No. of 2nd dose recipients dips at KMC vax clinics

AWARENESS DRIVE PLANNED

No. of 2nd dose recipients dips at KMC vax clinics

Saikat.Ray@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:23.10.2021

Witnessing a sharp drop in the number of second dose recipients at the civic vaccination clinics, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has decided to launch an awareness drive particularly in areas where the second dose recipients are yet to turn up.

According to an internal vaccine data recorded by the KMC clinics across Kolkata, the civic body is in search of 21% of the recipients who had taken their first shot from the civic vaccination clinics but didn’t turn up for their second dose. When the KMC medical officers at the clinics first noticed such mismatch, they formed a team of honorary health workers in August and sent them from door-to-door of select neighbourhoods to woo the recipients of second dose to be present at the civic clinics. The initiative yielded results as 1.5 lakh recipients finally took their second dose from over 50 vaccination clinics.

According to a KMC health department official, the allocation of Covishield vaccine for each civic clinic was sufficient for inoculation of second dose recipients across 144 wards and the recipients should take the opportunity at the earliest. “The supply of vaccines has been steady and sufficient for the past two months. This is the right time the recipients should respond to our appeal and queue up at our clinics to get inoculated till the stocks last,” said a KMC medical officer.

Records with some KMC clinics in areas like Tollygunge, Jadavpur, Behala, Kidderpore, Metiabruz and EM Bypass reveal a poor attendance of second dose recipients in the past few weeks. For instance, several clinics in Tollygunge recorded a 50% attendance of second dose recipients. “We were given 200 doses today. At the end of vaccination hours we recorded presence of 90 second dose recipients and 10 first dose recipients,” said a medical officer at a KMC clinic in Tollygunge.

Atin Ghosh, a member in KMC Board of Administrators overseeing the health department, said: “Now, even senior citizens can take the opportunity of avoiding crowd and take second shot at our clinics.”

HC: Just taking cash illegally inadequate for graft charge

HC: Just taking cash illegally inadequate for graft charge

Lalmohan Patnaik TNN

Cuttack:23.10.2021

The Orissa HC has ruled that mere acceptance of any amount by way of illegal gratification or its recovery is outside the scope of the proof of demand and is not sufficient to bring home the charge under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The single-judge bench of Justice S K Sahoo said, “The proof of demand of illegal gratification is the essence of accusation of the offences under Sections 7 and 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 and in the absence thereof, the charge would fail.” The complainant cannot be placed on any better footing than that of an accomplice and corroboration in material particulars connecting him with the crime has to be insisted upon, Justice Sahoo ruled.

The ruling by the vacation bench came on Thursday, while allowing the criminal appeal of Sanatan Dash, who was convicted for taking a bribe of Rs 500 and sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment by the special judge vigilance in Bhubaneswar nearly 18 years ago.

“The prosecution evidence with regard to the demand and acceptance of a bribe amount of Rs 500 by the appellant from the complainant for passing his house rent bill appears to be shaky in nature... the impugned judgment suffers from perversity, the same cannot be sustained in the eye of law and accordingly, I am constrained to give benefit of doubt to the appellant,” Justice Sahoo said in his 37-page judgment.

IAS officers have no right to claim cadre of choice: SC

IAS officers have no right to claim cadre of choice: SC

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:23.10.2021

The Supreme Court has said a candidate cannot claim allocation of cadre of his/her choice as a matter of right after qualifying civil services examination as he/she opts for serving anywhere in the country with “eyes wide open”.

A bench of justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian passed the order while adjudicating a 14-year legal battle of a IAS officer to get Kerala cadre as it was her home state. Kerala High Court had passed the order in favour of A Shainamol and directed the Centre in 2017 to change her cadre from Himachal Pradesh to Kerala.

The apex court, however, quashed the HC order and said that issue of allocation of cadres was well settled by the apex court in various judgments and the consistent view of the Court has been that even if the name of the candidate appears in the merit list, such candidate has no right to claim appointment.

