Need govt job? Sign affidavit against dowry in UP’s Bijnor

Need govt job? Sign affidavit against dowry in UP’s Bijnor

Harveer Dabas TNN

Bijnor:25.11.2021

The sub-divisional magistrate (SDM) in Bijnor “in an initiative to fight the social evil of dowry” has started asking youths visiting his office, for verification of various documents required for applying to or joining government jobs, to first sign an “anti-dowry” affidavit. “If you want documents verified for government job, you will have to give it in writing that you will not take dowry,” announces the notice by SDM Devendra Singh issued in his personal capacity.

Youths coming in for the attestation of their documents have no option but to sign the pledge. Singh said, “The aim is to weed out dowry from society. The Dowry Prohibition Act is already in force. Under it, dowry includes property, goods or money given during marriage by parents of either party or by anyone else. Despite the Act, many people still indulge in it.”

Full report on www.toi.in

Will 2022 be the year we stop worrying about Covid waves?

Will 2022 be the year we stop worrying about Covid waves?

Immunity from widespread infection and vaccination could mean future outbreaks will resemble those of the flu rather than April’s catastrophic second Covid wave

25.11.2021

Going into its third year, Covid-19 seems to be entering the endemic phase, meaning it will continue to circulate in the population but in a more predictable and less severe way. With time, the disease could even become similar to routine illnesses, such as the flu and common cold, experts say.

But the transition will happen at different times in different places, and the disease’s impact on the population will broadly depend on two factors: vaccination coverage and mutation of the virus.

The first countries to emerge from the pandemic are likely to be those with either high inoculation rates, such as the US and the UK, or widespread immunity among people from exposure to the coronavirus, like India. In that light, India’s high case count could be a silver lining.

In July, Indian Council of Medical Research’s nationwide serological survey showed over 70% of the surveyed population in eight states had been exposed to the virus (Table 1). “We can say we’ve reached the endemic stage not due to vaccination but due to natural infection,” Dr T Jacob John, retired professor and head of the departments of clinical virology and microbiology at CMC, Vellore, told TOI recently. In New Delhi, which was ravaged by the second wave, a serological survey report published by the government last month indicated over 90% of the population had been exposed to the virus, meaning the city is unlikely to witness a surge in cases unless a new variant emerges. The survey further showed vaccination provided a strong immune response, irrespective of any previous history of symptomatic infection (Table 2).

Variants and virulence

To measure the transmissibility of a virus, scientists often use R0 (or R naught) to denote the number of people a sick person is likely to infect when a population is vulnerable or without immunity. Flu has an estimated R0 of two (one person is likely to infect two others, on average), which rises to between six and seven for the Covid-19 Delta variant.

The Delta variant has affected countries like Singapore and China, which have high inoculation rates but little natural immunity because of strict lockdown measures. In Russia, which still has low vaccination coverage, the variant has wreaked havoc in recent months.

Epidemiologist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London recently told Reuters that for the UK, which was also hit by the variant, the “bulk of the pandemic as an emergency is behind us”. But he expects above-average deaths from respiratory diseases due to Covid-19 to continue for the next 2-5 years. “It’s going to be a gradual evolution. We’re going to be dealing with this as a more persistent virus.”

For the US, Trevor Bedford, a computational virologist at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center who has been tracking the evolution of SARS-COV-2, said he sees a milder winter wave and then a transition to the endemic stage in 2022-2023.

Getting a grip on the virus

“We think between now and the end of 2022, this is the point where we get control over this virus... where we can significantly reduce severe disease and death,” Maria Van Kerkhove, an epidemiologist leading the WHO Covid-19 response, told Reuters earlier this month.

But reaching a goal of zero Covid-19 cases worldwide might be a tough ask in the near future. The virus’s high transmissibility, potential to mutate and associated unpredictability make eradication and management efforts more challenging.

