Plagiarism or Academicism?
"Perish those who said our good things before we did."
Aelius Donatus
Kerala Science Congress, a significant event at least for Kerala’s scientific community, concluded on 31st January 2007, at Kannur, Kerala. Media reports claim that the papers presented at the congress were of “international standard”. However, we regretfully have to dissent. We can’t help saying that this conference yet again showed the bankruptcy of some of our eminent scholars and their resultant resort to PLAGIARISM, which by consent is one of the worst crimes in academia. Had it been some stray instances from some students or researchers hell-bent on achieving their degrees, it would have been just pardonable. However, this time it was the head of a prestigious institution, Prof. G.R. C. Reddy, Director, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Calicut who brought about disrepute on the event through blatant academic corruption.
Please note that Prof. Reddy was invited to the congress to inaugurate the valedictory function and Prof. Reddy did deliver a valedictory address. Below this article, you can see a copy of the speech delivered by Prof. Reddy. Prof. Reddy has displayed it on the website of the institution he heads with a link at the heart of the homepage. (See here). We have uploaded it here, lest he may choose to remove it, once the truth is out). The underlined parts you see are all lifted (mere cut and paste) from various web pages. Find it unbelievable? Seeing is believing. Just click on those parts to reach the pages where you can see the sentences or phrasing Prof. Reddy has presented as his own.
“Taking something from one man and making it worse is plagiarism.” George Moore
An Apology for the Exposé
Pardon this paranoia, pardon this peeping Tom, but issues vital to the academic world are galore in this context, so vital that a post-mortem is essential and imperative. We will encounter certain keywords like plagiarism, integrity, intellectual honesty, courtesy and a newfangled coinage cut-paste, time and again in this write-up. Cut-paste is more than a function; it is increasingly becoming a culture in the academia. However, in the academic and scientific field plagiarism is an unpardonable crime, nothing less than outright theft befitting maximum punishment and in cases like this summary banishment from the academic realm.
The University of Colorado’s Academic Integrity Policy defines Plagiarism as “the use of another’s ideas or words without appropriate acknowledgment. Examples of plagiarism include: failing to use quotation marks when directly quoting from a source; failing to document distinctive ideas from a source; fabricating or inventing sources; and copying information from computer-based sources, i.e., the Internet.” This webpage of University of Pretoria discusses Why is plagiarism a serious offence?. Plagiarism is infringement on copyright, piracy and naked violation of Intellectual Property Rights. Georgetown University Honor Council warns the students that
“Students who submit written work in the University must, therefore, be the authors of their own papers. Students who use facts or ideas originating with others must plainly distinguish what is theirs from what is not. To misrepresent one’s work ignorantly is to show oneself unprepared to assume the responsibility presupposed by work on the college level.” |
Now look at what Prof. Reddy has done. Reddy is the Director of a reputed academic and research institute. He is the person responsible for the integrity and quality of the academic and research exercise and output of NIT, Calicut. If this is the sort of academic integrity and intellectual honesty he is observing, what moral grounds he has for managing an important academic and research institution? Won’t his presence vitiate the whole environment around him? Can any faculty member of his institute question any student or staff under him, when he/she misappropriates someone else’s work and claim it as his or hers?
The Dissection
God, it stinks!
Let’s broach the big deal. And what does his speech say? (It doesn’t say anything much other than sickening platitudes.) Before starting on mangling the corpse of Reddy speech let me acknowledge that he acknowledges a bit of courtesy to five big wigs in the following fashion at the end of the published form of his address. [“(The speaker acknowledges Amartyasen, Muralimanohar Joshi, Yashpal and Shashi Tharoor)” We will soon see that they are only a few of those who suffered mutilated and vandalised plagiarism at Reddy’s hands. He has expediently left out many others whom he plagiarised on, not merely for ideas but even for turns of phrases.]. Will this acknowledgement of sorts extenuate his conduct? NO! Mr. Reddy was not making an impromptu speech. He prepared it beforehand and was reading it out. Is it enough to “acknowledge” a few names (while leaving out many others) at the end parenthetically? No, absolutely not. There are strict guidelines accepted by the academic community. Reddy can’t run away with his speech as he likes. See here, web site of Indiana University has some relevant information :
“Using another person’s phrases or sentences without putting quotation marks around them is considered plagiarism EVEN IF THE WRITER CITES IN HER OWN TEXT THE SOURCE OF THE PHRASES OR SENTENCES SHE HAS QUOTED.” |
If you want to look at the legal aspect, listen to what Dr. Ronald B. Standler (attorney) has to say.
“When using another person's words, to avoid plagiarism one must always do both of the following:
|
Then Mr. Reddy is guilty of more than plagiarism. He doesn’t use quotation marks, doesn’t differentiate between his words and things he “quotes”. And over the top, he lifts whole sentences from websites without acknowledging or admitting it. One of the rare occurrences of a quotation mark in Prof. Reddy’s speech can be seen here.
Prof. Reddy: “We have invented negative numbers – the British mathematician Hogben, grudgingly acknowledging this, derisively commented that “perhaps Hindus were in debt more often than not, it occurred to them that it would also be better to have a number which represents the amount of money one has”. |
Even this quotation mark is borrowed (rather, stolen). It was actually Sashi Tharoor quoting Lancelot Hogben and Reddy merely copied the entire sentence from Tharoor.
Sashi Tharoor: http://www.shashitharoor.com/articles/hindu/science.shtml) “Indian mathematicians invented negative numbers: the British mathematician Lancelot Hogben, grudgingly acknowledging this, suggested ungraciously that "perhaps because the Hindus were in debt more often than not, it occurred to them that it would also be useful to have a number which represent the amount of money one owes". |
In the process Mr. Reddy really landed himself in a quagmire. Compare Reddy’s “a number which represents the amount of money one has” and the original writer’s “a number which represent the amount of money one owes". (Emphasis added.) Dr. Reddy makes the idea stand on its head with his stupid substitution of the word owe with has.
The Eminent Academic and his “Fantastics”
Please bear with the coinage of the fake word fantstics. Seeing Prof. Reddy’s virulent fantasy playing antics, one just can’t help calling it fantastics. Prof. Reddy’s research skill is truly wonderful. He knows how to rely on his sources. Here is an instance.
Prof. Reddy: “Andalusia, a noted Arab scholar in his celebrated book ‘Tabaqat al-umam’ has stated that ‘India is the first nation to have cultivated science’’ |
The facts are that Andalusia is a Spanish region (not Arabian, mind you!) and the book in question was written by a scholar named Qadi Sa id. Mr. Reddy must have been in a hurry. He found the following sentence on a webpage http://www.oswego.edu/~kumar/book.htm.).
