Chennai Jan 25 PTI Wondering as to what is the difficulty in making Hindi the third language in educational institutions the first bench of the Madras High Court said on Tuesday that if one doesnt learn Hindi it would be very difficult to secure a job in North India The bench of Acting Chief Justice M N Bhandari and Justice P D Audikesavalu said this when a PIL petition seeking to implement in toto the New Education Policy 2020 of the central government came up before it today The petition from Arjunan Elayaraja secretary of Aalamaram an NGO in Cuddalore district prayed for a direction to the authorities concerned to implement the NEP in Tamil Nadu with requisite modifications accommodating the suggestions of the Supreme Court in various cases on the issue Citing certain instances where qualified persons from Tamil Nadu had lost the opportunity for being hired in jobs in north India for lack of Hindi knowledge the Acting Chief Justice said for taking job in the state of Tamil Nadu there is no difficulty because the candidates are well conversant with the local language Tamil but outside the State they would face difficulty The Acting Chief Justice recalled that one of his brother judges could not get a job in the Airports Authority of India because he did not know Hindi though selected This is the biggest drawback for the people of Tamil Nadu he added When Advocate-General R Shanmugasundaram replied that everyone in the State is free to learn Hindi through institutions like Hindi Prachar Sabha the ACJ retorted that learning is different from teaching When Shanmugasundaram mentioned the State was following the two language system Tamil and English as a policy the ACJ wondered what would be the harm if Hindi is introduced in the three-language policy The AG replied it would overburden the students However the ACJ added that the only thing is to give the option of selecting the languages Tamil and English are already there I think adding third language Hindi would not be harmful the ACJ said admitted the PIL and ordered issuance of notice to the authorities concerned returnable in eight weeks PTI CORR SA BN BN

Chennai Jan 18 PTI The Asian College of Journalism ACJ here has invited entries for ACJ journalism awards for 2021 under the categories of investigative and social impact journalism The ACJ award for investigative journalism is for work in public interest that exposes wrongdoings Work in this domain covers a wide variety of journalistic investigation an ACJ press release said It includes abuse of public office environmental degradation human rights violation financial fraud corporate mismanagement gender violence political apathy war crimes civic neglect and much more The judging criteria includes the nature of investigation its impact and the extent of public interest involved The award comprises a trophy citation and a cash prize of Rs 2 lakh As regards the K P Narayana Kumar memorial award for social impact journalism it involves identifying a latent social problem and reporting in a way that points to possible solutions The reportage should ideally give voice to the voiceless and shine a light on under reported subjects lost in the drumbeat of breaking news These stories should take aim at important social cultural political or economic problems and create impact the release said The award comprises a trophy citation and a cash prize of Rs 1 lakh Nominations could be sent in till 1159 PM on February 21 2022 Any journalistic work that was published during the calendar year 2021 is eligible for nomination by a news organisation working or freelance journalists The webpage httpwwwasianmediaorgacjacj-awards-2acj-awards-overview may be referred for the full list of rules The awards committee would accept nominations online or by post Nominees may also hand in their entries at the ACJ Registrars office in Chennai ACJ would shortly announce the awards jury The ACJ with the support of the Media Development Foundation instituted the two awards to recognise and encourage the best works of journalism produced for an Indian audience according to the college website The purpose of the awards is to promote journalism in public interest PTI VGN SS SS

Chennai Nov 22 PTI Teachers in Tamil Nadu should get first vaccinated before going to schools to teach students the Madras High Court observed on Monday If the instructors want to go to school they must get vaccinated first in the interest of students so as to protect them from the dreaded disease the court said If some teachers do not want to get vaccinated for personal reasons heshe can remain at home without going to school and putting the lives of students at risk the first bench of Acting Chief Justice M N Bhandari said The bench was dismissing as withdrawn a PIL petition from the Academic Resources Advancement Movement Trust which opposed a state government order stipulating that all the teachers should get vaccinated before attending schools It was against the order of the Centre which stated vaccination was only voluntary the petitioner contended The ACJ felt the plea did not appear to be in public interest In fact it was against public interest Fearing dismissal of the case the petitioner opted to withdraw the same and the bench allowed the plea and dismissed it as withdrawn PTI COR SA APR APR