Here comes another joke from the saffron brigade
Monday, 25 August 2014
End of an Era!
Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : The demand for engineering course among students has come down drastically in the State as is evident from the poor response to certificate verification witnessed during the ongoing EAMCET engineering counselling. The percentage of students appearing for certificate verification in Andhra Pradesh too is very low, though slightly better than in Telangana.
Only 56,000 students out of 88,947 eligible candidates attended certificate verification so far
In fact, the decline in engineering admissions started last year itself and several colleges sought permission to wind up their operations. This year, the situation is grimmer as bifurcation is affecting the schemes meant for engineering students. There are about 1.74 lakh engineering seats under convener quota available in both the States; only 1.21 lakh students have so far attended the counselling. According to the EAMCET counselling committee data, around 2.34 lakh students qualified this year. While there are around 1.15 lakh seats under convener quota in Andhra Pradesh and 59,515 in Telangana, many of them look destined to be unoccupied.
In Telangana, only 56,000 students out of 88,947 eligible candidates have attended the certificate verification so far. In Andhra Pradesh, only 65,000 students turned against 1.14 lakh eligible candidates. A total 87,859 students across AP and Telangana selected their options from August 17 till date. Educationists and experts attribute this decline in interest to steps taken against the engineering colleges to improve the quality of facilities and standards. They opine that the State government’s strict action against erring engineering colleges in Telangana might have resulted in a decrease in the number of students enrolling in the State.
Renowned educationist Kancha Illaiah said that this could not be the only reason, but pointed at the poor quality of education being imparted to them as a reason for most students to opt out of engineering. He said that now students were looking towards pharmacy for their career. In Telangana, there are 315 engineering colleges among which only 141 colleges were permitted to participate in counseling, while the remaining were de-listed. As many as one lakh seats were cut short as a result of stopping those colleges from counseling.
An EAMCET qualified student D Prakash Yadav, who attended the certificate verification and selected his option during the counseling, said that earlier engineering was more sought after as it provided good job opportunities and was a matter of pride. Meanwhile, college managements have blamed the State Government’s stance to delay the release of fee reimbursement as a reason for the steep fall in the number of students enrolling for the engineering course. They also cite lack of clarity on the recently announced FAST scheme for students as another reason for a decrease in the number of students opting for engineering.
A member of engineering college management’s consortium on condition of anonymity said that the State government had refused to reimburse the fee for engineering students citing different reasons and did not clarify on its new scheme. “This in fact has demoralised several students,” he said.
Only 56,000 students out of 88,947 eligible candidates attended certificate verification so far
In fact, the decline in engineering admissions started last year itself and several colleges sought permission to wind up their operations. This year, the situation is grimmer as bifurcation is affecting the schemes meant for engineering students. There are about 1.74 lakh engineering seats under convener quota available in both the States; only 1.21 lakh students have so far attended the counselling. According to the EAMCET counselling committee data, around 2.34 lakh students qualified this year. While there are around 1.15 lakh seats under convener quota in Andhra Pradesh and 59,515 in Telangana, many of them look destined to be unoccupied.In Telangana, only 56,000 students out of 88,947 eligible candidates have attended the certificate verification so far. In Andhra Pradesh, only 65,000 students turned against 1.14 lakh eligible candidates. A total 87,859 students across AP and Telangana selected their options from August 17 till date. Educationists and experts attribute this decline in interest to steps taken against the engineering colleges to improve the quality of facilities and standards. They opine that the State government’s strict action against erring engineering colleges in Telangana might have resulted in a decrease in the number of students enrolling in the State.
Renowned educationist Kancha Illaiah said that this could not be the only reason, but pointed at the poor quality of education being imparted to them as a reason for most students to opt out of engineering. He said that now students were looking towards pharmacy for their career. In Telangana, there are 315 engineering colleges among which only 141 colleges were permitted to participate in counseling, while the remaining were de-listed. As many as one lakh seats were cut short as a result of stopping those colleges from counseling.
An EAMCET qualified student D Prakash Yadav, who attended the certificate verification and selected his option during the counseling, said that earlier engineering was more sought after as it provided good job opportunities and was a matter of pride. Meanwhile, college managements have blamed the State Government’s stance to delay the release of fee reimbursement as a reason for the steep fall in the number of students enrolling for the engineering course. They also cite lack of clarity on the recently announced FAST scheme for students as another reason for a decrease in the number of students opting for engineering.
