Venkaiah asks MPs to speak in Hindi

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   04.04.2018

New Delhi: Emphasising the need to make Hindi more prevalent in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, chairman Venkaiah Naidu on Tuesday advised non-Hindi speaking MPs to talk in the language without hesitation and fear of making grammatical mistakes. He also suggested that north Indians should learn a south Indian language, to promote national unity.

Naidu, who was conducting the annual meeting of the Hindi Salahkar Samiti, also expressed concern over the three-year gap in holding the meeting. The RS chairman directed that the Samiti meet twice a year from now on. The committee was formed for the promotion of use of Hindi in the Rajya Sabha Secretariat.

Referring to his own experience, Naidu recalled that he did not know Hindi when he first came to Delhi but soon picked up the language by speaking without any hesitation. “King can do no wrong. You are members of Parliament and can speak freely without the fear of committing mistakes,” Naidu said.

Reiterating that the best way of propagating Hindi is encouraging its use instead of forcing others to adopt the language, Naidu said knowing different languages is an advantage.

IndiGo tyre burst: ‘Pilots may have landed with parking brakes engaged’

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com 04.04.2018

New Delhi: Touching down with the main landing gear’s hydraulic brakes reportedly engaged may have led to the tyres of an IndiGo ATR bursting in Hyderabad last Wednesday. The plane, which was flying in from Tirupati and had 72 passengers on board, had then remained stuck at the Hyderabad runway for several hours before it was removed.

A preliminary probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has revealed that the pilots of the turboprop inadvertently engaged the plane’s hydraulic parking brake during flight. Unlike, say a car, where the brake pedal needs to be pressed to slow down or stop it, engaging the ATR’s hydraulic parking brake meant that oil pressure — for braking effect — was built up in the main landing gear.

“Without realising this, the landing gear was lowered. Once the ATR touched down, the main landing gear already had brakes on and its tyres could not rotate freely due to that. The friction led to heat and all four tyres burst,” said sources.

“While the probe is on, the initial study suggests a major lapse on the pilots’ part. Touching down at a high speed with brakes of the main landing gear on, could have had serious consequences. Both the pilots were called for questioning,” said a source.

Asked to comment on this, an IndiGo spokesman said: “The matter has been reported by IndiGo to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). This will be investigated both by the flight safety department of IndiGo as well as the DGCA. It is not appropriate for us to comment any further while the investigation is progressing. At IndiGo, safety of the passengers and crew is of utmost importance and cannot be compromised with.”

The mishap had happened last Wednesday during landing when 6E 7117 was on Tirupati-Hyderabad route. Once the ATR-72 tyres burst on touchdown, the plane had got stuck on the runway. Fortunately, passengers and crew on board were unhurt. But the runway’s closure for several hours severely disrupted flights at the busy Hyderabad airport.

Aviation minister Suresh Prabhu had ordered a probe into this incident.


PILOTS UNDER SCANNER

TN govt likely to move SC over PG med admissions

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   04.04.2018

Chennai : The state government is likely to move the Supreme Court urging amendments in the rules that will allow Tamil Nadu to retain 50% of the postgraduate medical seats from the state quota for in-service candidates for admissions this academic year. It will also urge the court to direct the Medical Council of India to amend rules for postgraduate admissions so that the state can use its traditional methods of incentives while admitting students, said state health minister C Vijaya Baskar.

The state selection committee is working on finalising the merit list based on PG NEET scores. The counselling process should be completed by the end of May. The state has already submitted a representation to the Medical Council of India and the Union health ministry, he said. The letter was based on the detailed study done by the six-member committee headed by Tamil Nadu Medical Service Corporation managing director P Umanath. “We have presented a copy of the report to them as well. If we don’t incentivise our doctors, we will not have adequate staff in rural areas and services will suffer,” said the minister.

The committee has put 16 of the 32 districts in the state in the backward list because of an inadequate doctor-patient ratio, high vacancies in government departments or poor health indices. Senior public health experts like Mumbai-based T Sundararaman of the Tata Institute of Social Studies say that incentive marks, higher salaries and infrastructure development will encourage more doctors to work in rural areas.

On Tuesday, a group of doctors from Doctors’ Association for Social Equality led by general secretary Dr GR Ravindranath met Union health minister J P Nadda to request NEET exemption for the state quota of seats.

“We have also sought reservations of seats for BC and MBC students like those for SC/ST students,” he said.

He secured borders, saved lives with valour & wisdom

K R A Narasiah 04.04.2018

TIMES OF INDIA

Former major general S P Mahadevan, a recipient of Ati Vishisht Seva Medal, was best known as the army officer who protected Mahatma Gandhi during the Calcutta riots in August 1946 and was later appointed by then Tamil Nadu CM M G Ramachandran as the chairman of Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC). But Mahadevan, who passed away on Monday, has left behind a much larger story of a hero who has been less sung about.

Commissioned in the Royal Indian Army in 1946 at the age of 21, Mahadevan joined the first battalion of Madras regiment. His regiment was sent to Kashmir to help Maharaja Hari Singh fight tribal raiders from Pakistan when he acceded to the Indian dominion in 1947. In his very first action, Mahadevan was badly wounded.

