Students struggle to arrange hostels as colleges set to reopen

Students struggle to arrange hostels as colleges set to reopen

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad:27.01.2021

With physical classes set to commence from February 1, many students are struggling to arrange a hostel/paying guest accommodation. Even colleges are feeling the heat as rooms can no longer be offered on sharing basis as per social distancing norms.

Following the Telangana government orders, many colleges are in the process of allowing final year students from February 1 followed by other students in a phased manner. At a time when the rooms in college and university hostels are already limited and overcrowded, Covid-19 poses a bigger challenge for the managements.

“From February 1-6, students can renew their hostel facility. We will issue ID cards to those who will be renewing the hostel facility for the ensuing academic year. As per the renewals, we will allot rooms. Rooms with six beds will have only two students at a time and a room with two beds will be allotted to a single student,” said professor LB Laxminkanth Rathod, principal, Nizam College, adding that it will be a difficult task to accommodate students.

Nearly 20%-30% of the student population in the city comes from neighbouring districts and states to various colleges for undergraduate and postgraduate courses.

Many students are now forced to cough up huge amount to avail private hostel/PG facilities. With colleges planning to call students for laboratory work for only 30 days at a time, finding accommodation is turning out to be a bigger hassle for those coming from other districts.

“Most private hostels and PGs are seeking an advance of at least three months. Nobody is ready to accommodate us for a month or less than that. How does the government expect us to come from farflung places and cough up huge amount without having any clarity on the schedule of classwork,” said Jonnalagadda Sharath, a BTech student.

College directed to pay ₹40,000 to student for withholding certificates

College directed to pay ₹40,000 to student for withholding certificates

Nirupa.Vatyam@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:27.01.2021 

A district consumer forum here has directed Madina Degree College for Women to pay about ₹40,000 to a student, who discontinued her bachelor’s course in the second year, for withholding her certificates and for forcing her to pay second year tuition fee.

M Jahanavi, the complainant, submitted that she had joined Bachelor of Science (BSc) course in the academic year 2017-18 at Madina Degree College for Women.

After completion of the first year, she said that she had qualified for the BPT (Bachelor of Physiotherapy) course in the counselling conducted by the Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE).

She said that she approached the staff concerned at the college seeking the return of her original certificates as she would need the same to complete the admission process into BPT course. Jahanavi alleged that the management insisted that she pay the fee for the remaining term of the course to get certificates. As the last date for submitting her certificates for admission into BPT course was nearing, she said that she had no option except to pay ₹24, 535 towards the second year so as to cancel her admission and get certificates back.

Claiming that demanding the fee in advance to return her original certificates amounts to unfair trade practice, she filed the complaint.

The opposite party, in their written version, said that allegations made by the complainant are false and frivolous. They submitted that as per the University Grants Commission rules, the complainant has to pay the entire course fee in view of the declaration given by her while taking admission. They said that the complainant, in fact, had to pay the entire fee (fee for three years) as per the rule, but the college was kind enough to consider the request of the complainant and forgo the third year’s fee.

During the trial, the bench noticed that as per the UGC rules, higher educational institutions can charge the fee in advance only for the semester/year in which a student wants to engage in academic activities, but not for the entire programme and cannot collect original certificates.

“The opposite party had not even issued fee receipt while collecting the second year fee. This amounts to deficiency of service and also the adoption of unfair trade practice,” the bench said.

The bench said the college did not even issue a fee receipt

AP couple held for murdering their daughters

AP couple held for murdering their daughters

Sandeep.Raghavan@timesgroup.com

Tirupati:27.01.2021

Police in Andhra Pradesh’s Madanapalli on Tuesday arrested the couple, who killed their two daughters allegedly under the influence of tantriks. The couple was in a state of trance sitting near the bodies when the police had reached their home on Sunday.

While the father, V Purushotham Naidu, has reportedly come out of the trance, his wife Padmaja continued to behave strangely. She was singing and dancing and shouting that the coronavirus had not originated in China, but created by the gods to cleanse the “bad elements” in the Kali Yug. When police took Padmaja for a Covid test, she refused to give her sample saying that she was the virus in human form and there was no need for tests. The couple murdered their kids, Alekhya (27) and Sai Divya (22), in what appeared to be part of occult practice. Both the accused were produced before the local magistrate and were later admitted to the psychiatry ward of a hospital.

