3-year moratorium on opening law colleges

BCI wants all teacher posts filled

13/08/2019, LEGAL CORRESPONDENT, ,NEW DELHI

The Bar Council of India on Monday imposed a moratorium on opening law colleges for a period of three years. The restriction, however, will not apply to National Law University, if proposed by a government in a State where there is no such varsity.

Besides, the BCI can open any model institution of Legal Education, like the National Law School of India University it opened in Bengaluru, a statement signed by its chairperson Manan Kumar Mishra said.

The Council requested State governments and universities to stop unfair means and ensure that vacancies of law teachers in all the colleges are filled within four months. “At present, there are enough Institutions in all parts of the country to feed the law courts and to serve the people. There is no dearth of advocates and the existing institutions are sufficient to produce the required number of law graduates annually,” the statement said.

Mushrooming of law colleges without proper infrastructure was raised by BCI member from Delhi, Bed Parakash Sharma. The issue was raised in Parliament too. The Council resolved that it would consider pending proposals only. No fresh application would be entertained for any new institution.

The Council said there were about 1,500 law colleges. Among the problems that plague these institutions are lack of infrastructure and chronic teaching vacancies.

PM’s health insurance scheme will cover cancer treatment also, say officials

‘Govt. has realised that cancer care costs are causing massive financial crisis’

13/08/2019, BINDU SHAJAN PERAPPADAN,NEW DELHI

The Ayushman Bharat Scheme provides coverage of upto ₹5 lakh per family per year.File Photo

If all goes as planned, cancer treatments will soon be covered under the Ayushman Bharat Yojana- Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PM-JAY), which is the Central Government’s health insurance scheme that aims to give medical cover to over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families of approximately 50 crore beneficiaries, providing coverage of up to ₹5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.

So far, 16,000 hospitals have been empanelled, nearly 34 lakh beneficiaries have been admitted, and 9 crore e-cards have been issued, according to senior health officials.

According to the World Health Organisation, the rate of mortality due to cancer in India is high, with cancer the second-most common disease in India, responsible for maximum mortality, with about 0.3 million deaths per year.

Government figures note that the estimated number of people living with the disease stands at around 2.25 million, with over 11 lakh new cancer patients registered each year.

“In India, the risk of developing cancer before the age of 75 years for males stands at 9.81% and females at 9.42%. Total deaths due to cancer in 2018 was 7,84,821 (Men: 4,13,519; Women: 3,71,302). The risk of dying from cancer before the age of 75 years stood at 7.34% in males and 6.28% in females.

Lung cancer is the most common type of cancer in India, followed by breast cancer and oral cancers.

The need for including cancer treatment into the healthcare package came from the fact that “the government realised that cancer care costs were causing massive financial crisis among people and many had to go without treatment. The Ayushman Bharat Yojana is now planning to include all types of cancers and their treatment under its healthcare packages. Talks are on and we should have a road map within the next three months. The healthcare packages for cancer treatment are not very comprehensive and we feel that improvements can be made,” said a senior health official.

Read Mahabharata properly, Alagiri tells Rajini
TNCC chief rebukes the film star for likening Modi and Shah to Krishna and Arjuna

13/08/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,CHENNAI

K.S. Alagiri

A day after actor Rajinikanth equated Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah to Lord Krishna and Arjuna, Tamil Nadu Congress Committee president K.S. Alagiri on Monday urged him to read the Mahabharata properly and understand it.

“Rajinikanth is a good man. He does not think of anything bad against anyone. He has an interest in spirituality. Hence, it is very surprising that he made the comparison,” Mr. Alagiri said in a statement. “How can those who snatched away the rights of crores of people be Krishna and Arjuna? Dear Rajinikanth, kindly read the Mahabharata again. Read it properly,” Mr. Alagiri said.

The Congress leader said Mr. Rajinikanth’s statement had led to doubts whether the Tamil superstar had come to the wrong understanding that spirituality was the same as religious sentiment. “Spirituality is not related to religion. It is the belief that there is a force bigger than us, and [is about] following discipline, straightforwardness and a peaceful and happy life based on that belief, and not doing anything that causes harm to others and loving everyone,” Mr. Alagiri said.

“Why didn’t the BJP withdraw the special status given to Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Coorg and seven northeastern States the way it abrogated Article 370 in Kashmir? Isn’t it because Kashmir is a Muslim-majority region?” he asked.

“Does our hero Baasha (referring to Mr. Rajinikanth’s blockbuster film), who raises his voice against injustice, then accept that Amit Shah’s policies are that of one rule for Kashmir and another for the other States with a special status?” he said.

