Appointment of registrar sparks fresh row at JNU

Appointment of registrar sparks fresh row at JNU

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:26.03.2021 

Jawaharlal Nehru University Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) has raised questions on the appointment of the new registrar, stating that the move was not approved by the executive council (EC). Anirban Chakraborty was appointed as the registrar on March 17.

The teachers said that an office order stated that Chakraborty was appointed following “due approval from the competent authority”. “The question is precisely this — who is the competent authority in the matter of appointment of the registrar? Statute 8(1) of university rules categorically states that the registrar shall be appointed by the EC and be a whole-time salaried officer of the university,” said the JNUTA statement, adding that there had neither been a meeting on the matter, nor any specific approval sought.

The teachers also pointed out that the presence of the registrar in the executive council was not permitted under JNU’s statutes. “EC is the highest statutory body of a university, whose approval is required in all matters related to it.”

“The newly appointed registrar’s backdoor entry into the executive council by a fiat issued by the vice-chancellor is not just suspicious, but also illegal. To make matters worse, for the first time in the history of JNU, the registrar has been recorded as being a member of the executive council. Statute 8 (3) explicitly states that ‘the registrar shall not by reason only of his being secretary of the court, the executive and the academic councils be deemed to be a member of any of these authorities’.

Despite this, both the outgoing and the incumbent registrar have been mentioned as members of the EC in the agenda of the 294th executive council meeting due on Friday,” added the statement.

JNUTA has also reacted to the statement issued by the registrar on Tuesday, where the association was termed as “handful of teachers” trying to disrupt the image of the university. The administration did not respond to the allegations of the teachers’ association.

The new registrar had issued a statement where he claimed that ‘a handful of teachers’ were trying to disrupt the image of JNU

‘New retirement age won’t hit recruitments’

‘New retirement age won’t hit recruitments’

Notification for filling 50,000 jobs in various departments will be issued soon, says Harish Rao

Finance Minister T Harish Rao in the Assembly on Thursday.

State Bureau

Hyderabad

The State Legislative Assembly on Thursday approved the Telangana Public Employment (Regulation of Age of Superannuation (Amendment) Bill enhancing the retirement age for government employees and teachers from 58 to 61 years.

Finance Minister T Harish Rao, who introduced the Bill, said the increase in retirement age will not have any impact on filling around 50,000 jobs in various departments. The Minister said the retirement age for government employees in the State was 58 years. However, the superannuation age differed for some categories including 60 years for Class 4 employees, 65 years for teaching staff in government medical colleges and 60 years for the judicial staff. He pointed out that the retirement age varied between 60 and 62 years for some in other States too.

“After considering all these aspects, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao promised to enhance the superannuation age limit for government employees in the State. Accordingly, the retirement age has been enhanced to utilise the vast experience and services of senior government employees,” the Minister said. He assured that the increase in the retirement age for the existing employees would not have any impact on filling vacancies. The employees are being given promotions and vacancies arising out of these promotions will be filled soon, he asserted, adding that notifications for the proposed 50,000 jobs will be issued soon.

Pension for ex legislators

Meanwhile, the Assembly also cleared the Telangana Payment of Salaries and Pension and Removal of Disqualifications (Amendment) Bill introduced by Harish Rao, enhancing the pension of former legislators. Accordingly, the minimum pension of former legislators has been increased from Rs 30,000 to Rs 50,000 with an upper ceiling of Rs 75,000. The Fianance Minister also announced a decision taken by the State government to increase the expenditure towards the treatment of legislators, former legislators and their spouses for their ailments.

He said several former MLAs and MLCs were struggling to pay the hospital bills whenever they undergo treatment. Though there is a provision for sanction of more funds than the current limit, he stated that the process of approvals has become a major hindrance for the former legislators during emergency conditions.

Meanwhile, MIM has welcomed the State government’s decision to enhance the pension of former legislators. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, MIM MLA Miraj Hussain said the Telangana government has set an example to others by enhancing pensions to former MLAs.

MBBS students seek lenient evaluation

MBBS students seek lenient evaluation

STAFF REPORTER

PALAKKAD, MARCH 25, 2021 22:47 IST

Anatomy and physiology questions of “higher, unexpected levels”

Students of the 2019 MBBS batch who took their first-year university examinations last week have raised a hue and cry over the toughness of their human anatomy and physiology question papers. They have appealed to the Vice Chancellor of the Kerala University of Health Sciences demanding lenient evaluation and moderation.

Teachers’ support

Teachers in medical colleges too have endorsed the students’ concerns, saying that the questions were clinically oriented and of super-specialty level.

Most of the 4,000-plus MBBS students in Kerala, who took their anatomy paper one and two and physiology paper one examinations on March 15, 17, and 19 respectively, were agonised with questions of “higher, unexpected levels” after doing half of their curriculum through online mode during the COVID-19 period.

