TN parties flex muscles in assembly in prep for polls

TN parties flex muscles in assembly in prep for polls

3-Day Session Ends With Neet & NEP Taking Centre Stage

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:18.09.2020

With an assembly election around the corner, the ruling AIADMK and the DMK-led opposition used the brief assembly session, convened amid the Covid-19 pandemic, to showcase their political credentials. A belligerent opposition took on the government for its failure to get Neet exemption and “exposed” the government’s stand on the National Education Policy. For its part, the EPS government passed a unanimous bill for 7.5% Neet quota for government students in its bid to regain lost ground to opponents. The three-day session helped the parties wake up from the Covid-induced hibernation and warm up for elections.

There was good deal of posturing in the assembly with both chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami and opposition leader M K Stalin flexing their muscles on Neet, an issue that’s likely to hold centre stage for a while. Stalin accused the government of lacking commitment in taking up the issue with the Centre while the CM tried to lay the blame for introducing Neet on the erstwhile UPA regime, of which the DMK was a constituent.

With the Covid-19 pandemic, Neet and the National Education Policy setting the narrative, Palaniswami and health minister C Vijayabaskar went on combat mode. “The statements of the chief minister and health minister were marked by blatant lies and conveniently hid facts like how the DMK stayed the Neet through legal route until the party was in power and opposed it in the Parliament. We brought out several issues from NEP to scam in PM-Kisan to PMAY to 50% OBC quota in medical admission,” former minister and DMK MLA Thangam Thennarasu said. Even as its attempts to extend the session by seven days failed, the opposition gave more than 30 notices to call the attention of the ministers to urgent matters of public importance, such as reopening of schools, drinking water and ‘lack of support’ to local bodies in Jal Jeevan Mission.

With just months to go for polls, the AIADMK announced its intention to seek amendments to the Indian Penal Code to make stringent the punishment for crimes against women and children. “It gave an opportunity to positively talk about the good things we have done in handling Covid pandemic. Passing 19 bills in a day is a record of sorts,” said minister K Pandiarajan. The creation of a new university, Anna University and reconstitution of an existing university as ‘Anna Technological and Research University is a pathbreaking step and a bill to regulate the Public Trusts has far-reaching implications said the minister. The Congress tried to remain relevant by accusing the government of being scared to take on the Centre on Neet and NEP. The notable absentee was AMMK leader T T V Dhinakaran.

68,000 Tamils stuck abroad still await evacuation

68,000 Tamils stuck abroad still await evacuation

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.09.2020

Nearly 68,000 Tamils, who have registered for rescue flights, are still waiting to return from nine countries, mostly from the Middle East.

Of the 1.48 lakh people who have registered, 79,000 returned to the state by Vande Bharat flights and charter flights in the past four months, said minister of state for external affairs V Muraleedharan. The minister mentioned the details in a written reply to a question submitted by Ramnathapuram MP K Navaskani in Lok Sabha.

He also said the Vande Bharat mission has moved into its sixth phase.

Though a little more than 50% of those who registered have reached home, around 40,000 people are still in the UAE waiting to return. Around 60,000 people had registered to return from the UAE, of which 25,572 reached TN in the past four months. Many from the state are still stranded in Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Singapore, Japan and Thailand. The number of people stuck in Japan and Thailand is relatively less at 176 and 240. As per the reply submitted in the Lok Sabha, everyone who registered from Iraq, Malaysia and South Korea have returned.

“A lot of people are still requesting for return flights. We have helped many by funding their quarantine stay. A majority are from districts like Trichy, Thanjavur, Tirunelveli and others in the south,” Navaskani said.

Chennai airport continues to receive relief flights from the Middle East and Southeast Asia. However, it is not clear if everyone who registered is returning.

“Relief flights continue to bring people from Dubai, Colombo, Riyadh, Oman, Bahrain, Dhaka, Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. More flights are likely in the coming days as Vande Bharat flights are still in operation and people are also coming in charter flights,” said an airport official.

