17 dead, over 100 missing in Andhra flash floods

17 dead, over 100 missing in Andhra flash floods

Sandeep.Raghavan@timesgroup.com

Tirupati: 20.11.2021

At least 17 people were killed after flash floods ravaged the four Rayalaseema districts of Chittoor, Kadapa, Kurnool and Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh on Friday. The incessant rains started on Thursday evening, triggered by the deep depression formed over the Bay of Bengal, throwing life out of kilter in the region.

More than 100 persons are feared to have been washed away in separate incidents in the four districts. About seven National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) teams have been deployed to lead the search and rescue operations, besides teams from the police, revenue, and fire department. As Cheyyuru river overflowed, water from Annamayya irrigation project spilled over to several mandals in Rajampet assembly constituency and other parts of Kadapa district.

Three AP State Road Transport Corporation buses carrying passengers got stuck in flood waters near Ramapuram in Rajampet mandal. Though fire services rescued most of the passengers and APSRTC staff, 12 persons who were washed away were found dead at various places in Rajampet mandal. Seven bodies were retrieved near Gandluru, three near Rayavaram, while two bodies were found near Mandapalli. About 30 persons from Mandapalli, Akepadu and Nandaluru villages in Rajampet mandal have been washed away and officials have launched a search operation to trace them. Rail and road traffic between Tirupati and Kadapa came to a standstill as floodwaters damaged railway tracks and national highways at several places along the route.

Precision medicine centre at KGMU to aid cancer care

Precision medicine centre at KGMU to aid cancer care

Personalised Treatment For Patients

Vivek Singh Chauhan TNN

Lucknow: 20.11.2021

To provide better personalised treatment to cancer patients using the latest research and advancements, King George’s Medical University launched its Precision Medicine Centre (PMC) on Friday.

The centre will help doctors better understand the underlying mechanisms of diseases and improve their approach in preventing, diagnosing, and treating the cancer.

A symposium was also organised in which the head of hematology department and in charge of the centre for advanced research, under which PMC has been started, Prof AK Tripathi said, “At PMC, we will analyse genes, metabolic function, bionomics and other factors in cancer patients. With this data, personalised treatment would be made to patients for better effect of medicines.”

The centre is necessary because it is often seen that treatment which is beneficial for one individual doesn’t work on another, he added.

Prof Dhavendra Kumar from Queen Mary University, London, who is an adviser for the PMC, said, “There has been a lot of progress in cancer treatment with help of genome sequencing.”

Vice-chancellor Lt Gen (retd) Bipin Puri said that the centre will be a milestone for patient care as well as students.

Prof Thangraj, who addressed the symposium virtually from Hyderabad, explained how the Indian genome is different and from where it originated.

Prof Shally Awasthi, head of pediatrics department, said that precision medicine is the need of the hour and has been introduced in undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

‘Lewd messages to fiancee don’t insult modesty’

‘Lewd messages to fiancee don’t insult modesty’

Mumbai:  20.11.2021

Observing that sending “obscene messages” to a woman one is going to marry can’t be termed insulting her modesty, a sessions court acquitted a 36-year-old man, 11 years after he was booked for cheating and raping her under the false promise of marriage. The court held that sending such messages in premarital period may delight and give the feeling that someone is close enough to understand one’s emotions, reports Rebecca Samervel.

“If at all those are not liked by the other side, it has discretion with it to convey its displeasure to the other side, and the other side generally avoids a repeat of such a mistake. The purpose was to put up his expectation before her, to arouse her with similar feeling of sex, which may give happiness even to her, etc. But in no way those SMSs can be said as were sent to insult her modesty,” it said.

The woman had lodged an FIR in 2010. The couple had met on a matrimonial site in 2007. However, the man’s mother was against the match. In 2010, the man broke up the relationship. Acquitting him of rape charges, the court said every breach of promise to marry can’t be termed cheating or rape. “The man had even been to an Arya Samaj Hall with mangalsutra but it was the quarrel on the ground of stay after marriage and thereafter, by getting tired of his indecisiveness and getting surrendered before his mother’s wish and failing to tackle the problem stood before him in proper manner, he came back. It is certainly not the case of false promise of marriage. It is the case of failure to make substantial efforts,” the court said.

Covid Spectre Back In Europe

Covid Spectre Back In Europe

Austria Reimposes Full Lockdown And Germany May Follow; Markets Spooked

20.11.2021

Austria will go into a nationwide lockdown on Monday and impose a coronavirus vaccination mandate in February, Chancellor Alexander Schallenberg said on Friday. It is the second such lockdown in a European nation since the spring after Latvia imposed similar restrictions last month, and the first national vaccine mandate to be announced in a Western democracy. Austria has one of Europe’s highest national coronavirus infection rates, with 14,212 new cases registered in 24 hours on Thursday. And the Alpine country has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Western Europe, with just 66% of the population fully inoculated. The lockdown, reminiscent of those imposed across Europe last winter, before coronavirus vaccines were available, will last for at least 10 days and affect both vaccinated and unvaccinated people.

Neighbouring Germany warned it may follow suit, sending shivers through financial markets worried about the economic fallout. A fourth wave of infections has plunged Germany, Europe’s largest economy, into a national emergency, health minister Jens Spahn said. He urged people to reduce their social contacts, warning that vaccinations alone would not reduce case numbers. Asked if Germany could rule out an Austrian-style full lockdown, Spahn said: “We are now in a situation where we can’t rule anything out. We are in a national emergency.” European stocks retreated from record highs, while government bond yields, oil prices and the euro tumbled as the spectre of a fresh Covid-linked lockdown in Germany and other parts of Europe cast a fresh shadow over global economy.

As cases rise again across Europe, a number of governments have started to reimpose limits on activity, ranging from Austria’s full lockdown, to a partial lockdown in the Netherlands, to restrictions on the unvaccinated in parts of Germany, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Hungary reported 11,289 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, its highest daily tally, and will make booster shots mandatory for all healthcare workers and require mask wearing in most indoor places from Saturday. While the new measures across Europe are not seen hitting the economy as much as the all-out lockdowns of last year, analysts say they could weigh on the recovery in the last quarter of the year, especially if they hit the retail and hospitality sectors. AGENCIES

Austria will introduce Europe’s first vaccination mandate in February

Brochure For NEET Must Carry A Segment On Candidates With Disabilities Enumerating The Benefits Available To Them: Supreme Court Tells NTA

Brochure For NEET Must Carry A Segment On Candidates With Disabilities Enumerating The Benefits Available To Them: Supreme Court Tells NTA

Mehal Jain18 Nov 2021 7:41 PM

"Brochure for NEET must have a segment on candidates with disabilities, enumerating the specific benefits available for visually-challenged, hearing-impaired candidates or candidates with dysgraphia. There should be disclosure in advance. Secondly, there should be proper training for invigilators. It is very crucial that they are aware".

The Supreme Court on Thursday orally told the NTA that its brochure for NEET must carry a segment on candidates with disabilities, enumerating the specific benefits available for them by way of an advance disclosure, and that there must be proper training to the invigilators to ensure these benefits are implemented on the ground.

The bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and AS Bopanna was hearing the plea by a female NEET-2021 candidate suffering from dysgraphia whose grievance was that she was refused an additional one hour's time for attempting the paper by the examination centre. Her prayers were that either she may be allowed a re-examination, or be appropriately compensated by way of grace marks or no negative marking or otherwise.

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The advocate for the NTA told the bench, "The NTA has already declared the results. It is now difficult to conduct a re-test for 1 student...also, it was in the middle of the examination that she had said that she would need an additional one hour. At such time, it becomes difficult for the invigilator to cross-check such information."

"There are 16 lakh students who took this exam. It is difficult for us to correct one student's result subsequently now. At this stage, she may supersede some other students and it will be harsh on the others",he submitted.

The bench also agreed that re-conducting the exam for one student may not be a viable option. At this, the advocate for the petitioner abandoned his prayer for re-examination and instead urged for compensation by way of marks- "I have secured more than 90 percent in 10th and 12th despite my disability...Your Lordships have been bestowed with such power by the Providence that with one stroke of your pen, my entire future may change."

"No, no, that is your right. But these powers also come with such great responsibilities...even when we rise for lunch, the matters don't leave us and we were discussing this all the way on the staircase...we were wondering that if we ask them to give you some benefit, it may immediately affect some unseen student who is not before us", observed Justice Chandrachud.

The advocate for the NTA told the bench,

"My instructions are that the cut-off this year also is 137-142 and the petitioner has secured 166. So she will definitely get admission and she will not be losing this year."

The petitioner's advocate expressed doubt about the cut-off for this year having been set, stating that the aforesaid is the cut-off for the last year. "If the NTA could give me a guarantee that I will definitely be admitted to a college this year...there are 4000-5000 seats which are reserved for PWD, a lot of which remain vacant as is evident from the trend of the previous years...", he prayed.

"If she is not placed in any college and there are seats reserved for PWD left vacant, could you consider accommodating her? You could discuss with your Director-General", Justice Chandrachud put to the advocate for the NTA.

The bench granted time until 5 PM on Friday to both the advocates to submit written submissions, after which the bench would pass its order.

Justice Chandrachud also observed that the NTA must come up with clear-cut guidelines so that this situation is never repeated in the future-"This child may now lose a year. She could have made it otherwise. It is very heart-breaking. I myself had written the Vikash Kumar judgment (the Supreme Court held that facility of scribe can be provided for persons with disabilities other than those having benchmark disabilities)...the brochure for NEET must have a segment on candidates with disabilities, enumerating the specific benefits available for visually-challenged, hearing-impaired candidates or candidates with dysgraphia. There should be disclosure in advance. Secondly, there should be proper training for invigilators. It is very crucial that they are aware. You as the NTA have bona-fides, but very often, the invigilators on the ground are not aware. Like in this case, her paper was snatched. It is heart-rending...instructions must be given down the line so that these benefits are implemented."

"We had held 5-6 webinars and there was counseling for the invigilators. But we will ensure that this never happens in the future", replied the advocate for the NTA.

Continuing, Justice Chandrachud noted, "Also, there has to be a policy for where the candidate is not at fault. How do you set it right where a candidate is losing out at the last minute when they did not even do anything? Medical education today is so competitive..."

Case Title: AVNI PRAKASH v. NATIONAL TESTING AGENCY (NTA) AND ORS

Dead woman and daughter were in city for yoga course

KIA ACCIDENT

Dead woman and daughter were in city for yoga course

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:20.11.2021

A 57-year-old woman from Kolkata and her London-based daughter, 38, were among three persons killed on Thursday night when an SUV jumped the median on KIA expressway and crashed into their cab.

Poornima Ravindra, a school teacher, and her daughter Lakshmi Ravindra, an advocate, were on their way to Kempegowda International Airport in the cab. The two women and the driver, Raghavendra Ural, 45, of Bannerghatta, died on the spot.

Police said Poornima and Lakshmi were from Kerala and their family had settled down in Kolkata. Lakshmi went to Kolkata on a holiday and the motherdaughter duo left for Bengaluru to attend a week-long yoga course. The course was supposed to end on Saturday, but the women decided to leave two days earlier and took Ural’s cab to the airport to return to Kolkata.

Around 9pm, an SUV driven by MBA student Bharath BR, 22, jumped the median near Chikkajala, flipped in the air, and landed on Ural’s cab that was coming from the opposite direction. Police had to cut open the vehicles to remove the bodies.

Bharath and his friend Vikas, 25, who was also in the SUV, sustained severe injuries.

According to police, there was heavy rain at the time of the accident.

TRAGIC JOURNEY: The mangled remains of the vehicle in which the mother and daughter were travelling to KIA on Thursday

In a first, IITs to hire quota-based faculty

In a first, IITs to hire quota-based faculty

Hemali.Chhapia@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:20.11.2021

For the first time since they were set up, IITs have placed advertisements for quota-based hiring of faculty members. The recruitment process, for which IITs had autonomy, has been changed at the behest of the Centre and new deadlines set.

Since 2019, the education ministry (then called HRD ministry) has been pushing centrally funded higher education institutions to apply the reservation policy in hiring. This time around, the IITs have deferred to the ministry. Advertisements are out for hiring SC/ST/OBC/ EWS faculty members at all institutes, including the IITs.

A letter issued by the education ministry in Augustend insists that reservation rules be adhered to and vacancies “especially in the scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and other backward classes” be filled by September 4, 2022.

Deadline being sent to IITs for first time

I ITs follow a year-long rolling recruitment process and never before has a deadline been sent by the ministry. The time limit poses difficulties due to the paucity of engineering doctoral candidates, more so from the SC/ST/OBC categories—a PhD is the minimum eligibility criterion. Usually in a year, the IITs in the metros manage to hire about 35 faculty members, 40 in a good year. “Filling up hundreds of vacancies will be impossible,” said a director.

While some institutes have advertised vacancies for a number of specific positions, others have enlisted all the departments where there is at least one unfilled post.

“Each IIT has followed its own process. We are all recruiting under the mission mode. But while IIT Bombay has advertised for 50 positions, IIT Madras has for 49. Others like IIT Delhi, Roorkee, Hyderabad, Kharagpur have enlisted departments where there are vacancies,” said a dean (faculty). All the advertisements encourage women from the disadvantaged background to also apply.

In June 2020, a committee set up to suggest implementation of reservation in central education institutes had said that the IITs are institutes of national importance and ought to be exempted from reservation. It said the matter of reservation be left to each IIT’s board and if quota in hiring was to be implemented, the posts of professor and assistant professor be exempted. The committee also suggested a programme at all IITs to attract quality candidates from the disadvantaged sections to boost PhD numbers.

Usually in a year, the IITs in the metros manage to hire about 35 faculty members