[RTI] Wife Not Entitled To Seek Details Of Income Tax Returns Filed By Her Husband: CIC [Read Order]

[RTI] Wife Not Entitled To Seek Details Of Income Tax Returns Filed By Her Husband: CIC [Read Order]: A wife is not entitled to seek the details of the Income Tax Returns filed by her husband by filing RTI application, the Central Information Commission has observed. Information Commissioner Neeraj...

Teacher till March now runs mirchi-bajji stall for a living

Teacher till March now runs mirchi-bajji stall for a living

Nirupa.Vatyam@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  05.08.2020

After spending over 12 years in teaching, B Bhaskar has decided to call it quits and instead run a street food stall in his village in Warangal (rural). Bhaskar vowed he would never to come back to teaching as there is no security in the job. He would instead spend the rest of his life in his village. “I don’t want to go back to the city or the teaching field. If my mirchi bajji stall doesn’t run, I will take up some odd jobs,” said Bhaskar.

“Despite working for over a decade, no one came to my rescue during the crisis. So from now on, I will advise people not to become a teacher as there is no job security,” said the 33-year-old, who used to earn ₹35,000 per month as a teacher. A BSc degree holder, who also did the Hindi pandit course, Bhaskar said that he earns about ₹500-600 per day by selling fritters. Like Bhaskar, many teachers have decided to move away from the teaching field and are taking up farming or menial and private jobs to make ends meet.

“I was prepared to survive without salary for March, April, and May. I was really confident that coronavirus is not going to affect me in any way as I have tuitions lined up. I came back to the city on June 3 and tried to contact my students. One after other everyone started cancelling and by end of June, I had nothing,” said P Narayana, a math teacher who used to earn over ₹50,000 per month. An MSc holder, Narayana, who now works as a farmer in Krishna district, said it was easier in his village as cost of living is cheap and there is no burden of paying rent.

Bhaskar, who now sells fritters, has vowed not to return to teaching

Even profs moving on due to low pay

—Nirupa Vatyam

Hyderabad:

It is not only school teachers but also those teaching in technical colleges have started quitting the profession over meagre pay and lack of job security. “I was working as a head of department (HoD) until recently and was paid only ₹22,000 per month. Now, I am working at a medical store. My salary here is ₹24,000 per month and I have health insurance and other benefits,” said Mani Kanta, who was working in a private college in the master of business administration department. He also claimed that no college was paying as per AICTE norms and faculty are afraid of losing their jobs any day.

Sandeep Kumar, who used to work as an assistant professor in the electrical and communication engineering department said, “On paper, I was paid ₹50,000 but in reality I was getting only ₹25,000 per month. I resigned and drove a cab for a few days. Now, I have secured a private job.” He is now earning ₹7.2 lakh per annum. Kumar, who did his MTech and registered for a PhD, said that had the management paid him full salary he would not have thought of quitting.

2nd heaviest August downpour in a decade leaves 3 dead in Mumbai

2nd heaviest August downpour in a decade leaves 3 dead in Mumbai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai:  05.08.2020

As the skies opened up on Monday night and Tuesday morning, parts of the city received 300 mm of rain, the second highest for a day in August in a decade. The downpour caused road and rail disruptions and tragedy, with three persons dead — two in a chawl collapse in Vakola and one by electrocution in Thane — and a 6-year-old child reported missing.

Proving the Met department’s forecast of heavy rain for Mumbai correct, parts of Dadar, Worli and Malabar Hill got 300mm of rainfall. In the 24 hours ending 8.30 am Tuesday, the IMD Colaba observatory recorded 252.2 mm of rain and Santacruz 268.6 mm. The highest 24-hour rainfall in August in the decade was 331 mm in 2017.

At around 7.30am, boulders and soil came crashing down on the arterial Western Express Highway in Kandivli East, but no motorist or pedestrian was injured in the landslide. Vehicular traffic was however affected.

