MBBS students enrolled in Chinese varsities look for mid-year transfer to other countries

MUMBAI NEWS

MBBS students enrolled in Chinese varsities look for mid-year transfer to other countries

With little hopes of returning to their campuses anytime soon, Indian medical students enrolled in China are now looking at mid-course transfers to institutes in India and other countries. (FILE)

With little hopes of returning to their campuses anytime soon, Indian medical students enrolled in China are now looking at mid-course transfers to institutes in India and other countries. (FILE)

Published on Sep 21, 2021 12:27 AM IST

By HT Correspondent, Mumbai

With little hopes of returning to their campuses anytime soon, Indian medical students enrolled in China are now looking at mid-course transfers to institutes in India and other countries.

“If the National Medical Commission (NMC) will allow us to take a transfer to another country, then our problems will be solved. We don’t have any hope to go back to China,” a third-year medical student, on the condition of anonymity, said.

NMC is the apex body administering medical education in India. Students are writing to the commission to allow them a mid-course transfer to medical colleges outside India. However, NMC has not approved such transfers.

Dr Aruna Vanikar, president of undergraduate courses, NMC, was unavailable for a comment.

For almost 20 months, Indian medical students enrolled for courses in China have not been able to return to their campuses amid travel restrictions. Students have kicked off a new semester online at the beginning of the month.

They had returned to India last year amid a raging pandemic as their universities imposed lockdowns. Many left their belongings behind hoping to return to campuses soon. However, more than a year on, the chances of their return remain uncertain as China continues to impose a travel ban for international students. Only those from South Korea and the United States of America have been allowed to return so far.

In June, the external affairs ministry had issued a notice in favour of students in international universities, who are stuck in India due to the pandemic. The notice had asked such students to write to its overseas Indian affairs (OIA) office about difficulties in reaching their university.

“Indian students studying abroad who are stuck in India owing to Covid-19 pandemic restrictions and mobility issues can send their coordinates, that is, email id and mobile number to OIA-2 division at emails: us.oia2@mea.gov.in and so1oia2@mea.gov.in,” said the notice on the official website.

Thereafter, affected students had urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene in the matter and facilitate the students’ return through an open letter. However, there’s been no response yet.

Meanwhile, mental stress and anxiety continues to grow among students attending lectures online.

“The MBBS course requires students to gain practical experience. For almost two years, we’ve been bereft of that. It’s starting to bother my confidence,” said a fourth-year MBBS student of Jianghan University, Wuhan, who identified herself as Neha.

UK updates its travel advisory after India’s reciprocal move

UK updates its travel advisory after India’s reciprocal move

London:3.10.2021

The UK government on Saturday updated its official advisory for its nationals travelling to India following New Delhi’s decision to impose reciprocal curbs on British visitors from Monday, and said it was in “close contact” with Indian authorities on the issue. The updated travel advisory noted an additional Covid-19 test on day eight and a 10-day mandatory quarantine for all travellers going to India from Britain from Monday.

The advisory states that all travellers, irrespective of their vaccination status, arriving in India must undertake a Covid-19 RT-PCR test on arrival at airport and on day eight after arrival, at their own cost, and undergo mandatory quarantine at home or at the destination address for 10 days. PTI

Airport waits for a Pied Piper to free terminal of cats and rats

Airport waits for a Pied Piper to free terminal of cats and rats

Tamaghna.Banerjee@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:02.10.2021

The city airport authorities are seeking professional cat and mouse catchers to get the terminal free of rodents and felines after a portion of the false ceiling and accompanying aluminium cladding fell off last Tuesday, startling an airline crew and narrowly missing a flyer.

The aluminium cladding that fell beside the entrance to a toilet in the departure terminal had also brought down a cat. An internal inquiry showed the animal was up there because of rats, which brought into focus the problem of rodents at the airport. Airport authorities have decided to hire an NGO to relocate the cats and a government pest control agency to exterminate the rats.

“The rat infestation has been a problem with the Kolkata airport. We have asked the central warehousing corporation in charge of rodent control and pest control at airports to look into the issue,” said airport director C Pattabhi.

