Student gets ₹34K compensation for faulty ₹8k mobile

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 07.05.2018

A tardy response to acustomer’s complaint about a faulty cellphone and his refund request has cost e-commerce website Amazon nearly four times the initial expense. District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum (Chennai north) has directed Amazon and Delhi-based Cloudtail India to pay ₹34,000 to a chartered accountancy student for delivering a faulty mobile phone.

In 2015, V Mohit of Korattur had ordered a cellphone costing ₹8,999 through the website in 2015. But the handset delivered on June 7, 2015, was a defective one. When Mohit sought a refund, though the phone was collected a week later, the company failed to refund the money. Following this, he approached the consumer forum. While an Amazon customer executive informed Mohit that the cost of the mobile would be credited to his account, no money was credited until the end of July.

The complainant contended that the acts of the website and the seller were tantamount to unfair trade practice and deficiency in service. Further, he had purchased the cellphone for day to day activities and could not use it till after two months, when he purchased another handset at a cost of ₹14,999. The complainant stated that he was put through mental agony.

Both the opposite parties had contended that the customer could seek refund of money only through a civil court and that the forum had no jurisdiction to entertain the complaint.

However,the consumer forum bench comprising president K Jayabalan and member M Uyiroli Kannan ruled in favour of the Mohit recently and asked the website and seller to refund the cost of the phone and pay extra as compensation. The companies were directed to refund the cost of the mobile phone and an additional sum of ₹20,000 for mental agony and ₹5,000 for litigation expenses.

Aspirants, parents must pass first test: Comply with hard rules

Vinayashree.J@timesgroup.com 07.05.2018

As a parent scurried around asking for a glue stick to paste his daughter’s photo on her admit card, another grabbed a pair of scissors to cut sacred threads on her daughter’s wrist. A student rushed out of the hall to get her parent sign the hall ticket, while a group of people frantically searched for a candidate’s gold stud that fell to the ground while being removed. Sunday’s NEET seemed to be a test not just for students but also for their parents as they tried to comply with CBSE’s rules.

Amidst the sweltering heat, girls let their hair loose as they removed their rubber bands and clips. Jewellery, shoes, hijab and burkha, belts, all were barred, sacred threads on hands cut and handkerchiefs grabbed even if it meant runny noses. With many students forgetting to get a passport size photo, several schools arranged for photographers inside the premises, some of them charging ₹30 to ₹50.

Snega Priya, a candidate, said: “I was devastated that I hadn’t brought an extra photograph and asked my mother to get a copy from my hall ticket. I had to wait till she returned by 9.20am and so it was a rushed entry,” she said.

As students wrote the three-hour test, scores of parents waited outside or in the adjacent streets, and not unprepared – armed with lunch boxes, newspapers and coffee flasks, parents spread out on pavements and apartment entrances ready to sit out in the sun. Heavy police security was deployed around exam centres and special parking allowance was also given.

Azhagappan, a parent, felt that the dress code was “too much” for an exam. “Agreed they are taking precautions against malpractices, but the way they do it only causes chaos. Students become anxious and over-stressed right before the exam. What if they go blank during the exam after so much hard work. A systematic and calm checking process benefits all,” he said.

(With inputs from Gayatri V)


LET LOOSE: A woman removes her daughter’s hairpins before she enters a NEET centre at DAV Public School in Velachery


AT YOUR SERVICE: A police officer helps out a girl at an exam centre in Velachery



FANCY BUTTONS STUDDED ON MY TOP WERE CUT ALONG WITH THE HOLY THREAD AROUND MY WAIST. IT IS THOUGHTLESS TO ASK US TO REMOVE EARRINGS, CHAINS AND BUTTONS... THE PUBLIC INSPECTION OUTSIDE THE EXAM HALL INCREASED OUR ANXIETY

SNEGAPRIYA S 



I FELT EMBARRASSED WHEN THEY ASKED ME TO REMOVE MY SHAWL AND ASKED US TO WEAR PANTS INSTEAD OF SALWAR. THAT WAS EMBARRASSING AND COMPLETELY UNNECESSARY. THERE’S NOTHING WE COULD HIDE IN OUR SHAWLS

