, July, August and September.

In addition, the salary for April, which is paid in the subsequent academic year, has also not been paid. The guest lecturers are not paid for May, when colleges are closed.

A woman lecturer working in a government college in Tiruvannamalai district said there was no certainty that they would be paid at least in October.

D. Rajakumar, a guest lecturer with Dr. Ambedkar Government Arts College in Vyasarpadi, said it was unfair that even the paltry salary of ₹15,000 per month was being delayed for more than four months. “This is happening every year. We get our first pay only after the second or third month of the commencement of academic year,” he said.

Arguing that the government had favourably considered a number of requests of guest lecturers recently, Mr. Thangaraj appealed to the DCE to release the salary soon. Mr. Suresh said the government must consider finishing transfer counselling by June.

A senior official from Higher Education Department said that steps were already under way to finish the counselling and release the salaries at the earliest.

‘44 test positive for dengue in Salem’

Anti-dengue operations expedited across the district

07/10/2019, STAFF REPORTER ,SALEM

Collector S.A. Raman has said that of the 182 people admitted to in hospitals in the district with fever, 44 tested positive for dengue.

Addressing media persons after inspecting the fever ward at Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College and Hospital here recently, Mr. Raman said 24 patients were undergoing treatment for dengue at Salem GH while 20 others were undergoing treatment across the district. “A total of 44 patients tested positive for dengue so far”, he said and added that anti-dengue operations were expedited across the district in coordination with local bodies.

Chairing a review meeting with the officials of health, local bodies and from various departments at the Collectorate here on Saturday, Mr. Raman said precautionary measures had been taken to prevent spread of fever. He said 2,007 workers were appointed to control mosquito breeding. Also, a team comprising, block medical officer, block sanitary supervisor, sanitary inspector and a health worker, was formed in each block to monitor fever cases, supervise anti-dengue operations to prevent larvae breeding, fogging and chlorination.fi Apart from this, five college students were accompanying each team to create awareness among the people, he added.

The Collector said separate fever wards were established in all the government hospitals and block- level Government Primary Health Centres (PHCs) in the district. Nilavembu Kashayam was also distributed at free of cost to the public at the hospitals and PHCs.

He requested the people with fever to immediately approach the nearest hospital PHC.

How relevant are vocational degrees

The enrolment of students in BVoc courses has increased exponentially from 554 in 2013-14 to more than 30,000 in 2018-19, reports Sheetal Banchariya

07.10.2019 Educational Plus

While Industrial Revolution 4.0 will impact the job market significantly, professionals with relevant skills will rule. As per the ‘Future of Jobs’ report by FICCI, NASSCOM and EY, 37% of the Indian workforce would be employed in new job roles. A paradigm shift in vocational education will be needed to meet the future challenges, says Raj Nehru, founding vice chancellor, Shri Vishwakarma Skill University (SVSU), Haryana.

“The government’s focus is shifting towards skill education and courses such as Bachelor of Vocation (BVoc), Diploma in Vocation (DVoc), etc. are gaining popularity,” adds Nehru.

WHAT VOCATIONAL COURSES OFFER

In 2013, the UGC had formally launched a BVoc degree as part of its scheme of skill development-based higher education in various domains — automotive, entertainment, IT, etc.

“Although vocational degrees are relatively new, students and even industries have begun to accept them,” says Pooja More, incharge director, Skill Development Centre, Savitribai Phule Pune University.

After passing class XII, students can enrol in a BVoc course, based on the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). They may exit after six months with a certificate (NSQF level 4) or continue for a year to earn a diploma (NSQF level 5). Two years training offers an advanced diploma (NSQF level 6) and those completing three years course receive a BVoc degree.

WHAT NEXT

The multi-level exit options allow students to pursue a convenient degree.

“The BVoc degree is at par with other bachelor’s degrees recognised by the UGC. Students can pick any competitive exam or course where a bachelor’s degree is needed to be eligible. They can also pursue a MVoc degree to continue with their vocational education,” says Bhushan Patwardhan, vice chairman, UGC.

ACADEMIC VS VOCATIONAL

Unlike academic degrees, the vocational courses are based on experiential learning. “Vocational education is aligned to the Sector Skill Council. This gives students practical knowledge of concepts as against a degree that focusses on theoretical knowledge, says Nehru. BVoc curriculum includes 40% theory and 60% practical training. “We have adopted a work-integrated approach, where students get practical training at the industries,” says Neela Dabir, dean, School of Vocational Education, TISS, Mumbai, offering 33 BVoc programmes in 19 sectors.

DOMAIN CHALLENGES

Unlike 2013-14 when enrolments in BVoc courses were only 544, the number has risen to 33,263 in 2018-19.

“Vocational courses are often considered a student’s last resort,” says Nehru, also a member of the steering committee of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). BVoc courses, says Dabir, should gain prominence in the recruitment process. “The UGC is reviewing the pedagogy of vocational courses as it needs integration of internships and hands-on training,” adds Patwardhan.

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Man marries PhD student by posing as Isro scientist

New Delhi:07.10.2019

A PhD student in Delhi has alleged her husband had impersonated an Isro scientist to marry her and she found about his lies after tracing his location to Gurgaon through their shared Netflix account, police said on Sunday.

She also found that the man was already married to another woman, they said.

The man and his family have been absconding after his lies were busted.In her police complaint registered on October 1, the woman alleged Jitender posed as an Isro scientist before her family and married her. He claimed he had an MTech degree from IIT-Kharagpur and showed them bogus documents to prove he had worked in the DRDO as a scientist, before joining Isro, a police official said.

The woman's family had visited Jitender and his family in Rewari before the marriage, he said.

After the wedding in May, Jitender claimed he was going to join American space agency Nasa to train as an astronaut. The woman's father dropped him at the airport and after returning from the US, he told the woman he was going to Bangalore for work.

But his wife found that he was using Netflix from a location in Gurgaon, the officer said. When confronted, Jitender disclosed he was unemployed and was already married. He did not visit the US or Bangalore and was in Gurgaon the whole time, the officer added.

A dowry case has been registered against him in Rewari and divorce proceedings with his first wife are underway, police said. AGENCIES