Currently, the best bet is to inoculate as many people as possible and give governments the elbow room to tinker with Covid-19 management strategies in preparation for a long-term endemic phase, experts say. Meanwhile, antiviral pills, which will work together with vaccines, might become critical for treatment, and booster shots targeted at the latest variants could provide additional protection. For the larger population, a behavioural shift is needed where Covid-19 is not seen as a one-time threat but as part of day-today life. It would mean a change in the way we think about building, restructuring and operating in shared spaces.

“We are in the endemic stage for the long haul,” said retired professor John.

Text: Sweta Chatterjee

Sources: ICMR, Co-WIN, WHO, Reuters, media reports

On express trains, no one cares to wear a mask

On express trains, no one cares to wear a mask

Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai:25.11.2021

On Tuesday, most people who boarded the Chennai Egmore-Kollam express removed their masks and kept them in their bags as soon as they settled into their seats just after the train left Chennai Egmore railway station.

It looked like passengers thought that they need not wear a mask once inside the coaches. Ticket checking staff and the RPF keep their masks on but do not reprimand errant passengers, though the state government notifications still stress on masks being mandatory in public.The situation in air conditioned coaches is no different.

As life returns to normal, mask compliance in express trains from Chennai has declined considerably.

More than 70 % to 80% of travellers used to wear masks on express trains till a few weeks ago. This has changed in the last couple of weeks.

“A majority of passengers, including women and children and senior citizens, did not wear masks while travelling in an AC coach of a train that reached Chennai on Kollam. The passengers behaved as if the pandemic was over and talked loudly, coughed, sneezed without wearing masks. The ticket checking staff had his mask near his chin. The RPF personnel who walked by many times did not bother to tell passengers to mask up,” said Prakash Kumar, a passenger.

Travellers also find it inconvenient to wear a mask for more than 10 to 12 hours but do not realise that the train is an enclosed space much smaller than office rooms.

A senior railway official said that the administration is continuously appealing to passengers to follow covid appropriate behaviour. Regular announcements are being made where facilities are available. Both TTE and RPF collect fines from violating passengers.

"The zone has collected ₹1.98 crores as penalty for not wearing masks from 39,822 passengers. On Tuesday, 147 passengers were fined," he added.

A senior railway official said that the administration is continuously appealing to passengers to follow covid appropriate behaviour while travelling by trains

ACB ‘drains’ lakhs of rupees from pipes in K’buragi house

ACB ‘drains’ lakhs of rupees from pipes in K’buragi house

₹54L Cash Seized During Raids On Junior Govt Officer In K’taka

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:25.11.2021

Lakhs of rupees meant for laying public roads had not gone down the drain as it usually does. Instead, it had been hidden away in a drainage pipe of a junior government official’s house in north Karnataka. That is precisely what Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths found during the raid on a three-storey residence of Shanthagouda M Biradar, a junior engineer in the state public works department, in Kalaburagi on Wednesday morning.

The sleuths had to collect wads of currency notes, totaling ₹13.5 lakh, in a bucket after cutting open the drainage pipe where the illegal money had been stored. The engineer had also concealed currency notes in the false ceiling of the house, ACB sources said. The cash seized from the pipe and ceiling added to ₹54.5 lakh.

Not just cash, Biradar reportedly owned two houses in Kalaburagi, a site in Bengaluru, five vehicles, 36 acres of farmland and gold jewellery. “This is for the first time that we found cash hidden in a drainage pipe,” a senior ACB official said.

Besides Biradar, 14 other government officials were searched at 68 places across the state. A total of 503 ACB personnel swooped down on the residences of government officials, who are suspected to possess assets disproportionate to their known sources of income. The ACB raids come in the backdrop of an increase in complaints from ordinary people over rising corruption levels in the state.

At the end of the raids on the 15 officials, the ACB seized 16.5kg gold, 45kg silver, documents on sites and hundreds of acres of farmland reportedly amassed by the officials. A joint director of agriculture department in Gadag district, TS Rudreshappa, was found to be in possession of 9kg gold (including biscuits), 3kg silver and ₹16 lakh in cash, apart from owning houses and sites.

