Nagpur Covid cases cross 20,000 in14 days of March

ALARMING SIGNS

Nagpur Covid cases cross 20,000 in14 days of March

Anjaya.Anparthi@timesgroup.com

Nagpur:15.03.2021 

The number of Covid-19 positive cases in March second week was the highest in the yearlong pandemic in the district. The number of cases crossed 20,000 in the district in 14 days of March, indicating the second wave is more contagious than the first.

As per the district civil surgeon, the district registered12,773 positive cases of novel coronavirus between March 7 and14. Daily average of cases comes to1,825.

The district had registered the first peak of the pandemic in last two weeks of August and four weeks of September last year. The cases in each of these six weeks were less than those registered in second week of March 2021.

The district had recorded 2,261 cases on March 13 and 2,252 cases on March14. This is the first time in the pandemic that the district saw over 2,000 cases for two consecutive days. Cases had been above 2,000 on four days in September but not on consecutive days. March 14 was the sixth time the district recorded over 2,000 cases in a day.

Total number of cases in 14 days of March stand at 20,714. The number is higher than monthly totals over last one year, excluding August (24,163) and September (48,457). The cases in March will be the highest ever if the same trend continues till the end of the month.

However, test positivity rate in second week of March is less than the four weeks of September due to higher number of tests conducted in March. Fatalities too are low in last seven days as compared to all weeks of September.

The state’s public health department said active cases as on Sunday were 16,964, which was the second highest in country after Pune.

Municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B told TOI the number of tests will be increased further in coming days. “Early detection and treatment is necessary to control deaths. Contact tracing is being done continuously to contain the spread of the disease,” he said.

Full report on www.toi.in

Want to be a doctor, engineer? Here’s why you can fail

Want to be a doctor, engineer? Here’s why you can fail

A Government App Throws Up Interesting Data That Shows Where And How NEET And JEE Aspirants Go Wrong

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

15.03.2021 

Nearly 47% of students gave an incorrect answer to a physics question related to motion in one dimension. In chemistry, over 45% got the answer to a solutions and colligative properties question wrong. Close to 37% didn’t know the answer to a biology question about plant respiration. In maths, 40% failed to answer a question on continuity and differentiability.

This is just the tip of a set of anonymised data on candidates preparing for the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) and Joint Entrance Exam-Main (JEE-Main) that The Times of India has exclusive access to.

Cracking NEET-UG or JEE-Main has never been easy at the best of times. The scourge of the pandemic has made it worse.

Forced lockdown, social distancing, patchy net connections and shuttered tuition centres have taken a toll on students’ preparation for various tests.

In May 2020, the National Testing Agency (NTA) launched the Abhyas mobile app to allow candidates to practise for the JEE-Main and NEET-UG tests. The artificial intelligence-based app helps students prepare for these two competitive exams through mock tests.

Between May 19, 2020, and January 29, 2021, over 54 lakh students took the NEET-UG practice tests while nearly 28 lakh sat for the JEE-Main mock test. This is the first time such a large sample of candidates planning to appear for the two exams is being analysed based on completed real-time tests.

While 3.4 lakh students took the tests in Uttar Pradesh (the highest), only 95 did so in Daman and Diu (the lowest).

“Via the app we are giving them (students) an analysis of the mistakes they are committing, what is the concept involved in that mistake, and then guiding them to the right concept,” Joshi said.

The idea behind the Abhyas app was to allow students to practise at home and also to diagnose problems faced by candidates

— Vineet Joshi, NTA director general

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6 more vaccines on the way: Harsh Vardhan

6 more vaccines on the way: Harsh Vardhan

Bhopal:14.03.2021 

Half a dozen more vaccines are on the horizon and will be introduced in the fight against Covid-19, said Union minister of health and family welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan, in Bhopal on Saturday.

