Caste, religious factors delay VC pick

CALICUT UNIVERSITY

Caste, religious factors delay VC pick

Rajeev.KR@timesgroup.com

Kozhikode: 20.06.2020

The delay in appointing the new Calicut University vice-chancellor has brought to fore the spectacle of various caste and religious organisations coming out in the open in support of the different shortlisted candidates.

Governor and chancellor Arif Mohammed Khan is yet to make a final decision even 26 days after the three-member search committee submitted two separate lists to him.

The university has recently seen protests by the Campus Front and Fraternity Movement, saying the ‘varsity doesn’t want a Sangh Parivar VC’.

Meanwhile, the state committee of the All India Confederation of SC/ST Organisations has petitioned the governor demanding the appointment of C A Jayaprakash, principal scientist at the Central Tuber Crops Research Institute, Thiruvananthapuram. Jayaprakash belongs to the SC community and tops the list submitted by search committee member and Jawaharlal Nehru University vice chancellor M Jagadeesh Kumar. The Kerala Pulaya Maha Sabha also came out in support of Jayaprakash.

This was after the state government and UGC representative in the search committee backed two different candidates in the lists submitted to the governor on May 18.

The state government had backed Prof K M Seethi of the School of International Relations and Politics at the Mahatma Gandhi University who was preferred by two search committee members –– planning board vice chairman V K Ramachandran and the then chief secretary, Tom Jose.

Higher education minister K T Jaleel, too, had conveyed to the governor the state government's preference for Seethi. However, Seethi retired from service on May 28 after turning 60, the age limit for being selected as VC.

It is learnt that the state government has conveyed to the governor that Seethi is eligible since he was below 60 years of age at the time of submitting application.

Meanwhile, the BJP and RSS had been lobbying for Jayaprakash, leaving the governor to make a choice between the two.

“It is unfortunate that the selection to the top academic post in a varsity is being dragged to the streets on the basis of extraneous considerations like religion, caste and politics,” said syndicate member Rasheed Ahammed.

Govt staff’s salary doubled in last seven years: Report

Govt staff’s salary doubled in last seven years: Report

Pensions Eat Up Expenditure Too: Committee

KP.Saikiran@timesgroup.com

Thiruvananthapuram: 20.06.2020

An interim report submitted by a committee appointed by government to rationalize revenue expenditure in the state has found that salaries, pensions and interest payments form around 70% of total revenue expenditure of the state. The salaries of government employees alone forms 30% of the expenditure, and these three components together contributed to 51% of the increase in total revenue expenditure of the state in the last 10 years.

The report, prepared by the team led by Centre for Development Studies director Sunil Mani, has found that the average salary of a state government employee has almost doubled over the last seven years, from Rs 25, 458 per month in 2011-12 to Rs 49, 657 per month in 2018-19.

The salary accruing to teachers at aided colleges, schools and polytechnics account for about a third of the total salary bill of the state, though there has been a significant decline in the growth rate of the salary in this sector, the committee found. The pensions are eating up a significant revenue expenditure too. While the state has only 46% population when compared to Tamil Nadu, which has the highest absolute amount of pension payments among the states, Kerala’s absolute pension figures are 69% of that of Tamil Nadu, the committee observed.

Around 65% of publicsector employees are concentrated in education, police and public health, of which the education sector alone forms 46% of the total number of government employees. The committee found that around 25,000 people join the state government service every year, and if the state government consider paying only 75% of the emoluments during the probation period, around Rs 66 crore can be saved.

According to the budget figures for 2020-21, the state is estimated to spend Rs 73,845 crore on payment of salaries, pensions, and interest. This is 4% higher than the revised estimate of 2019-20 (Rs 70,903 crore). These committed liabilities eat up 64% of the state’s revenue receipts.

The committee also found that a lot of built-up spaces are lying unused under government departments and organisations. An inventory of all properties under with government should be maintained and unutilized spaces can be used optimally across departments and organisations instead of taking new office spaces on lease. The recent decision of the government to occupy a new space in a private building on lease for Rebuild Kerala Initiative had invited staunch criticism.

HC notice to govt on pension ordinance

HC notice to govt on pension ordinance

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

TOI Hyderabad  20.06.2020

The Telangana high court on Friday issued a notice to the state government, asking it to explain its stand in three weeks to a petition filed by retired forest officer G Raman Goud.

