Univs close 102 engineering courses as demand stays low

Univs close 102 engineering courses as demand stays low

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.08.2021

Following poor admissions in the past few years, 14 deemed universities in Tamil Nadu including top institutes have closed 102 engineering courses including 62 postgraduate courses from 2021-22, according to data released by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).

The discontinued courses vary from traditional engineering courses to highly specialised courses such as civil engineering, electrical and electronics engineering, electronics and instrumentation, power electronics, automobile engineering, nano science and technology and VLSI design and architecture among others.

Around 50 engineering colleges closed 97 engineering courses in Tamil Nadu including 17 colleges which have closed civil engineering course this year, the data showed. As many as four engineering colleges including three in Coimbatore region have got the permission for progressive closure from the technical council from 2021-22. An official from the deemed university which closed postgraduate and undergraduate courses said the main reason for closure of courses was poor enrolment in the past few years.

"The simple reason for closing postgraduate courses is they have no takers. AICTE software is calculating the faculty ratio for all approved courses and showing deficiency for the course which is not offered due to no enrolment. To avoid faculty deficiency, the institutes have closed many postgraduate courses," said S Vaidyasubramaniam, vicechancellor of SASTRA.

Several institutes have closed the part-time degree programmes.

R W Alexander Jesudasan, pro-vice-chancellor, Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science in Chennai, said, the deemed universities will try to revive some of these courses with different course curriculum which will appeal to students and with different nomenclature.

"Higher education system is evolving one. There will be some programmes which will lose their importance and charm and other programmes will gain prominence. The deemed universities and autonomous colleges have freedom to close and introduce new courses depending upon the number of admissions," he added.

MKU to HC: Acting on job panel’s advice

MKU to HC: Acting on job panel’s advice

Madurai:13.08.2021

Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) on Thursday informed the Madras high court that it was acting on the recommendations of the highlevel committee, which was constituted to probe the irregularities in the appointments of teaching and non-teaching faculty made in 2017-18 without following UGC norms. The university also informed the court that the reports of the selection and scrutiny committees would be placed before the syndicate of the university for a decision to be taken with regard to these appointments. Taking cognizance of the submissions, a division bench of justices M Duraiswamy and K Murali Shankar directed MKU to submit the reports before the court. The judges also sought the decision of the syndicate to be placed before the court. TNN

Eleven medical colleges in Tamil Nadu inspected

Eleven medical colleges in Tamil Nadu inspected

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.08.2021

The National Medical Commission completed inspections of all the eleven new medical colleges on Thursday.

“Tamil Nadu will add 1,650 seats to the undergraduate seat matrix taking the tally to 5,200 MBBS seats across government medical colleges in the state if all 11 colleges get the sanction from the apex medical body,” health minister Ma Subramanian said.

In addition, the state has applied for 100 more seats in Coimbatore medical college. “We have asked the centre to consider starting admissions to All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) Madurai this year itself,” he said.

As a part of the national mission to increase the number of medical colleges across the country, the centre granted permission to Tamil Nadu for commencement of 11 new medical colleges in districts in Namakkal, Krishnagiri, Tirupur, Dindigul, Ramanathapuram, Virudhunagar, The Nilgiris, Ariyalur, Nagapattinam, Kallakurichi and Tiruvallur.

The panel of inspectors appointed by the apex medical body verified the infrastructure and human resources facility required to admit students for the first year MBBS course in these newly constructed colleges.

“Inspections are now over. The teams will send in their reports to the committee. Based on the report, the apex body will grant the letter of permission for medical admissions,” said Director of Medical Education Dr R Narayanababu.

New MTC bus routes to help commuters reach offices soon

New MTC bus routes to help commuters reach offices soon

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:  13.08.2021

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation has launched services along nine new routes to help people reach work places faster. It also revived services along 14 routes that were stopped due to poor patronage.

After the inauguration on Thursday, transport minister R S Rajakannapan said 30 buses will ply along the routes regularly. Buses will be operated from Saidapet and Tondiarpet, connecting southern and northern suburbs with the core city.

State government employees from Todd Hunter Nagar, usually have to change bus two buses to reach the Secretariart, Ezhilgam and other government offices along Kamarajar Salai (Marina beach road). “Direct buses have now been made available from Todd Hunter Nagar to these areas,” said Ma Subramanian, Saidapet MLA and health minister, who was present.

Hundreds of people from Theedeer Nagar, Gotha Medu and Kottupuram along the Adyar were resettled in Kannagi Nagar, Ezhil Nagar and Perumbakkam, but most still have shops in and around Saidapet. A new route (5S) has been launched to help them, said Subramanian.

S Kavi Priya, who works at Olympia Tech Park, is happy more buses will ply from Ekkattuthangal. “Right now, we are left with no other option but to take metro trains to reach Koyambedu or Central from where we can get buses to reach our homes,” she said. MTC revived services along three old routes from Ekkattuthangal to Toll Gate, Broadway and Sunguvarchatram.

NEET could prove to be govt's most troublesome test

NEET could prove to be govt's most troublesome test

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

13.08.2021

In its first 100 days, the DMK government took two major decisions in education. One was to conduct reexam for more than 4.25 lakh engineering students who appeared for a proctored online test in February. Second, when a majority of parents and teachers wanted the Class XII state board exams to be held, CM Stalin decided to cancel them based on views of medical experts.

Academics called the first move regressive. Anna University was the only state university in the country to come up with proctored online tests to conduct a semblance of an exam during the pandemic. Instead of helping other state universities develop such online assessment tools and improve assessment standard, the state brought down the standard of Anna University exams to the level of other universities.

