Actor Vijay is no stranger to run-ins with politicians
Nurtures Ambitions, But His Actions Lack Consistency

D.Govardan@timesgroup.com 09.11.2018

Actor Vijay and controversies go hand in hand. This has been the case for the past few years. More so after the actor started a welfare association of his fans, Vijay Makkal Iyakkam, through which he started distributing aid to the underprivileged. Even as they sensed his political ambitions, discomfited politicians took potshots at the actor.

While Vijay himself has hinted at a political entry from time to time, or most directly at the audio launch of his latest film ‘Sarkar’, his actions have been more of the ‘hit and run’ variety. They lacked consistency.

For instance, in 2009, he rushed all the way to New Delhi to meet Rahul Gandhi. The buzz then was Vijay wanted to become a leader of the Youth Congress, but he was found to be overage.

While this reportedly irked DMK, then ruling the state, he extended the support of his fans to the AIADMK in the 2011 assembly elections, after his film ‘Kaavalan’ faced trouble in getting enough theatres under the DMK regime. However, his bonhomie did not last long with the AIADMK and its chief J Jayalalithaa, as the star’s ‘Thalaivaa’ ran into trouble due to its tagline – ‘Time to Lead’ — in 2013. Despite Vijay and his film maker father S A Chandrasekharan rushing to Kodanad, they could not meet her. Eventually that film was promoted without the tagline.

Earlier, his ‘Thuppakki’ (2012) too courted trouble for fears over showing a minority community in bad light and later ‘Katthi’ also faced trouble from Tamil outfits, as the producer of the movie was alleged to be a close associate of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse. In most of the cases, Vijay maintained silence, not the hallmark of an aspiring politician. This remains the case with last year’s issue over ‘Mersal’ and the latest ‘Sarkar’ row.

“Vijay has political ambitions and is using films as a powerful medium. As it happened with Rajinikanth and ‘Baasha’, it has become a pattern for actors including Vijay and Kamal Haasan to play around with politics in their films. While Vijay would be happy with the free publicity and hence remains silent, the fact that ‘Sarkar’ is produced by Sun Pictures has made it more controversial,” says political analyst M Kasinathan. “As for the ruling AIADMK, they utilized the opportunity to show that their cadres are still vibrant,”
he added.


‘SARKAR’ VS SARKAR: AIADMK men vandalised theatres and ripped apart posters, banners of actor Vijay and the film Sarkar in Kasi theatre (in pic) in Chennai and several other cinemas in Trichy, Tiruvarur and Mannargudi


A government that does not accept criticism will derail. The coterie of political traders will end soon. Good people will soon come to the ruling saddle

KAMAL HAASAN | ON TWITTER

‘LET PEOPLE, NOT FILMMAKERS, DECIDE ON FREEBIES’


State food minister R Kamaraj on Thursday said people who act and make films for commercial gains have no legitimate right to say what people should or should not do. The minister was reacting to a scene in the Vijay-starrer ‘Sarkar’, in which people were seen burning freebies distributed by the government. Speaking to reporters in Tiruvarur, Kamaraj slammed the makers of ‘Sarkar’ for showing the welfare schemes introduced by late chief minister J Jayalalithaa in a bad light. “Let people decide whether they want the freebies or not,” he said. The minister wanted the objectionable scenes to be removed from the film. Earlier, Lok Sabha deputy speaker M Thambidurai said in Karur that filmmakers should exercise caution, adding, “Movies should not hurt public sentiment.”

‘EMOTIONAL OUTBURST TO JAYA CONVICTION’

Bus burning case: TN again recommends convicts’ early release

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:09.11.2018

The Tamil Nadu government has reiterated its recommendation for premature release of the three life convicts — AIADMK men — in the sensational Dharmapuri bus burning case. Governor Banwarilal Purohit had recently returned their files to the state government for reconsideration.

The EPS government had decided to prematurely release Ravindran,Muniappan and Nedunchezian, along with 1,600 prisoners on the sidelines of MGR’s birth centenary. Even as the governor was clearing other files, he chose to return the files pertaining to the three AIADMK men. The three have already served 11 years in prison. “The state sent its opinion reiterating its earlier position last week to Raj Bhavan, as the convicts had committed the crime with no intention whatsoever. The act was an emotional outburst when their leader was convicted,” said a top government source. The governor’s office is sitting on yet another file, pertaining to the release of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassins. The state cabinet had recommended their release in September.

The government has been recommending release of people sentenced to life imprisonment based on the orders of the Supreme Court, said the official and added, “The Dharmapuri convicts are eligible for release as per SC orders. The government sticks to its stand for their premature release,” he said.

