HC: We must hang our heads in shame for treatment of SCs

HC: We must hang our heads in shame for treatment of SCs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:23.12.2020

Taking suo motu cognizance of a news report according to which a dead body was taken to the graveyard through cultivable land at Marudur village near Melur in Madurai district, Madras high court sought a report from the state government on the availability of basic facilities at places where scheduled caste (SC) community people reside in the state.

In the report, members of adi dravidar colony in the village were seen carrying a body to the graveyard through agricultural land due to absence of pathway. A division bench of Justices N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi observed that we must hang our heads in shame for discriminating against people belonging to the SC community. They observed that even now such people were not getting basic amenities and being ill-treated by people of other communities.

The court observed that not only the living but the dead should be given dignity. Saying that every village should have a pathway to the graveyard, the judges sought response from the government on providing a pathway to the graveyard at Marudur village. Taking a larger view, the court sought a report from the state government on the following queries: Number of places where people belonging to the SC community are residing and the availability of basic facilities such as drinking water and road facilities. Number of places which do not have pathways to graveyard, steps taken to provide them and in what time these would materialise. The case was adjourned to December 23 for further hearing.

Madras high court sought a report from the state government on the availability of basic facilities at places where scheduled caste (SC) community people reside in the state

ECR abuzz once again as tourists throng hotspots

ECR abuzz once again as tourists throng hotspots

Footfalls At Muttukadu, Mudaliarkuppam & Mamallapuram Show Significant Appreciation

Yogesh.Kabirdoss@timesgroup.com

23.12.2020

Months after being shut for tourists due to the Covid-19 pandemic, East Coast Road (ECR), the city’s entertainment corridor, is bustling with activity. Tourist attractions dotting the scenic highway between Muttukadu, Mudaliarkuppam and Mamallapuram are witnessing a surge in footfalls, bringing back business and cheering all. While most of the visitors to the first two spots are from Chennai and its outskirts, the shore town is abuzz with travellers from Karnataka at weekends.

Footfalls at the boathouses maintained by the Tami Nadu Tourism Development Corporation (TTDC) at Muttukadu and Mudaliarkuppam have already reached pre-Covid levels, while the turnout at the Pallava-era monuments at Mamallapuram, reopened a week ago, is 50% of last year’s figures. Hotels in and around Mamallapuram are reporting 80% occupancy during weekends even as theme parks are seeing a revival.

MGM Dizzee World in Muttukadu has been reporting footfalls that are 25% of the numbers in 2019. “There has been a rise in the number of visitors, though it is not on a par with pre-Covid times. During weekends (Saturday and Sunday) in 2019, we used to get 4,000 visitors. Now, we get 1,000 visitors,” said assistant general manager S Krishnamurthy. At the neighbouring Dakshina Chitra museum, there has been a surge in the number of domestic visitors, a museum official said.

Both officials and guides look forward to having international travellers, who form a chunk of visitors at the leisure facilities along ECR till Mamallapuram. The town with the fabled shore temple, which houses several other Unesco-tagged monuments as well, has seen the number of tourists rise since December 14. The guides are smiling. N Yuvaraj, a TTDC-licensed tour guide at Mamallapuram, said at least 20,000 people may have visited the town on Sunday. “We have been seeing Karnataka registered vehicles of late. The numbers spiralled only after the entry to monuments was allowed for the public,” he said.

But, many complain that accessing tickets for the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI)- maintained monuments. R Stalin, a guide, said visitors were facing problems in purchasing offline tickets as cash and debit cards are not allowed. “This has inconvenienced visitors some of who are walking off in a huff,” he said.

When contacted, sources in the ASI denied the charges and said that cash transactions at the ticket counters at the various monuments had been made available since Saturday.

No new year bash at TN beaches, hotels

RESORTS, ROADS TOO OFF LIMITS

No new year bash at TN beaches, hotels

23.12.2020

The Tamil Nadu government has banned New Year-eve celebrations in restaurants, hotels, clubs and resorts, in view of the pandemic. Celebrations are also banned on roads and in beaches on New Year’s eve and on January 1.

“There is a need to intensify Covid preventive measures against the backdrop of a fresh wave of infections in foreign countries,” said an official statement. The government, however,allowed dining as usual in restaurants, hotels, clubs, resorts, including beach resorts, and other similar places.

The government said it has brought under control the infectious disease with the support of people and by its efforts. The state had 9,495 active cases on Monday, while 12 districts reported single-digit cases and Perambalur zero cases.

