HC reserves order on medicine exams

HC reserves order on medicine exams

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 16.11.2021

Justice B Vijaysen Reddy of the Telangana high court on Monday reserved his orders in a batch of petitions filed by MBBS students and their parents challenging the alleged faulty pattern of their first year annual examinations and seeking a second supplementary examination to save them from losing another year.

The students have already lost almost a year due to the Covid-19 lockdown. The students have been complaining about the missing multiple choice questions (MCQs) section in their exams. National Medical Commission (NMC) regulations and guidelines say that 20 per cent of the question paper must contain MCQs whereas the Kaloji health university has completely eliminated this section, they said.

When the court questioned the varsity whether it was willing to conduct a second supplementary exam as a one-time measure because the pandemic crippled all spheres of life, the university said it had to obtain NMC permission. However, the NMC counsel said that it was for the university to explain whether it deviated from the pattern fixed by the NMC. The judge reserved his orders.

Rlys looking to turn general coaches into AC compartments

Rlys looking to turn general coaches into AC compartments

Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: 16.11.2021

The railways is exploring the option to convert general coaches in long distance trains into AC compartments in its bid to provide a comfortable ride to the passengers who can’t pay high fare.

Sources said these coaches will have seating arrangements for 100-120 passengers and hence the fares would be much less so that common people can travel in these coaches. These compartments would be fully reserved and would have automatic closing doors. TOI has learnt that the brainstorming sessions on this plan have started in the railway ministry. The first AC General Class coach is likely to be manufactured in the Railway Coach Factory at Kapurthala in Punjab.

Though all long distance trains except premier ones such as Rajdhani, Shatabdi and Vande Bharat had unreserved general compartments before the Covid-19 pandemic, now all such coaches run as reserved compartments. Officials said if common passengers can get comfortable ride in AC coaches at affordable fare, then this should become a priority of the railways. Recently, railways introduced AC economy class coaches with lower fare than AC-3 tier as an option for passengers who opt for travel in sleeper class coaches. It also started the maiden service of an all-AC economy train.

India opens doors for vaxxed travellers from 99 countries

India opens doors for vaxxed travellers from 99 countries

But High Int’l Airfares Play Party Pooper

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:16.11.2021

India on Monday reopened its doors for fullyvaccinated foreign tourists from across the world. Now, travellers who have got approved jabs are allowed in quarantine-free from as many as 99 countries, including the US, UK, UAE, Qatar, France and Germany. However, skyhigh international airfares due to limited air bubble flights are playing party pooper for both those who wish to come to India and those who wish to fly abroad for visiting friends and relatives or for just good old tourism.

A return economy class air ticket on Delhi-San Francisco or Delhi-Toronto for travel around Christmas and New Year is upwards of Rs 1.5 lakh, Mumbai-New York starts at Rs 1.2 lakh and Bengaluru-London is upwards of Rs 80,000. On peak travel days, a one-way ticket can cost more than prepandemic return fares.

A senior aviation ministry official had recently said flights under air bubbles will be increased as per demand. But a delay in doing so means a large number of people are forced to book at exorbitant rates and subsequent drop in fares due to more flights being allowed does not benefit them.

Travel Agent Federation of India joint secretary Anil Kalsi said, “The limited international flights have reduced capacity and led to manifold increase in fares. For example, Delhi-Dubai economy return is currently more than double of pre-pandemic level of under Rs 20,000. The government should consider resumption of scheduled international flights with countries where Covid is in control and which mutually accept our vaccines and certification.” German ambassador to India Walter J Lindner Tweeted Monday, “Incredible India opens its doors again, tourists now can fly to India. Happy that Covid19 situation in India has improved lots in last months. Hope soon regular commercial flights will fly again.”

Consumers and the diplomatic and travel community have requested the government to allow more international flights to allow airfares to return to saner levels. High airfares are hurting more due to “new” costs for travellers during Covid worldwide. A majority of countries require negative report of a Covid test taken within one to three days to allow travellers in.

Fake papers: 12 PCR constables dismissed after 13 yrs of service

New Delhi:  16.11.2021

As many as 12 Delhi Police constables posted in the PCR (Police Control Room) unit as drivers were dismissed from their duty, after almost 13 years of service, following a departmental inquiry over allegations of having submitted fake driving licences and documents during their recruitment in 2007.

