MK University scraps online examinations
The Madurai Kamaraj University has scrapped online examinations for post-graduate programmes.
The university decided that the system implemented in 2014 was vulnerable to copying as it was outsourced to another educator, tough for computer illiterate students and was not recognised by the University Grants Commission (UGC). Instead the university will revert to the old mode of exams.
Meanwhile the Anna University has announced that online registration for application to engineering admissions for 2016-17 would begin from April 15. Details are available at www.annauniv.edu.
Also the private Sathyabhama University in Chennai has offered about 50 seats for disabled students with full scholarship covering tuition and hostel fees. The courses available are BE, B Tech, B Com, B Sc - Visual Communication and MBA. Details are available at www.abilityfoundation.org

Officials hunt for killer elephant
Forest department officers have launched a search for a wild elephant that trampled three men to death in the Gudalur and Pandalur hill resorts in Nilgiris last week.
The first victim was Radhakrishnan, an estate worker who was attacked while returning home in the evening.
The next day the elephant attacked Manisekar, a 46-year-old plantation worker at Pandalur, who while taking a walk with his friend. Later his friend informed the forest department who found the body of yet another man about 150m from Manisekar’s remains.
Angry villagers have imposed a semi-curfew in the area demanding the search and shooting down of the errant pachyderm. Some villagers claimed that the same elephant had killed eight people in the past few months.

Weatherman retires after 36 years
S Ramanan, the head of the Area Cyclone Warning Centre of the Regional Meteorological Centre in Nungambakkam, who became a celebrity for his matter-of-fact announcements during the December 2 flooding of Chennai, retired after 36 years.
Ramanan joined the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) in 1980 in Chennai when weathermen had to predict climate based on hazy images faxed from Mumbai. He claimed it was difficult to differentiate between clouds, mountain peaks and jet streams. However today’s crystal clear satellite images and digital data have made predictions easier.
“Weather has no border,” he said. “What affects us will affect Pakistan. The flow of information among countries is on a day-to-day basis. And it is a department that is capable of assimilating the newest technologies - whether it is telecommunications, radars, satellites or the Internet.”

Thread garden a big hit with Ooty tourists
The Thread Garden, consisting of artificial flowers, fruits and lawns fabricated from thread embroidery, located opposite the lake house in Ooty is fast becoming a popular tourist attraction.
It was founded by Antony Joseph, a college lecturer-turned textile businessman, who took to embroidery after a lot of research. In 1988, he hired nine women embroiderers to make floral shapes from cardboard and pasting thread onto it with glue by an intricate four dimensional winding method. This method uses no needles or machines.
Joseph explains that the thread winding should be perfect without overlapping, knots or gaps for a natural look. He established the garden in 2002. Today he employs about 50 women embroiderers.