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Tuesday, October 1, 2024

Foundation Day: PSG IMS&R confers honour on four alumni

The awardees with the dignitaries at the Foundation Day celebrations of PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research in the city on Monday.

The Hindu Bureau

COIMBATORE 1.10.2024

The Foundation Day celebrations of PSG Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (PSG IMS&R) here on Monday was marked by conferment of Distinguished Alumnus Scroll of Honour on four old students.

The awardees constituted Urmila Soman, Lead Consultant, Minimally Invasive Gynaecology, Apollo Adlux Hospital, Kochi; M Malarvizhi, Professor & Head of Department of Medical Gastroenterology, Kilpauk Medical College, Chennai; M Ganesh, Chief Gastroenterologist & Chairman, SG Gastro Care, Coimbatore; and S. Saravana Kumar, Senior & Lead Consultant, Department of Obesity & Diabetic Center, GEM Hospital, Coimbatore.

The institution has been celebrating its Foundation Day in commemoration of its start in 1985 as one among the three medical colleges permitted by the State government for the first time.

Felicitating the awardees, Surgical Gastroenterologist J. S. Rajkumar, Chairman and Chief SurgeonatLifelineGroup of Hospitals, Kilpauk, Chennai, recalled the illustrious legacy of PSG and Sons Charities, and its profound impact on society through providing essential healthcare services, education, environmental conservation, community empowerment, and preserving and promoting cultural heritage.

Presiding over the function, Managing Trustee of PSG & Sons Charities Trust, L Gopalakrishnan, recalled that the healthcare initiative began with the setting up of the rural health centre at Vedapatti 50 years ago.

The institute has consistently been ranked the top 50 among medical schools as per the National Institute ranking framework, he said, appreciating the alumni for offering mentorship and sharing their best practices with students and the faculty.

Principal of the institution T. M. Subba Rao, and Vice-Principal G. Sumithra also spoke.

When Jaggi Vasudev’s daughter is married and well-settled in life, why is he encouraging other women to live like hermits, ask Madras High Court judges

Mohamed Imranullah S.

CHENNAI 01.10.2024

When Jaggi Vasudev, alias Sadhguru, of Isha Foundation had got his daughter married and ensured that she was well-settled in life, why was he encouraging other young women to tonsure their heads, renounce worldly life, and live like hermits at his yoga centres, asked Justices S.M. Subramaniam and V. Sivagnanam of the Madras High Court on Monday.

The judges raised the question during the hearing of a habeas corpus petition filed by S. Kamaraj, 69, a retired professor of the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University in Coimbatore. The petitioner had claimed that two of his well-educated daughters, aged 42 and 39, respectively, had been “brainwashed” into living at the Isha Yoga Centre permanently. Both the alleged detainees, however, appeared before the Division Bench on Monday and made it clear that they were residing at the yoga centre on the Velliangiri foothills in Coimbatore of their own volition.

Nevertheless, after interacting with them, the judges decided to probe the issue further.

Surprised by their decision, advocate K. Rajendra Kumar, representing Isha Foundation, said the court could not expand the scope of the case. However, Justice Subramaniam said the court, exercising the writ jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, was expected to do complete justice, and it was necessary to get to the bottom of the case.

The judge also said the court had certain doubts regarding the case. When the advocate sought to know what they were, Justice Sivagnanam said, “We want to know why a person who had given his daughter in marriage and made her settle well in life is encouraging the daughters of others to tonsure their heads and live the life of a hermitess.”

When the advocate replied that an adult was free to choose their own path in life, and that he could not understand the court’s doubt, Justice Subramaniam said, “You will not understand because you are appearing for a particular party. But this court is neither for nor against anybody. We only want to do justice to the litigants.”

When the petitioner’s daughters sought to make their submissions, the senior judge in the Bench said, “You claim to be on the path of spirituality. Don’t you think that neglecting your parents is a sin? We could see so much of hatred in you for your parents.”

On being told by the petitioner’s counsel, M. Purushothaman, that there were multiple criminal cases involving Isha Foundation, and that recently, a doctor serving there had been booked under the POCSO Act, the judges directed Additional Public Prosecutor E. Raj Thilak to file a status report by October 4, listing all the cases related to the foundation.

