Anitha's father writes to TN NEET panel, parent of 2020 victim unaware of committee's existence

Anitha's father writes to TN NEET panel, parent of 2020 victim unaware of committee's existence

The high-level panel headed by Justice AK Rajan was formed by the DMK government to examine the pros and cons of the NEET in Tamil Nadu.

Published: 21st June 2021 09:32 PM 

Anitha allegedly committed suicide after failing to clear the medical entrance exam

By P Thiruselvam

Express News Service

ARIYALUR: T Shanmugham, the father of late NEET aspirant Anitha, has written to the AK Rajan high-level committee looking into the medical entrance exam stating that the test does not uphold merit as claimed by its supporters, but leads to medical seats being allotted for money.

The high-level panel headed by Justice AK Rajan was formed by the DMK government to examine the pros and cons of the NEET in Tamil Nadu.

On June 17, the committee invited public opinion on the subject through e-mail or post. On Monday, Rajan revealed that the committee had received 25,000 letters from the public in four days.

Shanmugam, who resides in Kuzhumur near Sendurai in Ariyalur district, in his letter to the panel said that his daughter had scored 1,176 out of 1,200 in the Class 12 board exams which would have been enough to get a medical seat under the earlier system of medical admissions. However, she was denied the seat because of the introduction of the NEET, he said. Dejected at the turn of events, Anitha had ended her life. Her death sparked widespread protests in Tamil Nadu against the test.

Shanmugam chronicled the developments that followed the implementation of the NEET in 2017 and recalled how Anitha had fought against the test by meeting several political leaders across the State and by reaching out to the Supreme Court in New Delhi.

"If the exam was for those people with access to equal opportunities and uniform education, then we could have had the mental strength to accept the failure. But as that is not the case with NEET, we could not accept it," he wrote.

However, the father of another NEET victim in the Ariyalur district did not even know about the formation of the committee, let alone its call for public opinion.

Vignesh (19) from Ilanthakuzhi scored 1,006 out of 1,200 marks in the Class 12 exams. He had attempted the NEET twice and, with his preparations for the test hampered by the pandemic-induced lockdown, he ended his life before he was to take the test for the third time in 2020.

"We do not know about the committee and that it has asked for public opinion on NEET. My son studied well in Class 12 but he ended his life due to the NEET. The test shatters the dreams of many students. There should not be any more deaths. The government should find a solution to this," Vignesh's father N Viswanathan said.

Panel studying NEET impact receives huge response

Panel studying NEET impact receives huge response

Meeting reporters on Tuesday, he said that the panel has received responses from various stakeholders, including parents, students, teachers and politicians.

Published: 22nd June 2021 05:29 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The high-level panel that was set-up by the State to study the impact of the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) on medical education, has received 25,000 representations until Monday, said Justice AK Rajan, who heads the committee.

Meeting reporters on Tuesday, he said that the panel has received responses from various stakeholders, including parents, students, teachers and politicians. “We got mixed feedback on NEET. Although more people want it scrapped, there are many who want the test to be held. Some have suggested reintroducing it after a few years and some others have suggested scrapping it after a few years,” he said.

Justice Rajan added the panel is currently collating data required to answer questions raised by the government. “We still have not collected sufficient data. We will make recommendations to the government based on the data we get,” he said, adding that there will not be an extension of time period for public feedback as the panel has already received overwhelming feedback.

MTC operates 1,800 buses

MTC operates 1,800 buses

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:22.06.2021

After 43 days, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) buses are back on city roads on Monday. On day one,1,800 buses were operated.

This included 925 ordinary-fare buses in which women, transgenders and disabled people travelled for free for the first time. Transport minister RS Rajakannappan released the specially-printed tickets for these passengers and said the government has provided ₹1,200 crore as subsidy towards this announcement by the CM last month.

After inspecting preparedness at Central Depot, Rajakannappan told reporters almost 85% of the MTC workforce has been vaccinated and around 2,800 buses were disinfected and ready for operation, However, more passengers arrived at bus stops, particularly in the suburbs, than expected. Therefore, crowding was reported in some of the buses and conductors had a tough time in managing the 50% seating capacity rule.

Meanwhile, one MTC bus met with an accident at Poonamallee after one of the front tyres burst. The driver and three passengers suffered minor injuries.

ON THE MOVE: MTC resumed its service after 43 days on Monday

2 jabs on same recipients within 10 min? Officials rubbish claims

2 jabs on same recipients within 10 min? Officials rubbish claims

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhubaneswar/Dumka:  22.06.2021 

Two people — a man in Odisha and a woman in Jharkhand — have alleged that they were given back-to-back Covid vaccine shots, in gross violation of inoculation protocol. However, in both cases, the authorities have refuted their accusations.

