Double whammy: Students return from US only to stare at loan burden

Sudipta.Sengupta@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:07.02.2019

After battling the trauma of detention, it’s the fear of being sucked into a severe financial crisis that’s come to haunt students from the sham University of Farmington — most of them from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — who were forced to fly out of the US earlier this week. With little or no savings, and a bleak career ahead, these students fear that their families might even lose the bank guarantees, they had taken loans against, to travel to America. Worse, bank officials are now mounting pressure on them toclear thedebt assoon as possible, the amount ranging from anywhere from ₹20 lakh to₹40 lakh.

Speaking to TOI, these distraught students said they are now scurrying around to find jobs in Hyderabad, even if that means drawing meagre salaries of ₹15,000 to₹20,000.

“The branch manager called my father (an employee of a Nalgonda-based chit-fund company), soon after I returned, and told him to pay off the loan in the next four months. Else, they’ll forfeit our land that we gave as surety,” said L B Nagar-based Ramesh* who was arrested on January 29 and kept at a detention centre in San Josefor closeto48 hours. Ramesh went to the US in 2014, to pursue a master’s degree from the Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU). While he managed to work on an OPT (Optional Practical Training)for a brief while,earning $3,200 a month, he had to quit when the university’s STEM programme lost accreditation.

“Because my H1B application wasn’t picked in the lottery, friends suggested I enrol with Farmington and find another job under CPT (Curricular Practical Training). This was the best option because the feewaslow anditofferedinstalment facility. Little did I know that I’d end up in jail and be left with nothing ultimately,” said Ramesh, who has to pay ₹28 lakh (principal and interest).

Narayana* is sailing in the same boat. While he managed to escape detention, the Mahbubnagar boy had to return to India almost overnight, with ₹10 lakh loan (he paid a part of it) hanging over his head. His deadline: June 2019.

(*All names changed on request)

Not taking chances

Following the Farmington fiasco, Indian students enrolled with other US universities offering Day 1 CPT are also taking the next flight back. While there has been no crackdown on these varsities, students do not wish to take a chance. This despite, some of these universities issuing notifications assuring students about their being no legal issue with the institutions. TNN

We have to start our careers all over again in India. That means we’ll need to settle for a beginner’s salary, which won’t be enough to cover our EMIs. Now, I have to pay a monthly instalment of ₹52,000 towards my loan. I have no idea how I’ll do this. Our only hope is the central government

Prakash | STUDENT FROM HYDERABAD

PUSHING INNOVATION, ONE CITATION AT A TIME

Here’s Why Two TN Scientists Are In The Elite Club Of Most Referred Researchers

U.Tejonmayam@timesgroup.com

07.02.2019

More than a decade ago, applied mathematician R Sakthivel spent hours in a robotics laboratory in South Korea rolling out an algorithm that would go on to improve sensors that act as the eye of robots. A year before that, in 2007, Rajnish Kumar, a research scholar in University of British Columbia, Canada, published a paper along with his supervisors on the process of capturing carbon dioxide before exhaust gases are released into the atmosphere from coal-based thermal power stations.

A few months ago, Sakthivel, a mathematics professor at Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, and Kumar, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, reached a milestone that only a handful of Indian researchers managed to achieve. Over the years, their research had helped several more who were working on similar topics. They were among the 10 in the country and two from Tamil Nadu to be named world’s most ‘influential’ and ‘highly-cited’ researchers in 2018. The list released by the firm Clarivate Analytics in its fifth edition selected 4,000 researchers from across the world. The two scientists are now part of the elite 0.1% of researchers, who have made it to the list based on their citations.

Recognized twice in a row, Sakthivel’s work to improve performance of low-cost sonar sensors that acts as an eye or ‘pathfinder’ for robots was cited 196 times. From military operations, to aiding surgeries and for vacuum cleaners, the algorithm is used in diverse fields. “Though sonar sensors are 25% cheaper than laser sensors, they work like the eye of a 75-year-old, while laser ones are like that of a 25-year-old. Hence, sonar sensors require constant improvement,” said the mathematician, who has more than 6,700 citations to his credit from the 265 published papers.