“In the light of Rajiv Yadav (case), the allocation of cadre is not a matter of right. It was held that a selected candidate has a right to be considered for appointment to the IAS, but he has no such right to be allocated to a cadre of his choice or to his home state... Allotment of cadre is an incidence of service. The applicant as a candidate for the All-India Service with eyes wide open has opted to serve anywhere in the country. The State has no discretion of allocation of a cadre at its whims and fancies,” it said.

ISC exams to begin on Nov 22, ICSE on Nov 29; will be offline

ISC exams to begin on Nov 22, ICSE on Nov 29; will be offline

Jhimli.Mukherjeepandey@timesgroup.com

Kolkata:23.10.2021

The Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations late on Friday announced fresh dates for the ISC and ICSE first semester exams. ISC exams will begin on November 22 and end on December 20, while ICSE will be held from November 29 to December 16.

A circular, signed by council chief executive and secretary Gerry Arathoon, was sent to school heads with the new schedule. It also stated that the exams would be conducted in offline mode at the candidates’ respective schools.

The ISC exam will be oneand-a-half hours long. Most ICSE papers will be an hour long, though some like Hindi and mathematics will be for an hour and a half. ISC exams will start at 2pm while ICSE will start at 11am. This has been done to sanitise the school premises between the two exams, school heads said.

While ISC will start with the English literature paper on November 22, ICSE will start with the English language paper on November 29. The circular also said that in addition to the scheduled time for each exam, an additional 10 minutes will be given to read the paper. The question paper-cum-answer booklet will be given 10 minutes ahead of the scheduled start time.

Earlier, the council had planned to hold online exams for the first semester from November 15 for both ISC and ICSE.

School heads happy with move

On October 22, the council had sent a circular postponing the exam for “reasons beyond (their) control”. Friday’s circular clarified that the council had received a large number of mails from school heads, students and parents saying that non-availability of devices, irregular power supply and network and bandwidth problems would make it difficult to take the test online. Hence, the decision was made to switch over to offline mode.

School heads sounded happy with the move. “At least this gives an even platform for all children to write the test,” said Rupkatha Sarkar, principal of La Martiniere for Girls.

“When the exams were postponed, students were highly disappointed. We, too, had done a lot of preparation for the online test and were a bit bewildered, but we knew that the council was working out something better,” said John Bagul, South City International School principal.

“We will now wait for the council to hold a meeting and give us the details of the modalities of the offline exam,” said Richard Gasper, principal of St Augustine’s Day School, Kolkata.

School heads wondered whether the question paper-cum-answer booklet would contain OMR sheets that would be automatically corrected and make declaration of results faster. Some felt that there were chances of normal sheets where students would have to tick right answers.

Create portal for students’ grievances: Guv to univs

Create portal for students’ grievances: Guv to univs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow:23.10.2021

Governor Anandiben Patel on Friday directed the vice-chancellors of state universities to launch a single-window system for addressing students’ grievances.

The portal, said Patel, should resolve issues in a time-bound manner. She also said students should be involved in various committees instituted for functioning of universities.

Patel, who was viewing the NAAC presentation prepared by Mahatma Gandhi Kashi Vidyapeeth, said universities should adopt 30% syllabus under the NEP based on local needs. The universities, said Patel, should create their research policy and upload it on their websites. The document should provide details of all facilities to be provided to students undertaking research.

Patel advised universities to undertake research on feedback on various government (Centre and state) schemes. Patel said that around 30% of the beneficiaries are not eligible for government schemes. To combat this, we need to know the reasons and provide solutions, she said. She added that for transparent and quality research work, universities should make optimum use of the Shodhganga portal.

The governor also stressed upon development of smart class and conduct of online classes. She said universities should address the drawbacks pointed out by the NAAC committees in past.

She also asked universities to keep track of outdoor activities, hold alumni meets and sign agreements with industries for generating employment. She added that universities should make their students visit jails, old age homes, child care homes and hospitals under extra-curricular activities for their personal growth.

