NEET results: Two K’taka boys bag all-India 5th rank

NEET results: Two K’taka boys bag all-India 5th rank

Farheen.Hussain@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:02.11.2021

Two students from Karnataka — Jashan Chhabra and Meghan HK — have bagged the fifth all-India rank at the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET-UG) 2021, scoring 715 out of 720 marks.

The National Testing Agency on Monday evening shared scorecards with students via email and the result is now available onneet.nta.nic.in. Jashan is from Mangaluru and Meghan from Pramati Hill View Academy, Mysuru. Meghan had created history by topping all streams in the CET — engineering, Bachelor of Naturopathy and Yogic Sciences, agriculture, veterinary science and pharmacy.

“I had expected a rank in the top 10 and knew that I will score 715 after checking the answer keys,” he told TOI. Meghan said his parents — who are educators —set him on the right path of preparation. “They made sure no obstacle could bother me. The pandemic was challenging and it was difficult to maintain discipline initially. But my teachers encouraged me to speak to them a lot, asked me to make a schedule and work in that direction,” he said.

When Meghan had topped the CET exams, he had shared with TOI that though he was happy with the results and was aspiring to become a doctor and awaiting the NEET results. “One college that I had dreamed of joining is AIIMS, New Delhi. For now, I hope to pursue oncology but I have heard that students change their course during their internship phase,” he said.

In addition to helping people, he also likes to comfort them and make them feel comfortable. Meghan studied for 10 hours a day but did not compromise on his hobbies. “I advise other aspirants to plan their day, week and month. The journey towards the exam is a marathon and must be built step-by-step. There will be many frustrating moments but talk to people you are close to and compete with yourself,” he said.

Jashan, who completed his XIIth from Mount Carmel Central School in Mangaluru, said he studied for the love of the subjects which made his preparations a breeze. “There were hiccups due to the pandemic. But my love for the subjects and support from my mother made it easy,” Jashan said. “I joined Aakash Institute where I prepared for the exams during Class XI and XII. The focused preparation helped me crack it,” he said.

Sinchana Lakshmi with 658 marks topped the list of girl (PwD) candidates. While Harshitha Gangadharappa Negalu bagged fourth place, Shaiksha Nayaka BP stood eighth in the list of ST toppers. Other students from the state in the top 100 are Varun Aditya and KV Pranav from Sri Chaitanya Techno School Marathahalli and JP Nagar, respectively.

Australia recognises Covaxin, opens door for Indians’ entry

Australia recognises Covaxin, opens door for Indians’ entry

Saurabh Sinha & Swati Bharadwaj TNN

New Delhi/Hyderabad:  02.11 2021

Australia will recognise Covaxin, apart from Covishield, allowing those vaccinated with them entry into the continent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked his Australian counterpart and “dear friend” Scott Morrison for “recognition of India's Covaxin.” “It is an important step forward in the post-Covid partnership between India and Australia,” he said.

While WHO emergency use listing for Bharat Biotech’s vaccine is awaited, 16 countries have so far recognised Covaxin for travel purposes. These include Australia, Estonia, Greece, Iran, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Oman, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Australia’s high commissioner to India Barry O’Farrell on Monday tweeted that the country’s drug regulator has “determined that Covaxin (manufactured by Bharat Biotech) vaccine would be 'recognised' for the purpose of establishing a traveller's vaccination status. Importantly, recognition of Covaxin, along with the previously announced recognition of Covishield (manufactured by AstraZeneca), means many Indian citizens, as well as other countries, will now be considered fully vaccinated on entry to Australia.” 

The Australian health ministry website says the “recognition is for travellers aged 12 and over who have been vaccinated with Covaxin.” Those who have received two doses of Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA)-approved or recognised vaccine at least 14 days apart are regarded as fully vaccinated from seven days after the second dose. This includes homologous (two doses of the same vaccine) and heterologous (two doses of two different TGAapproved or recognised vaccines) schedules.

“In recent weeks, the TGA has obtained additional information demonstrating these vaccines provide protection and potentially reduce the likelihood that an incoming traveller would transmit Covid-19 infection to others while in Australia or become acutely unwell due to Covid-19,” the website says.

