Only 8 TN govt, aided school students may get med seats

DID WELL IN NEET

Only 8 TN govt, aided school students may get med seats

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:22.10.2020

Going by the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) cut-off in 2019-20, only eight students from government and government-aided schools in Tamil Nadu are in with a chance for MBBS admissions this year. This is despite 89 students scoring above 300 marks. In 2019-20, 32 students from government and government-aided schools got above 300 and two students got MBBS seats.

This year, four students from government-aided schools who trained in the state-sponsored coaching programme scored above 500 marks. Two BC category students, with 497 and 495 marks, and two differently-abled candidates are likely to get MBB seats. The remaining 82 students, including the topper among government school students with 423 marks, do not seem to have a chance.

In 2019, cut-off in government medical colleges went up by nearly 100 marks in most categories due to the surge in top scorers in NEET after the first phase of counselling. 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 SC category it was 360 marks. For SCA it was 301 and ST 267 marks.

“The state government has revamped the syllabus. But, the teachers were not trained and they may need 3-4 years. We have to give government school students a separate quota for at least three or four years,” said Dr Prasad Mane, secretary, Kilpauk Medical College Alumni Association.

“Giving a separate quota to govt school students also will strengthen the primary healthcare centres in rural areas,” he added.

“In 2017, a student with 470 or 480 marks got all India rank 2000. In 2020, students with the same mark get all India rank 20,000. That's why fewer students are getting MBBS seats despite the better performance,” Mane said.

Dr G R Ravindranath, general secretary of Doctors’ Association for Social Equality, said the government needs to increase the standard of its NEET coaching. “Despite the pandemic and only online coaching, students performed better than last year. Of 6,692 students 1615 have qualified. If the state government implements the 7.5% quota this year, around 370 students from government schools would get MBBS seats. All political parties should meet and urge the governor to implement this 7.5% reservation," he said.

Is Medical University Liable For Compensation On Unrecognised MBBS Degree: Supreme Court To Decide

Is Medical University Liable For Compensation On Unrecognised MBBS Degree: Supreme Court To Decide

By Garima

Published On 23 Oct 2020 12:41 PM 

New Delhi: A matter which can significantly change the outset of medical education in the country has reached the doors of the Supreme Court of India and soon we will have the decision of the top court on whether an educational institution or university can be sued under the consumer protection law for deficiency in services. Saying there have been "divergent views" of the top court on the issue, the SC has decided to examine the matter itself. 

A bench of honourable Justices D.Y. Chandrachud, Indu Malhotra and Indira Banerjee have admitted an appeal filed by concerned 9 medical students against Vinayaka Mission University at Salem in Tamil Nadu, alleging deficiency in services. The case pertains to the 9 students of a medical course of the university who had sought a compensation of ₹ 1.4 crore each alleging deficiency in service and on account of "loss of social standing, academic years, career opportunities, mental and physical agony."

They alleged the university induced them to take admission in the course on a false assurance that it had all the requisite approvals from the authorities. The students were admitted in the offshore programme in 2005-2006 comprising of two-year study in Thailand and two-and-a half-year study in the university here, the plea said. The students were assured that they would be getting their MBBS final degree conferred by the university and recognized by the Indian Government and Medical Council of India.

However, after two years of study in Thailand, the students were informed that they should continue their course at Thailand and would be conferred a Foreign Medical Degree and should subsequently appear for screening test in India, the plea alleged. The students said they suffered loss of career opportunities as the National Board of Examination said that their qualification was "not a primary medical qualification since the Degree is not recognized by the Medical Council of India or the Council of Thailand.

In their petition, the medicos cited other judgments in which it has been held that educational institutions would come within the purview of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986. The university had objected to the maintainability of this plea contending that petitioners are not consumers and education is not a commodity, adds IANS The NCDRC, in its judgement of January 20, had said, "We are of the considered opinion that the institutions rendering education including vocational courses and activities undertaken during the process of pre-admission as well as post-admission and also imparting excursion tours, picnics, extra co-curricular activities, swimming, sport, etc. except Coaching Institutions, will, therefore, not be covered under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986." 

The university has relied upon apex court judgments in the Maharshi Dayanand University and in the PT Koshy cases to say that these verdicts have held that the education is not a commodity and educational institutions are not providing any kind of service. Hence, in matter of admission and fees, there cannot be a kind of service and therefore, there cannot be a question of deficiency of service to be adjudicated upon in consumer forum or commissions. Aggrieved by this, the students filed an appeal in the apex court. Hearing the plea, the top court while admitting the appeal, noted that there are divergent views of the Supreme Court on this issue. "Since there are divergent views of this Court bearing on the subject as to whether an educational institution or University would be subject to the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 1986, the appeal would require admission. Admit," the top court said in its order of October 15. It asked lawyer Soumyajit, appearing on behalf of caveator university, to file the response within six weeks to the appeal filed against a decision of the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission (NCDRC), reports PTI.

https://medicaldialogues.in/news/education/is-medical-university-liable-for-compensation-on-unrecognised-mbbs-degree-supreme-court-to-decide-70751#.X5OHXGYjYwQ.whatsapp

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.