The three were charged with torching a bus at Ilakiyampatti near Dharmapuri, in which three students of Tamil Nadu Agriculture University, Coimbatore, were charred to death. The bus was burnt as part of the state-wide protests by AIADMK men when former CM J Jayalalithaa was convicted in a criminal case. On a review petition, the Supreme Court commuted the death sentence of all three to life imprisonment in 2016.

New norms leave AU profs hunting for PhD aspirants

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:09.11.2018

A section of professors at Anna University, the state’s premier technical education institute, is on a search for research scholars to satisfy the new promotion policy rules that mandate guiding at least one candidate for PhD. The rules also make it compulsory for an assistant professor to supervise one scholar through a doctorate to become an associate professor.

Until recently, most students preferred ‘lenient’ faculty members as their PhD guides, leaving teachers considered strict in the lurch. Official data suggests that some teachers were guiding more than a dozen PhD candidates each at a time when others were struggling to find even a single student.

This is in contravention of the university statute which allows a supervisor to guide only 12 PhD students simultaneously.

Discrepancies were noticed even in top government institutions, functioning under the university in Chennai, particularly among faculty members of the departments of electronics and information technology.

One faculty member from the College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG), said the university’s statute was not on a par with the guidelines of the University Grants Commission (UGC), apex body governing higher education in India. The guidelines say that one faculty member can be attached to only eight students at a time. “When other state varsities like University of Madras are following UGC’s guidelines, Anna University has been conveniently neglecting it,” he added, on a condition of anonymity.

Anna University vicechancellor M K Surappa said changes had been brought during an academic council meeting. “The upper ceiling has been reduced from 12 to 8 now,” he said.

Some aggrieved CEG teachers also want the university to do away the norm mandating PhD aspirants to get the consent of the supervisor concerned while applying for the doctorate programme. “Ideally, a committee led by the Heads of the Departments (HODs) should allot supervisors to applicants based on the area of interest. Instead here the students are allowed to choose their supervisors. This will have an adverse impact on the quality of PhD produced,” the faculty member added.

Surappa said they planned to increase the bar further so that not every applicant gets an opportunity to do PhD in CEG, AC Tech and School of Architecture and Planning in Guindy and Madras Institute of Technology in Chromepet.

Anna University holds the record for producing the most number of PhDs in the country, churning out, on an average, three a day.

Changes had been brought during an academic council meeting. The upper ceiling (on guiding PhD students) has been reduced from 12 to 8 now

M K Surappa |

ANNA UNIVERSITY VC

Cops stop funeral of 17-year-old boy who committed suicide

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.11.2018

Police stopped the funeral ceremony of a 17-yearold boy, who committed suicide by hanging at his house, and sent his body for autopsy to the Government General Hospital on Wednesday.

Police said the deceased identified as P Nagaraj was a first-year Bcom student at a private arts and science college in Thirumullaivoyal. Suspicion grew over the boy’s death after his family members organised his funeral in a hurry. After which, some of the neighbours alerted police. Preliminary inquiries revealed that Nagaraj often played online games with his friends on his mobile, which irritated his parents.

Recently, Nagaraj’s father Pothiraj chided him for not listening to his advice and asked him to focus on his studies. Upset over this, Nagaraj stayed aloof for a couple of days and stopped talking to friends and family members. On Wednesday, Nagaraj locked himself in a room at his house and took the extreme decision. As there was no response when family members knocked at the room, they broke open the door and found Nagaraj hanging from the ceiling.

Suspicion grew over the boy’s death after his family members organised his funeral in a hurry. After which, some of the neighbours alerted police

IRCTC introduces 15-day ‘Ramayana yatra’ package

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.11.2018

For ₹15,830 per person, Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation will take you on a 15-day Ramayana tour which will cover Hampi, Nasik, Ayodhya, Rameswaram and a few other locations in a sleeper class train as well as tour escorts, security, non-ac buses for sightseeing and accomodation in a non ac hall or domitory for night stay.

Titled ‘Ramayana Yatra’, the tour will start on November 14, IRCTC said in a statement. For reservations and queries, interested people can contact 9003140680 and 9003140681 .

This is part of IRCTC’s initative to run Bharat Darshan tour packages, rail tour packages, LTC packages and educational tours for schools and colleges, an official said.

Similarly, IRCTC has also introduced three other packages for which bookings are currently open. The ‘Splendors of Deccan’ package includes visits to Hyderabad, Aurangabad, Ajantha, Ellora Mumbai and Goa. This will be for 10 days at a cost of ₹10,100 each, starting from December 2.

