Medical aspirant commits suicide after failing to get admission

K Sambath Kumar| TNN | Updated: Sep 2, 2017, 11:03 IST


HIGHLIGHTS

17-year-old S Anitha was in distress after failing to secure a medical seat as NEET was made compulsory in Tamil Nadu for medical admissions this year.

She even went to the Supreme Court last month seeking stay for NEET based admissions in the state run medical colleges saying it would shatter the aspirations of many rural students.
S Anitha even went to the Supreme Court last month seeking stay for NEET based admissions in the state run medical colleges.

TRICHY: S Anitha, a 17-year-old medical aspirant from Ariyalur committed suicide on Friday. She was in distress after failing to secure a medical seat as NEET was made compulsory in Tamil Nadu for medical admissions this year.

If admissions were made this year based on plus two marks then Anitha, a state board student from Tamil medium would have been the first doctor from her community in her entire village of Kuzhumur.

She even went to the Supreme Court last month seeking stay for NEET based admissions in the state run medical colleges saying it would shatter the aspirations of many rural students. But she chose to finally give up after admissions were made based on NEET this year.

View image on Twitter


The Supreme Court implead Anitha as a respondent against the petition filed by Nalini Chidambarama, dvocate and wife of former union finance minister P Chidambaram. She had urged the Apex Court to direct the state government to admit students in the medical colleges based on NEET.

The state government had maintained till the last minute but failed to ensure NEET exception this year which led to NEET based admissions in the state.

Ariyalur superintendent of police Abhinav Kumar confirmed TOI over phone that Anitha had committed suicide by hanging herself at home.

Though she could not crack NEET but a meritorious student from poor dalit family, she had secured 1176 marks in the plus two exam this year. With a medical cutoff of 196.75 she was assured of a seat if admissions would have been made based on the plus two marks.

Prince Gajendra Babu, general secretary of State Platform for Common School System - Tamil Nadu (SPCSS-TN) expressed deep shock over such a decision by Anitha. Prince had accompanied her to the Supreme Court last month.

Anitha studied in an aided school till class 10. Among the toppers in the district, she could have got admitted to a self-financing school with partial fee waiver.

Her father working as a load man at Gandhi vegetable market in Trichy, comes home once in a week. Losing her mother at an early age, Anitha was raised by single parent and four siblings as the first medical aspirant in her community in the village.

Speaking to TOI last month over phone, Anitha had said that her father did his best to give education and raise her to this level but he could not afford NEET coaching. She has come all the way to New Delhi to represent many aspirants like her in the state who may have to bury their MBBS dream if NEET based admission are made in the state.

Blue Whale game: They will kill me... player cries for help

TNN | Updated: Sep 2, 2017, 10:06 IST

HIGHLIGHTS

A 12-year-old from Tirupur in Tamil Nadu confessed that he had entered the sinister 'Blue Whale Challenge' and he wanted to get out.

After a number of suicides across the country having been linked to the dangerous online game, teenagers who have entered the 'challenge' are looking for exit routes.

CHENNAI: On Thursday, a hysterical 12-year-old from Tirupur in Tamil Naducalled the state-operated 104 helpline: "They will kill me and family," he told the counsellor. When the counsellor at the other end asked who, there was a pause before the boy confessed that he had entered the sinister 'Blue Whale Challenge' and he wanted to get out.

After a number of suicides across the country having been linked to the dangerous online game, teenagers who have entered the 'challenge' are looking for exit routes. "Most of them are scared to get out because they are being threatened with death or harm to their family," said Dr Lakshmi Vijayakumar, founder of suicide prevention center Sneha.

Two leading psychiatrists TOI spoke to said both of them had seen at least one child in the last three days who confessed to have participated in the game. It was curiosity that had initially drawn both to the challenge, which entails an online administrator assigning them 50 tasks, most of them self-destructive. The last one is to commit suicide. One of the children was a 13-year-old from Chennai.

NEET row: 343 people arrested and let off in city

TNN | Updated: Sep 4, 2017, 00:13 IST

Chennai: The city police on Sunday cordoned off Marina and launched a hunt for people who posted on the social media that there was going to be a mass protest at Marina Beach over NEET and the death of S Anitha on Friday, a medical aspirant in Ariyalur. Police put traffic restriction on Kamarajar Salai to check people staging protest in front of the secretariat.

