No need for visa to get int’l driving permit, can be renewed online

No need for visa to get int’l driving permit, can be renewed online

Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:11.01.2021

The government has done away with the condition of submitting a valid visa and medical certificate while applying for International Driving Permit (IDP). Moreover, from February 15, the IDP holders can also get the permit renewed online though the Indian embassies, if these expire when they are still abroad.

These changes have been made in the Motor Vehicle Rules by the road transport ministry through a notification on Saturday. The IDPs issued in India are accepted across 15 countries including the UK, USA, Germany, Australia, Canada, Switzerland and Bhutan. The validity of IDP is one year from the date of its issue or the validity of the domestic license whichever is earlier.

This new norm will bring relief to many who face problems in getting this key driving document renewed during their stay in foreign countries. Such persons will need to apply through websites of the Indian embassies or missions abroad and the applications would then be transferred to the Parivahan portal for the respective RTOs to process them. Parivahan portal is the national register of all DLs and RCs.

The applicants will be required to pay ₹2,000 as fee for renewal of their IPD. They need to submit the proof of valid driving licence, three copies of passport photographs, proof of nationality and proof of valid passport. They will also need to give the address at which the renewed IDP can be delivered where the person is staying.

An official said the conditions of a medical certificate while applying for an IPD has also been done away with since the citizen who has a valid driving licence doesn’t need one more medical certificate.

Students from commerce stream make a mark while only 181 medicine graduates pass the test

Engineers continue to bell the CAT

Students from commerce stream make a mark while only 181 medicine graduates pass the test

Jainarayan.Ram@timesgroup.com

11.01.2021

Engineers have been dominating in the list of successful candidates in the Common Admission Test (CAT) every year and the trend has been the same this year too.

Speaking to Education Times, Harshal Lowalekar, convener of CAT 2020, and an associate professor at IIM Indore says, “Of the total candidates appeared this year, 2,928 candidates were from IITs and 61,187 were from an engineering background. Nine candidates have scored 100 percentile out of whom five candidates are from IITs, and the remaining two are from other engineering institutes.”

Engineers have always performed well in the management admission test. In 2019, all ten toppers were from engineering background. “As many as 19 candidates have scored an overall 99.99 percentile in CAT 2020, of which, 16 are from engineering/technology. 18 are male candidates with only one female candidate,” says Lowalekar.

Arpit Singh, who scored 100 percentile in CAT 2016, and a 2nd year PGP Student at IIM-Ahmedabad says, “Engineers, in their initial years, prepare for JEE, which better prepares them mentally to tackle a difficult exam such as CAT.

Secondly, a lot of people who choose engineering are comfortable with numbers, and that gives them an advantage in two sections, Quant and LR/DI.” Arpit is an IIT Delhi p graduate.

A total of 1,90,144 candidates took CAT 2020. The number of male candidates was 1,23,388 and the number of female candidates was 66,755, while only one transgender candidate took the test. Besides the engineers, candidates from the Commerce stream have emerged as the second best to qualify CAT 2020.

“Of the total candidates, 30,233 are from the Commerce stream followed by 19,483 from the Management and 3,769 from the Economics background,” says Lowalekar.

Lowalekar says, 5,026 candidates have appeared from the arts, humanities, law and languages background.

Participation from the Medicine field is not much though. “Only 181 candidates appeared from Medicine,” says Lowalekar.

Among the states, Maharashtra leads the way from where maximum candidates have taken the admission test. “31,189 candidates have appeared from Maharashtra followed by 24,476 from Uttar Pradesh and 15,696 candidates from Delhi,” says Lowalekar.

UGC allows IoEs to establish campuses outside India

UGC allows IoEs to establish campuses outside India

The institutes will have to get no-objection certificates from MEA, MHA to set up campuses abroad

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

11.01.2021

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has allowed Institutions of Eminence (IoEs) to set up off-shore campuses as part of the UGC (Institutions of Eminence Deemed to be Universities) (Amendments) Regulation 2021. The institutes will now be able to establish campuses outside India.

The institutes will have to receive noobjection certificates from the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to set up campuses abroad. The institutes will have to enrol a minimum of five hundred students on its rolls under the regular classroom, offer atleast five PG programmes and research programmes to be able to set up the offshore campuses.

“The Institutions of Eminence deemed to be universities shall submit their application to the ministry by way of an affidavit in the prescribed proforma along with the Detailed Project Report (DPR) containing its 10-year strategic vision plan and a fiveyear rolling implementation plan viz. academic plan, faculty recruitment plan, student admission plan, research plan, infrastructure development plan, financial plan, administrative plan and governance plan,” read the official statement by UGC.