A member of engineering college management’s consortium on condition of anonymity said that the State government had refused to reimburse the fee for engineering students citing different reasons and did not clarify on its new scheme. “This in fact has demoralised several students,” he said.
Saturday, 23 August 2014
UPSC Aspirants Detract
Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad : A large number of Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) aspirants from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have decided to opt out of preliminary exam in view of the Centre’s decision to do away with English comprehension marks. The Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) had recently issued a circular stating that marks secured in English comprehension in paper-2 of the preliminary examination would not be considered for rankings.
Protest Central decision to do away with English comprehension marks
The paper-2 of the preliminary examination consists of seven parts in which English comprehension carries 20 marks. Students from both States have been opposing the introduction of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) and demanded the GoI to scrap it completely. Peeved at the Central government’s decision, many students said that they have opted out of the exam after the GoI increased the number of attempts by two times with a hope that there may be reforms from the NDA government before the notification is issued.
One such aspirant K Venkat Goud said, “Central government has given extra attempts for the Civil services exam and I will not appear this time because the examination pattern will surely help Hindi and English medium students.” Another student Rajendar Kumar said that all the segments of preliminary examination paper-2 are in English and Hindi and the last part, English comprehension, was only in English language, which would not be considered for the purpose of ranking. “Students from the South get a good score in English comprehension, but that itself is abolished now owing to pressure from lobbied in north India.
For candidates like us, it will be a waste of energies if we write the examination,” he said. With only two days left for the conduct of preliminary examination i.e. on August 24, some students however want to give it a try by appearing in the examination. On the other hand, experts imparting training for civil services aspirants have expressed their ire at the UPSC’s decision to continue with CSAT in 2014. It was introduced in 2011, by scrapping the optional papers. R C Reddy IAS Academy Director R C Reddy said that the non-English and non-Hindi background students would be put to irreparable loss due to the present pattern of exam for paper 2.
“Our students were able to score good in English comprehension because it was language comprehension and questions asked were only in English, but the remaining part of the CSAT is in Hindi and English which is favourable for students coming from Hindi language background.” Reddy said that non-mathematic background students were also at a disadvantage because of this pattern. He questioned the civil services authorities for including mathematical aptitude test instead of administrative aptitude in the exam pattern. “The pattern of examination itself is designed in such a way that it eliminates non-Hindi students, mostly south Indians,” he added.
4Protest Central decision to do away with English comprehension marks
The paper-2 of the preliminary examination consists of seven parts in which English comprehension carries 20 marks. Students from both States have been opposing the introduction of the Civil Services Aptitude Test (CSAT) and demanded the GoI to scrap it completely. Peeved at the Central government’s decision, many students said that they have opted out of the exam after the GoI increased the number of attempts by two times with a hope that there may be reforms from the NDA government before the notification is issued.One such aspirant K Venkat Goud said, “Central government has given extra attempts for the Civil services exam and I will not appear this time because the examination pattern will surely help Hindi and English medium students.” Another student Rajendar Kumar said that all the segments of preliminary examination paper-2 are in English and Hindi and the last part, English comprehension, was only in English language, which would not be considered for the purpose of ranking. “Students from the South get a good score in English comprehension, but that itself is abolished now owing to pressure from lobbied in north India.
For candidates like us, it will be a waste of energies if we write the examination,” he said. With only two days left for the conduct of preliminary examination i.e. on August 24, some students however want to give it a try by appearing in the examination. On the other hand, experts imparting training for civil services aspirants have expressed their ire at the UPSC’s decision to continue with CSAT in 2014. It was introduced in 2011, by scrapping the optional papers. R C Reddy IAS Academy Director R C Reddy said that the non-English and non-Hindi background students would be put to irreparable loss due to the present pattern of exam for paper 2.
“Our students were able to score good in English comprehension because it was language comprehension and questions asked were only in English, but the remaining part of the CSAT is in Hindi and English which is favourable for students coming from Hindi language background.” Reddy said that non-mathematic background students were also at a disadvantage because of this pattern. He questioned the civil services authorities for including mathematical aptitude test instead of administrative aptitude in the exam pattern. “The pattern of examination itself is designed in such a way that it eliminates non-Hindi students, mostly south Indians,” he added.
