HC remarks should make govt give up Neet: MK Stalin

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | D SEKAR

Published  Nov 6, 2019, 1:59 am IST

The court had posted the next hearing of the case to November 7.

MK Stalin

Chennai: The Madras High court expressing shock at the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) exam for undergraduate medical and dental courses admissions being cleared mostly by students who can afford coaching classes by spending several lakh rupees, and the court's observation implying that 'NEET' was anti-poor, has prompted a quick, pro-active response from the DMK president M K Stalin on Tuesday.

A division bench of the Madras High court had on Monday, while passing interim orders in a an appeal filed by an aspiring medical student, had said that the expensive coaching classes to prepare for NEET put rural students at a disadvantageous position as they cannot afford it and that the Central government should take note of this fact also.

The court had posted the next hearing of the case to November 7.

Referring to these observations of the High court, Mr. Stalin in a tweet said that, "whenever we pointed out that NEET quashed the medical study dreams of the poor and the economically disadvantaged, the Centre attributed motives to us; but the High court's remarks yesterday only confirmed what we said."

Hence, Mr. Stalin urged that at least now, the Centre and State governments should trod the "path of social justice shown by the High Court" and act accordingly, indicating that it was better that NEET was given up altogether.

The DMK had in its Lok Sabha election manifesto earlier this year had promised to scrap NEET, it may be recalled.

Engineering student stabs hostel warden to death for complaining about bunking classes in TN
According to police, Rahim did not attend the college and was absent from the hostel for four days recently without informing authorities.

Published: 07th November 2019 01:06 AM

By PTI

TIRUCHIRAPPALLI: An engineering student allegedly stabbed to death his college hostel warden near here on Wednesday during a quarrel over the latter complaining to his parents about his absence for four days, police said.

G Venkataraman (45) suffered stab injuries in the abdomen and throat and died while being rushed to a hospital.

The student, A.Abdul Rahim of neighbouring Perambalur district and studying in the college at Thuraiyur, about 50 km from here, has been arrested, police said.

According to police, Rahim did not attend the college and was absent from the hostel for four days recently without informing authorities.

After the warden complained about it to Rahim's parents, the student's father had reprimanded him severely.

Upset and angry over it, Rahim picked up a quarrel with the warden in the college campus and at one point of time stabbed him with a knife, police added.

See your doctor on your smartphone

In small towns, accessibility is a problem,” said P Gowthaman, CEO, Doxtro Technologies.

Published: 06th November 2019 06:32 AM 

By KV Navya

Express News Service

CHENNAI: During a medical emergency, a quick response from the doctor is what most patients wait for. Doxtro, a Chennai-based start-up launched in 2017, helps you get doctor consultation anywhere, anytime within minutes — on your smartphone.

The mobile application connects consumers in need with specialists and medical experts instantly via chat or voice call. It also offers comprehensive online health and wellness services including medicine delivery, lab tests and home healthcare services at the user’s doorstep.

“Our mission is to promote fast, affordable and accessible healthcare. In cities, people do not have time to schedule an appointment, travel to a hospital and wait in the queue. In small towns, accessibility is a problem,” said P Gowthaman, CEO, Doxtro Technologies.

Doxtro Genie, an AI (Artificial Intelligence) engine, takes the response from users and assigns them to the right specialist doctors. After consultation, the users can receive e-prescription from the doctors and order for medicines or tests. There is also a 48-hour window for the user to clarify their doubts with the same doctor again at no additional charge.

“The users can also share their health records with the consulting doctors in complete privacy and security. All the doctors on the platform are verified through a three-step on-boarding process before they become active to offer consultations,” he said.

The app is available for both Android and iOS users and can be downloaded for free. Currently, the consultation is available in Hindi and English. Gowthaman said they will soon introduce regional languages including Tamil to the app.

Man offloaded from Chennai-Colombo flight for performing 'yoga' onboard

The crew's repeated requests to the passenger against doing so paid no heed as he caused 'inconvienience' to other passengers.

Published: 06th November 2019 02:36 PM

By PTI

CHENNAI: A seemingly "mentally unstable" air passenger was on Wednesday offloaded from a Colombo-bound carrier, after he caused "inconvenience" to others by performing yoga and exercise onboard, police said.