The second decision had to be taken in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. The government had to come up with a weightage system keeping in mind the interests of rural and urban students and gave 50% weightage to Class X board exam marks. It affected the top scoring students as there was little difference between them and others. A majority of students and parents, however, were happy in the end.

There are many positives in the approach of the new government. It appointed a committee headed by Justice A K Rajan to study the impact of NEET in medical admissions and another headed by Justice D Murugesan to study the representation of government school students in professional courses.

Now, with schools and colleges set to reopen physical classes, more challenges await the government. They include bringing back dropouts, preventing child marriages and retaining students in government schools. More than 2 lakh children moved to government and aided schools from private schools. Government colleges and state universities are crippled with faculty shortages and financial crises. At least three state universities are on the verge of collapse. Education will be one of the key parameters in which the success or failure of the DMK government will be rated.

Rs 311 crore: Onam bonus for Kerala govt employees

Rs 311 crore: Onam bonus for Kerala govt employees

In April, weeks before the assembly elections, the government had allotted Rs 4,850 crore for implementing pay revision.

Published: 12th August 2021 04:40 AM 

By M S Vidyanandan

Express News Service

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Even as lakhs of people are struggling to cope with the economic crisis induced by long spells of lockdown and a few of them resorting to suicide, the LDF regime in the state has decided to give government employees more and turn a blind eye to the growing demand for providing social security allowance to those who had lost their jobs.

On Wednesday, Finance Minister K N Balagopal announced Onam bonus and festival advance to 5.2 lakh state government employees who were granted a hefty pay hike only four months ago. The cash-strapped government has set apart Rs 311 crore for the purpose.

In April, weeks before the assembly elections, the government had allotted Rs 4,850 crore for implementing pay revision. It may be recalled that the state has witnessed 28 suicides owing to job loss and debt burden in the last seven weeks and there has been no word so far from the government on any assistance to struggling private sector employees and traders.

Of the 5.2 lakh government employees, around one lakh will get Rs 4,000 each as Onam bonus while the rest will get Rs 2,750 each as festival allowance. In addition, 5.3 lakh service pensioners will get Rs 1,000 each. All employees are also eligible to avail a festival advance of Rs 15,000, which should be repaid in five monthly instalments.

Kerala’s total workforce is 1.27 crore as per the estimate of the state planning board. During the first lockdown, 73 lakh of them were rendered jobless, according to a study by the board. That means Rs 260 crore of the tax payers’ money is being spent for the welfare of 4% of workforce who haven’t lost a single day’s wage owing to lockdown.

“This is atrocious. The government’s indifference to what is happening around is writ large on this decision. How graceful a gesture it would have been had the government used this money to pay Rs 500 each at least to those who have lost jobs?” asked Jose Sebastian, economist and former director of Gulati Institute of Finance and Taxation.

FM urges staff to donate generously to relief fund

“In fact, this magnanimity is a gesture of appreciation for the organised class of government employees who had stood with the government loyally,” he said.Though the Opposition did not protest against the decision, Balagopal urged the employees to generously contribute to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). When the government had appealed for donation to CMDRF during the 2018 floods, a section of employees had questioned it. Only 17% of aided college teachers — one of the highly paid employees — joined the 2018 contribution drive. As in the previous years, employees on contract basis and those working in various government schemes will also be eligible for the festival allowance, said Balagopal.

About Rs 150 crore will be spent for these people, most of them falling in the low-income category. They will also be eligible for a festival advance of Rs 5,000. As per the revised budget estimates for 2020-21, the state had spent 30% of its revenue receipts for salary payment and 21% for pension payments.

As on January 1, 2021, the number of state government employees was 5,22,223 who draw salaries in the range of Rs 23,000 to Rs 1.66 lakh.

5.2 lakh is the total strength of government employees in Kerala

Latest ‘attraction’ in Madurai-Chennai Tejas Express leaves commuters drenched

Latest ‘attraction’ in Madurai-Chennai Tejas Express leaves commuters drenched

As the passengers began to move about frantically, panic spread among a section of passengers that they could get electrocuted as the rainwater passed through electric cables in the roof.

Published: 12th August 2021 03:35 AM 

Tejas Express 

By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Rainwater leaking through the roofs of two coaches during travel left passengers in shock and outrage in the Madurai-Chennai Egmore Tejas Special Express on Tuesday. Water began dripping from the roof of an AC chair coach when the Chennai-bound train was running between Virudhachalam and Villupuram, while it was heavily raining outside, said passengers.

“Initially many of us did not notice that water was seeping through the coach floor. Suddenly, water began leaking through the roof causing panic inside the coach. A few women passengers were frightened and screamed upon seeing the water. Immediately we all moved our luggage,” said a traveller who did not wish to be named.

As the passengers began to move about frantically, panic spread among a section of passengers that they could get electrocuted as the rainwater passed through electric cables in the roof. This led to chaos in the coach for some time. Travel ticket examiners pacified the passengers and shifted them to other coaches.

“The Railway charges Rs 900 to Rs 1,300 per ticket for Tejas Express. Shoddy maintenance of coaches is unacceptable for whatever reasons. The railway should refund our ticket fare,” demanded another passenger.

As the rainwater leakage was also reported in another AC chair coach, the Chennai division of Southern Railway has sent both the coaches to the Integral Coach Factory for repair works. Tejas rake was manufactured by the ICF and handed over to Southern Railway in November 2018.The coaches were provided with advanced features such as talk back facility, which enable the passengers to call loco pilots through microphone, vacuum toilets, personalised infotainment system, GPS LED destination board and electronic reservation chart.

“Both the coaches are being examined. They were produced using advanced electrical technology and it has to be maintained by a team comprising both electrical and mechanical engineers,” said an ICF official.