5 NEET spl trains run with just 21 passengers

5 NEET spl trains run with just 21 passengers

Ishita Mishra@timesgroup.com

14.09.2020

Officials at Dehradun railway station were taken aback on Sunday afternoon when an ‘exam special’ train, meant for NEET aspirants, arrived completely empty at the station from Moradabad. A team of doctors, government officials and other railway staffers deputed at the platform to check the students on arrival went back empty-handed.

Sitaram Sonkar, station superintendent at Dehradun railway station, told TOI that “since there were over 18 centres for NEET in Dehradun and 12 in nearby Roorkee, the railways had specially organised this train so that students could commute easily. “It came as a surprise to us that no one took the train,” he added. Interestingly, attendance at the exam centres in Dehradun and Roorkee was high and a large number of students could be seen queuing up to appear for the exam. A railways official said that “perhaps due to the Covid threat, students preferred to make their own arrangements to reach the exam centres rather than opting for the special trains.”

The fate of several other ‘exam specials’ operated by the Moradabad, Prayagraj and Agra divisions was no better. According to railways sources, the special NEET train that ran from Bareilly to Ghaziabad had just one passenger while the one from Bareilly to Lucknow had five. In all, the five special trains that the Moradabad railway division organised for NEET exam aspirants for travel to and from Dehradun, Roorkee, Lucknow and Moradabad got a total of 21 passengers. And the railways, which spent lakhs on operating these trains, made a princely sum of ₹1,040. Anuj Singh, assistant commercial manager (ACM), Moradabad division, said, “The Bareilly to Ghaziabad train got one passenger and earned Rs 65 while the Bareilly to Lucknow exam special got five passengers and had earnings of ₹230. Train no. 04305 — Bulandshahr to Bareilly — got three passengers and we have earned Rs145 from it. Maximum 12 passengers boarded the exam special from Haridwar to Bareilly, providing earnings of ₹600.”

Keshav Tripathi, PRO, Prayagraj division, said that the response of NEET aspirants to the exam special trains operated by their division was also “quite dull.” “The special train that ran from Aligarh to Delhi ---which was operated by our division -- was boarded by five people only, incurring a total income of around ₹250 for the Railways,” he said. (With inputs from Ramendra Singh in Bhopal)

FINAL PREPARATION: Candidates appearing for NEET travel in a metro train in Kolkata on Sunday

More than 85% candidates appeared for NEET-UG: NTA

More than 85% candidates appeared for NEET-UG: NTA

Covid +Ve Students To Get Another Chance To Take Exam

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 14.09.2020

Based on random sampling, the National Testing Agency said that the attendance for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) on Sunday was between 85% and 90%.

Those candidates who missed the exams after being tested positive for Covid-19 will get another opportunity to sit for the test, the date for which will be announced later. From this year the admissions to MBBS course in the 13 All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER), Puducherry will also be made through NEET following the amendment in National Medical Commission Act, 2019, passed by Parliament last year.

In many places NTA also arranged buses and private vehicles to transfer candidates who arrived at the centres assigned to them earlier instead of the changed one.

A total of 15.97 lakh candidates registered for the test this year as against 15.13 lakh in 2019. The attendance in 2019 was 92.9%. Unlike JEE (Main), NEET-UG is a pen-paper exam and NTA officials said that it will be able to compile the data on Monday after the centres send feedback after the dispatch of the OMR sheets.

“Based on random sampling the attendance is found to be between 85% and 90%, which is marginally lower than that of last year. The tests have been completed successfully,” said a senior official at the NTA headquarters in Noida.

 The test was offered in 11 languages – English, Hindi, Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi, Odia, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu this year. Based on the initial report more than 77% aspirants took the test in English, around 12% in Hindi and 11% in other languages. At a centre in Mumbai the distribution of the question paper got delayed by half-an-hour as the access card to open the digital lock failed. Finally, the trunk had to be opened manually and candidates were given extra time. Following the ministry of health and family welfare’s standard operating procedures, NTA, to avoid crowding had to add and change centres of some candidates on September 10 and 11. Though the candidates were informed via phone calls and emails, they landed up in their earlier assigned centres in the morning. For instance, in Nagpur, NTA arranged buses and vehicles to transfer the candidates to their correct centres before the exams started at 2pm. Also as per MoHFW’s SOP, Covid-19 positive candidates were not allowed to take the exam on Sunday and they will be allowed to appear at a later date. According to Vineet Joshi, director general, NTA, “Candidates who missed the test or were denied entry as they are Covid-19 positive will be allowed to take the test later. They need to follow the procedure like email to NTA attaching their medical test certificate, etc. NTA will take stock and announce the date later.”