 

TN: WORKERS NEED BOTH MA & MPHIL

With new order, state may lose more mental health professionals

Aditi.R@timesgroup.com

Chennai:

Mental health professionals with postgraduate degrees in psychiatric social work, clinical psychology, etc may not be able to register with the Tamil Nadu State Mental Health Authority (SMHA) as the Mental Health Care Act mandates that they must also have an MPhil degree.

A recent order directed all mental health professionals to immediately and compulsorily register with the SMHA to continue practice. It added that only those who meet the eligibility criteria mentioned in the Act will be recognised. However, implementation of the Act will exclude a large number of professionals practicing with a postgraduate degree and increase scarcity of workers in the state.

This is the first time the SMHA is creating a registry of mental health professionals in TN. Earlier, they would have to register with the Rehabilitation Council of India to practice.

The order has caused both confusion and anger among professionals. “I’m inclined to think the Act has a typo and anyone with a postgraduate upwards will be recognised,” Vaishnavi Jayakumar, a disability rights activist, said adding that the workforce has several young professionals and cutting them off in a sector that is resource and attention deficit would only create more problems.

On one hand, authorities are making postgraduate degrees redundant and on the other, the National Education Policy has done away with MPhil programmes, further confusing students, experts said.

The other question is whether only those with PhD degrees be recognised as mental health professionals in clinical psychology and psychiatric social work. Many are still awaiting clarification on this matter.

“There is already a dearth of professionals and doing away with the postgraduate degrees will not help,” said P Nalini Rao, chairperson of the SFL school of social work and social policy, the Banyan Academy of mental health.

Faculty unhappy over renaming Anna Univ post bifurcation

Faculty unhappy over renaming Anna Univ post bifurcation

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:18.09.2020

The state government’s decision to bifurcate Anna University and change its name to Anna Technological and Research University (ARTU) has not gone down well with sections of the faculty.

As per the bill passed in the assembly on Thursday, College of Engineering, Guindy, Madras Institute of Technology, Chromepet, Alagappa College of Technology, Guindy, and School of Architecture and Planning will be part of ARTU, while the new university that will affiliate all engineering colleges in the state will be known as Anna University.

Sources in the university, whose annual budget is about ₹235 crore, said it would lose annually around ₹100 crore revenue from affiliation, conducting exams and other activities.

The faculty members also fear changing the name would affect the university’s standing in the academic world.

“Anna University’s degrees are recognised the world over. It is the hard work and years of toil of many faculty members and eminent vice-chancellors who guided the university to its present glory. By, this one stroke, the state government robbing the university funding and name. It will take a long time create such a brand name,” a senior professor from the university told TOI.

With Institute of Eminence status being denied to the university, it is not clear how the state government will fund the university. “If the university needs to excel in research, it needs huge funding. The state government has not announced any financial grant for the university to improve its research,” another professor said.

Anna University’s former vice-chancellor E Balagurusamy said the new affiliating university should have been given a new name.

“The original Anna University consists of only the four campuses CEG, MIT, AC Tech and School of Architecture and Planning. The affiliated colleges joined the university only in 2002 when the university was originally established in 1978,” he said.

They can even rename the new university Dr Jayalalithaa University of Technology, he suggested.

“We are not against bifurcation but the name matters,” a faculty member said on condition of anonymity.

Pallavaram, Vandalur flyovers open, GST Road travel a breeze

 

Pallavaram, Vandalur flyovers open, GST Road travel a breeze

Two Bridges Wrapped Up In Four Years, While Three Other Projects Still Await Completion

Oppili.P @timesgroup.com

Traffic bottlenecks on GST Road, gateway to the southern districts, could soon be a thing of the past. A flyover in Vandalur and another in Pallavaram, thrown open to the public by chief minister Edappadi K Palanisamy on Thursday, will ensure that.

Work on the two flyovers had begun in 2016. The flyover in Vandalur is a two-way stretch and is expected to ease congestion for at least 2km on GST Road.

The flyover in Pallavaram, about 1.5km long, is a uni-directional bridge like the one abutting the city's airport.

