Irula youth wins 2-year battle for higher education

Irula youth wins 2-year battle for higher education

Faced difficulties as he got both SC and ST certificates; SC certificate cancelled recently

Published: 24th October 2020 04:54 AM |

By Nirupa Sampath

Express News Service

CUDDALORE: While several Irula youngsters have been raising complaints about denial of community certificates, 21-year-old C Jayaraj has shown that with a lot of grit and patience, nothing is impossible. After struggling for almost two years, he has managed to secure an ST certificate, which will be crucial for him to pursue Masters degree. 

Jayaraj is the son of a daily-wage labourer, hailing from a Irula village called Samy Nagar in the outskirts of Cuddalore. He is the only person in his village to have completed graduation, and aspires to study further. However, a major hurdle came in the way — he holds both an SC and an ST certificate. 

Jayaraj obtained the SC certificate while applying to the Periyar Arts College in 2016. Much later, in December 2018, the Cuddalore sub-collector conducted investigations, after which it was decided that Jayaraj was eligible for an ST certificate. While the ST certificate was granted by the officials, they did not bother to cancel his SC certificate.

His ordeal began then. He visited multiple government offices, but in vain. “They kept sending me back, asking me to return on another day. Some officials said they had no idea how to sort out my issue,” says Jayaraj. In February 2019, he approached his college to get his community details changed in the transfer certificate (TC), but, it was not granted. 

On October 12, the RDO’s office came to his rescue and got his SC certificate cancelled. Soon after, he got his TC, denoting his community as ST. “Finally, there is some hope. I hope to clear the UPSC exams some day,” he said.

Chennai: 17-year-old boy steals Rs 7.5 lakh from doctor for PUBG

Chennai: 17-year-old boy steals Rs 7.5 lakh from doctor for PUBG

According to the police, the 76-year-old victim is from Anna Nagar. Since his children are out of the State, the man stays alone.

Published: 23rd October 2020 04:40 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: A 17-year-old boy from Chennai allegedly stole Rs 7.5 lakh from a doctor using his bank details and OTPs to buy new mobile phones and buy premium packs in online games like PuBG and Freefire. The complaint has been withdrawn and police let the boy go after a warning.

According to the police, the 76-year-old victim is from Anna Nagar. Since his children are out of the State, the man stays alone. A maid and her son lives in the first floor of the house, said the police. “The boy who studied in a private school helped him to go out and was always at hand to provide guidance with using gadgets,” said the police officer.

The boy had allegedly collected details of the man’s credit card while helping with online transactions. 

“The boy, a PuBG addict, used the card to purchase premium packs in the game and used the same to book for championship games. In order to play the game without any hassles, he purchased mobile worth Rs 30,000 and used it only for the game,” said a police officer.

He also purchased mobile phones for his friends. The incident came to light recently when the doctor checked his bank statement and found at least Rs 7.5 lakh was gone over the past one year. He approached the Anna Nagar Cyber Cell.

The boy confessed when the police found messages of PuBG purchases in his mobile. However, the doctor withdrew the complaint saying that he did not want to spoil the life of the boy. The police seized the mobile phones.

KUHS Seeks Permission From Centre, State To Reopen Medical Colleges

KUHS Seeks Permission From Centre, State To Reopen Medical Colleges

By Sanchari Chattopadhyay

Published On 22 Oct 2020 9:45 AM | Updated On 22 Oct 2020 5:58 PM 

Kerala: The Kerala University of Health Sciences has sought permission from the central and state government to reopen the medical colleges which remained closed for a long time due to the covid-19 pandemic. The medical institutions of many states remained closed after the pandemic hit the country during March. The Vice-Chancellor of KUHS Dr. Mohanan Kunnummal informed TOI that the association of State health University VCs arranged a webinar to discuss the current situation of Medical education where it was found that institution heads of most of the states are kin to reopen their institutions. 

There are more than 300 institutions including medical, dental colleges and homeopathy institutions, College of nursing, and pharmacy colleges under KUHS across the state which remained closed during the long period of a pandemic. Hence authorities are seeking permission for starting the classes again. 

According to TOI report, Haryana is most likely to open their institutions on November 1 while Maharashtra colleges may resume their classes from November 16th. Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have reportedly scheduled reopening on December 1. Dr. Kunnummal stated that most of the VCs agreed that the pandemic might remain for some more time. However, they have considered that despite the constant risk of exposure, industrial and agricultural sectors have started their activities hence they are all of the views that the health sector which is no less essential should start operating as well. 

Due to the increasing number of COVID victims, there has been a lot of pressure on the healthcare sectors and there is often a scarcity of manpower, hence educational institutions need to reopen to meet the demand of the health care services. He also added that the meeting of the governing council which was held two days ago also passed a resolution regarding the same. He said that KUHS has decided to start a placement guidance centre and to begin 28 new courses so that it can contribute in developing manpower which is essential to address the new issues and challenges aroused in the healthcare sector due to the pandemic

https://medicaldialogues.in/state-news/kerala/kerala-cm-refutes-medical-negligence-charges-over-covid-patient-death-as-baseless-70748?infinitescroll=1

Stalin shedding crocodile tears: Palaniswami

Stalin shedding crocodile tears: Palaniswami

24/10/2020

Special CorrespondentCHENNAI

DMK president M.K. Stalin is shedding crocodile tears on the issue of the 7.5% horizontal reservation in medical education, and is trying to gain political mileage, but the people will see through his designs, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami said on Friday.