Friday, 22 August 2014
Wednesday, 20 August 2014
Industry Clusters to Come up...
Mohammed Younus/ Hyderabad: Education standards in engineering colleges across the State are likely to see a quantum leap with government proposing to link curriculum with the needs of the local industry thereby increasing the chances of employment and also employability.
The proposed industry cluster will be spread across the State and linked with the engineering colleges located in various districts of the State. Though the proposal has not been finalized, sources said that this would be implemented tentatively within a year or two. The industry clusters that are proposed to be set up in rural areas across the State would help provide employment and dissemination of career opportunities. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi government has been pitching for industrial clusters to attract industrialists.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao hinted that a special industry cluster apart from SEZs would be established and linked with engineering colleges.
He said that well qualified engineering graduates would be employed at these industries. He further said that for every four or five engineering colleges, there would be a company attached to it and students passing out from these colleges could be accommodated in the company. He said that having a large number of engineering colleges alone would not serve the purpose of quality education, but having higher standards is the need of the hour. Industry cluster includes different sectors like electrical, mechanical, electronics, IT, civil and petrochemical streams. This would help them have well-qualified and industry-ready talent ready for absorption. The Chief Minister has been reiterating on the need to have standard colleges with quality standards.
Noted educationist Kancha Illaiah said that the whole higher education system needs to be revamped and if there is any proposal to enhance the standards of engineering colleges and establishing industry cluster, then it is a good decision that needs to welcomed by one and all. Students and educationists have welcomed this proposal and called for improving the quality of practical training in these colleges.
An engineering final year student from Mancherial town of Adilabad district M Sunil Kumar said that if these plans fructify, students need not settle for petty jobs. “The industry-college tie-up will surely offer us jobs that will pay better,” he said.
The proposed industry cluster will be spread across the State and linked with the engineering colleges located in various districts of the State. Though the proposal has not been finalized, sources said that this would be implemented tentatively within a year or two. The industry clusters that are proposed to be set up in rural areas across the State would help provide employment and dissemination of career opportunities. The Telangana Rashtra Samithi government has been pitching for industrial clusters to attract industrialists.
Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao hinted that a special industry cluster apart from SEZs would be established and linked with engineering colleges.
He said that well qualified engineering graduates would be employed at these industries. He further said that for every four or five engineering colleges, there would be a company attached to it and students passing out from these colleges could be accommodated in the company. He said that having a large number of engineering colleges alone would not serve the purpose of quality education, but having higher standards is the need of the hour. Industry cluster includes different sectors like electrical, mechanical, electronics, IT, civil and petrochemical streams. This would help them have well-qualified and industry-ready talent ready for absorption. The Chief Minister has been reiterating on the need to have standard colleges with quality standards.
Noted educationist Kancha Illaiah said that the whole higher education system needs to be revamped and if there is any proposal to enhance the standards of engineering colleges and establishing industry cluster, then it is a good decision that needs to welcomed by one and all. Students and educationists have welcomed this proposal and called for improving the quality of practical training in these colleges.
An engineering final year student from Mancherial town of Adilabad district M Sunil Kumar said that if these plans fructify, students need not settle for petty jobs. “The industry-college tie-up will surely offer us jobs that will pay better,” he said.
Sunday, 17 August 2014
Unani Hospitals
Unani
hospitals across the State are finding it difficult to serve patients
due to irregular medicine supply, authoritarian apathy and fund crunch.
Owing to unique in treatment methods, Unani medical system has been the
only choice for thousands of people. The medicine being supplied by
Government Indian Medicine Pharmacy (GIMP) is not regular and is
inadequate.
On
condition of anonymity, a doctor said that several medicines used to
treat neurological health issues were not supplied by the pharmacy. He
said, “The pharmacy does not supply the raw material, medicine and other
ingredients citing high costs and lack of funds.” The Unani hospitals
work under AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy)
department. Sources in the AYUSH said that getting ingredients was the
biggest challenge being faced by the department. The ingredients include
saffron, mishk, vij turkey, buch, singhada, jund e basta, mastagi
roomi, ustu quddus. These are brought from Spain, Turkey, Iran,
Afghanistan, Italy among other countries.