A Goa special package for five days at a cost of ₹4725 per person and the Mookambika special, s involving a trip to Murudeshwar, Kollur, Mookambika, Sringeri, Horanadu and Dharmasthala at a cost of ₹6930 per person starts from December 14.

Central and state government employees can avail LTC for the above tours, IRCTC said.

Colleges start courses without univ nod, ask for waiver of penalty
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:09.11.2018

University of Madras continues to find a host of irregularities in affiliated colleges, where students are admitted to unapproved courses, which are sought to be ratified by the syndicates citing the ‘future of students’. The university, which imposes a penalty of ₹5,000 to ₹10,000 per student admitted to such courses, gets requests a year later, asking for waiver of the penal fee, thereby whitewashing questions of quality raised by the university inspection committees.

The university is the regulatory authority to ensure quality of education in affiliated colleges by considering commensurate facilities like principal, teaching faculty, library and lab facilities, based on which it approves a certain student strength for the course. Approval is denied to colleges if deficiencies are found in any of these pre-requisites. The university, however, has found that some colleges openly flout approval norms. The degrees given to students in such courses are not valid.

In some cases, the university inspection committee itself failed to flag serious lapses on the part of the college, while reporting them to the syndicate.

For instance, a college in Medavakkam applied for permission to start a BSc Visual Communication course for the academic year 2018-19. Two committees inspected the college and gave a green signal. The university, however, later found that the official who was designated as the principal had actually retired from service but still held the post. This is a violation, sources said.

In another case, a women’s college in Red Hills admitted around 350 students for a course which had no approval. The university fined the institute ₹35 lakh, which was brought down to ₹3.5 lakh with a request to ratify the course in the interest of ‘upliftment of rural, downtrodden girl students’.

In a third case, a management institute which ran MBA and MCA courses for six years without proper approval, was fined ₹34.8 lakh. In July, they wrote to the university asking for a waiver of the penalty as they were in a dire financial condition due to dwindling admissions.

“Self-financing colleges don’t get grants from the government and hence don’t appoint faculty and principals. We are going to conduct a special drive to check this issue,” said P Duraisamy, vice-chancellor of University of Madras.

University of Madras

ஆமதாபாத் நகர் பெயர் 'கர்ணாவதி' ஆக மாற்றம்

Added : நவ 07, 2018 23:23

ஆமதாபாத்:குஜராத் மாநிலத்தில் உள்ள ஆமதாபாத் நகரின் பெயர், 'கர்ணாவதி' என மாற்றப்படும் என, அம்மாநில அரசு அறிவித்துள்ளது.
குஜராத்தில், முதல்வர் விஜய் ரூபானி தலைமையிலான, பா.ஜ., ஆட்சி நடக்கிறது.இங்கு, ஆமதாபாத் நகரின் பெயரை, 'கர்ணாவதி' என மாற்றுவது குறித்து, மாநில துணை முதல்வர் நிதின் படேல் கூறியதாவது:கடந்த, 11ம் நுாற்றாண்டில், 'ஆஷ்வால்' என்றழைக்கப்பட்ட பகுதியை, 'பீல்' வம்ச ஆட்சியாளர்களுடன் போரிட்டு, சாளுக்கிய வம்சத்தினர் வெற்றி பெற்றனர். சபர்மதி ஆறு பகுதியில் அமைந்த இந்த நகருக்கு, 'கர்ணாவதி' என பெயரிட்டனர்.

பின், முகமதியர்களின் ஆட்சிக் காலத்தில், கர்ணாவதியை கைப்பற்றிய சுல்தான் அஹமது ஷா, 'அஹமதாபாத்' என, பெயர் மாற்றம் செய்தார்.மக்களின் நீண்ட கால கோரிக்கையை அடுத்து, இந்த நகரின் பெயர், கர்ணாவதி என மாற்றம் செய்ய முடிவு செய்யப்பட்டுள்ளது.இவ்வாறு அவர் கூறினார்.

உத்தர பிரதேச மாநிலத்தில் உள்ள அலகாபாத் நகரம், சமீபத்தில், 'பிரயாக் ராஜ்' என பெயர் மாற்றம் செய்யப்பட்டது. 'பைசாபாத் மாவட்டம்அயோத்தி மாவட்டமாக மாற்றப்படும்' என அம்மாநில முதல்வர் யோகி ஆதித்யநாத் தீபாவளியன்று அறிவித்தது குறிப்பிடத்தக்கது.