He was challenging the recent ordinance of the government, imposing cuts in retired employees’ pension.

A bench of Chief Justice Raghavendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy asked the government to file its counter in three weeks.

Appearing for the petitioner, senior counsel S Satyam Reddy told the court that the government’s action is without the sanction of law.

The judges, however, sought to know from Satyam as to how the action of the state was unlawful when Article 213 of the Constitution allows a state government and governor to promulgate such an ordinance when the legislative assemblies are not in session.

“As the ordinance violates the fundamental rights of individuals, it cannot be termed lawful,” Satyam said. To this, the bench said that during a pandemic period, there would be a clash between the larger public good and individual rights and ultimately it is the former that takes precedence over the latter.

The senior counsel insisted that the government could use such powers only during emergencies and not when no such emergency was declared by the government.

Advocate general BS Prasad sought eight weeks’ time to file the counter. But, the bench gave three weeks.

Petitioner’s counsel S Satyam Reddy insisted that the government could use such powers only during emergencies and not when no such emergency was declared by the government

As cases rise, several states go slow on data

As cases rise, several states go slow on data

Atul Thakur & Rema Nagarajan  20.06.2020

The data on Covid-19 in India put out on a daily basis by the Centre and states is severely limited, with few states being notable exceptions. Among the states, the worst offenders are Uttar Pradesh and Jammu & Kashmir, which release no daily data online as well as Delhi, Telangana, Jharkhand and Assam, which give only the bare minimum.

The Union health ministry gives only cumulative data on cases, deaths, active cases and the recovered on a particular date for various states, but without any time series showing the disease’s progression. The district-wise data it used to put out earlier is no longer released.

Like the Centre, Delhi too has regressed over time.

Earlier, the Delhi government’s daily bulletins gave details of the number of hospitalised cases including a break-up of how many were in ICU, on ventilators and the numbers being treated in the various government and private hospitals. It also gave hospital-wise death data and the number of new cases.

Public data has shrunk to a single page

From a two-page detailed bulletin, data in the public domain has shrunk to a single page with hospital-wise data, age group wise case fatality rate and other such details disappearing.

Karnataka puts out the most detailed data right down to the taluk level, followed by Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. While most states have dedicated websites linked from the health ministry site for sharing all Covid-related data, in Uttar Pradesh there is no data in the public domain. The data is shared with the media by the information department but cannot be accessed in any one place by the public. Bihar too has no website with all the data in one place. Instead, whatever data is shared is tweeted every day.

With most states providing either only cumulative data or only details of the day in their daily bulletins, anyone seeking to analyse the data has to do so by collating the data from each state’s daily bulletins or updates. Barring Karnataka, the district is the lowest administrative unit for which Covid data is available. There is no official centralised database for districts and no district-wise cumulative data even at the state-level.

Andhra Pradesh used to give district and mandal/taluk-wise data, but stopped doing so about a month ago. In Madhya Pradesh too, the amount of information given has been curbed. Earlier, information on availability of test kits used to be given, but that has been stopped.

Full report on www.toi.in

States must give test results to patient: SC

States must give test results to patient: SC

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:  20.06.2020

The Supreme Court on Friday termed the Maharashtra government’s decision not to provide a copy of Covid-19 test result to the patient or his/her relative “illogical” and directed other states not to follow the same example.

A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, Sanjay Kishan Kaul and M R Shah said it was strange on the part of the Maharashtra government to deny a copy of the test report to a patient if it showed that he/she was found positive. Solicitor general Tushar Mehta said, “There is no logic behind this decision. If one undergoes a test, he/she has a right to know the result of the test. When a report of the patient is positive, the same shall be given to the patient or his relatives.”

Taking steps to stop other states from emulating Maharashtra’s example, the bench said, “We have no doubt that states and all concerned shall supply a copy of the report of the patient to him or his relatives and the hospital.” The SC ordered that a copy of the application, which pointed out Maharashtra’s decision, be given to the SG and the counsel for the state.

