UP schoolkids in hospital after dead rat found in mid-day meal

Muzaffarnagar:94.12.2019

At least nine students of a government primary school in Muzaffarnagar fell ill after eating mid-day meal served to them on Tuesday afternoon by the staff, which was oblivious of a dead rat lying at the bottom of the dal pot. After eating the contaminated food, the children complained of stomach pain and started vomiting.

“Nine students were brought to district hospital here. Their condition was not so serious. The doctors gave them some medicines and sent them home with the teachers,” said Navneet Bansal, a doctor at the government hospital in Muzaffarnagar.

Later in the day, district magistrate of Muzaffarnagar Selva Kumari J ordered an FIR against the NGO which prepared and supplied the food to the school Janta Inter College in Mustafabad Pachenda village. The NGO has also been “blacklisted” by the district authorities.

The NGO, Jan Kalyan Sewa Samiti of Hapur, used to supply food for the students of Class VI, VII and VIII of the school. And the children were given ‘dal’ and ‘chawal’ (rice) in the Tuesday’s lunch.

“While the food was being served to the students, the staff spotted a dead rat at the bottom of the dal bucket. They stopped the children from eating further, but, by then, most of them had eaten a good chunk,” a senior district administration officer said. Soon, the DM, SDM, Basic Shiksha Adhikari (BSA) and several other officers rushed to the school. TNN

Full report on www.toi.in

Mom gets job, starving kids in Kerala won’t be handed over to parents
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
4.12.2019

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala state council for child welfare (KSCCW) will file a report to the director general of police after taking statements from the four children, who were harassed and denied food by their father at Kaithamukku. A day after adopting the children, KSCCW general secretary S P Deepak said that the children will not be handed over to their parents until they are fit to take care of them.

Meanwhile, mayor K Sreekumar handed over the corporation’s letter, appointing the mother as a daily-wage labourer on Tuesday. The woman was earlier shifted to a mahila mandiram in Poojappura, along with her two kids (aged three and 18 months).

Addressing reporters later, the mayor said that the woman will be appointed in a place which will be convenient to her. “As per the dailywage contract, she will be able to earn a minimum of ₹17,000/ month,” he said.

KSCCW took the four children to SAT hospital for a medical check-up. “Their health is satisfactory; two have chest infection. If everything is okay, the children will be sent to school from Wednesday,” Deepak said.

He added that the family didn’t have a ration card, which was the reason they couldn’t access the free rice and other items from ration shop. “The 29-year-old woman is the mother of six children. So, that woman had no time for anything, including applying for a ration card and the father was least interested,” he said.

Deepak said that KSCCW will not send back the children to the parents as they are unfit to take care of their kids.

Full report on www.toi.in

A HELPING HAND: Thiruvananthapuram mayor K Sreekumar offers job to the young lady who gave her four kids to the Child Welfare Council

Chola temple turns into swimming pool after rain

MT.Saju@timesgroup.com

Chennai:4.12.2019

The Airavatesvara temple at Darasuram in Thanjavur district, a UNESCO world heritage site, turns into a swimming pool every time there is a heavy spell of rain. Local children swim in the flooded corridors and interiors of this 12th centry temple near Kumbakonam built by Rajaraja Chola II, who ruled the region from 1146AD to 1173AD. The children have a good time, but the visitors are not amused. If anyone has to enjoy the architectural marvel of the temple when its flooded, he has no option but to stand in knee-deep water.

Rampant urbanisation and encroachments have blocked the natural flow of water during the rains, and of late the interior of the temple gets inundated regularly. Paranthagan Tamilselvam, a heritage enthusiast, said he, along with some locals, pumped out the water from the interiors of the temple in 2017 and 2018. The recent rains have added to the woes.

Neither the Archaeological Survey of India, which maintains the temple, nor the state government listen to the repeated requests from the people to desilt the temple tank, which is situated 1km away from Arasalar River, a tributary of the Cauvery.

The temple was constructed more than 1,000 years ago, and so the height of the area around it has gradually gone up due to land-filling over the years. This resulted in the temple being in the low-lying area where water accumulates. Tamilselvam said, “It’s high time that the temple tank is deepened so that the water from the temple flows into it. We can connect a channel between the tank and the nearby Arasalar so that water gets drained out fast,” he said. The Airavatesvara temple is among the three temples — besides Brihadisvara temple in Thanjavur and the temple in Gangaikonda Cholapuram — considered as the “great living Chola temples” under the UNESCO world heritage site.


UNDER WATER: People wade through the flooded courtyard of the Airavatesvara temple in Darasuram

Girl, 13, driving car runs over man

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Tirupur:4.12.2019

An elderly man was seriously injured when a car driven allegedly by a 13-yearold girl ran over him in the city recently. The incident came to light after CCTV camera footage went viral on social media.

V Gandhimanian, 68, of Puthu Ramakrishnapuram was sitting on the side of Kuthuspuram street on November 25 when the car ran over him.

“We used to sit on the side of the road after dinner. On that day, my father was sitting alone around 9.30pm. The car ran over him causing injuries, including broken ribs. The father of three had to be hospitalised for four days,” said G Nagarajan, 28, one of his two sons.