“I was in for a shock. The questions were too lengthy, ambiguous and tricky. Some of them were definitely beyond the capacity of a first-year MBBS student,” said Freesia Habeeb, university union councillor of Sree Gokulam Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram.

The online factor

Many students came out crying, cursing the COVID-19 time that denied them regular classes and laboratory experiments. They said those who set the question papers did not consider the fact that half their academic year had been on online mode.

“Most students found it difficult to manage time. The standard of questions was unfit for the new Competency Based Medical Education (CBME) curriculum as they did not check the clinical or anatomical knowledge of students,” said Ms. Freesia.

Some of the teachers, requesting anonymity, said such questions should have been avoided considering the COVID-19 special time. “The students were denied not only clinical experience but also any kind of dissection in lab during this pandemic period,” they said.

‘Super-specialty level’

A former anatomy professor from the Government Medical College, Kozhikode, said some of the questions were of super-specialty level and some were surgical anatomy questions.

The 2019 MBBS students are the first batch of the CBME curriculum in the State. The students, in their appeal to the university, said they had been deprived of practical and dissection classes. They demanded either a lenient evaluation or moderation from university.

CBI raids in Bhopal in bank frauds over ₹3,700 crore

CBI raids in Bhopal in bank frauds over ₹3,700 crore

Searches Were Conducted In 100 Locations All Over India

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal:26.03.2021 

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday conducted searches at more than 100 places across India, including Bhopal in connection with more than 30 cases of bank fraud amounting to over Rs 3700 crore.

CBI’s ACB branch and AC4 (Vyapam) branch has registered two separate cases. In first case by the ACB Bhopal, raids were carried out at the residential premises of Siddhpal Singh Bhadoria and associates following a loan of Rs 4.10 crore the company had taken from a nationalised bank in 2016. Officials said that the company had mortgaged a plot in Rohit Nagar for a CC limit. This plot was sold in 2015. Raids were conducted at the premises of Siddhpal’s office and residential premises of a former chief manager of the bank named Satish Chandra Agrawal.

Similarly, the Vyapam branch has carried out searches in five places at Gujarat in connection with Rs 196 crore bank loan fraud case registered against Jyoti Power cooperation limited. Searches were conducted at the premises of Directors Kamlesh and Sanjeev Mewani.

According to an official release, these searches are part of special drive to book the fraudsters on the complaints received from a clutch of nationalised banks in India.

The various cities/towns where the searches were conducted include Kanpur, Delhi, Ghaziabad, Mathura, Noida, Gurugram, Chennai, Thiruvarur, Vellore, Tiruppur, Bangalore, Gantur, Hyderabad, Bellery, Vadodara, Kolkata, West Godavari, Surat, Mumbai, Bhopal, Nimadi, Tirupati Visakhapatnam, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Karnal, Jaipur & Sri Ganganagar.

During searches, various incriminating documents and other material/digital evidences have been recovered. It may be stated that CBI has been receiving a number of complaints from various banks alleging cheating, diversion of funds, submission of fake/forged documents by different defaulting firms while obtaining loans/credit facilities etc. There have been allegations that such firms have been turning defaulters resulting into the loans becoming Non Performing Assets (NPAs), thus causing heavy loss to the public sector banks. After scrutiny, the cases are registered by CBI. Thorough investigation is carried out in order to book the culprits, take them to face the law and endeavour to salvage public money.

These searches are part of special drive to book the fraudsters on the complaints received from a clutch of nationalised banks alleging cheating, diversion of funds, submission of fake/forged documents by different defaulting firms while obtaining loans

BCU students get wrong question papers; exam delayed

BCU students get wrong question papers; exam delayed

Bengaluru:26.03.2021 

For close to an hour, confusion prevailed in some colleges under Bengaluru City University as question papers meant for third-semester BCom and BSc students got mixed up.

The issue came to light after the papers were distributed and students realised they were not intended for them. “The codes got exchanged. Commerce students got question papers meant for the science stream and vice versa. The mistake was rectified and the exams were restarted,” said Narasimhamurthy, acting vice-chancellor. Some colleges said the exam was delayed by an hour and a half as they waited for the correct paper to take printouts.

BU PG exams postponed

All PG exams of Bangalore University, including MBA and MCA, which were scheduled from March 26 and March 29, have been postponed due to KSET exam. TNN

6 +ve, Mangalore varsity suspends regular classes

6 +ve, Mangalore varsity suspends regular classes

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mangaluru:26.03.2021 

Mangalore University on Thursday suspended on-campus classes for PG and research students till Monday, after some students at its Mangalagangothri campus tested positive for the virus.

A circular issued by PL Dharma, registrar, said the university is taking abundant care in the wake of the spread of the Novel Coronavirus.

“As a precautionary measure, we decided to suspend classes for postgraduate/research students from till march 29,” the circular read. “Strict measures must be taken to ensure students in hostels do not venture out. Wardens have been informed to submit reports in this regard.”