“Six to eight months ago, lack of testing was an issue. Today, we are carrying out over 1 million Covid-19 tests per day. And more than half a dozen vaccine are coming,” he said after visiting the new campus of National Institute for Research in Environment Health (NIREH), AIIMS-Bhopal, and CSIR-AMPRI.

Explaining the expanse of Covid testing in India, he said, “Travel 3km anywhere in 97% of India and you can get a Covid-19 test. Before 2014, for such tests, the sample had to be sent to CDC USA. Our professionals continue to work with dedication to ensure India has the best performance against Covid-19 anywhere in the world.” TNN

HC reverses trial court’s acquittal order in 2003 attempt to murder case

HC reverses trial court’s acquittal order in 2003 attempt to murder case

Swati Deshpande@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:14.03.2021 

A youth, barely 20-yearsold, who two decades ago stabbed a judge’s wife thrice, found his 2003 acquittal for attempt to murder reversed by the Bombay high court on Thursday for being “perverse.’’ A bench of Justices Ravindra Ghughe and B U Debadwar of the Aurangabad bench of the HC said it was “shocked by the frightful conclusion of the trial court’’. It said “to justify a conviction under section 307 of the IPC, it is not essential that an injury capable of causing death should have been inflicted”. The HC said, “The intention of the accused has to be gathered from circumstances like nature of the weapon, motive of the accused, parts of the body where injury was caused, nature of injury and severity of the blows.’’ Then a teen, “apparently furious’’ at having been denied entry to the judge’s house the previous day when he had asked for a spade to allegedly carry out some masonry work, he showed up the next afternoon, and entered when the door was ajar. He walked to the kitchen, questioned the judge’s wife for having sent him away and before she could answer, whipped out a button knife—a rampuri—and stabbed her in her stomach and under the ribs.

It was four hours before a doctor saw her and a few more before surgeries were performed. The doctor deposed that two injuries were life threatening and had she not received “immediate treatment she would have died’’. She survived. Her husband, a civil judge at Nanded, was not at home.

Senior citizen sues bank for taking extra money, wins ₹3k

Senior citizen sues bank for taking extra money, wins ₹3k

Cash Debited Illegally For Fuel Purchases

Petlee.Peter@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:14.03.2021 

Overcharged for fuel purchase through his debit card, a 65-year-old Bengalurean took his bank to a consumer court, which ordered it to refund the excess amount of Rs 382 collected from the man, apart from paying him Rs 3,000 as compensation.

Prasad KP of Nagarabhavi used to tank up his vehicle using his debit card. The retired banker examined his bank statements between April 24, 2014 and July 6, 2015 and found that a commission of Rs 521 was debited from his account for fuel purchases. While the actual cost of fuel was mentioned in the petrol bunk, more money was deducted from his account.

Prasad found out that as per RBI guidelines, extra charges collected as TIP or merchant discount rate (not shown at point of sale) shall not exceed 0.75% of the transaction amount for value up to Rs 2,000 and 1% of the transaction amount for value above Rs 2,000. The guidelines also say only if the consumer agrees to bear the extra charges, s/he should proceed with the transaction during fuel purchases.

Since Prasad hadn’t agreed to bear the extra cost, he requested the bank to refund the additional Rs 382 from April 2014 to July 2015. With the bank failing to do so, he approached the Bengaluru rural and urban 1st additional district consumer disputes redressal forum on March16, 2018 with a complaint against the chairman and MD of the bank and assistant general manager of its branch where he had an account.

Prasad fought his case on own, while the bank’s lawyer stated it was false, frivolous and liable to be dismissed. He said the money was debited from the customer’s account with tax on the refuelling charge. The card was swiped in another bank’s POS machine and Rs 382 was debited as per its terms and conditions. As per industrial practice, certain merchants pass on MDR or TIP charges to card holders and the fuel industry follows this. Since TIP charges were claimed by the bank whose POS machine was used, their was no deficiency by the customer’s bank, he argued.

