Telangana richest state in India: KCR

Telangana richest state in India: KCR

Peddi Reddy Joins TRS

Koride.Mahesh@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  31.07.2021 

Claiming that Telangana is the richest state in the country, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said the state’s per capita income is over Rs 2.2 lakh which is higher than the national per capita income (GDP) of Rs 1 lakh.

He said Telangana stands next only to Karnataka’s GSDP in the country. He said GSDP of Telangana in 2020-21 was Rs 9.78 lakh crore and 17 per cent of the state’s GSDP contribution comes from agriculture sector alone. He claimed there were no starvation deaths in the state. Farmer suicides have also come down considerably in the state which the Centre confirmed in Parliament, he said.

The TRS president said Telangana would become another Kashmir once Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme (PRLIS) and Sitarama LI Project are completed. “Some leaders do not understand this and have been making allegations on the government,” KCR said while addressing party workers at Telangana Bhavan after inviting former minister E Peddi Reddy and 30 leaders from various parties into TRS on Friday.

Taking potshots at some leaders for having apprehensions on Dalit Bandhu, KCR said the government would implement the scheme at any cost.

“Opposition parties are worried about their fate as the scheme will be implemented all over the state. It was supposed to be launched last year, but got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Now, the government is ready to spend Rs 1 lakh crore on the scheme,” KCR said.

Former minister E Peddi Reddy joining the TRS in the presence of CM K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday

State cabinet to meet on August 1

Hyderabad:

Telangana cabinet will meet on August 1 at 2 pm at the Pragati Bhavan. The cabinet is likely to discuss and approve Dalit Bandhu scheme pilot project, filling vacancies in various government departments among other issues. TNN

Many lose marks as ‘reference year’ rule comes into play

Nirupa.Vatyam@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  31.07.2021 

Class toppers were at the receiving end this year as the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) asked schools to consider the performance of students in one of the last three academic years as a reference year while allotting marks. As a result, schools could award marks in a range (above 90% - 95.5%) only to a few students, while many deserving candidates felt undone.

Principals of city schools said they had to revise marks of students two to three times before the board accepted final results. “We had 42 students who were getting above 95%. We had to bring their marks down, as only 27 students had got above 95% in 2018, which was our reference year,” said Latha Shankar, principal, P Obul Reddy Public School.

She said it was toppers and academicallyweak students who were at a loss this year. “Likewise, we had to put about10 students in the 40-50 range even though three or four students could have gone to a higher range,” she said.

“If not for the pandemic, some of our students would have secured one or two per cent higher marks. It is unfair for a few students, but many also benefited as they were awarded more marks. Overall, we are happy with the result,” said Narsimha Reddy, principal, The Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur.

D Usha Reddy, principal and CEO, Meridian School for Boys and Girls, said it was disheartening to note that students who performed extremely well in the current year had to have their marks pruned. “Marks of deserving six to seven students had to be reduced.”

Gautham Singh, a student of Obul Reddy, who secured 99.96 percentile in JEE Mains, said: “Definitely, I would have got more marks if exams were conducted. But I don’t want to appear for exams at a later stage as these marks will not be considered for IIT counselling or I might lose out on getting a seat in a foreign university.” Gautham’s school had to reduce his computer marks by five to bring his percentage down.

Madras HC caps school fees at 85% of last year’s charges

Madras HC caps school fees at 85% of last year’s charges

Sureshkumar.k@timesgroup.com

Chennai:31.07.2021  

Providing relief to private unaided schools in Tamil Nadu, including CBSE institutions, Madras high court permitted them to collect 85% of the annual fee fixed for the academic year 2019-20 as fee for the current academic year.

This applies only to students of parents who are employees of government, public sector undertakings, professionals and business people who have not suffered any income loss due to the pandemic, Justice D Krishnakumar said.

“Those parents who have suffered loss of income during this pandemic shall make an application to the school management, who shall consider their request and collect 75% of the fees,” the court said.

The court made it clear that such fees must be collected in six instalments on or before February 1 next year.

If any parent seeks further concession for payment of annual fees, they shall make a representation to the school management, who shall consider such representation on a case-to-case basis sympathetically, the judge added.

