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OPUS
EDITION TWO
STUDENTS MAGAZINE
AUGUST 2016
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lab
journal
FACE OF THE WEEK
MEET THE
HUMBLE PIANIST I P6
CALL FOR
PAPERS I P4
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TAMIL NADU SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
We are
one,
second
to none!
W
CUTNMEDIA
TANJORE ART
AND A NEW
ADDRESS I P2
e, the people of CUTN, take pride in
the fact that we were among the first
newly-constituted Central universities in India to have a NAAC assesment.
It happened at the end of July and we put up
our best show. We stood united.
We are an example of unity in diversity: we
have at least one student from each of the Indian states, from the hilly Jammu and Kashmir
and the Eastern Assam to the tip of Tamil Nadu.
At a time when certain anti-social elements
are playing divisive politics and threatening to
destabilize peace and religious harmony in the
country, we exhibit unity and celebrate the secular tradition that has been India so far.
We call upon you to love fellow citizens and
respect their practice and preferences.
Let us be the incredible India that we had always been. We are also among the top Central
universities and other established educational
instutions in the country, witnessing steep and
steady progress in the past years.
If this positive trend continues, we are sure
to soon reach the top of academic excellence.
— Team OPUS
DO YOU THINK YOU DESERVE TO BE IN
THIS PAPER? CALL 98940 09264 OR
EMAIL [email protected]
FOR FEEDBACK CONTACT THE DEPARTMENT
OF MEDIA & COMMUNICATION, CUTN
CUTN TO HELP
'WHO' FIGHT POOR
MAN'S FEVER
PAGE 3
INCREDIBLE OR
INTOLERANT INDIA?
TURN TO PAGE 5
CSR: CUTN TO
IDENTIFY AND
DEVELOP VILLAGES
PAGE 4
O
OPUS
C
UTN
MEDIA
P2
STUDENTS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2016 EDITION TWO
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TAMIL NADU SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
TEAM OPUS
Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Dr. A.P. Dash
News Editor
Dr. Francis P. Barclay
Assistant Editors
Dr. Nikhil K. Gouda
Dr. Shamala R.
Dr. Surhita Basu
Student Editors
Anju John
Priyanka S Pillay
Prasanna Vathani
Hashim Hamsa
Student Reporters
Parvathy S Nair
Malini S
Divya Panicker
Neethu Joseph
DOCUMENTARY
Art group that keeps the
Tanjore traditions alive
T
anjore paintings are a
unique and fanciful form of
indigenous Indian art, that’s
loved and recognised worldwide.
This lush and colourful form of art
originated around 16th century in
the old Tanjore that has been renamed to the present Thanjavur.
Practised and promoted by
generations of indigenous artists,
this particular art form is now
inherited by a bunch of local art
groups and individual artists. Here
is one such congregation that
keeps the art alive.
About 25 kilometres off Thiruvarur on the way to Kumbakonam,
lies this hamlet called Maruvathur.
And, from a little hutment located in this area, about 15 artisans
work together and produce small
wonders that are glittering golden
Tanjore paintings.
Priyanga S. Pillay, a Second
Year student of MA Mass Communication, CUTN, has produced
a documentary titled “Art and an
Address” on this and is available
with the department for preview.
—Team Opus
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T
OP
STORY
O
OPUS
AUGUST 2016 EDITION TWO STUDENTS MAGAZINE
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TAMIL NADU SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
CUTN HOLDS EXPERT CONSULTATION FOR W.H.O.
Plan to eliminate
‘poor man’s disease’
A
s the World Health Organisation
(WHO) embarks on its mission to
eliminate Kala-azar (black fever) as a
public health problem by 2018, the Central
University of Tamil Nadu (CUTN) has organised a two-day expert consultation from August 19 in Chennai, to draw an action plan
on kala-azar vector-control to help wipe out
this “poor man’s fever” from Indian subcontinent. International experts attended this
WHO-funded event and submitted recommendations for implementation.