Candidates found the conduct of the exam safe. While the agency had allotted just 12 candidates per room, down from 24 in 2019, many candidates said their room had an even lesser number of candidates.

Full report on www.toi.in

A student wearing mask and gloves makes last-minute preparations for the NEET in Kerala on Sunday

HC upholds punishment of cop for participating in strike

HC upholds punishment of cop for participating in strike

K.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

Madurai:14.09.2020

Observing that there was no infirmity in the punishment order passed by the authorities, Madras high court dismissed the plea moved by a policeman challenging his punishment for participating in an agitation.

The court was hearing the petition by V Marimuthu, a police constable attached to Madurai city police, challenging the punishment order issued to him when he was working with Coimbatore city police. The charge against him was that he along with 27 other policemen assembled and raised sloganson theofficecampusof the Coimbatore city police commissioner seeking to relieve those transferred. Justice R M T Teekaa Raman observed that they had also participated in a procession and a few of them had given interviews to the media.

Since the charges were proven after an inquiry, the disciplinary authority had issued punishment of postponement of increment for three years with cumulative effect to the petitioner in 2015. When he filed an appeal, the appellate authority had reduced the postponement of increment to two years without cumulative effect.

“In administrative law, transfer order and relieving order are two different things. Depending upon the administrative exigency the relieving order will come into force on a later date and the same is not per se arbitrary,” observed the judge. According to Rule 25 of Tamil Nadu Police Subordinate Police Officers Conduct Rules, noofficer shallengagehimself in strike on incitements there to on in ‘similar activities’. The expression ‘similar activities’ shall be deemed to include absence from work without permission or neglect of duties on any other act done or omitted to be done with the object of compelling something tobedoneby superior officers or the government and shall include any demonstrative fast usually called hunger strikes for similar purpose.

Patronage increases for long-haul SETC services

Patronage increases for long-haul SETC services

Deepak.Karthik@timesgroup.com

Trichy: 14.09.2020

A week after the State Express Transport Corporation (SETC) resumed long-distance bus services suspended during the lockdown, the patronage has surged across cities, leading to an increase in services, addition of special buses and resumption of trips to more destinations. While weekdays continue to handle normal footfall, special bus services are being operated to ensure social distancing and clear the rushof thoseheading to Chennai and Bengaluru from the districts.

In Chennai, patronage for SETC has been slowly increasing.Thecorporation hasbeen operating 400 buses of which 300 were to various tier-two cities,but nowthe number is500. There demand has been more to operate to the southern districts. There has been a corresponding marginalincreasein revenue too, which officials say,helpedthecorporation pay for its fuel cost.

Before Covid -19, the corporation used to operate 1,100 buses and net a revenue of around Rs1.75 crore, but now only half of its fleet are operating and with lesser number of passengers, said the official. As of now, SETC is confining its operation to within the state. Karnataka had requested it to resumeservices,butthe authorities were awaiting clearance from the government in this regard, the official said.

In Trichy,when services resumed on September 7 after five months, it operated only 13-15 buses connecting Chennai. The patronage subsequently increased by up to 40% and during the weekend, heavy demandsawservicesdoubleto 30 a week. This was because a large number of families began travelling to visit relatives and attend family events in Chennai and vice-versa. Professionals and those heading to their workplaces kept the demand alive amid the Covid-19 spread. “On Sunday, we operated five special buses to Chennai, but the demand is not back to the pre-Covid-19 times,” a manager with SETC Trichy said. Ultra-deluxe (pushback seater) bus services were also operated to Hosur and Nagercoil from Trichy according to the demand. Limited train services to Chennai and absence of private omnibus operators were cited as a key reasons for the surge in demand.

In Madurai too, the demand for SETC service has increased in a week. From operating 30 buses on day one, SETC Madurai now operates 38. Officials said they have been operating buses on Rameswaram-Madurai-Salem and Rameswaram-Madurai-Chennai routes for the past two days.

