Govt wants nod to admit 1,650 med students

Govt wants nod to admit 1,650 med students

Chennai:18.08.2021

Health minister Ma Subramanian on Tuesday said they are confident of getting the Union government’s nod to admit 1,650 students to the new medical colleges this year. As per the chief minister’s (M K Stalin) direction, he met the Union health minister and appealed to him to expedite the inspection of the 11 new medical colleges, said the minister, adding, “The experts' team completed the inspections in the state.” TNN

Stalin will decide on reopening of schools on August 20: Min

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.08.2021

Chief minister M K Stalin will take a call on reopening of schools and further relaxations on August 20, school education minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi told education officials on Tuesday.

The state government already announced that schools for Classes IX to XII will be reopened from September 1.

The government also announced that 50% of students will be asked to attend schools on alternate days. The chief minister will chair a meeting to announce Covid-19 relaxations on August 20. There is a demand from schools to open up for other schools also on a phased manner.

"Bridging learning loss will be a huge challenge when the schools reopen as students come back to schools after a long gap," the minister told the chief educational officers at a meeting in Chennai. The officials also discussed protocols to be evolved when the schools reopened from September1.

"The announcement of transforming education from rote learning to concept based learning was well appreciated. The chief educational officers should concentrate on generating funds for government schools through corporate social responsibility (CSR) funds from industries," the minister said.

He asked the CEOs to take a list of infrastructure needed for government schools in each district. "We are giving basic computer skills training to all teachers to equip them to take online classes for government school students. The hitech labs in government schools also need to be used to enhance the learning of children," he said.

The education officials also discussed developing EMIS (Educational Management Information System) portal, RTE (Right to Education act) admissions among other issues.

The school education department also sought district wise details like distribution of free laptops from 2011-22 to 2019-20 and the laptops kept in the custody of the department and also sought similar details like distribution of atlas, footwear, school bag and other welfare schemes

Irked at ‘spurious gurus’, HC rejects bail of Siva Baba

Irked at ‘spurious gurus’, HC rejects bail of Siva Baba

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.08.2021

Society's collective gullibility in matters of faith comes handy for fake godmen and the so-called spiritual gurus to exploit people to the hilt. The reverential faith reposed on such spurious Gurus by their multitude of minions stands betrayed at the eventual exposure of their wickedness hid behind the mask of spirituality, said Madras high court, dismissing a bail petition by C N Siva Shankaran alias Sivashankar Baba, who was arrested by CB-CID on charges of sexual abuse.

Justice M Dhandapani before whom the petition came up for hearing, expressed shock at the manner in which the common man, in spite of his intellect and faculties, is being brainwashed by persons, who, under the guise of spiritual awakening and intellectual liberation, commit perverted acts on the women folk, as is alleged in the present complaints.

Stating that it would not be in the interest of justice if the self-styled god man is granted bail as he is also booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act, the court denied bail to the godman.

“Of late, our society has been a hapless witness to the mushrooming of self-styled Godmen and gurus who hold out promises of deliverance or salvation to the people who look upon them for answers for all their inner struggles, who are being driven to the point of despair and despondency. The society that is all-pervasively influenced by myriad religious people, become invariably susceptible to machinations at the hands of the phoney Gurus,” the court said and stated that the society needed to guard itself against the attempts by such gurus in exploiting the people's emotional dependence on external agencies/forces.

These spiritual gurus, the court observed, invariably end up exponentially successful in aggrandizement of their wealth, power and influence, which has a cascading detrimental effect on the common man.

Earlier, counsel for the accused argued that there is a fallacy in the prosecution theory. He said the godman is 74 years old and cited health reasons to enlarge him on bail.

Actor Suriya’s plea for income tax interest waiver junked by HC

Actor Suriya’s plea for income tax interest waiver junked by HC

Srikkanth.D@timesgroup.com

Chennai:18.08.2021

The Madras high court has declined to waive the interest on the income tax slapped on actor Suriya between 2007 and 2009.

Suriya, in his petition, contended that he was facing harassment from the I-T officials for quite some time. In October 2010, the department conducted searches at his office and residence and passed an assessment order a year later for 2007-08 and 2008-09. Counsel for the actor argued that compulsion to pay any unjust dues would cause hardships to the actor and he has been asked to pay interest in an unjust manner and cited previous Madras HC judgments in similar cases.

In its response, the I-T department submitted that the actor had not complied with three conditions stipulated under section 220 (2A) of the Income Tax Act for availing waiver of interest. “The case is not one where regular assessment has been passed. There was a search operation conducted in the actor’s premises, based on which the assessment orders were passed. There was noncooperation on part of the petitioner. Even in such circumstances, the petitioner had no intention to pay the interest based on the demand,” counsel submitted.

In such cases, the assessee is bound to pay the interest and thereafter, is at liberty to file an application seeking waiver of interest, counsel stated. While assessment orders were passed in 2011, application seeking waiver of interest was filed only in 2017. “Once the tax demand was not complied with, the department is entitled to claim interest under section 220 (2A) of Income Tax Act,” counsel stated.

Citing a report from officials which showed that the actor took more than 45 days to file return of income after the search, Justice S M Subramaniam said he had not cooperated in completion of the assessment. “The conduct of the assessee throughout the income tax proceedings is vital for the purpose of claiming waiver of interest,” the court observed and dismissed the petition.