The amendments permit the IOEs to start new off-campus centres, with a maximum of three in five years and not more than one in an academic year.

Hindustan Convocation TOI

 

Clerk’s assets swell 560% in 7 years, booked

Clerk’s assets swell 560% in 7 years, booked

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.01.2021

In what it sees as a clear indication of corruption at taluk offices, the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has discovered that a record clerk in a tahsildar’s officer has had his wealth increase fivefold in seven years. He was booked for holding disproportionate assests earlier this week.

The DVAC said the accused, M Sivakumar, was working as a record clerk in the office of Shollinganallur taluk tahsildar. He was first recruited as a night watchman in the office of Tambaram tahsildar in July 2000 and elevated to the rank of record clerk nine years later.

The agency kept the check period for calculating the growth of his assets as January 2012 to January 2020, when the accused held the post of a record clerk in the election section of Greater Chennai Corporation. “This is the period when he accumulated maximum assets,” the agency said in a release.

As per calculations by the agency, assets in Sivakumar and his wife’s names in January 2012 were worth ₹20.4 lakh. By December 31, 2019, value of the assets the two held boomed to ₹1.3 crore.

Sivakumar’s legal income during the period was ₹18.2 lakh. The couple had incurred an expenditure of ₹6 lakh. Therefore, the assets acquired by the couple during the period were worth ₹1.1 crore. Likely savings was calculated as ₹12.2 lakh.

As per DVAC’s calculations, this means that assets were disproportionate to the tune of ₹1.02 crore, 561.2% times his income. The agency added that Sivakumar had purchased properties in his wife’s name as she had insufficient means to purchase them herself.

The DVAC booked a case against Sivakumar under section 13(1)(b) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

In the past few months, the agency has conducted several surprise checks at registration and taluk offices and uncovered thousands of rupees of bribe money and a network of agents at play.

From ₹20 lakh in Jan 2012, the value of assets held by record clerk Sivakumar and his wife soared to more than ₹1 crore by the end of 2019. DVAC calculated this to be a five-fold jump after taking into account his income, expenditure

TN nursing grad loses life, baby in attempt to deliver at home

TN nursing grad loses life, baby in attempt to deliver at home

Trichy:11.01.2021

A 29-year-old BSc nursing graduate lost her life while delivering a baby under the supervision of her husband Vijayavarman, an acupuncture practitioner, at their house in Perambalur district on Sunday. The woman developed serious medical complications including blood coagulation while the unborn baby was found dead and decomposed within the uterus, reports Deepak Karthik.

Health department sources said Alagammal of Poolambadi village was scheduled to deliver a baby on December 28 and the family had registered her name for reproduction and child health (RCH) identification number. Alagammal, however, failed to turn up for pregnancy screening. “The family told us that they will take care of childbirth at their home. They even said they will bear the consequences and threatened us for intervening,” said R Geetharani, deputy director of health services (DDHS), Perambalur. As per government data, the state has nearly 98% institutional delivery.

DELIVERY AT HOME

Death termed suspicious, cops investigating

On Saturday night, the woman developed labour pain. The DDHS said that during the delivery attempt at home, only the head of the baby came out and Alagammal’s health deteriorated.

She developed further complications and was rushed to Perambalur government hospital in an ambulance.

The woman had developed liver and renal complications while her uterus was damaged since the baby had decomposed, the official said. Despite treatment, Alagammal’s condition worsened with blood platelets declining drastically and she had to be referred to Trichy MGMGH. She died of medical complications on Sunday. While the woman’s body was kept in the government hospital for medical examination, the family allegedly demanded that it be handed over immediately. “We have registered a case for death under suspicious circumstances. Based on further investigation and reports from the health department, we may alter the section,” Nisha Parthiban, Perambalur superintendent of police, told TOI. An RDO inquiry will also be conducted, police sources said.

துணைவேந்தர் பதவி நீட்டிப்புக்கு வரவேற்பு உயர்கல்வி செயலர்களின் முடிவுக்கு 'குட்டு'

துணைவேந்தர் பதவி நீட்டிப்புக்கு வரவேற்பு உயர்கல்வி செயலர்களின் முடிவுக்கு 'குட்டு'

Added : ஜன 10, 2021 01:51

பாரதிதாசன், பெரியார் பல்கலை துணைவேந்தர்கள் பதவி நீட்டிக்கப்பட்டதற்கு, கல்வியாளர்கள் வரவேற்பு தெரிவித்துள்ளனர்.

