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Saturday, September 14, 2024

NMC raises bank guarantee for new medical colleges

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad : The National Medical Commission (NMC) has recently announced a significant increase in the performance bank guarantees (PBG) required for establishing new undergraduate and postgraduate medical colleges, applicable from the academic year 2025-26. This marks the first time the commission has implemented a hike and introduced varying PBG amounts based on the number of admission seats, as noted by experts.

According to a notice issued by the NMC on Sep 2, medi cal colleges seeking to admit 50 MBBS students will need to provide a bank guarantee of Rs 15 crore for a six-year period. Institutions aiming to admit 100 MBBS students will be required to submit a bank guarantee of Rs 20 crore for the same duration. If a college wishes to secure an additional 50 seats, an extra bank guarantee of Rs 5 crore will be necessary. For colleges intending to admit 150 MBBS students, the bank guarantee has been set at Rs 25 crore for the six-year tenure.

The notice also specifies the rates for postgraduate degrees and higher specialiti es. “For a single PG degree or higher speciality course, the bank guarantee is set at Rs 2 crore for a tenure of four years. Any additional PG degree or higher speciality course will require a bank guarantee of Rs 25 lakh per course seat, also valid for a 4-year tenure.” The increase in bank guarantees is expected to result in an investment of approximately Rs 300 crore to Rs 350 crore for setting up a new medical college, which experts believe will make it nearly impossible for smaller trusts to establish new medical educational institutions. However, they have clarified that this will not lead to any fee increase for students.

NMC’s revised guidelines for MBBS curriculum still has deficiencies, say activists

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

NEW DELHI 14.09.2024

The National Medical Commission has reissued the Competency-Based Medical Education Curriculum (CBME-2024) guidelines for MBBS students.

Last month, the NMC withdrew the guidelines following protests by transgender and disability rights groups. The revised version too has come under fire. Activists said the 466-word document had no mention of key terms such as “dignity” and “transgender”. They have now written to all stakeholders demanding immediate revision of the guidelines.

Satendra Singh, a disability rights activist, said while eight hours has been dedicated to “sports” in the two-week foundation course, there is no explicit mention of disability competencies that were mandatory in the 2019 curriculum (seven hours).

Psychiatry continues to refer to “gender identity disorders” and physiology describes sexual differentiation or intersex variations as “abnormalities”. Furthermore, paediatrics fails to address gender incongruence, dysphoria, or non-heterosexual orientations.

He further added that the subjectsfocus solely on the management of “disability” without acknowledging diversity. The revised document has dropped “lesbianism”, “sodomy”, and other such terms from the MBBS syllabus.

In the new syllabus, the medical body has included topics related to the histories of gender, and sexuality-based identities and rights in India, as well as the decriminalisation of adultery and consensual adult homosexual behaviour.

Disability and transgender rights groups have demanded thereintroduction of the mandatory hours on disability competencies, introduce provisions of Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 and the Transgender Persons Protection Act, 2019 in the curriculum of ethics.

Retirement and death gratuity increased by 25% for T.N. govt. staff

The Hindu Bureau

CHENNAI 14.09.2024

The Tamil Nadu government recently increased the maximum limit of death-cum-retirement gratuity (known as DCRG) from ₹20 lakh to ₹25 lakh for its employees. The revision will take retrospective effect from January 1.

A G.O. was issued in this regard on September 6.

The move follows the Centre’s decision to increase the maximum limit of retirement gratuity and death gratuity from ₹20 lakh to ₹25 lakh, in line with the recommendations of the Seventh Central Pay Commission. The increase announced by the Centre was 25% with retrospective effect from January 1.

However, though the State’s revision is applicable to all staff, functionally, only those who get a basic pay of at least ₹81,000 a month would get the retirement or death gratuity, said CPS Abolition Movement State coordinator P. Frederic Engels. Only those who are in Pay Grade 11 or above would be able to receive the enhancement, while the majority of the employees in the old pension scheme would not be eligible, he added.

Commenting on the revision, Mr. Engels said that the Centre and all States except Tamil Nadu were giving gratuity to their employees. Here, those who are under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) do not get gratuity.

“About 38,000 people in the CPS have retired and about 7,000 of them are dead, but they have not received gratuity,” Mr. Engels said, and urged the State government to provide gratuity. Employees who joined service from April 1, 2003, were not eligible for gratuity, he said. He also underlined that decisions on pension need not affect gratuity, as they fell under different Acts and Rules – the Tamil Nadu Pension Rules, 1978 and the Payment of Gratuity Act, 1972.

Friday, September 13, 2024

NEWS TODAY 13.09.2024

Foreign Medical Graduates To Apply For Eligibility Certificate By This Date

The exam may be scheduled tentatively in the month of December 2024 by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences.

Edited by:Puniti Pandey

Education

Sep 11, 2024 11:00 am IST

Applicants will not have any further chance to apply for the Eligibility Certificates.

