Online university tests ‘discriminatory’: Kapil Sibal

Online university tests ‘discriminatory’: Kapil Sibal

New Delhi: 04.06.2020

Universities should not conduct examinations in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and even holding online tests is not right as it is 'discriminatory' towards poor students, former human resource development minister Kapil Sibal said on Sunday.

The senior Congress leader also said that with almost half the 2020-21 academic year of schools over without proper classes due to the Covid-19 spread, board examinations for Class X should not be held next year as it would burden the students unnecessarily.

“What has happened is that half the year has been lost and we don't know how long this pandemic will continue. There is no need for Class 10 board exams for a while for these two years -- this year and next year --and then they could relook at this policy,” Sibal said.

Sibal, who as the HRD minister had spearheaded a reforms process in the education sector under which it was decided to abolish compulsory CBSE Board exams for Class X, said it was a sensible policy to have been followed but when the NDA came to power they reversed that.

“Thank god they have listened to some sane advice and they have cancelled the board exams. Consider the impact it would have had, especially on the poor students who don't have access to any online facilities,” said Sibal, who was the HRD Minister from May 2009-October 2012 in the UPA-II government.

“Quite frankly even university exams should be postponed,” Sibal said.

Till such time there is a pandemic, there should be no exams and holding online examinations will be 'extremely discriminatory' because in a lot of places in India, in remote areas, there was no facility for online examinations and the poor would be discriminated against, he said. AGENCIES

‘Fake news’: Bharat Biotech rubbishes viral forward on VP getting COVAXIN

‘Fake news’: Bharat Biotech rubbishes viral forward on VP getting COVAXIN

A post circulating on social media claimed that Bharat Biotech’s Vice President DR VK Srinivas is the first person in India to be administered COVAXIN.

NEWS FAKE NEWS FRIDAY, JULY 03, 2020 - 20:40

TNM Staff Follow @thenewsminute

Bharat Biotech on Friday rubbished social media posts doing the rounds claiming their Vice President DR VK Srinivas is the first person in India to be administered COVAXIN, the vaccine against the novel coronavirus developed by the firm. 

A post doing the rounds on social media on Friday claimed that the Vice President of Bharat Biotech, Dr VK Srinivas is the first person in India to take the COVAXIN vaccine. The post intended to show that the employees of the firm have full faith in the vaccine developed by them. 

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has set a deadline of August 15, 2020 for COVAXIN, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, to be made available to the public. ICMR had partnered with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop the vaccine derived from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. The clinical trials are expected to begin only by July 7.

However social media posts doing the rounds read, "Dr V. K.Srinivas, Vice President, Bharat biotech, taking a clinical trial of Corona vaccine.He said that he is the first person in India to take vaccine developed by him & his team. Look at the confidence that they have in their product." 

The post also has a photo attached showing a nurse and a man. The picture shows the nurse collecting blood samples from a man but has been wrongfully attributed as the nurse administering the vaccine intravenously. 

In a statement to the media, Bharat Biotech said, “This is not true. This image is routine procedural blood drawn for testing all our production staff. You can see the black band on his arm. A classic case of fake news circulation in WhatsApp.”

Another firm Zydus Cadila has also come out with a vaccine 'ZyCoV-D' which has received permission to initiate phase I and II of human clinical trials in India.

Why did police take TN father-son duo to jail 109 km away?

Why did police take TN father-son duo to jail 109 km away?

Kovilpatti Sub-jail May Hold Some Dark Secrets In Jeyaraj-Beniks Custodial Death Case

A.Subramani @timesgroup.com

Chennai: 04.06.2020

Several questions remain unanswered in the horrific Jeyaraj-Beniks custodial murder narrative, and one particularly dark part is the health condition during their stay in Kovilpatti sub-jail.

The father-son duo spent 15 hours at the Sathankulam police station and two nights inside the sub-jail. Jeyaraj spent an additional night at Kovilpatti government hospital, but did not live to see the next dawn.

Jeyaraj was probably the only eyewitness outside the police and prison circles to his son’s lock-up torture as borne out by medical records. He, too, was bleeding.

Why was no step taken to rush him either to a hospital along with his ‘ill’ son, or to a safer place in view of his status as the sole direct eyewitness to the treatment his son was subjected? That makes Jeyaraj’s death more intriguing than his son’s.

Did Jeyaraj and Beniks get timely and adequate medical treatment inside the Kovilpatti sub-jail for the injuries suffered during their detention at Sathankulam police station? Obviously, no. Beniks died within 75 minutes of being taken to the Kovilpatti government hospital on June 22 and Jeyaraj died within seven hours after being taken to the same hospital. Their delayed admission in Kovilpatti government hospital defies every logic.

