Move to merge Central Institute of Classical Tamil with Tiruvarur central varsity ?

By T Muruganandham  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 07th July 2017 01:25 AM  |  

CHENNAI: After the furore over alleged imposition of Hindi and Sanskrit, the Centre is wading into another controversy with a proposal to merge the Central Institute of Classical Tamil (CICT), Chennai, with the Central University of Tamil Nadu (CUT) at Tiruvarur.

This, detractors say, would reduce the autonomous institute of higher research functioning under the Ministry of Human Resources Development into just another department with limited functional flexibility.

The proposal was mooted by the central think-tank, Niti Aayog, which the MHRD has forwarded to the university.

Sources told Express the executive council of the CUT that met last week discussed this as part of the agenda.“The Niti Aayog has floated this idea for many institutions, and CICT is indeed one among them. The HRD ministry had sent this proposal to the institutions, but it is only at the discussion level; a final decision is yet to be taken,” sources said.

 

When the matter came up for discussion, one of the executive council members of CUT reportedly cautioned top officials that this move would trigger vehement protest from Tamil Nadu. When contacted, the office the VC of the CUT was tight-lipped about it.

It was the UPA government, in which DMK was among the biggest partners, that accorded classical language status to Tamil in 2004. From March 2006 to May 18, 2008, the institute was functioning from the Central Institute of Indian Languages campus in Mysuru. Then it was called Centre for Excellence of Classical Tamil. After much efforts by the then CM and DMK president M Karunanidhi, it was shifted to Chennai, and upgraded into the Central Institute of Classical Tamil from May 19, 2008.

Karunanidhi was the first chairperson of CICT, and now Chief Minister ‘Edappadi’ K Palaniswami occupies the position.

“The CICT has powers to undertake many a research works in topics as varied as agriculture, epigraphy, folklore, anthropology etc., and the governing council of the CICT has powers to take policy decisions. In short, the autonomy of this institution will go,” said Dr R Kothandaraman, former Senior Fellow of CICT, explaining the drawbacks of the proposed merger.

Though the four Dravidian languages, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, got classical language status, this is the only institute that is exclusive for a language, he added. “This identity will be lost if it becomes part of the Central University of Tamil Nadu,” said the 81-year-old expert. VCK general secretary and writer D Ravikumar told Express that merging the CICT with CUT would curtail the administrative and financial autonomy  of CICT.

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‘Adhere only to UGC 2010 fiat while naming aided college principals’ 

By Ram M Sundaram  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 07th July 2017 01:30 AM  |  

 

CHENNAI: Putting an end to the uncertainty over norms for appointment of principals in government-aided colleges across Tamil Nadu, the Madras High Court has directed the State higher education department to invariably follow UGC Regulations, 2010 in this regard.

Though the University Grants Commission (UGC), the apex regulator body for higher education in the country replaced Regulations of 2000 with subsequent regulation of 2010, several government and aided colleges adopted  UGC Regulations, 2000 for appointing teachers and other academic staff.

In one such instance, Ethiraj College for Women in Chennai appointed M Thilakavathy, professor from department of history and tourism as the Principal of the college in 2014. A group of senior and meritorious professors, who were far-more qualified, challenged this appointment of a junior person as principal in the Madras High Court on the ground that selection had been made following UGC Regulations 2000, even though the regulations were superseded by UGC Regulations, 2010.

 

The three-member selection committee constituted to select the principal had not considered Academic Performance Indicators (API) Scores and Performance Based Appraisal System (PBAS) as mandated by UGC Regulations, 2010, claimed the petitioners. “Professor S Vittal, one of the three selection committee members was absent on the day of selection”. In response to this, the college management argued that API scores were meant only for screening purpose and UGC Regulations and appointment was made based on UGC Regulations, 2000, which states that discretion in this regard lies only with the chairperson of the said committee.

After hearing arguments from both the sides, Justice M M Sundresh in January 2015 set aside the appointment of Thilakavathy as principal and directed the college to follow the selection procedure as contemplated under UGC Regulations, 2010. The court, however, allowed Thilakavathy to continue as principal until a fresh selection was made. The chairman board of trustees, Ethiraj College went on an appeal and a comprising Justices Huluvadi G Ramesh and Teeka Raman on June 22 upheld the single judge’s verdict and directed the college management to select the principal on the basis of UGC Regulations 2010 (based on merit, ability and seniority)

The court also directed the State government to take all necessary steps for framing rules and regulations and communicate it to all universities, which in turn should frame guidelines for constitution of necessary committees within a reasonable time.

Five pedestrian subways yet to take off due to lack of bidders

By Venkatesan Parthasarathy  |  Express News Service  |   Published: 08th July 2017 07:28 AM  |  

The pedestrian subway near AG Church on GST Road is yet to be made | martin louis

CHENNAI: The signal momentarily turned red, on a pleasant Friday morning, and pedestrians standing opposite the New Life AG Church (near Little Mount) quickly seized the opportunity to cross the vehicle-choked Anna Salai. But they might have been spared the waiting time if only the proposed pedestrian subway, sanctioned about four years back, had come up.

The State Highways Department had planned five pedestrian subways in the city, including the aforementioned one but they are yet to take off. Several attempts to find bidders for the projects have failed, forcing department officials to rework the original design.

All of them figure under the Chennai Metropolitan Development Plan, which utilises State budgetary allocation to build infrastructure in Chennai metropolitan area as per the second master plan of Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority for the years 2010-2026. Officials say the State government had accorded administrative sanction at a cost of `19 crore for the subways. The project was to be implemented in 2013-2014 but so far not even a stone has been broken.

When asked about the status, a highway official told Express: “For the pedestrian subways at Ekkaduthangal and near Kasi Theatre, we had floated tenders six times. But no party has expressed interest citing difficulties in shifting underground utilities.”