A parasitic disease, Kala azar (black fever)
is a major public health concern in Bangladesh, India and Nepal, in the Indian subcontinent. Kala-azar also known as visceral
leishmaniasis is caused by the parasite Leishmania donovani that is transmitted through
the vector, sandfly. Perhaps, this disease
is the second-largest parasitic killer in the
world after malaria. Annually, an estimated
two to five lakh cases of Kala-azar and over
20,000 deaths are reported worldwide. India
accounts for about half of these figures.
It is a neglected disease affecting the
poorest of the poor, with impoverished
housing conditions aiding its spread. Several factors, including air temperature,
rainfall, wind speed, relative humidity, soil
moisture, pH value and organic carbon, influence breeding and survival of sandflies.
Under the initiative of Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director of the South
East Asia Region of World Health Organisation (WHO), health ministers of the affected
countries signed a memorandum of under-
standing (MoU) in Sept 2014 to eliminate
Kala azar by 2018. Vector control, that is,
controlling breeding of sandflies, is important to achieve the elimination target and
also maintain the gains achieved after the
elimination point is reached.
In the Chennai event, experts from India, Bangladesh, Nepal, WHO headquarters,
Geneva, SEARO, New Delhi and the London
School of Tropical Medicine participated.
Incidentally, the dates of this expert consultation coincided with that of the discovery
of malaria transmission by mosquitoes by
Sir Ronald Ross on August 20, 1898, in India,
which fetched him the Nobel Prize in 1902.
—Team Opus
SYMPTOMS
Recurrent fever
Loss of appetite
Weakness
Spleen enlargement
Liver enlargement
Weight loss
Dry, thin and scaly skin
Anaemia
Hair loss
O
OPUS
V
ARSITY
NEWS
P4
STUDENTS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2016 EDITION TWO
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TAMIL NADU SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
E
Call for abstracts
pidemiologists and vector scientists, here’s good news to you!
Here’s an opportunity to showcase
your latest research works in the area of
vector and vector-borne diseases control, and also get exposed to international advances.
The Department of Life Sciences of
our university and National Academy
of Vector Borne Diseases (NAVBD) are
jointly organising the 13th Conference
on Vectors and Vector-borne Diseases. It
will be conducted from Feb 27 to March
1, 2017, at Hotel Crown Plaza in Chennai.
The topic for the conference is “Novel
technologies: Renewed hopes for elimination.” Research scholars and scientists
can submit their abstracts till Nov 30.
Registration form, registration fee details, guidelines and important dates are
available on the university website.
What more? Outstanding researchers will be honoured with three awards
at the conference. For more details, call
the organising secretary of the event, Dr.
Jayalakshmi Krishnan, at 9489051814 or
mail [email protected].
-Parvathy S Nair
-Parvathy S Nair
APPLY FOR THE AWARDS
VESTERGARRD FRANDSEN AWARD FOR VECTOR CONTROL INR 200,000
cash prize for active researchers who are nationals of any SARRC member
countries and have contributed significantly to the field of understanding
the mechanism of insecticide resistance, vector bionomics and control.
...................................................................................................................................................
BIOTECH INTERNATIONAL AWARD INR 100,000 cash prize, sponsored by
Biotech International Ltd for a Scientist with work experience in India and
outstanding contribution in any field of biological control of vectors.
...................................................................................................................................................
NAND LAL KALRA AWARD INR 20,000 cash prize for a scientist with
significant contribution in the area of “Field Entomology”.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY: CUTN TO
IDENTIFIES VILLAGES FOR GROWTH
T
o transform villages with scientific advances and technological reforms, the Union HRD Ministry has
launched the “Unnat Bharat Abhiyan”
scheme, which also involves the country’s leading academic institutions.
Nodal Indian institutions such as the
Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs)
and Central varsities are roped in to
identify villages with a population of
5,000 to 7,000 and draft an action plan,
in consultation with the district collector, to spur development. After that, the
planned action will be dovetailed “with
the action plans of the stakeholders departments” of the government.
