HC frowns upon ‘grace’ marks for medical students 

Special Correspondent 
 
CHENNAI, May 01, 2018 00:00 IST


Says patients will have to dependon God if such practice is allowed

Patients would have to necessarily depend upon the grace of God to recuperate from their illness if medical students are allowed to pass examinations through grace marks, the Madras High Court has said. The observation was made while dismissing a writ petition filed by an MBBS student from Puducherry who failed even in the second attempt in ophthalmology paper and could not clear the third year of her studies due to shortage of three marks.

“Of course, appearing for the same paper again and again will undoubtedly make the candidate well versed in the subject,” Justice S. Vaidyanthan said, taking a subtle dig at the student. He rejected her plea for three grace marks on the ground that the Medical Council of India (MCI) regulations permit grant of grace marks only when a student had failed in one of all the subjects taken at a time and not when he/she fails in a single paper in the second attempt.

The judge pointed out that the petitioner had taken three papers – community medicine, ENT and ophthalmology – in June 2016 and failed in the third paper. She wrote the ophthalmology paper once in November 2017 and could not clear it this time too. She had scored only 29 out of 80 marks though the minimum marks required for clearing the paper was 32. Since university regulations provide for grace marks, she chose to approach the court.

However, opposing the writ plea, MCI’s counsel V.P. Raman brought it to the notice of the court that clause 13(10) of its 1997 regulations clearly state that “grace marks up to a maximum of five marks may be awarded at the discretion of the university to a student who has failed only in one subject but has passed in all other subjects.”

After recording his submissions, the judge said: “She (petitioner) is certainly not entitled to grace marks in view of the above Medical Council of India Regulations cited supra.”

Valentine’s Day is now ‘Mother-Father Puja Day’ 

Mohammed Iqbal 
 
JAIPUR, May 01, 2018 00:00 IST



Feb. 14 will be ‘Matr-Pitr Pujan Diwas’ in Rajasthan schools

All over the world, Valentine’s Day may be synonymous with a celebration of romantic love. But not in Rajasthan, and certainly not from the next year. The Education Department has issued an order declaring that from 2019, all government schools will observe February 14 every year as Matr-Pitr Pujan Diwas (Mother-Father Puja Day).

The stated objective of the order is to counter the growing influence of Western culture among teenagers. The event finds a mention in the Education Department’s yearly calendar, ‘Shivira Panchang.’

Time to interact

The order, issued last week, stated that on this special day, parents would be invited to the schools where their wards would honour them. They would also get an opportunity to spend some time on the school campus and interact with teachers.

Education Minister Vasudeo Devnani had recently said in the Assembly that the decision would promote Indian culture and inculcate a sense of love in students for their parents. “Students should learn to love and respect their parents first before anyone else,” he had said.

Mr. Devnani, who pointed out that a similar event to felicitate parents was already being held annually in Chhattisgarh, had earlier courted controversy by his decisions to ‘revise’ the contents of school textbooks. It was reported that these ‘revisions’ included the removal of India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s name from the textbook for Classes six to eight, and the insertion of a chapter on the Emergency.

Educationists have expressed outrage over the move. “This amounts to a forcible imposition of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s agenda under the pretext of promoting Indian culture,” said Rajiv Gupta, a retired professor of Sociology of Rajasthan University. He said the government wanted to control the mindset of youngsters by enforcing a value system opposed to democratic culture and freedom of choice.

M.I. Siddiqui of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind said the teenagers studying in schools should be free to celebrate the day as they wish.

A LAUGH RIOT ON SCREEN
Lack Of Scripts Featuring Humorous Roles Give Upcoming Actors No Opportunity To Hone Talent

Neeraja Ramesh & Srimathi S TNN 01.05.2018

The 1968 blockbuster ‘Thillana Mohanambal’, starring Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini in the lead roles, was a love story with a battle of egos, but thousands of film buffs also remember it for warm-hearted Jil Jil Ramamani who lifted the cloud of seriousness every time she appeared on screen. It is etched in the minds of cinemagoers as one of actor Manorama’s best performances. But comic flavour in films, a hallmark of the black and white and Eastman-colour era, seems to be slowly fading away.

Word play, comic timing and intonation in dialogue delivery, ingredients that would pepper scripts and lighten up screens, have dwindled especially for women, since the time of Manorama and Sowcar Janaki. Laughter today seems to be limited to caricatures, rib-tickling humour replaced by stereotypical slapstick and witty repartees by women characters with vulgar demeaning jokes.