Since the Chennai metro corridor passes through that route, Highways Department has now requested CMRL officials for undertaking a joint inspection to identify new locations for the pedestrian subways.

Similarly, the ones proposed at MKN Road-GST Road junction in Guindy and near New Life AG Church has been deemed as not feasible. “We are now looking into the possibility of converting them to foot overbridges,” the official said.

 

At the MKN Road-GST Road junction, a link for pedestrians to cross over to either side is essential. At present, there is one subway, packed during peak hours, which connects Guindy Railway station with Guindy Industrial Estate.

As far as the fifth delayed subway, slated to come up near CMBT, the official said: “We can finalise its design only after the completion of the grade separator, for which work is underway there. However, a pedestrian subway has been included as part of the grade separator project.”

Bio ethics unit opened at medical college

Special Correspondent 

 

Tiruchi, July 09, 2017 00:00 IST

“Principles of bioethics would help bring about transparency in health care”

A nodal centre of the International Network of UNESCO Chair in Bioethics, Haifa, was inaugurated at the Chennai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre at Irungalur near Tiruchi on Friday.
A three-day training programme on bioethics in health sciences education also got underway along with the opening of the unit. Around 50 health science faculty members from six medical colleges in the country were participating the programme.

The programme aims at training medical teaching faculty to impart bio-ethical knowledge to their students and enable them to emerge as ethically bound health professionals, according a college press release.

The bioethics unit and the training was inaugurated by S. Geethalakshmi, Vice Chancellor, Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR University, in the presence of Russell D’Souza, Head, Asia Pacific Bioethics Division, UNESCO Chair in Bioethics, Haifa, and faculty members of Chennai Medical College Hospital and Research Centre.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Geethalakshmi observed that adopting the principles of bioethics would help bring about transparency in health care and medical research.
“In our pursuit of knowledge, it is important to maintain integrity of human and animal rights as they are fundamental tenets of society,” Dr. Geethalakshmi said in her address.

Nod for flights from Salem, Hosur, Neyveli

Special Correspondent 

 

Chennai, July 09, 2017 00:00 IST

Efforts have been taken by the government to operate flights from Salem, Hosur and Neyveli, said Transport Minister M.R.Vijayabhaskar on Saturday.

Responding to a query of deputy leader of the DMK Legislature Party, Durai Murugan, on the introduction of flights from Vellore, Mr. Vijayabhaskar said the Union Ministry of Civil Aviation has approved operation of flights from Salem, Hosur, Neyveli under the ‘Ude Desh ka Aam Naagrik’ (UDAN) or regional connectivity scheme
.
The Civil Aviation officials had held discussion with Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami recently. “Consultations will be held to extend flight operations to wherever it is commercially viable. Steps have been expedited to select location for greenfield airport in Chennai,” the Transport Minister said.

The Minister also said that arrears would be disbursed to retired employees of transport corporations before September and to the serving personnel in a phased manner.

Nursing college celebrates silver jubilee

 Speakers highlight role of nurses

The Omayal Achi College of Nursing celebrated its silver jubilee on Saturday. After the inauguration of the ceremony, students of the college enacted its history as Villu Pattu, said Valli Alagappan, managing trustee of the college.

Representatives from the universities the college has partnered with — the University of Saskatchewan, Canada and Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh — too attended the function and gave words of encouragement.

Soumya Swaminathan, Director General, Indian Council for Medical Research, and Arjun Rajagopalan, trustee and advisor, Sundaram Medical Foundation, highlighted the role of nurses in healthcare.

 Bills to streamline V-C appointment introduced

They specify qualifications and the time frame

Two Bills introduced in the Assembly on Saturday specify qualifications to be possessed by academicians to be appointed as V-Cs of State-run universities and further set a time limit of six months within which the entire process towards their appointments shall be made.

The Bills — ‘Chennai University (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ and ‘Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017’ — introduced by Higher Education Minister K.P. Anbalagan also specify qualifications required for persons in the Search Committee that would recommend a panel of names from which the Chancellor would select one for appointment as V-C. According to the Bills, the process to nominate members of the Committee shall begin six months before the occurrence of the vacancy in the office of the Vice-Chancellor and shall be completed four months before that date.
The process of preparing the panel of suitable persons for appointment as V-Cs shall begin at least four months before the occurrence of the vacancy.

“If the Committee does not submit its recommendations to the Chancellor within the said period [four months], the Chancellor may grant further time to the Committee to submit its recommendation or take steps to constitute another Committee..,” the Bills stated.

In case of the University of Madras and few other universities, one of the members of the Search Committee would be a nominee of the Chancellor, who shall be a retired High Court judge or the Supreme Court or any High Court or an eminent educationalist.

The Senate and the Syndicate of the university concerned shall have one nominee each in the Search Committee.

For some universities, nominees are from the government, university’s Academic Committee and Executive Council.

At present, the Universty of Madras Act, 1923 and relevant Acts of 12 other universities in the State do not prescribe for qualifications for members of the Search Committee and for the Vice-Chancellor and further no time limit has been fixed for the Committee to recommend names for the Governor over appointing the Vice-Chancellor.

Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 would replace the Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 promulgated by the Governor on May 27.

Tamil Nadu Universities Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2017 would apply to the appointment of Vice-Chancellors in Madurai Kamaraj University, Anna University, Bharathiar University, Bharathidasan University, Mother Teresa Women’s University, Alagappa University, Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Periyar University, Tamil Nadu Open University, Thiruvalluvar University, Tamil Nadu Teachers Education University and Annamalai University.

Process to nominate members of search panel will begin six months before occurrence of the vacancy in the office of the Vice-Chancellor

Special Correspondent