Weathermen forecast more rain for 2 days

Weathermen forecast more rain for 2 days

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:21.02.2021 

The city and its uburbs may receive more rain over Sunday and Monday after the surprise late night showers on Friday. While IMD has forecast light to moderate rain in some places in the state, weatherbloggers said chances of rainfall will reduce by Monday and will be followed by a dry spell till the end of the month.

IMD has forecast light to moderate rain over some areas with a generally cloudy sky for Sunday. The intensity of rain is likely to reduce in the subsequent 24 hours with the agency forecasting light rain over some areas. For the next two days, maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 30°C and 23°C.

Light to moderate rain or thunderstorm with lightning is also likely at isolated places over Tamil Nadu on Sunday followed by light rain likely on Monday; according to the IMD.

On Friday, Nungambakkam recorded 2mm of rain and Meenambakkam received 1mm. February is the driest month of the year in the city with an average rainfall of 3.4mm. Some areas like Nungambakkam, Choolaimedu and Aminjikarai received rainfall on late Saturday evening.

IMD said the showers were caused by circulation in the westerlies in the upper level and in the lower level easterlies. While bloggers said shifting of the westerly trough — which usually affects north India — to the south has brought some weather disturbances resulting in rain, private forecasters said another trough is now extending from southwest Bay of Bengal to north Tamil Nadu and south Andhra Pradesh coast.

“Chennai has a good chance of some rain on Sunday. Rainfall will decrease by Monday,” said blogger Pradeep John.

Doctor slits wife’s throat, runs her over

Doctor slits wife’s throat, runs her over

While Fleeing, Car Overturns; Cops Get To Know Of Murder At Rescue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:21.02.2021 

A doctor on Friday stabbed his wife and then ran her over with his car in Madurantakam.

Police said Dr Gokulkumar also attacked his in-laws before trying to flee. His vehicle, however, overturned near Achiruppakkam toll plaza, trapping him. A police team got to know of the murder only after rescuing him and admitting him to a GH. He was arrested and a court sent him to jail.

About three years ago, Gokulkumar, a native of Coimbatore and an employee at a corporate hospital in Potheri, married M Keerthana, 35, who worked in the human resource department at a college in Melmaruvathur. Gokulkumar suspected his wife’s fidelity and often quarreled with her till finally, in a fit of anger, she left him and went to her parents’ house in Madurantakam.

On Friday, Gokulkumar went to his in-laws’ home hoping to negotiate with his wife. However, while talking to her, he suddenly pulled out a knife and slit her throat. Hearing her cries, her parents Murahari and Kumari rushed to her side. They tried to nab Gokulkumar, but he overpowered them and attacked them too.

Seizing an opportunity to escape, Keerthana ran out to the street. Gokulkumar quickly followed her in his car and ran her over. Her parents and neighbours took Keerthana to the government hospital in Chengalpet, where doctors declared her dead.

While fleeing, Gokulkumar’s car hit the median near Achirapakkam toll plaza, causing the vehicle to overturn, trapping him inside. Passersby alerted police and an Achirapakkam police team led by inspector Saravanan rescued him. Gokulkumar was sent to Chengalpet GH for treatment. During inquiries, police found out that he met with the accident when escaping after murdering his wife. The team informed the Madurantakam police.

Inspector Rukmangathan of the Madurantakam police registered a murder case and arrested Gokulkumar.

Gokulkumar slit his wife Keerthana’s throat at his in-laws’ residence and ran her over when she tried to escape. When nearing Achiruppakkam toll plaza, he hit a median

You can earn dual degree from Indian, foreign edu institutions

You can earn dual degree from Indian, foreign edu institutions

UGC’s Draft Regulations Also Provide For Joint Degrees

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:21.02.2021 

Now Indian students will be able to earn a dual degree conferred by Indian and foreign higher education institutions, separately and simultaneously. Students will also get the benefit of credit transfer and joint degrees offered under academic collaborations between Indian and foreign higher education institutions.

The University Grants Commission has finalised the draft regulations for these programmes, which will be notified soon.

According to the draft UGC (Academic Collaboration between Indian and Foreign Higher Education Institutions to offer Joint Degree, Dual Degree and Twinning Programmes) Regulations, 2021, “any degree or diploma awarded based on these collaborations “shall be equivalent to any corresponding degree or diploma awarded by the Indian higher education institution; there shall be no further requirement of seeking equivalence from any authority”.

As per the regulations, higher education institutions of India can collaborate with foreign counterparts for credit recognition and transfer and twinning arrangement for offer of degrees. However, the regulations will not be applicable to programmes offered in online and open and distance-learning mode.

As per the newly framed regulations, any Indian institution accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with a minimum score of 3.01 or in the top 100 in University category of National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) or an Institution of Eminence can collaborate with any foreign institution in top 500 of Times Higher Education or QS World University ranking automatically.

Other Indian institutions and any foreign institution accredited by an assessment and accreditation agency in their homeland will have to seek approval of UGC.

The partnerships would be allowed for four types of academic collaborations, which include credit recognition and transfer, joint degree programme, dual degree programme and twinning arrangement.