The governor also batted for transparency in appointments.

Tooth bone decay? Now, get it reconstructed with own cells

Tooth bone decay? Now, get it reconstructed with own cells

KGMU To Begin Stem Cell Implant

Vivek Singh Chauhan TNN

Lucknow:23.10.2021

Patients suffering from decay of tooth bone will soon be able to get it treated through stem cell implant in the dental faculty of King George's Medical University (KGMU).

A stem cell lab is being constructed in the oral pathology and microbiology department and soon a CO2 incubator machine will be installed in it.

The machine will be able to preserve stem cells taken out from the decayed tooth bone and multiply them through incubation. The cluster of cells thus obtained would be then used to reconstruct the tooth bone and in root canal therapy.

So far, patients whose teeth are extensively damaged have to either use dentures or get metallic implants.

The stem therapy will provide patients another option of getting the tooth bone reconstructed with their own cells. The stem cells incubated in the lab can also be used in other patients provided they match certain medical parameters required for such implants.

Head oral pathology and microbiology department Prof Shaleen Chandra said, “The construction of the lab will be completed within a week. Thereafter, the incubation machine procured through state government aid will be installed. The machine provides a stable environment designed to mimic a cell’s natural environment that is ideal for stem cell growth.”

“Dental stem cells obtained from naturally lost or surgically removed teeth can be incubated in the machine and used for dental treatment. To use stem cells exacted from a person in another, the human leukocytes antigens (HLA) of the two must match. The HLA are proteins in the human immune system that play a crucial role in accepting or rejecting an implant,” he added.

This will be the second CO2 incubator machine in KGMU. A unit is already functional at the Centre for Advanced Research. However, it would be used for the first time in any dental education institution in Lucknow.

‘Foreign entity’ WA can’t contest Indian law: Govt

‘Foreign entity’ WA can’t contest Indian law: Govt

Abhinav.Garg@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:23.10.2021

The Centre has opposed petitions by WhatsApp and its parent firm Facebook challenging the new IT Rules for social media by terming the global messaging platform as an “out and out foreign commercial entity”.

In an affidavit filed before the Delhi HC, the Centre said being a foreign commercial entity, WhatsApp can’t challenge the constitutionality of an Indian law, adding the firm doesn’t have a place of business in India and is engaged in the business of propagating information created by its users.

“Constitutionality of a provision of law cannot be challenged by a foreign commercial entity on the ground of it being violative of Article 19 rights. The said rights are only available to citizens,” the affidavit submitted.

Defending the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 and its proviso allowing traceability of the originator of a message, the government said it is meant to help law enforcement prevent offences.

SC notice to former MD of Twitter India

The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to hear UP government’s plea against the Karnataka HC order quashing notice of personal appearance issued former Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari over an allegedly offensive video on the platform. The SC issued notice to Maheshwari who was transferred to the company’s US office. P 11

‘WA has tech to trace sender sans affecting other users’

Citing earlier Supreme Court rulings, the government said it is duty bound to take all steps necessary to identify people who create and circulate electronic information on sexual crimes. It also questioned the claim of WhatsApp that traceability will lead to breaking the end-to-end encryption feature of the platform, saying there is technology available with the company to trace the sender or the creator of a message without intercepting other users.

“Under its privacy policy, personal data of users would be shared with Facebook, which can be used for profiling. Such profiling is also feasible on political and religious views and can be used for any activity which can harm security of the nation, besides affecting individual privacy,” it said.

The Facebook-owned WhatsApp said the requirement of intermediaries enabling the identification of the first originator of information in India upon government or court order puts endto-end encryption and its benefits “at risk”. It has urged the HC to declare Rule 4(2) of the Intermediary Rules unconstitutional, ultra vires to the IT Act and illegal and sought that no criminal liability be imposed on it for any alleged non-compliance with Rule 4(2) which requires to enable the identification of the first originator of information.