(With inputs from P Oppili, V Devanathan and A Subburaj)

DEMAND UP

STORYBOARD

NEET, dirty politics & blood money that turn children into martyrs

ARUN RAM

14.09.2020

There’s no pain like losing one’s child, more so when the child takes his/her own life. Parents of Jothi Sri Durga, 19, M Aadithya, 20, and M Mothilal, 21, who hanged themselves on Saturday, may never come out of it fully. Similar is the plight of parents of more than 10,335 students who died by suicide in the country last year. Of them, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, 1,577 were driven to suicide because of failure in exams.

But not everyone on the list makes it to the media. Jothi, Aadithya and Mothilal, as also V Vignesh of Ariyalur who died by suicide last Wednesday, did. They were all NEET aspirants from Tamil Nadu, where virtually every political party is in the race to lead the campaign against the medical entrance exam. While Tamil Nadu chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami has announced a solatium of 7 lakh to Vignesh’s family, DMK president M K Stalin has promised that the party, once it comes to power, will “abolish” NEET (of course, he knows that the state can’t do that).

This is politics most foul. No doubt, a majority of our children in rural areas can neither access nor afford special coaching for competitive exams, which have become a prerequisite for clearing such exams (TN government statistics show only 1.6% of students without special coaching cleared NEET last year). But, after living in denial of the emerging reality of competitive exams and not providing our children the wherewithal to compete with their urban peers, our governments are trying to turn their failure into an excuse to oppose NEET, and the victims into martyrs and causes célèbres.

It was only a couple of years ago that the Tamil Nadu government revised its school syllabus, which had remained outdated for decades, all the while prompting children to practice rote learning to clear state board exams with high scores that would get them into professional courses. And, in 2017, when rural TN students had to take NEET along with the rest of the country, some – pushed further by parents – struggled, some succumbed.

Politicians who call for abolition of NEET know well that such competitive exams are here to stay, they could only get tougher (the soundness of these tests is a subject of another debate). They also know student suicides are linked not just to NEET, but also to JEE, UPSC exams and even school board exams. Will they call for abolishing all these exams? Will the government provide solatium to families of school students who die by suicide for fear of school board exams?

NEET became the TN politician’s high striker after MBBS aspirant and school topper Anitha’s death on September 1, 2017. The dalit girl from Ariyalur, who would’ve easily got into a government medical college if the Class XII score was the sole criterion, had impleaded herself in the state government’s petition in the Supreme Court against NEET. Nine days after the apex court dismissed the plea, she hanged herself. While our heart goes out to Anitha and others who couldn’t fulfil their aspirations, we should also hold responsible the governments that denied them equality of resources and opportunity. There’s blood on the hands that give the solatium.

Coaching classes for competitive exams thrive because our children are trained to mug up in classrooms without learning concepts. This is changing, but it may take a decade before the first batch of students pass out of Tamil Nadu schools after 12 years of learning under the new and evolving syllabus that could empower them with conceptual and perspective analytical skills as much as knowledge. Till then, we can’t afford to lose more young lives that could be nurtured for the nation’s development, not just as doctors, but also as artists, farmers, teachers, writers – and just about anything as meaningful – and their own happiness.

arun.ram@timesgroup.com

Spiritual Periyar’s rule if not now, never — POSTER BY RAJINIKANTH SUPPORTERS FROM RAMANATHAPURAM

POKER FACE Let's see if this oxymoron works

MKU private colleges write to VC against online exams

Madurai: 14.09.2020

The Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) private colleges’ management association, on Saturday, has written to MKU vice chancellor (VC) Dr M Krishnan and the principal secretary, higher education seeking to reconsider the decision to hold online exams for final year students. “We wish to represent that in case of such online exams, there are more chances of malpractices, like copying, consulting with others, referring websites for correct answers etc., Further, it is possible for impersonation to also happen in such exams. There will also be chaos if there are cases where internet connectivity fails or there are power cuts,” they said. The associationsaid NEET exam is being held for thousands of students in offline mode and sought to reconsider the decision to hold only online exams. TNN

A new confusion over arrear examinations

A new confusion over arrear examinations

AICTE chief said in an email that the council may be “constrained” to withdraw the university’s approval if exams are not conducted

Published: 09th September 2020 05:08 AM 

EXPRESS ILLUSTRATION

By Sushmitha Ramakrishnan And sv krishna chaitanya

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Will arrear exams be held for engineering students or not? Tuesday’s developments have left students and parents confused. While the State government, in the High Court, defended its decision to cancel the arrear examinations, the head of AICTE has threatened to withdraw the approval of varsities that do not hold the said examinations.

