Heavy rain, strong wind wreak havoc on Kottayam

Due to strong wind, many trees got uprooted and continuous rain flooded the low-lying areas of the town.

Published: 16th July 2018 06:11 AM

Representational image: A visual of the torrential rains in Kochi, Kerala. (File | EPS)

By Express News Service

KOTTAYAM: The heavy rain and strong wind wreaked havoc in and around Kottayam on Sunday. Due to strong wind, many trees got uprooted and continuous rain flooded the low-lying areas of the town. Sajimon T Joseph, assistant station officer of Kottayam Fire Station said they received around 20 calls over the past two days.

“All the calls were regarding uprooted trees. Many trees in and around Kottayam town fell on the roads causing severe traffic blocks. There was power outage through the night as electric lines snapped,” he said.

All the incidents happened in the night when the wind was at the strongest, he added.

“However, none of the houses was completely damaged and no casualties has been reported, “ he added. At Kumarakkom, a shikara boat carrying two tourists overturned in the strong wind on Vembanad Lake on Saturday evening.“However, there were no casualties. The tourists from Chennai were rescued by fishermen,” he said.

New NEET format will further privatise education: Experts

Experts opine the plan to fully computerise NEET, IIT-JEE tests will also demean value of school education system.

Published: 15th July 2018 04:06 AM

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Union Minister of Human Resource Development (MHRD) Prakash Javadekar last Saturday announced that NEET and IIT-JEE will be held twice a year in a fully computerised manner. However, experts opine that the new format will further privatise education and demean the value of school education system.

The Joint Entrance Examination (Mains) [JEE-Mains] and the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) will now be conducted twice a year instead of just once. Students can take JEE in January and April and NEET in February and May and the best of two scores will be considered, he announced.

The two tests would be equated using psychometric methods, standardisation techniques and best of the equated scores would be used for the admissions. Such a set-up will improve transparency of the exam process.

With this move, aspirants don’t have to wait a year to take these exams again for improvement. Students can either take the exam during their schooling or right after, to enter college the next year. Students who can wait for a year, do not have to stay put till next summer to write the exams.

Several central exams to enter National Defence or Naval Academy already follow a similar pattern. However, what sets JEE and NEET apart is that the number of aspirants who take the exam are much higher. About 25 lakh students across the country took these exams in 2018.

Given that the number of seats for both medicine and engineering at prestigious institutions- are low, the exams are one that is of high stake for students. Having these exams twice would undermine the value of school education, opined educationalist Prince Gajendrababu.

Although students can write the exams just once, most aspirants will end-up taking it twice. The first set of exams, will coincide with students’ practical and model exams.

Integrated programmes to coach students for competitive exams became so rampant in Tamil Nadu, that the State government had recently issued a circular warning schools not to tie-up with private parties to engage in coaching for competitive exams. Schools often demand fees much higher the sum proposed by the fee determination committee in return for integrated training.

In a circular sent to all Chief Educational Officers of districts, it has been warned that schools which do not fall in line would have to face penal action including withdrawal of recognition. “Violation of these rules by private schools would invite stringent penal action under the stipulations of Tamilnadu Recognised Private Schools (Regulation Act) 1973,” said S Kannappan, Director of Matriculation schools.

A report by MHRD in 2016 estimated that a revenue of nearly Rs 24,000 crores per year is being involved in private coaching classes. The figure is still a rough under-statement as students who go to coaching centres, get trained for more than a year.

The report by MHRD pointed to three main concerns: “The first is philosophical (yet important). The purpose of education is refinement of the mind not passing an entrance examination. The second concerns the fact that ‘all work and no play’ makes a Plus two grade student a dull individual with less involvement in activities other than studies. The third is that students are forced to waste much time commuting in order to avail themselves of the benefit of ‘good’ coaching."

High stakes

Given that the number of seats at prestigious institutions- are low, these exams are of a high stake for students. Having them exams twice a year would undermine the value of school education, said educationalist Prince Gajendrababu.

