They are calling it 'scientific theft'. Biotechnology students of Nagpur University are up in arms, refusing to accept the Nagpur university's rules which are forcing them to take an unethical path for their examination. They are not at all ready to compromise on the dignity of the scientists and the national institutes where they did research work for their MSc final semester dissertation and project. They are not willing to replace the guides' names with those of their college teachers (as offered by the university) who, according to students, have not contributed a bit in the research.
A delegation of over 35 students went to meet the controller of examination (COE) on Thursday afternoon to discuss the issue. But the COE Debendranath Mishra, who met a representative group only, instead told them to submit their thesis in four days. He promised to hold the examination on day five and announce results on tenth day.
But when the students refused to accept his offer, terming it completely unethical and fraudulent, the COE lost his cool and used what students say was 'highly objectionable and derogatory' language.
Students say the university COE was playing a double game. First, he tried to divide the teachers and principals and now he was trying to divide the students. He has threatened to mark the students absent if they do not submit the dissertation within four days, which students say is not possible.
"If they succeed in creating a divide between students from different colleges and hold exams for some of them, we will be doomed. But we cannot be so selfish and agree to this condition only to make way for our exams. If we do so, it will be a historical breach of dignity of scientists. Legally too, this is wrong and not acceptable to us," said the students. They said that when they told the COE that changing names of guides will be violation of intellectual property rights by their teachers, the COE said that mere six months of research work had no value.
The students say that since their batch was not informed about the changed rules, the university couldn't be implementing the rule in the middle of a session. "Where were the rules all these years? The university broke its own rules all these years. It did not even demand the thesis from colleges until now. It doesn't understand the importance of research," said the incensed students. They say they were prepared to fight the issue in the court as a last resort if the university does not give them any reprieve. "How can a few university officials suddenly decide to follow rules to save their skin and put our future at stake?" the students said.
The students said that when they told Mishra that they would lose admissions for PhDs and jobs, he said that he did not care for that. "In fact, he told us that biotechnology had no future. So we should take up tuitions with him and he would get our NET exam cleared," the students told TOI. But Mishra categorically denied all allegations. He admitted, "I only told the students that I too was a biotechnology teacher for 28 years and could guide them in clearing the NET examination."
While the delegation was waiting in front of the examination department, the students claim that the student's welfare officer Ashwin Chandel too misbehaved with them. "He told us that he would call the police as more than 20 students were not allowed to gather like this," a student said.
A delegation of over 35 students went to meet the controller of examination (COE) on Thursday afternoon to discuss the issue. But the COE Debendranath Mishra, who met a representative group only, instead told them to submit their thesis in four days. He promised to hold the examination on day five and announce results on tenth day.
But when the students refused to accept his offer, terming it completely unethical and fraudulent, the COE lost his cool and used what students say was 'highly objectionable and derogatory' language.
Students say the university COE was playing a double game. First, he tried to divide the teachers and principals and now he was trying to divide the students. He has threatened to mark the students absent if they do not submit the dissertation within four days, which students say is not possible.
"If they succeed in creating a divide between students from different colleges and hold exams for some of them, we will be doomed. But we cannot be so selfish and agree to this condition only to make way for our exams. If we do so, it will be a historical breach of dignity of scientists. Legally too, this is wrong and not acceptable to us," said the students. They said that when they told the COE that changing names of guides will be violation of intellectual property rights by their teachers, the COE said that mere six months of research work had no value.
The students say that since their batch was not informed about the changed rules, the university couldn't be implementing the rule in the middle of a session. "Where were the rules all these years? The university broke its own rules all these years. It did not even demand the thesis from colleges until now. It doesn't understand the importance of research," said the incensed students. They say they were prepared to fight the issue in the court as a last resort if the university does not give them any reprieve. "How can a few university officials suddenly decide to follow rules to save their skin and put our future at stake?" the students said.
The students said that when they told Mishra that they would lose admissions for PhDs and jobs, he said that he did not care for that. "In fact, he told us that biotechnology had no future. So we should take up tuitions with him and he would get our NET exam cleared," the students told TOI. But Mishra categorically denied all allegations. He admitted, "I only told the students that I too was a biotechnology teacher for 28 years and could guide them in clearing the NET examination."
While the delegation was waiting in front of the examination department, the students claim that the student's welfare officer Ashwin Chandel too misbehaved with them. "He told us that he would call the police as more than 20 students were not allowed to gather like this," a student said.
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