T SANGEETHA


CHECKING IS REQUIRED AND THERE’S NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT IF YOU FOLLOW THE RULES. PEOPLE HAVE TO LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE, IT IS VERY IMPORTANT TO BE SURE THAT STUDENTS DON’T GET INTO THE FIELD THROUGH MALPRACTICES

C P PRAJEET


WHILE THE CHECKING AND DRESS CODE ARE NECESSARY, THE SYSTEM OF CARRYING IT OUT COULD BE BETTER. CHECKING IS NECESSARY BECAUSE TECHNOLOGY HAS DEVELOPED AND STUDENTS CAN CHEAT IN MANY WAYS. IT CAN BE CONTROLLED ONLY IF THERE ARE RULES | JANANI M

Experts see higher cutoff, increased competition

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com 
 
07.05.2018

Competition for MBBS and BDS admissions is set to get tougher this year as experts predict a rise in overall qualifying scores or the minimum cut-off score.

With many CBSE students finding the test easy, as many of the test questions were from NCERT books, it is going to be difficult for their state board counterparts when it comes to the 15% all India quota seats.

Every year, CBSE, along with results, also releases cutoff scores in the form of percentile for different categories. For example, in 2017, 50th percentile was declared to be the qualifying percentile for the unreserved category. The corresponding cut-off score for the 50th percentile was 131. Only those who had scored 131 or above were declared eligible, and an all India rank was given to those candidates.

“After analysing available data, we noted that there has been an increase in overall enrolment and many found the paper easy,” said Jayaprakah Gandhi, educational consultant.

“We estimate the cut-off for unreserved category to increase from 131 to 135-140 this year,” said educational consultant Moorthy Selvakumaran. “The qualifying score for securing an admission under the all-India quota might also increase from 585 to 610. Students from Tamil Nadu may find it difficult to get MBBS/BDS seats under this quota and CBSE students would continue to dominate this counselling,” he added.

D Devaraj, a physics teacher from a private coaching centre in Chennai, said, “For admissions to TN colleges, cut-offs for the open category is expected to increase as students were better prepared this time. Many had joined coaching classes much earlier.”

SNIP, STRIP & MAKE THEM CRY, THEY’RE OUR FUTURE DOCS...

Most Experts, Many Students Say Stringent Frisking Unwarranted
Officials Blame Lack Of Coordination With State
TN Aspirants Feel Coaching Started Too Late
So Seem To Say Authorities Who Make Frisking Of NEET Aspirants A Public Spectacle

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com 07.05.2018

Buttons ripped off, sacred threads cut, burkhas removed, shoes taken off and ear drums screened as if to clean wax — no, these are not stringent checks by airport customs to catch drug and gold smugglers, but frisking of students at NEET centres across the state in broad daylight, minutes before they were to write an exam.

No other prominent all-India examination puts aspirants through such a tedious process on the pretext of ‘taking precautions’. Such measures are unheard of in the civil services examinations that the Union Public Service Commission conducts or the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) Main that CBSE holds. 

Last year, a trainee IPS officer sneaked in high-end gadgets for the CSE mains examination at a centre in Chennai. Contrastingly, the same year, a NEET aspirant in Kerala was asked to remove her brassiere at an examination centre.

While the lax in security that allowed the trainee police officer to indulge in malpractice was a wake-up call, aspirants and experts said the way in which NEET exams were conducted was unwarranted.

CBSE officials said they were only playing by the book. “All instructions were clear in the hall tickets issued to students. Only those students who don’t adhere to it were dealt with stringent measures,” an official from the Chennai regional office of CBSE told TOI.

Anything which could cause a hindrance in the way of frisking is removed, said K Srinivasan, regional officer of Chennai region. “The intention is that no students should gain any kind of unfair advantage over the other,” he said.

But K Devarajan, former director of government examinations, Tamil Nadu, said the authorities had gone overboard. “It only shows the CBSE’s inability to conduct such exams,” Devarajan said.

The problem is CBSE does not coordinate with state governments to conduct examinations unlike the UPSC or SSC, he said. “The UPSC conducts exams every other week and we do not hear of any such ridiculous measures adopted at those centres,” Devarajan said.

Aspirants of civil services examinations said they had never faced anything of the sort. “There is no dress code. Even frisking and stringent checks are rare. Only last year, students were frisked at some centres,” P Vimal Sankar who appeared for the exams thrice told TOI.