A total of 343 people who protested on Sunday against the Centre in connection with the suicide of Anitha, were arrested and released in different parts of the city.

• Luxury Wallets Online Shopclebags
• Love Money? You Can Make $700 In Just 3 Hours HereBinaryUno

Recommended By Colombia

Protests were held in nine places. Around 10.50am, at least 100 members of May 17 Organisation, Tamizhar Vidyal Katchi and Dec 3 Organisation, under the leadership of Praveen Kumar staged a protest in T Nagar.

They walked towards the T Nagar BJP office, condemning the Central government and shouting slogans, around 11.10am when they were arrested. Police detained them at a marriage hall on South Boag Road in T Nagar and released them in the evening.

Members of some student outfits were also arrested in T Nagar. Around 30 students staged a road roko at the subway close to Loyola College. The Nungambakkam police rushed to the spot and dispersed the crowd.

Members of political parties like DMK, VCK and CPI (M) were also arrested and released for staging protests in different parts of the city. A total of 730 people also held silent meetings and candle light vigil in 14 locations in the city for Anita.

Madras university fines 4 colleges after reports of mass copying

Siddharth Prabhakar| TNN | Sep 3, 2017, 06:22 IST




Madras University (File photo).

CHENNAI: It is not just Bihar where mass copying and other malpractices are allowed to continue in colleges with the connivance of the management and staff. In a strong message to all its affiliated institutions, University of Madras has decided to fine four colleges, including three in the city , `50,000 each after a syndicate sub-committee on examinations, disci pline and student welfare reported a number of copying cases in these institutions.

At a meeting last month, the university syndicate resolved that the process of penalising repeat offenders would be made permanent and that the institutions would also lose the privilege of being named examination centres. Around 120 colleges in Chennai, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram districts are affiliated to the university.

Vice-chancellor P Duraisamy told TOI that it was a clear message to the colleges that they must be vigilant during exams. "Students should be checked properly so that they don't carry cellphones into the exam hall. The college is also responsible if that can't be prevented," he said. The syndicate at its next meeting would decide on creating a comprehensive framework to tackle all examination malpractices, inclding the penalty to be imposed,Vice-chancellor P Duraisamy said.

Syndicate members said flying squads had reported that students at many of the university's affiliated colleges were in possession of mobile phones, printed copies of answers and hand-written sheets in the exam centres. In one case, a student had placed a `500 note in the answer booklet, provided a cellphone number and requested the examiner for pass mark.

Syndicate members told TOI that it was obvious from the cases reported by the subcommittee that copying could not have happened without the facilitation of some authorities of the colleges concerned. Specific cases as well as those were frequency of copying incidences were high were specifically differentiated, a syndicate member said, adding that the issue had triggered a passionate debate at the meeting.

In one exam centre, the answer scripts of all the candidates were were found to be identical in all respects, indicating mass copying. In another case, a student was found to have submitted two answer sheets, a syndicate member said. In another case of suspected examination malpractice, the same handwriting was found in the answer scripts of four different candidates. The scripts, however, did not have the signature of the hall superintendent.

C Vidyasagar Rao completes a tumultuous year as governor

Sivakumar B| TNN | Sep 3, 2017, 09:04 IST

When C Vidyasagar Rao took charge as Tamil Nadu governor on September 2, 2016, J Jayalalithaa was the chief mi... Read More

CHENNAI: Holding additional charge, Tamil Nadu governor C Vidyasagar Rao has completed an eventful year in the state. Soon after he assumed office on September 2, 2016, the state plunged into chaos with the hospitalization of former chief minister J Jayalalithaa. The state went virtually without a chief minister for more than two weeks as Jayalalithaa remained out of action. Sensing the need of the hour, Rao, sources said, asked the AIADMK top brass to identify a leader who would steer the government till Jayalalithaa recovered. Finally, finance minister O Panneerselvam was given charge of all portfolios that Jayalalithaa held. He was not designated chief minister though.

Rao once again played a key role in averting a political crisis, which could have engulfed the state following the death of Jayalalithaa, by swearing in a cabinet headed by Panneerselvam as CM on December 5 midnight. Panneerselvam did not survive as CM for long as V K Sasikala set her eyes on the CM chair.Despite heavy pressure, Rao stood his ground by not swearing in Sasikala as CM when the verdict in the disproportionate assets case against her was expected soon. Also, despite the OPS faction hobnobbing with the BJP , which is in power at the Centre, Rao did not allow Panneerselvam to withdraw his resignation ei ther. Finally , the SC verdict justified his stand on Sasikala. As Sasikala went to jail, Rao administered oath of office and secrecy to Edappadi K Palaniswami as CM.

