No more conventional courses; go for emerging areas, says AICTE to institutions
Published: 06th February 2020 01:17 PM 

By S Mannar Mannan

Express News Service

COIMBATORE: In line with its National Perspective Plan, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has decided not to allow existing institutions to start new programmes or increase the number of existing programmes in conventional areas like mechanical or civil, from the coming academic year.

Rather, the institutions would only be allowed to start a new programme or increase intake in emerging areas like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), blockchain, robotics, quantum computing, data sciences, cyber security, 3D printing and design, Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality(AR/VR).

Out with the old, in with the new

A high-level committee constituted by the AICTE had in last year come out with a short and medium-term perspective plan for engineering education in the country and recommended institutions not to create any new capacity starting from 2020 academic year. It pointed the low capacity utilisation of 49.8 percent (capacity vs enrolment) in undergraduate and post graduate courses as the reason for its directive.

In addition to this, like last year, the AICTE has also decided to reduce intake by 50 percent in institutions that had 30 per cent or less sets filled in the last five years.

Consortium of Self-Financing Professional Arts and Science Colleges in Tamil Nadu, Joint Secretary, TD Easwaramoorthy said, "Private college managements themselves are interested in reducing intake in courses like civil, mechanical and electrical and start courses like AI. In fact, even top colleges are planning to voluntarily reduce their intake."

Regarding AICTE's plan to cut admissions by half in select institutions, he said, "Last year, the AICTE took out 2.5 lakh seats across the nation using this rule. So, this year, there will not be much reduction in the number of seats available, under this condition."

Strict guidelines

The AICTE had also warned that its council will not issue Extension of Approval (EOA) unless 60 per cent of the eligible courses in any technical Institution is accredited in three year's time.

This was part of the Approval Process Handbook for 2020-21, released by the AICTE on Wednesday. The AICTE would start accepting online applications for extension of approval for existing institution and also for new institutions from Thursday and fixed the last date for submitting application as February 29.

Mind the staff

The AICTE has also insisted technical education institutions to ensure timely and complete payment of the salary to faculty members by Electronic Clearing Service (ECS) through nationalised banks. Expert visiting committee shall ensure the faculty availability by the annual salary paid statements of the faculty in addition to their physical presence, the apex regulatory body said.

It also asked college managements not to demand original degree certificate from the faculty members and also asked the latter to avoid the practice of leaving an institution in the midst of the semester without completing the courses assigned.

In the case of post graduate degree programmes like ME, M Tech, the AICTE has relaxed the faculty-student ratio from the earlier 1:12 (one faculty for every 12 students) to 1:15 now.

Vibrance 2020: VIT Vellore is new sports champ

The sports events, as part of Vibrance 2020, which began last week, included hockey, volleyball, throwball, tennis, cricket, football, tennis and cyclathon.

Published: 07th February 2020 05:21 AM |

The overall sports championship trophy is handed over to VIT Vellore by Indian cricketer Piyush Chawla at ‘Vibrance 2020’ in VIT Chennai | Ashwin prasath

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Indian cricketer Piyush Chawla handed over the overall sports championship to Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, at the inaugural function of Vibrance 2020. It is the annual sports and cultural festival of VIT Chennai. The three day event began on Thursday.

The sports events, as part of Vibrance 2020, which began last week, included hockey, volleyball, throwball, tennis, cricket, football, tennis and cyclathon. Over 160 programmes including 21 sports events forms the festival. Over 10,000 participants from various institutions are expected to participate from all over India during the course of the event, said a VIT statement.

Piyush Chawla also signed a cricket bat and ball and handed it over to the sports team of VIT Chennai on the occasion. Students thronged to watch a performance by music composer Devi Sri Prasad. On Thursday, over 300 students competed in the marathon from Kelambakkam to the premises of VIT Chennai. The theme of the marathon was “Save Water Bodies.”

Over Rs 6 lakh worth prize money is up for grabs for students participating in the various competitions at Vibrance 2020. The statement added that the budget of the festival was around Rs 57 lakh. Sekar Viswanathan, Vice President, VIT, Sandhya Pentareddy, Executive Director, VIT and Anand A Samuel, Vice-Chancellor were also present on the occasion.

Submit report on Mannady encroachments, says High Court

Apart from this, several unauthorised eateries and hotels have come up. Due to the authorities’ inaction, the public is inconvenienced.

Published: 07th February 2020 06:34 AM |

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A PIL petition has been filed in Madras High Court for a directive to authorities concerned, to remove encroachments by hotels and eateries on Mannady Street and its footpath at Broadway within a time frame. Petitioner N T Arasu, a resident of Mannady for about 40 years, said encroachments by unknown and floating population has become a big nuisance.

Apart from this, several unauthorised eateries and hotels have come up. Due to the authorities’ inaction, the public is inconvenienced. Apart from traffic jam due to encroachments, pedestrians are at great risk as they have to use the carriageway. There have been many accidents. Even if the outlets are licensed, they violate the terms and conditions of Greater Chennai Corporation.

Most eateries are not preparing the food in a hygienic manner and this adversely affects health of consumers. Food safety officers are not to be seen anywhere near these units. Wasted food is dumped in drainage resulting in blocks, petitioner said.

A division bench of Justices M Sathyanarayanan and R Hemalatha, directed the authorities, including Greater Chennai Corporation, to file a detailed report with regard to the steps taken to remove the encroachments.