The two men, with gluteal injuries ostensibly due to lathi blows, were admitted to the Kovilpatti sub-jail at 2.30 pm on June 20, 2020. It was at 7.45 pm on June 22 – after two nights in the jail – that Beniks was taken to the hospital, only to be declared ‘expired’ at 9 pm.

Even the ‘hospitalisation’ and the subsequent death of Beniks did not spur the sub-jail personnel to rush Jeyaraj for a medical check-up. Jeyaraj was kept in the jail for about 90 minutes after his son died, and till he ‘complained’ of some health problem. Admitted to the hospital at 10.30 pm on June 22, he was declared ‘expired’ at 5.40 am the next day.

Questions are also being raised about why the two were driven all the way to Kovilpatti sub-jail located 109 km from Sathankulam, though there were at least three jails, including Palayamkottai central jail, which were nearer? Remanding magistrate B Saravanan did not specify that the two should be taken to a far-off jail. While Tuticorin is about 60 km away, Tiruchendur is just 33 km away. The Palayamkottai central jail is about 48k m.

Veterans among police and prosecution refuse to believe that an FIR could be registered against someone for delaying closure of their shop during the lockdown. They say third-degree treatment meted out to Jeyaraj and Beniks is disproportionate to their alleged ‘offence’ which is delayed closure of shop or arguing with policemen. The fact that they were driven more than 100 km to be lodged in a sub-jail (Kovilpatti facility is headed by a sub-inspector-grade superintendent, a head constable-grade head warder and four warders of constable-grade) where they die of ‘sudden illness’ after two nights adds another layer to the mystery.

P Jeyaraj (right) and his son Fennix spent 15 hours at the Sathankulam police station and two nights in the sub-jail.

Group ready to hand over med college to govt

Group ready to hand over med college to govt

Ramavarman T TNN

Thrissur: 04.06.2020

The NRK group, led by Dr Azad Moopen, has expressed its willingness to hand over DM WIMS medical college and other institutions at Meppadi in Wayanad to the government. The government has formed a seven-member committee to study the infrastructure and other aspects of the institutions.

The order issued by principal secretary Rajan N Khobragade said the panel will be headed by Dr Viswanathan from Thiruvananthapuram MCH and CJ Anitha will be the chairperson of technical committee. The order added that chartered accountant S Suresh Babu, member of the fee regulatory committee, will study the books, accounts and balance sheet of DM WIMS institutions and prepare a valuation report regarding movable and immovable assets.

Director of medical education Dr Remla Beevi said the committee will submit a report within three weeks. “Committee has been appointed primarily to evaluate whether it will be feasible to take over the institutions and at what cost,” she said.

The panel was constituted after Dr Moopen wrote a letter in this regard on June 5, 2020.DM Foundation has not given a clarification and sources in the group said it will issue one on Saturday.

But, leaders of Kerala Private Medical College Management Association said all 23 private medical colleges in state are battling financial crisis and many will have to be closed down or taken over by the government. Kerala Medical College, Cherpulassery has shut while SR Medical College, Varkala is on the verge of closure and admissions remain suspended at Kannur Anjarakandy medical college.

Association president Dr KM Navas and secretary Anilkumar Vallil blamed the government fee structure for the crisis. They said Rs 6-7 crore was need each month to run a medical college with 150 seats and the annual fee should be Rs 10-Rs 12 lakh/student. Government has fixed fee at Rs 6-7 lakh/student.

State planning board member Dr B Ekbal said financial crisis of DM WIMS medical institutions need not be the reason for the proposal. At present, there is no government medical college in Wayanad and government was exploring the possibility of setting up one there, he said, refuting the complaint of private medical colleges.

Government has formed a panel to study the infrastructure and other aspects of DM WIMS medical college and other institutions in Wayanad

HC notice to govt over med officers’ recruitment

HC notice to govt over med officers’ recruitment

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jaipur: 04.06.2020

The Rajasthan High Court while issuing a notice to the state government stayed the condition of procuring certificate of registration from the medical council of Rajasthan for applying to the post of medical officer.

The court also asked the government to include the petitioners provisionally in the selection process. The single bench of Justice Ashok Kumar Gaur issued the order on a petition by Sachin Mehta.

Nitish Bagri, counsel for the petitioner, said, the state government had issued advertisement for the recruitment of 2,000 medical officers in June this year. The petitioners are currently pursuing their internship training programme. The Rajasthan Medical Council had issued them provisional registration certificates and the permanent registration certificate was to be issued only after completion of the aforesaid one-year internship.