“One of these teachers was Sa'id al-Andalusi (Sa'id of Andalusia), who in 1068 wrote Kitab Tabaqat al-'Umam, or "Book of the Categories of Nations," which recorded the contributions to science of all known nations.” |
What went wrong with Reddy’s copy and paste exercise is not known to us but the result is hilariously funny. Prof. Reddy missed the whole point and messed up the whole thing. Andalusia, the Spanish region became the author of the book! Reddy must have thought, “Since it is a kitab, who else other than an Arab would write one?” Dear Mr. Reddy, please note that that Sa'id al-Andalusi means Sa'id of Andalusia.
Plagiarism, we all know is bad and at the same time we are aware that it is there. Most of the term papers and assignments submitted by our students contain sentences without proper citations. Still, even an undergraduate student usually shows some minimum respect to the authors they source upon by avoiding original and imaginative turns of phrases. However, our Prof. Reddy lacking in such sophomoric considerations lifts without a grain of shame even a strange phrasing used by the respected scholar Prof. Yash Pal in an article he wrote in the Tribune in 2004.
Reddy:
“However, I can not help feeling that the current hype is louder than tune. Great things to be done lie ahead, in areas such as Biotechnology and Nano-science.”
Prof. Yash Pal:
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2004/specials/main1.htm
“I cannot help feeling that the current hype is louder than the tune, even though one feels that great things lie ahead.”
Is it a case of great men thinking alike? Hardly, as you will see through sickening instances of flagrant plagiarism below. However, such stupidities are really beside the point here! The heart of the matter lies elsewhere.
Vandalism too!
Reddy: “Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian swords. …Shipbuilding was one of India’s major export industries until recent times till the arrival of Britishers. Crop rotation and technology have been passed down for thousands of years and we have been pioneers in this field.” | http://www.indianscience.org/: “In the mid-first millennium BCE, the Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian courts for making swords... Shipbuilding was one of India's major export industries until the British dismantled it and formally banned it. Crop rotation and soil technology that has been passed down for thousands of years are traditional practices which India pioneered.” |
The source says “Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian courts...” which at least makes sense. Reddy makes it “popular in Persian swords”. How cute a rewording!
How he mutilates when he thieves! “Crop rotation and soil technology” when copied missed the “soil”. Reddy being so technically bent may have dislike for earthy things like soil. Similarly shipbuilding also suffers horribly at Reddy’s hands.
Sir William Davenant a 17th century English poet said thus:
“Because they commonly make use of treasure found in books, as of other treasure belonging to the dead and hidden underground; for they dispose of both with great secrecy, defacing the shape and image of the one as much as of the other.” |
The import of the quote suits well for Reddy’s thievery. He is guilty of vandalism, too.
What Happens “in between”?
Thievery, more thievery, what else? Clicking on these links, you can see that these are all opinions of eminent scientists and the websites from where Reddy has lifted those parts properly acknowledge them all. But Reddy expediently takes what he needs, not just the data but even the entire sentences or turns of phrases and decides to remove the names of the scientists. Please note that nowhere in his speech he gives any courtesy acknowledgement to the scientists, CNR Rao and Dr Gangan Prathap.
A Touch of Originality too!
We shouldn’t accuse him of lack of originality altogether. The non-underlined, non-linked parts probably are his original thoughts and original phraseology.
Prof. Reddy: “It should not be difficult to induce brilliant young people into science as there is a deep fun in doing science. Selling chocolates, cookies and soaps might fetch more money but can not be intellectually challenging and spiritually fulfilling.” |
And he has turned out a very interesting phrase too, which is ‘a real beauty’, to use a cricketing phrase- “there is a deep fun in doing science”. This finest piece of wisdom should be displayed at all the scientific institutions in India and perhaps should be inscribed on the walls of every urinal and latrine students frequent. Reddy has titled his speech “The Argumentative India and its Scientific Temper”. What he meant by this is still too vague, though he names two “dissenters” at the beginning. One can wonder how much scope he allows for the argumentativeness in his own institution. People from NIT, Calicut can provide feedback on that aspect. “The scientific temper” we have seen through. Mr. Reddy, pardon the impertinence, who do you think you can enlighten with this gem of wisdom you allegedly fathered? Let’s sincerely thank you for all the deep fun you give us!
The full text of Prof. Reddy’s Speech as given at the NIT Calicut website.
The Argumentative India and its Scientific Temper G.R. C. Reddy Director National Institute of Technology Calicut NITC PO, Calicut - 673601 India is an ancient nation and its religious literature is voluminous, perhaps more than any other country. The earliest literature, Vedas, Upanishads and Geetha form part of that. These books are full of arguments and counter arguments. In our literature we also find the names like Charvaka, Gautama Buddha, intellectually combative giants. This informs us that our society accommodates and tolerates dissent. We have a long history of heterodoxy and plurality. Thus our society learnt to accommodate arguments and counter arguments, which leads to the search for truth. The search for truth leads to the understanding of nature and the development of science. Thus we have a long tradition of science. In the good olden days the traditional folk and the elite sciences are interwined reducing diversity of view into a way similar to bio-diversity, harmonizing various civilizations. Since the birth of history, different people have contributed to different branches of science and technology through interactive contacts across cultures separated by large distances. This nails the lie that India was less rational and scientific than the West. We have excellent contributions in several branches of science and technology. Harappan civilization was the first in the known civilizations to build and plan the towns with underground drainage. Their structural engineering and air-cooling architecture were well documented. Oven-baked bricks were invented in India. The technologies to manage water are well documented since Harappan days. Indian textiles have been legendary since ancient times. Greeks and Romans extensively imported them from our country. Roman archives record official complaints about massive cash drainage due to these imports from India. Iron was known in the Ganga valley much before Christ in the first millennium BCE. Indian wootz steel was very popular in Persian swords. Rust free steel was an Indian invention and remained an Indian skill for centuries. The pillar near the Qutab Minar in Delhi is considered a metallurgical marvel and is a testimony to our skills. Another important Indian contribution to metallurgy was isolation, distillation and use of Zinc. This was observed in Taxashila in the 4 th Century BCE. Shipbuilding was one of India’s major export industries until recent times till the arrival of Britishers. Crop rotation and technology have been passed down for thousands of years and we have been pioneers in this field. Historically Indian’s agricultural production was large and sustained a huge population compared to any part of the world. Surpluses were stored for use in a drought year. Our contribution in medicine is well known. Many multinationals no longer denigrate our traditional medicine. Our contribution in Mathematics is well known. We invented “Zero”, which is the result of concept of nothingness, i.e. Shunya. We have invented negative numbers – the British mathematician Hogben, grudgingly acknowledging this, derisively commented that “perhaps Hindus were in debt more often than not, it occurred to them that it would also be better to have a number which represents the amount of money one has”. The Kerala mathematician ‘Nilakantha’ wrote the sophisticated explanations of the irrationality of ‘pi” before the west had heard of the concept. We used