In an informal but strongly-worded communication sent to the Anna University on August 30, Anil Sahasrabuddhe, chairman of AICTE, had said the council may be “constrained to withdraw approval if exams are not conducted.” In the court, meanwhile, former vice-chancellor of Anna University, E Balaguruswamy, had filed a petition challenging the State’s decision to cancel the exam.

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The chronology

Earlier, the government announced the cancellation of all semester exams for April-May 2020 except for the end-semester students. However, it did not mention the status of arrear examinations in any of its orders. On August 26, Higher Education Minister KP Anbalagan broached the topic. “The government wants to give a chance to all students by declaring all those who have applied to write as passed,” he said. “If they paid fees, it means they were prepared to write it but were stopped by circumstances.”

Anna univ risks losing approval with no-arrear idea

THE decision was welcomed by students, and soon gained political attention. While the cancellation of semester examinations sailed through smoothly, the decision to clear students with arrears received flak from educationists. “The Government Order has been passed under the Disaster Management Act exercising the powers vested with the State Disaster Management Authority under the legislation,” argued Advocate-General Vijay Narayanan, representing the State government in court on Tuesday. 

“Even the apex court has upheld such rights and powers of the State authority under the Act if it does not conflict UGC guidelines.” On the other hand, advocate E Vijay Anand, representing the former V-C, said only universities have such powers. “The State government cannot interfere in these matters. The Supreme Court has held that the UGC is the ultimate authority in such issues. The UGC has advised the States only to promote the students while retaining their backlogs.

Arrears, as a result, cannot be cleared.” Universities do not conduct exams and give results based on the ‘whims and fancies’ of students and politicians. “Universities are highly autonomous bodies and their syndicates, senates and academic councils have all powers and authority, and only they can decide about the conduct of exams and passing of results,” Balagurusamy had recently said in a statement. Vijay Anand argued further that if the decision of the Tamil Nadu government is not quashed, students across the country would claim cancelation of arrears as a right. Recording the submissions, a division bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha directed the State to file a detailed counter and adjourned the plea to September 30.

AICTE stance

The AICTE is the national-level apex advisory body to conduct a survey on the facilities available for technical education and its approval is required by universities to run technical courses. Sahasrabuddhe, in his email, remarked that he found it surprising that final year students, who had failed in various courses in the earlier semesters, are being passed without conducting examinations. “This is not acceptable to award marks without conducting any examination and graduating the students. Such students will not be recognised by industry or by other universities for higher education,” he said.

While the State has defended its position in the court on Tuesday, in a telephonic conversation with Express on Tuesday morning, Sahasrabuddhe claimed to be informed otherwise. He said he had discussed the issue with the Chief Secretary of Tamil Nadu. “He (Chief Secretary) also said that there is some misunderstanding...we are not waiving off exams for the failed students.

It is somehow a wrong interpretation by people based on the circular which was issued which was very clear that (said) all AICTE, UGC guidelines shall be followed,” he elaborated adding, “which means the exams will be undertaken.” He further said that council will not be withdrawing the varsity’s approval if arrear exams are held. “How can someone with backlogs be passed?” he wondered. Sahasrabuddhe further said that the remarks in the email will be meaningless if the State had not waived off the arrear exams.

No official letter yet

AICTE has not issued any official letter, it was an email, MK Surappa clarified to Express. When asked if Anna University issued any notification that waived off any arrear exam, Surappa said, “We have not issued any circular like that to students.” He did not want to comment further on the issue. Principal Secretary to the Higher Education Department S Apoorva was unavailable for comments through repeated calls. “We will follow whatever direction the court gives,” Higher Education Mminister KP Anbalagan told Express on telephone. Vice Chancellors of some varsities too have expressed the same position on the matter.