Rural students

When reporters asked Javadekar if the computer-based tests will put rural students at a disadvantage, he defended saying that students who take these exams already have exposure to computers.

SBI asks 70,000 pre-merger associate bank employees to return demonetisation overtime payment
Meanwhile, the employees said that this has drawn the ire of staff of all the associated banks, as they feel discriminated.

Published: 16th July 2018 10:40 PM |

The SBI management said that the compensation was for the period before merger, when the associated banks were not part of the SBI (File | Reuters)

By Express News Service

NEW DELHI: The largest public sector lender State Bank of India has ordered all its zonal branches to recover the ‘compensation’ given for overtime during demonetisation to 70,000-odd officers of various associate banks that were inducted into SBI post-merger.

During the demonetisation period, bank employees were paid compensation for working beyond 7 pm between November 14 and December 30, 2016. They were paid an “out-of-pocket expense” that varied between Rs 15,000 and Rs 30,000, depending on the scale and rank of officials.

The SBI management said that the compensation was for the period before merger, when the associated banks were not part of the SBI.

“The claim related to the period prior to the merger of e-ABs (erstwhile Associate Banks) should have been dealt by e-ABs at the material time and we have no record of any commitment to pay the same,” SBI said in an internal communication.

The communication also asked the officers to “examine under what circumstances approval was given for the payment of compensation to the officers of e-ABs”. It further asked to “recover where wrong payments have been made.”

Over 70,000 officers and employees became part of the SBI when its associate banks - State Bank of Patiala, State Bank of Hyderabad, State Bank of Mysore, State Bank of Travancore and State Bank of Bikaner & Jaipur - merged with the parent on April 1, 2017.

Compost pit inside Pallavaram Primary Health Centre irks hospital staff

The newly dug compost pit at Pallavaram Primary Health Centre will do more harm than help, says hospital staff.

Published: 17th July 2018 01:41 AM |

The Pallavaram Municipality began constructing a compost pit in the PMC despite opposition from the staff

By Samuel Merigala 

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Hospitals are sterile environments where infections are cured not acquired. However, the Pallavaram Municipality’s decision to construct a compost pit in the premises of the Primary Health Centre in Old Pallavaram might change that. Despite opposition from hospital staff, the Pallavaram Municipality has started building a compost pit in the hospital compound on Friday. If the Municipality has its way, patients and the rotting garbage of the entire twelfth ward will be entering the hospital premises through the same gate.

“This is a 24-hour PHC which has an operation theatre. We do family planning surgeries here, and it is important to keep the place contamination free,” said a senior nurse, alleging the municipality had gone back on its word and has begun construction of the compost pit. When Express visited the hospital on Sunday, it found the backyard littered with old, broken tricycles used in solid waste collection near the site where the compost pit is being built.

“The municipality was using the backyard as a scrap dump yard and now they want to build a compost pit in the premises. Even people without education will know what a stupid idea this is,” said CD Suresh, a resident of Pallavaram.

“The smell is one issue but the place will invariably be littered with rotting waste,” he said.

The periphery of compost pits being littered with waste is a phenomenon that Express has observed in multiple compost pits which are operational in city limits. Conservancy workers end up segregating waste at the site which results in littering and attracts rodents. According to the hospital staff, the hospital attends to a majority of maternity cases. “If the mother gets sick because of the contamination, it will affect the child in her womb also,” said a staff member. The municipality officials said a wall would be constructed to prevent a spillover of waste but said no alternative could be provided for the entry of waste.

Tirunelveli hospital gets modern CT scan facility

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

TIRUNELVELI, JULY 17, 2018 00:00 IST




To serve more:The CT scan facility which was inaugurated at Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital on Monday.

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Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami inaugurated CT scan facility at Tirunelveli Medical College Hospital (TVMCH) through videoconferencing on Monday.

Though the TVMCH has already got the CT scan facility to conduct radiological investigation of 80 to 100 patients a day, the new equipment, costing Rs. 1.78 crore, is capable of completing the investigation of 140 patients a day.

