Govt. effects reshuffle of IAS officers

28/01/2020 , Staff Reporter, CHENNAI

In a reshuffle of IAS officers, the State government has transferred Apoorva, presently serving as Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research, and posted her as Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department.

She will replace Mangat Ram Sharma, who will be the new Commissioner of Archives and Historical Research. Ms. Apoorva had a stint as Principal Secretary of Higher Education Department.

Santhosh Babu, Principal Secretary, Information Technology (IT) Department, and Chairman and Managing Director (in-charge), Tamil Nadu Handicrafts Development Corporation Limited (TNHDCL), has been relieved from his post in the IT Department and posted as Chairman and Managing Director of TNHDCL.

He was recently in the news for seeking voluntary retirement from service.

M.S. Shanmugam, Managing Director, Tamil Nadu FibreNet Corporation Limited, has been transferred and posted as Commissioner of Museums, which was being held as additional charge by T. Udhayachandran. D. Ravichandran, who is presently a Deputy Secretary at the Home, Prohibition and Excise Department, will replace Mr. Shanmugam.

S. Aneesh Sekhar, Executive Director, Tamil Nadu Industrial Development Corporation (TIDCO), has been transferred as Executive Director of GUIDANCE Bureau. He will replace K.P. Karthikeyan.

Mr. Karthikeyan will be the new Executive Director, TIDCO.

D. Manikandan, who is on inter-cadre deputation, has been posted as Joint Secretary, Home, Prohibition and Excise Department.

Nirbhaya case: Tihar conducts another mock hanging, asks for new ropes

TNN | Jan 28, 2020, 04.49 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Tihar Jail authorities on Sunday conducted another mock hanging of the four Nirbhaya case convicts as they are likely to be hanged on February 1. Sources said the hangman, Pawan Jallad, has been asked to report to Tihar on January 30.

The authorities have asked for a dozen new manila ropes from Buxar prison, which would be lubricated and left to dry for two days. Sources said a mock drill is a mandatory procedure before every hanging since the body weight of the convicts tends to change. The dummy hanging was conducted using four sacks filled with sand and gravel that had similar weights as the convicts to check the strength of the ropes that would be used for the actual execution. The sacks were left suspended for three hours after which an expert checked the condition of the ropes.

Jail sources said the wardens and doctors of Tihar have been asked to ensure that the body weight of the four convicts remains constant till they are hanged. The authorities have taken the measurements of the necks and heads of the four convicts. The hangman will prepare the noose according to the measurements.

On Monday, the family members of convict Akshay Kumar Singh were allowed to meet him. In the emotional meeting, he discussed about the legal recourse with his parents. He, Pawan and Vinay have the option of filing a mercy plea before the President.


The families of the other inmates will be allowed to meet them twice a week as per their schedule. During the meeting, the family members will be allowed to take the personal belongings of the convicts and record a will in the presence of a superintendent. The convicts have refused to give the last date of their meeting to the jail authorities despite several reminders. They have also refused to prepare a will. A red notice will be sent to the families about the execution so that they can make preparations to take back the bodies.

19 scholars under him, ex-VC broke Anna University rules

TNN | Jan 28, 2020, 04.48 AM IST

CHENNAI: Anna University regulations in 2013 allowed a professor to guide up to 12 research scholars at a time (the number is 11 now). But M Rajaram guided 19 research scholars simultaneously from 2013 to 2016 when he was holding office as vice-chancellor, according to a reply to an RTI query.

Anna University’s PhD regulations do not bar a vice-chancellor from guiding research students, but there is conflict of interest, say academicians. The vice-chancellor chooses the examiners to evaluate thesis and conduct viva-voce for doctoral candidates.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, say professors, asking how it’s possible to guide 19 research scholars while holding a top academic post in a university?

“It is unethical to guide research scholars after becoming a vice-chancellor. Besides, he wouldn’t have time to guide so many research scholars while heading a large technical university,” said E Balagurusamy, former vice-chancellor, Anna University.

Professor Rajaram denied all allegations. “There is no bar on a vice-chancellor guiding researchers. I have not taken any student after becoming vice-chancellor. All my PhD students completed research after proper publication,” Rajaram told TOI. He said some of his students had published papers in top journals like IEEE.

On allegations that he guided scholars in other streams such as computer science engineering and held a closed viva-voce for his students, Rajaram said, “As a professor in electrical and electronics engineering, I can guide students from all circuit branches. My students have defended their thesis in public viva voce and university has records for attendance of public.”

But his critics are not convinced. They say even a full-time research guide cannot supervise more than 10 scholars. According to UGC’s shodhganga website, Rajaram conducted viva voce for 43 students as guide between 2013 and 2019. The data shows Rajaram had more than 12 Anna University research scholars, which is a violation of university rules.

Raising doubts about the research data and originality of the theses, several professors demanded a committee be set up to investigate the issue.

“If there is sufficient proof and evidence of plagiarism, fake data in theses submitted by his research scholars, the university will initiate action,” said M K Surappa, vice-chancellor of Anna University.

