India’s first Covid patient tests +ve again

India’s first Covid patient tests +ve again

Thrissur:14.07.2021

The Kerala girl who became India’s first Covid patient after contracting the virus while studying medicine in China’s Wuhan has tested positive again, this time at home.

The fourth-year MBBS student from Thrissur district is currently asymptomatic. She came to know about her reinfection only because of a mandatory RTPCR test before proceeding to New Delhi to collect some personal documents that she had earlier submitted to the government.

“My daughter is not under medication now as she has no manifest ailments. She has been quarantined on the first floor of our house,” said the girl’s father, who has tested negative. The medical student, who had first tested positive on returning from Wuhan in the last week of January 2020, hasn’t been vaccinated yet. TNN

‘Nothing unusual about girl testing +ve’

Her father said she chose not to get the jab because she wanted to go back to China and wasn’t sure whether any of the vaccines available in India would be accepted there. Her college mates from India haven’t opted for vaccination either, he said. Health officials said there was nothing unusual about the girl testing positive for the second time, barring her status as the first person from the country to catch the virus.

NEWS DIGEST

NEWS DIGEST

14.07.2021

The Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA) has said it has powers to fix the rate of interest for recovery under the Tamil Nadu Revenue Recovery Act. The Authority also issued a recovery warrant and directed the Kancheepuram district collector to recover arrears that need to be repaid to a homebuyer in a housing project at Pondur village in Sriperumbudur taluk of Kancheepuram district on the outskirts of the city.

‘Ensure poll duty personnel can cast votes’: Madras high court on Tuesday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to ensure that all personnel engaged for election duty, including drivers of rental vehicles, are provided with an opportunity to cast their vote in forthcoming elections. The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy passed the order on a PIL alleging that such drivers of rented cars were denied the opportunity to poll their votes during the 2021 assembly election.

Man held for fatally kicking friend: A 25-year-old man was arrested after he 'playfully' kicked his friend who was sitting by a well. His friend fell into the well and drowned.

Have powers to fix interest rate for recovery:TNRERA

Tambaram police said three friends had got drunk and had gone for a bath in a well. While Purushothaman, wthe deceased, was sitting on its wall, his friend Karthik playfully kicked him. Purushothaman lost his balance and fell into the well and drowned. A case has been registered.

Labourer held for killing wife: A 46-year-old man was arrested for killing his wife at Selaiyur on Monday. Murugan, a labourer, was unhappy with the food his wife had cooked and picked up a fight with her, police said. In an inebriated condtion, he took a kitchen knife and stabbed her. A case has been registered.

Four new members in TNPSC: The state government on Tuesday appointed four new members to the TNPSC.Labour commissioner S Munianathan, Madras University economics professor K Jothi Sivagnanam, Dr K Arlumathi from Chennai, Father A Raj Mariasusai from Yercaud are the new members .

More buses for women to travel free: An additional 1,300 ordinary fare buses are being operated in which women can travel for free, transport minister R S Rajakannappan said in Tiruvallur district on Tuesday. The state owned transport corporations are operating a total of 15,627 buses, of which the Metropolitan Transport Corporation is plying about 2,650 buses, he said.

Corpn restarts vax drive for 2nd shot of Covaxin

Corpn restarts vax drive for 2nd shot of Covaxin

14.07.2021

The corporation is restarting on Wednesday the vaccination drive for those requiring the second dose of Covaxin. Those in need can book slots on the corporation’s dedicated portal: gccvaccine.in. For more information on the vaccination drives, log on to

 covid19.chennaicorporation.gov.in/covid/vaccine_centers. TNN

More offices mull reopening, focus on vax

More offices mull reopening, focus on vax

Sindhu.Hariharan@timesgroup.com

14.07.2021

IT companies are reopening workplaces, balancing safety with team productivity. Smaller units are taking the lead with some having reopened and others charting a comeback in August. The few firms that have reopened only allow vaccinated employees. Large companies may reopen in October.

SaaS company Kissflow’s founder-CEO Suresh Sambandam told TOI that employees can choose to return from August 1. Their presence will be mandatory from October 1 on a ‘remote plus’ model wherein teams can work for three weeks in office and one from home. The effectiveness of ideation is better when teams work together in the office, and the ‘Remote plus’ model will ensure reduced staff strength. Kissflow has not made vaccination mandatory but is helping staff get the shot.

“As a young company, culture and agility is important. So, we vaccinated all our staff on a priority basis,” said Arvind Parthiban, co-founder and CEO of startup SuperOps.ai. The entire 45-member team returned to its office at RMZ Millenia on Monday. All staff needs, such as food and refreshments, are met on premises to curb external contact.

Cognizant, the city’s largest tech employer, said its focus now is vaccinating employees and dependents. Sources said plans are on for a phased reopening starting October.

Prabhu Ramachandran, cofounder of real estate startup Facilio, who interacted with IT park operators, said the consensus is to reopen with a flexible working model and the share of staff vaccinated plays a key role in the decision.

About 5% of cybersecurity firm Bahwan CyberTek’s staff work from office at the moment and plans are afoot to increase the strength in a phased manner. Tech company Guvi is opening its Taramani office on a partial basis over the next two months.

HR tech company Neeyamo has been operating with 50% staff at its Perungudi centre since July

5. The company said it is assessing employee preferences to decide when to reopen fully.

Counselling fixed for engg seats before med

Counselling fixed for engg seats before med

AICTE Schedule May Leave Engg Seats Vacant

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.07.2021

A day after announcing the exam date for National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) 2021, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) issued a revised academic calendar for 2021-22 for engineering colleges on Tuesday. As per the schedule released by AICTE’s member secretary professor Rajive Kumar, the first round engineering counselling for BE, BTech programmes must be completed before September 30.

