Stipend Row at EFLU

A proposal by varsity authorities to disallow the monthly stipend to students at English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU) has irked the students and resulted in dismay among them. Controversy surrounds the proposal, which was included in the prospectus for next academic year, as it would deprive hundreds of students their stipend that was supposed to be given on the basis of poverty and social backwardness. 

Varsity authorities have decided to approve the stipend on the basis of merit, instead of economic backwardness as earlier. Students persuaded the issue and registered their protest by writing to the varsity authorities, but no assurance has been given to the students in this regard. Students fear that this new rule prescribed by the varsity would force most of the students to quit the courses as they would not be able to bear the financial burden.

Varsity authorities have reportedly proposed to sanction the stipend of Rs 1,000 per month on the basis of merit, which was earlier granted on the basis of backwardness. Students submitted a memorandum to the registrar on this issue earlier this week. Students informed that merit stipend is also provided besides the monthly stipend of Rs 1,000 and book allowance of Rs 1,000 per month.

However, varsity registrar Ali Raza Moosvi said that it was just a proposal and was made by the EFLU Academic Council of the varsity. He said that Academic Council has full right to make such proposals. He lamented that it was misinterpreted by students and given much importance by a section of the media, creating an issue out of a non-issue. 

He denied that the university was taking any anti-student measure on the campus. On the other hand, students coming from socio-economically backward strata consider this proposal as a denial of higher and quality education to the poor, which is a constitutional right. They also alleged that students were not consulted before submitting the proposal, which is also against the norms.

Faculty Crunch Still Haunts OU

Osmania University, which has been the nerve center of agitation for separate Statehood, is facing severe faculty shortage in the entire department as the new government has not yet made any decision regarding the recruitment of fresh staff. Students are complaining about this problem for a long time and several representations were also given by them in the past. Sadly, the current strength at the university is only half of the prescribed number.

Research scholars observed that if the current situation continues for few more months, the university may even lose grants from the University Grants Commission in the next academic year. The university needs almost 1,320 professors which include assistant professors, associate professors and professors to meet the UGC guidelines. As of now the varsity is functioning with merely 590 professors in all the departments across the campus.

“Each department needs six faculty members, but most of the departments have been functioning with either three or only one professor,” said a senior faculty member. The required number of professors in 23 departments functioning from the Arts College is 138, with only 70 functioning, equaling it to half the original strength. The crisis has been prevailing at the university for a long time and worsening every year due to the retirement of a large number of professors.

The condition of other departments of the varsity is also the same. In department of geophysics, the number of professors is four against a sanctioned strength of 24 posts, it is eight against 21 posts in Geology, six against 16 posts in Sociology, nine against 20 posts in Public Administration, one against 20 posts in Ancient Indian history, four against 16 in Hindi department and six against 18 in Biomedical engineering department.

This situation is not new to the varsity, but most of the figures have been the same or else decreased by few more numbers compared to previous year. The Psychology department was about to getting down to the zero, after the lone professor retired last year, but varsity recruited two assistant professors to keep the department running. The UGC instructed all the varsities to fulfill the required criteria for grants by June this year, failing which the university may lose grant from UGC.

The commission asked the varsities to recruit qualified faculty members in required number as prescribed by it. Most of the faculty members in OU are contract employees who do not have the desired qualification like National Eligibility Test (NET) and PhD degrees, affecting the academics. The university authorities are blaming the State government, for not providing proper finances. 

A senior professor from the university said that if government does not increase the block grants for university, it cannot recruit qualified professors. He said, “The pay scales for regular professors and assistant professors as prescribed by the UGC are very high and the varsity needs lot of funds. To avoid this, varsity authorities decided to take contact employees.”

Students To be Educated on Government Schemes

The State government has decided to involve undergraduates and postgraduates by way of conducting competitions and extracurricular activities around the welfare programs as the central theme to reach out to masses. As per the decision taken, students of UG and PG would be asked to participate in different campus activities and competitions emphasising various government schemes. 

