Do away with negative marks in IIT entrance exams: Madras HC

The Judge directed the CBSE to communicate this order to the National Testing Agency, Department of Higher Education.

Published: 02nd February 2019 02:51 AM 

Madras High Court (File | EPS)

By Harish Murali

Express News Service

CHENNAI: In what definitely comes as a huge relief to a number of students who lose their entry to prestigious institutions as the IITs due to negative marking, the Madras High Court on Friday ruled against negative marks and said the same should be done away with, immediately.

Justice R Mahadevan, while hearing a petition of a student, S Nelson Prabakaran, said, “This court is of the considered opinion that the system of negative marking in no way, helps the examiner to analyse the intelligence, aptitude or knowledge of the students in any manner. As such, this Court has no hesitation to hold that the system of negative marking has to be done away with, inasmuch as, in the considered opinion of this Court, the same perforce requires reconsideration.”

S Nelson applied in IIT and appeared for mains and was not selected for Advanced Test. The petitioner stated in his petition that he lost in Mains by scoring 47 marks and the cut-off marks were 50.


The counsel for the petitioner, submitted the answer sheet in the court, where Nelson has actually scored 72 and 25 marks were reduced for wrong answers by awarding negative marks.

The petitioner also submitted that the Medical Council of Canada Evaluation Examination, CMC Vellore, The Undergraduate Medicine and Health Sciences Admission Test, Canada, and MCI Rules and Regulations for MBBS in Russia, do carry out entrance examinations but not the negative marking system.

The counsel for CBSE said that multiple options are being given to each of the candidates to choose from and it was also brought to the notice of this Court that the CBSE is no longer the authority concerned and it is the National Testing Agency, Department of Higher Education controlled by the Human Resources department.

Judge R Mahadevan observed that, “Negative marking introduces concern about students’ risk taking, the attitude which is unrelated to the skill or knowledge level of the student. Furthermore, there is no method available with the CBSE or with any other agency to distinguish from guessed correct answer and a known correct answer. It is compounded by their inability to distinguish between an omission deriving from ignorance and deriving from risk aversion. Whenever proven knowledge is considered important, creativity and innovations are equally considered important.”

The Judge directed the CBSE to communicate this order to the National Testing Agency, Department of Higher Education.

US fake univ racket: Tracking devices fitted on desi youths

Sudipta.Sengupta@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:02.02.2019

In a move termed “grossly deplorable” by local attorneys and residents, the United States police on Thursday strapped tracking devices on several Indian students caught in the ‘University of Farmington’ fiasco. This has been done to restrict the movement of the students, while federal agents probe their immigration status, sources said.

Speaking to TOI from Atlanta, legal consultant Phani Bobba said: “A student reached out to me from Fremont, California saying that they tied a tracker around her ankle and instructed her to stay within a certain radius. She was given a map and asked not to cross the defined boundaries. They also gave her batteries to ensure that the device is charged.” Prior to this, this student from Telangana was detained for over 14 hours.

Reacting to this development, members of the Telugu Association of North America (TANA) said the move was “ridiculous” and “grossly unjust.” A similar step was taken in 2011 when dozens of Indian students were detained for being enrolled in the sham ‘Tri-Valley University’ in Pleasanton, California. The move had led to a massive outcry both at home and in the US, with Indian authorities demanding that the radio tags be removed immediately. The National Human Rights Commission had even submitted a representation to the external affairs ministry, pointing out how it amounted to violation of the students’ human rights.

TANA members have met Harsh Vardhan Shringla, Indian ambassador to the US who was on his maiden trip to Atlanta, along with consul general of India (Atlanta), Swati Vijay Kulkarni. “They promised that they were working closely with the concerned authorities and will resolve the issue in a fast and amicable manner,” said TANA secretary Anjaiah Chowdary Lavu.

Telangana NRI Parents Association has condemned the setting up a fake varsity. Parents claim that it may cause collateral damage to students and their families. “Majority students who sought admission in University of Farmington belong to middle class families. Students detained by the US authorities are innocent as they are purposely trapped in the sting operation. When the government itself touts the university to be registered and recognized, how is it the students’ fault?” questioned Hima Bindu, working president of Telangana NRI Parents Association.

The parents are now planning a protest and a meeting in the city during the weekend against department of homeland security in the US.



IN THE DOCK

Half of all engg colleges may face seat cuts from AICTE

Many Colleges Fail To Meet Guidelines

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
02.02.2019

If the All India Council for Technical Education goes ahead with its warning of reducing seats in government technical institutions for faculty shortage and lapses in infrastructure, about half of the institutes in Tamil Nadu would face the cut.

While the state-run institutes meet the infrastructural standards set by AICTE, the government polytechnics as well as engineering colleges terribly fall short of faculty. In November last year AICTE had conducted inspections and issued notices to 18 out of 46 polytechnics and six out of ten engineering colleges for shortcomings. While AICTE might do a second round of fact checking, these institutions might be the first to face the music. In addition to these 24 institutions, there are about ten more polytechnic colleges that run the show with temporary staff.

