Why don't we trust nature? It can very well be our doctor

Tulsi for cold, dhurva for longevity, bilwa for cleansing, vallarai for memory power, curry leaves for indigestion and good hair growth and a host of other herbs are the saviours from tiny ailments in villages.

An apple a day keeps the doctor away. A garlic clove a day chases asthma away. A carrot a day keeps the ophthalmologist away . . . a dentist away and cancer away. Deep breathing exercises 20 minutes a day can keep most diseases away. A few yogasanas a day can keep most diseases away.

These are some of the sayings that we don't trust. Everyone one of us has some health ailment or the other. Some have severe headaches, others develop breathing problems, yet others get serious problems such as heart or lung ailments. But have you ever taken an apple or carrot a day as you must have learnt by heart in your primary school?

We don't trust nature. Most of us do not drink rainwater. Rainwater may be slightly contaminated with dust and other chemicals on the first day and from the roof that may be coated with chemicals, but one can harvest it directly from the skies. Keep a clean tub right in the open on the terrace. This can be done the second day of heavy rain. The first day, the water from the skies can wash away dust and other particles in the atmosphere. Then it can be double-filtered and stored in huge drums. This water can be filtered again for drinking.

One must experience the taste of rainwater. It is heavenly. An Australian study has confirmed that rainwater is very much safe for drinking and other household purposes and does not cause any illness. Most people have installed a rainwater harvesting system but use this water for bathing and washing and rarely for drinking.

Children love the rains. They love snapping those bubbles and having a bath. But today you find a lot of elders shooing them away from having fun in the rain all because they think they will catch a cold. Don't you get a cold even when you don't bath in rain? Your hair shines so well after a bath in rain/rainwater.

Working late or watching movies most of us have lost the habit of waking up early and doing some form of exercise. Schools back in the 1960s had morning prayer and some exercises in the open sunlight for about half-an-hour. Although yogasanas and breathing techniques have gained importance (more in the West), we turn to them for style, or when we have some ailment that refuses to budge with our popping pills.

Ancient texts kept at the Saraswathi Mahal library in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu, about breathing exercises have this to say. Practising a certain type of deep breathing while studying (alternate right and left nostril breathing) can improve memory power and help you retain whatever you are studying. This text says that breathing should be practised on an empty stomach pretty early in the morning (studying early in the morning some time before sunrise). The text says that this way, you cannot forget whatever you have read. This is because the oxygen that enters your body clears congestion in the brain and enables it to retain whatever you have read with concentration in memory.

Deep breathing exercises practised just for about 10-20 minutes a day can improve eyesight, cure constipation, ward off most diseases. A person practising Asanas rarely gets any degenerative disease. It is advisable to learn these breathing exercises and yogasanas from a practitioner as there are rules about doing the same and they can cause harm if done in haste or on a heavy stomach or when ill.

While you can get rid of most skin problems by taking a sun-bath, we have the habit of seeing the sun when we travel to our workplace and on weekends after a late breakfast. Suryanamaskars have become a religious sign or practised to help us rid ourselves of paunches.

We use polyester garments and rarely expose ourselves to cool air or sunlight. The fresh air can give you a cold or fever. We get the idea that standing in cool air can give us a cold whereas overeating and eating junk foods or drinking colas cannot.

A lot many people are scared of tasting seasonal fruits. Mangoes are a ‘no' ‘no' for fear of our sugar levels rising or our getting diabetes. Whoever said fruits will usher in diabetes, and not a sedentary lifestyle and wrong eating habits? Bananas no, potatoes no, carrots no. There are a lot of self-analysed ‘Nos.'

Tulsi for cold, dhurva for longevity, bilwa for cleansing, vallarai for memory power, curry leaves for indigestion and good hair growth and a host of other herbs are the saviours from minor ailments in villages. People living in cities cannot even identify common herbs, much less use them to benefit. Looks like we don't trust nature.

For want of higher-order skills

The Common Entrance Test (CET) Cell is all set to commence the counselling process for admissions to engineering courses from July 7. Students should be careful in their choice of college. The quality of teaching staff, lab facilities and other infrastructure vary from college to college and have a bearing on the process of learning and acquiring skills.