He said at least Rajinikanth said he didn’t know which of the two leaders were Krishna and Arjuna because, according to Mr. Alagiri, they were Saguni and Duryodhana.

Meanwhile, BJP State president Tamilisai Soundararajan said actors can voice their opinions on the issue. But “one actor is saying everyone is expressing their opinions without knowing anything about Kashmir. One actor quotes Periyar while addressing this issue”, she said, in a veiled reference to actor Vijay Sethupathi.

Mr. Sethupathi had told an Australian journalist that the abrogation of Article 370 without consulting the people of Kashmir was against democratic principles.

“Periyar had said long ago that people should solve their problems. One can’t go into another person’s home and make decisions for them. You can show interest in their lives, but cannot make decisions. Only they know what issues they face,” he had said.

HC dismisses refund plea
13/08/2019, STAFF REPORTER, ,MADURAI

The Bench of the Madras High Court dismissed the appeal preferred by the Society of St. Mary’s, , seeking a refund of ₹ 23,992 paid towards property tax to Corporation in 2000.

The court was hearing the second appeal filed by the Society against the orders of the Principal District Munsif and First Additional Subordinate Judge, Madurai, who dismissed the suits preferred against the civic body.

The Society, which runs educational institutions for the poor and downtrodden, was a regular payer of property tax till 1993. In 1994, the State government exempted all buildings run for educational purposes, including hostels, from payment of tax.

Under such circumstances, Madurai Corporation issued notice to the Society on the ground that a particular portion of the premises was used for commercial purpose. It was said that a computer training centre was run for the public.

Hearing the appeal of the Society, Justice R. Tharani observed that exemption under Section 122 (c) of the Madurai Corporation Act, 1971, for educational institutions was not applicable. The appeal seeking refund of the amount paid was dismissed.

Cathay Pacific warns staff

Crowds swell at Tirumala due to long weekend

13/08/2019,TIRUMALA

Lakhs of devotees poured in at the Lord Venkateswara shrine over the long weekend, with queues stretching for over 3 km outside the Vaikuntam Complex. Officials said that with Monday being a holiday on account of Bakrid, an unprecedented rush was witnessed at the shrine beginning on Thursday and peaking on Sunday and Monday. The turnout was so heavy that the waiting time for darshan stretched beyond 20 hours.

Relatives of three women workers stuck in Kuwait move SC
Two of them are held captive by their employers, the third is lying in a vegetative state in hospital
13/08/2019, KRISHNADAS RAJAGOPAL,NEW DELHI
Last year three women from Tamil Nadu left their homes for Kuwait in search of a better life for their families, but their dreams ended in a nightmare.

Lingamuthu from Ramanathapuram was caught by the Kuwait police while trying to escape months of torture working as a domestic maid.

Her brother, Murugalingam, told the Supreme Court that she was released from police custody by her agent, but he has kept her captive.

Appeals to the Tamil Nadu government and the Indian Embassy in Kuwait have not worked.

It has been over a month since the family has heard from her.

The agent, he said, blackmailed the family to cough up ₹1 lakh for her release. Mr. Murugalingam said he had already paid ₹70,000.

Bonded labour

Erode resident Sadiq Batsha, said his wife, Ayisha Babu, left for Kuwait in May. She is working as a bonded labourer in a house.

Her passport is with her employer and she is fed only once a day but made to work 17-18 hour shifts.

Sumathi from Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district lies in a vegetative state in a Kuwait hospital, her mother told the court. She fell from the third floor of a building while trying to escape from the clutches of her abusive employer. She has damaged her backbone and has multiple fractures.

A Bench of Justices N.V. Ramana and Ajay Rastogi has asked the government to respond to pleas made by the three families to urgently intervene and rescue the women.

Notice to govt., police

The court recently issued notice to the Centre, the Tamil Nadu government and the State police chief on the petition represented by senior advocate Nagamuthu and advocates Prabu Ramasubramanian and Raghunatha Sethupathy.

The government has been asked to respond in six weeks.

The petition also sought the apex court to formulate guidelines and a “workable on-site support system to assist and aid the distressed Indian workers abroad”.

Like other countries, which see a huge flow of migrant workers, India should not differentiate between the ones who have migrated legally and illegally.

“The only thing that concerns the countries of the world in helping the distressed worker is the fact whether they are their citizens and they do not go into the fact of their mode of emigration,” the petition said.

The petition has proposed measures like live monitoring of labourers working in the Gulf countries by the Indian embassies, counselling, daily updates of complaints filed by them in embassies, effective use of ICWF funds to help distressed migrants and monitoring of agents.

The petition submitted that the government policy on international human trafficking was “comparatively weak”.