Students in a fix as Covid shuts colleges in TN

Students in a fix as Covid shuts colleges in TN

The State government’s order to close all colleges, barring medical colleges, in Tamil Nadu in view of the rise in Covid-19 cases has left students and teachers in a fix.

Published: 06th January 2022 05:33 AM 

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The State government’s order to close all colleges, barring medical colleges, in Tamil Nadu in view of the rise in Covid-19 cases has left students and teachers in a fix. Though the government advised students to consider this as a study holiday for the upcoming semester exams, this hasn’t brought any solace to teachers and students as the first-year syllabus has not been completed in many colleges.

In some colleges, practical exams were under way and a few had started model tests to prepare students for offline exams, which are scheduled to start from January 21. Amid all this, colleges were suddenly closed leaving students clueless.

“In our college, one model test was held on January 4. I was trying to get back to writing long-form answers, which I have almost forgotten due to online exams. But colleges are now being closed. This means we will now directly have to appear for offline semester exams without anymore practice,” said K Sandhya, a student at a Government Arts and Science college in Chennai.

Another student, T Manivannan, asked, “What about our practical examinations? Will they be conducted or not? Or as was done previously, will we be allotted marks?” Teachers too are worried over the uncertainty regarding when the situation will improve and in-person classes can be resumed. “We will have to resume online classes to complete the syllabus for first-year students. As of now, we are confident that offline semester examinations will be conducted for all students as per the schedule,” said principal of Guru Nanak College MG Ragunathan.

Lockdown in Mumbai if cases cross 20,000-mark, warns mayor

 Lockdown in Mumbai if cases cross 20,000-mark, warns mayor

05.01.2022

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Mumbai: Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar on Tuesday said if the daily Covid cases here cross the 20,000-mark, a lockdown will be imposed in the city as per the Union government's rules. Talking to reporters at her office in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) headquarters, Pednekar suggested that citizens wear triple-layer masks while travelling in public buses and local trains. 

She also appealed to them to get vaccinated at the earliest and follow all COVID-19-related standard operating procedures (SOPs). Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray might address the citizens in a couple of days, she said. She said currently, only six Omicron patients are admitted in and all other persons infected by the new variant have been discharged.

PTI

 

Woman bitten by rat in hosp to get ₹25,000

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K.Kaushik@timesgroup.com

05.01.2022

Madurai: The Madras high court has directed the principal secretary of the health department to pay ₹25,000 as compensation to a woman who was bitten by a rat inside the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai district in 2014. The court was hearing the petition filed by Muthulakshmi alias Rajam. The petitioner’s son Suresh had suffered grievous injuries in a road accident and was admitted as in-patient on January 19, 2014.

On January 23, 2014, when the petitioner was sleeping near her son’s cot, a rat bit her on her left elbow. She suffered pain and swelling. Since the pain increased, she took treatment as an out-patient.

She then gave a representation to the authorities in February 2014 seeking to prevent rat menace at the hospital. Since there was no response, she had filed the present petition before the HC Madurai bench in 2014, seeking compensation of 2 lakh for the injury suffered by her.

In the counter affidavit, the dean of GRH had stated that though the petitioner claimed that a rat had bitten her on January 23, 2014, she did not approach the medical officer on that very night but took treatment only on January 31, 2014. Justice C V Karthikeyan said that a copy of the medical receipt given to the petitioner which had been enclosed as a document to the petition shows that the nature of treatment given to the petitioner was for rat bite. The petitioner also produced newspaper reports regarding this incident.

 

Join the initiative to red-flag fake news, vaccinate people with truth

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

05.01.2022

Exclusive liquor bars opened for women by the Tamil Nadu government”. This was among thousands of forwarded messages ranging from “Hot coconut water kills all types of cancer cells, cysts and tumors” to “Karnataka police have added location trackers for all auto rickshaws for women safety” that TOI busted as fake recently through its campaign ‘Times Verified’.

Born in Mumbai in April last year, the initiative that aims to break the chain of viral misinformation and disinformation which has been infecting social media groups in the backdrop of a mutating virus, went national in December 2021.

Under this campaign, readers send unverified or suspicious messages doing the rounds of social media to this paper on the WhatsApp number 9819888887 and our expert panel—comprising reporters, editors and representatives from the BMC and government—tap into their sources to verify its credibility.

Over the last few weeks, TOI received over 15,000 messages of which 45% emerged as falsehoods. “This message is fake,” cried the bold red stamp sent by our panel in response to the dubious messages including the recent: “Indian student home remedy for Covid 19 approved by WHO. Concoction of pepper, honey & ginger juice can eli- minate the effects of Covid in 5days. ”

In an email interview, US based physician Dr Seema Yasmin—whose recent book speaks about how misinformation spreads faster than microbes in times of crisis—had told TOI that the rapid spread of false information during a pandemic can cost people their lives. In this scenario, the job of our “chain-breakers”—readers who have been regularly forwarding dubious messages to help TOI identify red flags and vaccinate you with the truth—becomes especially significant.

