<![CDATA[Niruta Publications - Social Work Education]]>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 03:30:57 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Ghost Written Dissertations and Fake PhDs]]>Thu, 12 Nov 2015 15:16:11 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-work-education/ghost-written-dissertations-and-fake-phdsGhost Written Dissertations and Fake PhDs-
​TK Nair 

​Doctoral research is a sacred work of academic excellence. But for the past many years, many get doctorate degrees for a price. No hard work needed, only good investment of money needed. From topic selection to dissertation submission, there are packages available. One need not read even a single page, he or she need to know the right sources. Often the research guides themselves arrange outsourcing. There are many instances where the research guides themselves undertake the responsibility of the whole MPhil or PhD work. Besides the contractual amount for preparation of research tools, data collection, data analysis ,drafting the dissertation and the other work, gifts in various forms and gratifying the needs of research guides are a part of the research ritual. Women research scholars often have to deal with the " sexual"demands of the holy professors. Some women scholars who find such demands unbearable drop out.
Plagiarism is quite common among the research fraternity. A senior Professor who found his work copied in a dissertation without any acknowledgement of his name sent a circular to many academics including me accusing of ACADEMIC PIRACY.Times of India,in an article on "Poor Quality Profs?", writes that many doctoral candidates pay 1 to 2 lakh rupees to English teachers to fine tune their dissertations.The article adds that the Internet is teeming with companies that supply anything from 1000- word essays to 10,000-word treatises on any topic. Plagiarism is a serious breach of academic ethics and IF DETECTED degrees can be withheld and even the research scholars can be debarred. But the IF is a very BIG IF. Former AICTE chairman and retired Director of IIT (Madras) Prof.R.Natarajan says that there are only a few PhD holders of true quality today.
PhD degrees are in great demand these days because of the UGC /AICTE requirement of research degrees for higher academic positions with the sole aim of improving the quality of higher education in India. But, AlAS, many ,if not most, of the teachers possess fake PhD degrees. They ,in turn, teach aspiring students.What do they teach ?What can they teach? These are any body's guess.

T K Nair 

Courtesy 
http://tknair.blogspot.in/2015/11/ghost-written-dissertations-and-fake.html]]><![CDATA[Exemplary Leadership!]]>Fri, 21 Aug 2015 12:13:58 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-work-education/exemplary-leadershipGreat Leadership does not mean running away from reality.
Sometimes the hard truths might just demoralize the organization.
 But at other times sharing difficulties can inspire people to take action that will make the situation better!


Leadership in a crisis situation is very different from leadership in a time of normal conditions. The country is facing leadership crisis in all most all the fields. There is a great turmoil and chaos in the Indian politics and the political leadership is at the worst of its time ever before. Social leadership, religious leadership, institutional leadership and such other fields are not exception to this. The country is known by its leaders. India once upon a time was known by its leaders such as Swami Vivekananda, Mahatma Gandhi, Babasaheb Ambedkar, Maharshi Karve etc. Today there are hardly any such leaders who have their own charisma. 

]]><![CDATA[Editorial ]]>Tue, 18 Aug 2015 20:23:38 GMThttps://www.nirutapublications.org/social-work-education/august-18th-2015 July issue of Samajakaryada Hejjegalu (Social Work Foot Prints) has a collection of good articles starting with T.K.Nair’s important contribution on social work profession in India. Social work has been recognised as a profession in most countries in the world. In the article “Social Work in India: A Semi-Profession”, Nair takes a contrarian view as far as India is concerned. The article explains social welfare, social service and social work in detail ; describes emergence of social work as a profession globally ; and  examines professionalisation of social work in India. An interesting aspect of the article is the reference to social work in Cuba. Nair, with more than fifty years of experience as a social work educator and a researcher, concludes that social work in India is not a profession as of now. It is only a semi-profession.


“Health, Health Care and Hospitals” by K.Prabakar traces the history of hospitals, analyses the concept of health, and defines hospital. He also examines hospital as a social organisation and hospital as a social system. Professionalisation in health care and interdependence of different functionaries towards the goal of good patient care are discussed critically in detail by Prabakar. The recommendations of important government appointed committees starting from the well-known Bhore Committee also form part of the article. Health is a basic human necessity and this well-researched article by Prabakar is quite timely.

Discrimination of women at the work place and sexual harassment of working women have been on the increase in India despite the landmark judgement of the Supreme Court in 1997 in the case of Vishakha and others  Versus State of Rajasthan and others known as the Vishakha Guidelines. These guidelines were superceded by the Sexual Harassment of Women at Work Place (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act,2013. India has  ratified the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) and the 2013 Act arose from the commitment of India to the UN Convention. Manjumohan Mukherjee in his article “Gender Discrimination at Work Place” discusses the problems faced by working women, the socio-legal dimensions of sexual discrimination and harassment, and the role of social work in dealing with this grave problem.

Self Help Groups of women (SHG) have become an effective anti-poverty strategy in India, and this has been discussed in detail by R.Jayachandran in the article “SHG and Women Empowerment”. The author has been very much active in the SHG movement in Tamilnadu. The article describes the evolution of SHGs in India and the resultant benefits for the under-served population especially the women. SHGs have become a movement in India within a span of three decades. From the simple savings and credit groups, SHGs have evolved as village-level community-based organisations which besides taking  care of the financial needs of the marginalised communities cater to various community development issues.

The first Kannada article is on “Change and Development in Lambani Society” by C.R.Gopal. It is based on his extensive research study of the Lambani tribe in Bellary district. The study is aimed at assessing the impact of the  Special Component Plan (SCP) of the government of India. The article analyses the areas of change as well as the mode and speed of change in the economic, social, religious, cultural and political aspects of the lives of the Lambani community after the implementation of the SCP.

“Impact of Communication Policy and Culture at Work Place” by Ram K. Navarathna is the second article in Kannada. The article explains the importance of communication at the work place and the problems arising out of the  blocks in communication. The article also looks at the advantages of healthy communication in solving work related and personal problems of personnel, and the impact of these on the  over all productivity of the organisation.

“Navaratnas of Professional Social Work”, started from the April issue,  is a series on  the outstanding contribution of women professional social workers in transforming millions of lives. The life and service of these social work professionls are definite to motivate social work students, young social workers, and even others to work for enriching human lives in a significant manner. These real life histories supplement and strengthen the theoretical instruction imparted to the  BSW and MSW students. This issue portrays the extraordinary social worker Padma Shri Dr. Shanthi Ranganathan, who overcame her intense personal tragedy to give hopes and new lives to numerous families of the victims of alcoholism and drug addiction by starting a world class Hospital exclusively for the  treatment and rehabilitation of patients suffering from substance use disorders. Her profile has also been translated into Kannada in this issue for the benefit of the Kannada diaspora.

From the next issue, we  are happy to publish the views and feedback of the readers on the articles. The decision of the editorial board will be final on this matter. The readers are invited to visit our website :- www.socialworkfootprints.org
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