The crew's repeated requests to the passenger against doing so paid no heed. They said that he had come from Varanasi to the city to proceed to Colombo.

After the passenger created 'inconvenience' to others, he was offloaded with the help of CISF who later handed him over to the police, they said, adding, a part of his ticket cost was also refunded by the private airline.

They added that since there was no formal complaint against the passenger, he was not arrested but was in the process of being handed over to the Srilanka Deputy High Commission here. Police said that he had in his possession both Srilankan and US passports.

This motorbike is fuelled by water

Engineer R Yuvaraj produced alternative fuel for his motorbike from water, which provides more mileage and emits less pollution

Published: 07th November 2019 06:23 AM 

By B Meenakshi Sundaram

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The worldwide exploitation of nature for the last few decades has had a great impact o n t h e environment resulting in converting even water into a commodity sold at shops. A ci ty-based aeronaut ical engineer has introduced water as an alternative fuel for bikes. He even rode his motorcycle fuelled by water for a distance of 110 km and tested his ride even on steep hilly roads. Meet R Yuvaraj, a 33-year old BTech graduate who has been nurturing his passion for automobiles and electronics since his school days. “With my natural interest to know what makes a moped run, in my school days, I would dismantle the carburettor of a TVS 50 and reassemble it at my home.

This made me take up electronics and automobiles as my study and profession,” says the Coimbatore local. Sharing how the alternative fuel is obtained from water, the aeronautical engineer says, “After referring to books and watching YouTube channels, I came across the fact that splitting of water into hydrogen and oxygen through electricity creates a gas. I wondered if this gas could be used as fuel for motorbikes and cars, and I experimented using it on my own motorbike Pulsar 150. The 330 ml of water, which produced the alternative fuel called HHO (Hydrogen Hydrogen Oxygen) or Brown’s gas, gave a mileage of 110 km. I also tested the efficiency of the fuel by riding the bike on the hilly roads of Anaikatti. It was as normal as riding the bike on petrol,” he says.

The engineer says that the gas collected in the water tank gets piped to the motorbike’s engine as the fuel. “Hydrogen is the cleanest of all the chemical elements. Petrol and diesel in their respective combustions release nitric oxide, carbon monoxide and methane, which are harmful to the ozone layer. Whereas when hydrogen reacts with oxygen, it releases only water vapour as exhaust, which doesn’t pollute the atmosphere. At the same time, like petrol or diesel, hydrogen cannot fulfil the on-demand requirement of the vehicle’s engine,” he explains. To solve this issue, there is another technology. He set up a refrigerator-like unit at his home, in which, hydrogen is produced and stored in a tank. Then the hydrogen collected is piped to the fuel tank, as done in an auto LPG bunk.

“It acts as the alternative fuel to run the vehicle. Setting up such a ‘hydrogen bunk’ at your home will cost around `1 lakh. Whereas, assembling a hydrogen kit for a motorbike and car will come around `7,000 and `15,000 respectively,” he adds. Yuvaraj says he tested the alternative fuel technology only out of his passion for automobiles, and that it is hardly possible to implement it due to numerous laws and procedures. “Before considering people’s interest, I need to get necessary approval from the government for driving hydrogen-fuelled vehicles. I want to promote and patent this, but obtaining permits from the government comes with a lot of procedures,” he says. Demonstrating the function of his motorbike’s engine on Hydrogen, Yuvaraj says, “Between the engine and the hydrogen kit, I have set up a ‘backfire arrester’, which blocks the flame returning from the engine to the kit. Since the backfire arrester has the water content, the flame returning from the engine is prevented from reaching the hydrogen kit.” The alternative fuel tank is nothing but a water tank with a capacity of storing 600 ml of water. “All you have to do is just refill the tank with water every 200 to 300 km.

The stainless steel concentric rings, which are set up in the tank, enable the production of HHO by splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen through electrical energy. If you fill the tank with 600 ml of water, your motorbike will get a mileage of 300 km,” he says. The engineer, who runs his aerospace company Avatar Aviations in the city, is working on orders and projects from the aeronautical departments of engineering colleges like constructing jet engines and dismantling them.