MKU App soft launched

07/02/2020, , SANJANA GANESH,MADURAI

Madurai Kamaraj University has soft launched its Application on Google Play Store on Thursday.

T. Dharmaraj, Faculty Coordinator, who is in charge of the Application, said that by using the App students could monitor their attendance, check timetable, pay fees, get access to e-books and videos and coordinate with their professors on their assignments. “The App also has a template for creating a resume which can be sent through this integrated platform to the placement cell,” he said.

It had been planned to bring out a Smart Card for marking attendance, checking books at library and entering laboratories. The university had tied up with State Bank of India to provide ATM cards to the students. Students could also use the App’s emergency portal if they wanted to be taken to hospital or register a complaint with grievance cell. “Teachers can upload their lecture notes and check their own attendance. Since the university is connected through Wi-Fi, uploading takes place real-time. Biometric attendance system is to be installed at 70 places on the campus,” he said.

Since everyone in the university, right from the Vice-Chancellor to the administrative staff, would be on the App, students and teachers could send one another friend requests and use it as a sort of social media platform. Although the App was being tested, it would be officially launched by Vice-Chancellor M. Krishnan on February 20, Mr. Dharmaraj said.

Tihar jail moves Delhi court seeking fresh date for execution of Nirbhaya convicts

PTI | Feb 6, 2020, 03.37 PM IST

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court has sought response by Friday of the four death row convicts in the Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case on an application seeking issuance of fresh death warrants against them.

Additional sessions Judge Dharmendra Rana sought the convicts' response on an application moved on Thursday by the Tihar Jail authorities for the fresh death warrants.

The trial court had on January 31 stayed "till further orders" execution of the four convicts in the case - Mukesh Kumar Singh (32), Pawan Gupta (25), Vinay Kumar Sharma (26) and Akshay Kumar (31), who are lodged in Tihar Jail.

SC to hear today if Nirbhaya convicts can be hanged separately

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:07.02.2020

The Supreme Court agreed to hear on Friday a petition by the Union government seeking permission to hang those death row convicts in the Nirbhaya case whose mercy pleas have been rejected by the President.

The President has rejected the mercy petitions of three of the four death row convicts — Mukesh, Akshay and Vinay — while the fourth, Pawan, is yet to file a mercy plea. The Centre is challenging the decisions of the Delhi high court and the trial court, which concurrently ruled that all four have to be executed simultaneously.

This means none of them will be executed till Pawan’s mercy plea is filed and decided by the President. Additional solicitor general K M Nataraj requested a bench headed by Justice N V Ramana for urgent listing of the Centre’s appeal against the February 5 order of Delhi HC, which had refused permission for separate hanging of the convicts. Justice Ramana ordered listing of the appeal on Friday before an appropriate bench.

The Centre said, “The question is whether a convict who has exhausted all his remedies can still frustrate the mandate of law merely because mercy petition of one of the co-convicts is pending before the President and another co-convict has not even filed the mercy petition. In other words, can one convict, by sheer inaction — calculated and designed or otherwise — frustrate the mandate of law?”

The Centre said Delhi Prison Rules and manual make it clear that there is no such mandate for simultaneous execution of all condemned convicts involved in one case. “In the peculiar facts arising in the Nirbhaya case, when appeals with regard to all convicts were dismissed by the Supreme Court as far back as 2017 and mercy petitions in case of Mukesh and Vinay Sharma are already dismissed by the President, the special court was not justified to suspend the execution warrants,” the Centre said.

Full report on www.toi.in

The Centre is challenging the decisions of the Delhi high court and the trial court, which concurrently ruled that all four have to be executed simultaneously

AICTE fixes 1:15 faculty-student ratio for deemed univs, autonomous colleges

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.02.2020

The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has fixed 1:15 faculty-student ratio for deemed universities, autonomous colleges and accredited engineering colleges. The approval handbook for 2020-21 was released on Wednesday.

The latest move of the AICTE, which in 2018-19 diluted the 1:15 faculty-students ratio to 1:20, resulting in more than 22,000 faculty members losing their jobs in Tamil Nadu alone, is expected to increase the demand in TN. Many teachers from the state are now employed in states such as Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, say sources. “Deemed universities and autonomous colleges are not the same as other institutions. They were given special status for providing quality education. So, they need to ensure 1:15 faculty-students ratio,” a senior AICTE official said.

However, the decision to relax the faculty-student ratio for PG courses from 1:12 to 1:15 may not affect many, say faculty members, pointing out that PG admissions have come down and many faculty members have been given pink slips.

The AICTE also said technical institutions should have 60% of their courses to be accredited in the next three years and asked the expert committee to ensure faculty availability by the annual salary paid statements in addition to their physical presence. Institutions should not demand original degree certificates from faculty members at the time of joining the institution, it said, adding that doing so would attract punishment including ban on admission for one year and withdrawal of approval. This follows the suicide of T Vasanthavanam on November 12, 2018, after he was denied the original certificate from a city college where he worked.

K M Karthik, founder of All India Private Colleges Employees Union, said the new faculty-students ratio would bring down unemployment.

A few autonomous colleges said it would be difficult to recruit 25% additional faculty before the March 5 deadline. “We may have to recruit more than 50 faculty members. It is difficult to recruit more members before first week of March. We need more time,” said B Chidambararajan, principal of Valliammai Engineering College, Chennai. “The regulation does not specify whether the 1:15 ratio will apply from 2020-21.”