An airport official said the rats mostly hide inside the false ceiling, electrical panels, hangars and apron areas. In January last year, a rat on a Dehradun-bound Air India plane from Kolkata had forced the airline to abort the trip at Varanasi, let out passengers and accommodate them in hotels for 24 hours as staffers looked for the rodent.

After Tuesday’s incident, Twitter was abuzz with posts on cat sighting inside the terminals. A Twitter user posted a seven-second video of a cat sitting comfortably on a bench in the airport cafeteria.

In the last year, multiple Twitter users have posted photographs of different cats roaming inside different parts of the terminal.

“I have spotted them quite often, but they are mostly harmless, sitting or quietly walking around,” said Sutirtha Basu, a frequent flyer.

“Cats come here in search of rats and leftover food. We have requested an animal welfare NGO to help us catch and relocate them,” said Pattabhi.

TOI contacted one of the animal welfare NGOs that had earlier been contacted by the Kolkata airport with a similar plea. “It’s not right to relocate a harmless animal, like a cat or a dog. The airport authorities had earlier requested us to relocate them, but we had told them we can only sterilise the animals. Following this, they didn’t contact us any more,” said Lopamudra Basu, secretary, Pashupati Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) in Dum Dum.

Court: Pay school fee dues by Oct 25

Court: Pay school fee dues by Oct 25

‘No Rustication, All Kids Be Allowed To Take Exams’

Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey & Subrata Chattoraj

Kolkata:02.10.2021

The Calcutta High Court on Friday directed all defaulting parents to pay their school fee arrears by October 25. Schools have been directed not to rusticate any kid for the time being and allow all of them to sit for boards, annual or mid-term exams. Parents will have the right to pay “disputed” and “undisputed” amounts separately.

The order given by the division bench of Justice I P Mukerji and Justice Moushumi Bhattacharya said the court received affidavits from schools, saying their outstanding fees added up to a substantial amount, running into crores, and that if the fees were not received it would be difficult for schools to run or pay bonus to their employees in the festive period.

The order, however, mentioned that the court had also received several contempt petitions from parents, claiming schools were not charging the amounts according to the HC order of October 13, 2020. This order stated that parents had suffered due to the pandemic and could be allowed to pay 80% of the tuition fees. But “a dispute has been raised that the bills raised by the schools and other educational institutions are not in accordance with the said order”, Friday’s order stated. Many parents had filed contempt petitions that schools were charging much more than what the court had specified and that they had paid amounts, which were the court-sanctioned amounts. Many schools had allegedly refused to accept these calculations done by parents. This led to a deadlock and schools had clubbed parents, who had paid according to this calculation, with defaulting guardians.

Friday’s order clarified that parents would have to clear the entire amount decided upon by schools by October 25, but they could segregate the fees as “undisputed” and “disputed” portions and label them accordingly during the payment. “The school authorities will be entitled to straightaway appropriate the admitted amount. They shall also receive the disputed amount, deposit the same in a separate account and keep an account,” Friday’s order said.

The court has asked each school to file an affidavit, to show the amounts they received according to Friday’s order, prepare a list of defaulting parents and the total amount due from each of them. The court will hear both sides on December 3. Meanwhile, no school could rusticate any student and would have to allow them to sit for all exams, court said.

“The direction of the court upon parents to pay fees by October 25 in the manner provided in the order will help schools to run and maintain them for the benefit of all the stakeholders,” said lawyer Sourav Bhagat, who represented Birla High School, South Point School, MP Birla Foundation, Shri Shikshayatan.

Parents’ groups also lauded the order. “Most parents are facing a stand-off with school authorities because there has been a dispute over the outstanding amount. We welcome the order. We will now see how many school managements take this order seriously,” said Sanjeev Sharma, secretary of United Parents’ Protection Forum.

Ayodhya railway station new building to be ready by Dec

Ayodhya railway station new building to be ready by Dec

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow:02.10.2021

After months of delay, Indian Railways has announced that as part of the ambitious remodelling and upgradation project of Ayodhya railway station, its new two-storey building will be completed by December.

