CISCE students can opt out of pending exams

CISCE students can opt out of pending exams

Shradha.Chettri@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:16.06.2020

Following protests by parents, the Council for Indian School Certificate Examination (CISCE), which conducts ISC (Class XII )and ICSE (Class X) exams, has given two options to its students for the pending exams. Students can either appear for the exams scheduled from July 1 or accept the marks of the pre-boards/internal examinations conducted by the schools.

As there was a lockdown due to the Covid-19-induced crisis, the board exams had to be postponed. The CISCE then decided to conduct the exams from July1 to 14. Concerned with the rising cases of Covid-19, parents had moved Mumbai high court asking for cancellation of the examination. There are eight ISC exams and six ICSE exam Each school has to inform the board about the option selected by the students by June  22. However, parents are not very happy. “For pre-boards, schools follow a strict evaluation process. Students also do not get much time to prepare. This notification will force students to appear for the exams,” rued Vijaya Mathur, a parent.

The next date of hearing is June 17.

Looking for plasma? This website may come in handy

Mohammad.Ibrar@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:

When Adwitiya Mal’s father-in-law contracted Covid-19 recently, he and his wife were worried about his health. For four long days, the family couldn’t get the plasma that was required for his treatment.

“This experience shouldn’t have happened to people in the 21st century. We realised we were lucky that we found the plasma, but there must be many who would have never been able to.”

It was to help those in need that he and his family started a website. With over 200 registrations of recipients and donors in the past few days, Delhi-based website — ‘dhoondh’ has been helping patients and donors get connected.

Mal told TOI that they had a tough time finding a donor for his father-in-law. “Throughout all that, I was thinking to myself that there should be a better way than us calling up people and asking them about donors. Nobody had expected that something like this pandemic would come and we would need plasma.”

The family managed to get a donor after four days. “In those four days, we felt helplessness and desperation. During the period, we met many equally desperate people looking for the plasma and also kind and generous people who donated their plasma,” the family wrote on the website that they started to make sure that others do not go through what they did.

“There are many people who say that they are glad about being saved by the treatment and they want to help others. And we are seeing so many people coming forward to donate their plasma to save lives of others,” added Mal, who runs an agriculture venture.

The website, started last week, has so far managed to get over 9,000 visits. More than 200 recipients and donors have registered. People can register on the website with some basic details, such as contact details, location and blood group. The details provided by donors are matched with the recipients’ specific requirements and a list of donors is then generated from the database. Once the donors are identified, the recipients receive a list of people in proximity so that they can contact them directly.

KIN OF PATIENT SAY

There are many people who say that they are glad about being saved by the treatment and they want to help others

Home quarantine tests positive: Why patients are happy

Jasjeev.Gandhiok@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:16.06.2020

For Deepa Gupta and her husband, Umesh Kumar Gupta, who both tested positive for Covid-19 in the first week of June, home quarantine was suggested because of their mild symptoms though the family was apprehensive of the care they would get at home.

Ten days into isolation at home, the family is appreciative of the way Delhi government is managing such patients. A doctor calls them three times a day and the subdivisional magistrate’s office makes daily enquiries too. Unable to step out of their house, they are grateful for phone calls asking about assistance in delivery of groceries and essentials.

Deepa, 55, and her 59-yearold husband live in Mayur Vihar. After a dog bite in May she visited the hospital a number of times for her antirabies injections. On May 25, after her third injection trip, Deepa developed a fever. “I thought the 99-100 degrees Fahrenheit temperature was a reaction to the rabies injections. Then on May 29, my husband too got fever and we felt there had to be something more than mere fever involved,” she told TOI on Monday.

The couple got tested on June 1 and got the results two days later. “At 11pm on June 3, we discovered we had Covid-19 and could not sleep,” said Deepa. “The doctor had already suggested medicines in case the results were positive. We took the prescribed vitamin C, B complex and Crocin 650 on June 4 and stayed indoors. On June 5, a team from the SDM’s office arrived and verified our details before putting up a quarantine poster outside our house. They asked us to remain in home quarantine till June 22.”