Under the twinning arrangement, while a student enrolled in an Indian institution may undertake their programme of study partly in the foreign higher education institution, the degree or diploma offered shall be awarded by the Indian higher education institution only.

The joint degree will be a single certificate bearing the crests and logo of both collaborating institutions. The regulations stated that no franchise arrangement will be allowed under these collaborations.

“A franchise arrangement, whether overtly or covertly, by whatever nomenclature used, between a foreign higher education institution and an Indian higher education institution shall not be allowed under these Regulations,” says the draft.

DOUBLE BENEFIT: As per the UGC’s draft regulations, higher education institutions of India can collaborate with foreign counterparts for credit recognition and transfer and twinning arrangement for offer of degrees

PG medical student of MMC died of COVID-19: DME panel

PG medical student of MMC died of COVID-19: DME panel

He was found dead in his hotel room on October 26 while under quarantine

21/02/2021

N. Lokesh Kumar

Serena Josephine M.CHENNAI

The Directorate of Medical Education (DME), which formed a special committee to look into the cause of the death of 24-year-old N. Lokesh Kumar, a postgraduate medical student of Madras Medical College/Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), has concluded that his death was due to COVID-19.

The Directorate has initiated the process of granting financial assistance to the doctor’s family.

Dr. Kumar, a first-year PG student of RGGGH, was found dead in a hotel room where he was under quarantine following COVID-19 duty on October 26, 2020. The Hinduhad reported on February 17 that his family, which had received no information on what caused his death for more than three months, had accessed autopsy reports that indicated the cause of death as “complications of pneumonia”.

They obtained the post-mortem, histopathological and viscera analysis reports.

Consolidated report

E. Theranirajan, dean of RGGGH, had sought the opinion of the Directors of Pathology, Forensic Medicine and Radiology on the autopsy reports, and submitted a final consolidated opinion to the DME.

R. Narayana Babu, Director of Medical Education, said he received the report from the dean following which a special committee comprising the head of the departments of radiology, pathology and forensic medicine of the hospital was formed on February 18.

“We included experts in the committee. Head of the Department of Forensic Medicine of Government Kilpauk Medical College and the head of the Department of Medicine, RGGGH were part of the committee. We held a discussion on the same day,” he said.

“As per the autopsy reports, there were no external and internal injuries. He had bilateral pneumonia with right lower lobe consolidation. The clinical features are suggestive of COVID-19. So, we have concluded that his death may be associated with COVID-19. We have sent a letter to the Directorate of Medical and Rural Health Services, which is the claim authority, for grant of financial assistance for COVID-19 warriors. The report has been submitted to the Health Secretary,” he said.

Erode medical college fee reduced

Erode medical college fee reduced

21/02/2021

Special CorrespondentCHENNAI

The Health Department has issued a government order to reduce the fee structure for the medical and nursing courses at the Government Erode Medical College and Hospital, Perundurai, and the School of Nursing attached to it, bringing it on a par with other government medical colleges. Under the revised structure, MBBS students will pay ₹13,610 a year.

The order came after students demanded that the fee structure of the college — formerly IRT-Perundurai Medical College and Hospital run by the Institute of Road Transport and later handed over to the Health and Family Welfare Department — be brought on a par with other government medical colleges. Earlier, MBBS students had to pay ₹3.85 lakh a year. Thirty medical seats were allotted to children of transport employees.

The Health Department had earlier reduced the fee structure of Rajah Muthiah Medical College and Hospital, now Government Medical College Hospital, Cuddalore.

Biology study must for MBBS admission’

Biology study must for MBBS admission’

Court says subject should have been taken in Plus 2

21/02/2021

Legal Correspondent

NEW DELHI

The Supreme Court has held in a judgment that prior knowledge of senior secondary level biology or biological sciences along with practical knowledge of the English language is at “the heart of eligibility” for MBBS admission.

A Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and S. Ravindra Bhat declared the eligibility criterion based on an appeal filed by the Kaloji Narayana Rao University of Health Sciences challenging a decision of the Telangana High Court. The High Court had allowed a student’s contention that the institution illegally denied her admission to the MBBS course for the 2020-21 academic year on the ground that she did not produce records of her study in the required subjects.

Setting aside the High Court order, the apex court upheld that “MBBS primarily if not predominantly, involves prior knowledge — both theoretical and practical, of senior secondary level in biology or biological sciences”.

Justice Bhat, who wrote the recent judgment, referred to Regulation 4 of the Medical Council of India Regulations on Graduate Medical Education of 1997, which stipulates that the eligibility criteria for admission to MBBS course stipulated that a candidate should have “undergone study at the 10+2 stage, [or in the Intermediate course] in the subjects of physics, chemistry and biology/Bio-technology”

“The substance of the eligibility requirement indeed is that the candidate should have qualified an Intermediate level examination or first year of a graduate course, and studied the subjects of physics, chemistry and biology at this level, along with practical testing in these subject areas, and the English language. This subject matter requirement is at the heart of eligibility to be admitted into the medical course,” the court said.