A recent research revealed that engineering graduates in the country are falling short of professional, core employability and communication skills. Engineers with such skills are in short supply in IT and infrastructure, power and water, and many other sectors.

The survey conducted by the World Bank — “Employability and Skill Set of Newly Graduated Engineers in India” (2011) — stated a majority of employers in India are not satisfied with the skills of newly hired engineering graduates. Only 64 per cent of employers said they are “somewhat satisfied” with the current engineering graduates. Abut 3.9 per cent of employers rate the skills as “not at all satisfied” while 16.1 per cent are “not very satisfied.”

The higher education system has responded to the increased demand for engineers by massively expanding production of engineers. For example, Karnataka alone provides admissions to 70,000 students in 184 engineering colleges. But the system has not addressed the issue of imparting quality education and the kinds of skills demanded by employers in the global market.

Comparison

The survey report, authored by Andreas Blom and Hiroshi Saeki, found that engineering graduates were not good at problem solving, creativity, use of modern tools, system designing to needs, application of mathematics, science and engineering knowledge and customer service. They lacked knowledge of contemporary issues too. The survey said that “Indian employers are less satisfied with their engineers compared to U.S. employers.” There has been an average decline in the quality of students, said the Bank which surveyed employers in 20 sectors, including IT, power and infrastructure.

Must-learn skills

Half of the respondents were large companies with over 500 employees, with 40 per cent from North India, 27 per cent from the West and 19 per cent from the South. Interestingly, where the employers found the fresh engineering graduates most lacking in is critical thinking and problem solving.

Besides professional skills, the employers look for (a) core employability skills, which cover generic attitudinal and affective skills such as reliability and team work; and (b) communication skills. Employability and communications skills are often referred to as soft skills. Engineers who are in high demand possess these sets.

Employers are likely to perceive soft skills asmore important than professional skills. However, engineering graduates with limited and weak professional skillsare undesirable for employers.

The report said memorising textbooks for examinations is not a skill appreciated by the employers.

Many experts ask if the Indian engineering education system trains students to memorise science and engineering knowledge, without adequately emphasising the applicability, analysis and out-of-the-box thinking that employers look for.

Engineering firms look for more analytical and creative engineers to compete for value-added IT orders in the global market.

Institutions need to focus on learning rather than memorisation and mere understanding.

The report said the curricula should be designed in a way where students learn complex and practical issues within a limited time.

Collaboration

Employers ask for different professional skillsdepending upon the economic sectors they are involved in, the firm size and the region. Colleges have to prepare their graduates to meet the demand for skills from different sectors and hence have to increase their interaction with various kinds of employers.

Colleges should customise programme outcomes to meet the specific demand. Further, extra-curriculum activities such as internships and involvement of institutions with community would also help students to deepen the understanding of demanded skills and respond well to the market.

The employers think that graduates are relatively strong in lower-order thinking skills such as knowledge and understanding, use of basic and advanced computers, and applying knowledge of mathematics, science and engineering, but fall short when it comes to the more complex tasks such as application of appropriate tools to solve a problem, and analysis and interpretation.

Another area, considered most important by employers, and where a large gap was found is ‘soft skills' — integrity, teamwork, reliability and willingness to learn.

However, most employers were very satisfied with the English communication skills of the new graduates. “The survey found that colleges are doing very well meeting the demand for English skills, since the graduates are rated in English.”

The reasons for demanding higher-order thinking skills are likely to be a result of increased international and national competition, the focus on increased quality products and innovation.

As skills acquired at school and at the workplace become obsolete more quickly in the globalisation era, higher-order thinking skills and an ability to learn new and more complex skills are indispensible to respond to accelerating technological change.

Raising the bar, and lowering it

Amidst much fanfare, the All India Council for Technical Education unveiled a set of reforms for the technical education sector earlier this year. Among them was a vital move that sought to address the quality concerns in technical education.

Touted as a move to regulate the quality of students entering engineering colleges, the AICTE increased the minimum marks to be obtained in the qualifying examination (Pre-University Course and equivalent) for entry to engineering courses from 45 to 50 per cent (40 to 45 for students applying under the SC/ST criteria).

