I am ready if polls held in 6 mths: Rajini

D.Govardan@timesgroup.com

Chennai: Actor Rajinikanth has said that he would be ready to contest the Tamil Nadu assembly election even if it was held six months from now. He also wished success to fellow actor and long-time friend Kamal Haasan on his plans to launch a political party.

“We will be ready,” Rajinikanth told reporters outside his residence on Wednesday, when asked about whether he and his yet-to-belaunched party will be ready to face elections if they were held in the next few months. On Kamal Haasan’s plan for a state-wide tour from February 21after naming his party, Rajinikanth wished him success but remained non-committal on whether the two actors, who are taking the political plunge around the same time, will work together. “Only time can tell,” Rajinikanth said, when asked whether the political parties of the two actors would work together.

It may be recalled that actor Kamal Haasan, on Tuesday night, revealed his plans to undertake a state-wide tour from February 21, to understand people’s problems and issues affecting them, starting it from his birthplace Ramanathapuram in south Tamil Nadu. In the first phase of the tour, he will also cover and interact with people in Madurai, Dindigul and Sivaganga districts.

“At the commencement of the journey, I intend to announce the name of my political party along with the guiding principles we intend to live by,” Kamal Haasan had said in the statement. “Finally, let’s question mediocrity and raise the bar on governance and welfare for the people of Tamil Nadu. This journey is intended towards that goal,” he added.

“Rajinikanth is for spiritual politics. Mine will be rationalist politics,” actor Kamal Haasan told reporters late on Wednesday evening, after participating in a film function in Chennai.

READY FOR THE GAME: Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth

Tamil writers rally behind Vairamuthu as protests spread

D.Govardan @timesgroup.com

Chennai:A group of 17 Tamil writers, including Prabhanjan, Sa Kandhasamy and Su Venkatesan, have come out in support of lyricist Vairamuthu, who is under attack over the past ten days for his alleged reference to a Hindu deity Andal as a ‘devadasi’ in an essay he wrote for a Tamil daily earlier this month.

Though Vairamuthu had tendered an apology, leaders of Hindu outfits including Hindu Munnani’s Rama Gopalan, Hindu Makkal Katchi president Arjun Sampath and BJP national secretary H Raja had demanded a written apology from the lyricist. Early this week, several thousand brahmins assembled near the State Guest House at Chepauk to protest against Vairamuthu for casting aspersions on Andal.

Recalling his contribution to Tamil literature, the writers highlighted the fact that Vairamuthu has been consistently recording the works of stalwarts from the past to strengthen Tamil as a language and its literature. “His essay ‘Thamizhai Andal’ (One who ruled Tamil) was in line with that. By attributing to him something that he has not said, attempts are being made by vested interests to disrupt the cordial atmosphere in the state,” the writers collectively said in a statement on Wednesday. They said people were attacking him without reading the essay in which he highlighted Andal’s contributions to Tamil. Even while quoting from a research paper, Vairamuthu mentioned that even rationalists and nonbelievers should study Andal’s Tamil.

“He has already apologised for the reference though he has not done anything wrong. We have to condemn attempts by divisive forces to sensationalise the issue by instigating orchestrated protests,” the writers said.

Protests against Vairamuthu seem to be spreading fast across the state. On Wednesday, the Jeer of Manavala Maamuni, based in Virudhunagar, began an indefinite fast saying an apology from Vairamuthu was yet to come. Hindu protesters raised slogans against the lyricist near a government office in Coimbatore. Cases have also been filed against him in Chennai and Rajapalayam.

Disease not a death warrant and is mostly treatable, point out experts

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: Cancer is not a death warrant. It is a treatable disease, mostly. People still dread getting it in India because treatment costs a bomb in private facilities and the ones run by government are woefully short of manpower and infrastructure.

This scenario has to change to outsmart cancer, experts said on Wednesday in a roundtable discussion organised by TOI in New Delhi.

Dr Ramesh Sarin, senior consultant and clinical coordinator at Apollo Cancer Institute, said spreading awareness about preventable causes is one step government and civil society must take. 70% of cancers (40% tobacco-related, 20% infection-related and 10% others) are caused by preventable risk factors, said ex-dean of AIIMS Dr P K Julka. “Those at high risk, due to family history or ageing, should undergo periodic screening for early detection. This will help reduce mortality,” he added.

Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai and AIIMS in Delhi are flooded with patients from across India. Experts underlined the need to equip regional public hospitals with facilities.

“Treatment in private sector costs a lot and adds to patients’ woes. Government facilities are free but few,” said Dr Sudeep Gupta, deputy director of Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), one of the premier cancer research centres of Tata Memorial Hospital.

Antony Jacob, CEO of Apollo Munich Health Insurance, said wider coverage of insurance schemes can help reduce financial implications. “Only 25% of people are covered under any scheme,” he said. According to Sheila Nair, director general, Indian Cancer Society, cancer must be made a notifiable disease. “It will help us get realistic data on disease prevalence and infrastructure needed,” she said.

Every day, 1,500 people die of cancer in India, making it the 2nd most common cause of death after cardiovascular disease. 2,000 new cancer cases are detected daily, according to National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research.

Rumana Hamied, CEO, Cipla Foundation and Harmala Gupta, founder president, Cancer Care India, said palliative care has to start from day of diagnosis. “It should be an integral part of cancer care,” Gupta said. Ashok Kumar Kakkar, senior managing director for Varian Medical Systems, stressed the need to share success stories of cancer survivors.