Pythagoras theorem long before its advent in Greece. Vedic Indians solved square roots. Our contribution in astronomy is magnificent, which I need not elaborate. Thus from the days of Rigveda which asserted that the gravitation held the universe together (thousands of years before the apple fell on Newton’s head) to the present day, India has a very long cherished scientific tradition and this is mainly due to heterodoxy, plurality, allowing the arguments and counter arguments accommodating, tolerating and respecting the dissent which lead to the scientific temper. Thus Indians are by nature scientifically tempered. Andalusia, a noted Arab scholar in his celebrated book ‘Tabaqat al-umam’ has stated that ‘ India is the first nation to have cultivated science’. However, in between something happened to us and West forged ahead of us. Despite this long scientific tradition what happened to us in between? Is it because our society is developed exclusiveness of certain sections of the people leading to the confinement of knowledge to a particular section or is it because of colonial domination over the country for several centuries? A recent much accepted top 500 ranking of world universities features only three Indian universities – Indian Institute of Science in the 251-300 rank slot and Indian Institutes of Technology Delhi and Kharagpur in the 451 – 500 slot. The fact, however bitter, is that the contribution of India to science has come down enormously. Our share of contribution to global research and development is just 1.58 percent. This reflects the health of research in the country. According to one estimate, India has to step up the number of Research and Development workers by a factor of 12 and increase the scientific effort 50 fold, if India wants to keep pace with the developed world. However, I am an optimist. Some of our institutes like IISc, IITs, NITs and Central Universities have produced finest minds, thanks to the vision of Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru, our first Prime Minister. Their degrees are held in the same esteem as that of any noted university in the west. These finest minds made strides in Atomic energy and Space where major developments have been made by the public sector without critical technical assistance from abroad. Recent launch of four satellites put into orbit by the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C7) and the recovery of Space Capsule is a testimony of our maturity in Science & Technology. In the area of chemicals and pharmaceuticals the country has moved significantly forward. Even our farm sector is not lagging behind. Young persons are coming to R & D and industry with greater confidence and competence. We are making great progress in several other fields too including Information & Communication Technology. Of late, I see great change in the Science & Technology scene of the country. In the year 2006-07, the Indian Science budget is enhanced by 17%, substantial indeed. But why any body should do science? Here the Industry comes into picture which reaps the fruits of science and it should take care of it and it should happen in a big way. Industry should address the needs of science in a cooperative way. We should understand that the more we use foreign gadgets the more we create the gap between us and the developed world. It should not be difficult to induce brilliant young people into science as there is a deep fun in doing science. Selling chocolates, cookies and soaps might fetch more money but can not be intellectually challenging and spiritually fulfilling. When I see in my campus the young boys and girls with critical minds, I am never in despair. The days are not far off when India once again roars. However, I may add here that still India is one of the world’s most illiterate countries and not even 1 or 2 percent of our students do science. Unless we do something about this, it is difficult to operate on the frontier of Science & Technology knowledge. (The speaker acknowledges Amartyasen, Muralimanohar Joshi, Yashpal and Shashi Tharoor) Valedictory Address at 19 th Kerala Science Congress held on January 31, 2007 at Kannur, Kerala. |
Post Script: As we expected, the erring speech was removed promptly from the website. However, you can see the speech here where it has been retrieved and cached in the original form and from the original source. And the Homepage of the website with the link is cached and preserved here.
--ইন্দ্রলাল--
You can add your comments by clicking here
56 comments:
I am really shocked to see such things happening in Indian academic world. Prof. Reddy should step down immediately and and MHRD should conduct an inquiry to save the reputation of this institution.
yada yada yada, dude (ram, blogger whatever) get a life
real shame...Is this is the real picture of people doing science in India? I doubt it, but it definitely raises many questions.and all these questions will be raised because of one irresponsible and plagiarizing person Prof. Reddy.this definitely raises doubts about the scientific ethics at the institute which he heads and the plight of the poor and helpless graduate students there.And my congratulations to the writer of this piece for the courage shown to do this piece of investigative journalism.
Shocking!
i believe your criticism of the use of andalusia as a name reference is a bit harsh. there are well known cases where we do this as a matter of routine. everyone refers to Jean Claude Barré de Saint-Venant (a well known name in fluid and solid mechanics) as saint venant as in saint venant's principle. in fact, following in this direction, your quote is not sufficiently close to the speech text to be classified as plagiarism, i believe. of course, there is little doubt about the other instances you cite.
In reply to the above comment:
I would say this depends by and large on precedents and tradition. Assisi, for example, can mean St Francis of Assisi, depending on the circumstances of the occurrence of the word. However, I haven't been able to find a single instance where Sa'id al-Andalusi has been mentioned merely by the place name Andalusia. Further, Reddy says, "Andalusia, a noted Arab scholar...". If Sa'id lived in Andalusia how could he be an Arab scholar?
good work man....!!!
good to see the blogs beying used to expose such bastards !!!
I am reminded of a comment by Ingersol after reviewing a book, "The book is both original and good; but where it is original it is not good, and where it is good it is not original"
An institution gets the head it deserves.
A sanyasi
A relevant message I received from Dr Abraham T. Mathew, NIT Calicut:
"Director has acknowldged the sources it seems. You want Director invent
something and speak on that during Valedictory??"
__________________________________________________
Dr Abraham T. Mathew
Department of Electrical Engineering
National Institute of Technology, Calicut
Kozhikode-673 601, Kerala, INDIA
I know NIT Calicut right from its REC days. It was one of the best RECs in India. It had excellent faculty with experience in the best institutes in India and even some foreign universities. When it was upgraded to NIT, it was expected that the institute will be headed by someone from IITs/IISc. Now we have a professor from another NIT as director facing plagiarism charges. May be he didn't have any ill intentions, but certainly he has no idea of what is plagiarism and what are acceptable /not acceptable practices. May be due to his lack of exposure. he may be able to do justice to his job at NIT Warrangal but is certainly not capable of providing leadership to an NIT. I think it will be in the best interests of everyone, including Reddy, if he decides to go back.
Dear Ayyappadas,
I am sorry that I gave a flippant remark before reading the whole stuff. The remark is a general one on plagiarism.
Prof. Reddy had just delivered a speech. In speeches, the question of plagiarism does not arise at all. I believe that all speeches are intelligent imitations of earlier speeches and their combinations.
I don't think you can catch me for plagiarism if I lift a page from Bhagavad Gita.
I suggest that this item be deleted from your blog
Aah... it pains me to see the plight of my almamater... I guess, Gokhale sir/MPC sir should be brought back. Those were the golden days of NITC. Why don't we (as alumni/students) have a hand in the governing council of the college ? Being a government institution, RTI Act can be applied to NITC. So this is the route, that we shall adopt.
And, those from NITC, who are really passionate about their alma-mater, please do join the NITC global alumni group, nitc_all@yahoogroups.com .
