Nirbhaya case: plea calls for organ donation

11/01/2020, PRESS TRUST OF INDIA,NEW DELHI

A Delhi court on Friday dismissed a plea by an NGO, RACO, requesting a meeting with the four death row convicts in the 2012 Nirbhaya gang rape and murder case, to persuade them to donate their organs.

Additional Sessions Judge Satish Kumar Arora dismissed the plea on the grounds of “being devoid of any merit” and the the applicants having no locus to meet the convicts. The court also noted: “As per record available, two of the four accused have moved petitions before SC.”

Girl plays truant to keep High Court date

She complained about lack of infrastructural facilities at her school in Ponneri

11/01/2020, MOHAMED IMRANULLAH S.,CHENNAI

R.B. Adhigai Mutharasi with her lawyer father A.E. Baskaran on Friday.

Six-year-old R.B. Adhigai Mutharasi, a Class II student, played truant from school on Friday to visit a most bizarre place for kids — the Madras High Court.

The girl walked into the court buildings right royally, and not even the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), guarding the court campus, could prevent her entry, as she was a litigant, and thereby rightfully entitled to follow the proceedings in her case.

What’s more is that the girl had filed the case against the headmistress of her own school — the Minjur Panchayat Union Primary School in Ponneri Taluk of Tiruvallur district — complaining about the lack of infrastructural facilities.

The girl sought for a direction to carry out all repair works in the school buildings, evict encroachments on the school property and keep the institution neat and clean at all times.

On finding the girl wait for long in the litigants’ gallery, along with her lawyer father, Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Hemalatha called her to the dais and had an interesting chat. After asking her name and other details, when the judges wanted to know why she hadn’t gone to school, the uninhibited child did not hesitate to tell the judges that she had bunked her classes to come to court.

Amused by her answer and appreciative of her confidence, the senior judge in the Bench told the little litigant that it was wrong to avoid going to school.

“How will you study well if you don’t go to school regularly. You should not avoid school like this,” the judges told the girl, before she ran back to her father and asked: “Appa (father), is the case over, can we go home now?”

In response to her writ petition, School Education Department officials filed a status report, along with certain photographs, to claim that most of the concerns raised by her had been addressed, and the school was being maintained well. However, the girl’s counsel contested the claim, and contended that the school continued to be in a bad shape, despite having been an institution established way back in 1964.

After advising the officials to take sincere action to rectify the defects pointed out by the petitioner, and not to turn egoistic just because a lawyer had filed the case in the name of his daughter, the judges said if funds were a reason for poor maintenance, then it could be arranged through CSR activities.

After asking the petitioner’s counsel to peruse the status report fully, the judges adjourned the case. “So, should I come back again,” Mutharasi asked her father A.E. Baskaran, who smiled and reminded her of the judge’s advice.

Link buses to operate for Pongal

11/01/2020, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT ,CHENNAI

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) will be operating special link buses from various parts of the city for facilitating access for commuters to the six bus termini.

The State Transport Department will operate over 16,000 buses for Pongal, from six locations. MTC will be operating link buses round-the-clock.

In a press release, the MTC said 310 special link buses would be operated for three days, from January 12 to 14.

After over a year, AC buses to ply again

MTC purchases 48 buses at ₹36 lakh apiece; minimum ticket price fixed at ₹15

11/01/2020, R. SRIKANTH,CHENNAI

Travelling in style: Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami inspecting an air-conditioned bus.Special Arrangement

The Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has reintroduced air-conditioned buses in the city, after a gap of nearly one-and-a-half years.

The AC buses have been launched on two routes — Dr. MGR Bus Terminus in Koyambedu to Siruseri via Velachery (Bus no. 570) and Thiruvanmiyur to Tambaram (Bus no. 91), a senior MTC official said.

The MTC has purchased 48 AC buses from Ashok Leyland at a cost of ₹36 lakh each, and plans to operate them on five more routes. The routes are: Central Railway Station to Thiruvanmiyur (A1), T. Nagar to Kelambakkam (19B), Koyambedu to Vandalur (70V), East Tambaram to Thiruvanmiyur (95) and Broadway to Kelambakkam (102). The AC buses were introduced after they were showcased to Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday.

The minimum ticket price has been fixed at ₹15 and maximum is ₹60 till Siruseri, MTC officials said. The Volvo AC buses, operated earlier, were stopped around July 2018. The minimum price of a ticket then was ₹28.

97.5°F, not 98.6°F, likely new normal body temp

Since 1851, Average Human Body Temperature Has Decreased By 0.05°F Per Birth Decade

Nicholas Bakalar 11.01.2020

We seem to be getting cooler. Since 1851, when the standard was set at 37°centigrade (or celsius), or 98.6°Fahrenheit, the average human body temperature has steadily declined. Researchers studied three databases: 23,710 readings obtained between 1862 and 1930 in veterans of the Civil War; 15,301 records in a national health survey from 1971 to 1975; and 150,280 entries in a Stanford University database from 2007 to 2017. The analysis is in eLife.

The researchers observed that the body temperature of men born in the 2000s is on average 1.06°F lower than that of men born in the early 1800s.

