IoE tag won’t change reservation policy, says Anna University V-C

IoE tag won’t change reservation policy, says Anna University V-C

PMK Slams Surappa For Approaching Central Govt

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:12.10.2020

There is “nothing to fear” and the existing reservation and recruitment policy will not change in the least if Anna University gets the status of Institute of Eminence (IoE), says vice-chancellor M K Surappa.

Admissions and recruitment followed state government rules. “The [Union HRD] ministry has repeatedly clarified that the university can continue to follow the existing 69% reservation in all its admission and recruitment processes as per the existing act of the university,” the vicechancellor told TOI. IoE guidelines 2017 say state universities would continue to function under their respective state Acts. On fears of the Centre taking over the state institution, Surappa said such an event had not happened in the last 20 years, unless there was pressure from the state.

The vice-chancellor has, however, come under fire from the PMK for directly writing to the Centre, “without the knowledge of the state government”, seeking IoE status amid concerns over the reservation policy. Surappa had told the Centre that the university could generate revenue of Rs 1,570 crore through internal resources and did not need funding from the state government.

In a statement, PMK leader S Ramadoss alleged Surappa’s unilateral act betrayed the interests of the university and the students. “The Centre refuses to heed the request of the state to give a written assurance for 69% reservation, though it accepts this in principle. There is no point in the university getting the IoE tag without finding a solution to the reservation issue,” Ramadoss said. If the Centre’s reservation and admission policies are adhered to, the students of Tamil Nadu and the BC students would not benefit, but only students of other states and upper castes would, he said. Generating revenue from internal resources would result in steep hike in fee.

The PMK leader said the developments had raised suspicions about the vice-chancellor acting as a puppet of those who wanted reservation to be revoked. “The V-C is appointed for three years to steer the varsity. He cannot take a policy decision of the government. The act of Surappa should be investigated,” Ramadoss said, urging the state government to make efforts to get IoE status without affecting the admission process and ensuring its control of the university.

Sunday shoppers crowd T Nagar like all is well

Sunday shoppers crowd T Nagar like all is well

Hub Under Teynampet Zone Which Has 1.3K Active Cases

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:12.10.2020

Even as Chennai added 1,250 cases to its tally of 1.82 lakh Covid-19 cases on Sunday and 19 deaths to its grim statistic of 3,415 deaths from the viral infection, l ocals were found flocking in numbers to the shopping hub, T Nagar.

The sight of the shopping crowd with little space to breathe at the perennially busy Ranganathan Street is not a welcome sight during a pandemic. The adjacent streets too were crowded and people were seen going about their day, as though the times are normal.

“Apart from being a threat to themselves, some of the shopping crowd also pose a risk for hundreds of people who reside in and around the shopping areas of T Nagar. We understand that the authorities have allowed shops to reopen to revive businesses, but public welfare should also be considered. There should be stricter restrictions on functioning of shops during the pandemic,” said S Sai Balaji, a resident of West Mambalam.

Residents also said the authorities can consider separate set of restrictions and deploy more personnel to regulate crowds in shopping hubs like T Nagar, at least until the pandemic dies down.

As on Sunday, Teynampet zone (Zone 9), under which T Nagar falls, has the second most number of active cases in the city — 1,336.

According to traders, some of the crowd are not regular shoppers but people who own small retail outlets who had come to buy stock. “We cannot possibly turn away our customers. We try our level best to ensure physical distancing in and around the premises of our shop, but since the roads are narrow, they get crowded,” said a shop owner on Ranganathan Street.

The corporation’s fining mechanism too has not proved to be a deterrent as crowds continue to swarm the shopping hubs. Greater Chennai Corporation has collected more than ₹2 crore since March as fines from residents as well as shopkeepers and other establishments found flouting pandemic norms such as not wearing masks and not maintaining physical distancing.

CATASTROPHIC DAY OUT: Ranganathan Street was packed with shoppers on Sunday. The tar tops of roads around were barely visible as thousands soaked in the festive spirit ignoring pandemic norms

Consensus eludes GST Council

 Consensus eludes GST Council

States Can Borrow To Meet Shortfall

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:13.10.2020

For the first time, the GST Council failed to arrive at a consensus due to sharp division along political lines, allowing the Centre to let 20-odd states issue bonds to raise funds and meet the shortfall in collection.

Continuing from where they left, the 10 opposition-governed states and UTs pressed for the Centre to borrow the funds, something that finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman refused to do, arguing that higher-than-announced borrowings will increase the cost of funds for the government and the private sector.

“The impact will be less if states borrow… The Centre will facilitate borrowings to ensure cost is equitable for all states,” she said after the meeting, sticking to the stand taken even before the borrowing calendar for the second half of the year had been finalised.

At Monday’s four-hour meeting, the third on the issue, there were 12 states that supported the Centre’s preferred option to raise Rs 1.1 lakh crore, out of the Rs 2.3 lakh crore, estimated shortfall from the market. “Whoever wants to talk, please talk. As many states also said, further talking, holding other states will only make them appear very poorly back home… they can’t go back to repeatedly say ‘sorry the Council could not arrive at a consensus so till then I’m not doing any expenditure’… Does our conscience allow us to hold back states which have opted for something till the time a consensus is arrived at?” Sitharaman said.

Some of the states such as West Bengal had proposed that the dispute resolution mechanism be invoked to decide on the issue within seven to 10 days. Alternatively, a group of ministers could be set up, others suggested. But the proposals were rejected with some of the states describing the meeting as a show of “majoritarianism”.

“There is no dispute, we can have differences,” the minister said, adding the GST Council had the powers to decide on issues such as an extension of the compensation cess beyond June 2022, which had been done. She said states have been assured that they don’t have to bear the burden from their budget. The opposition-ruled states have, however, not decided their future course of action.