An advisory from the Commissionerate of Collegiate Education has already been given to all the colleges across the State in this regard. Apart from advertising the welfare schemes in various media platforms, the State government has come up with this plan to educate the student fraternity on the same. The government has since its coming to power introduced several schemes including Asara pensions, food security cards, preservation of tanks, Shadi Mubarak, Kalyana Lakshmi and others.

Commissioner Collegiate Education A Vani Prasad said, “We have asked all the colleges across the State to involve students by means of competitions and activities in the campuses on various government schemes.” She said that the activities could be held at the convenience of college itineraries. “Many colleges have already held such events but not all. The Commissionerate was entrusted with the responsibility of taking this to every college,” she stated.

We have not fixed any time frame for the colleges as it would cause inconvenience to the students and managements, she added. Around 85,000 students from government run and private degree colleges would participate in the competitions proposed to be held by the State government. 

Global Perspective on Indian Media

Louise Roug, Global News Editor of Mashable, a leading US-based online news portal, was in Hyderabad recently to interact with city-based journalists at a workshop on ‘New Media Journalism’. With her vast experience in journalism, Louise spoke about the major issues concerning journalists and journalistic practices across the globe. 

In a candid talk with Metro India, she explained the importance of experimenting with new ideas in dissemination of news. Louise worked for Los Angeles Times for almost a decade covering political developments in the Middle East including in Iraq, Lebanon, Gaza and Syria. She has Pulitzer Prize (2007), Overseas Press Club Award (2007), Times Editorial Award for Beat Reporting (2006) among other awards to her credit.

What were the global trends and challenges for reporting and journalism when you started your career?
I started my career in professional journalism in the 
year 2004 with Los Angeles Times and was posted at 
Baghdad. The challenges were almost same as they are today, however, the threat to the lives of journalists was more. Reporting in conflict-ridden areas is obviously full of challenges for a journalist. During my stay in Baghdad, I was provided with language interpreters to help me communicate with the local populace. I feel taking the interpreters at their word was the biggest challenge. But I started my global interaction experiences from Bosnia in 1994 when a war was going on there.


How do you see Indian media?
It seems to me that Indian media is more of opinion-based like the UK media. In US, most of the media houses can be termed as free media, in my view. Also, most of the Indian media houses don’t have foreign bureaus.

What kind of transformation does Indian media needs in your view?
I think training in digital media tools within news rooms is needed in India. Also, there is a need for continuous training for the journalists. Though most of the newspaper and television channels are on social media these days, they need more training.

What do Indian journalists need to do for global presence?
Continuous experimentation is very important. Creating space on the social media, blogs and various other tools is also necessary. Journalists should take inspiration from people across the globe.

Any suggestions to young journalists?
People have become very smart. Even politicians are active on the social networking sites. Journalists should also have their presence on social media. You should be smarter than politicians. However, newspapers will not disappear despite a surge in popularity of social networking websites and new media.

TSPSC to Take Time for Syllabus Change

Contrary to expectations, the Syllabus Committee set up by Telangana Public Service Commission (TSPSC) has not finalised any changes to the syllabus for competitive examinations. However it submitted a report to the commission recommending few minor changes to the existing scheme of the recruitment procedure after holding a day-long meeting at TSPSC office.

Syllabus Committee wants to ensure that the changed syllabus would have all important things that are necessary for the students of Telangana

Syllabus Committee head Prof G Haragopal said that the committee had gone through the existing syllabus and scheme during the meetings held so far. He said that only the ‘Scheme’ of syllabus and recruitment procedure was submitted to the commission. The ‘Scheme’ includes the pattern of question papers, composition of topics to be covered, assigning marks to the topics and other aspects of the selection procedure. He said that changes in the syllabus would be submitted later along with the notification itself.

