Alleged plagiarism case in Sambalpur University, Jyoti Vihar: A Global View

[Sanjib Kumar Karmee]

Alleged Plagiarism case in Sambalpur University, Jyoti Vihar: A Global View

 

After reading a report in the Times of India (27th March 2012), I went back to read the original article written by ex-VC of Sambalpur University Prof. Arun Kumar Pujari. [1] In his blog www.sweekaarokti.blogspot.in Prof. Pujari posted a write-up entitled “Plagiarism and Jyoti Vihar”.

 

Here is the link to original blog post by Prof. AK Pujari:

http://www.sweekaarokti.blogspot.in/2012/03/plagiarism-and-jyotivihar.html

 

The blog post of Prof. AK Pujari starts with the plagiarism row happened in IISc Bangalore. This incident made headlines in India while it was found that a publication by Prof. Rao, Prof. Krupanidhi along with two students Basant Chitara and L. S. Panchakarla lifted few sentences from another publication.[2] Later the authors apologized to the journal. Not only that, the lead authors even wrote to the editor to withdraw the paper. But, the article was retained by the editor citing its importance. Basant Chitara (the PhD student) had said that he had lifted few sentences without realizing its consequence.

 

Recently, I came to know that the Hungarian president Pal Schmitt was stripped of his doctorate title for plagiarism and later he had resigned from his job because of this case.[3] Similarly, earlier a German minister Mr. Guttenberg gave up his doctorate title because of plagiarism. [4] I can just go on as there are thousands of such examples.  Two academician, Adam Marcus and Ivan Oransky have been maintaing a nice blog on plagirism (http://retractionwatch.wordpress.com/) and alerting the research community about it. I often visit this blog and find it useful.

 

These incidents indicate following things:

 

Culture and attitude problem:

We are promarily a copy paste society. In most of our primary schools we start mogging everything before the examination and we write exactly what is written in books. Such practices are common across India as it fetch marks to students. I was told by some of my IIT Madras friends that some of the IIT-coaching centres too follow similar practices. But, at the end students succeed in examination and this makes both the students and their parents happy. But in this process a part of the creativity is lost.

 

Lack of knowledge about plagiarism among Masters and PhD students:

In most of the Indian Universities there are no short term courses to on plagiarism. Various Universities in the Netherlands and Germany, where I have done most of my research work do organize seminars and short term courses on plagiarism. Such activities make the students aware of the consequences of plagiarism and how to avoid such cases. Recently, in India IITs, IISc and other institutes are taking initiatives to organize such awareness programmes.

 

Lack of time to supervise Masters and PhD students:

Plagiarism cases are common in the group where professors are heavily engaged in research and teaching without thinking about their time availability. Many Professors think that having well equipped labs and whole lot of research students will fetch them good numbers of publications. But, doing good science is not about labs and students. It is also about regular discussions (of  (literature and research findings) with research students, proper supervision and thorough checkup of the manuscripts. Some times Professors are unable to perform all these duties because of lack of time and large size of the group. Thus, my conclusion is that the group leaders should give adequeate time to PhD students. They should instruct each new students on how to write a manuscript and also, let the students know about the consequences of plagiarism.

 

Too much work pressure:

Every now and then some supervisors ask the research students to produce results and  publish papers. Because of too much pressure; some cases of plagirisms are reported with regard to scientific result manipulation.

 

After having analyzed the possible causes of plagiarism; let us take a look on the case of Sambalpur University case. Prof. AK Pujari mainly talks about two things: i) students are coping from teacher’s notes, books, and from internet sources while writing the examination. and ii) Plagiarism of PhD thesis books in Sambalpur University. The first thing is common acsoss in India and as I have pointed out earlier it is a cultural problem. Here as a society we need to change.

 

Now let us take a look on the allegations by Prof Pujari about the PhD thesis plagiarism in Sambalpur University. I have nothing against Prof. Pujari. But, why Prof. Pujari was so far silent in this case? He has said that he was threatened. However, I feel that, he could have formed a committe to look in to this matter as soon as he was aware of it. In most of the European Universities there are committes to investigate cases of plagiarism and to punish the academicians. Why Prof. Pujari did not constitute such a committe for Sambalpur University? If, what he says is true, then he was just watching helplessly while there was growing plagiarism in Sambalpur University. In this regard, Prof. Pujari owe a proper explanation to all aluminous , present students and staff of Sambalpur University.

 

Immediately, the present VC, Prof. Barik should call a meeting of the senate, members of student council, members of staff council, and alumni association. After that a committe should be formed to investigate the case of plagiarism of PhD thesis in Sambalpur University. In the mean time, Prof. Pujari should prepare a list of PhD thesis which he think are plagiarised. In fact, he should handover this list and other evidences to chancellor-his highness Shri Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare, VC of Sambalpur University, Media and other SU affiliated bodies.

 

At this point, there is no point in attacking each other (as reported in TOI and other new papers). Let the investigation complete and it will be for all of us to see the truth. In fact, the Sambalpur University authority should scan the alleged plagirised PhD thesis and put it on the internet; so that, we can check for ourselves if the allgatitions made by ex-VC are true. If the allegations are found to be false, then the University authority should  file a defamation case against Prof. Pujari and proceed further.

