Yogi gave ₹1,129cr from CM fund to over 71K poor people for treatment

Yogi gave ₹1,129cr from CM fund to over 71K poor people for treatment

Rajiv.Srivastava1@timesgroup.com

Lucknow:11.09.2021

He may have the image of a firebrand leader, but Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has revealed his softer self by going way ahead of his predecessors in extending support to the poor and the distressed through the CM’s discretionary fund. In the past four-and-a-half years, Yogi has disbursed Rs 1,129 crore through the fund to 71,626 people for treatment.

The figures are more than double of what SP president Akhilesh Yadav gave away during his five-year tenure as the UP CM and almost 13 times more than Rs 84 crore released by Mayawati during her term (2007-12).

In the past five months (April1-August 31), during and after the second wave of coronavirus pandemic, around Rs 121 crore was provided as financial assistance to 6,618 beneficiaries.

Officials claimed that UP, with a population of around 24 crore, has fared better in tackling the pandemic as compared to any other state.

‘BJP govt extended ₹1.1k-cr aid to poor patients’

Saving lives and livelihood were the top priorities of the Yogi Adityanath government, they added.

In April, Rs 13.26 crore was provided to around 781 people while in May, this went up to nearly Rs 17.20 crore which was disbursed to over 943 people. In June this year, the government provided Rs 24.85 crore to 1,376 beneficiaries followed by Rs 29.33 crore to 1,497 people in July 2021.

Similarly, Rs 36.44 crore was provided to 2,021 people in August.

According to the details released by the CM’s office regarding the funds, the BJP government has till now extended help of over Rs 1,100 crore to poor patients.

The Samajwadi Party government under Akhilesh Yadav had provided Rs 552 crore to 42,508 people while the Mayawati government gave only Rs 84 crore to around 18,462 people.

Officials in the Chief Minister’s office said after coming to power, CM Yogi Adityanath had issued directives that help should be provided to people who had given up hope for treatment for the want of money. The government not only saved the lives of thousands of people but also ensured that they did not have to sell their land and property to meet medical expenses.

The year wise breakup shows the consistency with which the government provided help to the people.

The CM helped 13,228 people with Rs 184.63 crore in 2017-18 through discretionary fund. In 2018-19, over 17,772 people were given over Rs 256.34 crore, while in 2019-20, about 18,014 people received Rs 280.23 crore.

Around Rs 132.55 crore was provided to 7,269 people in 2020-21. Help was provided for kidney transplants and patients suffering from cancer, heart ailments and other serious diseases.

Officials said the maximum money was given to patients for the treatment of cancer, kidney and heart disease.

Man caught with ₹13-cr cobra venom

Man caught with ₹13-cr cobra venom

Pinak Priya Bhattacharya

Jalpaiguri:11.09.2021

A man was on Friday arrested with cobra venom worth Rs 13 crore after he entered India from Bangladesh through the Hili border in South Dinajpur.

Salim Akhtar, from South Dinajpur, reportedly admitted the consignment was headed to China from Bangladesh via India and Nepal. The consigment was seized at 73 More, on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town. He was remanded for six days by the court.

The officials, acting on a tip-off, arrested Akhtar but those who were to receive the venom escaped. Red dragon stickers on the venom containers raised officials’ suspicion that these were meant for China.

Bengal forest minister Jyotipriya Mullick said several people had been arrested earlier too while smuggling snake venom.

Transfer plea on med grounds

Transfer plea on med grounds

Kolkata:11.09.2021

The school education department has issued an order, saying teachers can apply on Utsashree portal for transfer if his/her family member suffers from a serious disease. The district school inspector will forward the case to CMOH and Medical Colleges and Hospital. Depending on the report, such applications should be addressed within 14 days. TNN

From 16th in 2017 to 4th in 2021: CU climbs NIRF ranking ladder

From 16th in 2017 to 4th in 2021: CU climbs NIRF ranking ladder

Zeeshan.Jawed@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:11.09.2021

From being nowhere near the Top10 five years ago to ranking fourth on the National Institution Ranking Framework this year, Calcutta University has steadily climbed up the ladder by improving in several key areas, including teacher-student ratio, experienced faculty, student strength, regional diversity and quality of publications. The university, which was founded in January 1857, has also gained several points with respect to peer perception in the past five years, scoring almost 20 points.

With its improved performance in some of the key areas, CU figured just after IISc, JNU and BHU on the list, bypassing Jadavpur University, which ranked eighth, three rungs down from last year’s fifth position. “The ranking of the university at number four in the country and number one in the state is indicative of the collective zeal of our teachers, researchers, students and all other staff,” said CU vice-chancellor Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee. The NIRF rankings were published on Thursday.

In 2017, CU ranked 16th, in 2018,14th, in 2019, it ranked fifth and in 2020, it slid down to the seventh position. In 2018, the university fared badly in the faculty-student ratio category, scoring 15 out of 30. In 2021, the score under this head was 24.21 out of 30. In 2020, the university scored13.57 out of 20 in faculty with experience, but this time, the figure is 16.02 this year. The university’s peer perception score is also up from 37.39 out of 100 in 2019 to 45.77. But in 2020, the peer perception was 47.99. “The university created capital assets, excluding land and building worth Rs 26 crore. The amount spent on library and procuring new equipment for labs was over Rs 74 crore,” said an official.

