Two leaves’ symbol on OP slips at govt hospital in Pudukottai sparks row

‘Two leaves’ symbol on OP slips at govt hospital in Pudukottai sparks row

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Trichy:09.12.2020

The outpatient slips issued at a government hospital in Pudukottai district with ‘two leaves’ symbol on the back created a row on Tuesday. The slips are used by doctors to write basic details of patients coming to the hospital.

The hospital authorities withheld the slips after DMK functionaries created an uproar over the incident. While dubbing it a coincidence, deputy director of health services (DDHS) Aranthangi Vijay Kumar has sought clarification from the doctors on the incident. A few patients who went to the government hospital at Malaiyur village near Karambakudi were taken aback after noticing the ‘two leaves’ symbol, the poll symbol of the ruling AIADMK, on the back side of the slips. In a few slips, the symbol was mentioned as victory symbol seeking votes. Some of the patients approached the doctor raising the issue.

The slips were procured from a nearby printing press after the primary health centre ran out of slips. But the hospital staff had failed to notice the symbol and issued it to the patients. The slips were in use for the last two days.

DMK Pudukottai north district secretary K K Sellapandian said that doctors could have avoided the incident. Saying that the incident is very serious, he said a government hospital cannot campaign for a particular party by having its poll symbol on the outpatient slips.

The hospital authorities withheld the slips after DMK functionaries created uproar over the incident

Selection panel has no clue about seats vacant in state-run colleges

Selection panel has no clue about seats vacant in state-run colleges

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 09.12.2020

Hours after the MBBS seats surrendered by Tamil Nadu for admission under all-India quota were returned to the state, the selection committee in-charge of admissions did not know the number of seats that were vacant in state-run colleges after two rounds of centralised counselling.

Aspiring medical students, who are awaiting admission and upgrades to college of their choice, were disappointed. “Every year, the centre announces the last date well in advance. The state has to collect vacancies from its colleges and give a count at the end of the day. It is never done,” said Rakesh S, a student counsellor. “The selection committee has to add these into the matrix. We don’t know if it will be done when counselling resumes on Wednesday,” he said.

Each year, every state surrenders15% of MBBS seats in state-run colleges for admission of students from across the country. This year, TN surrendered 548 seats. Counselling for AIQ seats is done online by the medical counselling committee of the directorate general of health services. Students from across the country are allowed to lock choices and allotment is done based on merit in NEET 2020.

“The last date for students to join colleges allotted to them during the second round ended on December 8. If students don’t join colleges they are allotted to, the seats will be considered vacant and returned. We have asked deans from all government colleges to give us the number,” said selection committee secretary G Selvarajan.

Officials closed the counselling with 367 MBBS seats in government colleges and 314 in self-financing colleges. There were 78 BDS seats in government colleges and 948 in self-financing colleges.

Sharing of newspaper PDFs illegal, say experts

Sharing of newspaper PDFs illegal, say experts

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

09.12.2020

Early on in the lockdown, many who missed their morning newspaper or had safety concerns took to reading PDFs of The Times of India ePaper shared on social media groups. But even after studies have shown that newspapers are safe and do not spread the coronavirus, many are still continuing with these illegal downloads despite warnings from experts that this could invite legal action against admins of such WhatsApp groups and members.

Senior Supreme Court lawyer Pavan Duggal points out that circulation of paid content without permission violates the law.

‘Circulation of digital edition sans owner’s nod a violation’

Duggal added, “If a digital edition is being circulated without the permission of the owner, it is a violation of the Copyright Act as well as the Information Technology Act Section 43 which clearly says that if any attempt is made to destroy, delete or alter any information residing in a computer resource, or diminish its value or utility, it is illegal. This person will be liable to pay damages by way of compensation to the person so affected.”

This way of reading newspapers is also risky because it opens up the possibility of someone tampering with the content in the newspaper. A third party circulating the paper without permission may even manipulate and alter the content. This can lead to a whole host of legal and credibility issues, and could make one more susceptible to reading the very fake news that newspapers diligently work to avoid. This practice not only impacts the readers by opening them up to inaccurate or tampered information, it also negatively impacts newspapers and the state of journalism as well.

Newspapers are in the business of audience aggregation through newspaper content. But if this content is available outside newspapers, it can hurt the business of journalism and the jobs of many hard-working reporters, editors, photographers, designers and countless others who work to produce the newspaper.

So if you don’t want to devalue the hard work that goes into creating this credible and diverse content or invite civil and criminal charges, make sure you don’t click on that PDF.

If a digital edition is being circulated without owner’s permission, it’s a violation of Copyright Act as well as IT Act Sec 43, which says if any attempt is made to destroy, delete or alter any information residing in a computer resource, or diminish its value or utility, it is illegal

— Pavan Duggal | Senior SC lawyer

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