Howrah train departs 26 minutes late to help child with brain tumour

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:26.10.2021

The Howrah Duronto special train on Sunday departed 26 minutes late from its originating station, Yeshwantpur, to ensure that a six-year-old girl who had made a recovery from brain tumour faced no difficulty during travel as she was on a breathing support machine.

South Western Railway officials said train no. 02246 to Howrah, which was supposed to leave at 11am from Yeshwantpur on Sunday, departed at 11.26am.

Jainab Mondal, the patient, had come to Bengaluru in mid-August and was on treatment at St Philomena’s Hospital for over two-and-a-half months. The girl had undergone surgery and also suffered from respiratory paralysis. During her recovery, she was on tracheostomy and a BiPAP (Bilevel Positive Airway Pressure) machine, a respiratory assistive device that also travelled along with her to Howrah.

“With the BiPAP machine the child was stable. As a precautionary measure, the child was also given oxygen cylinders and an oxygen concentrator. As such the girl didn’t require it, but it was kept as a stand-by. The railway authorities wanted to crosscheck if it works given the voltage fluctuation on the train,” said Dr Rajeev V, head of department, pediatrics, St Philomena’s Hospital, Bengaluru. The train covered a distance of 1,953km and reached Howrah at 3.56pm on Monday, ahead of its scheduled arrival time of 4.45pm. SWR chief public relations officer Aneesh Hegde said: “The patient required an oxygen concentrator for the journey. But due to power issues inside the coach, the oxygen concentrator did not function so the kid required oxygen cylinder back-up, which was arranged for at Bangarpet with help from the railways.”

The incident came to light after Kedarnath Reddy, who was at Yeshwantpur station, tweeted. In the video, the child was seen being taken inside the coach on a stretcher.

Test only in Hindi, English: HC suspends central exam

Test only in Hindi, English: HC suspends central exam

Madurai:26.10.2021

The Madras high court has suspended an aptitude test for a centrally sponsored scholarship programme — Kishore Vaigyanik Protsahan Yojana — slated for November 7 as the examination was to be held only in English and Hindi, reports K Kaushik.

The first bench of Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice M Duraiswamy ordered the postponement of the test while hearing a plea which sought the exam in all regional languages. The court also sought response from the Centre on the steps taken to conduct the exam in multiple Indian languages.

KVPY is a national programme of fellowship in basic sciences funded by the Centre’s department of science and technology.

Test can’t be in just Hindi & English: HC

Rejecting \ Centre’s submission that it does not have adequate personnel to assess answers given in various languages and that it may be difficult to find an equivalent term in local languages for scientific words, the judges said: “It would not do for the Centre to say that it does not have qualified assessors to appreciate the material put up by non-Hindi and Englishspeaking aspirants. If at all, it is the deficiency with the Centre and young aspirants from non-Hindi and non-English speaking belts in the country should not suffer on such grounds.”

The main objective of the exam is to identify students with talent and aptitude for research, to help them realize their academic potential and to encourage them to take up research careers in science by providing fellowships.

Even if it is a token scholarship of Rs 5,000, it amounts to recognition of a young mind and every Indian of such age should be entitled to equally participate in the process and exhibit their talent, said the court.

It is possible for a bright young mind groomed in Assamese language or another young prospect from deep in rural Odisha to be able to come up with brilliant ideas that the KVPY project aspires to tap into. Merely because the aspirant may not be adept at Hindi or English languages may not amount to the aspirant being disqualified, observed the judges.

Attack on MSU dean: Court acquits three after 23 years

ORDER IN ABSENTIA

Attack on MSU dean: Court acquits three after 23 years

Complainant, Defendants Didn’t Turn Up For Trial

Jay.Pachchigar@timesgroup.com

Vadodara:26.10.2021

More than two decades after the then dean of MS University’s science faculty was allegedly attacked by three BSc students, the court acquitted the three accused of all the charges.

The dean in his police complaint had claimed that he was attacked after he refused to pass one of the three students who had failed an examination.

A botched up investigation or failure on part of police in gathering evidence wasn’t the reason for the acquittal though. Interestingly, the then dean Bonipailo Beekepailo Christian, who had lodged the case at Sayajigunj police station, and the three students Lakulish alias Lalo Purohit, Vanrajsinh Raj and Vishal Parikh did not appear during the trial.

Only one eye-witness, who was a clerk in the faculty, turned up for his testimony, but he too could not remember the names of the students who had attacked the dean.

As per the details of complaint registered by Christian, on August 20 in 1998 when Christian was present in his office, Parikh, Raj and Purohit stormed into his office and asked Christian to pass Parikh in an examination which he had failed.

When Christian said that he cannot pass Parikh illegally, the trio abused him and attacked him with a chair.

As he moved aside, Christian did not suffer any injuries. Later, Christian lodged an offence of trespassing, assault and insult at Sayajigunj police station against the trio.

