40% engg colleges fill < 10 seats each

Vinayashree.J@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

After the third round of Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) counselling ended on Thursday, 214 self-financing engineering colleges — which is more than 40% of the total number of colleges in the state — have filled less than 10 seats each, while 71 have not filled even a single seat Going by the trend, educationists say, many colleges will fail to fill the AICTE-mandated 30% seats after five rounds of counselling. Only 47 of the 473 self-financing colleges have filled more than 30% seats so far.

“Given that so many colleges have such low numbers at the end of the third round, many of them will struggle to fill even 50 seats by the end. This year particularly is showing dip in interest in engineering, which started off as a pattern a few years ago,” said educationist and career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi.



‘Anna Univ has to invest in future tech’

Jayaprakash Gandhi said, “This is a wake-up call for both institutions and engineering recruiters. Anna University and its affiliated colleges have to rethink and invest in future technologies and plan their syllabus according to the industry’s needs.”

TNEA officials said the number of eligible candidates in the next round is 23,000, while 26,000 are eligible below the 125 cut-off. As cut-offs drop, the number of absentees increases usually, said a faculty member of a reputed college. “With less than 50,000 eligible candidates left, it is going to be a challenge going forward. The top colleges still have many seats left,” he said.

The veering of students towards other streams including courses in arts and science colleges is a major reason, say colleges. Many top students are also aiming for civil services.

Preferences for even the traditional ‘brand’ colleges had taken a hit this year over previous years, said Gandhi. “Newer ones like Chennai Institute of Technology, Sri Eswar and others have done much better in terms of percentage of seats filled compared to previous years and are competing with the traditional brands.”

Prof Manivannan of RMK Group of Institutions said students and parents were no longer just aiming for an ‘engineering college’ butlooking at placement records and teaching standards. “Engineering aspirants talk to students who have passedoutof a college aswell as the current batch of students and faculty before applying. They are leaning toward easy accessibility, so colleges in cities like Chennai and Coimbatore are faring well,” he said.

Single parenting dangerous for society: HC judge

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

Can the trend of single parents raising children have wide-ranging adverse effects on society as a whole? The Madras high court thinks so. Noting that a child needs the affection of both mother and father, the court on Friday observed that single parenting is a “dangerous concept for society”. One cannot compensate for the other and the lack of such affection and love might cause behavioural changes, causing the child to turn against society, it said.


Justice N Kirubakaran made the observation while hearing a contempt plea moved against the secretary of Union ministry of women and child development for allegedly failing to comply with the direction issued by the court to check child abuse.

In its order dated October 16, 2015, the court suggested the ministry to consider ‘castration’ to child abusers, particularly child rapists, as an additional punishment apart from other punishments under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, IPC and the Juvenile Justice Act.

This apart, the court directed the Union government to incorporate columns in Indian visa forms issued to foreign nationals to give the details of their pending cases, and cases of conviction as provided in UK Visa form. Among other directions, the Centre was also directed to instruct all state governments to conduct massive awareness programme about crimes against children as provided under the Pocso Act.

The petitioner moved the contempt plea because the Centre failed to implement these directions. When the plea came up for hearing on Friday, Justice Kirubakaran noted that the concept of joint family had initially shrunk to a nuclear, and then to single parenting. Referring to a recent sexual abuse cases reported in Chennai, the court said, “What kind of parents are they to be unaware of what is happening to their child.” The court observed it is time to bifurcate the Union ministry of women and child development and establish a dedicated ministry for child development. The judge asked the assistant solicitor-general, representing the Centre, to get instructions from the ministry as to whether they had issued any guidelines to spend the Nirbhaya fund being allotted to the state governments. He posted the hearing to August 17.

CAN BE BARRED FROM RE-ENTRY FOR 10 YRS

New US visa rules to hit int’l students

Lubna.Kably@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:

International students in the US will find the going tougher after the final policy guidelines were published by the immigration arm of the US government.

Starting August 9, the students and their dependents (namely spouses accompanying them) will automatically begin to accrue unlawful presence in the US, the day after they violate their ‘student status’ even if the period of stay granted to them has not expired. The new policy issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services reverses the prior guidelines, under which the clock to calculate the number of days of unlawful presence began to tick from the day authorities discovered the violation or an immigration judge passed an order.

The tweaked policy has serious repercussions as individuals who accrue more than 180 days of unlawful presence before they leave the US can be barred from re-entry for three to 10 years. After the Chinese, Indians are the largest group of foreign students in the US. International Student Data from the Open Doors Report (2017) shows that there are 1.86 lakh Indian students in the US.

‘Students can land in trouble even if USCIS makes errors’

Unlawful presence can be triggered by various reasons, not just overstay. It could kick in, for instance, if a student does not meet the minimum number of hours per week the educational institution determines is necessary for completion of their study program (this is referred to as falling below a full course of study). It can also be triggered in cases of unauthorized employment or overstaying in the US beyond the grace period available after completion of study.

There is a slight relaxation as compared to the draft policy, as reported by TOI on May 14. Under the revised final policy memorandum, international students who fall out of status and timely file (within five months) for reinstatement of that status will have their accrual of unlawful presence suspended while the application is pending.

If the reinstatement application is denied, the accrual of unlawful presence resumes on the day after the denial, said an official USCIS statement.

Cyrus D Mehta, New York-based immigration attorney, explained to TOI that the improvement is insignificant, especially for a student who may have unknowingly violated his status earlier. If this is discovered many years later, the accrual will be from the day of violation and the student could find himself or herself debarred.