Judges noted that as per RBI guidelines, merchants and banks which provide POS and debit card services can levy TIP charges. But this is not told to customers whose cards are swiped in POS machines. Even petrol bunk authorities do not inform customers that service charge would be deducted from their account. Only when customers get the transaction statement, they get to know that an amount greater than the actual cost of petrol or diesel has been deducted.

In Prasad’s case, it’s clear that more money was deducted from his account than the stipulated percentage permitted by RBI, the judges said, adding that this amounts to deficiency of service. Despite requests by the customer, the bank had refused to refund the excess money collected.

On February 26, 2021, the court asked the bank to refund Rs 382 to the customer with interest apart from paying him Rs 1,000 towards damages, Rs 1,000 towards correspondences and Rs 1,000 towards litigation expenses within 30 days.

Shop charges ₹7 for carry bag, fined

Haveri:

The Haveri District Consumer Redressal Forum fined a cloth vendor for charging Rs 7 from a customer for a carry bag. The forum, in its order, said companies selling bags with their shop’s logo is illegal. Forum chairman Sunanda and member Maheshwari B S ordered that Rs 7 charged for the bag be refunded to the complainant.

Lifestyle International Private Limited was also asked to pay Rs 3,000 for harassment, mental agony and litigation expenses. The company should deposit Rs 10,000 to the forum’s legal aid account.

Jyoti Jambagi, a resident of Davanagere city, had shopped at the outlet in December 2019. The outlet charged Rs 7 for the bag. Jyoti contended that by charging her for the bag, the outlet was not being responsibile in discharging its service. The forum slammed the firm for charging an additional amount for the paper bag.

The forum ruled that it was the store’s duty to provide a free bag to the customer who purchased their product. TNN

Senior citizen sues bank for taking extra money, wins ₹3k
Cash Debited Illegally For Fuel Purchases

Petlee.Peter@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:

Overcharged for fuel purchase through his debit card, a 65-year-old Bengalurean took his bank to a consumer court, which ordered it to refund the excess amount of Rs 382 collected from the man, apart from paying him Rs 3,000 as compensation.

Prasad KP of Nagarabhavi used to tank up his vehicle using his debit card. The retired banker examined his bank statements between April 24, 2014 and July 6, 2015 and found that a commission of Rs 521 was debited from his account for fuel purchases. While the actual cost of fuel was mentioned in the petrol bunk, more money was deducted from his account.

Prasad found out that as per RBI guidelines, extra charges collected as TIP or merchant discount rate (not shown at point of sale) shall not exceed 0.75% of the transaction amount for value up to Rs 2,000 and 1% of the transaction amount for value above Rs 2,000. The guidelines also say only if the consumer agrees to bear the extra charges, s/he should proceed with the transaction during fuel purchases.

Since Prasad hadn’t agreed to bear the extra cost, he requested the bank to refund the additional Rs 382 from April 2014 to July 2015. With the bank failing to do so, he approached the Bengaluru rural and urban 1st additional district consumer disputes redressal forum on March16, 2018 with a complaint against the chairman and MD of the bank and assistant general manager of its branch where he had an account.

Prasad fought his case on own, while the bank’s lawyer stated it was false, frivolous and liable to be dismissed. He said the money was debited from the customer’s account with tax on the refuelling charge. The card was swiped in another bank’s POS machine and Rs 382 was debited as per its terms and conditions. As per industrial practice, certain merchants pass on MDR or TIP charges to card holders and the fuel industry follows this. Since TIP charges were claimed by the bank whose POS machine was used, their was no deficiency by the customer’s bank, he argued.

Judges noted that as per RBI guidelines, merchants and banks which provide POS and debit card services can levy TIP charges. But this is not told to customers whose cards are swiped in POS machines. Even petrol bunk authorities do not inform customers that service charge would be deducted from their account. Only when customers get the transaction statement, they get to know that an amount greater than the actual cost of petrol or diesel has been deducted.

