இதய தேசம்...இனிய நேசம்!

Added : பிப் 14, 2020 00:01





காதல் என்ற காற்றை சுவாசிக்காதவர்களை எண்ணிவிடலாம். உடலுக்கு இதயம் போல, வாழ்க்கைக்கு காதல் உயிர் போல மதிக்கப்படுகிறது. ஜாதி, மதம், மொழி, இனம், நாடு, நிறத்தை கடந்து இரு இதயங்கள் இணைவதுதான் உண்மையான காதல். உலகம் முழுவதும் காதலர்களால் ஆண்டுதோறும் பிப்., 14ல் 'காதலர் தினம்' கொண்டாடப்படுகிறது.

காதல் என்ற வார்த்தை மிக வசீகரமானது. காதல் என்று சொல்லும் போதே மனசெல்லாம் றெக்க கட்டி பறப்பது போல ஒரு உணர்வு தோன்றும். காதல் என்பது காற்றை போல. அதை உணரத்தான் முடியும். பார்க்க முடியாது. கன்னம் சுருங்க காதலியும், மீசை நரைத்திட காதலனும் வாழ்வின் கரைகளை காணும் வரை தொடர்வதுதான் காதல் என்கின்றனர் கவிஞர்கள்.

காதலர்கள் மட்டுமின்றி திருமணம் செய்த தம்பதியர்களும் பரிசுகள், வாழ்த்து அட்டைகள் வழங்கி தங்களது அன்பை பரிமாறிக் கொள்கின்றனர்.காதல் பற்றி தமிழ் இலக்கியங்களான திருக்குறள், குறுந்தொகை, ஐங்குறுநுாறு, புலவர்கள், கவிஞர்கள், தத்துவ அறிஞர்கள், எழுத்தாளர்கள் என ஒவ்வொருவரும் ஒவ்வொரு விதமாக விவரிக்கின்றனர்.

எப்படி வந்தது:

'காதலர் தினம்' உருவான கதை சுவராஸ்யமானது. காதலர் தினத்துக்கு முன்னோடியாக கருதப்படும் பாதிரியார் வேலன்டைன் ரோம் சாம்ராஜ்யத்தை சேர்ந்தவர். 14ம் நுாற்றாண்டில் ரோம் அரசர் இரண்டாம் கிளாடியஸ், இளைஞர்களை ராணுவத்தில் சேர அழைத்தார். இதற்கு வரவேற்பு இல்லாததால் காதல் மற்றும் திருமணத்திற்கு தடை விதித்தார். இதனால் இளைஞர்கள் அதிகளவில் ராணுவத்தில் சேருவர் என்பது அவரது எண்ணம்.

இதனை மீறி பாதிரியார் வேலன்டைன், காதலிக்கும் இளைஞர்களுக்கு ரகசிய திருமணம் செய்து வைத்தார். இதனால் ஆத்திரமடைந்த அரசன் அவருக்கு மரண தண்டனை விதித்தார். அவரது நினைவுநாளையே 'வேலன்டைன் தினமாக' இளைஞர்கள் கொண்டாட தொடங்கினர். 20ம் நுாற்றாண்டின் பிற்பகுதியில்தான் வேலன்டைன் தினம் 'காதலர் தினமாக' மாறியது.

உண்மை அவசியம்:

இன்றைய காதலர்கள் வாழ்க்கை பற்றி எவ்வித தெளிவான கருத்தும் இல்லாமல் அழகு, பணம், வேலை போன்ற காரணங்களை பார்த்து அவசரப்பட்டு காதலில் விழுகின்றனர். பள்ளி மாணவர்கள் கூட காதலிப்பதாக கூறும் நிலை வந்து விட்டது. இது வாழ்க்கைக்கு ஏற்றதல்ல. தன்னை காதலிக்காத குற்றத்திற்காக பெண்ணிற்கு பல்வேறு இடையூறுகள் கொடுக்கும் அவலமும் அரங்கேறுகிறது.

காதல் கைகூடவில்லை என தற்கொலை செய்பவர்களும் இருக்கிறார்கள். இது தவிர்க்கப்பட வேண்டியது. காதல் திருமணம் செய்தவர்கள் மட்டும் அதிர்ஷ்டசாலிகள் அல்ல. திருமணத்துக்குப் பின் காதலிப்பவர்கள் அதை விட அதிர்ஷ்டசாலிகள். உண்மையான காதல் எப்போதுமே அழகானது.

- இன்று காதலர் தினம்

‘In-charge’ officers manage statutory posts in many state-run universities

TNN | Feb 14, 2020, 04.34 AM IST

Trichy: The situation is no different in many of the state-run universities where posts of registrars and other statutory posts are being managed by officer in-charges for months together.
Higher education secretary Sunil Paliwal, in a review meeting in 2018, insisted universities to appoint full-time officers to statutory posts. He had highlighted the need for filling up these posts to ensure effective governance.

However, not many universities have taken note of it and most of the vital posts remain vacant.