Train services on all three lines were hampered, and BEST had to divert buses from 60 routes owing to waterlogging. MIAL, though, said flight operations at Mumbai airport were nearnormal. The state government quickly stepped in to declare a holiday for its offices in the city and suburbs, and the Bombay high court suspended all hearings.

The India Meteorological Department has issued a red alert for Mumbai, Thane and Palghar for Wednesday and warned of extremely heavy rain at isolated places. The spell of heavy rain is likely to continue over 24-48 hours.

CITY GOES DOWN UNDER: With parts of Mumbai getting over 300mm rain, many

Can’t move to next level of MBBS without exam: MCI

Can’t move to next level of MBBS without exam: MCI

Yogita.Rao@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:  05.08.2020

Medical Council of India has advised universities not to permit any batch of students to move to the next level of MBBS without an exam in a circular on Tuesday. It was meant to clear the air over queries and representations from stakeholders on re-opening of medical colleges and conduct of university exams. The council also indicated that final year MBBS students can join internships after passing final exams.

State medical education minister Amit Deshmukh had earlier directed Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) to start classes for first, second and third year undergraduate students. He also told them to allow final year students to start internships and to conduct exams whenever the situation improves. Following this advisory from the council, though colleges affiliated to MUHS can commence lectures, they may not be able to allow students to start internships without exams.

The council has told universities to conduct pending supplementary exams for final year MBBS students, scheduled in the first half of 2020, at the earliest “...as the students have completed the course once and need not wait for the formal reopening of colleges. Such students will be joining college/hospitals for internships after passing final exams”.

Colleges were directed to complete first year MBBS course for 2019 batch within two months of reopening of colleges and then conduct the exam, preferably within a month. MCI had revised syllabus for first year MBBS batch of 2019 and directed holding of the exam by September, an MUHS official said. But after Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown, their course was disrupted midway. MCI also advised universities to complete the course for other classes in two months and then conduct the exams.

The council also suggested alternatives to get external examiners for conduct of the exam.

For practicals and clinical examination, MCI recommended alternative methods of skill evaluation that can include simulations, case scenarios, objectives structured clinical or practical examinations. The advisory is a one-time measure in view of Covid-19, it stated.

MUHS exam controller Ajit Pathak said their priority will be to hold certifying exams first in compliance with MCI and state government directives. But he did not elaborate as the matter is sub judice and is scheduled for hearing later this month.

A parent representative, Sudha Shenoy, said the MCI directive was fair as students cannot be sent for internships without clinical exposure, which is a vital part of their final year curriculum.

No need to panic over cases spike, detection is key: Govt

No need to panic over cases spike, detection is key: Govt

Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 05.08.2020

Even as daily cases of Covid-19 infection are increasing rapidly, the Centre on Tuesday said there is no need to be “overawed” by the numbers so long as timely detection, isolation and treatment happens to prevent deaths.

“There is no need to be overawed from rising positive cases because in every country with large population bases, cases are bound to increase. It is important to find them in time, isolate and treat them,” health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said.

The government plans to bring up daily testing to 10 lakh tests, even as India’s daily positivity rate has come down to 8.89% though the weekly average remains at 11% with some states still reporting high positivity. Testing will be ramped up in such areas, Bhushan said.

“We have adopted a policy of intelligent and calibrated testing depending on which area needs more testing...We are trying to reach 10 lakh tests per day,” said Balram Bhargava, director general, ICMR. At present, 28 states and UTs have less than 10% positivity rate, while India is conducting 15,119 tests per million of population.

On the issue of vaccines, Bhargava said while there is no drug or vaccine available yet, but it is not just the development but prioritisation and distribution such as logistics, cold chain, stockpiling and training of people to administer the vaccine which are also important.

