Jobless brothers offer to perform online ‘qurbani’

Jobless brothers offer to perform online ‘qurbani’

Mohammed Makhdum and Mohammed Saleem have offered to conduct the sacrifice on Bakri Eid with all approvals for those who cannot

 Jyoti Punwani

mirrorfeedback@timesgroup.com

TWEETS @MumbaiMirror

27.07.2020

Forced to sit at home without earning anything since March, two brothers in Nallasopara have seized an opportunity presented by the lockdown – one that’s linked to their religious duty, too. With the state government’s insistence on online purchase of goats for Bakri Eid, Mohammed Makhdum and his brother are offering to conduct the entire sacrifice – from buying the goat to distributing the meat – for others who cannot, with all approvals done online.

“This is qurbani, part of our religion. The customer trusts me with performing his religious duty. Honesty and transparency have to be the basis of our dealings,” says Makhdum, a civil engineering graduate from Saboo Siddik College, who lost his job with Omkar Realtors when they faced financial ruin last year. Since then, the EMIs on his housing loan have been mounting, and banks are no longer willing to wait. Makhdum supports his wife and two school going children.

Makhdum’s younger brother, Mohammed Saleem, who lives with their parents, had just landed his first job as an architect when the lockdown began. His office has since been shut, and he has been unable to help his parents pay their electricity bill or rent.

The brothers’ offer, sent to a few acquaintances on WhatsApp, entails selecting a goat at the Nallasopara market, sending a video of it to the customer, and then finalising the price. If the customer approves, they will buy the goat and look after it till it is sacrificed, and then distribute the meat to the needy in Nallasopara. Charges for all this will be conveyed to the customer at the outset. All payments will be online, with the option of paying the goatseller directly.

If the customer is able to come to Nallasopara, the ‘qurbani’ will be performed in front of him, and he can take away the meat. If not, the customer can see the sacrifice being performed through a video call. The ‘qurbani’ will be done at the home of the eldest of the three brothers, where social distancing is possible. Employed in a co-operative bank in South Mumbai, he too has been grounded through the lockdown because of the lack of public transport.

As prices in Nallasopara are high – a goat sells for Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000; a butcher charges Rs 2,000 per goat – Makhdum has tied up with a friend who lives in a village near Patna where everything is cheaper. For those choosing to have the ‘qurbani’ done in Bihar, there’s an additional advantage, besides the price – the men who will cut and clean the animal are those rendered jobless by the lockdown. They have been training at butchers’ shops hoping to use their new skills for Bakri Eid.

“Who knows, if the response is enough, a few of these men may end up setting up their own meat shops there,’’ says Makhdum, who till three years back could afford to perform the Bakri Eid ‘qurbani’ for himself. He no longer can, but doing it for others would give him the same satisfaction.

“We are not wealthy, yet we can’t imagine standing in line for free rations or asking for charity,”’ says Makhdum. “This is an honourable way to earn enough at least to pay off our bills and EMIs. If we succeed, we can start home delivery of vegetables.”

After 13 years, college says professor’s degree fake

After 13 years, college says professor’s degree fake

St Xavier’s Technical Institute’s complaint states original BE mark sheets were tampered with; teacher has been unreachable since January this year

Vallabh Ozarkar and Rahi Gaikwad@timesgroup.com

TWEETS @MumbaiMirror

27.07.2020 

The St Xavier’s Technical Institute, Mahim, a wellknown institution in the city for technical courses, has filed a police complaint against a lecturer working there for the past 13 years for allegedly submitting fake mark sheets at the time of appointment.

The institute’s principal, Dr Shivaji B Ghungrad, submitted a statement to the police alleging that Manish Khobragade, a lecturer at the institute, gave mark sheets for Bachelorof Engineering (BE) from Swami Ramanand Teerth Marathwada University (SRTMU), which were found to have been tampered with during an official verification process.

The institute’s governing body decided to file a case against the teacher after the institute received no clarification from Khobragade after multiple reminders and a waiting period of eight months.

Ghungrad said in his complaint that Khobragade had been unreachable since January this year.

Mirror did not get any response to calls made to Khobragade available with the institute and to messages on social media and email.

The police on Friday registered an FIR under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for forgery and cheating. “The documents are forged as per the complainant and we have taken all the relevant documents for further probe,” a police officer said.

Khobragade joined the institute as lecturer on March 8, 2006. As per his application for the post of lecturer in 2005, he completed his BE on August 10, 2002, from SRTMU.

While examining his record of 13 years, Ghungrad found that he had taken unpaid leave of 340 days in his 13 years of service.

