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It is heartening to learn that Dr.Raghuram G., a long-standing academician, has been appointed as the Vice Chancellor of Indian Maritime University (IMU). It is the fond hope of DNS (Diploma in Nautical Sciences) cadets in distress that he may consider scrapping the DNS.
Indian Maritime University is offering several marine related courses. One among them is DNS and it was popular among the student community. But soon darkness descended on the aspiring cadets. To complete this course, the cadet must undergo 18 month training in the sea.
The sad story begins here. There is scope to train a maximum of 300 cadets every year. The IMU and its affiliated marine colleges started sending out 2500 DNS cadets every year. The mathematics is simple for anyone to cause worry. Every year 2200 cadets passed out of these marine colleges and were unable to complete even their course. Year after year the number of stranded cadets started burgeoning. From 2007, there are about 15000 cadets who underwent this course, waiting to get sea time.
The simple economics of supply far exceeding demand was not intelligible to the authorities. Caught in the bureaucratic struggle between IMU and the DGS, the necessity of scrapping DNS was not understood and there was an agonizing delay.
The plight of the DNS cadets was there for anyone to see but the IMU turned a blind eye.
At last, there seems to be light at the end of the tunnel with Dr.G.Raghuram, taking charge as Vice Chancellor of the IMU. It is good news to learn that Dr.Raghuram is considering the case with all urgency. There is hope and expectation among all the DNS cadets that the course will soon be scraped.
If this happens, the waiting DNS cadets can get sea-time over the years. This move can bring light in the lives of the thousands of waiting Nautical Science cadets.