In his affidavit, the petitioner said his elder daughter had obtained her engineering degree in mechatronics in 2003 and pursued M.Tech from a popular university in the U.K. She got a job in the same university and was drawing around ₹1 lakh a month in 2004. She married a man based out of the U.S. in 2007, but they got divorced in 2008. She then began attending yoga classes at Isha Foundation.

Following in her footsteps, the petitioner’s younger daughter, a software engineer, began residing at the yoga centre, the petitioner said. He said that life had been “hell” for him and his 63-year-old wife ever since their daughters “abandoned” them. He alleged that some kind of food and medicine was being administered to his daughters, which made them lose their cognitive faculties.

A talented student should not be left in the lurch: SC

CJI Directs IIT-Dhanbad To Admit Him

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesofindia.com 1.10.2024

New Delhi : Invoking its extraordinary power under Article 142 of the Constitution to do complete justice, Supreme Court on Monday came to the rescue of a dalit boy who could not get admission in IIT-Dhanbad because he could not pay the admission fee of ₹17,500 on time to secure his seat. Observing that ‘it cannot allow such a talented boy to go away’ and miss the opportunity after cracking the tough entrance exam, a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra directed that the petitioner be admitted to the electrical engineering course in IIT-Dhanbad.

It directed the institute to create an additional seat to accommodate him without disturbing other students who have been admitted. “We are affirmatively of the view that a talented student like the petitioner should not be left in the lurch. The power of the court under Article 142 of the Constitu tion to do complete justice is to address such situations,” the SC said in its order and directed that the petitioner be admitted in the same batch in which he would have been taken in and be given all consequential benefits such as hostel admission.

Eighteen-year-old Atul Kumar had moved SC as the last resort after he missed the deadline to pay the requisite fee. He had earlier approached National Commission for Scheduled Castes, Jharkhand Legal Services Authority and Madras high court to save his hard-earned seat but failed to get relief. Atul moved SC whose intervention ensured that he will be able to pursue his engineering dream in IIT Dhanbad. The counsel appearing for the IIT Seat Allocation Authority opposed Kumar’s plea saying that his login details indicated that he was getting all information regarding the date and time for making payments and he was well aware of the requirement and the deadline. He said that all the students were informed about the need to make the payment on the date of mock interview, much prior to the last date. The Authority said that the student was sent repeated reminders through SMS and WhatsApp and he should not take a stand that he was not aware about the due date.

The bench, however, told the authority that if the boy was receiving and responding to the messages then it showed that he was very diligent and concerned about the admission. It said that the real problem was that he could not manage the fee of ₹17,500 on time for online payment before the 5 pm deadline. “Why are you opposing so much? You should see if something could be done and find a way out,” the bench told the authority

3 doctors booked for MS student’s murder at UP hospital car parking

01.10.2024

Prayagraj : Three doctors of Swaroop Rani Nehru Hospital in Prayagraj have booked for the murder of an MS student, Dr Kartikeya Srivastava (29), who was found dead in his car parked in the campus late Saturday. Based on a complaint lodged by Kartikeya’s sister Aditi Srivastava, who is posted as superintendent of Bijnor district jail, an FIR has been lodged against an associate professor of orthopaedic department, Dr Sachin Yadav, and two junior residents under Section 103 (murder) of BNS.

They have also been accused of physical and mental torture of Kartikeya. Kartikeya was initially suspected to have died by suicide as a syringe and two empty vials of anaesthesia were found in the car. However, the postmortem report revealed that asphyxiation caused his death. The viscera has been preserved for further chemical analysis. According to his sister’s complaint, when Kartikeya was a junior resident, his senior and second year student Shivam Gupta harassed him mentally and physically. When he reported the matter to associate professor Sachin Yadav, instead of taking corrective measures, he also harassed her brother mentally

Corporation staff made to work at houses of IAS officers: Ramadoss seeks action

The TN government must take strict action against these IAS officers concerned and others involved," he said.