A senior official from the highways department said at least 10,000 vehicles take the stretch during peak hours daily. With the inauguration of the Vandalur flyover, vehicles coming from Vandalur-Kelambakkam Road can turn left and proceed towards Chengalpet or take a U-turn under the flyover and head towards Perungalathur and beyond, he said.

On the three-lane Pallavaram flyover, which can carry 5,000 vehicles during peak hours, an official said it will help motorists and vehicle users to avoid three traffic intersection on the GST Road, namely the old English Electric company junction, Sandhai road junction and Kundrathur road junction.

The Pallavaram flyover cost `82.76 crore, while the one in Vandalur was constructed for `59 crore, the official said.

Concessional fares cost railways ₹5,475cr, HC told

Concessional fares cost railways ₹5,475cr, HC told

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.09.2020

Southern Railway has informed the Madras high court that ticket fare concession to senior citizens was suspended to discourage unnecessary travel in view of the pandemic. It further submitted that between 2016 and 2019, it had incurred₹5,475 crore revenue loss providing concessions.

Prior to March 20, railways had more than 50 categories of passengers, including persons with disability, 11 categories of patients, youths, farmers, artists, sportspersons, medical professional, senior citizens, awardees, war widows, students and press correspondents, enjoying concessions, said P T Ramkumar, counsel for the railways.

In his submissions, representing general manager of Southern Railway, in response to a public interest writ petition filedby A S MohammedKhader Meeran, the counsel said: “The element of concession extended was varying from 10% to 100% depending upon the category. However, in view of Covid-19, a lot of train services were cancelled across the country and it was decided to grant concessions only for four categories – disabled passengers, 11 categories of patients and students.”

This decision was taken in view of a health advisory issued by the Central government due to Covid-19 and to discourage passengers from undertaking non-essential travel, Ramkumar said.

The PIL sought a direction to the railways to take steps to restart ticket booking with concession throughonline portalof IRCTC.

As to the demand to reopen online booking for concession ticketsunder patients’category, Ramkumar submitted that concessional tickets are issued to11 categories of patients across the reservation counter on production of original medical certificate. Such tickets can also be purchased by any other person on behalf of the patients on production of the original certificate issued by the doctor of a recognised hospital. Since such verification is a pre-condition, online booking cannot be permitted, he said.

Recording the submissions, a division bench of Justice M M Sundresh and Justice R Hemalatha adjourned the hearing to September 18.

3 dental colleges told to pay ₹8.1cr - The Times Of India

 3 dental colleges told to pay ₹8.1cr - The Times Of India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:15.09.2020

Acting tough on illegal admissions to professional courses, the high court directed three dental colleges in north Karnataka to pay Rs 8.1 crore (Rs 10 lakh per student) as cost for granting post-facto approval to 81 students who had completed BDS course.

These students were admitted under the unexhausted CET or government quota seats and they hadn’t appeared for the entrance test.

As per the direction issued by a division bench comprising Justices Krishna S Dixit and P Krishna Bhat, the students have to submit a stamped affidavit in two months and an undertaking to do rural service in Karnataka. The cost amount also has to be deposited with the court in two months and it will be transferred to the Chief Minister’s Calamity/ Covid Relief Fund.

The high court’s Kalaburagi bench said the college has to pay for the violation and the students, who were beneficiaries of the same, need to render one-year community service.

SB Patil Dental College and Hospital, Bidar, along with 35 students; Hyderabad Karnataka Development Education Trust’s Dental College and Hospital, Humnabad, Bidar district, with 22 students and S Nijalingappa Institute of Dental Sciences and Research, Kalaburagi, with 25 students had approached the court in 2016 challenging endorsements issued by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences.

Admissions not approved

Refusing to approve the students’ admissions, the university stated that assessment of comparative merits by CET is a pre-condition for admission. However, it was later stated that the name of Mohammed Asif, a student of Kalaburagi college, was inadvertently included as a petitioner though he had appeared for CET.

The petitioners said there’s no legal requirement of CET as a pre-condition for admission of candidates under the unexhausted quota of government seats. Students shouldn’t be made scapegoats for the management’s fault, they added. During the pendency, by way of an interim order, the students were allowed to complete the course.