In Prasad’s case, it’s clear that more money was deducted from his account than the stipulated percentage permitted by RBI, the judges said, adding that this amounts to deficiency of service. Despite requests by the customer, the bank had refused to refund the excess money collected.

On February 26, 2021, the court asked the bank to refund Rs 382 to the customer with interest apart from paying him Rs 1,000 towards damages, Rs 1,000 towards correspondences and Rs 1,000 towards litigation expenses within 30 days.

Shop charges ₹7 for carry bag, fined

Haveri:

The Haveri District Consumer Redressal Forum fined a cloth vendor for charging Rs 7 from a customer for a carry bag. The forum, in its order, said companies selling bags with their shop’s logo is illegal. Forum chairman Sunanda and member Maheshwari B S ordered that Rs 7 charged for the bag be refunded to the complainant.

Lifestyle International Private Limited was also asked to pay Rs 3,000 for harassment, mental agony and litigation expenses. The company should deposit Rs 10,000 to the forum’s legal aid account.

Jyoti Jambagi, a resident of Davanagere city, had shopped at the outlet in December 2019. The outlet charged Rs 7 for the bag. Jyoti contended that by charging her for the bag, the outlet was not being responsibile in discharging its service. The forum slammed the firm for charging an additional amount for the paper bag.

The forum ruled that it was the store’s duty to provide a free bag to the customer who purchased their product. TNN

Students question AICTE decision on maths, physics

Students question AICTE decision on maths, physics

Farheen.Hussain@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:14.03.2021 

From wisecracks to statements expressing shock, students’ reactions poured in after the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) announced physics and mathematics (PCM) are no longer compulsory subjects for students aspiring to pursue engineering in certain streams.

As per AICTE’s announcement on Friday, for streams such as textile, agriculture engineering and biotechnology, physics and maths in class 12 are not a must. However, the subjects remained mandatory for most engineering streams like computer science.

Pankaj Sharma, a class 12 student from a city school, said the decision is difficult to digest. “Even if it is agriculture or biotechnology, it’s still engineering. I took mathematics even though I am not great at it because the subject is important for engineering. Students like me should be happy, but even I am concerned,” said the resident of Sanjaynagar.

Like Pankaj, several students took to Twitter in disbelief. Navlesh Kumar tagged Union minister for education Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and said: “How is this possible? Maths and physics are the basic concepts of engineering. Don’t degrade the quality of engineering education.”

Twitterati also began sharing memes and jokes around the issue, including photos of Einstein and Newton angry over the decision. “AICTE says Math and Physics not must for Engineering. In fact, no subject should be compulsory for doing Engineering. Engineers learn everything after coming out of college anyway,” tweeted EngiNerd.

Some supported the decision. Arun Krishnan said the controversy has erupted because of miscommunication and the decision and may correct the current system, which forces students to follow a fixed route after class 10. Giving an example of flexible stream-shifting in other countries, he tweeted: “It is this kind of flexibility that we ought to have. If a student does NOT take maths/physics in 11/ 12, there ought to be a way for them to get into engineering, provided they have taken the requisite courses...”

Council does a U-turn

Though AICTE withdrew the announcement by Saturday evening and its chairman said the decision is not binding on institutions, some claimed the idea was floated without any consultation with stakeholders. “I wonder how the government just takes a decision like this without public consultation or proposals. Then they withdraw it after a backlash. It has become a norm these days,” said Kavya Srinivasan, parent of an engineering student.

Maths a must for engineering: Experts

B Sadashive Gowda, principal of Vidyavardhaka College of Engineering, Mysuru, said engineering is a mathsintensive course. “A student who has not opted for maths because s/he is not interested in the subject will lack fundamentals...” he said, adding consultations with subject experts and educationists should be held before such a decision is made.

KN Subramanya, principal of RV College of Engineering, said: “Maths is a must for engineering. The decision may be based on the New Education Policy, which focuses on liberal arts and multi-disciplinary approaches, but engineering cannot be done without maths.”