Against this backdrop, AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe had said the body would reduce 40,000 seats in government technical institutions across the country as penalty for the lapses. Though the exact number of seats that would be cut short in Tamil Nadu is yet to be worked out, sources in AICTE said that there would be a 10 to 20 % seat cut in institutions that fall short of norms.

“Based on the issues such as faculty shortage and absence of laboratories, we reduce 10% or 20% seats. This is to make the institutions recruit faculty members or invest in improving infrastructure. If the institutions comply, we will give them the seats back,” Anil Sahasrabudhe told TOI. He said AICTE was yet to work out number of seats to be cut short in Tamil Nadu.

In Coimbatore, of three government technical institutions, two have acute shortage of staff. Out of 127 faculty posts in government polytechnic college in Coimbatore, 60% of posts are managed with temporary faculty members who work in a consolidated pay scale of Rs15,000 per month, said sources. The scenario was worse in polytechnic in other parts of the state with temporary faculty constituting up to 80% of the total faculty strength. ``More than 1,050 polytechnic lecturer posts were in the state vacant. Currently among the 46 government polytechnic colleges in the state, after the recent retirements, around 1,300 lecturer posts would be vacant,’’ a college principal said.

Recruitments have been put on hold by Teachers Recruitment Board since 2017, allegedly after a complaints of irregularities in exams in the past, sources said.

Principal of GCE Bodinayakanur S Jayanthi, about 70% of the full-time positions for teaching faculty was only filled in the college. “But compared to the initial years, the number of faculty is better now,” she said. Jayanthi added that there was a shortage especially in the senior positions.

Inspite of the shortcomings, the government colleges are most sought after by students and almost all seats get filled due to infrastructure and affordable fee. “The seats are totally filled during the admissions, every year. For rural students, government colleges are the most sought-after because the fees is very less. In our college, per annum tuition fee is only around ₹7,000,” Jayanthi said.

However, some colleges do not get filled completely. For instance none of the six government institutions in Trichy region could get all the seats filled. There are less takers for engineering offered through Tamil medium, so such seats do not get filled fully, said a college principal.

Institution authorities said that they have sought the state government to fill all the vacant permanent posts. ``For now, AICTE should consider the fact that temporary staff we have roped in are as good as permanent staff and put on hold decision to cut seats,’’ said a principal.

With inputs from filed by Vishnu Swaroop, C R Balajee and Gokul R

‘It’s Of No Help, Cripples Intuition Of Students’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  02.02.2019

Intelligent guessing is an art. One cannot be sure about all things at all times. In other words, negative marking does not allow a student to develop an element of guessing, Justice R Mahadevan of the Madras high court said while directing the National Testing Agency to consider doing away with the concept of negative marks in competitive exams.

“By awarding negative marks, the intuition of a student is crippled. Everyone comes across a situation in life where decisions are taken purely out of intuition. It may work or may not, but, an element of boldness comes along, while making a decision through intuition. The threat of negative marks will never allow intuition to grow in a student,” Justice Mahadevan said.

Wild guessing is another type of guessing. While intelligent guessing requires an amount of prior knowledge on the subject, wild guessing is the decision taken just like that.

In a competitive examination, the students come with varied degrees of preparation. As such, when a student is not sure about the answer, he or she attempts intelligent guessing. This type of guessing should be permitted and encouraged, as it would help the students in the future, the court added.

Multiple-choice tests are meant to assess the knowledge and not supposed to be concerned about behavioural/attitude related aspects of the examinee, the judge said. “Therefore, this court is of the considered opinion that the system of negative marking in no way helps the examiner to analyse the intelligence, aptitude or knowledge of the students in any manner. As such, this court has no hesitation to hold that the system of negative marking has to be done away with, inasmuch as, in the considered opinion of this court, the same perforce requires reconsideration.”

Justice Mahadevan passed the order on a plea moved by S Nelson Prabhakar, a JEE (Main) 2013 candidate, seeking revaluation of his exam. Eventually, he was disqualified and was not allowed to appear for JEE (Advance) 2013. The main reason for his low marks was found to be negative marking awarded for every wrong answer.

Submitting that the facts of the present case has brought to light the tyranny of awarding negative marks, advocate A Arulmozhi said, “It is time for a judicious scrutiny of awarding negative marks by agencies which conduct competitive examinations.”

Drawing the attention of the court to the admission process in countries such as the UK, Canada, Australia and Russia, Arulmozhi contended that the most advanced countries do not follow the system of negative marking.

Law varsity scam: HC asks staff to file affidavits over appt

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:02.02.2019

To weed out unqualified professors and lecturers at Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University, the Madras high court on Friday directed all teaching staff at the varsity to furnish sworn affidavits explaining the terms of their appointment, including their qualifications.

Justice S M Subramaniam said the court would scrutinise each affidavit independently to check if the appointment was as per norms laid down by the University Grants Commission (UGC), warning that those appointed due to favouritism would face consequences.

The judge passed the order on a plea moved by D Sankar, a professor at the varsity. The petitioner sought the court to remove unqualified people from service. “Thereis a general allegation that students do not respect teachers. If the teachers are unqualified and can’t take classes properly, how would they (students) respect (teachers)? One should command respect, notdemandit,” hesaid.