 

 

References:

 

1.http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bhubaneswar/Ex-Jyoti-Vihar-VC-alleges-plagiarism-in-PhD-thesis/articleshow/12423139.cms

 

2.http://www.nature.com/news/indian-science-adviser-caught-up-in-plagiarism-row-1.10102

 

3. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17586128

 

4. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12532877

 

 

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Dr. Sanjib Kumar Karmee, PhD

Alumnus, Sambalpur University (MSc Chemistry, 2000 Batch),

Odisha, India 

[Arjun Purohit]

This is a classic case of the fate of a whistle blower. The best way to proceed forward is to proceed in cleaning up the mess in stead of focussing on what and when Dr.Pujari could have done during his tenure, which should be dealt with separately. There is plenty of details in the blog to look into regarding different theses of different departments. A VC has to deal with thousand details, and has to enhance the university in spite of the mess which he may encounter. It would be naive to think that such mess is confined  SU.In this age of cut-and-paste,plagiarism is a major crisis all universities have to cope with,even in North American universities. Corruption in all sectors of Indian life is  endemic, education sector included. If I remember correctly, Dr.Pujari took a small step in out sourcing  marking of undergraduate exam papers, where compromising situations occur.  For this he was heavily criticised, and probably lost support towards the renewal of his tenure. Imagine what would have happened if he would tried to tackle the problem right from the beginning of his career as VC at SU. From the Blog it is clear that his attempts to sound the alarm got no appreciative response from major stake holders in the university. It must have required a great deal of courage to blow the whistle on this sordid aspect of higher education. The best course for protecting the integrity of the university is: the new VC must deal with this problem head-on and let the chips fall wherever it has to with no concern for how high this mess has reached. This has to be the first order of priorities. Whether it could have been done earlier is academic at this stage and will divert the attention from urgent action. Blaming the whistle blower will lead inevitably towards cover-up, and thereby perpetuate the problem.    

 

Arjun Purohit

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In the 70s, I was external examiner for a Ph.D thesis from Berhampur university on plant eco-physiology, as the title showed. When I opened the thesis, I found the thesis dealt only with fish and not a single data on any plant. The thesis was directed by Dr. Banchanidhi Misra, a good friend of mine. I was surprised that he would sign such a thesis. I had no doubt in my mind that the thesis was a copy of another thesis. Since I had no proof, I did not charge plagiarism. I simply failed the student, wrote a report and sent the thesis back. Normally, a corrected thesis would come back to me for examination, but not this time. A few months later, I got the message that Dr. Misra was forced to resign because he was selling Ph.D degrees.
This has been going on in many Indian universities for decades.
Subhas Mohapatra

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

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Subject: Re: OTN: Alleged plagiarism case in Sambalpur University, Jyoti Vihar: A Global View

[Amitabh]

It has been well known fact that many PhD Students just make little modification to existing theses and get a doctorate degree. 

And that is why probably this is called Re-Search - so what is the fault in that ? some more falsification or proofing the already proven truths. 

Nothing Surprising ...

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[Sanjib Kumar Karmee]

There is no doubt that Prof. Pujari has contributed a lot for the development of SU. I admire him as a good academician. I still feel that he should have pushed the button as soon has he encountered the plagiarism case (although he has mentioned he did). Nevertheless, I do believe what he has mentioned in the blog.  I hope Prof. Barik will order an investigation in to this case.

 

Best regards,

Sanjib

[Arjun Purohit]

Dear sanjib,

I agree with you that whether Dr.Pujari could have stopped this sordid stuff during his tenure should be examined. However, it should be evaluated in prevalent context.The first in line of responsibility lies with the immediate supervisor,then the head of the department, and then remotely with the vice chancellor.VC.'s position is primarly administrative responsibility for overall well being of the institution. During my brief career in Ravenshaw/Utkal both as a student and a lecturer, I rarely saw any VC doing any teaching or getting involved in exams of any kind. But Dr.Pujari did. When I visited Burla in my last trip, Dr.Sadhu Charan Panda,former head of history at SU and former VC of Utkal University of Culture,who still lives in Burla told me that Dr.Pujari still comes to Burla occasionally,teaches in his brain child IIIT free of cost to SU.During his VCship at SU, he taught courses and looked  into thesis stuff of other departments; that is how he became aware of the mess. People who are arguing about his non-action would have complained about his academic interference !

 

How and what  he could achieve during his short tenure is remarkable. As you know,IIT was granted to Odisha earlier than Dr.Pujari initiated his IIIT project in SU. One does not see much progress in building of IIT in BBSR, but the building of IIIT at SU is in full swing and will be completed very soon.Usually VCs in Odisha are appointed because of academic excellence, not for administrative ability or fund raising capability or ability to make alliances with significant bodies which can enhance stature of the institution. Dr.Pujari had unusual combination of all these and more.In one of encounters with him I challanged him thus. We have only one comprensive university in this side of Odisha which caters to the need of folks of Urban Koshal but most of remote area are left out of such advantage. Then he drew up a proposal which would select 10 bright students each from  Baud,Sonepur,Nuapada, and Deogarh(40 ALTOGETHER), where there are already reasonably well functioning colleges. These students would be given scholarships for two years in their own colleges, then brought into the SU campus with a bit enhanced scholarships and mentored to complete Master's level in science and technology.Lab facilities of these colleges would have been enhanced and the profs from SU would have guided these colleges. The idea behind this project was to create scientific and technological leadership in remote areas, and thus create a multiplying impact. I bought into this proposal and committed funds for one batch for five years in terms of scholarship. Just before he left his post, he informed me to my delight that the proposal has been approved by the Odisha government. So I asked Dr.Barik, the new VC of SU about the scheme but he was not aware of any such stuff. Looks like the project is dead, but I will stand by my commitment if the scheme is revived. 

 

Among other projects which caught my attention was the idea of digitising the ancient artifects of Koshal which are in palm leaves now. Needless to say, I became his fan. But he was Gan kania singhaNi nAki. Koshalis never really appreciated his genius. So his alarm bell is not to embarass SU but see that SU becomes free from this mess. It is a safe bet to say that other universities do have the same problem, but do we hear any twit from any sitting or ex VCs ? 

 

Lovingly

Arjun Purohit

PS;Forgive typos  

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