“Importantly, recognition of Covaxin, and BBIBPCorV, along with the previously announced recognition of Coronavac (manufactured by Sinovac, China) and Covishield (manufactured by AstraZeneca, India), means many citizens of China and India as well as other countries in our region where these vaccines have been widely deployed will now be considered fully vaccinated on entry to Australia. This will have significant impacts for the return of international students, and travel of skilled and unskilled workers to Australia.”

Indonesia 1st to approve SII’s Novavax

New Delhi:

Biotechnology firm Novavax Inc and its partner Serum Institute of India on Monday said they have received the first emergency use authorisation (EUA) for Novavax's COVID-19 vaccine, in Indonesia. The vaccine will be manufactured by Serum Institute of India (SII) in India and marketed by it in Indonesia under the brand name Covovax, Novavax Inc said in a statement. "The National Agency of Drug and Food Control of the Republic of Indonesia, or Badan Peng was Obat dan Makanan (Badan POM), has granted emergency use authorisation (EUA) for Novavax' recombinant nanoparticle protein-based COVID-19 vaccine with Matrix-M adjuvant," it added. Initial shipments into Indonesia are expected to begin imminently, the statement said. PTI

Three share top NEET rank with perfect score, 56% candidates qualify

Three share top NEET rank with perfect score, 56% candidates qualify

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

02.11.2021

Three candidates — Delhi’s Tanmay Gupta, Mrinal Kutteri from Telangana and Maharashtra girl Karthika G Nair — scored a perfect 720 to be declared joint toppers of this year’s National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test (NEET) for admission to undergraduate medical courses, according to results announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday night.

In all, 8,70,074 (56.34%) of the 15,44,275 candidates who appeared for the test qualified. In continuation of the trend in the past, the number of female candidates who qualified is 1.19 lakh higher than male candidates.

NTA has not used age as tiebreaker for announcing the ranking for candidates scoring identical marks in all three subjects— biology, chemistry and physics. Thus there are three No 1 All-India rank holders while there are 12 candidates who were placed at rank 5 as they scored 715 and have identical marks in all the three subjects as well. However, after the three No 1 rank holders, the next candidate was ranked 4th. Two candidates each have been ranked 17th and 19th.

Thus, the top 20 candidates share five All-India rankings (1, 4, 5, 17 and 19). Of them, three each are from Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, two each from Delhi, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka and one each from Bihar, Kerala, West Bengal, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana.

NEET-UG 2021 was conducted on September 12 and it recorded one of the highest attendance in five years, as 95.63% of 16.14 lakh aspirants took the test. Last time, the medical entrance recorded 94% attendance in 2017 when 11.38 lakh were registered, while in 2018 it recorded an alltime high of 97%.

Two cases of impersonation have been detected so far and three Covid-positive candidates were allowed to take the exam in isolation in Kerala.

The range of qualifying marks this year dropped as compared to last year. While the range of qualifying marks for General and EWS category had been set at 720-138 as against 720-147 in 2020, the cut-off for OBC, SC and ST came down to 137-108 from 146-113 in 2020. Similarly, the qualifying marks range for General/ EWS PwD candidates is 137-122 as against 146-129 in 2020. This year’s qualifying marks range for disabled among OBC, SC and ST candidates is 121-108.

NTA, which conducted the test, has also emailed the results to every candidate.

The results got delayed this year due to a stay by the Bombay High Court, which was overruled by the Supreme Court on October 28.

Two from state shine in NEET-UG exams

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  02.11 2021

Two candidates from the state have made it to the Top 100 All India Rankings (AIR) in the latest NEET (UG) 2021 results that were declared by National Testing Agency (NTA) late Monday evening.

Both the candidates, Shlok Soni and Prasham Shah, have scored 705 out of 720 marks in the exams that were held on September 12. While Shlok Soni has secured AIR-60, Shah has bagged AIR-100.

“I want to get admission in AIIMS-Delhi but it seems a little difficult looking at my rank. My aim was to secure a place in Top 50 AIR. I joined coaching classes for NEET exam preparation from Class 8. My father is an orthopaedic surgeon at a hospital in Ankleshwar. As the exams got delayed due to Covid-19, I started feeling tense,” said Shah. He said the bright side of the lockdown was that he got to spend almost a year with his family members.