New Delhi:

The National Medical Commission (NMC) has released a notification for Foreign Medical Graduates (FMGs) warning them about the last opportunity to apply for the Eligibility Certificates. Candidates who have not yet obtained the Eligibility Certificate can apply for it on the NMC website at https://www.nmc.org.in/ActivitiWebClient/open/studentRaise

The deadline to apply for the Eligibility Criteria is November 4, 2024. Post this, applicants will not have any further chance to apply for the Eligibility Certificates.

Candidates who will be appearing for the Foreign Medical Graduate Examination (FMGE) will be required to possess the eligibility certificate by the NMC to apply for appearing in the screening test. The exam may be scheduled tentatively in the month of December 2024 by the National Board of Examinations in Medical Sciences.

An official notification by the NMC reads, "It may be noted that this is the last opportunity to apply for the Eligibility Certificates and thereafter no further chance would be available to the candidates to apply for the Eligibility Certificates. Accordingly, all candidates are requested to submit application after making due diligence and checking the requisite entries scrupulously before submitting the application."

The NMC also informed that the applicants can make enquiries about status of the eligibility application at: eligibility.regn@nmc.org.in & eligibility@nmc.org.in, however, while making such enquiries, all the candidates are requested to invariably provide their File Tracking Number, which was generated while submitting the application to NMC for issuance of Eligibility Certificate.

The board noted that no response would be sent to the candidate in the absence of File Tracking Number. The candidates who have already submitted application for issuance of the Eligibility Certificate to NMC in the past, are not required to apply.

Google Is Deleting Gmail Accounts, Save Yours Before September 20: Here Is How

Gmail, one of the most widely used email platforms with over 1.5 billion active users globally, is introducing this rule as part of its efforts to manage inactive accounts and free up space on its servers.

Authored by:Moinak Pal

Updated Sep 12, 2024, 09:52 IST

Google is implementing a new policy that will lead to the deletion of inactive Gmail accounts starting September 20, 2024. Gmail, one of the most widely used email platforms with over 1.5 billion active users globally, is introducing this rule as part of its efforts to manage inactive accounts and free up space on its servers.

The inactive account policy applies to any personal Google account that has not been used in two years. According to Google, if a user has not logged into their Gmail account or performed any actions on their associated Google services for this period, the account may be permanently deleted. It is important to note that this policy does not affect accounts created through organizations, such as those for work, school, or other professional institutions.

To avoid losing your account and all associated data, Google has outlined several simple actions users can take to maintain their account’s active status. Here’s how to keep your Gmail account from being deleted:

Send or Read an Email: The easiest way to maintain activity on your Gmail account is by simply logging in and sending or reading an email. This counts as an active engagement with the service.

Share a Photo: Using Google Photos, you can share a photo to activate your account. This interaction is another way to confirm that your account remains active.

Watch a YouTube Video: Google owns YouTube, so watching a video while logged into your Gmail account qualifies as activity. This step ensures your account remains on Google’s radar as being used.

Use Google Drive or Google Search: Accessing Google Drive or performing a search while logged into your account also counts as sufficient engagement to keep your account safe from deletion.

For users who have multiple or secondary Gmail accounts, it's crucial to ensure all accounts are active. The consequences of failing to do so could be the permanent loss of emails, photos, documents, and other important data tied to the account.

While the policy is meant to streamline account management, it serves as a reminder for users to stay engaged with their Gmail and Google services. A simple login or basic activity is enough to keep your account from being deleted under the new rules.

4-Hour GOAT Torture: Audience Thankfully Escaped

By M9 Updated 17:20 September 09, 2024

Vijay’s highly anticipated The Greatest Of All Time (The GOAT) hit theatres on September 5th, but the film has received mixed reactions from both critics and audiences. Despite the excitement surrounding its release, the movie’s weak narration and excessive length have left many feeling underwhelmed, reducing it to an average entertainer.

The GOAT runs for a hefty 3 hours and 3 minutes, which has played a significant role in its lackluster performance. Long runtimes often impact a film’s reception negatively, and this was no exception. After Maharaja! Shankar’s Indian 2, with a similar runtime, faced the same issue, reinforcing the belief that lengthy films struggle to maintain audience engagement. Now, an update about the movie’s OTT release is trending on social media.

Reports suggest that the director’s cut of The GOAT runs an even more staggering 3 hours and 45 minutes. Thankfully, this extended version is slated for an OTT release, sparing theatergoers from enduring nearly 4 hours of content. Many believe that directors can sometimes become overly attached to their creations, losing objectivity and neglecting to trim unnecessary scenes. This self-indulgence leads to bloated runtimes that exhaust viewers. The theatrical release of The GOAT was already deemed torturous by many—imagine if the extended version had made it to the big screen! It would have been a nightmare for audiences.

Netizens have been vocal on social media, expressing relief that this extended version will be released on OTT platforms, where viewers can fast-forward through unwanted scenes. Critics and fans alike argue that directors need to focus on concise storytelling, pacing their films effectively instead of treating every project like an untouchable masterpiece.

Read more at: https://www.m9.news/tamil-movie-news/4-hour-goat-torture-audience-thankfully-escaped/