Edu doyens push for MGR policies to spur growth

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: Prominent leaders and some of the biggest names in the higher education sector of Tamil Nadu, came together on Wednesday and batted for MGR’s policies to be followed by the governments, to further educational and economic growth. Several government and private institutions’ leaders had gathered at the Vellore Institute of Technology’s Chennai campus, to celebrate the 101st birth anniversary of former chief minister and late film icon M G Ramachandran.

Stating that Tamil Nadu was the leader in higher education today, especially in private sector because of the foundation laid by MGR, founder-chancellor of VIT University G Viswanathan, urged the state and central governments to follow his policies and pitched for the privatisation of institutions to promote growth.

The chancellor was speaking during the unveiling of a bronze MGR statue, of 7.9ft height and weighing 360kg, in the campus. The chancellor recalled the invaluable contributions of MGR to Tamil Nadu, such as the midday meal scheme and the setting up of self-financing colleges in 1984.

“Unless we follow MGR’s policies, we will not be able to make much progress. We are lagging behind many countries like China and Korea, who once had per capita income similar to that of India. Unless we strengthen higher education, the desired economic development is not possible,” Viswanathan said.

Quoting figures from the last census, the chancellor said that among the 14crore students eligible to pursue higher education, only 3.5crore children had access to higher education through 40,000 colleges and 800 universities. “Rest of the children are waiting outside the gates of educational institutions. If this has to be made possible, it can be done only through privatisation of institutions,” he said.

He expressed the hope that the Kasturi Rangan Committee looking into the National Education Policy, would get into these details and suggest various means in which private sector can play a role to improve access to higher education.

Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory, Vice President of Mauritius, who unveiled the MGR statue, said there is a lot of emphasis on education for social progress and is seeking to develop Mauritius as an education hub for Indian Ocean and Africa region. He also invited higher educational institutions in the state to open branches in the Mauritius, and also to provide seats for students from the Republic of Mauritius to study in Tamil Nadu.

CELEBRATING AN ICON: Chief guests stand next to the MGR statue inaugurated by Mauritius VP Paramasivum Pillay Vyapoory at VIT Chennai campus on Wednesday

City developer slapped with ₹5 lakh fine for failure to hand over apartment

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Consumers Disputes Redressal Commission has directed a city-based developer to return ₹56.46lakh and pay a compensation of ₹5lakh to a buyer for failing to handover an apartment. The presiding judicial member of the commission, K Baskaran, has ordered Jeayam Shelters Private Limited to return the money with 12% interest.

The order is passed on a complaint filed by S Ravindran and his wife Mangalam Ravindran from Kodambakkam that they have paid a sum of ₹56.46lakh for a flat at Vandalur. As per the construction agreement entered on May 13, 2011, the developer should complete the construction and handover the flat within 12months including a grace period of three months.

 Having come to the conclusion that the developer could not complete the project and obtain the completion certificate, the complainants sent a notice to the builder informing him about exiting from the project.

In the order, which was delivered in December but the order copy was dispatched last week, the judicial member said the developer had to handover the flat on May 12, 2012 as per the promised date. It is on record that even up to the date of filing of the complaint (May 27, 2015), the developer could not complete the construction, he added. "The complainant has prayed for direction to the developer to repay ₹56,46,106, which was paid by them to the developer together with interest at the rate of 12% from the date of payment till realisation and a sum of ₹5 lakh towards compensation for the mental agony and hardship suffered by them and ₹10,000 towards cost of complaint. We hold that complainants are entitled to get the same,” the judicial member.

B Sampath Kumar, chairman of Jeayam Shelters Private Limited, was unavailable for comment.

SUMANDEEP VIDYAPEETH Ph.D. Programmes

Delay in thesis evaluation hits asst professors

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com
 

Vellore: Several assistant and associate professors of colleges affiliated to Thiruvalluvar University (TU) have been waiting for more than two years for their M Phil/Ph D degrees after submitting their theses.

According to Association of University Teachers (AUT) and the Tamil Nadu Government Colleges Teachers’ Association, the university has failed to adhere to the norms laid down by the UGC.

 The UGC had notified the ‘University Grants Commission (Minimum Standards and Procedure for Award of M Phil/Ph D Degrees) Regulations 2016’ in the gazette of India on July 5, 2016, which say that institutions should develop appropriate methods so as to complete the entire process of evaluation of M.Phil dissertation/Ph.D thesis within a period of six months from the date of submission of the dissertation or thesis.

University officials have been delaying the process of evaluation of the thesis for 18 months to 36 months. Several candidates have been waiting for nearly four years, according to members of the AUT.

“I submitted my thesis in mid-2014. Until today, the university has not processed its evaluation. When we approach the controller of examinations, he simply replies that it is being processed,” said a professor of Cheyyar Arignar Anna Government Arts College in Tiruvannamalai district.

“We are losing financially and academically by not getting our degree within the stipulated period,” said a maths assistant professor, who submitted her thesis in mid-2014. Eight other candidates who submitted their theses with her were also facing the same problem.

Controller of examinations (in-charge), B Senthil Kumar, said that there is no delay on the university’s part in awarding degrees. The delay is due to the response on the reports from the international or national level examiners. Vice-chancellor of varsity K Murugan also denied the charges and said that there is no such delay.