INTERACTION WITH ALUMNUS FROM THE ARMED FORCES

On 25th January, the Department of Sociology and Social Work organized an interactive session with the alumni serving in the armed forces for students from the Humanities and Social Sciences as well as the Sciences. Mr. Mohanachandran Panicker (Group Captain, Administration/Air Traffic Controller) - an alumnus of the 1969-73 CBZ batch, Mr. Dinesh Pattabhi (EO at Indian Army) - an alumnus of PCM - and Major Suraj (Air Defence) - and alumnus of PME – were the esteemed guests of the session. 

During the session, they mentioned many anecdotes from their experience in college as well as in the armed forces. This was followed by a Q&A session. Students inquired about the Combined Defense Services (CDS) exam and various other competitive exams. Mr.

Pattabhi and Major Suraj emphasized the importance of early preparation and responded to various queries related to the same. They also answered questions about life in the armed forces and shared their personal experiences. The session ended with a vote of thanks by Sonika Kumar of 4MSOC. The session was inspiring, informative, and wonderfully delivered. 

DATA PROTECTION AND CONFIDENTIALITY

An interactive session on data protection and confidentiality were held at the Department of Sociology and Social Work of CHRIST(Deemed to be University) in Bangalore with M.A. I & II-year students. It was an informative lecture conducted by Professor Rolf Jox on Data Protection and Confidentiality – The Example of Germany. 

He addressed the following German laws regarding the concerned matter:

~ Article 2 i.e., General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Material Scope. 

~ Article 4 which defines personal data as any information relating to an identified or identifiable natural person (data subject) and processing as “any operation or set of operations which is performed on personal data”. 

He further mentioned that data will be protected through all protecting laws, respective general rules and provisions of the GDPR, national rules of data protection and provision of penal and civil law. He spoke about how personal data shall be processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to the data subject; collected for specified, explicit and legitimate purposes and not further processed in a manner that is incompatible with those purposes; adequate, relevant and limited to what is necessary in relation to the processes for which they are processed; processed in a manner that ensures appropriate security of the personal data. Article 6 which talks about the lawfulness of processing states that processing shall be lawful only if and to the extent that one of the following applies: the data subject has given consent to the processing of his/her personal data for one or more specific purposes and there is secure handling of data protection/ confidentiality.

Lastly, he spoke about anonymization. He believes that anonymization should be made possible for permitting the client’s consent too (Article, 8 GDPR). The issue of consent was also focussed upon in understanding data confidentiality. The Q&A session was also meaningful. As a whole, the lecture was very enlightening as knowledge regarding different laws concerning the issue in Germany was gained and also discussed to some extent in the Indian context.

FAMILY LAW SYSTEMS IN EUROPE

A guest lecture on “Family Law Systems in Europe” was organized by the Department of Sociology and Social Work to provide the students with an opportunity to understand the Legal Dilemmas from the perspective of Germany. The lecture was conducted by Prof. Dr. Rolf Jox, Katholische Hochschule Nordrhein (West Fallen Catholic University of Applied Science) on 27th January 2020 for the students of first-year BA PSEco (Psychology, Sociology, Economics). 

The session began with a welcome address given by Dr. Victor Paul, Head, Department of Sociology and Social Work. The lecture by Prof. Dr. Jox began with an introduction about family law systems in Europe, followed by an interactive session with the students about the Five Dilemmas and also about the legal situation and problems in Germany. It also comprised of discussions on a few case studies regarding parenthood, custody, contact, and adoption. The session ended with presenting Prof. Dr. Jox with a memento and heartfelt gratitude for his time spent in educating the students on Family law systems in Europe.