Distance edu PG not enough to teach pre-law courses: HC

Distance edu PG not enough to teach pre-law courses: HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:21.08.2021

Candidates who obtained post-graduate degree through distance education or correspondence, and those with cross major degrees, are ineligible for appointment as assistant professor for pre-law courses in government law colleges, the Madras high court has ruled.

“Any recruitment to a post of teaching faculty in higher education is not intended to provide job opportunities to the potential candidates, but towards fulfilment of achieving higher academic standards. Although the court is conscious of the fact that distance education has become a social imperative considering the lack of education to vast majority of disadvantaged class, in the larger interest of institutional growth, the degrees obtained through distance education and correspondence cannot be considered as valid degree for appointments,” said a division bench of Justice V Parthiban and Justice N Kirubakaran (since retired).

The judges also directed the state authorities to revisit the entire criteria for appointment to the post of assistant professor or any other post in the teaching faculty in government law colleges in the state.

The notification stated that candidates would be eligible for the post only if they had a masters degree in law with not less than 55% of marks and if they had enrolled as an advocate in the Bar Council. A similar notification was also issued in 2014. These qualifications were prescribed apart from the main qualifications – PG degree in the subject concerned from the universities in Tamil Nadu with not less than 55% of marks and passing the National Eligibility Test (NET).

“The state authorities are to conform to the minimum standards set by the Bar Council of India and expedite the process of recruitment,” the bench said and disposed of a batch of petitions.

The court also ruled that notifications mandating that candidates must have enrolled as advocate and possess a master’s degree in law (ML degree) to be qualified for appointment as assistant professors for pre-law courses in government law colleges are irrational and illegal. The court, however, added that any appointments already made pursuant to the 2014 and 2018 notifications would not be affected by the ruling.

The court was referring to a notification issued in July 2018 by the Teachers Recruitment Board for the recruitment of assistant professors (pre-law) in government law colleges in Tamil Nadu for the year 2017-18.

Those Opting To Write The Test In Tamil Up by 16%

NEET applicants from TN fall by 7%

Those Opting To Write The Test In Tamil Up by 16%

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:21.08.2021

The number of students applying for NEET (National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test) 2021 from Tamil Nadu has dropped by 7% compared to previous year. For the second year in a row, the number of applicants from the state has dropped after reaching 1.4 lakh applicants before the pandemic in 2019.

From 1,21,617 applicants for NEET 2020, the number has come down to 1,12,889 for NEET 2021, according to National Testing Agency's registration data. Among the applicants, 71745 (63.5%) are female candidates and 41,144

(36.5) are male candidates.

Experts cite the delay in conducting the common medical entrance test and increase in the cut-off for medical admissions as reasons for dip in the applications.

Meanwhile, the number of students opting to write the exam in Tamil increased by 16% as the number went up from 17,101 in 2020 to 19,867 in 2021.

NEET 2021 is scheduled to be held on September 12, 2021.

"During the last two years, the cut-off for medical admissions increased by 100 marks. The current students are reluctant to take up the exam without coaching as the cut-off for government colleges has gone up to 570 and 580 marks. This year students did not attend even regular classes as the classes were held online. So, students who are mentally not prepared might have decided to apply after preparing for a year," said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi.

He further said the quota for government school students could be the reason behind the increase in the number of students opting to write in Tamil.

Students counsellors said the delay in conducting the NEET could be the reason for dip in applicants from Tamil Nadu.

"Due to the pandemic, the NEET exam has been conducted in September for the last two years. The more the medical admissions are delayed, students who are not confident and undecided are joining engineering colleges. If the NEET exam is conducted in May, the registrations will be more from Tamil Nadu," said Manickavel Arumugam, a students counsellor.

From government and government-aided schools, 11,236 students have applied to the exam. Last year, around 10,000 students applied for the exam.