Harsh
From a young faculty NIT Calicut
I have few comments:
Political interest in appointing people to the key posts is a very common in this country. A few have turned out to be excellent choice (e.g. Our President). Mostly this happens when the person appointed is nominated taking into consideration the larger interest of the group. Dr. Reddy is not appointed that way. Its a post for which an advertisement has been placed and people were in long queue with political backing and sacks of money -hoping that the money can be recovered by building more structures and getting commission from it- Dr. Reddy came first and therefore he is here. It is not fair to blame NIT Calicut for it.
The integrity of this institution is not going to be questioned for the plagiarism by it’s director. Because this institute is not facing the public/scientific community with
its director in the forefront. For majority of us Dr. Reddy is another administrator who has been appointed by nasty politicians. Therefore his motive is not to bring in scientific integrity and “fun of doing research” to the institute but making money by building more structures, making frequent visits to capitol and outside etc. I as a teacher am certainly entitled to check the plagiarism by my students. I only don't need to direct them to Dr. Reddy for a role model. You can certainly learn from other people; how-to from a few and how-not-to from many.
There are enough good people here as faculty who can be matched to the best teachers in the country. Similarly there are people who can be categorized as the worst teachers – I don't know the ratio- Similar statement can be made about students and non-teaching staff also. But since the expectation of random walk in N steps is sqrt(N), this institute will hopefully move forward, though in a small steps.
Dr. MPC -who has made a sarcastic comment- had been the founding director of this institute and held post for ½ yrs. I certainly don't think that was a time when the Institute got a director it really deserved. Well sir, how can you make such a statement when the institute has no say in appointing its director? You are misquoting “every country has the government it deserves" in the wrong context. - Another form of plagiarism by it strict definition- But whoever comes here just lives. Just like you did and just like Dr. Gokhale -this was a better period in fact-, the next director, did. But things will move only forward; because the momentum this institute - for that matter any institute - has gathered is not by virtue of any individual effort. A few dedicated teachers who love to see the glitter a students' eyes when they feel that they have understood something and a few students who are in search of truth; that is enough. If you are still in the “fools heaven” of all-in-all of NIT establishment, please come out of it. We remember fondly the good work you have done here and are certainly thankful for that.
To Dr. Abraham T. mathew: "The director has acknowledged it seems..." Common sir. Please stop making politically correct statements. What do you mean by saying "it seems". Even after reading this blog I am sure what makes you try to protect you director is your kind mind and your fear of the institute loosing its face in public. Is the way he acknowledged enough? It's more like copying 10 paragraphs from 10 research journals and putting 5 of them in the references list. Do you think that’s the way the academic community should function? There are a few teachers here who burn the filaments in the night to set tough question papers/ assignment papers to see that the students really work hard and do justice to the subject. and earn their marks. Similarly there are people who just lift questions from std. text books and make students life easy. Do you mean to say that the first kind are fools? This speech is a pure case of plagiarism and academic dishonesty shown by Dr. Reddy and it should be condemned in every aspect. If you cannot do that, at least don't enlighten us by your revised wisdom and provide us more fun.
Very many thanks to the author for taking pains uncover the truth. I had seen the speech earlier in nitc website and just browsed it presuming that its Reddy's own words and therefore need not be read carefully. Now the speech has disappeared from the site and only a link to Hindu newspaper article -in, which it’s not easy to catch him-, is given. Now I can read it carefully since it’s said by someone trustworthy. So Dr. Reddy has helped protect the integrity of original contributors through indirectly through this blog. Good work sir.
In reply to Dr. MPC:
Firstly, I am not Ayyappadas as you have addressed me. Secondly, I wonder at your somersault . If Mr. Reddy had "lift[ed] a page from Bhagavad Gita" and presented it before an audience or readership familiar with Gita, he wouldn't have faced the charge of plagiarism since it is unmistakable and obvious. What he has done has amply been dealt with in the article.Plagiarism is the unethical practice of presenting someone else's work ( a result, a sentence or even a phrase) as one's own; be it in a book, in an article , in a speech or in a conversation. Persons occupying responsible positions are expected to adhere to the set models in such matters. Also note that Reddy was not making an extempore speech. It was prepared in advance; it was published in NIT Calicut web site and a delegate of Kerala Science Congress informs me that the speech was distributed there ( in print form).
For those who suffer from vagueness of notion on plagiarism, I suggest taking a test at this website:
http://library.acadiau.ca/tutorials/plagiarism/
They can also take a look at
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/ResearchW/plag.html
For those who think that “In speeches, the question of plagiarism does not arise at all.”, I suggest this report.
http://www.reviewjournal.com/lvrj_home/2005/Mar-04-Fri-2005/news/25992087.html
On this Valentine's day, I present G. R. C. Reddy these lyrics of Morrissey:
"If you must write prose or poems
The words you use should be your own
Don't plagiarise or take "on loan"
'Cause there's always someone, somewhere
With a big nose, who knows
And who trips you up and laughs
When you fall."
From an older faculty from NIT
As the 'Young faculty from NIT' rightly pointed out, an individual
cannot boast to be an institution and culture of an institute is not developed by individuals or Directors former or present, but by those who have really set role models for others to follow in the last 35 or more years . Not by some one who plagiarises or by some other one who is good only in making obsecene comments on girls even when he interviews a girl for a facuty position. Unfortunately, NIT is yet to see a Director like Prof. Kalro who has developed IIMK to one of the best buisiness schools in India. Well the culprit is neither the poor teachers or the nice young students, but .... the system as the Young faculty rightly puts it. Let us show our protest against such an order of things where politics hyjack the finer aspects of academic leadership.
as a student of nit-c,i can very well let u kno that dr.reddy has been a pain,right from the day he took over as director.the young faculty says not to be worried as reddy is not a role model as far as the students are concerned.but when there's an autrocratic dictator-oops,director; as the head of the institution where the freedom of the students is curbed,and not even allowed to take part in any activity organized by "external political organizations" and one who puts a cold-blooded end to the freedom of expression of students,i dont see how the instituition will not suffer at the hands of such an individual!
Sad, real sad!
While on the topic of indian academicians, Here's a snippet of a Star of Mysore newsreport which carried comments made by the Vic-Chancellor(no less!) of Mysore University:
"Turning his ire against the Tamilians, he said they are a quarrelsome people (kadana priyaru). Wherever they go, their prime occupation is creating problems. The problems created in Sri Lanka is an example"
I would fully expect from some uneducated low-life but it comes as a shock to me that this uber educated low-life, can head a university and transmit his prejudices to thousands of students.
Is there any hope for Indian academicians?
SOM (www.starofmysore.com) unfortunately does not allow linking to their news articles. You can find this news report by accessing their archives for 8th February.
Somebody observed that the links are not displayed properly. I am reposting those links (including one from an anonymous commenter) here in the proper format for the sake of convenience.