Rajiv S Khanna, managing attorney of Immigration.com , gave TOI a live illustration. “One example of unknowing violation of student status is where the educational institute commits errors in entering information into the SEVIS system (data base to be maintained for foreign students). We had a case where a student authorised to work on campus was the victim of such inaccuracy, where the university authorities wrongly entered the work hours, thus reflecting that he had put in more hours than he was allowed to. Under the new policy, the student would start accruing unlawful presence on the date the violation occurred.”

Mehta added: “Students in practical training can also be found to have violated status if their training is later found to have not been consistent with their degree, and STEM students under optional practical training (OPT) will be even more in jeopardy.”

Khanna pointed out that even errors made the USCIS can land a student in trouble.

Medical counselling 

Special Correspondent CHENNAI 
 
August 11, 2018 00:00 IST

The second round of counselling for medical admission will begin on Saturday with 128 seats in the government medical colleges.

Of the vacant seats, 98 were surrendered under the All India Quota and 30 under the allotment of government seats in self-financing institutions.

A total of 27 seats in government dental college will also be filled during the counselling which will be held till August 13. A total of 113 seats in self-financing institutions will also be filled in this round.

The Directorate of Medical Education has called all the 3,500 candidates as per their ranks for counselling. “Since we permit re-allotment we will call everyone from rank 1,” said selection secretary G. Selvarajan.

They join Anna University but struggle for money 

Special Correspondent 
 
August 11, 2018 00:00 IST



V Dinesh.handout_e_mail

N. Usha Nanthini was in class VIII when her father, who had gone to Saudi Arabia on contract fishing, died mysteriously in 2013. The family could not even afford to bring back the body of Narayanan, her father, and had given consent to have the body buried there itself.

Her widowed mother took up fish cleaning work to eke out a living. Nanthini wanted to drop out and join her mother, but Umayammal, 41, was very clear that she should continue her studies.

Thanks to her mother’s persuasion, she continued her studies in the Government school at Thangachimadam in Rameswaram island and passed class X scoring 483 out of 500 marks. The ‘elite school’, established here for poor students offered her special coaching with free boarding and lodging facilities. She cleared plus two examinations with a cut off mark of 195.50 and secured admission in the prestigious College of Engineering Guindy (CEG), a constituent college of Anna University

She has opted for Information Technology in CEG but financial constraints prove to be a stumbling block. Her mother, who earns about Rs. 200 per day, was clueless and one of her customer’s son, who is employed in Bengaluru helped her with Rs. 40,000, mobilised through his friends.

The poor widow has managed to admit her daughter after borrowing Rs. 20,000 and pledging some jewels. Nanthini has paid Rs. 20,625 towards admission and Rs. 31,000 for the hostel but has no clue to meet the subsequent expenditure. “I want to complete the course and take care of my mother but money is a problem,” she says. Recalling her husband’s death, Umayammal said that he had worked in Saudi Arabia for two years and had gone back on September 26, 2013 after a break but died within 14 days,

Neither the employer nor the government offered her any compensation, she added.

Dinesh, a Dalit boy from Panaiadiyendal near Kilakarai, who has joined Electronics and Communication Engineering in CEG under the ‘self-support’ category, is also struggling for financial support.

His parents are farm workers and his father has borrowed money to pay the admission fee of Rs. 14,200 and hostel fee of Rs. 32,170, he says.

Plea seeks to quash TNAU notification 

Staff Reporter 
 
Madurai, August 11, 2018 00:00 IST

It calls for applications for appointment as officers

A petition was filed before the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court on Friday challenging the notification issued by Tamil Nadu Agricultural University calling for applications for appointment as university officers.

The petitioner, S. Selvakumar an Assistant Professor of Soil and Water Conservative Engineering working at Krishi Vigyan Kendra, Virudhunagar, claimed that the university, in a circular dated July 23, called for applications to various posts. All the 27 vacancies were earmarked for open competition and did not follow the reservation system. The selection was open to only those who worked with the university and not open to everyone, he said.

He claimed that the University Grants Commission and Ministry of Human Resources Development had issued circulars categorically emphasising the implementation of reservation policy by all Central and State universities receiving grant in aid and other universities. Also, the eligibility criterion for such posts under the TNAU Act, 1971, was six years of service as Professor. But the notification called for those experienced as professor for five years, contrary to the Act, he claimed.

The petitioner further added that the tenure of university officers, which could be renewed as per the Act, was not mentioned in the circular. The notification had to be set aside as it was not in accordance with the Act, the petitioner contended. A division bench of Justices M. M. Sundresh and N. Sathish Kumar directed notice to the respondents concerned and adjourned the case.

Court orders Rs. 3.95 cr. compensation in accident case 

Staff Reporter 
 
ERODE, August 11, 2018 00:00 IST

Second Additional District Judge P.R. Ramakrishnan has awarded a compensation of Rs. 3.95 crore to the two brothers, who lost both their parents in an accident in 2015.

The prosecution case is that Manoj Jain (39), of Udayappar Colony in Salem, was an assistant manager at a company in New Delhi.

On May 30, 2015, he along with his wife Saveetha (32) and two sons, Sidharth (9) and Mano (6), were on their way in a car to Bengaluru to board a flight to New Delhi. While nearing Kaveripattinam junction on the Dharmapuri – Krishnagiri National Highway, a goods-laden van hit their car. In the impact, both Manoj Jain and Saveetha, died on the spot, while their two sons suffered injuries, and were admitted to hospital.

Kaveripattinam police registered a case.

Manoj Jain’s parents and his two sons had filed a case in the court seeking compensation.