Pak group' hacks, defaces DU, IIT-D, AMU websites

New Delhi: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





The websites of three top educational institutions -Delhi University , Aligarh Muslim University and IIT, Delhi -and National Aeronautics Limited were hacked and defaced on Tuesday by a group claiming to be a Pakistani hacker collective.Police said that they would register a case under sections of the IT Act once they receive the complaint. Cops suspect that the hackers might have been based in a European country .
The group which calls itself `Pakistani Haxors CREW' left a message on their home pages saying their actions were carried out to express “solidarity“ with the people of Kashmir. They also accused the Army of atrocities.
The defaced webpages also played a popular underground song with risque lyrics in the background. It also featured two videos. One was a five and a half minute clipping from what appeared to be a documentary , and was uploaded on to YouTube in Feb ruary 2012. The other video was a slideshow of images and titled “Indians Brutality In Kashmir!“ At least one image in this slideshow was from Manipur.
“This hack is in response to Code-Man's hack of railways.gov .pk...and in the solidarity of (sic) innocent Kashmiri People being killed by Indian Army! Thank you, Regards PHC“. The identity of “Code-Man“ and herhis motivations for hacking the Pakistan railways website are not yet clear. At the time of writing, railways.gov .pk appeared to be functioning smoothly .
The hackers wrote on the NAL website that they did not steal or damage the website and had hacked it only to send a message. The group also posted about its exploits on its Facebook page. Speaking to TOI, Kalyan Bhattacharjee, office of the director, IIT-Delhi said that “their own server was secure while the server of Education and Research Network (ER NET), an autonomous scien tific society of the ministry of communications and information technology , had been hacked.“ ERNET has IIT-D's domain server.
DU registrar Tarun Kumar said that the university's website was inaccessible from outside the campus for some time since the domain name servers was pointing incorrectly to another site. “The problem was detected and immediately rectified by contacting ERNET, who has provided the domain name for University of Delhi,“ he said.ABVP national media convener Saket Bahuguna hit out the Delhi University administration. “DU cannot manage even one website. Yet they are talking about conducting online examinations this year,“ he said.

British med journal questions `tainted' Desai 

appointment

Ekatha Ann

Chennai:





Has Become Prez Of World Medical Assc

Nearly six months after corruption tainted ex-MCI chief Ketan Desai took charge as president of the World Medical Association (WMA), reputed scientific publication British Medical Journal (BMJ) has questioned his appointment.BMJ, in an editorial in its latest edition, has called for an overhaul of the World Medical Association (WMA), citing Desai's appointment as an example of its “poor judgment“.
WMA is a top medical ethics body that 112 national medical associations formed and finances and represents more than 10 million physicians globally.
A Delhi court remanded Desai, then head of Medical Council of India -a statutory body with the responsibility of establishing and maintaining high standards of medical education and recognition of medical qualifications in the country , in prison for a few months on corruption charges in 2010.
David Berger, a member of the BMJ management board, who wrote the editorial, said pending corruption cases have undermined Desai's credibility as a “global custodian of medical ethics“.
To a question on the timing of the editorial, six months after Desai took charge of WMA, Berger, in an email interview with TOI, said the article had been in production for more than four months.
“The issues are complicated and we wanted to make the case for his suspension pending an investigation as clear as possible,“ he said. “It is a puzzle to me and to any right-thinking person how he could have been appointed after all that has passed, and with charges outstanding against him.“
MCI also came in the firing line, with the journal questioning its reason for refusing to release information related to Desai's medical registration status in India. In 2010, a governmentappointed MCI board of governors debarred Desai from practicing medicine and participating as a doctor in a medical conference anywhere or representing a medical council. His inauguration as WMA president was suspended that year. In 2013, the WMA decided to lift the suspension on assurances from the Indian Medical Association, which Desai once headed.
Ayear later, MCI took a decision to invalidate all its decisions between 2010 and 2013.However, the status of Desai's registration remains a mystery , with the MCI obtaining a high court stay against a January 2017 Central Information Commission order to release this information.
“Although Desai hasn't been convicted so far, his appointment has dismayed campaigners against healthcare corruption,“ Berger said. WMA, he said, had maintained there were no cases pending against Desai. “Instead of conducting an independent investigation, WMA chose instead to rely on the word of the Indian Medical Association, which is supportive of Desai.“
BMJ urged WMF to suspend Desai's presidency and to ensure an investigation be conducted into the decision making process that led to his appointment.
Repeated calls to Desai did not elicit any response.
Kolkata-based NGO People for Better Treatment has, meanwhile, moved the Supreme Court seeking a directive that the government send a communication to WMA to revoke Desai's appointment.
Desai has faced a series of legal problems. The CBI had arrested Desai and three others in 2010 for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 crore to grant recognition to a medical college in Punjab.
The ex-MCI chief has also faced allegations that he conspired in 2009 to have the council recommend that a private medical college in Lucknow be allowed to enroll more students but a special court dropped the charges on the grounds that the investigating agency failed to obtain a mandatory sanction from the government to prosecute him.