இதன்மூலம், உயர்கல்வித் துறை செயலர்களின் தன்னிச்சையான முடிவுகளுக்கு, 'குட்டு' வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.பல்கலை துணைவேந்தர்நியமனங்களில், பல ஆண்டுகளாக பல்கலை மானியக் குழுவின் விதிமுறைகளை கடைப்பிடிக்காமலும், துணைவேந்தராக நியமிக்கப்படுபவரின் நன்னடத்தை குறித்த விபரங்களை சரிவர கண்காணிக்காமலும், பல கோடிகளை பெற்று, துணைவேந்தர்கள் நியமனம் நடந்துள்ளது.

மறுபரிசீலனைஇது குறித்து, பல்வேறு கால கட்டங்களில், கல்வியாளர்கள் குரல் கொடுத்தும், எவ்வித பயனும் இல்லை. இவ்வாறு நியமிக்கப்பட்ட துணைவேந்தர்கள் சிலர், உயர்கல்வி துறையினரோடு இணைந்து, பல்வேறு ஊழல் புகார்களில் சிக்கி, பல்கலைகளின் மாண்பையும் கெடுத்து வந்தனர். கவர்னராக, பன்வாரிலால்புரோஹித் பதவி ஏற்ற பின், துணைவேந்தர் நியமனங்கள் வெளிப்படைத் தன்மையுடனும், தகுதி அடிப்படையிலும் நடந்தன. என்ன தான் துணைவேந்தர் நியமனங்கள் நேர்மையான முறையில் நடந்தாலும், அரசியல்வாதிகள், அதிகாரிகளின் கையில் சிக்கி, துணைவேந்தர்களால் சுயமாக செயல்பட முடியவில்லை.பல்கலை சிண்டிகேட் கூட்டங்களில், நிதி சம்பந்தமான விஷயங்களில் முடிவுகள் எடுக்கப்பட்டால், அந்த தீர்மானத்தை நிறைவேற்றாமல், ஏற்கனவே நிறைவேற்றப்பட்ட சிண்டிகேட் தீர்மானங்களை மறுபரிசீலனை செய்து, திட்டங்கள் செயல்படுத்தப்படுகின்றன.கொரோனா காலத்தில், பல்கலைகளில் பணியாற்றும் ஆசிரியர், அலுவலர்களுக்கு சம்பளம் கொடுப்பதற்கே திணறும் நிலை உள்ளபோது, பல்கலைகளில் தேவையில்லாத ஆசிரியர் பணியிடங்களை உருவாக்குகின்றனர்.

இதனால், பல்கலைகள் கடும் நிதிச்சுமைக்கு தள்ளப்படும். இந்நிலையில், திருச்சி பாரதிதாசன் பல்கலையில், மானியக் குழுவின் விதிகளுக்கு மாறாக, ஆசிரியர் நியமன விளம்பரம் வெளியிடப்பட்டுள்ளதை எதிர்த்து, பல்கலை ஆசிரியர் சங்கம் வழக்கு தொடர்ந்தது.பணி நீட்டிப்புஇந்த வழக்கில், பல்கலைசார்பில், உயர்கல்வி துறையின் வழிகாட்டுதலின்அடிப்படையிலேயே விளம்பரங்கள் வெளியிடப்பட்டதாக, பதில் மனு தாக்கல் செய்யப்பட்டது.வழக்கை விசாரித்த நீதிபதி, உயர்கல்வி துறை செயலர், அந்த பதவியை வகிப்பதற்கான தகுதி உடையவர் தானா எனக் கேள்வி எழுப்பி, ஆசிரியர் நியமன அறிவிப்பை ரத்து செய்தது.இந்நிலையில், பாரதிதாசன் பல்கலை துணைவேந்தர் மணிசங்கரின் பதவிக்காலம் ஜன., 7ல் நிறைவடைந்தது. புதிய துணைவேந்தர் நியமனம் செய்யப்படும் வரை, உயர்கல்வி துறை செயலர் அபூர்வா தலைமையில், துணைவேந்தர் பொறுப்பு குழு நியமிக்கப்பட்டது.இந்நிலையில், கவர்னர் அலுவலகத்தில் இருந்து, மறு அறிவிப்பு வரும் வரை, மணிசங்கருக்கு பணி நீட்டிப்பு வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. இதுபோலவே, ஜன., 7ல்பணி நிறைவு பெற்ற, பெரியார் பல்கலைக்கழக துணைவேந்தர் குழந்தைவேலுவுக்கும் பணி நீட்டிப்புவழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.இது, கல்வியாளர்கள் மத்தியில் பலத்த வரவேற்பை பெற்றுள்ளது. இதன் மூலம், புதிய துணைவேந்தர்கள் நியமிக்கப்படும் வரை, உயர்கல்வி துறை செயலரின் தன்னிச்சையான முடிவுகளை நிறைவேற்றுவது தடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

- நமது நிருபர் -