The judge added that the court could see there had been irregular appointments made outof favouritism.After two years of such appointments on contractual basis, proposals would be sent on the sly to the government and such person’s service would be regularised, the court said.

Expressing its disappointment,thecourtsaiditisconcerned aboutthewelfareof thestudents and the institution.

The judge noted that former vice-chancellor of the university PVanangamudi,whois a party respondent to the plea, disputed the qualification of the current VC Tamma Suryanarayana Sastry and directed the UGC to file a report on the educational and other qualifications required for the post.

The court then impleaded all serving teaching staff as party respondents and directed them to file the affidavits by February 20.

HC asks for new plan to help MBBS students

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:02.02.2019

The Madras high court on Friday passed an interim order directing the government to submit a fresh proposal for accommodating 108 students of the now defunct Ponnaiyah Ramajayam Medical College in 22 government medical colleges in the state.

A division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice P Rajamanickam passed the interim order on the appeal moved by the state against the order of a single judge directing to accommodate the 108 students in government colleges.

The board of governors shall consider the proposal in accordance with the rules of the Indian Medical Council Act and forward the same to the Union ministry of health and family welfare within two weeks, the bench said.

The ministry shall pass orders on merit and produce the same in a sealed cover before the court by March  28. The entire process should be concluded within six weeks, the court said.

Opposing the appeal, senior counsels for the students P Wilson and Silambannan submitted that since the state has given an undertaking to the Centre that it takes the responsibility of the students in case private medical colleges close down, it should accommodate the students.

DECODING THE BUDGET

20,19...MODI GOES FULL STEAM

Ahead Of Polls, NDA Woos Both Urban & Rural India—Middle Class, Unorganised Workers, And Farmers

TEAM TOI  02.02.2019

Finance minister Piyush Goyal on Friday served out sops to large sections of the population with a sense of purpose you normally witness at railway station tea stalls. With Lok Sabha elections due to be announced in a few weeks, the urgency was understandable, particularly after the Congress fired an opening salvo with its farm loan waivers in three states and the promise of a minimum income guarantee scheme across the country.

The Modi government responded with a budget that was interim only in name. It had a Rs 6,000 per annum direct income transfer for small and marginal farmers – those with holdings below 2 hectares or about 5 acres – drawing largely from a scheme in Telangana. The tax liability on those with incomes up to Rs 5 lakh was cut to zero. And there was plenty more for other segments that matter when it counts, in the big daddy of elections come April-May.

Prominent among these was the promise of a Rs 3,000 per month pension for those working in the unorganised sector when they reach 60 in return for a monthly contribution of Rs 55 to Rs 100 depending on their age when they join the scheme. Coming after three large medical, life and accident insurance schemes, these represent a conscious approach to leverage Aadhaar and Jan Dhan to widen the social security net.

In a departure from the past, the government decided to immediately roll out the schemes. While the pension plan will be launched on February 15, the income support for farmers is effective December 2018. The break from the tradition of outgoing governments not making major tax changes was justified by Goyal who argued that relief for certain sections could not wait. Besides, he maintained, this was no more than a continuation of the NDA government’s policies.

The interest subvention scheme currently available to farmers has been extended to fisheries, poultry and dairies. That means they can get up to 5% off on their interest rate if they repay loans on time. The coastal regions and eastern India, many of which have not been BJP strongholds but are very much on the party’s radar for 2019, were clearly the focus of this measure.



No word on unemployment

Unsurprisingly, the cow figured, too, with the promise of a Kamdhenu (the mythical cow that never ran out of milk) board to deal with everything to do with cattle from productivity to their welfare. Later, at a press conference, Goyal invoked the directive principles in the Constitution to deflect any possible criticism that this was part of a saffron agenda.

The relatively well-off middle class wasn’t entirely overlooked either with standard deduction on income tax being hiked from ₹40,000 to ₹50,000. Within the middle class, there was something for senior citizens – by raising the TDS limit on bank and post office deposits as well as rental income, the FM hoped to make their life easier by reducing paperwork. The budget also gave homeowners much to be happy about.

The budget speech, which lasted about an hour and 45 minutes, saw the treasury benches led by Modi repeatedly thumping their tables while the opposition, Rahul Gandhi in particular, wore a sullen look.

It wasn’t just about goodies for specific constituencies. Much of it was a showcasing of five years of the Modi government – from low inflation rates and high growth rates to toilets, gas connections and bijli for the masses.

The farm crisis was implicitly acknowledged and sought to be addressed in the form of the income support scheme for farmers. Interestingly, for the other big problem that many consider the Achilles heel of the government – lack of jobs – the approach was to assert that new sectors were creating jobs.

Like Niti Aayog CEO Amitabh Kant a day earlier, Goyal said it simply wasn’t possible that the world’s fastest growing large economy wasn’t creating enough new jobs.

The budget speech also contained an enumeration of the government’s 10-point vision for the next decade. Whether this was meant to convey the confidence that the NDA would be back in office come May or to use the occasion to highlight its manifesto is anybody’s guess.

What’s clear is that the government believes it has moved a step closer to securing sabka saath for its reelection bid.