For those who suffer from vagueness of notion on plagiarism, I suggest taking a test at this
website
They can also take a look at this
The following part is the reformatted comment of the anonymous commenter.
"For those who think that "In speeches, the question of plagiarism does not arise at all.", I suggest
this report."
Dear Mr Young Faculty
A critcism of Dr ATM's response wasn't justified.
It is a natural response.
Let me illustrate my point with a tiny story.
All the characters are fictitious.
But they have their allegoric counterparts in NITC.
Malutty came home running from her little nursery school.
"Mommy, I have a story telling contest tommorrow.
Please teach me a nice, long story.
I want all my friends to clap and laugh when I say it.
And I want the prize that Miss has kept for us."
Mommy is bewildered. There is a midsem test coming.
Her project students urgently require a peptalk and review meetings.
Malutty's father has friends coming over for dinner.
But, Mommy, being Mommy, has the solution. She fishes out from her
memory Cinderella's story, which she had acted out once long back.
She adds some frills and actions, and trains bright Malutty in 20 minutes,
and goes back to her chores.
The next day, Malutty comes home sad. Miss gave the prize to Muthu,
she sobs."Muthu told a wonderful story about mobile phones having a fight.
Muthu's mother wrote the story."
Now, Muthu's mother was a creative housewife, and had spent four hours writing a story,
composing the music and adding all the spice to make it catchy.
Mommy is upset. She knows, her Malutty must have done an excellent job. The clear voice,
pleasant face, and the just right tinge of a lisp.
She writes a letter to the teacher, enquiring what was wrong with Malutty's story.
Miss returns the letter with a note saying that though Malutty's story and diction
were fantastic, Muthu gets the prize as his story had more originality.
Mommy is really upset now. She has a discussion with Daddy, and Daddy tells
her that they should really be paying more attention to their only child.
But the next day, as daddy leaves his little hearthrob at the nursery gate,
he chances to see the teacher, and asks her
"Do you expect a 3-year old to compose her own story before telling others?"
do u mean the director has only a childs knowledge of science and english???
Sorry for my comments on Dr. ATM. Now I too feel it was uncalled for.
You have coined a nice story to illustrate your point. The charateristic of a true teacher.
If the the Director/Person who prepared the speech had slightest imagination that you have shown, these uneasy events could have been avoided.
More than the ability for imagination it's a question of one's credibility and honesty
thats being qustioned through this blog - and there by the institutes credibility as the blog awner claims- It becomes a matter of concern becuase many scientists and dignitories present in the Science Congress inagural venue were made to believe that the speech is original.
Now since this blog says thats not the case, these are many out there who might be feeling ashamed of what has happened.
Dr. ATMs natural response of "is the director supposed to invent something..." is not positive.
I felt its in support of plagiarism. Originality may be extremely difficult to achieve and probably people don't expect much of originality in information age. As teachers who most of the time read books and try to convey others' ideas dramatically to students we probably fail to distinguish between what's original and what's not!
I appologise for my comments on ATM. For those who don't know ATM and read these comments for the fun of seeing others fight: He is an extremely good teacher and loves his students and his job.
Though his response gives us an idea that he is in the plagiarism camp, he is much more original than most of us. As you can see from my "hot ressponse" to ATM, the paragraph refering to him became harsh with unncecessory refereces, because of seeing a good one in not-so-good one's camp. As the above story illustrates Dr.ATM was just being the Daddy.
Shouldn't we be doing more imporant things -if any-?
The director is a fool who knows nothing much about Science, English language and History. This can be easily observed if someone has heard his talks and speeches and the things he has been doing in the campus. He is a narrow minded back-door entry, nothing more.
Such a dumbo copy-pasting eminent personalities' work on such a topic which requires deep knowledge and interest even while he knows absolutely nothing about what is there in his speech, and hence faking that he is a knowledgible intellectual, while he is just an ignorent-good-for-nothing-autocrat - before the most important event in Kerala's science community - is just plain wrong and embarrassing.
An old story
After World War II, the Jews left in Germany along with other things were shared by USA and USSR. When USSR put the first sputnik in space, some American remarked " It only means the Jews that they (USSR) got are better than the Jews that we(US) got.
The child or mother , who was awarded the prize ????
I dont think the director would have taken this much pain to search in google and prepare this..I wonder which fool drafted this speech for him :( .. Ofcourse, it pains see this being an alumni.
Shocking !
Btw, how would the speech look if each and every source were properly acknowledged as per rules ?
I am curious to know , and compare with the "original" !
The manager only always as good as his team.. Director, get a good speech drafter.
First of all let me congratulate the great effort taken by the author to publish this professionaly designed blog. It will be an eye opener to beneficiaries of cut and paste technology.
It is the duty of senior professors and colleagues to correct the errant head of their institutes.Is the banana talk " chanakam chariyal chanakam manakkum" , the reason behind the hesitation to do this?
I also believe, it is the duty of government to appoint men with proven track record to assume the highest positions of nationally important institutions. Hope the director will listen to the words of Daniel J Boorister "Some are born great, some achieve greatness and some hire P.R. Officers"
Hi publisher,I have read your points and found only "little more than little" fault of prof.Reddy,in what he posted on web page..First of all this might be different from what he had spoken where he might had given reference and then it would not called as plagiarism.
Secondly,most of points seems not to be regretted as plagiarism,although taken from websites,they do not contain any factual or experimental data(except at some places)
It looks more as your personal Haterdness to Mr.Reddy and your making it a big issue...
In reply to the above party who finds in my article "personal Haterdness to Mr.Reddy":
I feel like Laughing Out Loud at the way you speak, my friend, because it reminds me of Prof. Reddy's style.
Professor Nutty (a blogger ID I suppose)left a new comment. However, the post contained real names of NITC staff and pejorative comments (well-deserved, undoubtedly) aimed at real persons. So we decided to edit the text and remove the names. Here is the edited version of Professor Nutty's comment,
Dear Blog-creator,
The effort taken by you (whoever you may be) to expose the plagiarised speech of Director Reddy is to be greatly appreciated. But for your pains-taking efforts nobody would have noticed this 'viddy-speech'. Quite a lot of people have taken advantage of this blog to ruthlessly attack the apparent plagiarist, Mr. Viddy. But, I am certain that this part-time director (on an average he is available at NITC for hardly 10 days per month) could not have found the time outside of his "constructive and profitable" engagements to cut-and-paste that silly speech. That could have only been done by some other fool in his caucus.
In all probability the real plagiarist should be one or other of the following: "Mr. Right" ****/ 'Pannan' *****/ ****** / ****** 'Planning' / "All-round" ******/ 'Placement' ***** / 'Fraud' ******. Whoever it was, he/she will be the next winner of the award for "all-round" performance. Wherever he/she may be, congratulations to him/her; great effort!