At 45.77, CU lagged behind JU in peer perception score by almost 21 points, but it beat JU by almost 10 points in facultystudent ratio, four points in faculty with PhD and experience, 4.5 points in intellectual property and patents, 10 points in women diversity and 1.5 in region diversity. “Jadavpur University has faced a few issues in receiving grants over the past few years and that has impeded a lot of development. This reflected in the NIRF ranking this year,” said an official at Jadavpur University.

Five colleges from the state also figured on NIRF Top 100. Of them, only one—Bethune College—is a government institute. St Xavier’s College, with a total score of 67.41, ranked fourth, Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira (67.26) ranked fifth, Ramakrishna Mission Vivekananda Centenary College, Rahara (64.45) ranked 15th, Ramakrishna Mission Residential College (62.50) ranked 21st and Bethune College

(52.23) ranked 77th. Bethune principal Krishna Roy said, “It is a matter of great pride that we are the only government college to be among the country’s Top 100. We are proud that we have been able to maintain the standard despite many adversities during pandemic.”

(Inputs by Poulami Roy Banerjee)

ONLY BENGAL MED INSTITUTE IN NIRF

ONLY BENGAL MED INSTITUTE IN NIRF

MCH bags 32nd position in nat’l ranking

Sumati.Yengkhom@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:11.09.2021

Medical College Hospital Kolkata has bagged the 32nd position among all medical colleges across the country, according to the NIRF (National Institutional Ranking Framework) 2021. In fact, the oldest medical college in Asia is the only medical institute from Bengal to have found a place in the ranking by the ministry of education, Government of India.

AIIMS New Delhi tops the chart for medical colleges followed by PGI Chandigarh, Christian Medical College Vellore, National Institute of Mental Health & Neurosciences (NIMHANS) Bangalore and Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences in the second, third, fourth and fifth spots respectively.

Factors including the facilities — teaching as well as patient, hospital infrastructure, number of faculty members, number of research/study projects, number of undergraduate and post graduate students and their placement after course completion, number and quality of seminars/workshops, budgetary allocation for various activities are few of the criterion on the basis of which the ranking is done.

“We are happy to have found a place in the prestigious NIRF ranking,” said Medical College Hospital assistant professor Dibyendu Raycahudhuri, who was the nodal person to coordinate for the assessment.

Colleges struggle to fill UG seats

Colleges struggle to fill UG seats

10 Days, Several Lists, Many Vacant Berths

Poulami.Roy@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:11.09.2021

Ten days after admission to undergraduate courses in colleges commenced, seats in many courses in several colleges remain empty, a cause for worry for hundreds of students who have scored over 90% in board results but are yet to get a seat in a subject and college of choice. Principals fear some seats may remain vacant even in high-demand courses despite the huge number of applicants due to their inability to reclaim the seats of students who opt for a second college after taking admission in one.

This year, colleges have received a record number of applications. With no application fee, some students have applied to as many as 20 colleges. The top scorers figured in the first list of multiple colleges with some even taking admission in more than one. With no system to ensure that the previous seat will be vacated once a student takes admission in another college, it remains a challenge.

Surendranath College, for instance, received 54,000 application forms but only 10% seats have been filled up till date. College principal Indranil Kar pointed out that every year, nearly 30% seats remained vacant due to their inability to weed out those students who have also taken admission elsewhere and don’t report to the college when classes commence.

To solve the problem, many colleges have introduced a wish list format that allows interested students to gain admission.

Many principals of city colleges felt a central counselling system could be a solution. “Colleges do face a challenge in identifying students who have taken admission but then don’t attend classes because they’ve taken admission elsewhere as well. At present, students are not bound to inform colleges that they have taken admission elsewhere,” said New Alipore College principal Jaydeep Sarangi.

A principal of a central Kolkata college reasoned that a central counselling system could eliminate the problem of multiple admissions by a single candidate through use of a dedicated portal to monitor the admission process.

A few years ago during his first stint in the education department, minister Bratya Basu had proposed a centralised counselling system but it had ultimately not been implemented. A section of principals now feel it may be time to revisit the proposal.

There is a counter argument against central counselling as well with some pointing out that it is not foolproof. But even they admit that while top rung colleges will always be the first preference like counselling in Joint, it will be easier to know how many are opting out for upgradation if the process is monitored centrally.

Kannur varsity will review controversial syllabus: Min

Kannur varsity will review controversial syllabus: Min

Thiruvananthapuram:11.09.2021

Higher education minister R Bindu said the controversial Kannur University syllabus for MA Governance and Political Science would be reviewed by the varsity.

“If the syllabus requires any change, the university will take appropriate steps. If some additions proposed are to be dropped, the university would do so. So is the case of any addition in the syllabus,” the minister said on Friday evening. The minister’s reaction came after she received a report from Kannur University vice-chancellor Gopinath Ravindran regarding the issue.

The minister had earlier termed the developments in connection with the university syllabus as ‘highly sensitive’. CPM state acting secretary A Vijayaraghavan too said that the matter demands serious attention. “Ours is a secular country. It’s dangerous to have communal references in university syllabus,” the minister said, adding that university authorities need not be strictly aware of all changes in the syllabus and its nuances.

The new course for MA Governance and Political Science was introduced in Brennan College under Kannur University last year. The study recommended for the third semester of the course —themes in Indian political thoughthas kindled a controversy as critics dubbed the inclusion of the political thoughts of Golwalker and Savarkar as saffronization of the syllabus. TNN