“We did not lodge a police complaint after the girl’s family requested us not to do so. Besides, they took care of all the medical expenses of my father,” he said. A CCTV installed in a nearby house captured the accident. The footage showed the car running over him and a relative of the minor driver coming out of the car, followed by the girl.

Nagarajan said, “It would take months to recover from the accident. It is important that people should not allow children to drive vehicles.”

CAUGHT ON CAM: A grab from a CCTV footage shows the girl standing outside the car after the accident took place

Govt employees denied pension get HC relief

Eligible For Benefits If Service Regularized By April 1, 2003: Court

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:4.12.2019

A full bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday clarified that those employed by the state government under non-provincialised service, consolidated pay, honorarium or daily wage basis and whose services were regularised before April 1, 2003, are entitled to pensionary benefits.

Half of the service they had rendered before regularisation is to be counted for conferment of pensionary benefits, a full bench of Justice R Subbiah, Justice P T Asha and Justice C Saravanan said.

The issue pertains to a batch of pleas moved by such employees who were denied pension by the state which cited a government order dated August 6, 2003. The GO denied pension to those employees appointed after April 1, 2003.

Since two division benches of the high court gave conflicting orders on the eligibility of such employees in getting pension benefits, the chief justice of the court referred the matter to the full bench. When pronouncing the order on Tuesday, the bench clarified that those employees who were hired on temporary basis and regularised after April 1, 2003, would not be eligible for state government pension scheme.

Since 1980, several people were employed on a daily wage basis in various departments of the state. These employees joined service under the belief that their services will eventually be regularised by the government and that they could be inducted into the permanent rolls of the government. A section of these employees could get their service regularised, but at the time of regularisation they had very little left in terms of period of service . Hence, after retirement from the cadre post, they could not get pension as they did not have the minimum qualifying years of service for grant of pension.

The issue pertains to a batch of pleas moved by employees who were denied pension by the state which cited a government order dated August 6, 2003

‘TN will confirm Anna univ IoE tag after 69% quota nod’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:4.12.2019

Tamil Nadu will issue the letter of commitment to obtain Institute of Eminence (IoE) status for Anna University only after getting a reply from the Centre on 69% reservation, higher education minister K P Anbalagan said on Tuesday.

The minister was talking to reporters on the sidelines of the university’s 40th convocation.

After the ministry of human resource development clarified that the existing reservation could be followed after getting the IoE status, the state wrote to the Centre again on November 25. It sought clarification on whether the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of Seats in Educational Institution and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993, would apply to Anna University after getting the IoE tag.

Earlier, at the convocation, vice-chancellor M K Surappa urged the state government to issue the letter of commitment. Anna University is among the10 public institutions shortlisted for IoE status under which each will get up to ₹1,000 crore over the course of five years.

“People often think of Steve Jobs or J K Rowling and others when we talk about courage and risk taking. But we have our own stories,” Gagandeep Kang, executive director, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute in Faridabad, said in her address.

Referring to the White Revolution, she said, “A graduate from Anna University, Verghese Kurian, made dairy farming India’s largest selfsustaining industry and the largest rural employment provider. It improved income, nutrition, education and gender parity and got rid of debt.”

Governor Banwarilal Purohit awarded the degrees and medals. At the convocation, 1,180 PhD holders and 71 rank holders and gold medallists in BE, B Tech and B Arch received their degrees in person, while 1,34,418 students received them in absentia. Higher education secretary Mangat Ram Sharma, Anna University registrar L Karunamoorthy and controller of examinations M Venkatesan were present on the occasion.


ONE FOR THE ALBUM: Governor Banwarilal Purohit presents a degree at the 40th convocation of Anna University on Tuesday

14 suicides at IIT-M: Court reserves order on plea for CBI probe

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:4.12.2019

The Madras high court has reserved its order on a PIL seeking CBI probe into all ‘14 suicides’ reported at IIT-Madras since 2006.

When the PIL filed by Loktantrik Janata Dal’s youth wing came up for hearing on Tuesday, a division bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice R Hemalatha adjourned the plea for passing orders.

Earlier, justifying the relief sought for, Saleem Madavoor, national president of the party’s Yuva Janata Dal, said, “So far 14 students, including five from Andhra Pradesh, three from Kerala and two each from Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, and one each from Puducherry and Jharkhand have reportedly committed suicide in the institution since 2006 as they faced discrimination on the basis of religion, caste and language. But so far, the head of the institution has not taken any steps to ascertain the reason for the suicides.”

The most recent case of suicide is that of Fathima Latheef, who killed herself due to religious discrimination at the hands of some faculty members, he added.

Though such suicides were primarily due to harassment and ill-treatment, neither the Tamil Nadu government nor local police conducted any fruitful inquiry to bring out the reasons behind such deaths, Madavoor alleged.

Claiming that these cases also fall under the exceptional circumstances where probe can be transferred and entrusted with an independent agency, the petitioner wanted the court to intervene and order a CBI probe into all the 14 suicides on the basis of a representation given by him on November 23.