In this 'cucumber-town' called NITC where every other person is a deemed university in himself/herself, it is a matter of no surprise that a person whose only expertise is ARROGANCE has been able to crush all argumentativeness and dissent so effectively and for so long. Students are the poor sufferers. Their fate!
Professor Nutty
I would like to quote Dr. MPC's comments and then would like to say that Dr. Reddy is only unfortunate. It is his bad luck to have attracted the attention of his critics. Why I am saying "his" critics because those who are genuinely inerested in increasing the awareness of fellow countrymen on plagiarims or all other forms of IPR issues, would not have been subjective in their criticism but rather would have either raised voice on a proper platform saying simply that "adoption that could be called as plagiarism is on the rise in the country, intentionally or unintentionally, and peple may watch out on what they are saying and writing" or personally/indirectly would have hinted to Dr. Reddy that whatever he said could be classified as plagiarism. That is why I say that Dr. Reddy is unfortunate to have such fierce foes.
All forms of IPR issues, despite many workshops on IPR that took place in the last few years across the entire country, have been fully ignored by most of the even highly learned lot of us in India. I am sure many highly learned people of us in the country may not have thought it to be necessary till now to know fully well about IPR and hence may not correctly be able to define as to what amounts to violation of copyright or patent.
In what Dr. MPC says, he is exactly correct when he says that while giving a speech a person can not keep on giving references to wheat he is quoting or which all ideas he is putting together to present his own point. Some times he may, and some time he may not.
However, when he publishes it, then copyright issues come into picture. Thus, if Dr. Reddy has done any crime, most probably out of ignorance, it is to publish it on the website.
Probably, he realized later on, thus he removed it from there. Removing is not a crime but in fact is an indirect accepting of his mistake. The incident does not seem to warrant an open apology by Dr. Reddy to the NIT or to the country.
What punishment that Dr. Reddy deserves? nothing. In fact he deserves two compliments now.
First is the complete withdrawal of personalized vilification of his speed contained herein this blog site. Promotors of this blog site, if they are genuinely interested in helping others to avoid plagiarism, may continue this blog with non-subjective discussion on those matters.
Second compliment to Dr. Reddy can be a good book on plagiarism to be donated to Dr. Reddy's NIT to be put their library.
In reply to Onlooker:
That caps it all!. When you expose theft and fraud, you are subjective. You shouldn’t divulge such hush-hush things. To be objective, what you should have done is to whisper it in Dr. Reddy’s ear. Alternatively, you could have sent in a report to the authorities concerned (“the proper platforms”) where the matter could be laid to rest. And our friend Onlooker has even taken the trouble of wording it for us how to “say it simply”. We are flattered of being called “fierce foes” of a fourth rate plagiarist. Now Mr. Reddy could sigh in relief to see such an ardent supporter for his dirty work.
Sir, you referred to workshops on IPRs? We have something nice to show you on that. Mr. Reddy inaugurated the workshop on IPRs conducted by NIT-C on December 4, if we were to expect that things happened as reported in this news item that appeared in the Hindu.
In a prepared speech you have to cite the sources when you quote. Your lame arguments to justify Reddy on a speech comprising mostly of ignorant, unimaginative, cut-and-paste parts stink and show you through. If you want to condone his low behaviour citing ignorance, go on. You don’t even stop there, though. You want to pat him, eh? You want us to remove this “personalised vilification” of his speech? That is very much expectable from you who says “if they [ie. we, the bloggers] are genuinely interested in helping others to avoid plagiarism…”. You haven’t seen the wood for the trees, sir. You seem to share the same temperament as Dr. Reddy’s. Nothing of the sort was our aim in publishing this blog. We simply wanted to expose Dr. Reddy’s fraud and show him as undeserving of any post in the academic world. Did you get us now?
Hi
I have to say that Prof. Reddy was foolish.
However to say that he is totally a plagiariser is not correct for "the accused acknowledges some of the people from whom he is accused of lifting material. Something a
plagiariser will not do." ( I have put Prof K. Issac's comments in quotes.)
Prof Reddy should have done this. However all this HUNGAMA is typical in Kerala where
small issues are often endlessly debated while big ones are not touched. By the way
I am also a Malayalee (but born and brought up in Bombay)
For instance, I know two academics in Kerala who publish in journals where they are editors.
In one math journal which is a math one, the editor published an article which has no math. It was just a letter about current sate of mathematics in our country, which OK is relevant but perhaps should not be published in a research journal. Second was a journal in philosophy where the chief editor has 2 out of 9 (or ten I think) publications. These are more serious abuses.
Perhaps Dr. Reddy's real sin is that he probably is not a communist. This seems to be an unforgivable sin in Kerala's intelligentsia.
Tony
- Show quoted text -
--
Tony J. Puthenpurakal
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics
IIT Bombay
From a scientist who has been publishing for the last 18 years in reputed international journals:
1.I don't know Dr.Reddy or NIT calicut, and I don't have any agenda in his favour or against. But one thing, if what Dr.Reddy did is plagiarism, then that is what most speakers do in this internet age. This includes eminent people from all over the world, not just those in india.
2.Our president Dr.Kalam gives wonderful talks citing historical scientific (and other) facts. Do you think he "invented" all that stuff? He (or his assistants) is collecting all that from various sources, including the net.
3.But an intelligent person will always "rephrase" the material that he collected, when a statement is too general so that a reference is not required. For example, I don't think it is fair to accuse someone of plagiarism for making a plain statement like "the Hindus invented negative numbers", particularly in a speech where the audience may be interested in the speech rather than in the original sources.
4.But if the sentence appears in the cut-and-paste fashion from another source, the reference is an absolute must.
So what I feel is,
5. Dr. Reddy should have rephrased the material he collected from the net. Using them as such without reference was unfair.
6. He should have never published this speech in the NIT website. This is a clear violation of copyright as he used original sentences written by others.
Anyways, if Dr.Reddy should resign from his post for these "crimes", and the same standard is applied across the country, then many of our institutions will become headless in no time!
Extract from the article:::::::
Prof. Reddy:
“Andalusia, a noted Arab scholar in his celebrated book ‘Tabaqat al-umam’ has stated that ‘India is the first nation to have cultivated science’’
The facts are that Andalusia is a Spanish region (not Arabian, mind you!) and the book in question was written by a scholar named Qadi Sa id. Mr. Reddy must have been in a hurry. He found the following sentence on a webpage http://www.oswego.edu/~kumar/book.htm.).
“One of these teachers was Sa'id al-Andalusi (Sa'id of Andalusia), who in 1068 wrote Kitab Tabaqat al-'Umam, or "Book of the Categories of Nations," which recorded the contributions to science of all known nations.”
My comment:::::::::::::::::::::
Sa'id of Andalusia is an Arab scholar and judge of that region, when the Arab empire extended all the way into Europe.Dr.Reddy is correct in saying Said is an Arab.