With Covid-designated hospitals — both private and government — straining under the load, Delhi government decided that all mild cases should be sent into quarantine at homes, with experts asked to monitor and enquire regularly about each case. When the Guptas downloaded the Aarogya Setu app, they found their names already listed as positive cases. The couple was instructed to stay away from each other, not to leave home and to rest as much as possible. The municipal corporation disinfected their apartment and its surroundings.

“Of the three calls we get daily, two are automated ones. But a doctor phones every evening to check our vitals and ascertain whether the symptoms have hardened,” disclosed Deepa. “We were provided oximeters three days ago and the doctor asks me for the readings each evening. Our fever subsided on June 5 and now we are practically asymptomatic.”

A 55-year-old home maker from New Ashok Nagar also tested positive on June 13. “The fever had disappeared, but since she was Covid-positive, she had to stay in home quarantine,” the woman’s daughter said. “After confirming our address on phone, a woman constable came the following day to verify the address. Then a medical team arrived to check her vitals before putting up a poster outside our house.”

On testing positive, the woman’s family was asked to call the Covid helpline number to register for home quarantine. “Our house was disinfected, and the doctor enquires regularly about changes or new symptoms,” the daughter said. “Other family members will only be tested if we develop symptoms. We have to inform the authorities if any of us show signs of corona infection.”

After their experience, Deepa Gupta said, “We were initially scared, but now want to share with others that home quarantine is nothing to be frightened of.” Umesh Gupta too has posted in detail on WhatsApp about the home quarantine process.

In a first, city couple gets a virtual divorce

In a first, city couple gets a virtual divorce

Aamir.Khan2@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:16.06.2020

In a first for Delhi, an estranged couple was allowed to go their separate ways by a city court through videoconferencing. During the divorce proceedings carried out through mutual consent, the man and woman gave a joint statement online and the soft copy of their signed statements was made a part of the court records.

While both the parties were at their respective places out of the city, their lawyer appeared from her workplace in Delhi. The entire proceedings were via videoconference, with even family court judge Deepak Garg and the court staff participating from their homes. “This may encourage others to get relief at the click of a button,” a source privy to the case stated.

Parting, virtually: Court unties the knot

The couple have amicably settled their disputes regarding maintenance and material exchange during the wedding. They also agreed to not initiate any litigation or raise any claim either against each other or any family member in future.

The man and woman got married in 2017 as per Hindu rites in Delhi, but started living separately a year later. They then filed the first motion under Section 13B (1) of the Hindu Marriage Act mutually agreeing that their marriage be dissolved. The couple’s subsequent motion was required to be filed for passing the decree of divorce. “I have heard the parties as well as their counsel through videoconferencing as working of courts is suspended due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Both the petitioners have been identified by their counsel Aanchal Tikmani,” the court observed in its order.

After going through the contents of their petition and their joint statement, which was recorded separately through videoconferencing, the court was satisfied that the divorce was filed with the couple’s mutual consent. “No force, coercion, fraud or undue influence has been committed upon them. The present petition has not been filed by them in collusion with each other,” it added.

On June 13, the Delhi high court inaugurated the e-filing facility allowing advocates and litigants to file court documents online at any time.

Bizman got himself killed so family could get ₹1cr insurance

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:16.06.2020

The investigation into the murder of a businessman has revealed that he had allegedly hired killers so that his family could get the benefits of his life insurance worth Rs 1 crore.

Police claimed that Gaurav Bansal, 40, a resident of east Delhi’s IP Extension, wanted to commit suicide, but couldn’t muster the courage to do so. He then planned his own murder and allegedly hired four killers, including a juvenile, after meeting them at Karkardooma village.

Three of the accused — identified by police as Manoj Yadav (21), a vegetable vendor, Suraj (18), a student, and Sumit (26), a tailor — have been arrested, according to DCP (Outer) A Koan.

The juvenile was tracked down from Bansal’s call records and social media profile, the DCP told TOI. It was found that he had got in touch with the juvenile on Facebook through a kin’s profile.

The accused told police that they initially planned to shoot him, but an arms dealer refused to sell a pistol to the juvenile. Bansal then bought them a rope to hang him. He allegedly convinced them that they were doing him and his family a favour and paid Rs 90,000 to them.

On the day of the crime, Bansal travelled to Mohan Garden to meet the juvenile and chose the spot where he would be killed.