Experts cite the delay in conducting the common medical entrance test and increase in the cut-off for medical admissions as reasons for dip in no. of applications

RTI Act

 

Nursing students from Salem positive for Covid 19

 

HC Judge

 

AIADMK meets guv with plaint on DMK’s ‘corruption, collection’

AIADMK meets guv with plaint on DMK’s ‘corruption, collection’

Says Govt Shows ‘Undue Interest’ In Kodanad Case

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:20.08.2021

A day after a war of words between the ruling DMK and the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu assembly over cases relating to burglary and suspicious deaths at late chief minister J Jayalalithaa’s Kodanad estate, an AIADMK delegation led by party coordinator O Panneerselvam and joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami called on governor Banwarilal Purohit at the Raj Bhavan on Thursday and submitted a memorandum alleging “corruption and collection” by the DMK. The party charged the ruling DMK with “pursuing vendetta politics and showing undue interest in Kodanad estate cases.”

Questioning the way tender rules are being flouted by the government, the memorandum also said that “ultra-constitutional powers”, comprising chief minister M K Stalin’s family members, were controlling the government.

“When the Kodanad case is in court, how can CM Stalin say conducting reinvestigation is part of his party’s poll promise?” asked Palaniswami.

POINT BY POINT: Former CM Edappadi K Palaniswami and AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam in Chennai on Thursday

EPS: DMK showing undue interest in protecting accused

Palaniswami said, “All the witnesses in the Kodanad case have been examined and only the final hearing is pending in court. But the DMK is showing undue interest in protecting the accused and maligning the AIADMK.”

He was speaking to reporters after the party delegation met governor Purohit. Former AIADMK ministers S P Velumani, P Thangamani, C Ve Shanmugham and D Jayakumar, besides AIADMK deputy coordinators K P Munusamy and R Vaithilingam were part of the delegation.

The AIADMK delegation’s visit comes against the backdrop of a series of searches carried out by the DVAC on the premises of former ministers S P Velumani and M R Vijayabhaskar and renewed focus on investigation into the Kodanad heist and death cases. Questioning the motive of the DMK government, the AIADMK members had announced boycott of assembly proceedings for two days from Wednesday.

Palaniswami charged that cases were being foisted on former AIADMK ministers. He said the DMK government had sought to divert attention of the people after its white paper failed to cut much ice. “DMK had promised to abolish NEET soon after coming to power. While the parents of students are waiting anxiously, the DMK government has constituted a committee to decide further course of action on NEET,” Palaniswami said.

EPS alleged that the DMK government was under-reporting Covid numbers but going overboard on the Kodanad case. “Instead of focusing on containing the Covid pandemic, when the state is still reporting cases above 1,800 per day and with the threat of a third wave, the DMK government is focusing its attention on vendetta politics,” he said.

Neet-UG gets bigger as over 16L candidates register for it

Neet-UG gets bigger as over 16L candidates register for it

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:20.08.2021

One of the biggest competitive undergraduate entrance exams, the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) or Neet-UG has got bigger, breaching the16 lakh registrations mark for the first time. The number of candidates appearing in Indian languages too increased significantly in the last five years – up from 1.05 lakh in 2017 to 3.4 lakh in 2021.

The exam will be conducted by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on September 12, 2021. Analysing the 2021 registration data accessed exclusively by the TOI, the number of registrations have shown significant growth in the last five years, up from 11.38 lakh in 2017 to 16.14 lakh in 2021. The number of candidates registering increased by nearly a lakh between pre and post pandemic period.

Women have been dominating this field of study and in the last five years the number of female candidates have grown by 40.8%, with more than 9 lakh candidates registering for the latest edition of the Neet-UG.

Neet-UG is administered in 13 languages, including 12 Indian languages. While the number of candidates taking the exam in Hindi has more than doubled in the last five years – up from 1.2 lakh in 2017 to 2.28 lakh in 2021, other languages too have witnessed gradual increase in the number of candidates preferring to appear in their mother tongue.

Apart from Hindi, Gujarati has the highest number with nearly 50,000 aspirants, followed by Bengali with over 35,000 candidates and Tamil with close to 20,000 candidates.

There are six states which have more than two lakh candidates and comprise 53.4% of the total candidates. Maharashtra has been sending the largest number of candidates, registering 2.16 lakh in 2021, followed by Uttar Pradesh with 1.93 lakh aspirants and Rajasthan third with1.16 lakh registrations.

Full report on www.toi.in