CM announces all-party meet on January 8 to discuss NEET Slams Shah For Not Meeting The All-Party Delegation

 

CM announces all-party meet on January 8 to discuss NEET

Slams Shah For Not Meeting The All-Party Delegation

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

07.01.2022

Chennai:As governor R N Ravi has not sent the NEET Bill to President Ram Nath Kovind and Union home minister Amit Shah refused to meet an all-party delegation of MPs, chief minister M K Stalin said on Thursday, a meeting of legislature parties will take place on January 8 to decide the next course of action in the fight to get exemption for Tamil Nadu from NEET. The main opposition AIADMK extended its support for a “joint struggle” against the entrance examinations for admission to medical and dental courses.

Making a suo motu statement in the assembly, the chief minister said the struggle for social justice and against NEET would continue based on the outcome of the meeting. The Union government snatched away the rights of the state governments in deciding admission of students to medical colleges though colleges are being funded by the state government from the state funds. NEET benefited only those students who had access to undergo training for entrance examinations. It rendered school education system meaningless, he said.

“These actions not only shatter the dreams of the students but undermine the federal principles. We cannot remain spectators. We cannot remain indifferent to the fu- ture of our students being ruined,” the CM said, recalling the unanimous passage of the NEET Bill in September and his meeting with the governor in November to get assent to the Bill. The previous DMK regime had scrapped entrance test for professional courses in 2007.

The chief minister said that a delegation of MPs from all parties led by DMK parliamentary party leader T R Baalu presented a memorandum to President Ram Nath Kovind’s secretariat on December 28, explaining the delay in getting assent to the Bill. The memorandum was forwarded to the Union home ministry for action on the same day. “Following this, an appointment was sought from the Union home minister by an all-party delegation of MPs, but the minister is refusing to meet the delegation. Refusing to meet elected members is against the ethos of democracy,” the CM said. The representation that was to be handed over to the minister was submitted to his office on Wednesday.

AIADMK member Vaithilingam raised doubts about the government’s efforts given that the NEET Bill passed by the previous AIADMK government did not get assent. Hence, the previous government enacted a legislation to provide horizontal reservation of 7. 5% for government school students that helped 435 students pursue medical education. “We extend 100% support to the fight for getting NEET exemption. We are ready to protest with you. But is it possible?” Vaithilingam urged the government to train students to face the entrance test and not ruin the future of students.

 

Over 75% of fresh cases in state are from Chennai

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

07.01.2022

Chennai:At least three fourths of the 6,983 new Covid-19 cases reported by the state on Thursday came from Chennai (3,759) and it three adjacent district – Chengalpet (816), Tiruvallur (444) and Kancheepuram (185). The eleven deaths took the cumulative toll to 36,825. At the end of the day, the number of active patients in the state soared to 22,828.

The state reported a 43% increase in cases in the last 24 hours from 4,863 new cases on Wednesday, and its hotspot city, Chennai, reported a 55% increase from 2,489. “We are seeing a cascading effect of the infection into the adjacent districts,” said health secretary J Radhakrishnan.

After Chennai, Chengalpet and Tiruvallur, Coimbatore (309) and Vellore (223) reported the highest number of cases in the state. Among central districts, Trichy reported the sharpest increase from 51 cases on Wednesday to 123 on Thursday, while Thanjavur reported 68 new cases compared to 26 a day ago. In the south, Tuticorin reported 132 new cases on Thursday, when Madurai had 60.

Of the 11 deaths, there were five in Chennai and one each in Chengalpet, Coimbatore, Salem, Thanjavur, Madurai and Namakkal. Meanwhile 6. 9 lakh, including 5. 3 lakh teens, took the jab on Thursday.

 

Govt plans to extend validity of planning permissions

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

07.01.2022

Chennai: The government has decided to amend the Tamil Nadu Town and Country Planning Act, 1971, to extend the validity of planning permissions from five years to eight years,

A bill to this effect was tabled in the Assembly by housing and urban development minister S Muthusamy on Thursday. According to the bill, developers find it difficult to obtain fresh permission on expiry of the five-year period, in cases where construction projects are yet to be completed.

Further, Covid-19 had impacted activity in the real estate sector in the state. The interdependence of supply chains, migration of labour, cost overturns and liquidity constraints are some of the challenges the sector faced. So it would be difficult to complete projects within five years.