TN’s PHD factories

TNN | Jan 28, 2020, 04.47 AM IST

CHENNAI: Who says you need critical thinking and academic acumen to earn a PhD? You can order a doctorate with just a phone call. The cartels that employ ghost writers no more operate on the sly. They’ve set it up like restaurants – there’s a menu and what you pay depends on what you order.

Tamil Nadu produced the maximum number of PhDs in the country, 5,844, in 2018, according to All India Survey for Higher Education 2019. There is a renewed interest among faculty members to publish research papers and complete doctorates due to the Union HRD ministry’s decision to make PhD mandatory for the entry-level post of assistant professor from July 2021, and give more weightage for research work in National Institute Ranking Framework rankings and National Assessment and Accreditation Council ratings.

The spike in research interest has made the ground fertile for ghost writers and agents who have branded themselves consultancy services. Scholars and research guides TOI spoke to said they received calls from unknown people offering ‘help’ in doing research. TOI picked the trail of one such message to uncover how a racket has been functioning in a sophisticated but brazen manner.

Posing as a faculty member from a private engineering college, this correspondent called the agent. He promptly asked about the area of research and topic before quoting a price. He offered to do engineering research, analyse data and publish a paper in an annexure-1 journal for

`1.2 lakh. For converting research into an article and publishing it in the journal he quoted `80,000.

“If you can do research and only need help in publication, it will cost `45,000. But, your research should be complete research with analysis, data and graphics. You should take responsibility if the paper is rejected or needs clarification from journal editors,” he said.

Asked about outsourcing thesis work, the agent said, “If you have the literature review, research work, article, output and analysis, we will charge `65,000 to write the thesis. If you have nothing, then it would cost around

`3 lakh. We will do the research, get the article published and write the thesis.”

The agent said a team of professors does the research for money. His ‘agency’ is helping scholars across universities. “The rate will be finalised after seeing the university guidelines. We collect the highest rate for Anna University PhDs,” he said.

The payment is in installments. “We will collect registration fee initially and take full payment after the acceptance by the research journal. For example, we will take `10,000 as initial payment for publication and update you about the research. You can make corrections. We will take the next installment after your corrections,” he said.

Faculty members TOI spoke to confirmed that outsourcing research work is a trend thriving in arts and science colleges, and technical colleges.

“It has become mandatory to publish research papers for increments. Journals take up to a year to accept an article or even to respond. So faculty members opt to publish research papers by paying money. When we pay money, even some of the listed journals respond within a day confirming publication without any proper peer review,” said a faculty member from an arts and science college in the city.

Professors from University of Madras said one of the reasons why such rackets flourish is because students without research aptitude enrolled for PhDs.

Professor M K Surappa, vice-chancellor of Anna University, said the practice was “unethical and devoid of all morality”. “Research is a passion and not a routine degree. This is perhaps one of the reasons why our country is not able to produce high quality research publications in sufficient numbers,” he said. To deter such PhDs, Anna University has introduced minimum eligibility marks in entrance exam for aspirants. This brought down the number of PhD candidates from 2,527 in 2018 to 908 in 2019.

University of Madras has introduced measures to enhance the quality of PhD thesis in the past two years. “All theses have to pass through a plagiarism detecting software. There is a new online system to trace the progress of research work very closely. A first year candidate has to present a paper in at least one national-level conference and in the second year one conference and one publication, and it continues for the third year also. If the candidate meets these requirements then he or she can prepare the thesis,” said P Duraisamy, vice-chancellor.

‘Don’t link PhD and NAAC accreditation’

TNN | Jan 28, 2020, 04.50 AM IST

Former vice-chairman of University Grants Commissionm professor H Devaraj, spoke to TOI on why there is a rush to publish papers and getting PhDs, how the UGC intervened to discontinue the part-time PhD programme in Bharathiar University and the measures taken to end outsourcing of PhD.

Why is there a rush to get PhDs and to publish in journals?

We should not ask PhD or research papers for NAAC or NBA accreditation. It causes inbreeding PhDs and paid publications. Clearing NET/SLET is tougher than getting PhDs. But UGC adopted a wrong policy when it decided to give increments for faculty members who completed PhD. MHRD also announced that PhD would be a minimum qualification for assistant professors in universities from 2021.

Too many papers being published ...

We need to be careful while allowing colleges to do research work. Many colleges do not have the infrastructure or resources to do it. Yet they are publishing papers due to the prominence given in accreditation for research publications. Part-time PhD (category B) is another major reason for the dilution in quality of PhDs. Unless there is a collaborative research by industry experts and academia, we should not allow any part-time PhDs.

What can be done to ensure quality?

Candidates with JRF or project fellowship alone should be allowed to do PhD. PhDs are not required to teach in colleges. Candidates who clear National Eligibility Test will be competent to do research and write thesis. If we ensure these steps, then there will not be any need for outsourcing research work.

UGC once intervened to stop part-time PhD programme in Bharathiar University. How should UGC deal with outsourcing PhD and ghost writing?

Research, development & innovation cells to help college teachers seek funds for projects

TNN | Jan 23, 2020, 04.40 AM IST

PANAJI: With the University Grants Commission (UGC) stepping back as a major funding agency for research projects by university and college teachers, the state directorate of higher education (DHE) is set to form research, development and innovation cells in all 33 government and aided colleges in Goa. Through these cells, college faculty will be motivated and trained to pursue proposals for funding of their small research projects with central government agencies.