But in JEE the measures are not as stringent. “Authorities have been very gentle with the candidates. Except for a few select centres, frisking is not done mostly,” said Pavan Kumar, deputy director of FIIT JEE, a training centre.

TIMES VIEW 

Paranoia. That best explains the inefficiency of authorities who were too eager on Sunday to make NEET candidates remove earrings, footwear and even sacred threads in the name of preventing malpractice. Yes, Bluetooth devices have been used by some candidates to cheat in competitive examinations, but technology must be met with technology, not by crass body search and intimidation. There are gadgets to trace copying devices and jam communication, if you will.

Making children remove nose rings and dupattas is sheer humiliation. If these excesses were in the name of CBSE guidelines, the central board is not the right agency to handle this exercise. It is time another body specialised in handling such responsibility is created. Service commissions conduct exams for 10 times the number of NEET students, but humiliates no candidate. Learn.

TEARS OF RELIEF: A NEET aspirant breaks down after the test at Maharishi Vidya Mandir in Kilpauk. Students are frisked at exam centres; those wearing religious symbols were forced to remove them. At the same centre, a girl (left) has her anklets removed and takes off a sacred thread on her wrist

Just 5% skip NEET marked by stringent checks & dress code 

‘Biology Easy, Chemistry & Physics Tough’

Ram Sundaram & Vinayashree J TNN   07.05.2018

Chennai:

Of the 1.07 lakh candidates registered for the National-Eligibility-cum-Entrance-Test for admission to medical courses in TN, nearly 5,000 students skipped the exam on Sunday marked by stringent checks and tough dress code to avoid malpractices.

“In Chennai, just 5 % of the total 33,800 candidates failed to turn up,” K Srinivasan, CBSE Regional Officer, Chennai, said. “Turnout was positive with absenteeism in single digits in most of the 49 city exam centres,” he said.

Candidates had a tough time at the exam centres due to the stringent frisking, including metal detector checks, done by the authorities. Some students even complained that their sacred threads were cut and they were asked to untie their hair.

While most students found biology part to be easy, chemistry and physics sections were tougher as most questions were from Class 11NCERT portion. In one Madurai centre, 120 candidates were issued Hindi version of the paper and were made to wait till afternoon.

CUT OUT FOR JOB: A sacred thread tied to the wrist of a student being cut before NEET in Chennai on Sunday | REPORT: P 2, 8

Most questions based on NCERT textbooks

They were given photocopies of the Tamil question paper but were asked to answer in the OMR sheet of the Hindi question paper. Rattled by the turn of events, many students said their MBBS dreams were as good as over. Exams were again conducted for these candidates. CBSE attributed the confusion to ‘administrative reasons’.

The goof-up happened at Noyes Matriculation School at Narimedu which had a total of 568 students sitting for the examination. When the first batch of students came out after the exam around 1pm, many parents couldn’t spot their wards. C Shanmugam of Theni found that his son Mahendran had come out, but not his elder son. After waiting for about half an hour, the parents gheraoed the school principal who told them that their children had been given Hindi question papers. They were waiting for the Tamil question papers to be sent from New Delhi. “Nearly 15 to 20 physics questions involved complex derivations and we had to use multiple formulae to solve every question,” said M Deepak who wrote the test in Sholinganallur. Many students said that they avoided answering the toughies to escape negative marks.

Most of the questions were based on NCERT books, widely used by CBSE schools, said Mohammed Askar, a Theni student. Uday Nath Mishra, chief academic officer at training institute BasicFirst, said, “NEET 2018 was easy to moderate with 170 questions based on NCERT. Ten questions were tricky as they interlinked two topics.”

This indicated that CBSE students might have an edge over their TN state board peers when it came to admissions under the 15 % All India Quota, say experts. However, unlike the previous year, there were no translation-related goof-ups.

Many government school students found the test very difficult and the TN school education department admitted as much, promising to improve its coaching methodologies.