Kumar’s insight on carbon dioxide recovery was cited more than 284 times. “When you burn coal, you may use the energy to heat water or produce electricity. A lot of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen are released in the process. Now with checks on carbon dioxide, and the Paris agreement restricting its release into the atmosphere, my work on separating the gas before release into the air becomes a turning point,” he explains.

Areas like energy, carbon dioxide capture, water and nano materials, which have a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of the people, are cited often as more researchers are working on it to find solutions to these related issues. But for researchers to be recognized, it takes more than just one paper. “You need to have at least 10 papers that are highly ranked in reputed journals,” says Kumar. “For a researcher, success comes only years after you publish your first paper, because your citation count increases only when your area of research and the work done is considered important and others cite your paper.”

Sakthivel’s area of expertise goes beyond number crunching. Control Theory being one of his areas of research, he often collaborates with engineers to develop algorithms that can control and make a system work according to the requirements. “My algorithms can be used in robotics. In research, there are three stages — theoretical, simulation and experimental set up. To test the effectiveness of my algorithm, I compare it with the data from existing experimental setup,” he said.

Indian industries may not be ready yet to utilize the expertise of chemical engineers like Kumar, especially since the country is in a nascent stage in the field of manufacturing, unlike the US. But his work still reaches the common man. For instance, he was involved in producing biodiesel from sunflower oil using a chemical reaction with ethanol and methanol at very high temperatures (supercritical fluids). “Supercritical fluids act as a solvent as well as a catalyst. This was demonstrated for the first time for the synthesis of biodiesel and thus was cited heavily — around 260 times,” he says. Kumar is now involved in a long-term project on methane recovery from marine natural gas hydrates, which could meet the country’s requirement for the next two centuries.

In between producing quality research work, scientists also have to deal with several other challenges to get noticed in the international community. According to the professors, active collaboration and promotion are ways to do it. “In science individual achievement is almost impossible. Collaboration brings a different dimension to your research. You also have to actively promote your work through interactions and attending international conferences. Scientists won’t know your work and won’t cite your paper unless they have interacted with you,” says Kumar. Funding and lack of government support are other impediments in research. “I applied for Centre’s funding for a project, but it was rejected after the first review. There were no applied mathematicians in the committee that scrutinized the proposal. How will they understand my work,” he asks.

DISCUSSION TODAY
Conference to discuss embalming techniques

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.02.2019

Stiff and fragile cadavers preserved in sub-minimal temperatures at morgues dipped in cancer-causing chemicals may no longer vex medicos and surgical interns at medical schools as doctors will come together to discuss advanced embalming techniques using safe chemicals at the conference of society of clinical anatomists at Sri Ramachandra University on Thursday.

A team of embalming technicians from Australia and Japan will perform hands-on demonstration on methods that do not require formalin tanks.

At present, anatomy departments use concentrated formalin to embalm dead for dissection purposes. “They are stored in large tanks of 2500 litres formalin. These bodies become rigid and are frozen at about -24°C. It may not be easy for surgeons to use them for surgical demonstrations. Once they are put on the table for dissection, they last no more than six hours. They will have to be completely discarded,” said Dr T Vijay Sagar, head of department of anatomy, Sri Ramachandra Medical University.

Several developed countries are discouraging use of toxic formalin and have been looking for better ways for judicious use of cadavers. “The tissue consistency with the new chemicals is soft and it provides an almost life-like scenario for training purposes,” Dr Vijay Sagar said. The amount of formalin will be reduced by about 30% to 4% in the new technique.

Avoid hasty ‘Friday arrests’, Madras HC tells TN police

Wants Cops To Show Maturity In Probing

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.02.2019

Pull up your socks and show more quality and maturity in investigation techniques, the Madras high court has told the Tamil Nadu police, annoyed by the unnecessary anticipatory bail applications of those worried over hasty arrests, particularly ‘Friday’ arrests, by police.