He said, “Changing syllabus is a sensitive matter and decision in that regard needs some more time. The proposals in syllabus change will come along with the notification by the commission.” When asked about Group II examination pattern, he replied that there would not be major changes in the pattern. He said, “Since we don’t want to worry the students, we would not suggest any major changes in Group II pattern.” He said that it would be ensured that the changed syllabus would have all the important things that were necessary for the students of Telangana.

Earlier in the day, the committee met for the third time and held discussions on various issues related to the syllabus components and scheme. He reiterated keeping in view students’ aspirations, major changes would not be done to the syllabus. He reiterated that the discussions were held to see the existing procedure of recruitment.

Groupism, Poor Infrastructure Ruined the Academics

Poor infrastructure coupled with groupism among the faculty members of the animation department have brought academic sessions to a standstill at the Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU) with the college management assuring students that they would resume classes only after the requisite infrastructure is put in place over the next two months. The authorities suspended the classes for two months starting January 24 and decided to resume functioning after vacation. 

Students have been crying foul over the rampant groupism among students, who are being supported by a few faculty members. They have been boycotting classes since January 6. The authorities called for a meeting with them and also conducted reviews with other administrators of the university. Finally, a committee of professors decided to sack all the 11 faculty members teaching various topics to the animation department and the resolution is pending with the varsity registrar.

A second year animation student M Mallesh said that university was charging them considerable amounts as tuition fee, but was neither providing basic infrastructure facilities like computers with the right kind of software nor proper faculty. University registrar Kavita Daryani Rao said that classes would commence as soon as the infrastructure is provided. She said, “We need computers, laboratory and better faculty for the students.

However, since animation is not a single subject and encompasses various subjects, it is quite difficult to get a suitable faculty with the requisite qualifications. We are roping in many experts who can cover the large number of topics in animation. Proposals have been placed to buy 60 computers and other infrastructure for the students.” Principal of the College of Fine Arts B Srinivas Reddy said that students are complaining about poor communication and language skills of the existing faculty and said that the language of artists would be visuals and linguistic expertise does not matter.

He said that probable groupism among the faculty members and favouritism could have led to the outrageous protest of the students this year. He said, “I feel that division among the faculty has created groups among students and consequentially resulted in the present impasse.” He said that a resolution to sack the faculty members of animation department, recruited on contract, was adopted by a committee set up by the JNAFAU registrar. The committee, which included professors from various departments, sent the resolution to the vice-chancellor for further action. Members of the faculty at the animation department were not available for a comment on the controversy.

Swine Flu Affects Numaish Rush

Increasing number of swine flu deaths and positive cases in the state and particularly in the twin cities are deterring people from visiting Numaish, the All India Industrial Exhibition, thus affecting the business. During the last one week, the exhibition has seen a decline in the number of visitors as several deaths were reported in this period. Though the flu death was first reported in early December last, the number of visitors was voluminous as usual.

However, the volume of visitors started declining as the death toll of swine flu positive cases rose. According to sources, there has been a gradual decline in the number of visitors for the last three days. Generally, the peek business days at Exhibition start from January last week and remain till the end. The outbreak of swine flu causing deaths of several people seems to have hit the business at Exhibition. Usually, the number of visitors to the Exhibition ranges from 40 to 50,000 every day. On holidays, the footfall increases five thousands.

But due to the constant advertisement by the state government instructing people to avoid crowded places the number has decreased considerably. R Sukesh Reddy, a volunteer and security in charge at exhibition grounds said that during the last week the number of visitors came down by few thousands. He said, “Awareness campaign by the government over the swine flu resulted in decreasing the number of visitors to the exhibition. We have been observing for few days now that the volume of people coming here decreased.”

He however said that this decline in number would not affect the business in high volumes and expressed the hope that this situation would not remain for long. The stall owners in the exhibition appeared worried over the swine flu and government advisory for the people. The exhibition remains up to February 15.