Full report on www.toi.in

Health workers taking saliva of Bengaluru cops for Covid test on Friday

SC: Review call on -ve certificates for expats

The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Kerala government and the foreign ministry to consider a complaint against Kerala’s decision making Covid negative certificate mandatory for those flying in to the state from abroad by chartered flights. The petitioner questioned the June 11 order which said that starting June 20, all passengers boarding flights to Kerala should have a Covid-19 negative certificate. TNN

Girl without smartphone fails to attend online classes, kills herself

Girl without smartphone fails to attend online classes, kills herself

Rupak Banerjee TNN

Howrah: 20.06.2020

A Class X girl committed suicide in Howrah’s Nischinda on Thursday evening for not being able to attend her school’s online classes as she didn’t have a computer or a smartphone. The deceased, Shibani Kumari Sau (16), was found hanging in her room at Nischinda’s Rajchandrapur. No suicide note was found in the room.

Her father Santu Sau, a truck owner-cum-driver, said Shibani studied in an English-medium school in Bally. “She was my youngest child. Before lockdown 1.0, my wife, my eldest son and I went to our native home in Bihar’s Samastipur. Shibani and my other son Shivom stayed back at Nischinda. The siblings shared a smartphone, which got damaged after it accidentally fell from Shivom’s hand on March 26. They could not get it repaired during the lockdown.”

“Shibani’s online classes commenced 10 days ago. She feared she would fail for being unable to attend online classes and was very depressed. She called me on Wednesday from another mobile phone — a push-button handset and infor med me of her concer ns. I told her that I would get back to Nischinda and buy her a smartphone. I asked her not to get disheartened and gather the class notes she had missed from her classmates. I obviously couldn’t drive it into her,” Santu said.

On Thursday, Shivom left for his cricket practice after lunch. On returning around 6pm, he grew suspicious after Shibani didn’t open the door despite his repeated knocks. On looking through a window, he was shocked to see her hanging from a door panel inside.

A police officer said, “An investigation has started. We haven’t found a suicide note. Preliminary investigation shows the girl took her life out of depression over not being able to pursue her studies.”

A probe has started. We haven’t found a suicide note. Preliminary investigation shows the girl took her life out of depression over not being able to pursue her studies, said police

Jain’s condition worsens, plasma therapy likely

Jain’s condition worsens, plasma therapy likely

DurgeshNandan.Jha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:  20.06.2020

State health minister Satyendar Jain, who was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Super Specialty hospital for Covid-19 treatment two days ago, was shifted to a private healthcare facility as his condition deteriorated on Friday.

In his CT scan, doctors found that lung infection and pneumonia had increased. Jain had been feeling very tired and giddy since the morning, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday while commenting about the 55-year-old’s condition.

Sources said he would be undergoing plasma therapy at Max Smart, Saket, where he is currently admitted. He has been kept in the ICU and is not able to maintain oxygen saturation despite full oxygen support. “His condition isn’t critical, but he needs continuous monitoring. Also, we feel plasma therapy may help him recover faster,” said a source.

Max Healthcare didn’t issue any official statement on the minister’s condition or treatment plan. However, sources confirmed that plasma therapy was planned to be administered on Friday night itself. “The hospital will use plasma stored in the blood bank,” said a source.

Covid-19 is known to damage lung function in severe cases. Oxygen support is necessitated when a patient is not able to breathe on his or her own. In rare cases, ventilator support is also needed. If the patient’s lung function deteriorates further, it has a cascading effect on other organs and sometimes leads to death.

Plasma therapy, many doctors believe, helps reduce the severity of the disease, thus saving lives. As people fight the novel coronavirus infection, they produce antibodies that attack the virus. These antibodies are secreted by immune cells known as B lymphocytes, which is found in plasma or liquid part of the blood and helps in clotting when needed, and supports immunity.

A person who recovers from the infection develops antibodies that stay in the blood waiting to fight the virus should it return. The concept behind administering plasma therapy is that the antibodies present in the blood of a patient who has recovered from the disease may help those fighting it. One person’s donation of plasma can help two people.

“Plasma therapy isn’t new. It was used on an experimental basis even during the devastating 1918 flu, apart from treating measles in the 1930s. More recently, plasma therapy has been used to treat victims of Ebola, SARS and H1N1 influenza,” said a doctor.

This year, an early review of five critically ill Covid-19 patients in China found that they appeared to improve after receiving convalescent plasma. Many medical institutions across India are also conducting trials.

In Satyendar Jain’s CT scan, doctors found that lung infection and pneumonia had increased