CBI upholds Bengaluru police probe in techie murder case

Gym instructor convicted in the 2010 Payal Surekha case

07/11/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,BENGALURU

Payal Surekha

Nine years after 29-year-old Dell employee Payal Surekha was murdered, the CBI court on Wednesday upheld the city police’s investigations and convicted gym instructor James Kumar Ray, 36, with a life sentence and a fine of ₹1 lakh.

Payal Sureka was found murdered in her apartment in J.P. Nagar with multiple stab injuries on December 17, 2010.

S.K. Umesh, then Inspector of J.P. Nagar police station, arrested James and recovered a blood-stained knife and a pair of goggles, which the accused had used and later hidden in an isolated place in Puttenahalli before returning to Hyderabad. In the chargesheet, the police stated that revenge was the motive behind the murder and submitted FSL reports to substantiate James’ involvement.

The twist

The case took a twist when Payal’s parents approached the Supreme Court seeking a CBI inquiry into the murder of their daughter as they suspected their son-in-law, Anantha Narayan Mishra. Considering their plea, the Supreme Court directed the CBI to investigate the case in August 2013.

Shivanand Perla, Public Prosecutor for the CBI, said the three strands of hair recovered from the crime scene and blood samples corroborated by the DNA expert belonged to James.

James was a trainer at a gym owned by Payal’s husband, who had terminated his employment due to misappropriation of funds and complaints that he had been harassing women. According to the police, Payal, who received the complaints, informed her husband. “James killed Payal and tried to implicate her husband. He was in Cuttack, Odisha, on a business trip, and Payal was alone at home on that day,” said the police.

Hike in hostel fees will force us to discontinue studies: JNU students

JNUSU continues protest against proposed ‘mammoth’ increase in charges

07/11/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,NEW DELHI

Thousands of students at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) on Wednesday continued their protest against a revised hostel manual that proposes a “mammoth” increase in hostel fees.

Cutting across political affiliations, the students have demanded a roll-back of the fee hike as they feel that several students would have to discontinue their studies if the new rates are introduced.

In a press statement explaining the hike in hostel fees, the university Registrar said that room rent for a single seater has been increased from ₹20 to ₹600; for double seater, the fee has gone up from ₹10 to ₹300 per month.

The one-time refundable mess security deposit has been increased from ₹5,500 to ₹12,000. Utility and service charges will also now be applicable.

The JNU Students’ Union (JNUSU) said that the proposed fee hike is unacceptable as a majority of the students come from rural backgrounds, deprived sections, and middle income families, and depend on scholarships to study at JNU.

“More than 40% of students belong to families with annual income below ₹1.44 lakh, the poverty cut-off line, as suggested by the annual reports of JNU. Bachelors and Masters students are dependent on the Merit Cum Means Scholarships, which is ₹2,000 per month, and MPhil and PhD students are dependent on the UGC Non Net Scholarship, which is ₹5,000 per month. How will students survive and pay the amount that is more than their scholarships?” the JNUSU said.

The Registrar said that room rent has been hiked to create better hostel facilities. The university justified the increase in mess security citing increasing defaulters.

“The revision of rates by the Inter Hostel Administration (IHA) committee has been done after more than a decade. The room rents have not been revised in the last three decades. There is no massive hike in hostel fee and the JNU administration appeals to the students not to be misled by rumours that are trying to derail normal functioning of the university,” the Registrar said.

Protesting students said that over the past week they had made several attempts to reach out to the administration but to no avail. Instead, the students said, they have been receiving show-cause notices from the Proctor’s office imposing hefty fines for showing dissent.

“The administration has abdicated any and all sense of responsibility. The IHA meeting on October 28, which passed the draft hostel manual, did not allow the JNUSU, who are members of the IHA committee, to attend the meeting. The elected hostel presidents, who are also members of the panel, were informed about the meeting 10 minutes before it began,” the JNUSU said.

The union also claimed that students are reaching out to hostel wardens and provosts in charge of hostel clusters to reject the revised hostel manual. They also claimed that two provosts had resigned in support of the students. The university administration, however, said that no provosts have resigned.