They were aggrieved by a supplementary condition in the recruitment notification on June 2 this year whereby the candidates could only be termed as qualified on the ground that they procure permanent registration certificate issued by the Rajasthan Medical Council, on or before the examination date July 12, which was challenged in the court.

India records over 23,500 cases on Friday; 446 deaths

India records over 23,500 cases on Friday; 446 deaths

Recovery Rate Has However Crossed 60%

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 04.06.2020

The Covid-19 pandemic continued to surge in the country as fresh cases rose to another record high on Friday, with over 23,500 reported during the day. With more than 22,000 new infections on Thursday, India’s coronavirus caseload has jumped by about 45,500 in just two days. The death toll from the virus has risen to 18,662 with 446 fatalities recorded on Friday.

Covid-19 cases in the country stood at 6,49,708, having crossed the 6 lakh mark just two days ago, as per data collated from state governments. Meanwhile, the recovery rate crossed 60%, with more than 3.93 lakh patients having been declared cured.

As many as 23,526 new cases were reported on Friday. The spike was again led by Maharashtra, which recorded a new high of 6,364 infections. At least seven other states reported their biggest single-day jump in cases, led by a massive increase of 1,892 in Telangana and 1,694 in Karnataka. The others were Uttar Pradesh (972 new cases), Gujarat (687), Bengal  (669), Odisha (561) and Kerala  (211).

Tamil Nadu became the second state in the country to cross the 1-lakh mark in total cases, reporting its second highest count of 4,329 on Friday. Delhi’s reported 2,520 cases, taking its caseload to over 94,600.

The southern states together accounted for nearly 9,000 fresh cases (8,987 to be precise), on the back of a major surge of the pandemic in the region since the past few days.

For the second day in a row, Maharashtra added over 6,000 cases to its Covid-19 tally. Friday’s 6,364 cases are the highest so far in a day, beating the previous high of 6,330 cases on Thursday. With this, the total number of cases in the state is now 1,92,990.

Maharashtra added 198 deaths on Friday, of which 150 were from the last 48 hours and 48 from previous days. The case fatality rate of the state as on Friday was 4.34%.

Continuing with its addition of a large number of cases, the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (not counting Mumbai) reported 3,041, nearly 50% of the daily addition of cases in the state. Mumbai added 1,338 cases.

Tamil Nadu, 118 days after the first Covid-19 case was reported in the state, crossed the 100,000-mark on Friday, with an addition of 4,329 cases. The total count stands at 1,02,721 cases. Fatalities in the state rose to 1,385 as 64 more deaths were reported. Chennai, which is the worsthit city in the state, recorded 2,082 new cases, taking its tally to 64,689, while 33 deaths took the city’s toll closer to 1000-mark. On Friday, the official toll reached 996.

Karnataka on Friday reported its biggest single-day spike of 1,694 new cases, taking the total number of infections in the state to 19,710, the health department said. The state also recorded 21 fatalities pushing the death toll to 293. As many as 994 of the new cases were from Bengaluru.

BBMP personnel and ASHA workers sanitise the streets and stores near Kammanhalli in Bengaluru on Friday

No clarity on university exams yet, but students asked to pay the fee Colleges Charge Fee Up To ₹2K, Students Fume

No clarity on university exams yet, but students asked to pay the fee

Colleges Charge Fee Up To ₹2K, Students Fume

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: 04.06.2020

Though a decision on conducting university examinations in the state is pending, many colleges and state universities continue to charge examination fee from students.

While hearing a case on the common entrance tests (CETs) on June 30, the Telangana high court sought to know from the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) and state universities whether they want to do away with the undergraduate and postgraduate exams for now. The bench asked TSCHE and the universities to respond to it by July 9.

Students, however, raised concerns over the higher education institutions’ move to collect exam fee without any clarity on whether the exams will be held or not. Many colleges and universities have issued notification seeking payment of exam fee in the range of ₹500 to ₹2,000. In the absence of clear guidelines from the government on resumption of classes, the move has irked students.

“The university is constantly extending the last date for payment of examination fee. On the notification, it clearly states that fee once paid cannot be refunded or adjusted for any future examination,” said Vamshi Reddy, a management student. He raised concerns over refund by the universities and colleges if the examination is postponed/cancelled.

Students have called for boycott of exam fee until there is clarity from the TSCHE or universities on the examination.

“If the universities decide to promote all the students based on their average marks of first seven semesters then what is the point of collecting exam fee? When there are no guidelines on resumption of online classes or on exams, how can the universities charge exam fee?” asked Venkat Balmoor, president, National Students Union of India, Telangana unit.

Officials from state universities refused to comment on the subject as the matter is subjudice and said that their response will be submitted in court.