Similarly, researchers observed that the body temperature of women born in the 2000s is on average 0.58°F lower than that of women born in the 1890s. Overall, the average body temperature decreased by 0.03°C, or about 0.05°F, per birth decade.

Differences in measurement techniques and equipment do not explain the effect. The decline was evident even within each database, year by year, and the drop between the two modern databases, when equipment and techniques were presumably the same, was identical.

Why this is happening is unclear, but scientists suggest that improvements in sanitation and improved dental and medical care have reduced chronic inflammation, and the constant temperatures maintained by modern heating and air conditioning have helped lower the resting metabolic rates. Today, a temperature of 97.5°F may be closer to “normal” than the traditional 98.6°F.

“Physiologically, we’re just different from what we were in the past. The environment that we are living in has changed, including the temperature in our homes, our contact with microorganisms and the food that we have access to. All these things mean that although we think of human beings as if we are monomorphic and have been the same for all of human evolution, we are not the same,” said the senior author, Dr Julie Parsonnet, a professor of medicine at Stanford.

“We have looked at the US,” said Parsonnet, “and we have to see if this holds true elsewhere. We are evolving physiologically. But what does it really mean? I don’t know. I haven’t figured out exactly how to look at that.”

With input from agencies

WE’RE STEADILY GETTING COOLER

‘PERSONAL LIBERTY’

Govt staff can join rallies, post views on social media: HC

Biswendu Bhattacharjee TNN

Agartala:11.01.2020

Dismissing an inquiry against a retired employee of the state fisheries department, the chief justice of Tripura high court on Friday said that government employees can take part in political programmes, including meetings, and freely post their opinions on social media platforms, without attracting punitive measures under Rule 5 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules.

Justice A Kureshi said attending a political rally would not be considered as involvement in politics and government employees should have the personal liberty to post their opinions on social media.

Lipika Paul was dismissed from service on April 25, 2018, four days before her retirement, for taking part in a political programme in December 2017 and making a social media post against BJP.

“During election times, as is well-known, political parties and their leaders as well as nominated candidates take out rallies and address public gatherings. Every person who is present in the audience during such addresses cannot be stated to have participated in the rally. The presence of a person does not either establish his or her political affiliation.

“A student of politics, an enthusiastic young man, a reporter or just a curious bystander — all are likely to be present in any political gathering. Even an opponent or a critic of a political party may also attend the gathering. Her mere presence at a gathering, therefore, without any further allegation, would not amount to her participation in such political gathering,” the court order stated.

“I have taken note of the contents of the said post which originally was in Bengali and has been translated and presented before me. Nothing contained in the said post suggests canvassing for or against any political party. It only expresses certain beliefs of the petitioner in general terms. As a government servant the petitioner is not devoid of her right of free speech, a fundamental right which can be curtailed only by a valid law. She was entitled to hold her own beliefs and express them in the manner she desired of course subject to not crossing the borders laid down in sub-rule (4) of Rule 5 of the All India Services (Conduct) Rules.”

Lipika Paul was dismissed from service on April 25, 2018, four days before her retirement, for taking part in a political programme in December 2017 and making a social media post against BJP

20-yr-old woman in Bihar seeks divorce as hubby avoids regular shave and bath

Ramashankar@timesgroup.com

Patna  11.01.2020

 In a bizarre case, a 20-year-old woman from Vaishali district has sought divorce claiming that her husband stinks as he does not shave, take bath and brush his teeth regularly. She also complained that her husband doesn’t follow etiquette and manners.

The state women’s commission (SWC) listened to Soni Devi’s complaint and asked her husband Manish Ram, 23, to mend his ways within two months. Or else, the commission would take appropriate action on the complaint.

SWC member Pratima Sinha said on Friday that Soni, a resident of Nayagaon village under Desri block in Vaishali district, approached the commission on Thursday seeking divorce from her husband. “I was taken aback by her silly reasons cited for seeking divorce,” Pratima said.

In her petition, the woman said she was married to Manish, a plumber by profession, in 2017. “My husband stinks as he won’t shave and bathe for nearly 10 days at stretch. Moreover, he doesn’t brush his teeth. He also doesn’t have manners and follow etiquettes,” the petitioner alleged.

The SWC member said the complainant was adamant on her demand for separation from her husband. “I don’t want to live with my husband anymore. I can no longer bear the humiliation. Kindly get me rid of this man (read husband); he has ruined my life,” Pratima quoted Soni as saying.

Soni also insisted on her husband return the jewellery and other valuables, which her father had given as dowry at the time of marriage. “We have no children. Even our relationship as a husband and wife is not cordial. Life has no meaning. It’s worthless,” she told the commission.

The SWC member said Soni tried to convince the couple not to break their marriage. “I have given her husband two months’ time to mend his ways. If his behaviour is not found satisfactory even after that, we will take appropriate action and refer the matter to the family court for separation,” Pratima told TOI.

Pratima said that Soni belonged to a lower middle class scheduled caste family and was aware of her rights. When asked whether the commission was empowered to do anything in such a case, the SCW member said, “We mainly play the role of an arbitrator on such issues.”

Full report on www.toi.in


The state women’s commission (SWC) listened to Soni Devi’s complaint and asked her husband Manish Ram, 23, to mend his ways within two months