Violence a jolt, but farm unions firm on repeal of laws & MSP

Violence a jolt, but farm unions firm on repeal of laws & MSP

New Delhi:27.01.2021 

Tuesday’s violence during the tractor rallies came as a setback for farm unions agitating for repeal of farm laws. However, they vowed to continue their protests, while seeking to dissociate themselves from the violence, reports Vishwa Mohan.

The unions said there were no plans to abandon the march to Parliament on Budget day, though neither courts nor the Central government may be accommodative this time. The unions, which have received favourable notice so far, will find themselves being questioned over the manner in which their rally spun out of control and resulted in chaos.

Union leaders do not appear ready to give up on their core demands — repeal of laws and legal guarantee to minimum support price (MSP). Some of them even feel that their protests are getting more traction. The unions will wait to see how opposition parties take up the stir in the Budget session, which begins on Friday.

Did Tarn Taran youth hoist flag at Red Fort?

A video of a youth hoisting the Sikh religious flag at Red Fort went viral on social media. He was later identified as Jugraj Singh from a village in Punjab’s Tarn Taran. P 5

Govt ‘expects’ TV coverage to hurt farmers’ stir

The likely stand of the Centre, which has so far been at pains to signal its flexibility to amend the laws — short of repeal — was not clear, though BJP members were taken aback by the violence. The government and BJP offered no word on the violence, with sources saying the priority was to restore law and order. The government seemed to expect the televised events to hurt the protest, while the proceedings in SC, which had asked if the rally would be peaceful, could also see the Centre spelling out its stand.

So far, the government has been careful in not using coercive methods, keeping in mind the sensitivity of Punjab, from where most of the unions are from, being a border state and the likely role of extremists in exploiting the situation. The unions said they had mobilised some groups in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, MP and West Bengal to intensify the agitation. All these states, along with Assam and Manipur, witnessed protests on Tuesday. Until now, the mobilisation has been largely cadre-based with Left-aligned All India Kisan Sabha playing a leading role.

“Those elements which are not going along with the collective spirit of farmers’ movement and which broke the norms, are the ones who have weakened themselves, and it is not the movement that is weakened,” said Kavitha Kuruganti of Mahila Kisan Adhikar Manch.

Full report on www.toi.in

Sub-registrar: Ashoka’s secy asked for money from me

Sub-registrar: Ashoka’s secy asked for money from me

Udaya Kumar and Kiran Parashar TNN

Chikkamagaluru/Bengaluru:  27.01.2021

A sub-registrar from Chikkamagaluru district has filed a complaint against Karnataka revenue minister R Ashoka’s personal secretary for allegedly demanding bribe on Sunday.

HS Chaluvaraju, 46, has said in the complaint that personal secretary Gangadhar met him during the minister’s visit to Sringeri.

“When I met him, he asked me to pay him money,” Chaluvaraju has alleged. Gangadhar, an employee in Vidhana Soudha secretariat’s office and deputed as personal secretary for Ashoka, has since been transferred, sources said.

Sringeri Town police registered a non-cognizable complaint on Monday and said they will seek the government’s permission to register an FIR. Chikkamagaluru SP Hakay Akshay Machindra confirmed receiving the complaint. Chaluvaraju said he received a WhatsApp message from an unlisted number on Jan 20 about Ashoka’s travel to Sringeri.

‘Took me to room, sought money’

n January 24, I received a call From a person who identified himself as Gangadhar working as PS to the minister. He asked me to meet the minister at Adichunchanagiri Convention Hall at Sringeri after 6pm. When I reached there, Gangadhar arrived around 7pm. I met him in a room attached to the convention hall where he asked me to give him money,” he stated.

