This year, a qualifying test to avail of free coaching

04/08/2019

“However, there was a definite improvement in the performance overall, as more than 2,000 students who took the free coaching classes cleared the exam this year and we are working towards preparing students better,” he added.

In 2018-19, around 19,000 students from government and government-aided schools across the State enrolled for coaching classes conducted during the weekends. Of this, 2,579 students had been selected for the ‘Thoduvanam’ programme, where they went through a residential crash course one month before taking NEET.

Over 48% of all students in Tamil Nadu who took NEET qualified this year.

Officials have further clarified that there will be no reduction in the number of coaching centres in any of the districts. The test will be mainly based on the Class 11 syllabus and will test the basic subject knowledge of the students. While schools have been instructed to identify and send in a list of students who will be taking the exam, the head of a government school from the city said that teachers have motivated as many students as possible to take up the qualifying exam. Schools across the State have been instructed to compulsorily have practice tests based on competitive exams such as NEET and JEE every Friday starting August 9.

In a circular from the Director of School Education, schools have been informed that they will be sent question papers for the same via email. “Through these measures, we hope to prepare our students to take up competitive exams at the national level and ensure that they do well,” the director said.

Criticizing this move, P.K. Ilamaran, State President of the Tamil Nadu Teachers Association, said that the government should not restrict the opportunity to undergo coaching. “More students should be encouraged instead to attend the coaching classes regularly,” he added.

Diamonds seized

04/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

Customs officials at the Chennai airport seized diamonds worth ₹2.25 crore and arrested a Malaysian national.

Azmal Khan Bin Nagor Mera, 48, was intercepted by the Customs officers. Two white bundles, were found concealed in his inner wear. A multi-function cooker was found in his checked-in luggage. Eight bundles were found concealed at the bottom of the cooker. On cutting the bundles open, 55 white mini ziplock pouches, with precious stones were found concealed. “A government-approved valuer certified the stones to be diamonds weighing 2,996 carat, valued at ₹2.25 crore,” said a press release.

Charitable hospital offers dialysis for ₹600

In first phase, a 6-bed facility starts operations at Sulaiha Hassan Dialysis Centre

04/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

Murthuzaviya Charitable Hospital, popularly called “the 15 rupees hospital” in the north Chennai neighbourhood of Kodungaiyur, on Saturday launched a dialysis centre for the poor. In the first phase, a six-bed facility for dialysis has started operations in the Sulaiha Hassan Dialysis Centre on the premises of the charitable hospital.

Launching the facility, former Madras High Court Justice K.N. Basha said the dialysis centre would offer services to poor patients who cannot afford huge sums of money for dialysis. “Kidney failure is one of the deadliest conditions. We have to motivate people who donate money for such charitable facilities,” he said.

Presiding over the inaugural event, former Madras High Court Justice G.M. Akber Ali said: “Healthcare is a basic need of the people. But millions of people continue to be denied tertiary healthcare. People who donate money for providing affordable healthcare have to be commended for their initiative.”

Chief Medical Officer S.S.M. Khadri said the launch of the centre was a red-letter day for the charitable hospital.

Murthuzaviya Charitable Hospital president G.S.M.P. Khadri said the centre would offer dialysis services for ₹600. “The new dialysis centre will have six machines. Renal failure is becoming very common in the neighbourhood. Use of painkillers is one of the causes,” Dr. Khadri said.

He said the hospital now charges ₹15 from out-patients. Multispecialty services are offered at ₹50.

IAS officer arrested for scribe’s death in accident

Inebriated Kerala officer rammed bike

04/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT 

,THIRUVANTHAPURAM

Sriram Venkitaraman

The Kerala police on Saturday arrested high-profile IAS officer Sriram Venkitaraman on the charge of alcohol-impaired, reckless driving resulting in the death of K.M. Basheer, a journalist.

The car allegedly driven by 33-year-old Mr. Venkitaraman slammed Basheer’s motorbike in front of the Public Office Complex around 1 a.m. The victim, bureau chief at the Malayalam newspaper Siraj, was flung off his bike and killed almost instantly.

Mr. Venkitaraman was reportedly returning from a party and was accompanied by a woman friend. He was arrested from a private hospital, where the police had admitted him after the accident, and charged under Section 279 (rash driving) and 304 (culpable homicide not amounting to murder) of the IPC.

Nurse chases bike, nabs chain snatcher

TNN | Aug 3, 2019, 04.57 AM IST

CHENNAI: A 24-year-old nurse caught a man who tried to snatch her three-sovereign gold chain near Red Hills on Thursday night.

The woman, Vinodhini, works at a private hospital at Gandhi Nagar, Red Hills.

Police said Vinodhini was returning from the hospital at 8pm and took a deserted road to reach a bus stop. Two bike-borne men who followed her snatched her chain and phone. But Vinodhini chased the bike before it gathered speed. She pulled the pillion rider by his t-shirt and brought him down. The rider lost control of the bike and the duo fell off the vehicle. She held on to the pillion rider, who had snatched the chain, and cried out for help. Panicked, the rider sped away. Passersby bashed up the chain snatcher before handing him over to the police.

The Sholavaram police identified him as Govindarajalu, 35, from Kavangarai near Puzhal. He is a repeat offender. Police have launched a hunt for the absconding rider.

NEET coaching: Govt to hold screening test, weekly exams

TNN | Aug 4, 2019, 04.17 AM IST

CHENNAI: After drawing a blank in medical admissions, the school education department has prepared a plan to send more students to MBBS courses next year. It wants to select students for NEET coaching through a screening test and will conduct weekly tests at schools.

As per a circular issued by the directorate of school education, the screening test will be conducted on August 7. “The question paper and answer keys for the test will be sent to chief education officers. They should send the scores to the directorate by August 12,” the circular said. It further instructed conduct of weekly tests for students from government and government-aided schools on Fridays.

The department imparted NEET coaching to 19,355 students at 412 centres across the state. It gave residential coaching to the 2,700-odd students at 14 places.

An official said the screening test was not new and was conducted last year. “We have to select students for coaching classes. But if any student wants to attend coaching, we will accommodate him or her,” the official said

For the past two years, the government has provided NEET coaching in collaboration with Speed Medical Institute. As of now, the department has not tied up with any private agency. “The department has trained teachers and materials to conduct the coaching at schools,” an official said.

This NEET, 32 students trained by government-backed coaching centres scored above 300 compared to just 10 last year. The number of qualified students also increased from 1,333 last year to 2,000-plus. However, no student was able to secure a seat.

“Due to the lack of support from the school education department, many students could not get MBBS seats. We prepared speed learning app, study materials and question banks, but nothing reached them,” said Dr Vinayak Senthil, managing director, Speed Medical Institute. He said the institute incurred a loss of Rs 20 crore for NEET coaching. “Though state government allocated Rs 20 crore for it, we have not received any money. They paid Rs 1.96 crore to the internet service provider as bandwidth charges in April,” he said.

Officials said making payment to the institute was difficult since it did not come through a proper tender process. “They have not given us the desired results. Now they cannot talk about the lack of support and payment,” an official said.

New WhatsApp feature to identify ‘viral content’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:04.08.2019

Instant messaging platform WhatsApp has started rolling out a new feature that will let users identify if the message they have received has been forwarded over five times. The new feature, available both on Android and iOS, had been in the pipeline for over a year.

“We’ve recently introduced an update to our forwarded message label that helps people identify when they’ve received messages that were previously forwarded several times. These highly forwarded messages will be marked with a double arrow icon and users will receive a notice when they are forwarding such a message,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said.

Full report on www.toi.in