Those above 60 account for 50% of Covid deaths, shows govt data Centre Says No Under-Reporting Of Mortalities

Those above 60 account for 50% of Covid deaths, shows govt data

Centre Says No Under-Reporting Of Mortalities

Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com

New Delhi  05.08.2020

: Even as deaths due to Covid-19 continue to be higher in the elderly with those above 60 accounting for 50% of total mortalities, those in the relatively younger age band of 45-60 years are also appearing increasingly vulnerable — accounting for 37% of fatalities. The percentage for this group is up from 32% a month ago, official data showed.

While releasing data regarding age profiles in mortalities, the government refuted concerns related to under-reporting of Covid-19 deaths as “mere conjecture” not backed by evidence, saying that there were clear protocols on how fatalities due to the disease are to be recorded.

Health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said the health ministry, at a very early stage, had issued clear guidelines as some states were not clear initially whether Covid-19 deaths of patients with co-morbidities should be reported as such. “In the guidelines, we made it clear that all such deaths of people with co-morbidity and who were Covid-positive should be counted as Covid-19 deaths,” Bhushan said.

He said specific states and urban areas like Delhi, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, with high case loads and a large number of deaths, had better death registration averages than the the national figure even in a non-Covid scenario indicating a robust system of reporting deaths.

The death registration average in Maharashtra is 93%, whereas it is 100% in Delhi and Tamil Nadu, against a national average of 80%. Besides, while the proportion of medically certified deaths at the national level to all registered deaths is 22%, it is 67% in Maharashtra, 69% in Delhi and 85% in Tamil Nadu.

“In such a scenario, to say that deaths are not reported is baseless,” Bhushan said. India’s Covid-19 fatality rate is progressively declining. At present, the death rate is 2.10% with 38,938 deaths recorded so far.

While half of the deaths have taken place among people aged 60 years and above, those in the younger age band of 26-44 years and 45-60 years accounted for 11% and 37%, respectively.

While the government has made slight changes to the age matrix as was reported on July 9, a comparison shows the percentage of deaths in the younger age groups remains largely the same with those below 17 years and people aged 18-25 years reporting 1% deaths in each category. In July, these age groups were classified as less than 14 years accounting for 1% and those between 15 to 29 years accounting for 3% deaths.

The latest data showed 68% of Covid-19 deaths were in male patients, whereas 32% were among females, broadly in line with the global scenario.

The number of recovered Covid-19 patients in India is increasing daily and is now over double the number of active cases.

Top court verdict today if 5-judge bench should decide validity of 10% EWS quota

Top court verdict today if 5-judge bench should decide validity of 10% EWS quota

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:05.08.2020

The Supreme Court will decide on Wednesday whether the validity of 10% quota for Economically Weaker Section (EWS) in government jobs and admissions to educational institutions should be referred to a five-judge bench.

The court had reserved its verdict on this question on July 31 last year and the decision will be pronounced after more than a year by CJI S A Bobde, who had heard arguments along with Justices R Subhash Reddy and B R Gavai. While the Centre is opposed to referring the issue to a larger bench, nearly three dozen petitioners want the validity of EWS quota to be adjudicated by a constitution bench. The petitioners had challenged the 103rd constitutional amendment to provide 10% EWS quota in government jobs and admissions to educational institutions on the ground that it breached the 50% ceiling on reservation put by the SC in its 1992 judgment in Indra Sawhney case (Mandal case). However, the Centre had said the 50% cap on reservation was “fallacious” and not binding and the constitutional amendment to provide quotas in jobs and education was meant to socially uplift nearly 200 million poor people.

Attorney general K K Venugopal had said Parliament had unanimously passed the EWS quota, which was not violative of the apex court’s earlier verdicts on reservation. He said the SC had never ruled on a 50% cap on reservation and its verdicts allowed breaching the 50% ceiling if there were sufficient reasons to justify it. He said reservation up to 68% was prevalent in Tamil Nadu and the decision was upheld by the HC and not stayed by the SC.

Senior advocate Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for the petitioners, had argued that the amendment was unconstitutional as it breached the 50% ceiling and said the concept of backwardness on the basis of economic status was not recognised under the Constitution. He had pleaded for reference of the issue to a larger bench.