Corpn offers free Wi-Fi at 49 places in city

Corpn offers free Wi-Fi at 49 places in city

Chennai:18.08.2021

The Chennai corporation will offer 30-minute free wi-fi at 49 locations, including Anna Tower Park, CDH, Tondiarpet, Gemini Junction, Marina Beach, Ashok Pillar, T Nagar and CMBT, from Tuesday. The service will be offered near smart poles that have CCTV cameras and emergency call buttons connected to the command centre at Ripon Buildings. Users need to select ‘smart city Wi-Fi’ and enter the one-time password sent to their mobile phones. The connection will stop after 30 minutes. The total list of locations of the smart poles are available in the pdf https://chennaicorporation.gov.in/gcc/images/WiFiSmartPol.pdf. TNN

Two medical students drown

Two medical students drown

TNN | Aug 17, 2021, 04.32 AM IST

Rajkot: Two students of Rajkot’s PDU Medical College drowned in a check-dam on the outskirts of the city late on Saturday evening. The deceased were identified as Dr Chirag Damor (30), a final year student of Doctor of Medicine (MD) and Ravi Rathod (26), an MBBS student.

Damor’s parents who live in Ahmedabad are native of Shyamlaji in North Gujarat, while Rathod is from Ghumli village in Maliya-Hatina taluka of Junagadh.

Damor and Rathod had gone to the check-dam on a bike. They both jumped into the water and later drowned. A passers-by saw the bike and clothes and informed the fire brigade personnel. “Fire brigade personnel fished out both bodies from the check-dam after searching for an hour,” said police.

Rathod was the youngest of four siblings.

Probe reports scam, Jabalpur medical varsity V-C resigns

Probe reports scam, Jabalpur medical varsity V-C resigns

Vice Chancellor T N Dubey, a neurologist, told The Sunday Express, “I was neither able to do justice to my profession as a doctor, nor was able to give time to my family, based in Bhopal. My resignation is completely a personal decision."

Written By Iram Siddique | Bhopal |

August 15, 2021 3:50:15 am

On Saturday, Medical Education Commissioner Warvade told The Sunday Express, “The inquiry committee was sent some queries but a reply is yet to be received. However, it would be best explained by the vice-chancellor, who is dealing with the issue.”

Examinations of over 3,500 students across 30 courses in Madhya Pradesh Medical Science University, Jabalpur, are stuck after an internal inquiry highlighted lapses into working of a Bangalore-based IT firm that was tasked to conduct examinations at the university, leading to the vice-chancellor’s resignationj on Saturday.

While the university authorities had blacklisted the IT firm, Mindlogisticx Infratec, following an inquiry by a government panel, the company moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court, which, in an interim relief to the firm, lifted the blacklisting, restraining the government from any coercive order until August 16, the next date of hearing.

In the midst of allegations, Vice Chancellor T N Dubey resigned, citing personal reasons, even as senior officials claimed that he stepped down after Medical Education Minister Vishwas Sarang set up an inquiry panel to probe the alleged irregularities and had sent Medical Education Commissioner Nishant Warvade to the university to streamline its affairs after receiving multiple complaints.

Dubey, a neurologist, told The Sunday Express, “I was neither able to do justice to my profession as a doctor, nor was able to give time to my family, based in Bhopal. My resignation is completely a personal decision.”

Asked whether his resignation has anything to do with the inquiry set up by the government, Dubey said, “There is nothing beyond the fact that I wanted to be closer to my family. Everything else is baseless.” Dubey refused to comment on the working of Mindlogisticx and the ongoing inquiry, calling it sub judice.

On Saturday, Medical Education Commissioner Warvade told The Sunday Express, “The inquiry committee was sent some queries but a reply is yet to be received. However, it would be best explained by the vice-chancellor, who is dealing with the issue.”

On May 25, Sarang initiated the inquiry after receiving complaints about alleged unauthorised working of Mindlogisticx Infratec. In his letter, the minister stated that students were not getting their degrees, marksheets and the agency tasked to conduct exams did not conduct them in time.

On June 8, a probe team headed by J K Gupta, then university registrar, and comprising two IT experts submitted their report. The report found there was no digital interface created for conducting the examination. All data was exchanged using emails, leading to delay and irregularities in results, as well as mark-sheets, it stated.

It was also pointed out that all passwords and email IDs were handed over to a grade-III employee, identified as Nilesh Jaiswal, giving him complete access. This, the inquiry team noted, was in violation of the secrecy of the process and gave rise to malpractices.

Two months before the inquiry was initiated, the then examination controller in-charge, Trupti Gupta, on April 24 wrote an email to deputy registrar J K Gupta. She pointed out that ntratec without informing the university authorities Mindlogisticx had changed marks.

Based on the committee’s report, registrar Gupta blacklisted the firm on July 5. Gupta also pointed out that despite repeated attempts to call the firm for explanation, they continued to give excuses. The agreement with the company was terminated three years after it was signed in July 2018.

Registrar Gupta along with Trupti Gupta, on whose inquiry the firm was blacklisted, were repatriated to their parent department on July 14, within eight months of being posted at the university on a two-year deputation.

Meanwhile, Mindlogisticx, challenged the order to blacklist it in High Court. The firm contended that all changes made to mark-sheet, as quoted by Trupti Gupta, were done after receiving an official mail. The email, the firm stated, was used by Dr Vrinda Saxena, who held the post of the varsity’s examination controller but was on sick leave at the time.