Among these vigilant chain breakers are Delhi’s Meenakshi Kaul who recently helped us bust this message “Japan has dropped its COVID-19 vaccination rollout and has opted to use the drug Ivermectin and by doing so, Japan has ended COVID-19 ‘almost overnight’” and Maharashtra’s Pavan Agarwal who brought to our notice a dubious 1957 comic strip featuring Phantom warning people of “China virus”.

If Karnataka’s Loganat- han P alerted us to the fake “Calls from ‘912250041117’ for vaccine feedback, on answering the call, the phone will be hacked”, UP’s Ravinder Raina promptly helped us call out this falsehood: “Indian Army Soldiers fainted after running due to Covid vaccination”.

The rumours weren’t only about the virus. For instance, Punjab’s Nausheen B sent us this dubious forward: “Professor Neena Gupta, a mathematician from Kolkata, declared as the first Indian to win Ramanujan Prize for Young Mathematicians. ”

To join the chain-breaking brigade in the fight against false news, all you have to do is send dubious, anxiety-causing news circulated on social media to our expert panel and let the green tick in the Times Verified logo counter the tyranny of the grey curved arrow of forwards.

 

Dharmapuri, Tenkasi MPs top in attendance

05.01.2022

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Chennai: Members of Parliament S Senthilkumar (Dharmapuri) and Dhanush M Kumar (Tenkasi) recorded the best attendance in the Lok Sabha from the first session of 17th Lok Sabha until the winter session that ended in December last. Amid repeated disruptions, both members managed to raise 267 questions each, leading the pack of 39 LS MPs representing Tamil Nadu in the Lower House.

The data sourced by the PRS Legislative Research suggested that 16 members secured more than 80% of attendance, 18 members between 60% and 80% and the rest falling below 60%. “All our data tracking the activities of MPs have been sourced from the web portals of Parliament. We also used the bulletins and question lists published by Parliament on its websites,” PRS Legisla- tive Research president, M R Madhavan said.

The other top members in attendance, include Vijay Vasanth (Kanyakumari), Manicka Tagore (Virudhunagar) and Gautham Sigamani Pon (Kallakurichi), P R Natarajan (Coimbatore), S R Parthiban (Salem), K Shanmugasundaram (Pollachi) and K Jayakumar (Tiruvallur). The MPs, who recorded poor attendance include S Jagathrakshakan (Arakkonam) and S S Pa- lanimanickam (Thanjavur).

DMK Parliamentary party leader T R Baalu said the members tried as much as possible to raise the issues amid suspensions and walkouts. “From raising the arrests of fishermen to NEET exemption, from dam safety bill to the rise in price of fuel, bringing embarkation point back to Chennai for Haj pilgrimage to pending dues of GST, we put forth our demands,” said Baalu.

 

Siddha Covid care centre opened at Periyar Thidal

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Chennai: A Siddha Covid care centre, comprising 41 beds, was inaugurated in Periyar Maniammai hospital at Periyar Thidal in Vepery on Tuesday. It is the first Siddha Covid care centre to be inaugurated in the state at a time when the spread of Covid and Omicron variant is on the rise, an official press release said.

Health minister Ma Subramanian said that the guidelines for people infected with Omicron variant have been released.

Pointing out that those with mild Omicron symptoms, who fully vaccinated, can isolate at their homes, he said, they can return to their routine duty after five days following a negative RT-PCR test.

TNN

 

Make a list of rowdies to target, Tambaram police chief tells team

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

05.01.2022

Chennai: Tambaram Commissioner of Police (CoP) M Ravi, in a move tocrack down on criminal elements prowling in the suburban areas, has ordered his subordi- nates to prepare a list of active history-sheeters in localities under the commissionerate.

While notorious criminals and gang leaders would be categorised as A+, their close associates would fall under the A category. Other criminals would be grouped under B and C categories, based on their records.

The commissioner, who has begun inspections at Pallavaram, Tambaram, and Shankar Nagar, has asked his subordinates to ready the list, which should also include the names of those arrested, on bail, absconding, with non-bailable warrants, and those detained under the Goondas Act. Afew of the notorious history-sheeters in the localities include extortionists Padappai Guna and Nedungundram Surya.

Also, lists of ganja sellers, perpetrators of crimes against women and children, and those organising kangaroo courts are being prepared separately. Police will also closely examine the history-sheeters’ recent criminal activities and action will be taken accordingly. "In- structions have been issued to personnel in this regard. Intelligence gathering and vigilance will also be strengthened. Kangaroo courts and goondaism will soon end," said the CoP said.

Apart from this, he said, police are focussing on traffic regulations and Pongal bandobust preparations, especially on the traffic snarls expected at Perungalathur during Pongal days. Moreover, the commissionerate has rolled out an additional phone number, 8525007100, for the public to lodge their complaints. This phone number is apart from the common police control-room number of 100.

The Tambaram commissionerate will function with two police districts -Tambaram and Pallikaranai – and have 20 police stations under it.