Presently it is mandated that prior to submission and award of thesis an PhD scholar has to publish at least 1 first author paper in a peer-review journal and present his/her findings at 2 seminars.
Now, in its own wisdom the UGC plans to scrap this rule. The reasons are that students are using unfair means to publish their articles, publish in predatory journals where papers get accepted on payment of fees and with hardly any review.
The UGC wants higher education institutions to device their own rules and regulations concerning the submission of thesis.
Instead of cracking the whip on students who are involved in malpractices, thousands of others would suffer.
Therefore, it will not be advisable to scarp the publication of 1 paper, which is no big deal.
The learned professors and policy makers in UGC and government should not take the easy route.
