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The Hindu
6 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
Don't stop at potholes: Chennai residents pitch ideas for the Namma Salai app
As the State government has started exploring the feasibility of building an app for roads of all local bodies across the State, residents of Chennai Corporation have demanded a comprehensive list of civic issues to be addressed in the App instead of merely focusing on potholes. president of the Federation of North Chennai Residents' Welfare Associations, said the Namma Salai app should not merely focus on potholes, and instead resolve all civic issues pertaining to roads, including flood mitigation, street furniture, encroachment, and road traffic accidents caused by road design. 'The residents who intend to use the App for resolving civic issues of roads should be able to access comprehensive information about all the roads. For instance, the residents do not know the actual dimensions of the road, encroachment, or date of relaying of the road. We want to know whether the App will also provide such information for better transparency while residents try to post a photo of civic issues. Many narrow roads in north Chennai have the issue of flooding because the roads follow the undulations without proper design,' he said. Ward 84 councillor said most of the civic issues of roads are not resolved because of lack of transparency about the status of work on a road or the list of work completed in a stretch by various agencies. 'The civic officials launched four different projects on roads last year. The contractors who are supposed to do the work said the work in the package has been done in other roads of Assembly constituencies of important leaders. Will the App address such civic issues?' he said. Former Anna University professor of urban engineering said: 'Namma Salai App may include the following issues for the public to address-road design factors: inadequate width to carry the traffic, unevenness, light reflecting road surface, storm water drain problem, skidding of two wheelers, frequent accidents, footpaths, broken medians, lack of bus bays, sharp curves and consequent poor visibility to drivers, frequent road cuttings.' Pointing to the rise of traffic issues on city roads, he stressed the need for inclusion of complaints about traffic problems, traffic management- one ways, U Turns, restraining right turns, defective signals, invisible road marking, lack of sign boards, lack of pedestrian crossings, non-synchronisaton of signals, unannounced road diversions, poor traffic enforcement- over speeding, overloading, riding on the wrong direction, lack of transparency and coordination, indiscriminate parking, encroachments, and noise and air pollution.
The Hindu
18-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Computer Science, ECE preferred choice during round 1 of engineering college admission counselling in Tamil Nadu
Computer Science and Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) seem to be the streams of choice for candidates this year, as 35,125 candidates were given tentative allotment of seats after the first round of counselling for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) for the academic year 2025-26. Early trends indicated an uptick in demand for the ECE stream when compared to last year. According to R. Ashwin, an education counsellor who has been following the engineering admissions closely, ECE has overtaken IT and AI courses as a preferred choice for candidates this year, as indicated by the first round trends. In the top 10 colleges in the State, almost all seats in core engineering streams – Computer Science and Engineering, ECE, Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE), Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering – have been filled after the first round itself, Mr. Ashwin said. What is interesting is that circuit-related courses like Computer Science and ECE were on demand even in colleges lower down the ranking list. Also, Chennai and Coimbatore remained the destinations of choice for candidates, as top colleges in these cities witnessed a spurt in preference during the first round. While the top constituent colleges in Anna University such as College of Engineering Guindy (CEG) and Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) remained top on the preference list of candidates, the various university colleges of engineering of Anna University found themselves lower down the pecking order. TNEA officials said 32,663 candidates under the general category and 2,462 candidates from the government schools (7.5% reservation) category were given tentative allotments. They will release provisional allotment order for those candidates who have confirmed their tentative allotment by Friday evening. Candidates who did not get their seat of choice and have opted for the upward option while accepting the allotment would have to wait for the residual seats after the first round of admissions get over on July 23. In the vocational stream, 1,416 candidates were given tentative allotments, including 214 from the government schools (7.5% reservation) category.
The Hindu
18-07-2025
- General
- The Hindu
Computer Science, ECE preferred choice as over 35,000 candidates get tentative allotment after round 1 of TNEA counselling
Computer Science and Engineering and Electronics and Communication Engineering (ECE) seem to be the streams of choice for candidates this year, as 35,125 candidates were given tentative allotment of seats after the first round of counselling for Tamil Nadu Engineering Admissions (TNEA) for the academic year 2025-26. Early trends indicated an uptick in demand for the ECE stream when compared to last year. According to R. Ashwin, an education counsellor who has been following the engineering admissions closely, ECE has overtaken IT and AI courses as a preferred choice for candidates this year, as indicated by the first round trends. In the top 10 colleges in the State, almost all seats in core engineering streams – Computer Science and Engineering, ECE, Electrical and Electronics Engineering (EEE), Mechanical Engineering, and Civil Engineering – have been filled after the first round itself, Mr. Ashwin said. What is interesting is that circuit-related courses like Computer Science and ECE were on demand even in colleges lower down the ranking list. Also, Chennai and Coimbatore remained the destinations of choice for candidates, as top colleges in these cities witnessed a spurt in preference during the first round. While the top constituent colleges in Anna University such as College of Engineering Guindy (CEG) and Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) remained top on the preference list of candidates, the various university colleges of engineering of Anna University found themselves lower down the pecking order. TNEA officials said 32,663 candidates under the general category and 2,462 candidates from the government schools (7.5% reservation) category were given tentative allotments. They will release provisional allotment order for those candidates who have confirmed their tentative allotment by Friday evening. Candidates who did not get their seat of choice and have opted for the upward option while accepting the allotment would have to wait for the residual seats after the first round of admissions get over on July 23. In the vocational stream, 1,416 candidates were given tentative allotments, including 214 from the government schools (7.5% reservation) category.