Five of the raided officials were from Bengaluru. The agency found ₹43 lakh cash from the house of KAS officer LC Nagaraj, who came under the radar after being booked by the CBI in the IMA scam. Nagaraj is serving as an administrative officer in Sakala Mission. ACB sleuths said he owned 11.3 acres in Nelamangala and 1.8kg gold jewelry.

What baffled the ACB officials was the king-size life led by GV Giri, a group ‘D’ worker and driver with the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. ACB officials said he owned six houses in Bengaluru and four cars, apart from gold jewellery.

DOWN THE DRAIN: Wads of ₹500 notes collected from a drainage pipe during a raid in Kalaburagi on Wednesday. (R) Gold biscuits & jewels among the 9kg gold seized from a government official’s home

Hry’s recruitment scam is bigger than Vyapam: Surjewala

Hry’s recruitment scam is bigger than Vyapam: Surjewala

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chandigarh:24.11.2021

AICC general secretary and former Haryana minister Randeep Singh Surjewala on Tuesday said the cash-for-job scam of dental surgeons and HCS has emerged as a bigger scam than that of Vyapam.

Seeking a judiciary-monitored probe by an independent agency, Surjewala categorically sought disbanding of the current set of HPSC and HSSC team with immediate effect. He also demanded the review of recruitments and tests which were held in Haryana Board of School Education and other departments under the direct supervision of Anil Nagar HCS.

Questioning Nagar’s credentials, Surjewala categorically said the scam is linked to higher ups in politics and state government who were getting the major pie.

“Hence, we simply want entire investigations under the close monitoring and supervision of chief justice of Punjab and Haryana high court. Besides, the circumstances in which Nagar had been assigned the responsibilities by surpassing the seniority of IAS officers too should be probed,” said Surjewala.

“HPSC has become ‘Haryana Post Sales Counter’ under Khattar-Chautala government, the senior Congress leader said.

Now, one thing is absolutely clear that Khattar saheb had been misleading crores of youth of Haryana for the past seven years by raising false slogans of getting job ‘Bina Parchi, Bina Kharchi’. Under the BJP-JJP government, even the size of ‘kharchi’ has inflated into ‘suitcase’, Surjewala added.

Rlys allows tour operators to run Bharat Gaurav trains

Rlys allows tour operators to run Bharat Gaurav trains

Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:24.11.2021

The Indian Railways has opened its doors to travel and tour operators, state tourism entities and any interested party to run theme-based “Bharat Gaurav” trains. They can run these trains on any route of their choice and will be free to determine the fares as well. This means like the railways’ IRCTC, private players like Makemytrip, Cleartrip etc can run such trains.

Announcing that the railways has started accepting applications from interested parties, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Tuesday said the railways has earmarked 3,033 coaches — both AC and non-AC — an equivalent of 150 trains, which such players can take on lease, refurbish and can run them for tourists. Sources said some of the rail coaches which were converted as “Covid coaches” and are still idle can also be utilised for this purpose. Over 3,000 such coaches are deployed across different zones. He said these trains will be different from the railways’ plan to allow private players to operate trains on regular routes.

The operators can procure trains, if they wish, do branding and advertisement inside and on the exterior. The minimum lease period would be two years and maximum up to 10 years.

Singapore Airlines to resume flights on Nov. 29

Singapore Airlines to resume flights on Nov. 29

To start non-VTL flights ‘progressively’

24/11/2021

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT NEW DELHI

The Singapore Airlines Group announced resumption of passenger flights from India from November 29. These will include daily Vaccinated Travel Lane (VTL) services for quarantine-free entry from Chennai, Delhi and Mumbai.

The airline group, which includes its low-cost arm Scoot, will also start non-VTL flights from Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kochi, Amritsar and Tiruchirappalli “progressively” from November 29. The VTL and non-VTL flights will be operated under an “air bubble” pact.

Only fully vaccinated passengers are allowed on VTL flights. They are exempt from quarantine but have to take a PCR test two days before departure and on arrival at Changi airport.

Unvaccinated or partially vaccinated passengers can travel on non-VTL flights after a PCR test two days before departure, and will have to quarantine at the traveller’s declared place of stay. On completion of quarantine, they will have to undergo another PCR test.