In a first, TN student among top 10 NEET rankers

In a first, TN student among top 10 NEET rankers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:17.10.2020

For the first time since the introduction of the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) for MBBS admissions seven years ago, a student from Tamil Nadu has broken into the top 10. Srijan R got the 8th rank nationally scoring 710 out of 720 marks. Two other candidates from the state, Mohanaprabha Ravichandran and G Swetha, scored 705 and 702 respectively and secured the 52nd and 62nd ranks. Last year, the state topper was Shruthi K, who scored 685 out of 720 marks and secured the 57th rank.

Of 1,21,617 students who had registered for the test from the state, 99,610 took it. Of them, 57,215 students (57.4%) qualified. Last year 48.5% qualified.

In 2019, the cut-off for MBBS admissions in government medical colleges went up by nearly 100 marks in most categories because of a surge in scores. Last year, the cut-off for OC category was 520 marks and for BC it was 470 marks. The cut-off for BCM and MBC was 458 marks and for SC category 360 marks. For SCA it was 301 and ST 267 marks.

Going by the high scores in NEET this year, the cut-off for medical admissions will likely increase.

This year’s state topper R Srijan, a native Vellakoil in Tirupur district, attended a coaching centre in Namakkal. Talking to reporters in Namakkal, Srijan said he has been passionate about medicine and wants to specialise in cardiology. Srijan had attempted NEET last year and appeared again this year to better his scores.

Mohanaprabha Ravichandran, who is also from the same coaching centre, emerged second in the state. Mohanaprabha said she wants to specialise in neurology.

N Jeevithkumar, a student of Tamil medium Government Model Higher Secondary School, Siluvarpatti, Theni district, has scored 664/720. He is the second student pursuing medicine from the school and has scored just over 99% in physics, chemistry and biology. He has secured the 1,823rd rank at the national level. His father K Narayanamoorthi rears goats for a living and his mother N Parameswari takes up work under the MNREGA. He had undergone NEET coaching in Namakkal district and this is his second attempt at NEET.

“Last year, the all-India topper scored 691 marks. This year, one of our students scored 700 out of 720 marks and he was ranked 105. So, it means that 105 students have scored above 700 and we expect more high scorers in NEET,” said Chandan Chand, regional director, Aakash Institute.

With inputs from Madurai and Coimbatore

N Jeevithkumar, government school student, scored 664/720

University of Madras facing an acute resource crunch

University of Madras facing an acute resource crunch

Without the sanctioned strength, many departments are on the verge of losing additional funding from the University Grants Commission

11/10/2020

Pon Vasanth B.A. CHENNAI

With 56% of faculty positions lying vacant, University of Madras (UoM) is facing an acute shortage in terms of human resources and potential decline in academic and research activities.

Data available with The Hindu showed that at least seven departments did not have a single full-time faculty member and 14 departments had more than 70% of their sanctioned posts vacant.

The shortage is acutely felt in the three Centres of Advanced Study (CAS) in Mathematics, Botany, Crystallography and Biophysics, which receive additional grants from the University Grants Commission (UGC), and are at risk of losing them without the minimum required faculty strength and research output.

Moreover, an analysis of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) data for the university showed that 50% of the roughly 80 professors are in the age group of 56 and above.

“If the vacancies are not filled in the near future, majority of the departments will not have a single Professor with retirements expected in the coming years,” a senior faculty member said. The last recruitment happened six years ago, but faced some allegations of irregularities.

G. Shanmugam, former Head of CAS in Crystallography and Biophysics and former university syndicate member, said the risk of losing CAS recognition by UGC was real. “We already lost it for the Department of Philosophy in the past,” he said.

The Ramanujan Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, one of the CAS, has a sanctioned strength of five professors, five associate professors, and 11 assistant professors. However, it presently has only seven assistant professors and not a single professor or associate professor.

The CAS in Botany with a sanctioned strength of 22 faculty members now has one professor and five assistant professors. Stating the department needed a minimum strength of six to maintain the CAS status, Mr. Shanmugam pointed out that N. Mathivanan, the professor and head of the department, is now holding the post of Registrar (in-charge) as well.

