NPA PROVISIONS UP THREE-FOLD

Canara Bank’s Q4 loss at ₹4.8k crore on bad loans

New Delhi: 12.05.2018

State-owned Canara Bank on Friday reported a net loss of ₹4,859.7 crore for the last quarter of 2017-18 due to increased provisioning for bad loans. The bank had clocked a net profit of ₹214.2 crore in the corresponding January-March quarter of preceding fiscal 2016-17.

The bank raised its provisioning for non-performing assets (NPAs) to ₹8,762 crore during the January-March quarter, up by nearly 200% from ₹2,924 crore in the same period of previous fiscal, as bad assets ballooned, according to a regulatory filing by the bank. For whole 2017-18, the bank suffered a net loss of ₹4,222 crore .

Total income of the bank during the quarter ended March 2018 fell to ₹11,555.1crore

from ₹12,889.2 crore.

In full year 2017-18, total income stood at ₹48,194.9 crore against ₹48,942 crore in preceding year, the bank said. Assetwise, there was fall in quality as gross non-performing assets (NPAs) rose to 11.8% of gross advances by the end of March 2018 from 9.6% by end-March 2017.

In absolute value, the gross NPAs were at ₹47,468 crore from ₹34,202crore.

Net NPA ratio stood at 7.5% (₹28,542.40 crore) from 6.33% (₹21,648.9 crore). The NPA provisioning for the full year rose to ₹14,882 crore from ₹7,437 crore in 2016-17. In view of fraud reported during the year in certain banks in respect of one gems and jewellery borrower group accounts , the bank has classified these accounts as non-performing asset and provided fully, Canara Bank said. AGENCIES

Hangover pill works on drunk mice 

Injecting Natural Enzymes Into Rodents Helps Blood Alcohol Level Drop By 45% 

Times of India 12.05.2018

According to George Bernard Shaw, alcohol is “the anesthesia by which we endure the operation of life.” But as we all know, too much of it results in a cracking hangover the next day. Between 8 to 10% of emergency room visits in the US are due to acute alcohol poisoning. Alcohol abuse leads to serious health problems, including cardiovascular and liver cancer.

However, a team of scientists in the US may have taken a step forward in developing a “hangover pill” that could cure the indulgences of the night before. That’s the gist of an essay from ‘The Conversation’, by Yunfeng Lu who is a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles in the US.

In it, Lu recounts how he and some colleagues used natural enzymes found in liver cells to help the body process alcohol faster. “Inspired by the body’s approach for breaking down alcohol, we chose three natural enzymes that convert alcohol into harmless molecules that are then excreted,” the professor explained.

“That might sound simple, because these enzymes were not new, but the tricky part was to figure out a safe, effective way to deliver them to the liver.” The team then wrapped the enzymes in a shell that had been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use in pills and injected them into the veins of drunk mice. The capsules were tiny — they are described as ‘nanocapsules’ so it wasn’t hard to put them into the mice, but apparently the results turned out to be positive.

“We showed that in inebriated mice (which fall asleep much faster than drunk humans), the treatment decreased the blood alcohol level by 45% in just four hours compared to mice that didn’t receive any,” Lu wrote.

The professor also added that the blood concentration of acetaldehyde — a highly toxic compound that is carcinogenic, causes headaches and vomiting and is produced during the normal alcohol metabolism — remained extremely low. The mice that were given the drug woke from their alcohol-induced slumber faster than their untreated counterparts. Currently, the team is conducting further tests to make sure that the pills don’t trigger any strange side effects.

Potentially, it could begin testing on humans in 12 months’ time. AGENCIES

NEW HOPE

IndiGo, Air Deccan planes avert mid-air collision over Bangladesh

Subhro.Niyogi@timesgroup.com

Kolkata: 12.05.2018

Two planes, one that took off from Kolkata and another that was heading to the city, came “dangerously close” to each other near the India-Bangladesh border on May 2. The Aircraft Investigation Bureau under the civil aviation ministry is probing the incident of “airprox”.

Agartala-bound IndiGo flight 6E 892, which took off from Kolkata, was beginning its descent after flying for 40 minutes when the traffic collision avoidance system (that warns pilots when another aircraft is too close to it) in the cockpit went off. The plane at the other end was a non-scheduled flight operated by Air Deccan. The plane, an 18-seater Beechcraft 1900 D that is much smaller than Indi-Go’s 180-seater Airbus A320 aircraft, had just taken off from Agartala and was still ascending when the warning was signalled.

Officials said the flights were barely 15-35 seconds away from each other, which triggered a resolution advisory (an in-built feature in the TCAS through which an automated voice instructs each pilot of conflicting aircraft to climb or descend to ensure that they increase the vertical separation between them). The minimum vertical distance between two flights operating in Indian airspace is 1,000 feet. The two flights had come within 700 feet of each other, breaching the minimum separation clause.