Audit report raps Madras univ for irregular 

appointments

Siddharth Prabhakar

Chennai





An audit report tabled in the Senate of University of Madras last month raised objections to a slew of appointments, including that of a principal of a constituent college, stating that they were made without following proper procedures.The other appointments termed irregular were that of a new cadre of 14 posts of medical officers in the university and 11staff reappointed to the same posts after superannuation. These were made during the vice-chancellor tenure of Professor R Thandavan between 2013 and 2016. He left office in January 2016. Despite repeated attempts, he could not be reached for comment.
The audit report stated that the appointment of the principal of Thiruvottiyur constituent college in July 2014 was not in accordance with UGC norms. “The individual has not obtained required teaching experience of 15 years on the date of application. He was working as assistant professor, whereas UGC norms stipulate a person in cadre of associate professorprofessor for the post,“ the report said.
The auditors also took exception to the selected candidate's experience as guest lecturer for five years being considered as teaching experience. A total salary payment of `13 lakh made to the principal has been objected to in the audit.
The posts of medical officers created by the universi ty in 2014 were also not sanctioned by the state government, the auditors said. The auditors also noted that it was not clear if the finance committee's approval was taken for the post's creation.In the report, the auditors chided the authorities for creating new posts when the university was suffering a financial crunch.
The report says 11 non-teaching staff were reappointed on contract basis after superannuation. The auditors reported that proper rules were not followed for these appointments and the sanction of the state government was not taken.

VIT University to begin counselling from May 10

Chennai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





Counselling for candidates who students who undertook the entrance examination to Vellore Institute of Technology (VITEEE 2017) for the upcoming academic year, will be conducted in phases this May .The varsity said it will hold counselling on May 10 for those who obtained ranks up to 8,000; for students with ranks from 8,001to 14,000 it will hold counselling on May 11.
For those with ranks from 14,001 to 20,000, the session will be on May 12. These sessions would be held simultaneously in Vellore, Chennai, Bhopal and Amaravati.The results of the written exam that was conducted between April 5 to 16 were released Sunday , on the University's website http:www.vit.ac.in CBSE and state board toppers will get a full fee waiver for all the four years, while candidates with the top 50 ranks will receive a 75% tuition fee waiver.
Students with ranks between 51 and 100 will get a 50% tuition fee waiver and those with ranks between 101 and 1,000 will get a 25% tuition fee waiver from the university .





Retain PG admission incentives or we'll not work, 

warn docs

Pushpa Narayan

Chennai:





DOCTORS BODIES KEEP UP PROTEST, HC ALL EARS ON THE ISSUE

Government doctors in the state have threatened to boycott all work, barring emergencies, from May 1, if the health department admitted postgraduates students to medical colleges under the new counselling rules.Tamil Nadu Government Doctors' Association president Dr K Senthil said many doctors joined government service and worked in rural areas, often far from their families, hoping for incentives such as postgraduate seats. “It will be unfair to deny them the chance. Also, lack of such incentives will discourage many youngsters from joining government service,“ he said.Over the next two days, doctors will hold a human chain, rally and dharna and boycott all meetings and training. On Friday , they will go on mass casual leave and by May 1, they will boycott work barring emergencies, said state secretary Dr P Balakrishnan. The department of medical education has so far offered 50% reservation for doctors in go vernment service and special incentives to those in rural areas and difficult terrain, but a recent high court ruling directed it to adhere to the MCI's new NEET-PG regulations providing only 30% of a candidate's NEET scores as incentive to in-service candidates serving in hillyremote areas.Several doctors bodies have been protesting for the last one week urging the government to ensure their time-tested incentives and reservations are not reduced. This year, the state will conduct counselling for 556 PG seats (after surrendering an equal number for allIndia quota).“We want the government to continue the procedure as it used to do till now,“ said Dr Rubesh Kumar of the Tamil Nadu Medical Officers Association. Health department officials are consulting legal experts. “We have no vacancies in hilly areas or remote places because of the incentives we give doctors. But if we reserve incentives only for these places, we may have a shortage of doctors in rural PHCs,“ said director of public health Dr K Kolandaisamy .