“Police must understand that all criminal cases need not necessarily involve arrest of accused persons during investigation and an effective investigation can be done even otherwise. A change in attitude will bring down unnecessary filing of anticipatory bail petitions. This procedure can be effectively implemented in matrimonial disputes, commercial disputes, property disputes and other minor offences, to name a few. 

Ultimately, the aim is to top unnecessary/hasty/illegal arrests. These arrests normally take place on a Friday or a day prior to holidays to ensure that the accused does not come out on bail immediately. The popular euphemism is ‘Friday’ arrest,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh said.

Henceforth, in all anticipatory bail petitions filed before the high court where the offence concerned carries a punishment of up to seven years or below, police should instruct the public prosecutor whether they were going to arrest the accused without warrant or not. In such cases, the court will record the statement, and pass necessary orders, he said.

As for other cases where the police want to arrest the accused persons in the course of investigation, those anticipatory bail petitions will be dealt with by the high court on merits, Justice Anand Venkatesh added.

The court made the observations while granting bail to a relative of a man who was apprehended in connection with a case over causing cruelty to the man's wife.

Unnecessary arrests normally take place on a Friday or a day prior to holidays to ensure that the accused does not come out on bail immediately. The popular euphemism is ‘Friday arrest’

Justice N Anand Venkatesh

A FAILED SCRIPT

This director’s cut is a murder most foul
Tattoo On One Of The Hands Of The Deceased Helps Police Zero In On Husband

A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com

07.02.2019

Dealing with a murder was not a new thing to him. But this time, the floor was not in a studio but at his 10*10 room in Jafferkhanpet and the plot was in real life. He was the protagonist and his estranged wife the victim.

Kollywood film director S R Balakrishnan, who murdered Sandhya on January 19 and was arrested on Tuesday, told police he smashed her head with a hammer after failing to convince her to give up her dream of becoming an actor.

Balakrishnan told police he cut up the body, scraped off the flesh, before twisting and twirling the bones and packing the parts into differed plastic covers that he sealed to ensure they didn’t fall out.

He made a few trips to dump the body parts — one to drop a bag in a bin behind Kasi theatre, another on the road leading towards Jafferkhanpet and yet another on the banks of the Adyar — all between 12.30am and 1am. While one bag, with three limbs, was discovered in a Pallikaranai dump on January 21, the second bag was found on Wednesday. The third and possibly a fourth are yet to be found.

After the disposal, he returned home, washed his blood-stained room clean and went to bed. Life had to be lived. He began watching TV and reading newspapers for ‘developments’ in the case. He called up his mother-in-law R Prasanna, of Thovazhai in Kanyakumari district, saying Sandhya had planned to travel abroad to take up a job. This was apparently to ensure her family would not lodge a missing complaint. Last week, Balakrishnan himself lodged a complaint with the Tuticorin police, saying his wife was missing.

The Tuticorin police then called Prasanna who said her daughter was in Chennai and if something had happened to her, it would bebecause of Balakrishnan.

Prasanna told police Balakrishna had never been loving toward Sandhya in 17 years of their marriage life, that he had tonsured her head so that no one would look at her.

After Balakrishnan’s arrest, police said they identified the woman with the help of a dragon tattoo on her limbs. When investigation officer Albin Raj questioned Balakrishnan, nothing in his answers created any suspicion. “We searched his mobile phone gallery for his wife’s photo but found none. Finally, we found a photo showing the tattoo on her limbs. It matched that found on a body part recovered from the dump yard.”

Balakrishnan initially denied any role in the death before finally admitting to the crime. “I didn’t like her acting. She didn’t pay heed to my plea. She spoke to many men. This pushed me into killing her on January 19,”he said.

On an earlier occasion, a police officer said, Sandhya had consumed an overdose of sleeping pills and attempted to end her life, as he was against her plan to take up acting. He rescued her and admitted her to a private hospital.

