LIRC@SFIT

Call for measured steps noting that it could also affect environment adversely Several eminent scientists in the country have begun a crusade to caution the Government against rushing into auctioning of spectrum for the industry to roll-out 5G technology based services in the country. These scientists are campaigning, writing letters to Government and Parliamentarians and other opinion makers. The list of such concerned scientists includes well-known names such as: 1. Prof V S Ramamurthy, former Secretary of the Department of Science and Technology 2. Dr T Ramasami, also a former Secretary of DST and a former Director-General of CSIR 3. Prof Girish Kumar, Deparment of Electronics, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT)-Bombay, who has written a book on EMF radiation hazards 4. Dr L V Krishnan, former Director of Safety Research and Health Physics Programmes at the Indira Gandhi Centre for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam 5. Dr P C Kesavan, a noted radiobiologist and a former...

New Delhi: The government is set to trim down the list of Institutes of Eminence from 30 to 20 and has called a meeting of the University Grants Commission (UGC) on August 9 for the purpose.  The UGC will be tasked to rank the institutes on certain parameters that was not done by the expert panel, which had prepared the list. An intervention from the Prime Minister’s Office last week fuelled the move.  The empowered expert committee, chaired by former chief election commissioner  ..  Read more at: //economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/70426071.cms?from=mdr&utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Last week, NDA government succeeded in getting contentious amendments to RTI Act passed by Parliament. Social activist  Aruna Roy , who was at the forefront of the movement to persuade Parliament to enact the original law, speaks to  Anindo Dey  about the development: The government said the RTI Act amendments set right the anomaly of the Information Commissions, which are statutory bodies, being treated on a par with the Election Commission, a constitutional body. What is the problem with this? There is nothing legally which prevents the Information Commissions from being equated with the EC. In fact this was a positive provision passed unanimously by the Parliament, on the recommendation of the standing committee, where NDA members played an important part. Other statutory posts – CVC and Lokpal – have also been treated on a par with constitutional posts to ensure independent functioning. These amendments demonstrate that the government is clearly threatened by i...

The Centre has rolled out a scheme wherein top-rated public and private higher education institutions will help their underperforming counterparts sharpen up their act. Read more at: https://www.deccanherald.com/national/north-and-central/top-institutes-to-mentor-weak-counterparts-750376.html

GAYA: Magadh University is to resume the practice of holding written test for PhD degree aspirants. The practice was discarded a few years ago in view of University Grants Commission (UGC) regulation 2009. In 2016, the UGC amended the guidelines, detailing eligibility, duration and relaxation and other criteria. The MU academic council, at its meeting held on Friday, adopted the UGC regulation that stipulates conditions for award of PhD degrees. MU’s officiating VC Prof D P Tiwari presided over the academic council meet. MU’s PRO Prof Sidhnath Prasad said the process for conducting the test and holding classes on research methodology will begin soon. “The result of the test, to be known as RET (research eligibility test), will be valid for one year. The RET shall be for qualifying purpose only. Relaxation of 5% in qualifying marks shall be given to SC/ST and persons with disability. The RET syllabus will consist of 50% of research methodology and 50% subject specific,” he said. As...

Chennai: Engineering admission has dropped to 50%-55% in the last four years and due to the huge vacancies in colleges, the All India Council for Technical Education will not accredit new engineering and pharma colleges for the next two years, AICTE chairman Anil D Sahasrabudhe said on Sunday. x “Colleges with less admissions cannot survive as they are not able to pay salaries and maintain the infrastructure,” he said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology’s 28 th  convocation. When asked about vacancies, Sahasrabudhe said, “In the last four years, engineering admissions have dropped to 50%- 55% and 2.5 lakh seats have been cut. So, there are huge vacancies in engineering colleges”. Such colleges are reducing intake or shutting down, he added. The council is mulling a common entrance test for engineering, twice a year, and the better of the two scores will be considered for admission. “But many states wanted tim...

Eleven government and two private colleges filled all their seats while 16 private colleges could not get a single student this year after four rounds of online counselling conducted by the Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) committee. And 54% seats in 479 colleges remain vacant. Like previous years, 230 colleges filled less than 30% of seats. Of 1,67,101 seats available for counselling, 76,364 were filled. “More than 200 colleges could not fill 30% of seats in the past four years. If the trend continues, the colleges could lose 50% of seats,” said career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi. If colleges have less than 30% admissions for five consecutive years, AICTE cuts seats by 50%. Computer science and civil engineering emerged as most and least preferred streams while mechanical engineering saw a huge drop in demand, with only 36% of seats filled. Colleges in Chennai and Coimbatore regions got more students. As many as 1,519 students from previous rounds participated in th...

In view of increasing complaints from students over withholding of certificates by technical institutions, demanding excess fee, failure to provide amenities etc.,All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) issued revised draft (redressal of grievance of students) regulations, 2019. The fresh regulations will supersede those issued in 2012 and mandates technical institutions to publish prospectus, establish student grievance redressal committee and appoint an ombudsman who will be a retired district judge or a retired vice-chancellor/professor with 10 years of experience. Giving greater emphasis to the prospectus, the AICTE has notified that all technical institutions will not only have to mention the list of courses and seat intake but also tuition fee and refund details. In the prospectus, all institutions will have to mandatorily mention each component of the fee, deposits and other charges payable by the student seeking admission. “The percentage of tuition fee and ...