High court to hear PG med admission norms issue 

today

Chennai: TIMES NEWS NETWORK





More than a week after a single judge order altering PG medical course admission norms for in-service candidates shook serving government doctors prompting them even to announce a series of agitation, the order has been challenged before a division bench.Though the government itself has filed an appeal, on Tuesday morning, senior counsel P Wilson made a mention of the appeals before the bench of Justice Huluvadi G Ramesh and Justice R M T Teekaa Raaman seeking urgent hearing. The matter is being taken up for hearing on Wednesday.The appeal, filed by Dr Prabhu, who is assistant civil surgeon in government peripheral hospital at KK Nagar in Chennai, said though he had scored 1,020 marks out of 1,500 in NEET (PG) held this year, he would be pushed behind in rank by Dr Rajesh Wilson, who scored a mere 856 in the same examination. It became possible due to Justice Pushpa Sat hyanarayana's ruling on April 17, holding that this year's PG medical admissions should be as per MCI Regulation 9(4), which provided for award of maximum of 30% of marks scored by the candidate in NEET, provided he works in a hilly or difficult terrain. Assailing the ruling, Prabhu said the judge had failed to take into account Clause 13.2 of National Board of Examination's Information Bulletin which said states could frame their own rules and regulations for admitting students under service category and that existing quota of states would remain undisturbed. Clause 16.3 also says NBE would provide only information and data of candidates.Prabhu said benefit and incentives for in-service candidates in rural postings shall be determined by the state concerned, and clause 17(b) clearly said counselling for PG seats would be held using NEET(PG) scores along with guidelines and reservation policies of the states concerned.

Delhi police arrest TTV in EC official bribe case

New Delhi: TNN & AGENCIES





Move Comes 3 Days After Questioning Him

After questioning him for three days in the Election Commission bribery case, the Delhi police's crime branch arrested AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary and V K Sasikala's nephew T T V Dhinakaran late on Tuesday night.His longtime friend Mallikarjuna was also arrested after being questioned for the second day on the trot, police said.
Mallikarjuna had been accompanying Dhinakaran everywhere ever since Sukesh Chandrasekar, the middleman in the bribery case, was arrested, police said.
Dhinakaran was confronted with a set of recordings of a telephonic conversation which allegedly took place between him and Sukesh Chandrasekar. Most of these recordings were made by Sukesh himself, it is learned.
His personal assistant is said to have given police a statement indicting Dhinakaran for attempting to bribe Election Commission officials to get the two leaves symbol for the party .
Dhinakaran was questioned for around nine hours on Saturday and Sunday after he joined investigations in the bribery case registered against him by Delhi Police.
Dhinakaran arrived in Delhi on Saturday . The inves tigating team had prepared a set of 50 questions on the basis of interrogation of alleged middleman Sukes h.
Dhinakaran, who was appointed deputy general secretary by AIADMK chief V S Sasikala, has been isolated in his party amid moves to merge rival factions led by Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and his predeces sor O Panneerselvam.
A section of the ruling AIADMK (Amma) recently revolted against the SasikalaDhinakaran leadership. The development came after Panneerselvam, who is leading the rival faction, demanded the ouster of Sasikala and Dhinakaran as well as other members of their family from the party as a condition for merger talks.
Removing Sasikala from party caught in legalities: Vaithilingam
As stalemate in the merger talks between rival factions contin ued over the demand of the O Panneerselvam group on re moving the Sasikala clan from AIADMK, Rajya Sabha MP and head of the Edappadi K Palaniswami negotiat ing panel, R Vaithilingam on Tuesday said the issue was embroiled in legalities. In an interview to TOI, Vaithilingam said every issue could be sorted when the OPS faction comes to the negotiating table. “We are open-hearted. Only when they turn up for talks, everything can be set right,“ he said. P 7