Clear six addl courses, get honours in engg

Clear six addl courses, get honours in engg

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 16.11.2021

Around one lakh students who joined engineering courses in Tamil Nadu in 2021-22 can earn BE, BTech degrees with honours in four years by clearing six extra courses or 18 credits.

They can also earn minor degrees in other branches by getting 18 credits in them. This was decided in a recent academic council meeting of Anna University. “If students get high grades till fourth semester in BE, BTech programmes, they will be allowed to select specialised courses in ME or MTech degree programmes. If they clear six specialised courses in a related field or get 18 extra credits, they will be awarded with honours degree,” Anna University vicechancellor R Velraj told TOI.

If a mechanical engineering student or civil engineering student completes six courses in artificial intelligence or machine learning, he or she will get a BE mechanical engineering degree with a minor in artificial intelligence or machine learning, he added.

Colleges welcome the move, say it will increase placements

The university is also thinking about implementing it for the second year students after making necessary changes in the regulations.

As per the 2021 regulations of Anna University, a student needs to secure a minimum 160 credits to get BE or BTech degree.

Colleges welcomed the move saying it would increase placement opportunities.

B Chidambararajan, principal of SRM Valliammai Engineering College, said, companies are expecting interdisciplinary skills among students with the emergence of newer technologies such as IoT. “In the present trend, a mechanical student should know about programming to improve his chances to get placement. So, interdisciplinary courses are the need of the hour and it is a welcome move by the university,” he said.

P Deiva Sundari, principal of KCG College of Technology, said, the move to introduce interdisciplinary degree (minor degree) will improve admissions in core engineering branches. “An honours degree will encourage students to specialise in any particular area in their relevant field. For example, a computer science degree student can specialise in full stag or data science,” she said.

HC bars HR&CE dept from setting up colleges using temple funds

HC bars HR&CE dept from setting up colleges using temple funds

Says That Proposals Must Come From Trustees

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.11.2021

In a setback to the Tamil Nadu government, in its endeavour to open new colleges out of the reserve funds of temples vested with the Hindu Religious and Charitable department (HR and CE), the Madras high court on Monday restrained the state from doing so.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice P D Audikesavalu made it clear that such funds cannot be used for opening colleges till trustees are installed for all the temples under HR and CE as mandated by the HE and CE Act.

As per the act, the proposals to utilise such reserve funds for any purpose must come from the trustees of the temple concerned. Without such a proposal, the state cannot use the funds.

The court, however, permitted the state to establish four colleges in Chennai, Namakkal, Dindigul, and Tuticorin as the works to open the colleges are complete and admission of students are in process.

Apart from the four colleges the other proposed colleges will not be set up and no steps in such regard should be taken without the express previous leave of this court, the bench said. “It is also noticed that at the four colleges which are now ready to open, B.B.A., B.Com. and other similar courses have been offered, without there being any regular course in religious instructions in Hindu religion,” the judges said.

They added that it will be a condition precedent to the four colleges opening that a stream of religious instructions in Hindu religion be introduced. If such a course is not introduced within a month of the college starting, the further functioning of the college cannot continue.

“It must be appreciated that however pious the intention may be to use perceived surplus funds for the purpose of education, these funds are out of offerings for a particular cause and, ordinarily, the cause must not be forgotten and the same must be espoused with a part of the funds, even though the larger sphere of education may also be addressed,” the court said.

The court also made it clear that the functioning of the exempted four colleges will be subject to the outcome of the plea.

The court passed the interim order on a PIL T R Ramesh. According to the petitioner, merely because a policy statement was made on the floor of the assembly by a minister in the present government, the government has gone ahead with the proposal to divert funds from temples under the control of the HR and CE.

The court, however, permitted the state to establish four colleges in Chennai, Namakkal, Dindigul, and Tuticorin as the works to open the colleges are complete and admission of students are in process

Transport commissioner takes VRS

Transport commissioner takes VRS

Chennai:16.11.2021

The Tamil Nadu government on Monday posted S Natarajan as commissioner of Transport department in the place of Santhosh K Misra, who is on voluntary retirement.

Santhosh Misra was an officer of the 2000 batch. He becomes the third officer to have opted for voluntary retirement in less than two years, while the others being V Sahayam and Santhosh Babu. According to sources, Misra had quit the job citing personal reasons and sought to be relieved from service with effect from Monday.

He attained 50 years of age last month, and the government was the competent authority to accept voluntary retirement in the case of officers who completed 30 years of qualifying service or have attained 50 years. TNN

Applications sought for diploma in pharmacy

Applications sought for diploma in pharmacy

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.11.2021

The directorate of Indian medicine and homeopathy has invited applications for admission to 2.5-year diploma in integrated pharmacy course and diploma in nursing therapy.