A senior police officer said that a case was registered against the constables at Model Town police station for forging driving licences to get the job in Delhi Police by “deceitful means”. The dismissal order stated that the 12 constables are unfit for service.

According to the police, more than 81 candidates had applied for the job in 2007 and several tests were conducted before the selected individuals received their appointment letter.

An order issued by Delhi Police, signed by DCP Pankaj Kumar (operations and PCR), stated: “It has clearly been proven that the delinquent constables (drivers) deliberately and knowingly submitted a forged/fake driving licence by adopting deceitful means to seek recruitment. They all gave their residential address of Mathura in their licence, there’s no record of their residence in Mathura. It shows that the constables procured licences by adopting forged mean.” TNN

Vaccination status likely to be on boarding passes

Vaccination status likely to be on boarding passes

TNN | Nov 16, 2021, 05.35 AM IST

NEW DELHI: Soon, you may have your Covid vaccination status printed on your flight boarding pass, making your travel hassle-free and smooth.

The government is working on providing APIs for vaccination status at the time of web check-in with a mobile number. It is also exploring possibilities of having the vaccination status printed on all boarding passes — including the ones issued on spot.

An application programming interface (API) is needed to bring applications together in order to perform a designed function built around sharing data and executing pre-defined processes. APIs will also ensure end-to-end authentication, while passengers would not be required to carry their certificates for verification, official sources said.

The move is aimed at facilitating travellers, particularly those going abroad as some countries have raised issues with certification. “We are working with the ministry of civil aviation for providing APIs for vaccination status at the time of web check in through mobile number. It will perhaps also be possible to print the vaccination information on the boarding pass itself,” an official told TOI.

Hosps improvise as unused Covid vax doses near expiry

Hosps improvise as unused Covid vax doses near expiry

Some Cut Price, Others Give Free Jabs Under CSR

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

16.11.2021

Like street vendors calling attention to their wares, two women health workers from Assam were recently seen in a viral video carrying a blue box strapped to a bamboo pole and shouting: “First dose. Second dose. Corona vaccine. Anybody left out?”

The act may have amused many, but seen in the context of India’s imposing inoculation target and the anxiety of the health establishment over unused vaccines going past their expiry date, there is suspicion this goes beyond comic relief. Most officials TOI spoke to, however, scotched fears of vaccine wastage, or those about to expire being offered as booster shots secretly, or expired doses being dumped.

Hospital administrators, particularly those in the private sector, have adopted ingenious methods to clear their vaccine stockpile — including cutting the price of shots, using corporate social responsibility funds to vaccinate people for free, and exchanging doses with other hospitals to use up the idle stock.

SII, makers of Covishield, has been encouraging private hospitals to buy from those having doses in excess, instead of placing fresh orders. “We paid SII and it diverted the money to another hospital that gave us the cache,” said Dr HK Sale, executive director of Noble Hospital in Pune.

TCS employees to be back in office from year-end

REDUCING WFH

TCS employees to be back in office from year-end

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru: 16.11.2021

TCS has asked employees to return to its offices across the country by the end of this year, officially ending the near-two-year work-from-home policy that companies were forced to adopt due to the pandemic.

Those who are working from their hometowns have already been asked to get back to their base locations. The pandemic resulted in lakhs of employees across IT and technology companies – especially in Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Gurugram – to relocate to their home towns due to the flexible work options.

“At present, we have about 5% of our associates working from offices. Towards the end of CY’21, we will encourage our associates to return to offices, at least initially, before we switch to the 25/25 model. This will be done in a phased and flexible manner and will depend on respective team leaders & the requirements of each team/ project. The return to office will be a calibrated move taking employee safety into consideration,” the company said in a statement.

The 25/25 model is one where the company will seek to have no more than 25% of its employees work from office at any point by 2025. “We are committed to the 25/25 model but before transition to the model we need to start by getting people back to office and gradually evolve to 25/25,” the company said.

TCS also said that 70% of its workforce in India are fully vaccinated and more than 95% have received at least one dose. The company has over 5 lakh employees. Wipro's senior leadership has been back in office, twice a week, from September. These include delivery heads, function heads, GMs, VPs and above. Infosys has also asked its people to return to their base locations.