Special task force found Rs 2,000 crore unused govt funds: PTR

Special task force found Rs 2,000 crore unused govt funds: PTR

Addressing reporters at the Secretariat, Rajan termed the STF’s findings an interim report. “This is just a trailer. We will be coming out with more such findings,” he said.

Published: 02nd November 2021 05:34 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Unutilised funds amounting to Rs 2,000 crore have been unearthed by a Special Task Force (STF), Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan announced on Monday. The task force was constituted to identify government funds stashed outside the treasury department’s ambit.

Addressing reporters at the Secretariat, Rajan termed the STF’s findings an interim report. “This is just a trailer. We will be coming out with more such findings,” he said. As government funds are often shifted to accounts outside the view of the treasury system, Rajan said the STF built a database by collating data of bank accounts where government money had been parked as on March 31, 2021 from multiple sources such as banks, district collectors, government departments, and other quasi-governmental entities.

The minister said an Integrated Financial and Human Resources Management System would be put in place so there is no idling of funds in the future. The system would involve digitisation of the treasury system by integrating it with human resource and budget management.

“Some schemes will be implemented through intermediate agencies of the government such as companies, societies, and local bodies. For this, a State-level Public Financial Management System will be established in association with agency banks. The bank balances of the agencies for implementing the scheme will be in plain sight of the finance department after withdrawal from the government treasury,” he said.

Further, the minister said the release of funds from the treasury will be done only after the funds from the previous withdrawal completely utilised. If the funds are not used within the specified time period, they will be returned to the government.

Stating that the term of the STF would be extended till March 31, 2022, Rajan said it will continue to audit reported data, specifically under categories of ‘available balances’ and ‘liabilities’, and reconcile the data collected from the department heads, district collectors and banks. “It is possible that further amounts of unutilised funds could be identified for return to the government treasury,” he said.

State govt will introduce a policy for MSME loans: FM

Thehe Chief Minister’s Economic Advisory Council has backed the State government’s initiatives in data-centric governance, he said. “As part of the initiative, beneficiary-linked databases of government programmes such as the Public Distribution System and Old Age Pension scheme are analysed by the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency.

Databases, such as the Civil Registration System, which maintains births and deaths, can enable new additions (to the families) and deletions (on deaths in the family) to be carried out directly into the Family Card database. This would be cost-effective and result in effective implementation,” he said. The minister said that there is a plan for the government to seek a payments bank licence from the RBI.

“The quantum of welfare payments is huge and if the State has its own bank, we can see how much money is spent,” he said. Asked if fuel prices impacted the government’s expenditure with inflation setting in, he said there was no impact as the prices hadn’t risen drastically. Rajan said the State will introduce a policy by to guarantee MSME loans. The sector was urging the government to float a Credit Guarantee Corporation with large capital to rescue struggling small industries.

‘Pension given to Deceased persons’

PTR said, over the last few months, it was found that deceased persons were receiving pensions and monthly allocation of rice. He said while analysing crop and jewellery loan data, several irregularities were found

Indigo flyers suffer at Bengaluru airport due to baggage system failure

Indigo flyers suffer at Bengaluru airport due to baggage system failure

Indigo was bombarded on social media with complaints from harried flyers whose flights were yet to take off or who had landed at various airports without their baggage.

Published: 01st November 2021 11:15 PM 

Chaos at Bengaluru airport on Monday morning as flyers of Indigo had to wait for hours for their departures due to baggage failure. (Photo | EPS)

By Express News Service

BENGALURU: Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) operator Bangalore International Airport Limited tried to play down the issue of the baggage system failure on Sunday by claiming in an official statement that it was set right within 15 minutes. But the reality came to the fore on Monday morning when flyers on Indigo flights continued to suffer massive delays for the second consecutive day. The baggage issue was finally set right by 12.20 pm but as a cascading effect, flights continued to be delayed most of Monday.

Flights of all airlines, barring Indigo, were operated as per schedule. Indigo was bombarded on social media with complaints from harried flyers whose flights were yet to take off or who had landed at various airports without their baggage.

Giving details of why Indigo was specifically impacted, a source told TNIE that only Indigo had a separate baggage screening procedure with dedicated baggage screening belts in a space earmarked as BMA area. "Due to the heavy load on the baggage system, it suffered a failure. Two of the baggage belts were impacted. Indigo operates the maximum number of flights from Bengaluru and hence had this sophisticated system in place. All the other airlines have a normal system in place," he said.

Another source said that a daily average of 120-plus flights from Indigo presently depart from the airport. "Its punctuality figures on Sunday and Monday were extremely bad. A majority of these flights were delayed by a minimum of three to four hours. Other airlines operating a lesser number of flights did not have any issues."

What is appalling though is that both BIAL and Indigo finally put out tweets alerting passengers about the baggage issue on their official handles only on Monday morning, a full day after much chaos at Bengaluru airport. They were only responding to individual tweets the previous day.