Dean S.M. Kannan said patients undergoing treatment at the hospital would have to pay Rs. 500 (Rs. 300 more for contrast) for the CT scan, for which private scan centres charge anywhere between Rs. 3,000 and Rs. 8,000.

Deputy Dean Revathi Balan, Medical Superintendent Ravichandran and senior doctors were present.

‘Govt. staff must sport ID cards at work’

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, JULY 17, 2018 00:00 IST


HC fiat will also apply to employees of local bodies


The Madras High Court on Monday made it mandatory for all government employees in the State as well as those working for local bodies and other government instrumentalities to wear their identity cards during working hours. The First Division Bench of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee and Justice P.T. Asha issued the direction on a suo motu public interest litigation petition, taken up on the basis of a letter from a resident of Erode.

In the letter addressed to the Chief Justice, M. Valli Narayanan had sought the implementation of a 1986 Government Order which required government servants to sport their name badges during working hours. Despite the existence of such a condition, a majority of government employees were found violating the norm, he alleged. Special Government Pleader E. Manohar informed the court that the old system of displaying name badges had been done away with, and government servants had been provided with computerised identity cards containing their photographs and other essential details.

After recording the submission, the Division Bench ordered that government servants should sport identity cards during working hours. It also directed the High Court Registry to forward a copy of the court order to Mr. Narayanan.

HC confirms dismissal of judge on graft charge

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

CHENNAI, JULY 17, 2018 00:00 IST


He had received illegal gratification to grant bail

The Madras High Court on Monday confirmed the dismissal of a principal district judge from service after finding him guilty of having received illegal gratification to grant bail to an accused in a child sexual abuse case. The court held that the punishment imposed on him was commensurate with the seriousness of the misconduct committed by him.

A Division Bench of Justices M. Venugopal and N. Nirmal Kumar rejected a writ petition filed by K. Ganesan, challenging a Government Order issued by the Public Department on April 24, 2017, dismissing him from service. They pointed out that the G.O. had been issued only on the basis of a recommendation made by a majority of the Madras High Court judges.

The Bench said the petitioner had joined judicial service as a district munsif-cum-judicial magistrate through the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission in November 1988, and had served in various districts over a period of 24 years. He was holding the post of the principal district judge, Tirupur, when he was about to complete 58 years of age on November 30, 2012.

Nevertheless, considering his past records of service, the High Court, on November 23, 2012, extended his service for two more years, and on September 16, 2014, suspended him from service, pending an enquiry into allegations of corruption against him. The action was initiated on the basis of a complaint lodged by the father of a victim of child sexual abuse.

Subsequently, Justice K. Ravichandrabaabu of the High Court was appointed as the enquiry officer, and he found the writ petitioner guilty on August 10, 2016. The enquiry officer found the district judge to have granted bail to the accused on the ground that the public prosecutor had not raised any serious objection, though the reality was otherwise.

Filing of chargesheet

On perusing the records, the officer found that the prosecution had filed a counter-affidavit, vehemently objecting to the grant of bail. He also summoned and recorded the statement of the public prosecutor that the latter did raise strong objections to the grant of bail. The writ petitioner did not submit any evidence to disprove the statement.

Further, the petitioner, during the enquiry, claimed to have granted bail only because a chargesheet had been filed in the case. But a bare reading of the bail order clearly showed that he was not even aware of the chargesheet having been filed. The petitioner was also found guilty of having granted bail with simple conditions for extraneous considerations.

The enquiry officer’s report was placed before the High Court’s Administrative Committee (comprising seven senior judges) which, on August 30, 2016 decided to dismiss the petitioner from service. The decision was approved by a majority of judges in the full court meeting held on January 10, 2017, and forwarded to the government for necessary action.

Now, authoring the judgment for the Division Bench, Mr. Justice Venugopal said the punishment was neither irrational nor disproportionate. He said a charge need not be proved with rigid mathematical demonstration, as it was impossible to do so. It was sufficient to prove a charge with evidence that would induce a reasonable man to come to a particular conclusion, he said.