“IndiGo flight 6E-892 operated by VT-IDQ aircraft was involved in an RA (resolution advisory) incident with a non-scheduled operator on May 2 while descending for landing at Agartala. The IndiGo aircraft was at the prescribed air level. The IndiGo pilot followed the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and reported the matter to Agartala ATC and the company. The matter has been reported to the regulator and is being investigated,” an airline spokesperson said.

An Air Deccan safety official also acknowledged the incident and said it was being investigated. 



DANGEROUSLY CLOSE: The minimum vertical distance between two flights operating in Indian airspace is 1,000 feet

‘RULE LEGAL, VALID’

HC says CBSE’s upper age limit for NEET will remain

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 12.05.2018
The Delhi high court on Friday upheld a CBSE notification fixing an upper age cap of 25 and 30 years for general and reserved categories respectively to apply for National Eligibilitycum-Entrance Test (NEET)- UG, a pre-qualification for MBBS course.

HC dismissed petitions challenging the CBSE notification that laid down the upper age limit even as it struck down a clause that prohibited students from open schools or those who studied privately from appearing in the exam.

A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and Chander Shekhar noted that the clause in CBSE’s January 22 notification prescribing upper age limit for general and reserved category candidates was “legal and valid”.

But it found as “unconstitutional” the CBSE’s insistence to disqualify candidates who have studied from recognised open school boards.

“Candidates, who have done class 12 from NIOS (National Institute of Open Schooling) or recognised open school state boards, would not be treated as per se disqualified for selection and appearance in NEET examination.

Their NEET results, when otherwise eligible, would be declared with other candidates,” the bench said. This also means that CBSE will now have to take a call if it would declare results of those candidates who took the exam due to an interim order but now stand disqualified as they are above the prescribed age.

On February 28, another bench of the high court had stayed the CBSE’s January 22 notification, which barred students of open school or those who studied privately, those who had biology or biotechnology as an additional subject and those who had taken more than two years to complete their Class XI or XII or students from applying for the exam.

PG medical admissions: TN govt justifies classification of remote & difficult areas

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 12.05.2018
Madras high court reserved its order on Tamil Nadu government norms for remote and difficult areas which would fetch incentive marks to in-service candidates in PG medical admissions. The government has filed the appeals against the April 18 order of a single judge quashing two government orders (GO) dated March 9 and 23.

After four hours of arguments, a vacation bench of Justice V Parthiban and Justice P D Audikesavalu said they would pass a detailed order. The single judge had quashed the GOs identifying remote and difficult areas while allowing a batch of petitions filed by government doctors alleging that the classification was not made considering the geographical parameters of the areas, but other contingencies like the number of vacancies and work load.

In its appeal, the state argued that an experts committee had been constituted for classifying the areas and it considered all parameters before identifying certain areas as remote and difficult for awarding incentive marks. The single judge had failed to consider facts that the identification was made only on the basis of the recommendations of the experts committee and hence the order must be interfered with, said the additional advocate general.

Opposing the submissions, counsel for the original petitioner contended that the committee had in fact failed to follow the guideline set by the apex court and had not considered the geographical parameters at all.

Counsel for candidates, who support the government’s stand, submitted that in some places which were geographically in city limits, government doctors worked for more than 12 to 18 hours, whereas in some rural areas they work only for a couple of hours. In such cases, the workload of doctors in such urban areas must also be considered.

This apart, the single judge has stepped into the shoes of an expert and has directed that such classification should be done only based on geographical parameters, whereas the Supreme Court itself has made it clear that other parameters like the socio-economic factors should also be considered.

IN OPPOSITION: Government doctors had alleged that the classification was not made considering the geographical parameters, but other contingencies like the number of vacancies and work load

DNB CET 2018

Eight of a family among nine killed as two cars collide

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Trichy: 12.05.2018

In a gruesome incident, Nine people including two children and a woman from a family died in a car smash on the Trichy-Chennai stretch of National Highway 45 early on Friday.

The multi-utility vehicle (MUV) in which they were travelling collided head-on with another car near Perambalur town. The man accused of causing the accident escaped with minor injuries and is recovering at Perambalur government hospital.

Police sources said the deceased included A Murali, 55 and S R Mohan, 36, textile entrepreneurs from Kancheepuram. The two relatives along their family members — Lakshmi, 32, Pavithra,14,Nivetha, 8,Varatharajan, 5, Narayanan, 40 and 19-year-old Mekala, 19 — and driver Boopathi, 23, were on their way to Kodaikanal.

As their MUV approached a major junction just outside Perambalur, a sedan driven by Sakthi Saravanan, 51, an ex-serviceman now employed as security officer in a private factory in Cuddalore, smashed into their vehicle.

The police said the sedan was apparently going at high speed when Saravanan lost control and the vehicle crashed into the median, described a few turns in the air before landing on the MUV from Kancheepuram. In the impact, all in the MUV except Boopathi died on the spot. The driver was rushed to Perambalur GH but died before treatment began.

Police sources said Saravanan managed to escape with minor injuries as his car probably had better safety features. “We suspect that hecausedthe accidentunder the influence of alcohol. However, the results of the test are awaited from the lab,” a senior officer said.