The course for 2021-2022 session for the candidates who have passed the higher secondary examination (in science stream) in first appearance. Application form and prospectus can be downloaded from the www.tnhealth.tn.gov.in between November 18 and December 10. Last date for returning filled in application form through post or courier or in person is 5.30pm on December 10.

Aadhaar necessary for Transtan waitlisting

Aadhaar necessary for Transtan waitlisting

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.11.2021

Organ failure patients registering for waitlist and relatives of brain dead patients (donors) registering for organ donation should submit Aadhaar details for verification with the state transplant authority (Transtan), a GO released on October 25 said.

While activists and transplant coordinators said it would be difficult to seek such information from relatives of braindead patients at a time when annual donations are falling, health minister Ma Subramanian told reporters it was done to encourage and honor donor relatives.

In April, Transtan member secretary Dr R Kanthimathi proposed to introduce an application form for authentication to stop malpractices such as use of fake Aadhaar cards. The ministry of electronics and information technology gave its nod in July.

Heavy rain alert for city, adjoining districts

MORE RAIN

Heavy rain alert for city, adjoining districts

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 16.11.2021

The days are likely to be cloudy with light rain in some areas for the next two days. Heavy rain is likely to resume by Wednesday due to the impact of the low pressure intensifying and reaching the south Andhra coast.

A met department forecast for 48 hours said the sky condition will be generally cloudy. Thunderstorms with light to moderate rain are likely to occur in some areas.

A heavy rainfall warning has been issued for Chennai, Kancheepuram and Chengalpet districts in addition to Ranipet, Vellore, Villupuram, Tiruvannamalai, Kallakurichi, Cuddalore, Mayiladuthurai and delta districts of Tamilnadu and Puducherry and Karaikal for Wednesday.

However, a low pressure that may form over the Arabian sea in the next 24 hours may prevent further intensification of the low pressure that is currently over Andaman Sea, said an IMD report.

This may mean that the likelihood of the city receiving good rain on the weekend after it crosses the coast is low.

The low pressure in Andaman Sea is likely to move northwest and become well marked during the next 48 hours.

Thereafter it is likely to move further and reach near south Andhra Pradesh – north Tamil Nadu coasts on Thursday.

"Based on Tuesday’s analysis, the possibility of further intensification of the system appears to be low, mainly owing to the enhanced likelihood of formation of another low pressure area over east-central Arabian Sea off south Maharashtra coast during next 24 hours."

An east-west shear zone runs from southeast Arabian sea to southwest Bay of Bengal across South Karnataka, north Kerala and north Tamilnadu.

On Tuesday, Meenambakkam recorded 1mm rain since morning while the core city received some drizzle. The outer areas of the city like OMR received 2cm rain while Pallikaranai got 1cm on Monday night.

Villupuram and Tiruvannamalai areas received 12cm heavy rain of 12cm rain and Cuddalore recorded 7cm rain.

The low pressure in the Andaman Sea is likely to move northwest and become well marked during the next 48 hours, bringing rain to the city, IMD said in a report

Curious case of 3 one-ways on Venkatnarayana Road

Curious case of 3 one-ways on Venkatnarayana Road

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.11.2021

Thanks to unnecessary one-way routes on streets and arterial routes branching out of Venkatnarayana road, motorists are forced to take a detour through different lanes to access the main road. Adding to their woes are several encroachments on these oneway stretches leading to a bottleneck on the 1.3-kilometre long Venkatnaryana Road in T Nagar.

Motorists are unable to directly access the Usman Road junction from Venkatnarayana Road, where the one-way portion of Burkit road has taken over by illegal parking of share autos, cars and trucks. They are required to take a diversion via Dhandhapani Street resulting in traffic snarls on Venkatnarayana Road-Dhandapani Street junction.

The situation is no different on Venkatnarayana Road-Anna Salai route. Here motorists must take a diversion from Mooparappan Street to reach Anna Salai which again leads to a traffic jam at Link Road. On this stretch too a 100-metre portion of the Sivaganam Street has been converted into a one-way. However, the encroached space leads to people taking a longer distance and avoiding the oneway.

“If the one-way portion on Burkit Road is being converted into a two-way, the travel time will reduce to just five minutes. I fail to understand why this route has been partially one-way for several years. If the road converts into a two-way, the illegal parking space for share autos will have to go,” said C Munusamy, an auto driver at T Nagar who takes 10-30 minutes to travel between Venkatnarayana Road and Usman Road.

When contacted, Mambalam traffic police said that action will be initiated against illegal parking on Burkit Road. “The reason for having one-ways was allowing twoway traffic in all four directions. Instead, these are resulting in a vehicle pile-up," a traffic cop said.