The second round of engineering counselling needs to be completed before October 10. First-year students can be admitted till October 20 and the last date to start classes for firstyear students is October 25.

According to experts, with the NEET exam scheduled on September12, conducting medical counselling before engineering counselling is not possible this year too. It would leave several hundred engineering seats in top engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu vacant as students who are unsure of getting medical seats will join top engineering colleges and discontinue it after getting medical admissions. Last year as many as 276 students discontinued BE, BTech courses in Anna University’s four campuses including College of Engineering, Guindy (CEG) and Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) to study medicine and other courses.

Internal choices in NEET paper for 2021

The National Testing Agency (NTA) has introduced internal choices in the NEET 2021 question paper after multiple eductaion boards have announced syllabus reduction for Class XII students. As per the change in the question paper pattern, physics, chemistry sections will have five additional questions and biology (botany and zoology) section will have 10 additional questions. NTA has also split each subject into two sections — section A and section B. Students have to answer all the 35 questions in section A and 10 out of 15 questions in section B. As per the new pattern students can answer 180 questions out of 200 questions in NEET exam. Each correct answer will carry 4 marks and for every wrong answer one mark will be deducted. P 10

‘Medical counselling before engg only way to stop wastage of seats’

Anna University former vice-chancellor M K Surappa said the only solution to prevent wastage of seats is to conduct medical counselling before engineering counselling.

“AICTE should consult with the National Testing Agency (NTA) and come out with proper scheduling to prevent engineering seats from falling vacant. Despite bringing it to the notice of AICTE, no remedial action has been taken this year,” he said.

Many private engineering colleges also have from 50 to 100 seats vacant if the medical counselling is conducted before engineering counselling.

“If engineering counselling is conducted first, students select the engineering seats for safety and leave their seats after getting medical admissions. Around 100 students discontinue their courses in top colleges every year,” said RM Kishore, vicechairman of RMK Engineering College.

Unlike Anna University, private engineering colleges can fill up these seats at a later stage.

However, principals said they cannot fill all vacant seats after admissions to engineering courses are over. “Scheduling is the main issue. The present schedule is forcing the students to make one choice even though they are not willing,” a principal from city college said.

Meanwhile, deemed universities facing a different challenge as the admissions to IITs, NITs are being conducted in several rounds and students are leaving these institutions after taking admissions to join centrally funded institutions.

“The ministry of education and AICTE either reduce the counselling to IITs and centrally funded institutions to four rounds or need to allow all AICTE approved institutions to admit 10% more than the sanctioned intake. It will reduce the damage caused by Jo-SAA (Joint Seat Allocation Authority) counselling delays and longer schedules. It is also a good idea to cancel JEE (Advanced) as it proves a non-existent differentia,” said S Vaidhyasubramaniam, vice-chancellor of SASTRA.

Don’t be reel hero, be real hero: HC to Vijay

Don’t be reel hero, be real hero: HC to Vijay

Court Slaps ₹1L Fine On Actor For Contesting Entry Tax On Imported Lux Car

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:14.07.2021

The Madras high court has imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh on actor Vijay for challenging levy of entry tax for his imported luxury car, Rolls Royce Ghost, saying such a reputed actor is “expected to pay tax promptly and punctually,” and actors who are seen by their fans as real heroes “can’t be just reel heroes.”

Dismissing the petition related to the import of the car from England in 2012, Justice S M Subramaniam said, “In a state like Tamil Nadu, where such actors have become rulers, they are not expected to behave like a ‘reel hero’. Tax evasion is to be construed as an anti-national habit, attitude and mindset and unconstitutional,” the judge said in his July 8 order released on Tuesday.

The court directed the actor to pay the fine to the chief minister’s Covid-19 public relief fund within two weeks.

The current market price of the car in India is approximately ₹6 crore. Entry tax in TN is 20% of the cost of the car. Noting that non-payment of entry tax by the petitioner could never be appreciated, the judge said the actor should respect the sentiment of lakhs and lakhs of his fans who watch his movies by paying for ticket. “It is only out of such money that the petitioner has purchased the ‘world’s prestigious’ car for his personal use,” the court said.

“These actors are portraying themselves as champions to bring social justice. Their movies are against corruption in society. But they are evading tax and acting in a manner which is not in consonance with the provisions of the statutes,” the judge said.

While the common man is motivated and encouraged to behave as a lawful citizen and pay tax and to thrive hard to achieve social justice in society, the rich, affluent and reputed people fail to pay tax, the judge said, adding that if such was the situation, it would be a long way to achieve constitutional goals.

CBI registers case against RPO officer for taking bribe

CBI registers case against RPO officer for taking bribe

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:14.07.2021

The CBI registered a case against Madurai regional passport office senior superintendent V Veeraputhiran for issuing illegal passports to Sri Lankans and taking a bribe of ₹45,000 from an agent. The agent, S Ramesh, has also been booked by the CBI. The CBI said it had received reliable source information that during June-September 2019 , Veeraputhiran entered into a criminal conspiracy with Ramesh and some other travel agents to provide passports to Sri Lankans who were not eligible for Indian passport. Ramesh transferred a bribe of ₹45,000 in three tranches to the Indian Bank savings account of Veeraputhiran. The CBI registered a case of criminal conspiracy and corruption against the duo.

CBI said he issued illegal passports to Sri Lankans and took a bribe of ₹45,000 from an agent