So you would like to bring-up Dr. Reddy as a historian too!. Please don't propagate NITC fellows' pains to History Channel viewers.
thats a pretty long effort from the blogger...cool man...nobody takes pain to find such minute references...
ANyway i feel horrible about the state of conditions of my old good rec......
The interesting comments i found is that of Dr MPC...
luckily i happened to be studying there during his times....
hmmm
what do u mean by "An istitution gets the head it deserves"
u mean to say NITC is as horrible as Reddy...???or what..???
and in a later blog...u r levelling it up???
sir...u might have not done any heroism during ur times...but i dont remember u very impressive...
u had the blessings of the best students...and some good teachers(also not that gud..he he)...luck u sir....
and about mr reddy...and nitc...the whole setup looks horrendous now...i happened to vist the insti..recently and found it to be no more a college....
No freedom....No freedom and no freedom...i just find big walls and the buildings reproducing...
all work and no play eh???
big reddy likes that???
access to kattangal is devastated...the rajpath is chained...and guards and guards only..jail???jailors???prisoners???
what do we rear there now...
sorry if i digressed from the wonderful speech comments but i cant help sayin this...
and to all the wonderful architects of this so called autonomous insti..
we too learned...we too became engineers...we were part of calicut..kerala..india..the culture..the people..the groups...the changes...the colors..the fights..the struggles...the arts..the likes..the loves..the services....and lastly we were also lucky enuf for all those lucrative postings...
and frnds mind u iam...still prayin for my alma mater..long live rec..oops nitc...
Yes, you are right to say that Sa'id lived in Andalusia when Spain was under Muslim rule. However, that was not the question at issue. Our point was Prof. Reddy's idiotic mistaking of the region's name for the scholar's. We don't know whether Sa'id's lineage could be traced back to Arabia. He is seen referred to as a Moor. A Moor might be or might not be of Arabian origin.
Was that the last straw on Mr. Reddy's back? Hardly.
I once read somewhere "If you copy from many sources it is reserach, but if you copy from one source then it is plagiarism". I don't know whose quote this is - please don't charge me for plagiarism!
Going by this, Dr.Reddy's effort is not plagiarism!
I personally think it was just a rather poor speech and nothing more. It is just a speech (no matter that it was prepared and not extempore)- had it been a scientific or social paper to be published in a journal or magazine, well it would be plagiarism
I am an ex student of REC Calicut and I am not happy that my wonderful alma mater is being dragged into needless controversy.
We received an email message from Dr M P Chandrasekharan in which he says: "Your blog on plagiarism has put me in a very embarrassing position. Some idiot in NITC has acted as Reddy's Sherlock Holmes and given him the idea that "knowventure" is none other than MPC. I have neither the time nor patience to read stray speeches made by Reddies and Raos. I have, in my collection, speeches made by Swami Vivekananda, Churchill, Abraham Lincoln, Nehru, V.K Krishna Menon, Radhakrshnan and others whom I consider as great speakers. GRC Reddy doesn't figure in my list. Why I commented on plagiarism in your blog was, because somebody forwarded your article to me."
As a teacher who had served NITC for more than three decades and retired from the service, I thought it prudent to express my views regarding the blog. At
the outset, I should say that it is an excellent work done by a person/s for a common cause. I would like to supplement the learned comment by our beloved
MPC, “an institute gets the Director the teachers deserve”. Let us do some sort of introspection on the incidents of the last couple of years to substantiate this point.
1. We did not care when a brilliant candidate with PhD from IIT in Transportation Engineering was sidelined in selection as lecturer in CED, to safeguard the interest of Anlu, the then Director’s research student.
2. We never thought it inappropriate, when two teachers of EED were promoted as professors by selection, diluting the conditions regarding journal
publications.
3. We never thought it inappropriate, when a lecturer was appointed as Registrar.
4. We welcomed the appointment of our association leader as Chairman Admission.
5. We never thought it inappropriate, the appointment of a non-cadre professor as HOD, CED, overlooking the seniority of a direct selection professor.
6. The selection committee directly selected Dr. Sundareswar as professor in EED considering his merit. However, he was insulted, humiliated and finally had to quit due to the harassment of the Registrar. We never bothered about it.
7. Day in and day out, Dean (PG) is changing the rules and regulations arbitrarily, according to his whims and fancies. It is none of our concern.
8. The prevailing commission rate here is 10 – 20%. It is none of our concern.
9. We never objected to the appointment of Dean (Planning) overlooking the seniority of many professors.
10. We never thought it in appropriate, the recent appointment of a third rate
“all-rounder” as professor by selection in MED, overlooking other meritorious
candidates.
11. In order to give promotion to same Anlu, the Director’s crony, who has not published even a single journal paper as on today, all those applied were given
the professor’s post under CAS. We whole-heartedly welcomed it.
12. We kept silent, when two meritorious lady teachers, one from CED and other from Architecture were sidelined at the behest of HOD, CED, in the recent
appointments.
13. We never thought it unnecessary, the starting of an obsolete course like B-Tech in chemical engineering.
14. We never bothered about the extravaganza going on in all the civil construction activities.
15. The director used to be in the campus hardly for ten days in a month. This has been the practice for the last one and a half years. We never bother about it.
Unless we realize that, we are also responsible for this blatant abuse of power by the Director, things will never change.
The contents of the address are inspiring to me who has always wanted India to get back on the right tracks. I am glad to see that the facts are copied from good sources and they are hence authentic. I would be inspired by these copied words rather than the new interpretations invented by certain revivalists who do not have any knowledge of our own languages, texts and tradition.
It is a pity that the discussion on plaqgiarism has devisted to other areas. Certainly, MPC is the one responsible for it. "An institution gets the Director it deserves" is not plagiarism as "anonymous" says. It is an extension of an old adage. He was very unfair to the founder director of NITC when he says that "whosoever comes, lives". As a student I know MPC, and UKP, but not the others. These two were not "just living there" like Gokhale and Reddy. UKP really brought the first changes required, and MPC worked on that, gave a charismatic leadership and effected the transformation. This no one can deny. MPC's humane administration and democratic decisions are gone for ever. I do not know how you say that Gokhale's period was better? He just completed some of the work that MPC had started.
Many people who remarked NIT will be a "doomed university" are now trying to own the leadership. UKP and MPC were the ones who built up this institution
To add to my retired colleague
16. Appointment of the nth rate Raghu as deputy registrar(admin) at the time of MPC by diluting even the qualification for graduation from 1st class to 2/3rd class and thereby not giving the post to many other deserving candidate. We faculty never agitated at that time. Not even the non-teaching staff at a time when there is left-liberal unions among them. This fellow Raghu had even tried to influence some faculty in ECE department to get marks for the daughter of a big shot in secratariate when faculty from NITC had to go as external examiners in other engg colleges.