Similarly, the CAS in Crystallography and Biophysics had eight faculty members, which included a professor and seven assistant professors, against the sanctioned strength of 18. “The three CAS in the university had many stalwarts in the yesteryears. Now, many departments are not even able to fully utilise their research grants,” Mr. Shanmugam pointed out.

The head of one of the departments, said many departments with research potential were not able to apply for CAS status due to lack of minimum number of faculty. “When a university does not have adequate faculty members, it is not doing justice to its students,” he said.

In a competitive environment with rankings and accreditations, the university would not be able to maintain its status if it did not have competent faculty, who formed the core of the university system, he added.

Pointing out that over 50% of the non-teaching staff positions were also vacant, a Syndicate member said the financial crisis faced by the university had to be tackled with a long-term, sustainable solution.

“A key reason for not recruiting is the deep financial crisis with the university not in a position to even honour its commitments to pensioners. However, without enough faculty we are also losing out on grants from the UGC and the State,” he said.

Vice-Chancellor S. Gowri, who took charge in August, said he was studying the issue to explore possible options to address it.

Couple forge own death certificates - The Times Of India

Couple forge own death certificates - The Times Of India

LIC Agent And Wife Got ₹40L In Payouts

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:11.10.2020

In a unique case of cheating registered at Karanj police station on Friday, an insurance agent of LIC, Parag Parekh and his wife Manisha Parekh, both residents of Maininagar East, were arrested for allegedly forging death certificates of each other and obtaining the insurance settlement claims of Rs 15 lakh and Rs 25 lakh.

Inspector D V Tadvi of Karanj police station said that they have arrested both accused after getting their Covid-19 tests done on Saturday evening.

According to the FIR lodged by senior manager Kaushik Shah of LIC at Jivan Prakash Building on Relief Road, Parekh had taken a term insurance policy in the name of his wife Manisha on January 1, 2012 for Rs 15 lakh and used to pay the premiums regularly.

On May 5, 2016, Parag produced a bogus death certificate of his wife and after primary investigation he was given the benefit of Rs 15 lakh.

Inspector Tadvi said that meanwhile Parag transferred his own policy of Rs 25 lakh to Gandhinagar branch in March 2017 and put his wife’s name as nominee.

“Here also his wife obtained a forged death certificate of his husband and produced the forged documents in the LIC office to obtain the benefits. According to our information his wife too has obtained the benefit of Rs 25 lakh,” added Inspector Tadvi.

According to the FIR, in the audit conducted in July 14, 2020 it came to light that after the faked death of his wife, Parag had put his wife’s name as nominee in his own LIC policy.

“Later an internal inquiry was ordered and the whole scam came to light. Based on the internal inquiry, LIC has registered a complaint with us. We have arrested the accused and produce them at the judge’s bungalow on Sunday,” said Inspector Tadvi.

Parag Parekh produced the bogus death certificate of his wife in 2016 and received Rs 15 lakh. He then transferred his policy to the Gandhinagar branch and named his wife as the nominee, and she submitted his ‘death certificate’

Doctors move HC for in-service quota in super-specialty courses -

Doctors move HC for in-service quota in super-specialty courses - 

The Times Of India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.10.2020

Citing a most recent constitution bench judgment of the Supreme Court, a group of Tamil Nadu government doctors has moved the Madras high court for notification of 50% of vacancies for in-service candidates for admission to super-speciality medical courses this year.

G Sankaran, counsel for assistant professors of Royapettah government hospital M Syed Fahrudeen and G Kumaravel, wanted the court to restrain the authorities from conducting first round online counselling for admission to DM/MCh courses in the academic session 2020-21 without earmarking 50% of seats for inservice candidates.

When the plea came up for hearing, advocate general Vijay Narayan submitted that a decision will be taken by the state government in this regard at the earliest. He further informed the court that the director general of health services has issued a circular dated October 8 postponing the online counselling till further orders.

Recording the submissions, Justice N Anand Venkatesh adjourned the plea to October 16 for the state to inform its stand.

Earlier, Sankaran contended that as per a Supreme Court order dated August 31, the state has legislative competence and authority to provide them a separate source of entry for in-service candidates seeking admission to PG degree courses. “Hence, the Tamil Nadu government is requested to revive the allotment of 50% seats in PG medical courses and superspeciality courses for in-service candidates to enable government doctors in the state to acquire higher qualification by getting admission under in-service quota,” Sankaran said.