The research cells will help develop and coordinate strategies to maximise the faculty’s success in gaining external research funding.

An umbrella initiative, ‘research, development and innovation cell’, has already been formed in the DHE and is headed by astronomer Vithal Tilvi, who has worked with NASA.

“Though the UGC has stopped funding research in a big way, every central government department has provision for funds for research projects. Most of these funds remain unutilised. College teachers require training on how to effectively write research proposals to be able to bag the funds. The research, development and innovation cell will provide this training and motivation,” a DHE official said.

In each college, a faculty member oriented towards research will be chosen to head the cell. Teachers will subsequently be coached to submit proposals for projects that can be accomplished with financial aid of Rs 5-10 lakh.

“Taking on these projects will help promote the teachers’ personal growth as they will be able to pursue research in varied subjects of their interest. It will also help their careers to progress in terms of promotions, etc. The exposure teachers get will benefit their students as well. It will boost innovation in institutions of higher education,” the official said.

The DHE’s research, development and innovation cell already has 60 teachers involved in writing research proposals.

AG stumbles upon office history dating back to 1828

Vijay Narayan saves the documents, mostly handwritten in cursive, digitises all of them

27/01/2020, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

The documents found in the cupboards were in a brittle condition due to passage of time.

If there is one place in Chennai where you can see, touch and feel historical remnants at every turn of your eye, it is the iconic Madras High Court building. Every brick in this building is steeped in history and it is here that Advocate General (A-G) Vijay Narayan recently stumbled upon the history of his own office since 1828.

Amazed to have discovered a nearly 200-year-old treasure trove of official communication between his English predecessors and top government officials of the colonial era, the A-G digitised the entire set of documents running into thousands of pages which were rotting in cupboards and turning brittle due to passage of time.

Issue of charter

It was on June 26, 1852 that Queen Victoria issued a charter to establish the High Court of Judicature at Madras for the Presidency of Madras. However, it was preceded by many other courts established here since 1687 and they included the Supreme Court of Judicature at Fort St. George established by George the third on December 26, 1800.

The documents digitised include those penned when the Supreme Court at Madras was in existence. Mostly handwritten in cursive, the documents show that communication between the Chief Secretary to Government and the Advocate General had always ended with an interesting complimentary closing ‘Your most obedient servant.’

A further rummage through these materials leads to legal opinions given by the Advocates General on varied issues, including those relating to the erstwhile Binny Mills in Chennai, establishment of the famous Demonte Colony near St. Mary’s Road here, sale of properties belonging to the then Nawabs and even on criminal cases booked against Englishmen.

An interesting letter among them is the one penned on January 22, 1862 by the then Advocate General T. Sydney Smith to the Chief Secretary. In that letter, Mr. Smith states that the only case in which he considered it necessary to appear for the Crown during the first criminal sessions of that year was a case of manslaughter (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).

In that case, one Thomas George Saunders of the Telegraph department had been charged with manslaughter of his horse keeper Ramudu in Nellore (now in Andhra Pradesh) on November 30, 1861. Stating that the prisoner was acquitted from the case by the presiding judge, Mr. Smith said he completely concurred with the decision.

“The alleged cause of death was a kick on the testicles but while there was nothing to show that the death resulted from any injury to those parts and much to show that the death resulted from natural causes as the Zillah surgeon deposed he had no doubt the evidence of the alleged kick was most unsatisfactory.

“It was only deposed to by two little boys of 8 and 12 years old who in many material respects contradicted with each other grossly and moreover on cross examination contradicted themselves and swore to particulars utterly incredible. These boys, moreover, it appears, were kept together in the house of Mr. Holman, Inspector of Police at Nellore for eight days and not allowed to leave it till they had made statements before the Magistrate,” the A-G said.

Further, referring to the Inspector having kept another witness in the case handcuffed for three days, Mr. Smith said: “It is chiefly on this account that I bring this case to the notice of His Excellency the Governor in Council. There is nothing before me to show that Mr. Holman, in doing so, was actuated by any improper motives.

‘Mistaken notion’

“Giving him the fullest credit for acting only from mistaken zeal, it is plain that he has a very mistaken notion of his duty as Inspector of Police.” Records further show that the Chief Secretary, in turn, had communicated the A-G’s letter to the then Inspector General of Police on January 30, 1862 and also marked a copy to the A-G’s office.

However, what action was taken against the Inspector is not found in the records. “Reading these records itself is a very difficult process because they are handwritten. The papers are also very fragile. So, I handed the job to a company that uses robotic arms to lift the documents and scan them and they charged me just ₹3 a page,” the A-G Mr. Narayan said.

The digitised documents include legal opinions given by Vanbakam Bhashyam Iyengar, the first Indian Advocate General of the Madras High Court, in 1897, when he was initially appointed as Acting AG before being made permanent. It is also interesting to note that only 45 lawyers had so far been able to make it to the post of Advocate General of Madras High Court since 1853.