Fraud portal of online shopping busted

 Fraud portal of online shopping busted

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Vadodara: Two persons, who used the mobile phone number of an unsuspecting citizen to carry out fraud worth lakhs of rupees, have been arrested by the cybercrime sleuths in the city. The accused duo is suspected to have conned many people in the past, the police said.

According to the cybercrime sleuths, Dhaval Patel, a resident of Atladara, had filed a complaint against unidentified persons some months ago. Patel told the police that his wife Nidhi started getting innumerable calls on her number from many people across the country. The callers demanded the products they had bought from a website blazeshop. live.

“Investigations revealed that the accused had posted Nidhi’s mobile number on the website. The website accepted payments but didn’t deliver the products. The buyers used to call on Nidhi’s number for inquiry,” the police said. Patel as well as his wife were unaware that her number was being misused.

The cybercrime sleuths then contacted the customers who had bought products from the website through online payment. It led them to a bank account where the money transferred by customers was deposited. “The bank account was in the name of Gaurav Brahmbhatt, a resident of Anand, and the registered mobile number linked to the bank account was in the name of Nikunj Dave, a resident of Valsad,” the police added.

The bank account had Rs 5. 35 lakh in deposits. The cops tracked down the duo’s location and arrested them. Investigating officials said that the duo must have siphoned a big amount by defrauding dozens of persons by using the fake shopping website. “We are trying to ascertain if they have committed similar frauds in the past apart from recovering the money they siphoned from unsuspecting customers,” the police said.

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Back to digital mode With shooting Covid cases and the fast spread of the Omicron variant, many schools are switching back to online classes to keep everyone safe

 Back to digital mode

With shooting Covid cases and the fast spread of the Omicron variant, many schools are switching back to online classes to keep everyone safe

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Respedit.Chennai@timesgroup.com

28.01.2022

Much hope had been pinned on this new year with students looking forward to returning to their campuses soon. The third wave has hit a high in the country and is pushing up cases to an unprecedented level. The variant cannot be taken for granted just because it is mild at the moment, and the rate of hospitalisation is still not alarming. Safety restrictions at this stage are inevitable, and educational campuses have yet again been one of the first to be shut down for students’ safety.

“We were excited about going back to the classroom. Unlike other institutions, some classes in our school were being held in online mode so we were really looking forward to meeting each other. However, things did not happen as per our plan. We received a message from our principal during early January stating that physical classes shall be suspended until further notice,” says a school student.

DIGITAL HUB

While none knows for sure as to when children can go back to classrooms, experts feel that virtual learning needs to be made more effective. According to them, virtual classrooms must be made more interactive so that students do not lose interest. Keeping in mind that many students may face internet issues, some schools are developing avirtual platform which can be accessed even if the bandwidth is low. A digital library is being loaded with class lectures. Students can download and access it when they have proper connection. Two years since the pandemic struck, schools and teachers have become much more flexible in their approach. LABORATORY CLASSES

While theoretical classes can be taught online, the issue is with lab sessions.Compared to last two years, teachers are now making videos and sharing it virtually with a feel of the lab. They are getting themselves filmed while demonstrating and sharing it along with related lecture classes. The videos help students understand what happens inside a lab when the experiment is conducted. These demonstration videos are especially for those students who may have internet issues to watch them real time. HYBRID LEARNING

When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. While government and private offices can function with min-imum workforce, schools, colleges and universities have been closed down to keep students safe. It is time to be positive. We need to understand that online classes mean students can continue with their regular learning without getting exposed to the infection. If experts and industry buzz is to be believed, we are heading towards fluid hybrid learning system.

Hybrid learning solutions will continue to play an essential role given the new normal in education. Edtech solution providers have brought forth a slew of products such as view board interactive displays, collaborative projectors, touch monitors, and writing devices. MAKING IT WORK

E-learning will continue to be the foundation of this new system. Therefore, it is important to understand that students need to be comfortable to deliver their best in this ever-evolving system. The key to this lies in paying attention. On their part, teachers have been developing newer tools that can help students sustain their atten-tion. Keeping a few minutes aside for a Q&A session is one of them. Showing junior classes slides wherever possible helps them to grasp a concept better. Online learning is no substitute for offline learning but for the moment we need to make the best of what is available.

Result delay hits govt hosps, many forced to go to pvt labs

 Result delay hits govt hosps, many forced to go to pvt labs

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

27.01.2022

Hyderabad: Amid an increase in Covid-19 cases, a delay of three to four days in getting RT-PCR test results at government hospitals and urban primary healthcare centres is forcing people to get tested at private labs.

Serpentine queues are being seen at all Basti Dawakhanas, UPHCs, area and district hospitals.

“On a daily basis, there are more than 900 to 1,000 people visiting government ho-spitals. Most of them are showing Covid-19 symptoms and have to undergo tests, increasing the load. Many of our staff members are also down with the infection. However, we are trying to deal with as many cases as we can,” said K Shankar, superintendent of Fever Hospital. Testing at private diagnostic centres costs anywhere between ₹500 to ₹1,500. Due to delayed results, self-testing rapid antigen kits are being preferred by many people.

There is also huge rush for home testing services as several patients are feeling weak.

Girls worst hit in access to eduduring pandemic: Parl panel

 Girls worst hit in access to eduduring pandemic: Parl panel

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Ambika.Pandit@timesgroup.com

27.01.2022

New Delhi: As the surging third wave puts the focus back on the pandemic’s impact on children’s education, the findings of a parliamentary committee highlights how the Covid crisis has disproportionately affected girls, especially their education.

The committee on women empowerment, in its report presented during the winter session of Parliament in December, called for urgent measures to prevent girls from poor families, impacted by closure of schools and lack of digital access, from dropping out of school.

On a specific question about the effect of the pandemic on enrolment and retention of girls in schools, especially from among the sociallyand economically-backward groups in  schools, the education ministry submitted before the panel that “school closure in India affected 320 million children enrolled from pre-primary to tertiary levels of education. It has been estimated that of these, about 158 million are female students”.

The submissions and recommendations are part of the report on ‘Empowerment of Women Through Education with Special Reference to Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao Scheme’. The committee has observed that in the post pandemic scenario, the probability of more adolescent girls dropping out of school permanently to help with household tasks and childcare due to economic hardships of their families is very high.

The panel has recommended incentivising participation that can help more girls continue their schooling with measures like targeted scholarships, conditional cash transfers, provision of bicycles, access to smart phones and hostel facilities.

The panel observed that as per the ‘unified district infor mation system for fducation (UDISE )’ data for 2018-19, the gross enrolment ratio of girls decreased from 96. 72 in elementary classes to 76. 93 in secondary classes and to 50. 84 in higher secondary classes. It also pointed out that the dropout ratio of girls during 2019-20 was 15. 1. Times View:

This is another worrying example of the socially disastrous fall-outs of the pandemic. Authorities must take suitable steps to ensure that girls aren’t forced to drop out. In the long term, it would gravely hurt the nation’s interests.