However, this move was heavily opposed by private college managements, particularly in States where engineering education faces a problem of plenty. In Karnataka, for instance, after the 2010 engineering admission rounds at least 15,000 seats remained unfilled.

Similar trend

This was in keeping with trends in previous years; in 2008 and 2009, around 8,000 and 11,000 seats had no takers. Given this situation, private college managements were against the move right from the start.

Their predictions came true when the CET results were announced and the number of ranks fell from 74,960 to around 64,300. This meant that more colleges would find it difficult to fill in seats.

Following this, the State government — pressured by private management lobbies to find a ‘quick fix' solution to their woes — went to the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the AICTE seeking a rollback of the notification. The AICTE gave in. Around 7,000 more students were declared eligible since and given spot ranks.

Though it is not clear whether it is a pan-India move, for there is no notification on the matter yet, academics are questioning the move. Brought in with the original motive to increase the quality of engineers, by setting a higher benchmark for students to aspire to, it was indeed one that academics welcomed. Then why did the AICTE go back on this?

Though we are yet to hear from the AICTE (repeated attempts to contact it came to naught), academics believe that one logical reason could be that the announcement had been made too late in the day.

Rajnikanth, former principal of M.S. Ramaiah Institute of Technology and member of the Visvesvaraya Technological University's Board of Studies, believes that though the move was well-intentioned, increasing the gross enrolment ratio and pushing for inclusiveness is also important.

Good move

However, he feels that increasing the cut-off is a good move.

“The problem here was probably that it was a last-minute move. If students are informed about this two years in advance, and they are given sufficient time to make peace with a new cut-off that they must work towards, then I do not think 50 per cent is too much to ask of students who aspire to be engineers.”

Dr. Rajnikanth talks about an evaluation or survey that the VTU had conducted two years ago, where attempts were made to evaluate the number of dropouts, the number of students failing to clear the first year of engineering and their profiles. “We did find a correlation between their academic credentials in 12th Standard and their performance later. And the quality of engineering graduates has certainly been a matter of concern.”

R. Prasad, a professor in a Bangalore-based engineering college, agreed that quality was a concern. However, he disagreed with the view that increasing the cut-offs will necessarily remedy this. In fact, the issue with quality begins at the school level. “The quality of high school education is so low that by the time students come to Pre-University Colleges they are already doing badly and are weak on basics,” he said.

This must also be seen in the context of the poor quality of teaching in Pre-University Colleges, he believes. “I have seen students from rural colleges who have studied in English medium but are not able to follow a single lesson in engineering college. But the solution is not to say that these students must not enter college, but to improve the teaching that puts them at such a disadvantage.” He adds that colleges also have a responsibility to arrange ‘bridge classes' to cater to the specific needs of students.

More colleges

Engineering education in the State appears to be trapped in a vicious circle of cause and effect. While the government is forced to run to the AICTE so that colleges do not suffer low intake, it has also allowed the opening of six new engineering colleges. Academics point out that until the random sanctioning of engineering colleges is curbed, the problem of plenty is unlikely to be solved.

Guidance Plus - The lure of leather research

Taming of animals opened a new chapter in the history of civilization. Apart from meat and milk, animals gave fur and leather, which man used for clothing. Animal skin had to be processed for texture and durability. Scientific processing of leather came much later. Strong leather found several uses for footwear, body armour, saddles, hunting accessories, vessels, writing surface, roofing material, and even weapons.

Modern technology brought about great refinement in treatment, techniques and processes. Design of tanneries calls for the services of competent professionals. New styles of processing and uses of leather emerge regularly.

Most leather is made of cattle skin, but many exceptions exist. Research in leather gives rewarding results with diverse industrial applications. We have in India a prestigious institution that is perhaps the world's biggest in the field of leather research — Central Leather Research Institute (CLRI), Adyar, Chennai- 600020; phone: 044 24416889; e-mail: chord@clri.res.in; Web: www.clri.nic.in. It was founded in 1948.

CLRI

CLRI is the prime hub in Indian leather sector. It has direct roles in education, research, training, designing, testing, forecasting, planning, and leading in science and technology relating to leather. It has five Regional Centres – Kolkata, Kanpur, Jalandhar, Ahmedabad, and Mumbai.