He was also a part of the UN peacekeeping force in the Congo between July 1960 and June 1964. On March 4, 1961, the 99 (Independent) Brigade Group, designated as the Indian Independent Infantry Brigade Group, was tasked to capture Jadotville in Africa by January 1963. Mahadevan went to Congo as the officer commanding advance guard on December 31, 1962. As all the road and rail bridges between Elizabethville and Jadotville were demolished by the retreating Katangese Army, his party was left with the only option of crossing the crocodile-infested Lufira River. Mahadevan along with two of his team members managed to monkey crawl over the partially damaged rail bridge before ferrying across the rest of the advance guard over the river to establish a bridgehead.

Mahadevan was one of the youngest army officers to be promoted as major general at the age of 47. He retired as GOC of Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Kerala and Goa Area on June 30, 1982.

His presence of mind in the face of danger is what made him a great leader. In 1972, while on a visit to a picket in Siachen Glacier, his chopper crashed due to turbulent weather. He and his men were covered in snow. In such a situation, he ordered his men to pray to God.

He later admitted that he gave the order so that his men stretched their hands, and created space for more oxygen. It was the stretched fingers of the soldiers that helped the rescuers pull them out.

Not many know that he was an ardent devotee of Sri Satya Sai Baba. In his memoir, he recorded how he sought the counsel of the saint when pressure from politicians during his stint as the TNPSC chairman wore him out in 1983. “Bhagavan advised me not to resign and said, ‘you need not oblige all the time, but you can always speak obligingly’. This golden advice stood me well during my six-year tenure.”

(The writer is a culture enthusiast)

Email your feedback to southpole.toi @timesgroup.com

MEETING HIS MATCH: Ati Vishisht Seva Medal awardee Major General S P Mahadevan with former CM M G Ramachandran

After DVAC FIR, law univ removes 4

Chennai : Tamil Nadu Dr Ambedkar Law University (TNDALU) has removed four of its seniors who were named in an FIR filed by the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in the NRI quota scam.

The university has named D Sankar, professor and head of criminal law and criminal justice administration department, as the registrar in-charge.

Those relieved from their administrative positions are KS Sarwani, HoD of inter-disciplinary studies and director, department of distance education, V Balaji, registrar in-charge, S K Ashok Kumar, deputy registrar incharge and D Jaisankar, deputy registrar in charge of finance. TNN

DVAC unearths land scam in Tiruvallur, books ex-tahsildar

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com 04.04.2018

Chennai: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) has busted a scam where 2050sqm of land allotted by the state government to a registered trust was leased out for 33 years to a private educational society to run a CBSE school in Ambattur taluk of Tiruvallur.

The FIR, registered on Monday after a detailed inquiry, has named T Balamurugan, the former tahsildar of Ambattur between September 2015 and August 2016, as the primary accused. Dr U Arivaruliyar, the trustee of Pakkkurali Pasumpon Aacini Arul Trust and managing director of the eponymous higher secondary school is the second accused.

The DVAC said the trust had requested the government to allot land for the purpose of a school, which was granted and 2050sqm was given for a period between July 1993 and September 201. It was given on the condition that it should not be given on lease, rent, mortgage or sale.

The DVAC said Arivaruliyar violated these conditions and entered into a lease agreement for a period of 33 years from June 2015 to 2048 with M/s Ravindra Bharati educational society of Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh, represented by Mannuru Subramanyam through a letter in September 2014 to run a CBSE school in the name ‘Ravindra Bharaty global school’. A monthly rent of ₹4,300 with 5% annual increase was set and Subramanyam constructed a building and started running Narayana e-Techno school, the DVAC said.

The value of land was ₹50.28lakh, the DVAC said and a cancellation deed was registered on August 11, 2015 to make others believe that there was no violation of condition under which land was granted. Arivaruliyar obtained a building license on August 2016 from tahsildar Balamurugan for the Arul Aacini trust school though Narayana school was continuing in the premises, the DVAC said. “Balamurugan knowingly violated the laws which resulted in conversion of the property for benefit of others,” the DVAC said. An FIR has been registered for criminal breach of trust and corruption by S John Clement, the DVAC DSP.

PG MED ADMISSIONS

No incentive mark during maternity leave: HC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   04.04.2018

Chennai: Maternity leave availed of by an in-service candidate can be treated as ‘service period’ for the purpose of admission to Tamil Nadu postgraduate medical courses, but incentive marks for serving in remote, hilly and difficult areas cannot be granted to them without doing ‘actual service’, the Madras high court has said.

Justice S Vaidyanathan made the decision and directed the registry to place the issue before the Chief Justice to refer it to a division bench, as his decision was in contrary to an order already passed by another single judge in a similar plea. The judge passed the order on Tuesday on a batch of pleas moved by seven lady doctors, who are in-service candidates, seeking to treat the maternity leave and earned leave availed of by them, as service period. When the plea came up for hearing, additional advocate-general S T S Moorthy submitted that the government was considering maternity leave as service period for all other contingencies, including promotion, except in admissions to PG medical course.

“The government has provided all the benefits under maternity leave, including pay for the leave period. But when it comes to admissions to PG medical courses, the leave period cannot be considered as service period, since the candidate must have completed two years of service,” Moorthy said.

Opposing the submission, advocate Richardson Wilson said, “When maternity leave is a constitutional right, the state cannot deny it to the petitioner.” As to the incentive marks, Moorthy submitted that without actual service such marks cannot be awarded to the petitioner.

To this, Wilson said when the government had not mentioned anything about such a rule, either in the prospectus to the courses or in the government order granting such incentives, such restriction could not be imposed.

Wondering whether granting such incentive marks without actual service would amount to discrimination against men, who do not get any benefits like paternity leave, the judge said such incentives could not be awarded to candidates without actual service.