http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-tamilnadu/research-scholar-seeks-ugc-intervention/article5768638.ece
A post-doctoral research scholar of biotechnology in Madurai Kamaraj University has appealed to the University Grants Commission to permit her to complete her work in the university. The scholar, P.J. Eswari Pandranayaka, is physically challenged and has been pursuing the Dr. D.S. Kothari Post-doctoral Research Programme (DSKPRP) at the University since May 2013. She did her Master's and Ph D from the same university and considering her disability, the UGC had permitted her to complete her post-doctoral programme from the same university as an exception to UGC norms. Dr. Eswari hails from Theni and is polio-afflicted. "I used to stay in the hostel until December 3, when I was asked to move out. I was told to go as I have stayed in the hostel for five years. I have taken up several courses and for each course I was registered as a fresh candidate as is mandatory. I will be completing my research work in 2015. It helps to stay on-campus as for a disabled person like me, it is easy to access help in case of fall and injury," she said. Dr. Eswari approached the Court of Chief Commissioner for Persons with disabilities, which wrote to the University Vice Chancellor Kalyani Mathivanan, advising the official to not to deprive persons with disability of their legitimate rights. The office of the State commissioner for the differently abled also sent a letter to the University urging the officials to provide her hostel accommodation. Instead, on February 27 the University wrote to her, urging her to find a new mentor as her present mentor, S. Krishnaswamy, was ineligible to guide her. An empowered committee of the University had decided that if she was unwilling to find a new mentor then her fellowship would be terminated. She also received a cheque for the fellowship for the period May 2013 to February 2014, along with a letter from the Registrar stating that she had to inform to which University her fellowship has to be transferred from March 1. For his part, Dr. Krishnaswamy, a Senior Professor at the Centre of Excellence in Bioinformatics, School of Biotechnology, has also written to the UGC, pointing out that he has so far guided 18 Ph D students, more than sufficient to guide a post-doctoral research fellow. The UGC-Kothari guidelines stipulate that "The person who has successfully supervised at least three Ph D students can act as a mentor for the applicant applying for DSKPDF". -- You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough Register at the dedicated AccessIndia list for discussing accessibility of mobile phones / Tabs on: http://mail.accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/mobile.accessindia_accessindia.org.in Search for old postings at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ To unsubscribe send a message to [email protected] with the subject unsubscribe. To change your subscription to digest mode or make any other changes, please visit the list home page at http://accessindia.org.in/mailman/listinfo/accessindia_accessindia.org.in Disclaimer: 1. Contents of the mails, factual, or otherwise, reflect the thinking of the person sending the mail and AI in no way relates itself to its veracity; 2. AI cannot be held liable for any commission/omission based on the mails sent through this mailing list..