With hardly any screenplay venturing beyond the main plot to infuse perceptive levity, the absence of comic brilliance in women characters may be felt for a long time. “To break the monotony of watching the main characters, writers earlier would have 15 to 16 scenes just for comedians,” points out actor-director and playwright T S B K Moulee.

Over the years, the demands of commercial cinema and shorter run time have resulted in such scenes being chopped off. Today, comedy is about body shaming women and putting down their intelligence, feels Moulee. “The hero’s friend(usually a comedian) and the hero tease the heroine and this is what we are told is comedy.” While male comedians are still popular as the hero’s confidante, a heroine no longer has such companions. “A male comedian has created a strong image in the market that in comedy a woman should only be teased for her appearance. Charlie Chaplin made me laugh by showing his sufferings, but in Tamil cinema, the actor makes the audience laugh by making fun of the women with misogynistic jokes,” says actor Maya Krishnan, who feels very few scripts are written with woman comedians in mind.

Ruing that cinema per se has denigrated women, Sowcar Janaki feels intelligent comedy is out these days and cinema no longer has space for women comedians. “Comedy now is all about body shaming and delivering vulgar dialogues. There can’t be another Manorama,” says the actor who began her career as a tragedy queen. She later realised the comic streak in her and made the transition that made such gems as ‘Bhama Vijayam’, ‘Thillu Mullu’ and ‘Ethir Neechal’ sparkle.

Apart from her inherent talent, she credits the change to directors like K Balachander, who helped her reach her potential. “What can I say? I was there at the right place and with the right people. My theatre background helped a lot in shaping my comic streak,” says Janaki, who feels actors today are no longer given the space to explore comedy.

While the industry has made way for the Santhanams, Karunas, and Viveks, it seems to have lost the plot midway with regard to women comedians. This absence is further felt when upcoming actors limit themselves to the typical heroine’s role. Today, if women cannot make it as heroines, they fade away since they do not have the opportunity to hone their talent in comic roles. A change should happen and veterans must take the lead by urging actors to explore offbeat roles, say experts.

In the 1980s, actors like Sripriya, Radikaa and Revathi were not only popular for portraying the love interest in blockbusters but were also known for their bubbly heartwarming characters with great comic timing.

The torchbearer among women comedians, in recent times, is probably actor Kovai Sarala. Having acted in more than 750 films, she has been able to portray different characters in movies like ‘Cheena Veedu’, ‘Karagattakaran’, and ‘Kaalam Maari Pochu’, and is an example of how an actor, harbouring dreams to play the heroine, could still become a star by cashing in on her comic timing.

But does this mean the end of quirky comebacks by women? Actor andplaywright ‘Crazy’ Mohan is positive that the tide will change. “The popularity of comic roles comes in cycles. The requirement for female comedians will come again. The industry needs more women writers and that can bring about a change,” he says. 

6 get 350, AP boys top 2 in JEE(M) after tiebreakers

Hemali Chhapia & Yogita Rao TNN

Mumbai: 01.05.2018
The results of the JEE (Main) examination this year were different as each of the top six all-India rankers had scored 350 and the CBSE had to apply several tiebreakers to rank them.

While Andhra Pradesh’s Suraj Krishna Bhogi was eventually declared the topper, K V Hemant Kumar Chodipilli, also from AP, stood second, and Parth Laturia from Maharashtra’s Nanded, who had gone to Kota to prepare for the exam, stood third.

Suraj has set his eyes on IITBombay. Speaking to TOI, between tackling the flood of congratulatory messages, he said, “I am thrilled. I did not follow any particular pattern to prepare for the exam. On an average, I studied for about nine hours a day. It is my perseverance that has paid off as I never got up from my books till I finished a particular topic.” He said he had to cut down on cricket time — his favourite sport — to prepare for the exam.

(Inputs from Shoeb Khan and K Venkat)

Overall cutoff for all categories slips considerably

Hemant’s regime wasn’t too different. His rank, the young boy candidly admitted,came as nosurprise to him. “I studied for five hours every day to prepare for JEE. With immense support from my college faculty members, I managed to score 350 in the exam. Since my parents live in Mumbai, I intend to seek admission at IIT there. My preferred stream is computer science,” Hemant said from his home in Vizag.