“As there is a chance of huge crowds for celebrations in restaurants, hotels, clubs, resorts, including beach resorts on new year eve... there is a possibility of a surge in infections, which have been brought under control,” the statement said. TNN

‘New virus strain unlikely to affect India’s vax strategy’

PREPARING FOR THE VACCINE

‘New virus strain unlikely to affect India’s vax strategy’

There Is No Reason To Worry As Of Now: Top Epidemiologist

Sushmi Dey & Durgesh Nandan Jha TNN

New Delhi:23.12.2020

The new variant of coronavirus circulating in the UK is unlikely to impact India’s vaccine strategy as the shots being developed are expected to be effective against the new strain and re-infections, in case they happen, would be milder, experts said.

They added that vaccine candidates under regulatory evaluation in India included shots with various other components apart from spike protein — which is related to this particular strain — and this would help the vaccines maintain their efficacy. Even as the new variant set off an alarm, epidemiologists in India maintained that mutations were common to viruses and people must continue wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing and hand hygiene.

“There is no reason to worry as of now. Every virus changes its genetic structure. This is an RNA virus and is likely to change often but this virus is a better virus compared to others like influenza or HIV. This virus has a very low rate of mutation,” said top epidemiologist Dr Raman Gangakhedkar, formerly head-scientist at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

According to the hypotheses presented by the UK consortium, unusual genetic divergence of lineage B.1.1.7 (one of the mutations) may have resulted, at least in part, from virus evolution with a chronically-infected individual. It has been seen that patients with cancer remain Covid positive for a long time.

“Although such infections are rare, and onward transmission from them presumably even rarer, they are not improbable given the ongoing large number of new infections,” the UK report said. The mutation may well be present in India and tests were needed to check for it, experts said.

According to Dr Suneela Garg, professor of excellence and president of Indian Association of Preventive and Social Medicine, the mutated virus is 1.7 times more infective.

“It can affect even those who have been exposed to Covid-19 already. But the symptoms are likely to be mild,” she said. Dr Garg added that the mutation may not affect the effectiveness of vaccines under development.

Dr N K Mehra, honorary emeritus scientist at ICMR and former AIIMS dean, said viruses mutated, just like the one causing common cold changed every year. Dr Mehra said changes observed in the Sars-CoV2 were probably caused by the virus’s attempt to escape the immune system and the exact impact of this mutation was yet to be ascertained.

FOLLOW HYGIENE: Epidemiologists in India maintained that mutations were common to viruses and people must continue wearing masks and maintaining physical distancing

More med graduates from abroad clear test

More med graduates from abroad clear test

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:22.12.2020

Medical graduates from foreign universities have performed well in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE), with 19.4% clearing the test conducted in December 2020. That’s 10% more than the previous test held in August.

Candidates said the better pass percentage was due to easy question paper and increased awareness among the candidates. Of 19,122 candidates who appeared for the exam, 3,722 of them passed. Results of 1,271 candidates have been cancelled for failing to submit required documents.

Students who earn medical degrees abroad need to clear the FMGE to practice in India. Following a single digit pass percentage (9.9%) in the last session, there was much expectation about the latest test.

Keerthana Balasundaram from Coimbatore, who completed her MD (MBBS) in Crimea Federal University in Russia, cleared FMGE in the first attempt scoring 192 out of 300. “The first paper was very easy and the second paper had many clinical questions. Of 30 students from the college who appeared for the screening test from Tamil Nadu, 20 cleared this session,” she said. A tough syllabus and coaching in the university helped her to clear the test, she added.

A Janani from Madukkur in Thanjavur district studied medicine at Xinjiang Medical University in China and cleared the test scoring 164. “The paper was easy compared to the previous session. There were more clinical questions last time,” she said. She is yet to receive her degree as a four-month internship is still pending. “I had to return to India in February due to Covid-19 pandemic. Whenever travel restrictions are eased, I will go back to China to complete the internship and get the degree.”

Increased awareness of the test standards have helped some prepare better.

S Sudesraj from Salem completed his MD in Kazan State Medical University in Russia and passed the exam with 169 marks. “The screening test covers only topics covered in the course. If students paid attention to their classes, it is easy to clear the test in the first try,” he said. Through the Covid-19 pandemic, he stayed in Russia to complete his degree.

R Sureshkumar, managing director of Truematics Overseas Education Consultancy, Chennai, said only students with poor academic performance who have joined foreign medical universities struggle to clear FMGE. He added that most students who cleared the exams were from the current batch. “There is an increased awareness about the screening test among students and they start preparing for it while in college. In the coming years, students who studied abroad too will clear FMGE easily as clearing NEET is now mandatory for them too,” he added.