According to his complaint, he asked Khobragade for his original documents of educational qualifications, but he avoided submitting and cited family commitments and illness as the reasons for taking additional leave.

The complaint cites a report from SRTMU dated December 17, 2018, submitted to the institute, which states that the original mark sheets of second, third and final year, which Khobragade gave to the university as part of the verification process, were found to be tampered with.

“He was working as a lecturer in our college. Recently he had complained to me that he was up for a promotion. I then told him to submit the original documents. He has not only cheated the institute, but also played with the future of students,” Ghungrad said.

“However, he did not submit the documents, and that made us suspicious. After some days, he submitted the documents, which we sent to the concerned university for verification. The university replied that there was no such candidate and the mark sheet was forged. He has not reported for duty for the past sixseven months. He has disconnected all his numbers and has become incommunicado.”

The complaint cites other discrepancies, such as in the character certificate submitted by Khobragade, the term ‘TE’ (third year of engineering) has been changed to ‘BE’ (bachelor of engineering).

Khobragade also avoided submitting his originals during an assessment process by the Directorate of Technical Education and the All India Council for Technical Education.

The institute also pointed out that Khobragade had not submitted experience certificates at the time of his appointment despite citing work experience of six years and one month in his application. “This suggests that he was employed at the time of completing his degree or that his work experience is false,” the complaint states.

Khobragade’s social media profile states: “Worked at St Xavier’s Technical Institute.” It also states he studied at the same institute. There is no mention of SRTMU.

The principal’s complaint also said there were nearly 200 complaints from students against him expressing dissatisfaction with his teachingand that Khobragade had made complaints against the institute in the past.

The institute has started his termination process.

Kevembu University

Covaxin human trial 2nd phase at PGIMS from today

150 VOLUNTEERS

Covaxin human trial 2nd phase at PGIMS from today

Sat Singh TNN

Rohtak: 26.07.2020

A week after human trial of Covaxin — the country’s foremost vaccine candidate for Covid-19 — started at Rohtak’s Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (PGIMS), it got approval from Data Safety Monitoring Board to start the second phase of the trial from Saturday.

The board studied the reports of all people who underwent trial and after satisfaction with the progress, permission was given to initiate the second phase, said Dr Savita Verma, who is also the principal investigator of the study. Covaxin was given to volunteers in Rohtak on July 17 and after it showed no adverse impact the second phase of the trial was given the go-ahead.

Dr Verma said till date PGIMS Rohtak has administered covaxin to 26 subjects.

Covaxin has been developed by the Hyderabad-based pharmaceutical firm Bharat Biotech in collaboration with National Institute of Virology (NIV) and Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

In the second phase, they would conduct trials on more number of subjects upon finding their samples as per criteria but the number is not fixed.

PGIMS pharmacology department professor Ramesh Verma said in the second phase of trial-1, Covaxin would be given to 30 more new subjects and their second dose would follow after two weeks.

The effect of the vaccine are being assessed for two things — generation of antibodies after administration of the vaccine and any adverse reaction caused by it, said the professor.

“All the subjects at PGIMS Rohtak who voluntarily came forward are in the pink of their health and fine,” Dr Verma said, adding that doctors were calling all the people part of the trial twice in the day and inquiring about their health.

On how long it would take to prove the efficacy of the vaccine, Dr Verma said blood samples of the trial subjects would be taken after 28 days to assess how many antibodies they had developed against the coronavirus.

“If the antibodies are produced in good numbers, it would prove that the vaccine is doing its job perfectly. The first part ie it does not have any side effect is also proved with no adverse effect reported so far on the subjects,” the two professors added.

Rohtak has 150 volunteers who want to take part in the trial for the vaccine.

“In the screening process, the volunteers who are healthy and do n’t have chronic illness or diabetes like diseases would be given a chance to be part of the trial process,” they added.

50% more students to review answer scripts this year

50% more students to review answer scripts this year

After Poor Scores Under New Question Format

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:26.07.2020

Following poor scores in Class XII state board exams, science stream students are eager to see their evaluated answer scripts this year. Schools say the number of applications seeking copy of answer scripts will increase up to 50% this year. Already, many schools in the city witnessed more applications compared to the previous year.

The number of students scoring above 570 out of 600 in Class XII science stream has come down drastically this year following the revised syllabus and new question paper pattern for higher secondary. Many students are eager to see their evaluated answer scripts before applying for revaluation.