A 51-year-old man, Prasanna Kumar Sahu, in Odisha’s Mayurbhanj district claimed that he was administered two doses of Covishield within five minutes at a vaccination camp on Saturday.

“I was advised by the healthcare staff to stay at the centre for 30 minutes after vaccination for observation. While I was waiting, I was administered another dose,” Sahu said. “When I said I had been given an injection about five minutes ago by another nurse, the second nurse wouldn’t listen.” Both the doses were reportedly administered on the same arm.

Additional chief secretary (health) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra said, “The director of family welfare was asked to verify and submit the findings. It was ascertained that repeat vaccination was not actually done.” In Jharkhand, a probe was ordered on Monday, a day after a 22-year-old claimed she was given two doses of Covishield in Poriyahat. Bulbul Dutta said she was resting after taking her first dose when the nurse called her again after 10 minutes and administered the second dose.

Optional board exams to be held between Aug 15-Sept 15: CBSE to SC

Optional board exams to be held between Aug 15-Sept 15: CBSE to SC

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:22.06.2021

CBSE on Monday told the Supreme Court that optional Class XII board examinations for students not satisfied with their assessment would be held any time between August 15 and September 15, subject to the situation being conducive.

In an affidavit filed in the apex court, the board said the result, on the basis of its assessment policy, will be declared by July-end, after which it will provide online facility for registration for the optional examination for those students who are not satisfied with their results. It, however, said the examination will be conducted only in the main subjects and “the marks obtained by a candidate in this examination will be treated as final”.

It said policy for tabulation of marks for Class XII board examination has been formulated by CBSE to ensure standardisation of marks, as marks of Class XI and XII component will be awarded at school level and, therefore, they will strictly not be comparable across schools due to variations in quality of question papers, evaluation standards and processes and the mode of conduct of exams etc.

As some of the parents opposed cancellation of the board examination and pleaded that it could be conducted in view of the Covid-19 pandemic being under control, a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari said it would hear their plea also and take a final call.

Full report on www.toi.in

TESTING TIMES

City ration shop supplies tea past its sell-by date

City ration shop supplies tea past its sell-by date

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:22.06.2020

A ration shop at Chennai's suburb supplied expired tea packets to beneficiaries on Friday. People from Kadambathur village in Thiruvallur district, who consumed it without checking the expiry date on the wrapper, found the tea extremely bitter. "The tea packets provided to us had expired last year (July 2020)," said Ravi, one of the residents who filed a complaint with the Chief Minister's Special Cell.

Subsequently, employees from the local ration shop arrived at the complainant's house and provided fresh tea packets to them, said Ravi. When asked about this, a senior district civil supplies officer said that the salesman at the Public Distribution System (PDS) outlet named Gandhi had mistakenly provided an old stock without checking the expiry date on it and he is likely to face disciplinary actions for this.

"There was no point in blaming the salesman, who earns around ₹5,000 per month. The highly-paid officials, who are in-charge of monitoring the entire supply chain, should be questioned," said T Sadagopan from Tamil Nadu Consumer Progressive Centre, a not-for-profit organisation.

AS Balaji, another consumer rights' activist from Pattabiram, said that ration shops in the city's western suburbs do not provide bills for any of the packaged items sold to the public. Also, there is no mention of the price, manufacturing date or expiry date on the wrappers, he said.

When private shops don't follow these rules, they can be booked under the Legal Metrology (Packaged Commodities) Rules, 2011. But government PDS shops seldom come under these rules, say activists, who blame the state labour and food safety department for lesser number of inspections and inaction.

‘Ready for 50% AIQ seats in MBBS after intimating the SC’

‘Ready for 50% AIQ seats in MBBS after intimating the SC’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:22.06.2021

The Centre is ready to implement 50% OBC reservation under all India quota (AIQ) to medical admission, but only after placing it before the Supreme Court.

A submission to this effect was made before Madras high court in response to a contempt plea by DMK against the Union health secretary and others for non-implementation of a July 27, 2020 HC order granting 69% reservation in state contributed medical and dental seats to AIQ.

A committee has given the options of following state reservation or central reservations but subject to parliament enactments on these seats of state, the Centre told the court.

“We are ready to implement state reservation on AIQ but only after placing it before the Supreme Court in the Saloni kumari case,” it added.

According to the contempt petition, the July 27 HC order order held there was no legal or constitutional impediment to extend benefit of 69% reservation followed in TN in the state contributed seats to the AIQ for medical admission.

The court directed the Centre to set up a committee comprising the TN health secretary and secretaries of the MCI and dental council, among others, to finalise the manner in which such OBC reservation is to be applied to AIQ seats.

The authorities failed to make TN health secretary of Tamil Nadu and DGHS s members of the panel, the petitioner said.