A random check has revealed that the controller of examination (CoE) in Bharathiar, Alagappa, Periyar and Thiruvalluvar universities are ‘in-charge’ officers. Further, there is no full-time registrar expect for Alagappa among these universities.

Manonmaniam Sundaranar and Alagappa universities have the statutory post of distance education director managed by ‘in-charge’ officers.

Speaking on the merits of filling these statutory posts, a senior staff from BDU said, “A regular officer is appointed for a period of three years. The confidence of holding the post for a long time will give enough strength to the officer to take decisions on any matter unlike an ‘in-charge’ staff who would only think of safeguarding his temporary post. This would prevent him from taking important decisions.”

In-charge appointments on rise in BDU as nepotism takes over merit

TNN | Feb 14, 2020, 04.36 AM IST

Trichy: To speed up the evaluation of PhD thesis and award degrees without delay, Bharathidasan University started a separate directorate of research in 2018. A director in-charge was appointed after separating research section from the controller of examination.
Head of chemistry department S Muthusamy was appointed as director in-charge, but the move didn’t seem to have served the purpose, said members of the Tamil Nadu Government College Teachers Association (TNGCTA) who have threatened to go on an indefinite protest seeking appointment of a full-time director for research section a few days ago. Delay has indeed become the order of the day, they said in the absence of a full-time director.

This is one example of how the ‘in-charge syndrome’ has gripped Bharathidasan University as 12 of the statutory and non-statutory posts including that of the controller or examination and director of distance education have been filled with in-charge officers.

What’s worse, such posts are being rewarded to those who do not have the required qualification, which is against the BDU Act. For instance, when controller of examination (CoE) K Duraiarasan left the office a few weeks ago, S Srinivasa Ragavan, librarian in-charge, BDU, has been made the CoE. Srinivasa Ragavan was one among the candidates for the post of director, Centre for Distance Education (CDE), for which none was found suitable.

Not possible to fully enforce hand hygiene at GRH: Dean

TNN | Feb 14, 2020, 04.49 AM IST

Madurai: Government healthcare centres in the city including primary health centres, community health centres (CHC) and Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) actively started enforcing hand hygiene only after the novel coronavirus (nCoV) breakout across the globe, said health officials and staff on Thursday.

However, officials at GRH have said they are not able to completely enforce hand hygiene owing to the huge patient footfall and attenders. Despite round-the-clock cleaning by sanitation workers, many spots in the hospital are still unclean.

“We are trying our best to keep the wards and corridors clean and the situation has improved much now compared to few years ago. We are also trying to restrict the number of attenders as well to prevent spread of infection but it is difficult because we always face opposition to it,” said GRH dean Dr J Sangumani.

The dean also said that it was not practical to strictly enforce hand hygiene in a tertiary healthcare centre. “Currently we are strictly keeping hand sanitizers and hand washing solutions outside ICUs and infection-prone wards, enforcing hand hygiene for attenders. However, we can’t keep it for public use in the campus or for outpatients because many tend to misuse it,” said Dr Sangumani.

The best way to prevent the spread of nCoV or any viral infection, as prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), is practising hand and cough hygiene. “We always used to create awareness about hand hygiene and try to enforce it at all healthcare centres. However, it wasn’t strict enough before and some used to be a little careless. But, after nCoV breakout, though there has been no case in Tamil Nadu, the onus fell on hand hygiene,” said a city health official.

Health centres in the city have kept hand washing solutions or hand sanitizers for public use and healthcare workers are also actively educating patients and attenders about hand hygiene, including the recommended six-step reverse hand washing method, cough hygiene and nCoV.

“We are also keeping surgical spirit at the entrance of our CHC and are asking all those who visit to sanitize their hands when they leave,” said a medical officer at Sellur CHC.

Hope death warrant against convicts is issued on Feb 17: Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi

ANI | Feb 13, 2020, 07.47 PM IST

NEW DELHI: After a Delhi court adjourned for February 17 the hearing on the plea of the state and Nirbhaya's parents seeking issuance of the death warrant, her mother Asha Devi on Thursday hoped that the death warrant would be issued against the four convicts on February 17.

"I have full faith in the Supreme Court. I am hoping that the death warrant is expected to be issued on Monday (February 17). One day, all the four convicts will be hanged," Asha Devi told media in Delhi.

A Delhi court adjourned the hearing as a petition challenging the rejection of the mercy plea of convict Vinay Kumar Sharma is pending before the Supreme Court.

The lawyers of the victim's parents have objected to adjourning the matter for February 17, and have asked for hearing the matter on February 15.

The Patiala House Court observed that Article 21 of the Constitution protects the life and liberty of the convicts till the last breath of life.

Earlier on Thursday, the Supreme Court reserved the order on the issue of rejection of mercy petition of Vinay Kumar Sharma, one of the convicts in the Nirbhaya gang-rape case.

A bench of Justice R Banumathi heard the case and the order has been reserved for Friday at 2pm.

Solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the Delhi government, said that convict Vinay Sharma was not kept in solitary confinement as it was argued by convict's lawyer AP Singh in the Supreme Court.

