Debate over credit for medical colleges

Debate over credit for medical colleges

Published: 18th August 2021 05:26 AM |

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The State Assembly witnessed heated moments on Tuesday with Minister Ma Subramanian and AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami entering into an argument over which party deserved credit for establishing 11 medical colleges in the State.

During a debate on the revised General Budget and the Agriculture Budget, AIADMK member VV Rajan Chellappa claimed that the erstwhile government led by his party was responsible for launching 11 medical colleges in the State within a year.

Replying to his claim, Ma. Subramanian said, “It was former Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s decision to establish a medical college in every district, and he had also identified lands for six medical colleges and granted them administration sanction.”

Leader of Opposition Palaniswami intervened and said: “These medical colleges were established with the Centre and State partnership ratio of 60:40 due to the efforts of previous AIADMK-led governments.”

59-yr-old prof held for raping PhD scholar

59-yr-old prof held for raping PhD scholar

Jabalpur:18.08.2021

A PhD scholar at Rani Durgavati University in Jabalpur has accused a professor of raping her for six months on the threat to fail her in the examination.

Belbagh police station registered a case on the basis of her complaint and arrested the accused.

“She has complained that the accused had been harassing her for two years. Around six months ago, he went to her rented home, where she lived alone, and raped her by threatening to fail her in the exam,” said SI Sandhya Chandel.

“Thereafter, he continued to rape her. She complained to police once earlier but withdrew it after the professor apologised. However, on August 16, the professor again went to her house and raped her after which she filed a complaint,” SI Chandelsaid. TNN

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