Dr Ramachandra Bairy, Dakshina Kannada district health and family welfare officer, told TOI the department had asked the varsity to suspend classes after six cases were reported on its campus in Mangalagangothri.

“The infected students are from different departments and many primary contacts of these students are on the campus,” Dr Bairy said, indicating cases could go up. “So, we asked the university to suspend classes.”

Dr H Ashok, district nodal officer for Covid-19, said that a meeting was held, and the varsity was directed to manage the situation.

STIFF ACTION: BBMP marshals penalise people for not wearing masks in Bengaluru on Thursday

MIT reports 111 fresh infections

Udupi:

The spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus at Manipal Institute of Technology campus continued unabated with 111 fresh cases reported on Thursday. This accounted for the bulk of Udupi district’s 145 fresh cases. District health officer Dr Sudhir Chandra Sooda told reporters that the total number of infections on the campus has now touched 586. Since March 15, a total of 21,502 tests have been conducted in the district, 3,669 tests in MIT alone. Meanwhile, Dr Ashok H, district nodal officer for Covid-19, Dakshina Kannada, said discussions are on to make RT-PCR negative reports mandatory for all passengers, especially those arriving from Dubai. TNN

Vaccine shortage acute as hospitals turn seniors away

Vaccine shortage acute as hospitals turn seniors away

LOGISTICAL ISSUE? Officials Say Better Distribution Needed As State Received 4 Lakh Doses On Wednesday And There Is Enough Stock

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:26.03.2021 

Many senior citizens seeking a dose of the Covid-19 vaccine returned home without getting the shot in several parts of Bengaluru on Thursday as hospitals claimed they had no supply of the anti-viral drug.

Official data confirmed the shortage as only 35,531 doses were administered till 5.30pm across target groups as against a daily goal of 3 lakh. At St John’s hospital, no sessions were held as the hospital did not receive vaccine vials.

“There must be short supply,” said Dr Ramakrishna Goud, HOD, community medicine, St John’s. “It pains me to say there is no stock of the vaccine. The government must streamline supply. Nearly 1,200 staff in our hospital are awaiting the second dose.”

In a hospital near Hebbal, senior citizens were asked to wait till 2pm and the session began only after the hospital received stock. Apollo Hospitals, Jayanagar, had stock for just one more day.

“There are issues with the distribution pattern,” said Dr Yathish Govindaiah, unit head of the hospital. “We are likely to get more doses by Friday. We administered the vaccine to 120 people today and have 26 vials left. If we do not get more, we may have to halt the drive on Saturday.”

When contacted, Arundhati Chandrashekar, mission director, National Health Mission, Karnataka, claimed the state has a stock of 10 lakh doses, including 4 lakh doses which arrived late on Wednesday. “We have been directing district authorities to redistribute doses among PHCs and hospitals,” she said.

3pm vaccine scenario

In most primary health centres, those seeking vaccination post 3pm are being advised to return the next day. This, staff say, is to ensure doses are not wasted. Unless there are 10 people line up, PHCs are not opening a vial.

“We don’t want to send anyone back without the jab, but we cannot open one vial just for one person. The rest of the doses go waste. Not many come after 3pm,” said a medical officer working at a PHC in Rajarajeshwari Nagar zone. Staffers are asking beneficiaries to either bring more eligible people along or return the next morning.

SHORT SUPPLY: Many private hospitals ran out of stock of vaccine vials on Thursday. Senior citizens were asked to return on Friday

Pvt hospital charges ₹100 more

Despite the state government capping vaccination charges in private hospitals at Rs 250, some hospitals are billing additional charges. At Mallya Hospital on Thursday, a 69-year-old citizen had to pay an additional Rs 100 as registration fee.

Dr Humera Sayeeda, medical administrator, Mallya Hospital, said one-time registration is a must for anyone accessing a service. “Those coming for the first time have to pay Rs 100 as registration fee,” she said. “We don’t collect this from patients who are already registered with us.”

The government’s cap includes Rs 150 for the vaccine and Rs 100 as service charge.

“People should not pay more than Rs 250 in any private hospital,” said KV Trilok Chandra, commissioner, health and family welfare department. “Private hospitals cannot charge more. Such instances must be reported to the zonal officer concerned so that action can be taken.”

Dr HM Prasanna, president, Private Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association, said, “Hospitals should stick to the charge fixed by the government. We will issue an advisory to all member hospitals.”

HC’s take on delivering shot

Bengaluru:

The high court has directed the state government to submit a response about administering Covid-19 vaccines, pointing out that there are a large number of people residing in slums and shanties need to be inoculated quickly. “The question is whether the government should make special efforts to persuade citizens residing in thickly populated localities, who are highly vulnerable to the infection, to take the vaccine,” a special division bench comprising chief justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Aravind Kumar noted. “The state shall repond by the next hearing.”