In debt and out of cash, bizman was depressed

He asked them to tie his hands and keep his Aadhaar card near his body so that police could identify him easily. After the murder, the killers went back to Mohan Garden and diverted his phone to his brother-in-law’s number. They even called from another number to check whether it was active.

Bansal’s body was found hanging from a tree in outer Delhi’s Ranhola on June 10. Family members said that he went to his shop in Karkardooma on June 9, but didn’t return home. Later, they lodged a missing complaint at Anand Vihar police station.

A murder was reported around 8.30am on June 10 at Ranhola. The local police station received a call about a body hanging from a tree near a lake in Baprola. The body was identified by Bansal’s family.

Earlier, TOI had reported that Bansal could have been killed by at least two people who staged the murder as suicide by hanging the body from the tree. Later, police found that the hands were tied with a rope, an unusual act in case of suicide.

The preliminary investigation indicated a financial angle behind the murder as Bansal had been suffering heavy losses in his business for a few months. It was found that he had borrowed large sums from local moneylenders and couldn’t pay them due to the high interest rate. He started a business with his brother-in-law, but it didn’t do well either. He had recently opened a grocery store. Bansal’s wife is an LIC agent. Even he himself used to sell LIC policy apart from running a grocery store.

The businessman was reportedly in depression after fraudulent transactions worth Rs 3.5 lakh were made on his credit card. He had lodged a complaint with police regarding this. He had also undergone treatment for depression.

The preliminary investigation indicated a financial angle behind the murder as Bansal had been suffering heavy losses in his business for a few months

10K SEATS LOST IN 3YRS

AIADMK, MDMK too move HC for OBC quota in med courses

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:

Following the DMK’s petition in the Madras high court questioning the Centre’s denial of 50% quota for OBC students in All-India quota seats for admission to medical courses, the ruling AIADMK and MDMK too have moved the high court.

Tamil Nadu law minister C Ve Shanmugam has moved the plea on behalf of the AIADMK. MDMK founder Vaiko has also moved a similar petition on behalf of his party challenging the decision of the Centre in not providing the reservation.

According to the AIADMK, even under the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admissions) Act, 2006, OBCs must be provided 27% reservation. But even this has been denied in the admissions to medical courses, it said. “Under All India Quota, 8,137 postgraduate medical seats were available in 2019. If the 27% reservation rule is applied, OBCs should have got 2,197 seats but only 224 seats were allotted in non-central institutions,” the petition said.

“The Centre is following neither its own Act which mandates 27% OBC reservation, nor that of the state to provide 50% reservation. This has resulted in OBCs being robbed of 10,000 seats in the past three years and many more during the preceding years,” the petition said.

Claiming that it was the party’s founder and former chief minister MGR who increased the reservation for OBCs from 31% to 50% in Tamil Nadu, and that former chief minister J Jayalalithaa was instrumental in enacting the Tamil Nadu Backward Classes Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation  of Seats in Educational Institutions and of Appointments or Posts in the Services under the State) Act, 1993, the petitioner wanted the court to direct the Centre to provide 50% reservation for OBCs in All India Quota for the academic year 2020-21.

The parties have moved HC since the Supreme Court refused hearing pleas moved by them. It had, however, granted liberty to approach the HC.

Loss of smell & taste’ symptom; no HCQ for severely ill patients

Loss of smell & taste’ symptom; no HCQ for severely ill patients

Sushmi Dey@timesgroup.com

India has revised the protocol for clinical management of Covid-19 to include “loss of smell and taste” to the list of nine other symptoms and has also allowed use of investigational therapies like Remdesivir and off-label use of Tocilizumab and convalescent plasma therapy on specific groups of patients.

Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) continues as a repurposed drug but the new protocol suggests its use should be avoided in severely ill patients. The Centre’s revised clinical management protocol, however, has dropped antibiotic Azithromycin which was earlier suggested along with HCQ for serious Covid-19 patients.

Loss of smell and taste has been added to the list of symptoms after many patients were identified with such conditions in the initial stage. Many other health bodies across the world have also of late included this as a symptom of Covid-19 infection. Loss of smell and taste have been added as symptoms in addition to fever, cough, fatigue, shortness of breath, myalgia, rhinorrhea, expectoration, sore throat and diarrhoea