I came to knew that this incident has happened with the support of MPC himself. Sp the present director is not the only culprit. The selfish anf coward faculty of the institute had been acting as a atalyst to destroy the scientific temper of the institute for long. Only thing now happened is a small incident caught red-handed through this blog,
In that sense what "learned" MPC said is right. But the funny side is that if the faculty,non-teaching staff and students had tried to get a deserving Director for the institute could MPC have held the post for long?
It is abviously difficult to satisfy everyone in the insitute. But many indecent and appointments like this have taken place because of uncapable and dirty directors and other useless and coward professors sitting there as Deans.
So even Reddy could be something more that present NITC can ask for though not the scietific community as the blog points out. And if you want Reddy out today I don't think you have any hope since the next one coming would be someone worse that Reddy.
Where there is lack of people with vision sincerity and courage and "not good for anything" coming to academic world to produce more of these enlightened teachers and non-teaching staff, institutions around the world will only produce nth rate human-beings, 3rd citizens and may be 4th rate scientists/engineers. And they will claim themselves to be centre of excellences by projecting a very very few faculty members'/students' achievements. What a shame to Science and Humanity!
- This blog sems to have become a place for Plagiarism research. If you google "plagiarism calicut" this comes in first 5-
About the coment from "Re(tired) Professor about Rules and Regulations:
It is really unfortunate that a Professor(retired or tired) from NITC who might have attended a few meetings of the Senate as Professor,does not know how the regulations for different courses are passed or amended. The proposal, even if it is from Dean(PG) as alleged is first discussed at length in the BPGS (Board for PG Studies) and then passed after discussion in the Senate and then only becomes an amendment to the existing regulations. If he is stating that the Dean(PG) can get anything that he proposes (aacording to his 'whims and fancies'as alleged)passed by BPGS and Senate, it is truly a compliment to Dean(PG) and an insult to the esteemed members of BPGS and Senate.
And about the rules, some earlier Deans thought it convenient not to be aware of the rules or ignored the rules or never saw the rules as they had no time for that.
Just to add a point to what the retired professor has said.
Our network is completely interrupted ever since a temporary employ has left the institute. This national level institute with ample number of experts with international publications (GREAT CVs) is not able to put it back to right track.
This is stupidity. How can yopu degrade a person like this. When I say "Hyderabad is the capital of Andhra Pradesh" does it mean that no one should quote Hyderabad as the capital of India. Or am I doing crime since the statement might be quoted in any other website. Please stop degrading others for, this is the reason why India is lagging back in development.
Yes, you are right sir, you are the only exemplary Dean who has “tirelessly worked” and is still “tirelessly working” while all your predecessors were mere ordinary mortals! Megalomania is not a crime! You are really extra-ordinary in that your hobby or pastime is the perverted interpretation of rules and regulations so as to cause the maximum inconvenience to the ordinary folks.
I would like to recall a single recent incident in which you interpreted the rule to your personal choice. In order to improve the academic standards of M. Tech. students, the Director had decreed that the award of ‘Excellent’ grade is subject to the presentation of at least one paper in a conference. It was also mentioned that each student shall be eligible for TA/DA, subject to a maximum of Rs. 5000 to encourage student participation in conferences. On the basis of this some M. Tech. co-ordinators deputed their students to conferences after duly applying for the TA/DA. When the students produced the bills, Dean-PG simply REFUSED to pass the bills for payment, saying that the TA/DA is applicable for only those conferences which are held at IITs or NITs. How beautifully a very good idea was defeated by the hostile interpretation of the Director’s order according to an individual’s personal preference! Yes sir, you have done this also in the name of the Director.
Extremely Honourable Sir, the whole teaching community of NITC may be spineless but we are NOT FOOLS. Entire NITC knows that you are adept at disguising and pushing your prejudices through the BPGS and Senate. The Senate passes something to which you add or delete according to your personal tastes. All this is done in the name of the Director who is indifferent or fool enough to not to realise that you are a CHEAT.
In reply to the Retired Professor..
The retired professor is not only "tired" as already pointed out, but is becoming senile too. His fading memory has mixed up people, periods and incidents. Raghu was "Assistant Proctor" when I retired in June 2003, and was promoted later by some other director. I am not aware of the politics involved in that.
A Board Member (poor fellow was thinking that he could order around) of REC Calicut had once approached a faculty member of ECE pleading for his daughter studying in a private college where the Lecturer was an examiner. The Lecturer promptly reported the matter to me (MPC) and I had to warn the Board Member of a possible Vigilence Case against him. Then he backed out humiliated and never attended any more meetings. I am not aware of Raghu's role in the incident. Bringing this up in a most distorted form in this "Plagiarism Case" to sling mud on MPC, hiding behind anonymity is, too mean even for Senile Professors
Respected memebers of NITC (old and present)
Thanks for introducing yourselves and your accolades through this blog. I think it may be better to have a plastic dummy of the Directors, HODs, Deans and other people in the Gymkhana of the institute so that frustrated
staff and students can go and hit those dummies and get some tension releaved.
This plagiarism blog has now turned out to be a place for shouting from the dark at others. One way its good for us to know how unanimously you are trying
to take the NITC to new heights.
Now I can see GRC Reddy laughing from behind the screens. Just like the British did some 60 yrs ago!
I would have to agree that when I last visited college, I was surprised to learn about the amount of money spent in renovating the canteen, where I could see only some fresh paint and a new marble/tiled(cannot recall) floor.
Also, I was saddened to see no real maintenance of the grounds(which wasn't the case when we passed out of there in 2004). Dr. Gokhale was a wonderful director, who had brought along experience from IIT Madras, as Dean(student Affairs). He was also very approchable and tried to understand the problems faced by students(like making surprise visits to the hostel mess and having food with us).
In my opinion, the way he was removed,inspite of his good work, by the present Minister of HRD, should have been deplored by one and all.
About Prof. Reddy, I do not know much except one thing from REC Warrangal which one of my friends, who had gone there for a Table Tennis tournament mentioned. He seems to have had morbid fears about a boy visiting the girls' hostel. He seems to have imposed a curfew in the college in this matter.
Perhaps, our academicians should concentrate in pure academic matters and not such trivial ones!!!
I am a student in NIT C. Due to the director's speech and the blog, many things behind curtains and minds came out. I feel the teachers are reluctant to speek truth open. why? Anyway the teachers and students are frustrated to the core. Whom to approach for justice is now the problem in NITC. confusion. new rules daily.(Rules are framed to help the students/people and to keep up justice to all. But in NITC rules are used to harass confuse and trouble people maximum). wasting money for unnecessary construction works. have you ever seen a campus with a 200 meter foot path laid with tiles? This much money can sustain an ordinary school for 5 years atleast.(tax payer can think of that also). it is very sad to see a "modernised" research institute ruining.
Post a Comment