AP govt nod to increase districts from 13 to 26

 AP govt nod to increase districts from 13 to 26

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Samdani.MN@timesgroup.com

26.01.2022

Amaravati:The Andhra Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday gave the green signal for creation of 13 new districts, which will take the number of districts in the state to 26. The reorganisation process is likely to be completed by Telugu New Year, Ugadi, in April.

While 24 Lok Sabha constituencies would be converted into districts, Araku Lok Sabha constituency in Visakhapatnam tribal agency area will be divided into two districts. A resolution regarding creation of new districts was  circulated to all cabinet ministers and their consent came late on Tuesday night. After getting the cabinet nod, planning secretary GSRKR Vijayakumar met chief secretary Sameer Sharma and handed over the recommendations.

The planning department has already readied a comprehensive roadmap for creation of the new districts in the state.

Sources said Sharma also conducted a video conference with district collectors and apprised them about the issuance of the notification.

What about children’s concerns, HC asks T

 What about children’s concerns, HC asks T

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SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

26.01.2022

Hyderabad: Agreeing with the concerns that the third wave of Covid-19 may adversely affect unvaccinated people like children, the Telangana high court on Tuesday directed the state government to convey to the court within three days the steps its health authorities have taken to cater to the needs of the children.

A bench of Chief Justice Satish Chandra Sharma and Justice Abhinand Kumar Shavili said this while resuming the hearing in the Covid-19 batch PILs. The bench said the medical kits being supplied during the state’s door-to-door survey to those who were found suffering from fevers were general in nature. “Children may need special kits in tune with their requirements. Also, tell us what happened to your promises of setting up more children hospitals to face the third wave challenge,” the bench said addressing the state government.

Kowturu Pavan Kumar, counsel for one of the petitioners, brought to the notice of the bench the fact that as many as 1. 75 lakh people were identified with fevers during the state survey. But, the daily medical bulletin of the health department was showing the Covid-19 cases at around 3,000 per day, he said.

Supporting this view, senior counsel L Ravi Chander said the statistics being furnished by the state “are like the proverbial emperor’s new clothes”. Everyone knew that they were not correct. At least let the state government ensure social distancing and mask norms. “Nobody is wearing the mask outside. No one is qu-estioning them on the road,” he said. Ravi Chander further said: “Let the director of public health appear before this court and answer the queries of the petitioners. ”

The bench then directed the state government to penali- se those who were not wearing masks and roaming freely. The bench sought a detailed report from the health department.

It wanted the DPH or any other expert to appear before the court virtually on January 28, the next date of hearing.

After brief drop, cases on rise again

Hyderabad: After a brief dip, the number of Covid-19 cases in Telangana saw an upward trend with the state recording 4,559 cases on Tuesday.

With the rise in cases, the number of active cases across the state stood at 36,269 and the total number of cases jumped to 7.43 lakh. The death toll rose to 4,077 after the state recorded two Covid-19 fatalities.

Of the 4,559 cases, 1,450 were recorded in the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) limits followed by 432 in Medchal-Mal- kajgiri and 322 in Rangareddy districts.

As many as 1,961 Covid-19 affected people recovered on Tuesday pushing the total number of recoveries since the onset of pandemic at 7,03,008. While the case fatality rate was constant at 0.55 per cent, the recovery rate dropped further to 94.57 per cent. At 201 Covid-19 cases, Hanamkonda was among the districts that recorded high number of cases followed by 145 at Khammam, 138 at Nalgonda, 112 at Karimnagar, 96 at Peddapalli and 93 at Bhadadri Kothagudem among others.

Why the delay in appointment of permanent VC, asks JNUTA

 Why the delay in appointment of permanent VC, asks JNUTA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

26.01.2022

New Delhi: With M Jagadesh Kumar completing a year as Jawaharlal Nehru University’s acting vice-chancellor, JNU Teachers’ Association (JNUTA) on Tuesday raised several questions to the education ministry over the non-appointment of a permanent VC despite it being over a year.

The teachers’ body claimed that significant policy decisions were being pushed through by Kumar and that they would have far-reaching consequences for the varsity.

“Directives issued by the Ministry of Education and provisions of JNU’s own statutes explicitly forbid vice-chancellors whose tenures are formally over from taking decisions on policy matters of a substantive nature. Several other central universities that had a similar vacancy have had new ap-pointees. What then explains the delay in the case of JNU?” it asked.