Temple board joins govt, backs entry of women to Sabarimala

SC Reserves Order On Plea Seeking Review

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:07.02.2019

The Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), which manages Sabarimala temple, sprung a surprise by changing its stand and supporting entry of women in the “mensurating age” before the Supreme Court, which on Wednesday reserved orders on pleas seeking review of its ruling in favour of unrestricted entry of women.

The Kerala government said social harmony had been disturbed but this could not be a ground to allow an unconstitutional practice. Parties seeking a review argued the court should not intervene in a specific religious practice and that public opinion in the state had opposed the order on a significant scale.

The TDB told the court that it accepted the verdict that paved the way for all women to enter the temple.

In three and half hours of proceedings before a constitution bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice R F Nariman, Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra, senior lawyers presented arguments in support and against 56 review petitions. The Devasom Board’s U-turn immediately held attention as it told the court that it would accept the verdict by which the gender barrier at Sabarimala temple was dismantled.

‘Lord Ayyappa, as a perpetual bachelor, has legal rights that must be respected’

Those opposing unrestricted entry of women have argued that the practice is specific to the Sabarimala shrine and enjoys the sanction of tradition while it does not apply to the deity’s other shrines. They said Lord Ayyappa, as a “perpetual bachelor”, has legal rights that must be respected in the case of Sabarimala.

The Board had led from the front when the apex court examined the constitutional validity of the practice by which women in the age group 10-50 years were barred. It had then submitted this is an essential part religious belief and justified ban on entry for female devotees of menstruating age to maintain purity of temple.

When senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Board, told the bench that the SC verdict was to ensure equal entitlement to men and women, it took everyone by surprise and Justice Indu Malhotra asked whether the Board has changed its stand. Dwivedi replied in affirmative and said the Board had already filed an application in this regard.

Opposing the review plea, Dwivedi said it was time for inclusion and women could not be denied rights to worship and society has to evolve to ensure they are treated equally as men in all walks of life including at religious places. He said that the people opposing the SC verdict should accept the judgment gracefully and allow entry of all women inside the temple.

Pressing for re-examination of the apex court’s September, 2018 verdict, senior advocates K Parasaran, V Giri, A M Singhvi and Shekhar Naphade said the court should have refrained from examining validity of a practice based on religious faith and belief. They said the entry of women in the age group of 10-50 was prohibited due to nature of deity and it was an internal matter of a community.

Naphade said it was not the jurisdiction of a court to decide what essential part of a religion is and it has to be decided by the community. Referring to protests in Kerala leading to law and order problem, he told the bench that social peace and harmony was disturbed in the aftermath of SC verdict. “The community has not accepted the verdict. Can court force its view on them? It is beyond the jurisdiction of the court,” he said.

Appearing for the state, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta said no case is made out for court to review its verdict. He admitted social harmony got disturbed but said it cannot be a ground to allow an unconstitutional practice of keeping women away.

For full report, www.toi.in

Meerut doctor is first in US to do robot-assisted lung reduction op

Ishita.Bhatia@timesgroup.com

Meerut:07.02.2019

A surgeon born and brought up in Meerut has achieved the feat of becoming the first in the US to perform a robot-assisted lung surgical procedure. Dr Ankit Bharat, 39, surgical director of the lung transplant programme at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, had successfully performed a robot-assisted lung volume reduction surgery in December 2018. The procedure removed diseased tissue within the lungs for the treatment of severe emphysema, which involves damage to the air sacs in the lungs due to which the body does not get the oxygen it needs.

Bharat studied till Class X in St Mary’s Academy here and completed his Class XII from Delhi Public School, RK Puram. He then studied medicine from Christian Medical College, Vellore, and went for further studies to the US in 2003. He completed his residency in general surgery and fellowship in thoracic surgery from Washington University. He has been working in the US ever since he completed his education.

The robotic procedure allows the surgeon to precisely remove the diseased portions of the lungs, which may reduce pain and scarring, lower the risk of infection and shorten recovery time compared to traditional robotic lung volume reduction surgery.

For full report, www.toi.in