According to the petitioners, in 2017 all the states including Tamil Nadu stopped providing in-service quota in PG medical courses in view of a Supreme Court order which held that states cannot provide such quota as the Post Graduate Medical Education Regulations, 2000 does not even remotely indicate that a separate channel for admission into in-service candidates must be provided and 50% of seats are earmarked for PG diploma courses for in-service candidates.

Subsequently, the issue was referred to a larger bench which has now held that the state has power to provide in-service quota.

HC imposes cost on officials

HC imposes cost on officials

11/10/2020

Staff Reporter Madurai

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has imposed a cost of ₹10,000 each on the incumbent Director of Public Health and Preventive Medicine T. S. Selvavinayagam and the earlier incumbent K. Kulanthaisamy for filing misleading statements before the court.

Justice R. Suresh Kumar observed that the judicial time of the court was considerably consumed due to the misleading statements and if the Health Secretary had taken a decision to initiate disciplinary proceedings, the same shall be taken immediately.

The court was hearing the petition filed by B. Dinesh Kumar of Vadamadurai in Dindigul district. He sought appointment to a post of Health Officer that was lying vacant, through direct recruitment, following the resignation of an appointee.

The judge took cognisance of the fact that contradictory communications were made to the Health Secretary and the High Court. It was submitted before the court that the petitioner was not included in the list for consideration to the post, though he was on the list. The court directed the authorities to fill up the post of the Health Officer by issuing the order of appointment to the petitioner within two weeks. The Health Secretary shall inquire into why misleading statements were filed, the court said.

HC comes to rescue of Karnataka student

HC comes to rescue of Karnataka student

It tells CBSE to declare result; Board had asked her to reappear for Biology paper

11/10/2020

An extreme penalty violates the rule of proportionality, the High Court ruled.

Special Correspondent Bengaluru

Observing that “a tender age student, even when delinquency is established, cannot be treated as an offender of the war crime,” the Karnataka High Court has directed the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) to immediately announce the result of a student of Class XII, who was asked to reappear for an exam in one of the subjects, without announcing the result, for carrying a mobile phone inside the examination hall on March 14.

Justice Krishna S. Dixit passed the order while allowing a petition filed by Shuchi Mishra, who had appeared for the CBSE Class XII main examinations in Bengaluru.

The court directed the CBSE to immediately announce the results for the Biology exam.

The court, from the records, found that the petitioner had inadvertently carried a mobile phone inside the exam hall and had handed it over to the invigilator just before commencement of the exam, but the CBSE had treated her case as “unfair means” for “using mobile phone during examination”.

“The student’s assertion that she had deposited the mobile at 9.55 a.m., that is prior to commencement of examination, to the centre invigilator becomes evident by the fact that it was sent to her school, which in turn delivered it back to her after examination and on the same day,” the court observed.

The court also noted that the CBSE committee had not made any effort to view video footage of the exam hall, with every hall under electronic surveillance, and had denied a personal hearing to the student.

Pointing out that there was no allegation that the petitioner had clandestinely stored the examination material in the said phone for making “unfair use” of the same, the court said, “though a student is expected not to carry such instrument into the exam hall but human fallibility, more particularly in case of children going to exam with associated anxiety, needs to be kept in mind, as an extreme penalty cancelling exam violates the rule of proportionality and it shakes the consciousness of the court, to say the least.”

Courts can’t meddle in food habits: SC

Courts can’t meddle in food habits: SC

13/10/2020

Legal Correspondent NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court on Monday said courts cannot meddle in the food habits of people.

A Bench led by Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul was hearing a petition filed by Akhand Bharat Morcha for ban on halal form of slaughter. “Court cannot determine who can be a vegetarian or non-vegetarian. Those who want to eat halal meat can eat halal meat. Those who want to eat jhatka meat can eat jhatka meat,” the court said orally.

The petition raised a challenge against Section 28 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act which allows slaughter of animals in a manner consonant to one’s religion.

The petition argued that halal manner of slaughter is painful and amounts to cruelty. Whereas jhatka — which is a single fatal blow — is painless.

The court said the petition was filed with “mischievous” intention and dismissed it.