Hazel Shirley Sharon J, a student from Chennai, said she had applied for copies of her Chemistry and English answer sheets. She scored 87 and 88 in the two subjects respectively. "I feel I got four to five marks less in every subject. In maths, I expected 97, but got only 93. In Chemistry and English, my marks went below 90. I am confident I would get above 90 in these two subjects," she said.

Another student Hananiah Shadrach has applied for a copy of Physics and Chemistry answer scripts. “I was expecting a centum in physics, but got 91 marks. In Chemistry, I was expecting 98 but scored 89. So, I wanted to see how the answer sheets were evaluated,” he said.

He further said students have scored very low marks in English and language papers and many may apply for answer sheets in these subjects as well.

M D Purushothoman, a postgraduate maths teacher from a city school, said scoring high marks is difficult in the new question paper pattern. “Students earlier used to get marks for steps even if the final answer was wrong in the 10 marks section, but the present question paper pattern do not have descriptive questions. Around 30% of the questions are application oriented, which makes scoring very difficult,” he said.

City schools said many science group students have sought copy of answer scripts on the first two days. “More students want to apply for Physics and Mathematics this year. In general, students who have scored 10 to 15 less than what they had expected in Physics want to apply for revaluation. So, they are seeking the copy of answer sheets before applying for revaluation,” said R Rajkumar, headmaster, DRBCCC Higher Secondary School in Perambur.

He said the number of students seeking copy of their answer sheets has increased by 15% compared to the previous year. “Science stream students are applying for answer sheets copy in large numbers. Students feel they deserve better in key subjects like Physics and Chemistry. So far, 50% more students have applied compared to the previous year. It will increase further in the coming days," said N Vijayan, senior principal, Zion Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Tamabaram.

Most students feel they were deprived of five to 10 marks in key subjects. “The number of students applying for answer sheets almost doubled in our school,” said B Purushothaman, senior principal of Everwin Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Kolathur.

Some schools say they have received requests for answer sheets for the first time.

“Usually, our students don’t ask for revaluation. But, this year, more students are coming forward and seeking answer scripts in Maths and Physics,” said V Shanthi, headmistress of Vidyodaya Girls Higher Secondary School in T Nagar.

Sources in the school education department said on the first day more than 10,000 applications for copy of answer sheets have been received.

Despite curbs, crowd swells at Kasimedu fishing harbour

Despite curbs, crowd swells at Kasimedu fishing harbour

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  26.07.2020

Kasimedu fishing harbour witnessed a huge crowd on Saturday, a day before the total lockdown, despite several restrictions being put in place.

Officials said only wholesale vendors and small-time traders were allowed and that the crowd was better managed on Saturday than on previous days. “We had installed barricades on the wharf at equidistant intervals and megaphone-wielding police personnel were regulating the crowd. Only in the last hour, more people were allowed due to the total lockdown on Sunday,” said an official.

Last Tuesday, fisheries minister D Jayakumar announced that sale of fish in Kasimedu fishing harbour will be restricted to five hours — from 3am to 8am. The area is off limits for general public and is meant only for vendors. Sources said sale began ahead of schedule, around 1am on Saturday, to facilitate more sales.

“We have been consistently organizing meetings with the fishermen committee representatives to ensure that all vendors wear masks at all times and also that physical distancing is maintained. A token system is in place to allow entry into the market area and the market management committee is also at work already,” said a corporation official.

Authorities said Saturdays will see large crowds at the market since it is shut on Sundays. But, officials said they expect the crowd will be streamlined even better in the coming days.

According to the new rules introduced at Kasimedu, the number of boats allowed to go fishing on a given day too is restricted to 70 and the catch from only about 50 boats are allowed for sale. The remaining catch has to be sold the next day. Small- and medium-level fish vendors are allowed in four groups of 150 each and only after one group finishes purchase, the next is allowed, said officials.

Apart from this, fishermen who use mechanised boat are not allowed to sell their catch in the area earmarked for country boats.

DISTANCING GOES FOR A TOSS: The authorities said they had regulated the crowds, but this photograph says it all

But, authorities said crowd was better controlled on Saturday than on previous days

Delhi HC Directs Delhi University To Immediately Draw Up Mechanism For Issuing Digital Degree Certificates, Issues Notice To National Academic Depository [Read Order]

Delhi HC Directs Delhi University To Immediately Draw Up Mechanism For Issuing Digital Degree Certificates, Issues Notice To National Academic Depository [Read Order]: The Delhi High Court has directed the Delhi University to immediately draw up a mechanism or a protocol for issuing digital degree certificates along with digital signature and security features. ...