52 PhD dissertations fail plagiarism test in Magadh University

GAYA: Of the 136 PhD dissertations or theses in different subjects put to plagiarism test at Magadh University over the last three months, 52 were found positive for plagiarism.
Award of degrees for dissertations failing the plagiarism test has been withheld by the university administration. As per plagiarism report, another 23 dissertations needed modifications. Pintu Kumar, incharge of the university’s anti-plagiarism cell, confirmed reports about dissertations failing plagiarism test.
Copied or borrowed content up to 20% of the total word strength of the thesis or dissertation was permissible, sources said.Dissertations having more than 20% of copied content fail the test. A few days back, the university also organised a workshop on the issue of plagiarism.
The UGC notification (minimum standards and procedure for the award of MPhil/PhD degree, regulation 2016) dated May 5, 2016, had mandated submission of electronic version of dissertations to stop plagiarism and recycling of theses to obtain clandestine degrees. A data bank of theses with more than a lakh entry has already been established for instant verification of genuineness of research papers. The data bank is known as ‘Shodh Ganga’.
The university has earned a bad name for the award of questionable degrees. No less than three former VCs and an equal number of principals and former controller of exams of the university were charge-sheeted by the economic offences wing of the state police for their involvement in degree scams. A few months back, the higher education commission of the government of Thailand derecognised 40 PhD degrees awarded by Magadh University to Thai nationals. Vigilance sleuths too are investigating charges about alleged award of degrees to foreigners in a clandestine manner.
As per charges, not only several supervisors violated norms regarding the ceiling on the number of PhD researchers enrolled, even non-teachers were allowed to supervise PhD research. The university has already banned retired teachers from supervising PhD research. Only NET qualified PhD degree aspirants can now get PhD enrolment in the university.