Parth had moved to Kota for JEE preparation. “The success in JEE-Main brought me a step closer to achieving my aim of becoming an engineer in computer science,” he said. The son of a doctor couple, Parth chose engineering due to his interest in mathematics. “Everyone expected me to become a doctor but my inclination towards maths pulled me to engineering. I wanted to make my career in applied mathematics,” said an elated Laturia.

Maths wizard Bhaskar Gupta, at all-India rank 7 (345 score), is the Mumbai topper. “I am passionate about maths. I find the subject very easy as ithas notheory,butonly equations,” Bhaskar, whose father is an IITian and mother is a doctor, said.

The overall cutoff for all categories slipped considerably,withthecommon ranklist cutoff dropping from 81to 74.

Around 10,000 more students qualified this year to take the JEE (Advanced), the passport to the Indian Institutes of Technology. A total of 2.3 lakh candidates qualified for the Advanced exam — 1.8 lakh boys and 50,000 girls.

PHARMACISTS SUSPENDED

Dog eats body at Aligarh hospital mortuary, investigation ordered

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

Agra:  01.05.2018

A shocking video of a dog eating a body at the mortuary of the district hospital in Aligarh went viral on social media on Monday, triggering outrage.

The video turned up just a week after photos of stray dogs moving around in the general ward of the Agra women hospital, close to patients and newborn babies were widely shared on social media.

In the video, a stray dog is seen feeding on the body of an unidentified person, which was lying in the mortuary of the hospital.

Aligarh district magistrate (DM) CB Singh has ordered a detailed investigation into the incident. He said, “Two in-charge pharmacists of the mortuary, Prashant Walian and Ravi Dixit, have been suspended. Police have also been asked to identify the policeman who had taken this body to the mortuary. According to procedure, bodies taken by police for post mortem have to be handed over to the in-charge of the mortuary.”

Chief medical officer (CMO) ML Agarwal admitted that the incident was “shocking”, and said that the stray dogs apparently enter the compound from the main gate, as the other side of boundary wall is secure with a pond on the other side.

“The matter is being inquired into in detail and those responsible for this inhuman neglect won’t be spared,” Agarwal added.

The CMO, however, blamed police for the “irresponsible” act. “While the job of the doctors is to conduct the post mortem, police personnel should ensure that bodies are handed over to the mortuary staff in accordance with the procedures. At present, there are two fridges that accommodate four bodies but soon they will be replaced by two new fridges with six compartments,” he said.

Med students denied seats last yr to be considered 
 
Puducherry: 01.05.2018 toi

The Madras high court has directed all private medical colleges and deemed universities in the Union territory of Puducherry to consider admitting 28 students who were selected but denied seats in the last academic year, 2017-18, for the ensuing academic year 2018-19.

Justice S Vaidyanathan said the private colleges and deemed universities must accommodate the students in their respective colleges in the same department (offered last year) if there are any vacancies after the mop-up counselling for 2018-19.

He also directed the centralised admission committee (Centac) and director general of health services, New Delhi to intimate the Medical Council of India about the list of candidates selected for the academic year 2018-19 by including these 28 students. The students must pay the fees applicable for the ensuing academic year. TNN

State medical council to issue notice to 48 docs for misleading it

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:
The state medical council will issue show-cause notices to 48 doctors asking why action including cancellation of medical licence cannot be initiated against them for misleading the council. These doctors registered themselves as postgraduates in emergency medicine although their degrees weren’t recognised by the Medical Council of India.

“The state council will also initiate an internal inquiry to find out if there was any official nexus involved,” its president Dr K Senthil said. “The council was being administered by a retired judge as there were no elected members. We will find out if anyone within the council helped them,” he said.

If the disciplinary committee finds the doctors guilty, the council may cancel their PG registration or even ban them from practice and council staff may be suspended or dismissed. In addition, the council has put at least 15 more applications for registration on hold until it completes the inquiry.

The doctors hold postgraduate degrees from two deemed universities -- Sree Ramachandra Medical College and Research Institute and Vinayaka Mission Medical College – which got letters of permission to start the postgraduate course in emergency medicine with two seats each in 2013 and 2012 respectively.

But 48 postgraduates in accident and emergency medicine registered their degree as just emergency medicine. State medical council officials said the doctors included 40 from Sri Ramachandra University who registered themselves between October and December last year.

“They have all completed their course between 2004-2011. We shouldn’t have registered them but we were misled,” said a senior official in the council. At least 20 of them passed out in 2009, the year when emergency medicine was first recognised as a postgraduate specialty in India.

The MCI became aware of this after a doctor’s body made a complaint based on information sourced from an RTI application.