When the case came up for trial after the police filed chargesheet, neither of the accused remained present despite summons being issued. The court then decided to continue the trial in their absence. During the trial, the testimony of just one eye-witness Kirit Patel was recorded.

Patel stated that Christian had left Gujarat to settle at his native place long ago. While one witness, who was a senior clerk, passed away and another witness had since changed his home and his new address was not available.

Patel said that the alleged incident did take place inside the dean’s office and some students had abused him and also he had fallen off his chair. However, he failed to recognize any of the students involved in the attack or recollect their names.

The court of additional chief judicial magistrate J A Baxi considered Patel’s statement and also noted that no concrete evidence was presented against the accused to prove them guilty.

The court passed the order of their acquittal in their absence.

The dean was attacked after he refused to pass one of the students

No new self-financed colleges for now: GU

No new self-financed colleges for now: GU

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad  26.10.2021

: The Gujarat University (GU) has decided not to give further permission for new colleges on self-financed basis. At the meeting of the university’s Need committee held on Monday, it was decided to approve new classes in the existing colleges rather than having more colleges.

The university has decided to first fill up the vacant seats in BCom and BA courses the admission for which is going on.

“If students couldn’t get admission, then only the university will think about approving additional classes in the existing colleges,” said an official.

The GU officials said that the meeting of the Need committee is held if a proposal to approve new colleges is moved by the management. The committee takes the decision after evaluating the prevailing situation.

A proposal to convert Gujarati-medium colleges to English-medium was also moved which was kept in abeyance after the committee members opined that they need to discuss the proposal in detail.

10 flights delayed, two cancelled, one diverted

10 flights delayed, two cancelled, one diverted

Ahmedabad:26.10.2021

Ten flights departing from Ahmedabad airport on Monday were delayed ranging from 30 to 200 minutes .

These include flights to Bengaluru, Jaipur, Kolkata, Kishangarh, Delhi, Chennai and Goa. Besides, two more flights to Delhi and Goa, were cancelled. Early on Monday, a Goa-bound flight was diverted to Mumbai.

While the flight operated by SpiceJet departed on time from the city airport around 5am, due to bad weather, it could not land in Goa and as a result, was diverted to Mumbai. The flight reached Goa by 10.30am, confirmed sources. TNN

UP e-rickshaw driver gets ₹3.47cr tax notice

UP e-rickshaw driver gets ₹3.47cr tax notice

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

Agra:26.10.2021

A 40-year-old e-rickshaw driver in Mathura has received a notice from the income tax department directing him to pay tax of ₹3.47 crore for his annual turnover of ₹43.44 crore in 2018-19 financial year. Pratap Singh lodged a police complaint on Sunday but no FIR has not been registered so far.

Superintendent of police (SP), city, MP Singh told TOI that during investigation, police found a Delhibased firm is registered against Pratap Singh’s PAN number. Further investigation is on and an FIR will be registered on the basis of evidence gathered during investigation, the SP said.

In his police complaint, Pratap Singh stated that someone might have stolen his identity as he doesn’t have even a fraction of such a huge turnover. “I have been driving an e-rickshaw for the past four years and earn ₹400-₹500 a day, which is barely sufficient to feed five family members, including our three children. I can’t even think of such a huge amount in my wildest of dreams,” said a shocked Singh to TOI.

Full report on www.toi-.in

IDENTITY STOLEN: Pratap Singh, 40, from Mathura earns around ₹400-₹500 a day

HC not to interfere with medical panel decision

HC not to interfere with medical panel decision

Student not allowed to take FMGE

26/10/2021

Legal Correspondent CHENNAI

The Madras High Court has refused to interfere with a decision taken by the National Medical Commission (NMC) not to allow a student who had pursued medical education in China to write the screening test, Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) required to be cleared before commencing practice here, because she had not studied English as a separate subject during her higher secondary classes.

Justice N. Anand Venkatesh dismissed a writ petition filed by a woman candidate on the ground that court could not sit in judgment over the stipulations prescribed by an expert body. Though it was argued that the petitioner had studied higher secondary in English medium and she also has 7.5 out of 9 in International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the judge refused to allow her plea.

“The individual opinion of a judge cannot come in the way while deciding cases of this nature and this court has to necessarily satisfy itself as to whether a candidate fulfils the qualification prescribed in the regulation. The law on this issue is well settled. In the result, there is no ground to interfere with the impugned communication dated June 14, 2021 issued by NMC,” the judge wrote.

It was brought to the notice of the court that the petitioner was an overseas citizen of India. She had studied under Central Board of Secondary Education stream here up to Class X in Kodaikanal and then pursued her higher secondary course in Sri Lanka after her family moved there.

However, the NMC refused to issue an eligibility certificate to her to appear for FMGE conducted by National Testing Agency on the sole ground that she had not studied English as a separate subject during higher secondary education.