Indigo declined to give any fresh statement about the issue on Monday despite repeated requests. BIAL in a statement said, "A technical issue in the Baggage Handling System had disrupted baggage sortation at Benglauru airport on October 31 and the first half of November 1. This has had an impact on the flights of Indigo airlines. The baggage sortation issue has been resolved at 1220 hrs today, 1 November 2021. Bengaluru airport is extending all its support to Indigo to manage the situation and is working closely with the airline to ensure that the misconnected bags reach passengers," it said.

It has been reliably learnt that the equipment had been purchased from abroad by BIAL and hence it had to be set right only with technical assistance from there, which was the reason for the delay in rectifying it.

Railways pulling back concessions for senior citizens?

Railways pulling back concessions for senior citizens?

The concession has been suspended since regular trains stopped operations on March 22 last year.

Published: 01st November 2021 06:13 AM

By B Anbuselvan

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Even as select trains are set to return with unreserved coaches from Monday, with the composition of regular trains of pre-Covid times, the Railways is yet to resume its concession for senior citizens.

The concession has been suspended since regular trains stopped operations on March 22 last year. With the Covid-19 pandemic receding and vaccination coverage increasing in most of the States, the Railways has resumed more than 90 per cent of pre-Covid trains in Southern Railway and a few other zones. However, the trains were running with reserved coaches.

Now, as lockdown restrictions have been relaxed in Tamil Nadu and in Kerala, the unreserved coaches of trains operated during day hours are set to resume so as to cater to office-goers. “When the trains are going to run with the same composition of pre-Covid period, the railways should treat them as regular trains and extend concessions for the elderly,” said B Siva Kumar, member, Divisional Railway Users’ Consultative Committee (DRUCC), Madurai division.

However, officials from the Southern Railway said the trains having unreserved coaches are still being considered as reserved specials and that concessions are not allowed. “The railway board has not taken any policy decision yet on resuming the concessions,” said an official.

Naina Masilamani, member, DRUCC, Chennai division said protecting the elderly is a responsibility of the government and that the concession should never be considered as a freebie. “The delay is unacceptable and deplorable,” he added.

Edward Jeni, a passenger in Nagercoil said: “If the concession causes huge revenue loss, the railways should consider resuming concession at least only for sleeper class, second class and unreserved tickets. AC class travellers may be asked to pay full fare until the railways takes policy decision.”

Railways’ move a follow-up?

In the last two decades, multiple committees appointed for restructuring the railways administration have recommended withdrawing the concession for senior citizens and children. After much deliberation, in July 2016, the railways made elderly concession optional in while booking ticket.

A year later, in July 2017, the railways incorporated a few more changes in IRCTC, enabling the provision for passengers to give up partial and full concession of fare for senior citizens. Since March 2016, the railways has withdrawn the 50 per cent concession given for children aged between 5 and 12 while reserving tickets.

In the case of senior citizens, while women are eligible for 50 per cent concession, men can avail 40 per cent concession in all classes. The minimum age limit for a woman is 58 and a man is 60.

Tamil Nadu: t’s a Deepavali with empty pockets for mini-clinic doctors

Tamil Nadu: t’s a Deepavali with empty pockets for mini-clinic doctors

It will not be a happy Deepavali for doctors at Tamil Nadu’s Amma mini-clinics, who have toiled at the frontlines through the second wave of the pandemic.

Published: 01st November 2021 06:13 AM 

By OMJASVIN M D

Express News Service

CHENNAI: It will not be a happy Deepavali for doctors at Tamil Nadu’s Amma mini-clinics, who have toiled at the frontlines through the second wave of the pandemic. As on Sunday, doctors from about seven districts had not received their salary for the last two months; those from another 10 districts haven’t received their salary for September.

Recruited during the devastating second wave at a monthly pay of `60,000, their salary arrears stand close to 1.2 lakh now. “The festival of lights will be grim for us. We have zero money to spend for our families. We risked our lives during the second wave, but the way we are being treated is inhuman,” said R Karthik*, a doctor at a mini-clinic in Madurai.

In Coimbatore, Vellore, Tirupur, Madurai, Karur, Tiruvarur, and Thanjavur districts, the doctors haven’t been paid for the last two months. “We travel up to 40km to the mini-clinic each day. Including food and travel, this alone costs us Rs 400 a day,” said Karthik.

Dr A John*, who works in a mini-clinic in Thanjavur said he was depressed. “We cannot even celebrate Deepavali happily, even after having made so many of the mega vaccination camps successful. We are depressed. We do not know how long this can continue,” he said.

A few days ago, some of the doctors took to Twitter to express their angst. On October 19, one of them tagged State Health Minister Ma Subramanian and wrote that he contracted Covid-19 while on duty, had done additional services such as controlling dengue, but had never received got any recognition in terms of pay.

Doctors to get full payment soon: Official

Questioned about the issue, official sources said the salary issues had been resolved in at least 16 districts, and are being resolved in the remaining ones too. “The fund crunch is being resolved and the full payment will be given to them soon. Everyone will get their arrears,” said official sources. However, the doctors continue to fret as the future of the mini-clinic programme itself hangs by a thread, with a meeting being held recently to decide on whether or not the State will continue with the clinics.

