Gods don’t ask us to encroach public land, build temples: HC

Gods don’t ask us to encroach public land, build temples: HC

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:30.07.2021 

Neither Jesus nor Lord Ayyappa nor Lord Ganesha comes and asks us to build temples, but it has become common among all religions to encroach upon public land and pedestrian spaces to construct temples, the Madras high court said on Thursday.

“Did they (gods) come knocking on our doors to build temples encroaching public land?” a division bench of Justice N Kirubakaran and Justice T V Thamilselvi asked.

The court made the observations while hearing a plea moved by G Devarajan, a resident of Sembium, alleging that temples had been illegally constructed on pedestrian platforms and public roads in Otteri.

Admitting the plea, the bench directed Greater Chennai Corporation to inspect and ascertain the extent of encroachment made by such structures. The corporation has also been directed to file a report on action taken to remove the encroachment.

According to the petitioner, a 30-feet public road in Chellappa Street in Otteri has been encroached upon on both the sides by illegally constructing three temples – Shri Sithi Vinayagar Temple, Manimudi Maamari Aalayam, and Shri Ayyappan Sannithanam. Due to the encroachments, only 14 feet of the road is accessible to the public, he said.

The encroachment is hindering free flow of traffic on the busy road and emergency vehicles such as ambulances, fire trucks cannot pass through the road, he added.

Despite repeated representations, the corporation has failed to take any action to remove the illegalities. It appears that they have no intention to take any step for removal of any encroachment from the road or road margins, he said. The petitioner added that this is the situation despite the fact that the corporation has constituted a special task force to remove such encroachment and a monitoring committee has been established to monitor the same.

All-India med seats: 27% OBC, 10% EWS reservation gets nod

All-India med seats: 27% OBC, 10% EWS reservation gets nod

Overall Seats In Institutions To Go Up

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  30.07.2021 

Days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked the health and education ministries to take steps to implement OBC and EWS quotas in medical and dental colleges, the Centre on Thursday announced the reservations expected to benefit nearly 5,550 students every year.

Medical and dental courses will now have a 27% reservation for other backward classes and 10% for economically weaker sections (which covers forwards) under the all-India quota for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, the government said on Thursday. The reservation will be implemented from the current academic year of 2021-22.

It will benefit nearly 1,500 OBC students in MBBS and 2,500 OBC students in post-graduation and around 550 EWS students in MBBS and 1,000 in post-graduation. The decision can be seen in the context of “pro-OBC” initiatives such as the inclusion of a significant number of OBCs in the recent ministerial reshuffle and the moves to undo an unfavourable Supreme Court order on designating of state backward lists.

While the issue of reservation in the all-India quota was pending for a long time, Modi, at a meeting on Monday, directed the ministries concerned to facilitate an effective solution.

The introduction of the OBC reservation would significantly increase the overall seats as well. As was the case when OBC reservation was introduced in 2009, the number of non-reserved seats too were increased proportionately so as to ensure that the percentage of general seats remains the same. Therefore, higher education institutions which introduced the OBC reservation increased their total intake by around 50%. In a similar exercise, to introduce EWS reservation, the institutions had to increase their total intake by 20%.

The AIQ was introduced in 1986 under the Supreme Court’s directions to provide merit-based opportunities to students from any state aspiring to study in a good medical college in another state.

AIQ comprises 15% of available UG med seats

The all-India quota consists of 15% of the total available UG seats and 50% of the total available PG seats in government medical colleges. In 2007, the SC introduced 15% reservation for Scheduled Castes and 7.5% for Scheduled Tribes in the all-India quota scheme.

While the reservation was implemented in all central government institutions through the Central Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, it was not extended to AIQ seats in state medical and dental colleges.

In order to provide benefits to students belonging to the EWS category in admission to higher educational institutions, a constitutional amendment was brought about in 2019, which enabled the provision of 10% reservation for “forwards”.

ஆர்டிஐ கேள்விக்கு இந்தியில் பதிலளித்ததை எதிர்த்து தொடரப்பட்ட வழக்கு; தனக்கும் இந்தி தெரியாது எனக்கூறிய நீதிபதி: மத்திய அரசு பதிலளிக்க உத்தரவுசென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றம்

ஆர்டிஐ கேள்விக்கு இந்தியில் பதிலளித்ததை எதிர்த்து தொடரப்பட்ட வழக்கு; தனக்கும் இந்தி தெரியாது எனக்கூறிய நீதிபதி: மத்திய அரசு பதிலளிக்க உத்தரவுசென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றம்

The Hindu Tamil 

தகவல் அறியும் உரிமைச் சட்டத்தில் கேட்ட கேள்விக்கு இந்தியில் பதிலளித்ததை எதிர்த்து தொடரப்பட்ட வழக்கில், தனக்கும் இந்தி தெரியாது என தெரிவித்த நீதிபதி, இது குறித்து மத்திய அரசு பதிலளிக்குமாறு உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளார்.

சென்னையைச் சேர்ந்த வழக்கறிஞர் எம்.ஞானசேகரன் என்பவர், சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றத்தில் தொடர்ந்துள்ள வழக்கில், தகவல் அறியும் உரிமைச் சட்டத்தின் கீழ், புதுவையில் நியமன எம்எல்ஏக்கள் தொடர்பான தகவல்களை மத்திய அரசின் உள்துறை அமைச்சகத்திடம் கேட்டதாக குறிப்பிட்டுள்ளார்.