தமிழுக்கு பதில் ஹிந்தி வினாத்தாள்

Added : மே 07, 2018 00:07

மதுரை: மதுரை நாய்ஸ் பள்ளியில் நடந்த, நீட் தேர்வில் தமிழ் வினாத்தாளுக்கு பதில், ஹிந்தி வினாத்தாள் கொடுக்கப்பட்டதால், காலையில் தேர்வு நிறுத்தப்பட்டு, மதியம் நடந்தது.மதுரையில், 20 மையங்களில் தேர்வு நடந்தது. 11 ஆயிரத்து, 800 மாணவர்கள் விண்ணப்பித்திருந்தனர். இதில், 11 ஆயிரத்து, 341 மாணவர்கள் தேர்வு எழுதினர். நரிமேடு நாய்ஸ் பள்ளியில், 720 மாணவர்கள் எழுதினர். இதில், 120 பேருக்கு தமிழ் வழி வினாத்தாள் வழங்கப்படவேண்டும். ஆனால், அவர்களுக்கு இந்தி, ஆங்கிலம் வினாத்தாள் வழங்கப்பட்டது.மாணவர்கள் குழப்பம் அடைந்து, வினாத்தாள்களை திரும்ப ஒப்படைத்தனர். இதனால், தேர்வு ஒத்திவைக்கப்பட்டது. பிற மையங்களில் இருந்து தமிழ் வினாத்தாள் நகல் எடுத்து, மதியம், 3:00 முதல் மாலை, 6:00 மணி வரை தேர்வு நடத்தினர். மாணவர்களுக்கு மதிய உணவு வழங்கப்பட்டது.தேர்வு ஒருங்கிணைப்பாளரான நரிமேடு, கே.வி., பள்ளி முதல்வர், செல்வராஜ் கூறுகையில், ''வினாத்தாள் பற்றாக்குறையால், சிறப்பு அனுமதி பெற்று மதியத்திற்கு மேல் தேர்வு நடத்தினோம்,'' என்றார்.யாதவர் கல்லுாரியில், காலை, 9:30 மணிக்கு மேல் வந்த, ராஜபாளையம் மாணவி சபிதாவை, அதிகாரிகள் அனுமதிக்கவில்லை.வக்பு வாரிய கல்லுாரி மையத்தில், ராமேஸ்வரத்தை சேர்ந்த சத்தியபிரியா முழுக்கை சட்டை அணிந்து வந்தார். இதனால், கை பகுதியை பாதியாக வெட்டிய பின், தேர்வுக்கு அனுமதித்தனர்.

புயல் வீசும்: உள்துறை எச்சரிக்கை

Added : மே 06, 2018 22:43

புதுடில்லி: 'நாடு முழுவதும், 13 மாநிலங்கள் மற்றும் இரண்டு யூனியன் பிரதேசங்களில், புயல் காற்று வீசும்; இடியுடன் கூடிய பலத்த மழை பெய்யும்' என, மத்திய உள்துறை அமைச்சகம் எச்சரித்துஉள்ளது.

ராஜஸ்தான், உ.பி., ம.பி., டில்லி உட்பட வட மாநிலங்களில், சமீபத்தில் வீசிய புழுதிப் புயலில் சிக்கி, 124 பேர் உயிரிழந்தனர்; 300க்கும் அதிகமானோர் காயம் அடைந்தனர். இந்நிலையில், 13 மாநிலங்கள் மற்றும் இரண்டு யூனியன் பிரதேசங்களுக்கு, புயல், மழை எச்சரிக்கை விடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.
இது குறித்து, இந்திய வானிலை ஆய்வு மையம் தந்த தகவலில் அடிப்படையில், உள்துறை அமைச்சகம் வெளியிட்டுள்ள செய்திக் குறிப்பில் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளதாவது: ஜம்மு - காஷ்மீர், ஹிமாச்சல் பிரதேசம், உத்தரகண்ட், பஞ்சாப் ஆகிய மாநிலங்களில் சூறாவளி காற்று வீசும்; இடியுடன் கூடிய பலத்த மழை பெய்யும். அசாம், மேகாலயா, நாகாலாந்து, மணிப்பூர், மிசோரம், திரிபுரா ஆகிய மாநிலங்களில், பலத்த மழை பெய்ய வாய்ப்பு உள்ளது. ஹரியானா, டில்லி மற்றும், உ.பி.,யின் சில இடங்களில் பலத்த காற்றுடன் மழை பெய்யும்; ராஜஸ்தானில், புழுதிக் காற்று வீசக்கூடும். இவ்வாறு அதில் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது.