Tirumala caught in massive flood, flights to Tirupati hit

Tirumala caught in massive flood, flights to Tirupati hit

Amaravati\Tirupati:  19.11.2021

Tirumala, the abode of Lord Venkateswara, was caught in a massive flood of unprecedented scale on Thursday, leaving hundreds of pilgrims stranded even as a heavy downpour under the influence of a depression in Bay of Bengal battered the temple-town Tirupati and many parts of Chittoor district in Andhra Pradesh.

The four ‘maada streets’ adjoining the main temple on Tirumala Hills, remained flooded, as was the Vaikuntham queue complex (cellar). Darshan of the God was virtually stalled as pilgrims could not venture out because of the inundation. The Japali Anjaneya Swamy temple on Tirumala was inundated and idol of the God submerged. The Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams officials made arrangement for free food and accommodation for the pilgrims stranded on the holy hills. TTD executive officer K S Jawahar Reddy declared a holiday on Friday for the office staff in view of the situation. The two ghat roads leading to the Tirumala Hills were closed for traffic following the flood and landslides, official sources said. The pedestrian stairway leading to the temple from Alipiri was also closed down, they said.

The Tirupati International Airport at Renigunta also remained inundated, forcing the authorities to stop landing of incoming aircraft. Airport director S Suresh said two passenger flights scheduled to land in Tirupati from Hyderabad and Bengaluru were asked to return. A scheduled flight from New Delhi has been cancelled due to the prevailing weather condition, he added.

The TTD additional executive officer’s office in Tirumala remained marooned, as were many guest houses. A landslide damaged three rooms at the Narayanagiri guest house complex but nothing untoward has been reported as the rooms were unoccupied, official sources said. Pilgrims staying in other rooms in Narayanagiri and nearby S V guest house were shifted to other accommodation. In Srinivasa Mangapuram near Tirupati, two autos were washed away as the Swarnamukhi rivulet remained in spate. A bridge on the Renigunta-Kadapa highway remained in a precarious position at Anjaneyapuram. A truck was stranded on the bridge, causing a traffic jam on either side, even as police reached the spot for a rescue operation.

Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy spoke to Chittoor district collector M Hari Narayanan and reviewed the situation. PTI

IN DEEP WATER: Ghat roads of Tirupati which lead to Lord Venkateshwara Temple closed following heavy rainfall in AP’s temple town on Thursday

Covid test lapses by 1 min, pregnant woman & 2 others denied boarding

Covid test lapses by 1 min, pregnant woman & 2 others denied boarding

Petlee.Peter@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:19.11.2021

A family of three, including a pregnant woman, was denied boarding an Indi-Go flight to Dubai, citing that the 48-hour validity of their RT-PCR negative test reports had lapsed by one minute. They were not allowed to board the flight even though they took Rapid RT-PCR tests at the airport for ₹3,000 each.

All Indian passengers headed to the UAE must clear this pre-departure test, besides carrying RT-PCR negative reports not older than 48 hours. Rukhsar Memon, 28, husband Suhail Syed, 39, and his mother Mamtaz Munawar, 63, had come to Bengaluru for their annual holiday at their Nandidurga Road home on October 9 this year.

On Tuesday morning, the family went to the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) to board the IndiGo flight 6E 95 from Bengaluru to Dubai scheduled to take off at 1.15pm. As per pre-departure requirement for UAE travellers, the three, including13-week pregnant Rukhsar, took Rapid RT-PCR tests outside KIA and secured negative reports for ₹9,000 before reaching the IndiGo check-in counter around 10am on Tuesday. Then came the shocker.

“We were denied boarding for the 1.15pm flight on Tuesday as the IndiGo ground staff said our initial RT-PCR test reports showed that our samples were collected at 1.15pm on Sunday,” recalled Suhail, who works as a sales executive with a Dubai-based health insurance firm. The airline calculates the 48-hour validity period from the time of sample collection.

The IndiGo ground staff told the family that by the time the flight takes off at 1.15pm, their RT-PCR reports will be “aged one minute over the mandated 48 hours”. “We requested the IndiGo manager at the airport to kindly consider us since we were well within the 48-hour validity when we reached the airport. My pregnant wife and my elderly mother were travelling with me. The employees were rude to us, especially the airline manager, as they dragged us for three long hours and finally denying us boarding,” said Suhail on his family’s ordeal.