In a statement, JNUTA also said that “financial bottlenecks due to administrative incompetence have meant that regular academic and outreach programmes have suffered and that several faculty members have had to face cutbacks in research support. ”

“Regarding filling of teaching posts, particularly the reserved positions, there have been inordinate delays due to wilful misrepresentation of the roster system by the vice-chancellor, to rectify (for) which faculty members had to move court. While the new roster still has many limitations that have been pointed out by the petitioners, the administration has made no attempts to rectify these anomalies,” JNUTA said.

Claiming that the functioning of the university over the past year was “less than satisfactory,” the teachers’ body asked, “Can a caretaker VC be allowed to run the university as per his own personal whims and fancies? Can the ministry afford to remain silent in such a situation. . . ? and how soon will the ministry announce a full-time VC for JNU?”

Senior officials of the university administration could not be reached for a comment.

Jamia VC, historian among Padma winners

 Jamia VC, historian among Padma winners

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

26.01.2022

New Delhi: Jamia Millia Islamia vice-chancellor Najma Akhtar was conferred the Padma Shri, the fourth highest civilian award in India, on Tuesday.

Akhtar, who had assumed charge in 2019, had scripted history for being Jamia’s first woman VC.

Soon after the list of awardees was announced by the government, Akhtar told TOI, “This recognition is a matter of huge honour for every woman. I might be older to some and younger to some but ultimately, we are all the same. The fact that the President and the Prime Minister had decided to appoint me as the first woman VC at a  central university like Jamia had also meant a lot. ”

“Jamia is now among one of the best universities and it’s a desirable place to be. We are constantly working for ordinary people. This is an honour my university has earned, I’m only its representative,” Akhtar said. She said the recognition will only compel her to work harder and take education further.

“The work done by the university in the field of education, health and development was not only for itself, but for communities in the neighbourhood too and today, that has received recognition,” Akhtar added.

Renowned history and po- licy scholar JK Bajaj, who specialised in the study of Indian society, was also awarded the Padma Shri in the field of literature and education.

Reacting to the announcement, Bajaj said, “This is a recognition for the work my colleagues and I have been doing at the Centre for Policy Studies to comprehend the country from an Indian perspective. It feels good to know that quiet, systematic, scholarly and foundational work is also getting public recognition in today’s India. ”

The Centre for Policy Studies is a social science research institute that is ideologically aligned with the RSS. Headquartered in Chennai, its work is concentrated on the issue of demographics, society, agriculture and history, among others.

Tara Jauhar, writer and educationist who dedicated her life to propagating the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, was also among those who were awarded the Padma Shri.Engineer, academician and technocrat Dilip Shahani was honoured with the Padma Shri by the government for playing an instrumental role in India’s electronic voting machine platform.

Pandemic effect: Gen medicine gets an edge

 Pandemic effect: Gen medicine gets an edge

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Sruthy Susan Ullas

TNN

26.01.2022

Bengaluru: Fees of a few PG medical courses in Karnataka colleges under ‘NRI and others’ quotas have been increased for the coming academic year, with college-wise revisions pegged between 5% and 50%. General medicine, which costs around Rs 90 lakh to Rs 1. 2 crore in some top bracket colleges, is vying with radiology as the most-sought-after specialization this time round, mainly due to the raging pandemic that has headlined its importance among medical students.

Fees for general medicine and radiology are nearly the same – at Rs 1. 2 crore a year – under NRI quota in at least one private college in Bengaluru. Interestingly, the general medicine course in the government-owned Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute costs Rs 1. 1 lakh a year, or a tenth of the NRI-quota fee.

“Earlier, general medicine was not as well paid as that of a radiologist. With the pandemic, the importance of an intensivist, who is either specialised in general medicine or anaesthesia with additional training has become extremely important. The demand for both courses has gone up,” said an official of a deemed university.

Karnataka has 3,084 postgraduate medical seats for  2021, the seat matrix for which was announced on the Karnataka Examinations Authority website on Monday. As many as 926 seats are in the government quota, 39 in the government PWD quota, 1,186 in private quota, 396 for in-service candidates and 537 for NRIs.

Interestingly, there has been a steep hike in fees for general medicine in NRI/others quota as mentioned on the KEA website. In Shivashankarappa Institute of Medical Sciences, Davanagere, the fee has seen nearly a 50% rise, up from Rs 60. 1 lakh in 2020 to Rs 90. 1 lakh in 2021. In MS Ramaiah, the fee this year is Rs 85. 1 lakh as against Rs 70. 1 lakh last year. Jaya Jagadguru Murugharajendra Medical College, Davanagere, is charging Rs 90. 1 lakh as against Rs 80. 1lakh last year.

In Vydehi Institute of Medical Science and Research Centre, Bengaluru, the fees is Rs 75. 1lakh, a hike of Rs 5 lakh from last year. At Sapthagiri Institute of Medical Sciences, students have to pay Rs 1. 2 crore for a general medicine seat in the NRI quota, same as last year, and Rs 1. 3 crore for a PG seat in radiology. The fees under the government quota is Rs 7. 1lakh and private quota Rs 11. 5 lakh. The NRI quota fees for pediatrics, general medicine, ophthalmology and gynaecology in this college is quoted at Rs 1. 2 crore on the KEA website.

Kerala posts highest daily count of 55,475; Maha sees 86 deaths

 Kerala posts highest daily count of 55,475; Maha sees 86 deaths

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26.01.2022

In terms of fresh cases, the third-wave surge continued to slow in the country despite a massive surge in Kerala, which posted its highest-ever daily count of 55,475. Close to 2. 87 lakh new cases were reported in the country on Tuesday, up from 2. 54 lakh on the preceding day. Last week, daily cases had hit a high of 3. 47 lakh on Thursday.

Deaths were up sharply in Maharashtra, which reported 86 fatalities on Tuesday, the highest daily toll in 110 days. Of these, Mumbai recorded 10 deaths.

Other states grapplingwith surging deaths on Tuesday included Kerala (70), Karnataka (52), Tamil Nadu (48), Gujarat (28), Chhattisgarh (23), Assam (19), Haryana (18), J&K (14) and Andhra Pradesh (12). These were among 12 states and UTs that reported their highest single-day deaths during the third wave on Tuesday. Daily fatalities remained high in several other states, includ- ing Bengal (36), Delhi (31), Punjab (30) and Rajasthan (22). On Tuesday, daily cases saw a big spike in just two states/UTs — Kerala and J&K.

While Kerala reported a very high positivity rate of 49. 4% (with one out of every two tests giving a positive result for Covid), J&K posted 6,570 new cases, the highest single-day count in the UT since the start of the pandemic. While the next two-three days are likely to reveal whether the third wave will rise any further than last week's high, the count of active cases registered a slight fall for the second day running.

India’s Covid cases top 4cr, 3rd wave tally now over 50L  Daily Deaths Cross 500, Up 27% In A Day

Recorded infections of Covid-19 in India crossed 4 crore on Tuesday, with 50 lakh fresh cases added in the last three weeks alone during the Omicrondriven third wave of the pandemic in the country. India’s Covid case count continues to be the second highest in the world after the US, where nearly 7.3 crore cases have been logged till date. India had reached the 3-crore mark in total cases on June 22, 2021, when the second wave was waning. During that wave, the country saw the count rise from 2 crore to 3 crore in just 40 days. Meanwhile, daily deaths rose by a steep 27% in a day, with 571 fatalities repor- ted on Tuesday, the highest daily count in five months since Aug 25, 2021, when 603 deaths were recorded. The toll on Monday was 449.

 

9630899002 7389366696Helpline Numbers for COUNSELLING

Caught cheating in exam, BBA student shoots self at home

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TIMES N EWS N ETWORK

26.01.2022

Indore: A 21-year-old student of Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA) allegedly shot himself at home in Indore’s Niranjanpur area on Tuesday afternoon.

The deceased, identified as Pravin Shukla, was reported to have taken the extreme step after being caught cheating during an examination on Tuesday, the police said. He studied at a private college. His family said that his mobile phone was seized by the college authorities.

Police said Pravin used a licenced weapon of his father, who is an assistant sub-inspector (traffic), to kill himself. “His classmates said he was caught cheating in the exam on Tuesday morning. He came home and shot himself with his father’s rifle,” station in-charge Indramani Patel told the media.

Pravin was living alone in the house for  the past year as his parents had moved out to Chhoti Paltan area. In CCTV footage of the society, the youth is seen coming back from college on a motorcycle at 11. 47am. He parks his bike and takes the stairs.

Deceased's brother-in-law, Dipendra Tripathi, who lives in the same township, said  that he used to come back from the college before noon and have lunch at their house. On Tuesday afternoon, when he did not come for lunch till 1pm, they tried calling him on his mobile phone, but nobody picked it up. Later, his wife (Pravin’s elder sister) went to check on him and found the gate locked from the inside. When he did not respond to the doorbell for long, she called her father to come with another key and they checked inside only to find him lying in a pool of blood in the bathroom. “The rifle along with ammunition was brought home during Diwali for puja,” Tripathi told TOI.