Public Notice 16.03.2019

MHRD to work with Af govt on several IIT-enabled digital education initiatives

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:16.03.2019

The ministry of human resource development (MHRD) is all set to work with the Afghanistan government on digital education initiatives. This includes many prominent programs developed by Indian Institutes of Technology.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed at IIT Madras in connection with this on Friday. This MoU will facilitate use of massive open online courses (MOOCs) available on SWAYAM platform by students and faculties of educational institutions in Afghanistan.

Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds (SWAYAM), developed by Government of India, was launched in 2017.

According to an official release, Afghan students and teachers will be trained for using this platform so that they can learn latest technology courses and upskill them in their areas of interest.

Apart from this, existing courses developed by Afghan institutions will be uploaded on the said platform, and ministry of higher education, Afghanistan, will be assisted to develop their own MOOC platform.

For full report, www.toi.in

Age no bar for these Odisha ticket aspirants

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Berhampur:16.03.2019

If age is just a number, it is a very big number in the electoral fray in Ganjam district of Odisha. Several political leaders in their 70s and 80s are set to seek election and re-election in the simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls. Their experience, they insist, can give young candidates a run for their money.

There’s 10-time MLA of Kabisurya Nagara, V Sugnan Kumari Deo (82), five-time Berhampur MLA Ramesh Chandra Chaupatnaik (75), and six-time Digapahandi MLA Surya Narayan Patro
(71) of the ruling BJD.

Former assembly speaker Chintamani Dyansamantra, a three-time MLA (Chikiti), is lobbying for a Congress ticket from the Berhampur Lok Sabha seat at 78. K Shyambabu Subudhi, a “veteran candidate” at 84, is ready to try his luck again, as an independent.

“I am interested in contesting again from Berhampur assembly seat. I have conveyed my desire to party chief Naveen Patnaik,” said Chaupatnaik, who has been elected from here five times in the past. “I don’t think age is a factor when one is healthy.”

AI pilots ‘forget’ to lower landing gear while arriving at Hong Kong
Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:16.03.2019

Air India has grounded two pilots who reportedly forgot to extend their Boeing 787’s landing gear while approaching to land into Hong Kong, till a very late stage of the final approach. Pilots extend landing gear when aircraft is at 2,000 feet.

On this flight last month, the pilots are learned to have got a warning from the safety systems on board that the aircraft’s landing gear was not down when the Dreamliner was about 800 feet above ground level. Sources say that they then lowered the landing gear and carried out an unstabilized approach into Hong Kong. Fortunately, the Dreamliner landed safely.

A senior AI official said: “The flight safety department has grounded both the pilots. Both this department and the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) are probing this issue. Appropriate action will be taken based on final probe report.”

A senior Dreamliner commander said: “The crew of the flight carried out an unstabilized approach, wherein the aircraft was not in landing configuration by 1,000 feet as mandated by law for safety reasons. While it is human to error, what should have be done in such a situation is to carry out a missed approach (go around) and reconfigure the aircraft correctly for a subsequent approach to land. Unfortunately that was not the case over here. Continuing to land in an unstabilized approach configuration situation can be dangerous.”

This is the second ‘eventful’ landing by AI into Hong Kong with four months. On October 20, an AI Dreamliner had “descended rapidly” and deviated significantly from the normal glide path.

This had triggered the ‘a ground proximity warning’ system alert. The crew recovered the aircraft at about 200 feet above mean sea level (AMSL) before performing a go around.

‘PLANE’ ERROR

Man rushes wife to hospital with snake that bit her
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Cuddalore:16.03.2019

A farmworker caught a poisonous snake, which bit his wife, and rushed her to a hospital carrying the reptile in his hand in Cuddalore district. Police said Veerasamy, 42, and his wife Santhosh, 32, of Rasapalayam near Vridhachalam were among workers engaged to cut sugarcane in a field.

Santhosh was loading cane bundles in a tractor when a snake bit her on the left leg. She raised an alarm before falling unconscious. Her husband on noticing the snake, caught it with his bare hands.

With the help of others, he rushed his wife to a government hospital in Vridhachalam. Panic gripped the hospital as soon as he arrived with the snake with patients, attendants, doctors and other staff fleeing for safety.

Veerasamy told the doctors that he brought the snake believing it would help them treat the victim effectively if they know the species that bit her. The snake was found to be a highly poisonous Russel’s viper. The workers, unware that killing a snake is illegal, killed it instead of seeking the help of forest officials. The woman was later referred to a private hospital in Perambalur.

Former HR&CE chief arrested in idol case
TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:16.03.2019

The idol wing officials have arrested former commissioner of HR&CE department for not maintaining records of donors who offered gold to sculpt idols of Lord Somaskandar and goddess Elavarkuzhali at the Ekambareswarar temple in Kancheepuram.

The arrested man, M Veera Shanmuga Moni, was produced before the special court for idol theft cases in Kumbakonam and remanded in judicial custody on Friday. Inquiries revealed that Moni ordered replacement of the old idol of goddess Elavarkuzhali idol with a new one. Kavitha, joint commissioner of HR&CE department, was arrested earlier in the case, had also signed in the order copy. The old idol weighed about 65kg, while the new one was 63kg.

Likewise, Kavitha ordered to replace Lord Somaskandar idol with a new one weighing 111kg. Altogether the idols weighed 174kg, of which 5% — 8.770kg gold — was to be mixed with the panchaloha. However, the IIT-M experts who inspected the idols found no trace of gold in them. Inquiry reveal that the arrested officials collected more than 100kg of gold pitched in by devotees for the idols. Police had earlier arrested chief sculptor Muthiah Sthapathi.

School cracks down on app-delivered food

Aditi.R@timesgroup.com

Chennai:16.03.2019

Three days ago, during the lunch break, a Chettinad Hari Shree Vidyalayam student went to the reception to collect a food parcel brought by a delivery man, ordered and paid for by her parents through an online app. The child later shared the food with friends.

Noticing this, principal Gowri Sivashankar immediately sent out an email to parents of all students from Classes II to XII. The message read: “It has been brought to our notice that parents order through Swiggy and Ubereats for food to be delivered in school for their children, for various reasons during lunch breaks. This will not be entertained and the ordered food will be sent back. The reception has been instructed to not accept these deliveries.”

The first-of-a-kind crackdown on consumption of junk food through food delivery apps was widely received. “One day as I was going to drop lunch for my son, I saw a few food delivery personnel outside the gate handing over parcels to students. I was surprised, because earlier parents used to do the job,” said Sukumari K, a homemaker whose child is a Class 8 student of the school.

In 2015, the Delhi high court restricted sale of foods high in fat, salt and sugar in and around schools. In November last year, the National Commission For Protection of Child Rights wrote to its state representatives to inspect and ensure that school children do not consume such foods.

“But what do we do when parents have found an easier way to feed them, that too through delivery apps,” asked a teacher, on condition of anonymity. “Off late we noticed that many parents have resorted to feeding children food available on these apps and not home-cooked meals. This is a problem.”

The principal added that it was ok to eat outside food once in a while, but nutrition can only be provided by home-cooked food. “We don’t want to open avenues where children lose their discipline and become dependant on instant food.”

The first-of-a-kind crackdown on consumption of junk food through food delivery apps by a school has been widely received