Chaluvaraju said: “On January 24, the caller asked me, ‘Bartheera?’ (are you coming?) Then he said, ‘Tartheera?’ (will you bring?) I asked him what should I bring? He said that ‘we will speak’ about it later. On Sunday, when the minister was attending an event in the convention hall, Gangadhar took me to a room and sought money. I said I don’t have the habit of taking/giving money. On Monday, he asked for money on phone. I asked him whether his conscience permits him to demand bribe. I filed a complaint and wrote to the minister against Gangadhar.”

Chaluvaraju, from Hunsur in Mysuru, said he has not taken or given bribe in his career as a government officer for 21 years. He was promoted as a sub-registrar in 2005. KPCC president DK Shivakumar said a sub-registrar has, finally, come forward to file a complaint while many others suffer in silence. “There are so many cases like this in the state," he said.

BJP national general secretary CT Ravi said the personal secretary was allegedly collecting money, which the minister was unaware of.

Is that a coral underwater? No, it’s a Covid-19 mask

Is that a coral underwater? No, it’s a Covid-19 mask

Kamini.Mathai@timesgroup.com

Chennai:27.01.2021

For more evidence of the pandemic, dive 60 feet under water. Scuba divers, kayakers and water sports enthusiasts say they have been collecting piles of discarded masks from the shoreline and seabed off Chennai and neighbouring areas.

Over the past few days, scuba diver S B Aravind has gathered up more than 120kg of garbage floating about underwater, a third of that being Covid-19 masks, he says. “I was doing a regular dive off the coast of Puducherry with students when I noticed corals with masks wrapped around them. So I went back for another few dives and started cleaning it up,” he says. At 18 metres under water, Aravind says there are “so many all over the place it’s going to take a long while to clean up”.

Every year, the December-January rains result in a lot of flotsam and jetsam being washed into the sea, masks being the latest entrants. Kayaker John AJ for instance, has so far picked up 30 or more masks from the waters of Kovalam, ECR and Puducherry.

“I carry a bag with me every time I kayak so I can pick up garbage from the sea. Just doing my bit. It’s mostly plastics and masks,” he says. “If people disposed garbage in the proper manner this would not be happening,” he says.

Masks are part of the coastal landscape now, says Bay of Life founder Showkath Jamal. “Especially the blue disposable ones. We’ve been ridding the beaches of them. Every day we pick up at least 50.” While Jamal’s team does beach cleanups every day, every February they organize an ‘inside out’ session, where in association with the Coast Guard, they do an intensive cleaning of the beach and the water. “Divers will clean the insides of the sea and we will clean the outside.”

N Godhantaraman, head of department of Environmental Science at the University of Madras, says macro and microplastics can get consumed by marine organisms and impact the food chain. “The pollutants affect at every level from the zooplankton to the larger fish. And finally, humans as well, who consume the fish,” he says. Though nonbiodegradable masks may begin as macroplastic pollution, they end up as microplastics, he explains.

Conservationists from around the world have begun putting up social media posts of masks polluting ocean floors. French conservationists Laurent Lombard for instance showed videos of algaeentangled masks and in the sea near Antibes.

TROUBLED WATERS: Discarded masks in the sea off the city coast

North Western Rly notifies extension of special trains

North Western Rly notifies extension of special trains

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:27.01.2021

The North Western Railway has notified the extension of special trains.

According to a press release, biweekly special trains such as 02968 Jaipur – Dr MGR Chennai Central Bi-Weekly Special Train on Fridays and Sundays will be extended to run from February 5 until further advice. 02967 Dr MGR Chennai Central-Jaipur Bi -Weekly Special Train on Sundays and Tuesdays will be extended to run from February 7 until further instruction.

As far as weekly trains are concerned, 02475 Hisar - Coimbatore Weekly Special Train on Wednesdays will be extended to run from February 3, 02476 Coimbatore–Hisar Weekly Special Train on Saturdays will be extended to run from February 6, 02978 Ajmer - Ernakulam Weekly Special Train on Fridays will be extended to run from February 5, 02977 Ernakulam - Ajmer Weekly Special Train on Sundays will be extended to run from February 7, 02970 Jaipur - Coimbatore Weekly Special Train on Tuesdays will be extended to run from February 2 and the service of 02969 Coimbatore - Jaipur Weekly Special Train on Fridays will be extended to run from February 5.