‘300 stray dogs poisoned in Andhra’

‘300 stray dogs poisoned in Andhra’

Vijayawada: 31.07.2021 

A village panchayat in West Godavari has been accused by an animal rights group of ordering the killing of over 300 stray dogs by administering poison via injection. The inhumane and disturbing incident reportedly happened in Lingapalem area of Andhra’s West Godavari district in the last few days.

Sri Latha Challapalli, treasurer of Challapalli charitable trust which fights for animal issues, alleged, “The killings have been happening since July 24.” TNN

Can’t post a cop for every girl: Goa minister

Can’t post a cop for every girl: Goa minister

Panaji:  31,07.2021 

Even before the controversy arising out of an “insensitive” remark about the gangrape of minor girls by Goa CM Pramod Sawant has died down, art and culture minister Govind Gaude stoked a fresh one on Friday when he said it was practically not feasible to “post a security or a policeman for the safety of every girl in the state”.

Coming out strongly in support of Sawant’s statement that the parents should be held responsible and why the girls had gone out late at night, Gaude said: “When such incidents happen, it is the parents who suffer the most. The problem is if you post a cop after every girl, imagine how many policemen will we require? The government is not running away from its responsibility.” TNN

‘27% OBC, 10% EWS quota to take effect from 2021-22 session’

NEET (UG)

‘27% OBC, 10% EWS quota to take effect from 2021-22 session’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  31.07.2021 

The National Testing Agency in a public notice to the NEET (UG) 2021 aspirants stated that the decision of the government to implement 27% OBC reservation (non-creamy layer) and 10% EWS reservation in 15% undergraduate all India quota (AIQ) seats will take effect from the 2021-22 academic session, on Friday.

The agency notified its information bulletin stands modified based on the new reservation structure for admission to undergraduate medical courses under AIQ which would comprise of 15% for SC, 7.5% for ST, 27% for OBC (non-creamy layer as per central list), 10% for EWS category as per central government norms and 5% for persons with disabilities (PwD) “horizontal reservation as per National Medical Commission norms.”

When the government succeeded in introducing a 10% EWS quota in higher education institutions in 2019 the total intake in the medical colleges increased between 16% to 22%. For example, the total MBBS seats in government medical seats in Andhra Pradesh increased from 1,700 to 2020, which is 21.2% increase in 2019-20. Similarly, in Assam the total seats increased from 726 to 900, which was 24%.

However, according to a senior health ministry official, no such increase in seats will be done while implementing the 27% OBC reservation during the forthcoming academic session. The official said that respective states have already increased the seats from 2015 as part of the reservation.

“There is no need for an increase of seats due to the implementation of the 27% OBC reservation in AIQ as the states had already increased the seats in the last few years and OBC seats had been accounted for. So the 15% states’ contribution to the AIQ is already inclusive of that quota which we need to implement during the counselling. Moreover, even otherwise the process for increase of seats takes around a year,” said the official.

The directorate of health services too on Thursday notified for the benefit of the eligible candidates that 27% of the OBC reservation and 10% EWS reservation in 15% undergraduate and 50% postgraduate AIQ seats (MBBS/ BDS and MD/ MS/ MDS) contributed by the State/ UTs would commence from the 2021-22 session of counselling.

Woman gets +ve report without testing

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kozhikode:31.07.2021  

A woman in Chelembra panchayat in Malappuram, who hadn’t undergone a Covid-19 test, was surprised after she received a positive RTPCR test report issued in her name by health authorities. When she approached health authorities saying that she had not attended the testing camp in the area, she was asked her to undergo an antigen test in which she tested negative.

The mix up took place at the mass Covid testing camp organized near Malaparamba SC colony at Chelembra on July 25 after 18 Covid cases were reported in the colony within one week.

Her husband and two other relatives had undergone Covid testing at the camp held in the locality and according to health department authorities the error took place due to confusion in the token issued to family members of the woman prior to testing.

While the woman received a Covid positive test report, the husband along with two other relatives tested negative. Volunteers who had worked to organize the testing camp said the serious lapse happened due to flouting of testing protocols by the staff who conducted the camp by taking samples from persons just by checking the tokens issued to them.

The mix up took place at the mass Covid testing camp organized near Malaparamba SC colony at Chelembra on July 25 after 18 Covid cases were reported in the colony within one week