The governor spent less than 100 days in Chennai during the year as his presence was warranted more in Mumbai, seat of his principal assignment. Still, he was available here whenever TN plunged into crisis. The government's stability is once again facing a question mark now. Opposition party leaders and rebel MLAs of the ruling party have been making repeated visits to the Raj Bhavan in recent times demanding that the chief minister be told to face a trust vote.

"There is no government as such in Tamil Nadu. Chief minister Palaniswami has no time for governance as he is busy with party problems.When such is the situation, if we had a permanent governor in the state, the bureaucracy at least would have worked smoothly ," DMK Rajya Sabha MP T K S Elangovan said.

A governor's visit is not at all news in other states, but in Tamil Nadu, the moment Rao lands at the airport, all channels start tracking him.

The last time Tamil Nadu had a governor holding additional charge was in 2001 when C Rangarajan assumed office. He was a full time governor of Andhra Pradesh, but held additional charge of Tamil Nadu for a few days after M Fathima Beevi resigned.

Student outfit protests, seeks exemption from medical exam

TNN | Sep 4, 2017, 08:13 IST

CHENNAI: On Sunday, the protest over the deceased medical aspirant from Ariyalur, Anitha, grew bigger with a state student outfit joining in to express its dissent against NEET.

The Confederation of Tamil Nadu Students Organisation (COTSO) on Sunday convened to urge the central gov ernment to give permanent exemption to the state from the medical examination, which, they claimed, was unfair towards disadvantaged students like Anitha.

Urging that the ongoing medical counselling in the state be ceased, the confederation members said this is tipping the balance against TN students, as many out-ofstate candidates are follow ing unfair practices to seek admission in medical colleges here.

"Many students from other states are securing seats meant for TN students unfairly, by dual address certification and false nativity certification," they alleged. The confederation also urged college students across the state to boycott classes and protest towards this cause.

அனிதா தற்கொலை : தமிழிசை சந்தேகம்
பதிவு செய்த நாள்04செப்
2017
06:35

சென்னை: ''அனிதாவின் தற்கொலை பின்னணியில், அரசியல் சூழ்ச்சி உள்ளது,'' என, தமிழக பா.ஜ., தலைவர் தமிழிசை சவுந்தரராஜன் கூறினார்.

சென்னையில் அவர் அளித்த பேட்டி: மாணவி அனிதாவை இழந்தது, மிகப்பெரிய துயரம்; அதை, எந்த வகையிலும் ஈடு செய்ய முடியாதது. வறுமையுடன் போராடி சாதித்த அந்த குழந்தையை, 'நீட்' தேர்வு போராட்டத்துக்காக, டில்லி வரை அழைத்து சென்றுள்ளனர். 'ஒரு வேளை, நீட் தேர்வில் மருத்துவம் கிடைக்காமல் போனால் விவசாயம் படிப்பேன்' என, அனிதா கூறியிருந்தார். துணிச்சலும், தைரியமும் நிறைந்த அவர், திடீரென தற்கொலை செய்து கொண்டதில், அரசியல் சூழ்ச்சி உள்ளதா என, ஆய்வு செய்ய வேண்டும். 'நீட்' தேர்வை சந்திக்க மாணவர்கள் தயாராக உள்ளனர்; அவர்களை தயார்படுத்துங்கள். சர்வதேச அளவில் மருத்துவ துறை சவாலான துறையாக உருவெடுத்துள்ளது. அதை எதிர் கொள்ளும் தகுதியை மாணவ, மாணவியரும் வளர்த்துக் கொள்வது அவசியம். மாணவர்களின் வாழ்க்கையை, பகடைக் காயாக்கி, தங்கள் வாழ்க்கையை வளப்படுத்திக்கொள்ள துடிக்கும், சுயநல அரசியல் வாதிகளை,
தமிழக மக்கள் அடையாளம் காண வேண்டும். மக்கள் நலத்திட்டங்களை செயல்படுத்தி வரும், பிரதமர் மோடியை அவமதிப்பதை பொறுத்துக் கொள்ள முடியாது. பொறுமைக்கும் ஒரு எல்லை உண்டு. இவ்வாறு அவர் கூறினார்.