The case pertains to the gang-rape and brutalising of a 23-year-old paramedical student in a moving bus on the night of December 16, 2012, by six people including a juvenile in Delhi. She died at a Singapore hospital a few days later.

One of the five adults accused, Ram Singh, had allegedly committed suicide in the Tihar Jail during the trial of the case.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

Delhi: Hanging of four Nirbhaya convicts gets entangled in procedural maze

TNN | Feb 14, 2020, 04.36 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Nearly three years after the Supreme Court sent the Nirbhaya case convicts to the gallows, the noose seems to have got entangled in a procedural maze with lawyers filing petition after petition in various courts since a Delhi trial court fixed January 22 as the date for the convicts’ hanging.

On Thursday, a bench of Justices R Banumathi, Ashok Bhushan and A S Bopanna found themselves dealing with two petitions related to the case. One was filed by the Union government seeking separate hanging of the four convicts — Mukesh Singh, Vinay Sharma, Pawan Gupta and Akshay Thakur — as and when their mercy petitions were dismissed by the President. The other was a petition by Sharma challenging the President’s rejection of his mercy plea.

The SC reserved its verdict on Sharma’s petition and said it would pronounce judgment on Friday, when it will also hear the counsel for all four death-row convicts on the Centre’s plea for their hangings to be separated. So, no one knows when the death row convicts will be deemed to have exhausted their legal remedies and a finality reached about the date when they will be hanged.

After the SC rejected review and curative petitions of the four convicts, Gupta had filed a plea in Delhi high court claiming to be a juvenile at the time of crime on December 16, 2012. The high court dismissed his plea. His appeal was rejected by Supreme Court as well. Mercy petitions of other three — Singh, Sharma and Thakur — who invoked the President’s mercy powers for commutation of death penalty to life imprisonment, have also been turned down.

The Centre is challenging a Delhi HC order of February 5 declining the plea for the convicts to be hanged separately by de-linking those who have already exhausted all their remedies from those who have not. The HC had set a deadline of 7 days for the convicts to exhaust all options.

The bench will hear this petition on Friday and appointed senior advocate Anjana Prakash Sharma as amicus for Gupta, who was unrepresented. “Otherwise, tomorrow, they will come and seek adjournment saying he is not represented. That appears to be the tactic,” the bench noted.

The SC is aware of the delaying tactics, but can do little except hear the petitions filed through advocates A P Singh and Vrinda Grover as these were within the convicts’ rights. Once the seven-day period granted by the HC got over, Sharma filed a petition in the SC challenging rejection of his mercy plea by the President.

Among many grounds, his counsel claimed the convict suffered from mental illness and was hence unfit for execution, he suffered constant physical torture in jail, there was complete lack of application of mind to various factors by the Union and Delhi governments in recommending to the President to reject his mercy plea and that the President adopted a pick and choose policy to reject his plea when many such pleas were pending with him.

Sharma’s counsel kept repeating his arguments for two hours, leaving Justices Banumathi, Bhushan and Bopanna at the brink of exasperation. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta took just 15 minutes to show the files of the Union home ministry and the Delhi government to point out that each and every aspect and fact narrated in the mercy petition were carefully scrutinised and considered, including Sharma’s family background and economic condition.

He said the Union home minister recommended rejection of the mercy petition saying the case fell in the rarest of the rare category and the crime was a “dastardly and unpardonable act” that shocked the conscience of the nation.

(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)

HC refuses to give quietus to DVAC probe against Rajenthra Bhalaji

14/02/2020

They also wanted to know whether the investigating officer was right in deciding unilaterally that the Minister need not be prosecuted because only less than 10% of his assets were found to be disproportionate to his known sources of income in the preliminary inquiry.

They wondered whether it was for the police or the court concerned to apply the benefit of a 1977 Supreme Court verdict, which provides for a permissible variation of less than 10%.

‘No hard and fast rule’

In reply, Mr. Subramanian said there was no hard and fast rule that all preliminary inquiries should be completed within a short span of time and should not be elaborate. “Though the nomenclature is ‘preliminary inquiry,’ depending upon the nature of a complaint the inquiry could be detailed too. There’s no straitjacket formula. In this case, the inquiry had to be done in detail because the court was seeking status reports periodically.

“What was initially thought of as a preliminary inquiry became a detailed inquiry because of the sequence this case took with this court seeking status reports. Your Lordships had gone through the reports and also gave guidelines. The preliminary inquiry as directed by this court was completed and a report was submitted to the Vigilance Commissioner and it went up to the government. Therefore, now the case should be given a quietus,” he argued.

‘No bias’

Claiming that there was no deliberate attempt on the part of DVAC to convert a preliminary inquiry into a detailed inquiry, the senior counsel said voluminous documents and materials that had to be gone through for a very long check period of 22 years had led to the preliminary inquiry turning out to be a detailed inquiry. “There was absolutely no bias. IPS officers had conducted the preliminary inquiry and submitted a report to Vigilance Commissioner,” he pointed out.