CIC Raps UGC For Not Disclosing Course Details Sought As Genuine Academic Queries

CIC Raps UGC For Not Disclosing Course Details Sought As Genuine Academic Queries 

Arunima Bhattacharya

13 Oct 2016 12:31 PM

The CIC held that the UGC being an academic regulatory has statutory duty to inform/educate the people about the courses/degrees and their validity. It was agreed by the CIC that any conclusion without reading the enactments of the RTI and UGC together would lead to undue denial that amounts to abdication of UGC’s duty to inform, which was prescribed by two statutes that being its basic function.

The Central Information Commission (CIC) in Ram Kishan Sharma v. PIO, UGC, has directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to make available information sought by a petitioner regarding a course offered by IGNOU, as it refused to do so under the garb of section 2 (f) of the RTI Act, 2005.

Central Information Commissioner Prof M Sridhar Acharyulu (Madabhushi Sridhar) said he was surprised by how public authority UGC refused to clarify the doubt of the petitioner by taking shelter under technical interpretation of right, according to section 2(f) of RTI Act and iterated that the RTI Act must be read with the UGC Act.

Ram Kishan Sharma had sought for the following directions:

(a) details and list of appropriate education programmes of comparable quality specified or approved by the UGC for the purpose of career advancement scheme etc, and

(b) whether training programme for ‘script development for preparing audio video tapes’ conducted by IGNOU, New Delhi, is specified or approved by the UGC as appropriate continuing education programme of comparable quality as mentioned in career advancement scheme of the UGC.

Under Secretary and PIO Mr. Satish Kumar stated that the information couldn’t be provided and shielded this response under section 2(f) RTI Act. After not getting relief from either the PIO of First Appellate Authority, Ram Kishan Sharma approached the Commission.

The CIC observed that the clarification sought could be done by UGC or IGNOU, but they did not write to each other on this question. Section 12 of UGC Act read with RTI Act 2005 clarifies that the UGC has a duty to collect and provide information to the citizens seeking it.

The CIC reminded that the UGC emblem contains a motto sentence in Sanskrit, “jnaan vijnaan vimukthaye (Knowledge liberates)’, thus imposing a duty to provide at least information, if not the ‘knowledge’. It observed that ‘information’ in the form of ‘clarification’ also liberates those asking for information under RTI Act from certain doubts. The CIC held that the UGC being an academic regulatory has statutory duty to inform/educate the people about the courses/degrees and their validity. It was agreed by the CIC that any conclusion without reading the enactments of the RTI Act and UGC Act together would lead to undue denial that amounts to abdication of the UGC’s duty to inform, which was prescribed by two statutes that being its basic function. Such lapses were considered as a policy-deficit in public authority exposed by such RTI applications.

The RTI Act mandates the UGC under section 4(1)(c)&(d) to voluntarily disclose such aspects of their educational policy to the people affected, including interested parties such as Ram Kishan Sharma in this case. Further reflecting on the duties of the UGC and its efficiency in handling these, the Commission said:

“…the UGC has to understand the doubts of such students or parents and recognize the need for clarification arising out of such RTI applications and prepare the FAQs accordingly. The increase in the number of RTI applications seeking such clarifications reflects on the public authority leading to an inference that the UGC is not properly communicating to the people about the validity of courses and degrees.”

The Commissioner also warned that refusal to provide the clarifications would compel the Commission to initiate penal proceedings and also direct the public authority to pay compensation because appellant’s RTI request was a necessity arising out of non-performance of its duty under section 4(1)(c) & (d) of the RTI Act.

It was noted that public authorities generally plead that section 4 is not directly enforceable by the Commission. However, the Commission emphasised upon the fact that information sought in this appeal was supposed to be voluntarily disclosed under Section 4 of RTI Act. The CIC iterated that a citizen’s RTI request necessitates enforcement of right by the Commission. Thus, the UGC or any public authority could not have refused to give clarifications, if it is part of their duty. Under such circumstances, the Commission held that the Section 4(1)(b),(C) and (d) will become enforceable and it has every authority to initiate penal proceedings under Section 20, as the information was disclosable under these three sub clauses of Section 4 in this RTI application.

The CIC said that dutifully, the policy of the UGC must include providing clarifications for such genuine academic doubts. The CIC pointed out that although technically section 2(f) is held true, sheltering such doubts of petitioners under this section will leave the student community in confusion regarding validity of a course. The Commission said not informing the validity of a course amounts to abdication of their duty to inform, as that duty was prescribed by the statute and that is their basic function.

The Commission issued the following direction after hearing the case:

The Commission directs the respondent authority not to refuse to give clarifications. The information sought not is not prohibited by any exemption and refusal to respond to these would attract penal proceedings under section 20.

PIO Mr. Satish Kumar was issued a show-cause as to why penalty should not be imposed against him for refusing to inform and abdication of responsibility both under the UGC Act and the RTI Act

Directed the UGC to explain why it should not be ordered to pay compensation/costs to Ram Kishan Sharma, within 21 days from date of receipt of this order.

The PIO was directed to file a compliance report complying with the directions in this order within 30 days from date of receipt of this order.

Thus, with these directions, the second appeal was disposed of accordingly.