 

PMK backs state govt on VC issue

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Ponmudi said, “Our PM is aware of it. Yo u (BJP MLAs) can take this to the notice of the PM.” He pointed out that the Maharashtra government introduced an amendment (the Maharashtra Public University Act 2016) to empower itself to appoint VCs.

After a tussle between West Bengal government and the state’s governor, the government appointed a vice-chancellor recently. Similar tussle is going on in neighbouring Kerala too. “To resolve such i ssues, state governments should have powers to appoint VCs. Our CM feels so. Before the next assembly session, a decision will be taken,” he said.

Intervening at this stage, Stalin said the government would pass a resolution in the assembly in this regard.

The PMK and MNM welcomed the CM’s announcement. Actor-turned-political Kamal Haasan’s Makkal Needhi Maiyam welcomed CM’s announcement.The party had issued a statement saying the government should appoint VCs instead of governor.

PMK youth wing leader and Rajya Sabha MP Anbumani Ramadoss welcomed CM’s announcement. He tweeted that the PMK would support the government’s initiative.

 

‘EWS income criteria different from income criteria of ₹8L’

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Meeting head on a fusillade of charges from counsel for petitioners questioning the rationality of extending OBC and EWS quota to medical admission, Mehta said that providing reservation to socially and economically backward classes — OBC and EWS — is constitutionally imperative and the SC in a string of judgments more than a decade ago has upheld this view.

He said the government respects the SC’s consistent rulings against reservation in super-speciality courses and that NEET-PG is not a superspeciality course. The focus of the arguments by petitioners was against inclusion of 10% EWS quota and the ₹8 lakh annual income criteria for the purpose. Extricating the government from a difficult situation, Mehta said the EWS income criteria is very different from the income criteria of ₹8 lakh fixed for weeding out creamy layer from cornering benefits of the OBC quota.

30 months on, no salary for institute staff

 30 months on, no salary for institute staff

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06.01.2022

Sangrur: Waiting for their salaries for the last 30 months, the faculty members of Baba Hira Singh Bhathal Institute of Engineering &Technolo gy (BHSBIET), Lehragaga, Sangrur, have been sitting on a protest round the clock near the gate of the college.

Kamal Garg, one of the protesters, said, “Earlier there were five government established engineering colleges in Punjab namely SBS, Ferozpur; BCET, Gurdaspur; GZS, Bathinda; MIMIT, Malout; BHSBIET, Lehragaga. The GZS, Bathinda was merged into Maharaja Ranjit Singh StateTechnical University, Bathinda during the Akali regime while the institutes of Fero zepurand Gurdaspur were recently made state technical universities. 

Now as due to drastic fall of admissions, all these institutes are facing severe financial crisis and not able to pay salaries to its staff ranging from 3-4 months to 30 months (as in case of BHSBIET, Lehragaga, who have not got their salary from the last 30 months). The staff of Lehragaga had held dharnas numerous times but all promises to release salaries by providing financial assistance have not been met. ”

“Channi had remained the minister of technical education and the decision to shut the institute was taken under his tenure,” said a protester.
TNN

All doctors are fully vaxxed, asymptomatic

 All doctors are fully vaxxed, asymptomatic06.01.2022 

Bhopal  06.01.2022

Doctors and paramedical staff, who have been assigned duty in Covid wards, are following the same protocol as in the first and second waves, Dr Dixit said. “They wear PPE kits and are following all other norms. There’s no instance of any health staff getting infected while working in Covid wards,”he said.

A faculty member of the microbiology department was infected a fortnight ago and a repeat sampletested positive a week ago. Two doctors of Sri Aurobindo Institute of Medical Sciences (SAIMS) have also tested positive in the past week after returning from other cities.

“While people are advised not to lower their guard and follow all Covid guidelines, doctors and paramedical staff have been asked to take all the precautions, have a good sleep and home-made food to avoid falling ill due to the virus,” pulmonologist Dr Ravi Dosi said.

“Most of the doctors, who have tested positive to the disease, have their recent travel history during last week of 2021” Dr Sanjay Londhe said, adding that almost all the doc- tors are fully vaccinated and asymptomatic. “Among those detected in the recent past, the disease is not causing major health problems, including breathlessness, which was seen in the second wave in April and May when Covid claimed so many lives,” he said.

The 64th All India Congress of Obstetrics & Gynecology to be organized by the Indore wing from January 9-13 has been postponed due to Covid. Over 500 doctors were expected to attend.

The next dates haven’t been decided yet, informed our sources.