Full report on www.toi.in

Cong mocks FM’s announcements

Congress lashed out at Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s announcements to “stimulate demand”, mocking that “government had only told its employees how to spend their money” without injecting anything extra in the economy that is required to check the steep slump. AICC economists Gourav Vallabh and Praveen Chakravarty said that the provisions about the LTC spelt out by the Centre amounted to nothing while the new announcement on capital expenditure by states was too little to change anything. “These are only meant to manage the headlines with the belief that the economy will respond to the headlines,” the AICC said. TNN

Part 2 of NEET for Covid-hit on Wednesday

Part 2 of NEET for Covid-hit on Wednesday

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:13.10.2020

The Supreme Court on Monday allowed the National Testing Agency (NTA) to conduct the second part of NEET (UG) for those students who could not appear in it either because they were infected by coronavirus or because they resided in containment zones.

Accepting the request made by NTA through solicitor general Tushar Mehta, a bench headed by CJI S A Bobde said, “In view of the circumstances which have necessitated postponement of the examination in the past and in view of the prevailing circumstances, we consider it appropriate to grant permission to the NTA to conduct a second part of the NEET (UG) for Covid affected students and for those in containment zones on October  14. The result may be declared on October 16.”

A senior NTA official said, “Less than 200 candidates will take the test on Wednesday.”

Full report on www.toi.in

Man who went to US on a forged passport 18 yrs ago held on return

Man who went to US on a forged passport 18 yrs ago held on return

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:13.10.2020

A man who returned from the US to India after 18 years was booked for allegedly travelling abroad on a forged passport. Though he moved a Delhi court seeking protection from arrest, the court denied his plea stating “such incidents tarnish the image of India in general and of Indian citizens in particular, travelling abroad”.

Kirti Kumar Patel, 61, allegedly travelled to the US from Ahmedabad on someone else’s passport in 2002 and on his return to India recently, scrutiny of his documents didn’t show any previous travel history as his previous passport details were not available.

“Sustained interrogation of the applicant/accused is required to unearth the modus operandi of the crime,” remarked additional sessions judge Dharmender Rana in an order passed on October 9.

The man’s counsels, Jaitegan Singh Khurana and Uday Bedi, argued that he had been “falsely arraigned” as an accused in the present FIR.

On September 29, the IGI police station had registered an FIR under sections 419 (punishment for cheating by personation), 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property) and the relevant provision of The Passports Act, 1967 against the man. “Kirti Kumar Patel arrived from Chicago, USA by Air India and approached for arrival immigration clearance. During scrutiny of this travel document, it was observed that his last departure record was not found as his previous passport details were not available...It suggested that he might have departed from India using someone else’s passport. By doing so, he might have cheated Indian immigration,” stated the FIR.

Patel’s lawyers stated that there was nothing incriminating on record to suggest that he had committed an offence and he travelled on someone else’s passport or visa. They sought anticipatory bail on the ground that Patel was apprehending his arrest in the present case and suffered from diabetes and liver problems.

Additional public prosecutor Irfan Ahmed opposed the anticipatory bail plea arguing Patel had travelled abroad on forged documents and had been hiding the identity of travel agent for unearthing the conspiracy.

Judge Rana held, “Considering the nature and seriousness of allegations, I am not inclined to release the applicant/accused on anticipatory bail. Hence, his bail application stands rejected.”

JUDGE SAYS

Considering the nature and seriousness of allegations, I am not inclined to release the applicant/accused on anticipatory bail. Hence, his plea stands rejected

Covid 19

 

Govt to spend ₹37,000cr, give sops to spur festive demand

Govt to spend ₹37,000cr, give sops to spur festive demand

Cash-For-LTC & ₹10K Advance For Central Staffers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:13.10.2020

Finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced additional allocation of Rs 37,000 crore towards capital expenditure, and put money into the pockets of government employees ahead of the festival season, hoping to trigger demand of Rs 1 lakh crore in her latest bid to revive economic activity.

The much-awaited “stimulus”, however, did not have measures to address the lack of demand in sectors such as hospitality and tourism.

PM Modi consulted his top economic advisers in July on boosting spending on core sector projects in a bid to spur demand for cement, steel and other inputs, which culminated in this announcements.

Centre hopes states, pvt cos too will offer LTA scheme

The additional capex and leave travel concession and festival loan benefits for central government employees come with riders, and the impact will depend on how many employees opt for this scheme. For instance, the Rs 25,000 crore allocation for additional capex by Marchend will be made for defence infrastructure, roads, water supply and urban development, provided the equipment is manufactured locally.

There was another Rs 12,000 crore support to the states, which is to be provided in the form of interest-free loans for 50 years. But the rider is that the money has to be spent by March and there is a Rs 2,000 crore allocation for states which meet three of the reform criteria announced earlier such as power sector reforms or one-nation one ration card related initiatives.

Similarly, those availing of the LTC benefit need to spend three times their entitlement in purchasing cars, fridge, mixers or vacuum cleaners. The measures marked the government’s fresh efforts to revive sentiment and give some push to the economy which has been battered by the Covid-19 induced lockdown and growth has plunged nearly 24% in the June quarter and full year GDP contraction is estmated at 9.5% in the current fiscal year.

Along with the conditions, Sitharaman has placed a lot of reliance on state governments and the private sector taking a cue from the Centre and come up with similar schemes.

Full report on www.toi.in

•Retail inflation at 8-mth high, IIP contracts, P 13

•Food delivery back to near pre-Covid levels, P 13

•Demand for CAs up 37%, pay also rises, P 13