NEET results: TN girl bags All-India 23 rank

 NEET results: TN girl bags All-India 23 rank

Mrinal Kutteri from Telangana, Tanmay Gupta from Delhi and Karthika Nair fro Maharashtra shared the top rank, scoring full marks.

Published: 02nd November 2021 05:10 AM  

 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Scoring 99.9 per cent, SA Geethanjali from Namakkal in Tamil Nadu topped the State in the NEET-UG, medical entrance exam, the results of which were announced on Monday. Bagging All India Rank (AIR) 23, she scored 710 out of 720 marks.

Mrinal Kutteri from Telangana, Tanmay Gupta from Delhi and Karthika Nair from Maharashtra shared the top rank, scoring full marks. According to the National Testing Agency, the tie-breaking formula will be used during  the counselling stage for the candidates.

Madline Jemimah, a Person with Disabilities (PwD) candidate from TN, scored 560 marks and bagged the 7th rank in the PwD category. As many as 15 candidates were identified to have used unfair means in the exam and their results were cancelled.

A total  of 10,971 students were scheduled to appear from Tamil Nadu for the NEET-UG this year, which was held on September 12. In the following weeks, the Union Health Ministry is expected to release a rank list. Based on this, students will be admitted to MBBS and BDS courses. 

Of the total seats available in TN, 15 per cent were reserved as All India Quota seats, which will be filled via counselling by the Union government. The remaining 85 per cent State quota seats will be filled via separate counselling, which will be conducted by the State authorities.

This year’s paper had new elements such as ‘match the column’. While experts said Biology was the easiest, Chemistry was moderate and Physics, the toughest. Candidates can check their result and download their scorecard on the official website — neet.nta.nic.in. 

‘One nation, one exam’ requires proper framework

‘One nation, one exam’ requires proper framework

Restrictions caused due to exam course and language barriers need to be ironed out before rolling out centralised UG-PG entrance exam policy

Astha.Hemant@timesgroup.com

01.11.2021

The concept of ‘One nation, one exam’ signifies that the National Testing Agency (NTA) will administer the Central Universities Common Entrance Test (CUCET), which will be the sole criteria for admission to various undergraduate (UG), postgraduate (PG) and other courses to the 43 centralised government universities across the nation. While universities call it a muchawaited change, they voice certain reservations.

Already onboard

JN Baliya, head of department, Education Studies and Mass Communication & New Media, Central University of Jammu (CUJ), says, “Our university was formed in 2011, and we have been holding a common entrance test since then. Although initially, only a few universities took on CUCET, this academic year, total 12 universities have taken on the ‘one nation, one exam’ pattern.” Baliya tells that last year, the CUCET had been held in a computerbased testing (CBT) format. As a result, CUJ has students from across 19 Indian states. “Once all central universities start taking admissions based on CET, J&K youth will be able to apply and study wherever they desire,” he adds.

Vikas Gupta, registrar, University of Delhi (DU), says, “With the ongoing pattern of soaring board exam marks, finding a way to regularise the evaluation pattern across education boards seems to be a difficult task. A common entrance test will eliminate the need for merit-based admissions and will put all students at a common platform.”

BJ Rao, vice-chancellor, University of Hyderabad (UoH), says, “As per National Education Policy (NEP) 2020, students can transfer to any university/course of their choice during their UG programme. For this, all universities must be on the same page in terms of the academic calendar they follow. With the CUCET, this will become a possibility.”

Changes needed

A solution is required for aspirants from regional language schools, adds Rao. “Technology is an apt tool to assist candidates in attempting the exam with minimal financial or location disability. However, the governing body needs to share a solution for students who have done their schooling in any regional language,” he tells.

Baliya says that MCQ format paper does not check an aspirant’s keenness to get into any programme. “Besides the entrance test, a second level of check, in the form of a virtual interview, can be added.”

Zydus Cadila vax may cost ₹265/dose

Zydus Cadila vax may cost ₹265/dose

New Delhi:01.11.2021

Zydus Cadila has agreed to bring down the price of its Covid-19 vaccine to ₹265 a dose following persistent negotiations by the government but a final deal is yet to be reached, sources said on Sunday.

Zydus Cadila’s ZyCov-D is the first vaccine cleared by India’s drug regulator for inoculation of those aged 12 years and above.

To administer the needlefree vaccine, a disposable painless jet applicator costing ₹93 is required for each dose, which would take the price to ₹358 per dose.

The Ahmedabad-based pharma company earlier had proposed a price of ₹1,900 for its three-dose regimen, sources said.

“The company has brought down the price to ₹358 for each dose which includes ₹93, the cost of a disposable jet applicator, following repeated negotiations by the government.... A final decision in the matter is likely to be taken this week,” a source in the know of developments said.

The three doses are to be administered 28 days apart, with each dose comprising a shot in both arms.

The indigenously developed world’s first DNAbased needle-free Covid-19 vaccine ZyCoV-D received emergency use authorisation from the drug regulator on August 20.

Meanwhile, the government is still waiting for the recommendations from the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) for introducing Zy-CoV-D in the inoculation drive for adults and children with co-morbities.

NTAGI will provide the protocol and framework for the introduction of this vaccine in the Covid-19 immunisation drive. PTI