The station, being developed in two phases, is expected to cater to 1 lakh passengers per day. In the first phase, the two-storey structure on platform 1 will be able to handle 15,000 passengers on an average on regular days and 25,000 on peak days such as Dussehra, Ram Navami, Diwali, and parikrama days. After second-phase completion, the station can handle four times more passengers.

Divisional railway manager Lucknow (NR) Suresh Kumar Sapra said, “The new building to be completed by December will cater to all needs of pilgrims like dormitories, cloakrooms, sick rooms, shops, food court, circulating area, escalators, air conditioning, retiring room, LED billboards, mela shed, parking, new access road to station and others.”

“However, the 2-foot overbridge connecting the new building will be completed by March 2022,” he said.

The first phase was expected to be completed by June but the deadline was shifted to September. With the delay, the cost of construction has also increased from the initial Rs 104 crore to Rs 134 crore.

Unit at KGMU to remove pathogens from blood products

Unit at KGMU to remove pathogens from blood products

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow:02.10.2021

A machine to remove pathogens from blood products will be installed in the blood transfusion and medicine department of King George’s Medical University soon.

The machine will remove a range of pathogens, including bacteria, viruses such as HIV, parasites such as malaria, and white blood cells in blood products. This will reduce the risks of disease transmission and side-effects from blood transfusions.

Making this announcement on Friday at a function to mark National Voluntary Blood Donation Day, vice-chancellor Lt Gen Bipin Puri claimed that KGMU will be the first in the country to install such a machine.

“We are in talks with state authorities for installation and it will be available in four-five months,” he added.

Head of transfusion medicine department Prof Tulika Chandra said, “Patients with low immunity, blood disorders, cancer, and transplant are vulnerable to various diseases transmitted through blood transfusion. They will be benefited with the arrival of the machine.”

Meanwhile, 43 voluntary blood donors/motivators and NGOs working for blood donations were facilitated.

Governor Anandiben Patel, the chief guest, said, “Every eligible student should donate blood at least twice a year. Special camps should be organized at universities for this purpose.”

Special guest and medical education minister Suresh Khanna said, “All medical colleges will be directed to raise awareness and motivate people for blood donation.”

Law minister Brijesh Pathak said voluntary blood donation camps should be organized often.

Governor Anandiben Patel with ministers Brijesh Pathak and Suresh Khanna

Guinness record holder turns to carpentry

Guinness record holder turns to carpentry

Ramavarman T@timesgroup.com

Thrissur:02.10.2021

“Images do not matter…My family’s hunger will not end if I play flute to them,’’ says Murali Narayanan, a flautist who once set a Guinness World Record for playing flute continuously for 108 hours but now working as a carpenter to eke out a living ever since the pandemic rendered him jobless.

Curiously, it is Murali Narayanan a disciple of the flautist himself who is teaching him carpentry. Murali lives in a small house at a rehabilitation colony at Thalikulam with his aged mother, wife and three children. He had studied up to Class X, but could not continue studies as he had to look after his mother and sisters after his father died at an early age.

He had initially studied painting, and then trained in vocals as well as Nadaswaram, which he picked up under the Gurukula system by staying at the house of his teacher Engandiyur Krishnankutty Asan. Murali developed an interest in flute after he listened to sessions conducted by Nandakumar, Krishnankutty Asan’s son.

Murali set the record by playing flute for 108 hours at Thekkinkadu Maidan on December 28, 2019. The earlier record was in the name of a British woman Catherine Brook who had played for 27 hours 32 and minutes.

Murali has been a part of the dance troupes of Kalamandalam Kshemavathi and Manju Warrier. He has also conducted programmes in Germany, Estonia, Philippines and in the Gulf countries.

“I have not been able to go for any programmes in 2018, as I had to prepare for the marathon flute recital. It was scheduled to be held on August 2018, but then the floods came. In 2019 too I was jobless. The Guinness Record programme itself saddled me with a debt of Rs 15 lakh. Personally I have a debt of another Rs 10 lakh,’’ says Murali, adding that he waited long for the Covid to end. “But eventually I realised that I unless get some work, I would not be able to support my family. I was ready even to work even as a sanitation worker,’’ he says.

Murali’s friends were reluctant to take him along for taking up other jobs, considering his wide recognition.

Murali Narayanan working as a carpenter