At the dawn of Independence, we were exporting raw hides and skins. The processes of value addition to the raw material demanded the application of technology that was scarce. Though there were institutes of Leather Technology in Kolkata, Kanpur, and Chennai, they could hardly meet the needs of research.

The vacuum was filled by CLRI. The institute has rendered remarkable service to the country through new leather products, employment generation, enhanced export earnings, and consequent economic development. It has also evolved new innovative technologies in the leather sector.

Research and development forms the core of activities in CLRI. Natural leather has unique features which man is yet to match through innovation.

Natural skin remains unmatched in its architecture. But it has to be supplemented through artificial products, since the demand for leather is well ahead of its supply. Non-leather materials have a complementary role in providing durable products.

CLRI serves as the national apex body in leather, whether for training, new technologies, planning and direction, or consultancy. It maintains close links with industry.

It is only through the yeoman services of CLRI that India has been able to make the lion's share of leather exports in the form of finished products.

The Institute helps the industry in areas such as leather process technology, leather chemicals, effluent treatment, product design, and training of personnel. The five regional centres of CLRI work as nodal centres in transferring technologies to the local industries. The feed back from the industry offers crucial inputs for planning and organising R&D.

Activities like Tanners' Get-Together, International Leather Fair, and Fashion Parade have enriched the data for innovative research. Institute – Industry – Interaction is a key factor behind quality research. The links are being strengthened incessantly, for ensuring a practical approach in development. R&D in CLRI is never a pure academic exercise. It has an inherent dynamism in tuning the curriculum according to changing needs of the industry. It has succeeded in producing high quality minds that have contributed greatly to leather. The laboratories keep global standards.

CLRI has association with Indian organisations like the Council for Leather Exports (CLE), the Indian Finished Leather Manufacturers & Exporters Association (IFLMEA), the Leather Chemical Manufacturers Association (LCMA), the Footwear Design and Development Institute (FDDI), and the Indian Leather Technologists Association (ILTA). International links connect CLRI with organisations such as UNIDO, FAO, UNDP, TNO (The Netherlands), the British Leather Confederation (BLC), CTC France, CESECA Italy; IRDLAI Indonesia, SATRA of UK, and IDRC Canada. There are interactions with the International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies (IULTCS) as well. All these point to the great opportunities awaiting those who pursue leather research in CLRI.

Research

This institute with its strong foundation in both basic and applied research in leather and allied sciences, has at any point of time many research students working for Ph D. Scientists from CLRI have won prestigious awards like the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize.

There are several contributions of the institute in various areas including analytical testing for eco-sensitive chemicals; animal and tannery byproducts utilisation; aqueous chemistry of chromium; assembly and organisation of small to macro molecules; biotechnology for leather processing; chrome recovery and reuse

controlled drug delivery systems; development of nuclear magnetic resonance techniques; environment-friendly synthetic tanning agents; interpenetrating polymeric networks; modernisation of tannery wet operations

molecular understanding of chrome tanning; nutritional disorders relating to collagen (fibrous proteins found in animals); structural aspects of collagen; structural stability of chrome-collagen compounds; tannery waste water treatment; technologies for manufacture of chemical auxiliaries; thermodynamics of self-assemblies and micellar formation; upgradation of low grade materials; vegetable tannin resources

Numerous research products in technology have been transferred to the industry.

The Tannery division that deals with diverse aspects of leather process technology plays a key role in the growth of the tanning industry in the country, by providing trained manpower as well as appropriate technologies for the production of varieties of finished leathers. Pollution loads in tannery effluents assumed great significance when the Supreme Court once went to the extent of closing hundreds of tanneries. CLRI provided many options for the reduction of pollution and saved the industry from a disaster type of situation. The division is engaged in focused research on different technical aspects of tannery.

However, studies are held in different subjects such as Inorganic / Physical / Computational / Environmental Chemistry, Surface Science, and Leather Science as well.

Apart from regular Bachelor's and Master's programs, CLRI conducts the following programmes focusing on research.

M.S. (by Research)

Ph.D. in leather technology

Ph.D. in footwear science and engineering

Ph.D. in different streams of science and chemical engineering