ஆனால், மத்திய உள்துறை அமைச்சகம், தான் அனுப்பிய கேள்வி மனுவை திருப்பி அனுப்பியதுடன், இந்தியில் பதிலளித்ததாகவும் தெரிவித்திருந்தார். தனக்கு அந்த மொழி தெரியாது என்றும், தனக்கு தமிழ் மற்றும் ஆங்கில மொழிகள் மட்டுமே தெரியும் என்றும், எனவே, இந்தியில் வழங்கிய உத்தரவை ரத்து செய்ய வேண்டும் என்றும் அவர் கேட்டுக் கொண்டுள்ளார்.

தனக்கு தெரிந்த மொழியில் மட்டுமே பதில் அளிக்க உத்தரவிட வேண்டும் என்று, சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்றத்தில் அவர் கேட்டுக் கொண்டிருந்தார்.

இந்த வழக்கு சென்னை உயர் நீதிமன்ற நீதிபதி வைத்தியநாதன் முன்பு இன்று (ஜூலை 28) விசாரணைக்கு வந்தது. அப்போது, வழக்கு ஆவணங்களை பார்த்த நீதிபதி வைத்தியநாதன், தனக்கும் இந்தி தெரியாது என்று தெரிவித்தார்.

இது குறித்து, மத்திய அரசு வருகிற 16-ம் தேதிக்குள் பதில் அளிக்குமாறு உத்தரவிட்டுள்ளார்.

14 from VIT chosen for Google programme

14 from VIT chosen for Google programme

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:28.7.2021

As many as 14 students from Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) have been selected for Google Summer of Code (GSoC) 2021, a global programme to bring more student developers into open source software development.

For this year, 1,286 students from 69 countries including India have started their 10-week online programming projects, with 199 opensource organizations.

All student participants will be paired with a mentor to begin planning their projects and milestones. This will help students to familiarize themselves with the language needed to complete their projects.

“Despite the pandemic and remote working environment, it’s always a motivating factor to see 14 of our students getting selected,” said G Viswanathan, chancellor of VIT.

Address travails of Canada-bound students’

Address travails of Canada-bound students’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: 28.7.2021

With no direct flights and stringent Covid-19 norms imposed by the Canadian government on Indian travellers, the cost of travelling there has gone up almost three-fold for students.

The issue was discussed during a national-level meeting of travel agents held on Tuesday.

Canada has banned all direct flights from India till August 21. During that period, passengers who travel to Canada from India via an indirect route will need to obtain a pre-departure negative Covid-19 test result from a third country before continuing their journey to Canada.

Given these developments, a travel agents’ body, Travel Agents’ Federation of India (TAFI), Gujarat, made a representation to the external affairs ministry.

“We demand that the Canadian government accept and validate Indian RT-PCR reports and allow Indian students, permanent residents, and work-permit and visitor visa holders to enter directly without any transit hassles,” states the representation.

Manish Sharma, chairman, TAFI-Gujarat chapter, said: “Students have to bear an additional cost of at least Rs 2-2.5 lakh to get to Canada because they have to transit through another country.” Sharma went on to say: “Moreover, those travelling via different countries must also comply with all the restrictions and regulations of these countries, which frequently keep changing.” An estimated 15,000 students are set to travel to Canada this year, according to TAFI-Gujarat.

Three-fold rise in travel cost, changing Covid norms and other issues taken up by travel agents at national-level meeting

OBC, EWS reservation in all-India quota reviewed by PM

OBC, EWS reservation in all-India quota reviewed by PM

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 28.7.2021

In a significant move with political bearings, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday reviewed the issue of OBC and EWS reservation in all-India quota (AIQ) of medical education and directed the ministries concerned to resolve the issue on priority.

According to government sources, the demand for the quota was discussed in the meeting attended by Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Health Minister Mansukh Mandavia and relevant secretaries as well as other senior officials.

The strong push from the Prime Minister needs to be seen in the context of recent developments like the reshuffle of the Union council of ministers where the government and BJP highlighted the enhanced representation of OBCs. It also comes at a time when the Centre has moved to undo the Supreme Court's ruling that state lists of OBCs will be drawn up by the central government. The clear pro-OBC push, seen in the light of forthcoming elections in states like UP where Mandal politics has dominated till recently, and in the context of the next national elections, reveals the political priorities of BJP.

Covishield generates 93% protection, says AFMC study

Covishield generates 93% protection, says AFMC study

New Delhi: 28.7.2021

Covishield generated 93% protection against Covid, whereas mortality due to the infection came down by 98% during the second wave which was driven by Delta variant, officials said citing a vaccine effectiveness study conducted by Armed Forces Medical College (AFMC).

The study was conducted on 15 lakh doctors and frontline workers in AFMC who were administered with Covishield. “Protection to the extent of 93% was seen (in people who were administered Covishield) and this was during the second wave which was driven by the Delta variant... also 98% mortality reduction was seen,” Niti Aayog member, health, Dr V K Paul said underlining the role of vaccination to protect against death as well as infection.He, however, also highlighted the need to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour as no vaccine alone can guarantee protection against the infection. “No vaccine guarantees that infection will not happen but serious disease gets prevented and nearly eliminated,” he said. TNN