Full report on www.toi.in

இந்தியா செல்லும் பெண் சுற்றுலா பயணியருக்கு அமெரிக்கா எச்சரிக்கை

இந்தியா செல்லும் பெண் சுற்றுலா பயணியருக்கு அமெரிக்கா எச்சரிக்கை

Updated : நவ 18, 2021 06:39 | Added : நவ 18, 2021 06:37 |

புதுடில்லி : 'பெண்களுக்கு எதிரான குற்றங்கள் அதிகரித்து வருவதால், பெண் சுற்றுலா பயணியர் இந்தியாவுக்கு தனியாக பயணம் மேற்கொள்ள வேண்டாம்' என, தங்கள் நாட்டு சுற்றுலா பயணியருக்கு டில்லியில் உள்ள அமெரிக்க துாதரகம் அறிவுறுத்தி உள்ளது.

டில்லியில் உள்ள அமெரிக்க துாதரகம் தங்கள் நாட்டு சுற்றுலா பயணியருக்கான பயண ஆலோசனை அறிக்கையை வெளியிட்டுள்ளது. அதன் விபரம்: இந்தியாவில் பெண்களுக்கு எதிரான பாலியல் வன்முறைகள் அதிகரித்து வருவதாக அதிகாரிகள் தெரிவிக்கின்றனர்.

சுற்றுலாதலங்கள் உட்பட பல்வேறு இடங்களில் கொடூரமான வன்முறைகள், பாலியல் பலாத்காரங்கள் அதிகரித்துள்ளன. எனவே அமெரிக்க சுற்றுலா பயணியர், குறிப்பாக பெண்கள் தனியாக இந்தியாவுக்கு பயணம் மேற்கொள்ள வேண்டாம். இவ்வாறு அதில் கூறப்பட்டுள்ளது.

Unique QR Codes In Judgments/ Orders, Advocate Information Management System: New Initiatives By Madras High Court

Unique QR Codes In Judgments/ Orders, Advocate Information Management System: New Initiatives By Madras High Court: In a press release by the Registrar General of Madras High Court, several notable initiatives, including those implemented and those that will be brought in place with effect from 15th November...

MBBS graduates could need double internships to practice in India

MBBS graduates could need double internships to practice in India

By Sumi Sukanya dutta| Express News Service | Published: 16th November 2021 02:48 AM

NEW DELHI: Securing registration to practice medicine in India could get tougher for students pursuing medicine abroad as they will now be required to do double internships — once in the country where they got the MBBS and again in India — as per new norms about to be released.

About 10,000-12,000 students from the country go abroad every year to pursue MBBS.

As of now, these medical graduates, except those who get their degrees in US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, are required to clear the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination and do a mandatory one-year internship in a recognised Indian medical college before they can get their registration.

Most of them, however, do not do internships abroad and return to India after completing 4.5 years of the MBBS degree.

Aruna V Vanikar, president of the undergraduate medical education board at the National Medical Commission, told this newspaper that the process of issuing licenses to such graduates is being made more “stringent” as part of a reform push in medical education.

“As of now, there are instances of medical graduates with just 3-3.5 years from many sub-standard colleges abroad and we need to put a stop to such cases,” she said. Vanikar added that these graduates will have to spend at least 15-18 months following their degree before they can get a license to practice.

The guidelines are expected this week for public feedback before the final notification.

Starting 2023, when the National Exit Test gets implemented, all final-year medical students will need to take it in two steps. All local MBBS students will start internships in the colleges where they graduated. Foreign students successful in the NEXT step 1 exam will have internships in designated sites.

After a mentor-certified internship, they will need to appear for the NEXT step 2 exam and can get a license only after clearing it. Medical education activist Vivek Pandey said that the new proposal may make it more difficult for foreign medical graduates to pursue a career in India.

Poor scores in FMGEs

The passing percentage in the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination for students who get their MBBS abroad is just 10-20% every year. The FMGE is a prerequisite to get a license for medical practice in India

Raj teachers allege bribe for transfer, leave min red-faced

Raj teachers allege bribe for transfer, leave min red-faced

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jaipur:17.11.2021

In a major embarrassment for school education minister Govind Singh Dotasra, teachers from across the state told Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday that they had to pay bribes to get a transfer.