“The DMK and the Congress, which were responsible for the introduction of the NEET, have no right to say the AIADMK government has not mounted enough pressure on the Governor on the horizontal reservation issue. It is the AIADMK government that has created 3,050 new medical seats in the last nine years,” Mr. Palaniswami said in a statement.

The AIADMK government got a Bill on the horizontal quota through the Assembly to give an opportunity to students of government schools on a par with those of private schools.

“Hence, people will see through the Leader of the Opposition shedding crocodile tears...,” he said.

Mr. Palaniswami said that to gain political mileage, Mr. Stalin wanted to create an impression that it was because of the DMK’s efforts that the Governor was looking into the Bill.

He said the government had successfully contained the spread of COVID-19 and keeping in mind the welfare of people, he had announced that a vaccine, when available, would be given free of cost to the people.

“Mr. Stalin is afraid that the AIADMK government is finding favour with people and following my announcement on the vaccine, he is again indulging in ‘press release politics’. People will not be fooled by this,” he said.

Baseless: Stalin

DMK president M.K. Stalin on Friday charged Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami with making baseless statements about NEET and said the exams began to be conducted in Tamil Nadu only after he took charge.

“Mr. Palaniswami has no right to speak about competence in his statement. If he wants to prove his competence and worth to the people, he should get the Governor’s approval immediately for the horizontal reservation of 7.5% in medical admission,” he said.

Joining issue with the Chief Minister, Mr. Stalin said he had written to the Governor on the issue only with the good intention that he would take a swifter decision if both the ruling party and the opposition jointly raised the issue.

Colleges in Karnataka to reopen on Nov. 17

Colleges in Karnataka to reopen on Nov. 17

24/10/2020

Staff Reporter Bengaluru

After a gap of seven months, degree, diploma, and engineering colleges in Karnataka will reopen for students on November 17.

However, barring practicals, where attendance will be compulsory, it is not mandatory for students to physically report to the classroom.

The decision to reopen colleges after Deepavali was taken on Friday at a meeting headed by Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa.

Minister for Higher Education C.N. Ashwath Narayan, while making the announcement, reiterated that students will be given the option of continuing with their online classes. “Those willing to attend offline classes should register themselves and get written consent from parents,” he said.

The decision was taken keeping in mind the future of students and the UGC guidelines, said officials. The department will issue a comprehensive list of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) on the modalities of resuming classes, including the number of batches that can be held in a day.

Each college will have to form a COVID-19 task force to ensure that the SOPs are adhered to.

“At the district level, a task force headed by the Deputy Commissioner will also be formed. Cooperation of various departments has been sought. Issues such as opening of government hostels have also been discussed,” Mr. Ashwath Narayan added.

High Court dismisses architecture course aspirant’s petition

High Court dismisses architecture course aspirant’s petition

He wanted National Testing Agency to display answer key for drawing paper

24/10/2020

Staff Reporter MADURAI

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has dismissed the plea of an architecture course aspirant who sought a direction to the National Testing Agency (NTA) to display the provisional answer key for Drawing Part III paper of B. Arch admission conducted for JEE (Main) examination, April 2020.

The petitioner, T. Kavinraj, said Drawing Part III paper examination was conducted in ‘pen and paper’ offline mode to be attempted on a drawing sheet to test the drawing aptitude of candidates, for which there was no answer key.

He sought display of the answer key so that if candidates were not satisfied with it, they could challenge it.

The NTA submitted that for the subjective paper no answer key was provided and there could not be allotment of partial marks for every stage of drawing.

The answer sheets were assessed by two independent subject experts and if their assessment differed by more than 25 % it was placed for scrutiny before a head expert.then   If the difference between the marks given by the two experts was less than 25%, then the average was taken. The process of dual verification was followed in order to curb the possibility of incorrect assessment and prepare the result in a fair and transparent manner. The petitioner was aware of this system of conduct of the examination, it was submitted.

Justice S. Vaidyanathan observed that the common test was conducted throughout India and for Drawing Part III, which was a subjective paper, there was no need to award marks in stages and to upload the key answers in the website.

Except wishing the candidate ‘All the Best’ to come out with flying colours in the forthcoming examinations, the court said, it could not grant relief to him.

Anna varsity seeks PhD for asst prof jobs, faces opposition

Anna varsity seeks PhD for asst prof jobs, faces opposition

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  24.10.2020 

Citing University Grants Commission’s (UGC) guidelines, candidates who qualified the National Eligibility Test (NET), State Level Eligibility Test (SLET) have opposed Anna University changing the minimum qualification for assistant professors from postgraduation to PhD. They said as per the UGC guidelines, the minimum qualification for arts and science subjects is 55% in postgraduate course and NET qualification.

Anna University has notified 312 vacancies including 139 assistant professors, 106 associate professors and 67 professors in four campuses after a gap of six years. The notification said candidates applying for science and humanities teaching posts in the university should have one year experience after getting their PhDs and that all candidates should have secured first class in UG and PG. If the classification is not available, they should have a minimum 70% score in their programmes. Earlier, the candidates needed a first class in either UG or PG.

“There is no NET for engineering subjects. But fixing PhD as a minimum qualification for arts and science subjects, assistant librarian posts is against UGC guidelines,” said R Thangamuniyandi, secretary, NET SLET Association. He sought a new notification making 55% marks in PG as qualified for arts, science and humanity subjects.