Shah, with AIR-100, resides in Ahmedabad’s Sabarmati area. His father is an ENT surgeon.

“The exam paper was tougher this time as compared to last year. There were some tricky questions that were tough to crack. I have got the marks that I expected. It’s not important how many hours you study, it’s important how well you study,” said Shah. He did not completely give up on mobile phones and gadgets but used them in a limited manner while preparing for the exams.

About 70,000 candidates from Gujarat had registered for the NEET exams this year. Candidates who cleared NEET are eligible for admission to MBBS, BDS, BAMS and other undergraduate medical and dental courses.

NEET (UG) – 2021 was conducted in 13 languages including English, Hindi, Marathi, Bengali, Gujarati, Assamese, Malayalam, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.

The NEET (UG) – 2021 will consist of one question paper containing 180 multiple choice questions from Physics, Chemistry, and Biology (Botany and Zoology).

Guv urges graduates to prepare for climate change consequences

Guv urges graduates to prepare for climate change consequences

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Coimbatore:  02.11 2021

Tamil Nadu governor R N Ravi on Monday took part in the 42nd Annual Convocation of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) and urged students and researchers to prepare for the uncertain disastrous consequences of climate changes. He stated that the changing monsoon patterns, rising sea levels, deadly heatwaves, intense storms, and flash floods posed a great threat to the agriculture sector. The governor at the event conferred degrees on 2,602 graduates and research scholars from TNAU and its affiliated colleges.

Addressing the students, he said, “Although our country today is foodgrain surplus, the corresponding benefit of it has not gone to our farmers as the majority of them are subsistence and small. There exists a paradoxical situation where the gross food production in the country is surplus and the bulk of food producers are poor.

“This has arisen due to decades of distorted agriculture policies, which benefited a few big farmers but did not help the overwhelming majority, who are small and marginal.”

He added, “I am informed that the incremental income due to the adoption of TNAU crop varieties, management technologies, and farm machinery by the Tamil Nadu farming community was worth ₹10,433 crore per annum.” Trilochan Mohapatra, secretary of the Union department of agricultural research and education, said that only 40-45% of the agricultural area in Tamil Nadu is rainfed. “It is important to harvest rain, store it and effectively use it through micro-irrigation,” he added.

Car crushed, newly weds die

Car crushed, newly weds die

Chennai:  02.11.2021

In a tragic turn of events, a newly wed couple died in a ghastly accident at Kadambathur in Tiruvallur district after a multi axle concrete mixer truck toppled over their car on Sunday night.

The deceased — Manoj Kumar, 31, of Arakkonam and Karthika, 30, of Perungalathur — had tied the knot on October 28.

On Sunday, the two were driving back from a gathering organised by Karthika’s relatives. On reaching Kadambathur at 9.45 pm, they were hit by a concrete mixer truck plying on the opposite side towards Chennai. The truck driver reportedly lost control while negotiating a curve. The high-impact collision caused the truck to topple and fall on the car crushing the couple to death. The truck driver fled the scene . A few passersby alerted police.

A crane was brought to remove the dead bodies from the mangled car. The Mappedu police registered a case and the bodies have been sent to Tiruvallur Government Hospital. Police are trying to trace the driver using the registration number of the truck. TNN

Three candidates get perfect score in NEET, share no. 1 rank

Three candidates get perfect score in NEET, share no. 1 rank

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi  02.11 2021

Three candidates — Delhi’s Tanmay Gupta, Mrinal Kutteri from Telangana and Maharashtra girl Karthika G Nair — scored a perfect 720 to be declared joint toppers of this year’s National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test for admission to undergraduate medical courses, according to the results announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday night.

In all 8,70,074 (56.34%) of the 15,44,275 candidates who appeared for the test qualified. In continuation of the trend in the past, the number of female candidates who qualified is 1.19 lakh higher than male candidates.

NTA has not used age as tie-breaker for announcing the ranking for candidates scoring identical marks in all three subjects — biology, chemistry and physics. Thus there are three No 1 All-India rank holders while there are 12 candidates who were placed at rank 5 as they scored 715 and have identical marks in all the three subjects as well. However, after the three No 1 rank holders, the next candidate was ranked 4th. Two candidates each have been ranked 17th and 19th.

Full report on www.toi.in