New Indian Express
17-07-2025
- Business
- New Indian Express
Tamil Nadu awards ₹40.5 lakh to 65 student innovations under state programmes
CHENNAI: Sixty-five student-led inventions were awarded Rs 40.5 lakh under Tamil Nadu's Innovation Voucher and School Innovation Development programmes, MSME Minister TM Anbarasan announced at an event at Anna University on Tuesday. The state has ramped up support for student innovation and entrepreneurship, awarding Rs 12.73 crore to young inventors and training over 30 lakh students through state-led initiatives. Among the innovations showcased were a robotic road roller, a safety belt for ship workers, and a pineapple harvesting device-developed by school and college students across the state. Over the past four years, the EDII has trained more than 71,000 individuals, with another 19,000 expected this year. Its School Innovation Development Programme has reached 21.8 lakh students across 8,000 government and aided schools.
The Hindu
16-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
When the Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination came under fire
The seemingly impeccably designed Tamil Nadu Professional Courses Entrance Examination (TNPCEE), which was once the State's single window system of intake of students to professional courses like engineering, medicine, pharmacy, veterinary, agriculture and other allied ones, was not bereft of controversies and legal wrangles. In 2004, Anna University, the nodal agency which was tasked with conducting the TNPCEE on behalf of the State government since its inception in 1984, decided to not value 22 questions in different subjects. The break up went like this: seven out of 90 questions in Mathematics were omitted, three out of 60 questions in Physics, 10 out of 60 in Chemistry, and 2 out of 140 in Biology were not valued. It all began when, soon after the exam, there were widespread complaints from candidates and their parents over ambiguity in the answer keys of some of the questions. They said some of the questions were out of syllabus, for some questions the answer keys were wrong and for some other questions, there were multiple correct answers. Anna University was quick to act: it set up an expert panel to evaluate the ambiguous questions and offer a solution. The committee advised deletion of these questions and redistribution of the marks for these questions to the other questions. Also Read | How entrance examinations for professional courses made an entry into Tamil Nadu This invited a flurry of court cases, which stalled the entire admission process for close to two months. Petitions contended these questions carried 8.8 marks and the entire merit list got exhausted within the range of 2-3 marks from the first candidate to the last one. Soon after the decision of Anna University was known regarding the ambiguous questions, scores of candidates approached the Madras High Court with various pleas, including setting up of an expert committee to find an acceptable solution and calling for re-examination. The cases were bunched together and heard by a single judge, Justice Prafulla Kumar Misra. After hearing senior counsels representing many of the candidates, Justice Misra directed Anna University to revalue all answer papers while laying down guidelines for valuing a few specific questions. Also Read | Opposition to entrance tests dates back 3 decades Justice Misra's order stated that 'question numbers 27 and 33 in Biology question paper (version code MA-7) and question numbers 11, 64 and 77 of physical science (version code BS6) shall not be deleted and mark should be awarded to any student who has indicated any of the correct choices'. These questions were deleted on the ground that they had more than one correct answer. Similarly, the judge ruled that question number 105 (MA-7) is to be revalued and option number 4 should be taken as the correct answer and not option number 3 as indicated by the committee. This question was: Highly concentrated mineral in the cerebro-spinal fluid is: (1) Pottasium, (2) Sodium, (3) Magnesium, (4) Chlorine. The petitioners, the judgment said, contended that option 4 was the correct answer, which was also the option indicated by the paper setter as the correct answer. The expert committee, however, had suggested that option 3 was the correct answer. In the counter affidavit by Anna University, the committee was stated to have opined that that chlorine being a gas in its natural form could not be considered as mineral and, even though Potassium and Sodium could be classified as minerals, those were not stable in free form and they react violently and become other compound; hence, the only other choice is Magnesium. They have referred to textbook P-239 in support of their opinion. 'A perusal of the relevant pages as indicated makes it crystal clear that the question has been set by the paper setter with reference to the discussion relating to chlorine,' the judgment asserted. Also Read | Tamil Nadu's turbulent relationship with professional course entrance tests While some petitioners appealed against Justice Misra's judgment, there were a few pending writ petitions before the High Court against considering improvement candidates on par with regular Plus Two students. All these petitions were bunched and placed before the First Bench comprising Justice Subhashan Reddy, the then Chief Justice of Madras High Court, and Justice Prabha Sridevan. After hearing both sides, the First Bench directed Anna University to revalue 11 of the questions that were not valued. It also came down heavily on Anna University for reviewing answer keys of paper setters by an expert committee. 'The paper setter chooses questions from question bank where the key answers are already provided. By setting up the expert committee, the paper setter is reduced to just a clerk, as the key answer which is indicated has got absolutely no weightage as against the opinion of the expert committee as the University conducting the examination only takes note of the views of the expert committee for awarding marks. This practice has to be discontinued,' the order read. Anna University was directed to 'take necessary steps to recompute and hold fresh counselling accordingly by including improvement candidates also'. The process of admission finally resumed on August 10 after nearly a two-month ordeal for the candidates and their parents.