In the absence of these ingredients, doctors are using alternatives to prepare the formulae. On the other hand, staff and fund crunch is deteriorating the condition of Unani hospitals in the State. Sources revealed that there were no appointments in the Unani hospitals for a long time. Apart from doctors, paramedical staff, nurses, ward stewards among others were not being recruited in any of the hospitals in AP and Telangana for a long time. At the same time, the funds that are released for the functioning of the hospitals are neither regular nor sufficient.
A private unani doctor Moahammed Kashif said that government must take immediate steps to save the method of treatment in the State as unani was a side effect-free treatment. He said that authoritarian apathy was responsible for such a sorrow stage. There are around 196 unani dispensaries and five hospitals across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
On
condition of anonymity, a doctor said that several medicines used to
treat neurological health issues were not supplied by the pharmacy. He
said, “The pharmacy does not supply the raw material, medicine and other
ingredients citing high costs and lack of funds.” The Unani hospitals
work under AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy)
department. Sources in the AYUSH said that getting ingredients was the
biggest challenge being faced by the department. The ingredients include
saffron, mishk, vij turkey, buch, singhada, jund e basta, mastagi
roomi, ustu quddus. These are brought from Spain, Turkey, Iran,
Afghanistan, Italy among other countries. In the absence of these ingredients, doctors are using alternatives to prepare the formulae. On the other hand, staff and fund crunch is deteriorating the condition of Unani hospitals in the State. Sources revealed that there were no appointments in the Unani hospitals for a long time. Apart from doctors, paramedical staff, nurses, ward stewards among others were not being recruited in any of the hospitals in AP and Telangana for a long time. At the same time, the funds that are released for the functioning of the hospitals are neither regular nor sufficient.
A private unani doctor Moahammed Kashif said that government must take immediate steps to save the method of treatment in the State as unani was a side effect-free treatment. He said that authoritarian apathy was responsible for such a sorrow stage. There are around 196 unani dispensaries and five hospitals across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Saturday, 16 August 2014
Madrasa Mafia Active
Metro News/ Hyderabad : Madrasas in Hyderabad have become a source of easy money for opportunists who are exploiting the soft corner that many people have towards them. Most of the people who establish such Madrasas are from Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Even the students are brought from other states, mostly from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Jharkhand. As city people have been making liberal donations, such ‘institutions’ have mushroomed in the city.
Madrasas in City-Nearly 350 small Madrasas are functioning in city most of which are established by outsiders
-Madrasa mentors draining lakhs of rupees in the name of donations
-Almost all the Madrasas have their own building
-Number of bigger Madrasas is about 20 which collect huge amount of donations, alms, zakat from the businessmen and general public
-Number of students do not cross even 10,000
-Most of the students are outsiders
In a survey conducted in different places in the city revealed that in the Old city, there are two Madrasas for every five kilometers. Most of the Madrasas, which should teach the basic Islamic teachings, are now apparently deviating from that purpose. One such Madrasa is located Old Malakpet. It is being run in a three room rented home and with 57 children most of them hailing from other states. Some students from sub urban areas were also in it. Care taker of the Madrasa said that yearly expenditure of it is Rs 11 to 12 lakhs which is provided by the generous people.
Another one is located at Yakut Pura area which is being run from a double storied building from 1998. Established in the year 1993, it has 150 students most of them from Bihar, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and other states. Monthly expenditure of this Madrasa is Rs 1 lakh. According to the chief patron of it, the yearly expenditure is nearly Rs 1 lakh.
Lack of audit system & blind belief is leading to the mushrooming of such Madrasas
All the expenditure is being met by people staying nearby. Most of the students studying here are from Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and other states. Several Muslim scholars said that taking advantage of public goodwill towards these centres, several opportunists have started their ventures in the city. A local preacher and Islamic scholar Wasimul Haq said that lack of audit system and blind belief of people is leading in mushrooming of such make shift Madrasas in the city. Several other Ulema (clerics) opined that such Madrasas would keep changing their places in city.
They don’t remain at one place. Abdul Ahad, a care taker of Madarsa, said that people have to identify fake Madrasas before giving any kind of financial aid to them. He said that people in Hyderabad proved to be more generous towards helping religious institutions and several bogus Madrassas sprouted in the city exploiting the situation. People donate huge amounts to Madarsas and also provide several other things like furniture, necessary items and other basic needs of the school.
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