Graduates who earned their medical degrees abroad have to clear Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) to practise in India

Cancellation of flights from UK leaves transit passengers stranded

Cancellation of flights from UK leaves transit passengers stranded

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 22.12.2020

The sudden cancellation of flights to and from the UK, Saudi Arabia and Oman has left several people, including transit passengers, stranded abroad. The Indian government has suspended flights to London while Saudi and Oman have suspended all international flights.

All those who arrive from London will have to undergo RT-PCR test and will have to remain in institutional quarantine till test results arrive in Chennai. The state government has also decided to test all those who have arrived from the UK in the last15days.

So far, people arriving at Chennai with negative certificates were getting exempted from tests and quarantine.

Though transit passengers have time till Tuesday to return from London to Chennai and other cities, there is no clarity on what will happen if they do not get seats in the flights that reach here till tomorrow midnight.

Travel and tour operators have been flooded with calls from people who are already in the UK, London and the Middle East for a short visit or for business travel.

"Many people from Chennai who have flown to Dubai to take transit flights to Kuwait, Oman and Saudi Arabia are now stuck in the UAE for quarantine. Since there were no direct flights from Chennai, many flew to Dubai, spent a week in quarantine and then continued their journey. These people will now have to stay there and then return to India if everything is clear or will have to spend money to travel again. Many have been spending money to stay in quarantine in Dubai," said Basheer Ahmed of Metro Travels.

He also said that the suspension of flights would impact people who were planning their trips from the US to India via London. "Dubai is still open and flights are arriving from the UK. But, it will not be of help for the stranded Indians because the government has said that those from the UK to India should not be boarded," he added.

Nishant Pitti from EaseMyTrip said that many people are stranded in London. "The cancellation will have an impact on travel. But it will not affect leisure travel because it was supposed to resume in summer only."

UNDER THE LENS: All those who arrive from London will have to undergo RT-PCR test and remain in institutional quarantine in Chennai till results arrive

நடிகை திறந்த நகை கடையில் நஷ்டம் ஒரே குடும்பத்தில் விஷம் குடித்த 5 பேர்

நடிகை திறந்த நகை கடையில் நஷ்டம் ஒரே குடும்பத்தில் விஷம் குடித்த 5 பேர்

Added : டிச 21, 2020 00:10

திருச்சி,: நகை வியாபாரத்தில், 15 கோடி ரூபாய் நஷ்டம் ஏற்பட்டதால், கடை உரிமையாளர், மனைவி, மகள், பெற்றோருடன் விஷம் குடித்து தற்கொலைக்கு முயன்றது, பரபரப்பை ஏற்படுத்தியது.திருப்பூர், தாராபுரம் பெரியகடை வீதியில், எஸ்.வி.ஆர்., என்ற பெயரில் பலராமன், 75, என்பவரும், அவரது மகன் ஹரி, 38, என்பவரும் நகை கடை நடத்தி வருகின்றனர்.

கடையை நடிகை ஓவியா திறந்து வைத்தார்.மிகவும் ஆடம்பரமாக திறக்கப்பட்ட நகைக்கடையில் எதிர்பார்த்த வருமானம் இல்லை. 15 கோடி ரூபாய் வரை நஷ்டம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது. மேலும், நகைச்சீட்டு கட்டியவர்களுக்கு, நகை கொடுக்க முடியாமல் திணறினர்.சீட்டு கட்டி ஏமாந்த மக்கள், கடந்த, 18ம் தேதி இரவு, கடையை முற்றுகையிட்டு, சாலை மறியலில் ஈடுபட்டனர்.

தாராபுரம் போலீசார் விசாரித்து வந்தனர்.அவமானம் அடைந்த ஹரி, பெற்றோர், மனைவி, மகள் ஆகியோருடன், திருச்சி, மண்ணச்சநல்லுார் அருகே துடையூர் என்ற இடத்தில், லாட்ஜில் அறை எடுத்து தங்கினார்.இவர்களது கார் டிரைவர் அய்யப்பன், தனி அறையில் தங்க, மற்ற அனைவரும் பெரிய அறையில் தங்கி உள்ளனர்.

நேற்று காலை, அவர்கள் தங்கியிருந்த அறைக்கதவு திறக்கவில்லை என்பதால், விடுதி ஊழியர்கள் துணையுடன், கார் டிரைவர் அய்யப்பன் கதவை திறந்து பார்த்தார்.உள்ளே, ஹரி, மனைவி திவ்யா, 34, மகள் அசோக் ராதா, 8, பலராமன், அவரது மனைவி புஷ்பா, 68, ஆகிய ஐந்து பேரும், விஷம் குடித்த நிலையில் மயங்கி கிடந்தனர். திருச்சி கே.எம்.சி., மருத்துவமனையில் அவர்களுக்கு சிகிச்சை அளிக்கப்படுகிறது.