Addressing a felicitation programme held for state teachers in Jaipur, Gehlot asked them if they had to pay money for transfers and the teachers responded with a unanimous “yes”. Gehlot looked at Dotasra, who was sitting on the dias, and reacted by saying that it was bad and promised to bring a concrete transfer policy soon, which the government employees have been demanding for decades.

When Gehlot completed his speech, Dotasra rushed to the mike and claimed that he and his staff were clean.

“Everyone sitting here knows the fact that I have never accepted one cup of tea. But we need a good transfer policy which will soon be worked out,” said Dotasra.

Education minister Govind Singh Dotasra during the felicitation programme held for state teachers

Corruption has become a new normal in the state: Poonia

Jaipur: Reacting to the allegation of corruption in transfers, BJP state president Satish Poonia said that corruption had become the basic “etiquette” in the state. "Corruption has become a new normal in the state. The state campaign 'Prashashan Ke Sang' has become 'Prashashan Risthedaro Ke Sang' and doesn't need any proof," said Poonia. He said that Congress MLAs Bharat Singh, Hemaram Choudhary and Deependra Singh Shekhawat were given evidence of corruption many times.

Taking a dig at the Gehlot government, former education minister Vasudev Devnani also tweeted that teachers alleging corruption in front of Gehlot showed the true governance in the state.

About 99 government teachers were felicitated by the government with a certificate and Rs 21,000 cash prize each. Gehlot also said that the establishment of Mahatma Gandhi English medium schools in the state was a revolutionary step in the field of education. With the opening of these schools, the dreams of children of farmers, the poor, and labourers living in villages to study in English medium has come true.

›CM hints at cabinet rejig, Dotasra may be dropped,

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MIND TO INNOVATE

HOW TO TRAIN YOUR MIND TO INNOVATE

Pursue higher degrees, but make them useful

Avik.Das1@timesgroup.com

From his days in school in Guwahati, Mrinal Bhattacharjee wanted to be an engineer. He loved doing his science class experiments. “Going to college, it felt like computer science would be a cool subject to study. I thought it allowed problems to be solved quicker, allowed you to see your solutions at work,” he says. And that’s what he did at NIT Karnataka.

Bhattacharjee, who is today a principal engineer with US data management company NetApp’s India centre, has seven patents to his name. He joined NetApp in 2004, and filed his first patent three years later. It was on file systems, around how to take a snapshot of the data at any given time. “A snapshot is a point-intime copy of your data. That is the core building block of data protection,” he says.

While the snapshot was the end result, a lot of background work was automatically done in the system to preserve the file. Bhattacharjee found a way to minimise the background process so that it reduced the system load.

Just like for other patent holders featured in this column, the maiden patent was a lesson for Bhattacharjee in understanding how to write a patent application, talk to patent lawyers and patent committees to figure out whether an idea is patentable.

His next patents were again in data storage management. “When data comes in, we need to decide where we will place data, which is essential to be able to retrieve it quickly. Data placement algorithms are an essential part of the data storage system. We redesigned the system, rewrote the whole thing to work on solid state drives which could have 100 processors. That enabled NetApp to have hybrid systems (combining flash memory and hard disk drives).”

He says a patenting mindset requires first to have a desire to solve problems in interesting ways. “And then, when you have a company culture that fosters innovation, a set of people you can brainstorm with, things become relatively easy,” he says.

While he did not pursue higher education, he advises others to take it up. “It is not impossible to innovate without a higher degree, but if one goes for it, one must take it seriously, make sure it is helpful in the innovation journey,” he says.

A patent he has most recently filed is related to data protection against ransomware, a malware which has become a raging cyber security threat. Bhattacharjee’s innovation identifies a potential virus quickly and immediately cuts off the storage system so that the virus cannot encrypt the data. “It feels great to be solving real world customer problems,” he says.

When you have a company culture that fosters innovation, a set of people you can brainstorm with, things become relatively easy.

Mrinal Bhattacharjee PRINCIPAL ENGINEER, NETAPP