The Union Grants Commision (UGC) has notified for the first time rules to check plagiarism. As per the UGC’s new anti-plagiarism policy, the candidates are allowed up to 10% content similarity. The plagiarism might cost students their registration and teachers who do so could lose their jobs.
The anti-plagiarism policy was drafted in 2017 which has finally been approved by the HRD Ministry. This new regulation is known as University Grants Commission (Promotion of Academic Integrity and Prevention of Plagiarism in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2018 and shall apply to the students, faculty, researchers, and staff of higher educational institutions.
As per the law, graded punishment will be prescribed for plagiarism.
As said earlier that the plagiarism of up to 10% would not invite any penalty, while that of between 10% and 40% would mean the students will have to submit a revised research paper within six months. However, if the similarities are between 40% and 60%, students will be debarred from submitting a revised paper for one year. Also, student’s registration for a programme will be canceled if the similarities are above 60%.
On the other hand, teachers whose academic and research papers have similarities ranging from 10% to 40% with other papers will have to withdraw the manuscript. If the similarities are between 40% and 60%, the teachers will not be allowed to supervise new Masters/ MPhil/ Ph.D. students for two years and will also l be denied the right to one annual increment.
In the further case, repeat plagiarism of over 60%, the faculty members can also be suspended, even dismissed.
Plagiarism is defined as “the practice of taking someone else’s work or idea and passing them as own”. The Society for Scientific Values (SSV) has stated that the definition of plagiarism would exclude several forms of academic misconduct.
As per the newspaper reports, BS Rajput, the VC of Kumaon University, a serial plagiarist, has come across one of the most popular case of plagiarism in India. In this case, seven Stanford University professors wrote to about him to the then President APJ Abdul Kalam.
Dinesh Singh, the former vice-chancellor of Delhi University, has stated that “I am all for checking plagiarism which is indeed a problem in India within academia. We have very lax standards on this count and that is what seems to have prompted the government to propose such a law. It would have been better if universities had strong internal mechanisms as in so many other countries.”
The UGC has instructed all the higher educational institutions to develop a policy on plagiarism and get it approved by relevant statutory bodies and display it on their websites.
What to do you think of this new UGC policy? How much will it be beneficial to all? Tell us your opinion in the comment section below.