CUTN has formed a Community
Development Cell (CDC) with faculty
members Dr. Nirmal Selvamony (as the
Chairperson), Dr. Madhurima, Dr. Ramkumar and, Dr. P. Kumar. This cell met
the Thiruvarur District Collector at his
office in June to discuss and identify the
needy villages. -Malini S
P5
O
PUS
PINION
AUGUST 2016 EDITION TWO STUDENTS
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TAMIL NADU SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION
O
OPUS
MAGAZINE
DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
Incredible or
Intolerant India?
W
omen are assaulted in a
crowded place. Onlookers, instead of saving them, capture
the event on their smartphones and the
video goes viral. Men also get humiliated-one of them was even murdered-for
storing beef. Is India as democratic, liberal and secular as it claims?
Last month, two middle-aged women were mishandled at the Mandsaur
railway station in Madhya Pradesh over
beef rumours. Finally, it turned out to be
buffalo meat. But still, the two women
were humiliated and beaten up mercilessly by a group of self-proclaimed cow
vigilantes, in the presence of police personnel, who did not intervene much.
This was not an isolated incident.
Several such incidents have been reported in the recent past, starting from the
death of a farmer. He was butchered to
death in broad daylight for storing beef
at his house last December and the beef
ban became a national issue. In January
this year, a Muslim couple was humiliated and beaten up for carrying beef. A
few weeks back, four Dalit youths were
stripped and made to consume a mixture of dung, cow urine, milk and ghee
for skinning a dead cow.
Can hooligans who perpetrate such
terror in the minds of the minorities be
allowed to kill or assault people for their
dietary habits and choice of food? No law
in our Constitution gives them the right
to beat beef-eaters. Waking up to such
news in the biggest and celebrated democracy of the world is heart-breaking.
In Hinduism, cow is considered sacred as it takes care of the family needs
like a mother does, from providing milk
to ploughing farm lands. But using this
as an excuse to disturb communal harmony can in no way be tolerated in India. Beef ban that’s intended to protect
cows from slaughter is being misused to
achieve the religious and political goals
of certain sections.
Several experts have also stated that
there was a lack of proper discussion
and debate involving the authorities concerned before implementing the controversial beef ban and making it a law. Hasty
On August 6, Prime Minister
Narendra Modi adressed to the issue
saying, “Some people engage in
anti-social activities at night and are
Gau Rakshaks by day. I want states
to take strict action against them.”
implementation of this ban in several Indian states has given the anarchist the brazenness to take the law onto their hands.
India has been cherishing its secular attitude. Even Swami Vivekananda
had once said in Chicago, “I am proud
to belong to a nation which has taught
the world both tolerance and universal
acceptance.” But now, what has happened to that secularism? Where has it
vanished? Seems like “Incredible India”
is losing its face to intolerable. Wake up!
—Divya Panicker
O
OPUS
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F
ACE OF
THE WEEK
STUDENTS MAGAZINE AUGUST 2016 EDITION TWO
CENTRAL UNIVERSITY OF TAMIL NADU SCHOOL OF COMMUNICATION DEPARTMENT OF MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION
The Pianist!
H
e has received a grade from the London
Trinity College of Music. He is also an
Associated Board of the Royal Schools of
Music (London)-qualified pianist. He is also a
student of the Central University of Tamil Nadu,
pursuing his Master’s degree in English.
Pianist George Thomas PV told Opus that
his affair with the black-and-white keys started
about 12 years ago. George will tell you how hard
those two tests were to crack and thank his supportive parents for these feats.
George had no musical family background,
but music caught him sometime during his adolescent days. “Music gave meaning to my life.
Everything in this world has a word but music
is beyond that. For me, it is my first love and the
greatest gift of God,” George said.
Yes, he does short compositions but keeps
them to himself. He is also passionate about travel and photography. But for him, music has been
everything: “Music has always been my happiness and headphones have been a part of me.”
But who are his musical inspirations? Maestro
AR Rahman, Malayalam music director Johnson
Mash, Hans Zimmer, The Eagles, Sonu Nigam,
to name a few. George is now planning to take
up exams for Grade 8 in Piano, which is the final
grade. As of now, he holds the seventh grade.
-Neethu Joseph