PMK founder S Ramadoss

Express News Service

27 Sep 2024,

VILLUPURAM/CHENNAI: PMK founder S Ramadoss on Thursday urged TN government to act against IAS officers for making Chennai Corporation employees work at their homes to carry out personal chores. "There have been reports that two IAS officers made corporation workers perform household tasks and care for elderly kin.

These workers are employed by the corporation, and their salaries are paid from public taxes. The TN government must take strict action against these IAS officers concerned and others involved," he said.

AIADMK’s IT wing secretary Raj Sathyan, too, in a post on ‘X’, questioned the Chennai Corporation administration over the impropriety.

The TNIE, in a special report on Wednesday, had exposed how 29 sanitary workers and staff nurses from 13 of Chennai’s Urban Primary Health Centres (UPHCs) have been ordered to skip their regular duty and instead work in shifts at the homes of these two senior IAS officers.

While one officer is a Principal Secretary, who has served as Commissioner of the GCC in the past, the other has served in four departments under the present state government. TNIE has independently verified that at least one worker reported for work at the former's address located on the ground floor of a two-storey apartment in Anna Nagar F Block.

GCC officials have prepared unsigned rosters listing staff names, their phone numbers, and the date and time during which they need to report for work at the specific address until the end of October. A WhatsApp group was also created for coordinating the work.

Probe ordered after doc leaves needle inside girl’s head in UP

‘CHC MEDIC WAS UNDER INFLUENCE OF ALCOHOL'

Krishna Chaudhary TNN 01.10.2024

Meerut : A govt doctor at a community health centre (CHC) in UP allegedly left an inch-long surgical needle inside the head of an 18-year-old girl while stitching up a deep cut she suffered during a scuffle with neighbours at Garh in Hapur. After her family raised the matter, Hapur chief medical officer (CMO) Dr Sunil Tyagi constituted a two-member team on Monday to probe the incident.

The girl’s mother, Meena Begum, said the doctor at the CHC was “under the influence of alcohol, and it was due to sheer negligence that her daughter, Sitara (known by her first name), suffered so much”. She added: “We don't want a similar situation to happen to anyone else. We want immediate action against the doctor.” Tyagi said they came to know about the matter via media and refuted the family’s allegations that the CHC doctor was ‘inebriated’. He added: “No doctor in this district consumes alcohol... We’ll initiate necessary steps once we get the probe findings.” Soon after the procedure, Sitara started experiencing excruciating pain whenever she moved her head and neck.

As the pain continued, her kin took her to a local private hospital on Sunday. There, once the stitches were removed, to the shock of everyone around, they found a surgical needle inside the girl’s head.

US opens 2.5L visa interviews in India amid surging demand

Saurabh.Sinha@timesofindia.com 01.10.2024

New Delhi : The US embassy has opened an additional 2.5 lakh visa appointments for Indian citizens to “facilitate timely interviews and streamline the travel process.” The US has been taking a number of steps since late 2021 to cut waiting period for interviews, following a postCovid surge in visa applications across all categories. But the sheer volumes meant a waiting period of over a year for interview required for visitor visa in many US missions in India.

However, there has been a significant improvement from a wait of almost three years witnessed in end-2021. This year, for instance, a record number of student visas has been issued, for the fourth time in a row. While the exact number is not yet known, it is more than the over 1.4 lakh student visas issued last year — which was the most for any country globally then. “During our student visa season this (2024) summer, we processed record numbers, and all firsttime student applicants were able to obtain an appointment at one of our five consular sections around India,” the US Embassy said Monday.

The 2.5 lakh visa appointments were opened as the US missions in India crossed 10 lakh nonimmigrant visa applications for the second consecutive year. Over 12 lakh Indians travelled to the US in 2024, representing a 35% increase from the same period in 2023. And 60 lakh Indians hold valid non-immigrant visas, with thousands more being issued daily, the embassy said. Speaking about the collaborative efforts between PM Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden to expedite the visa process, US ambassador to India Eric Garcetti said: “PM Modi and President Biden set an ambitious goal to improve and expedite the visa process and we have delivered on that promise. Our consular teams at the embassy and four consulates work tirelessly to ensure that we meet the surging demand.”

The US visa demand is so high that the wait period for an interview-required visitor visa was 477 days in Kolkata, 466 in Delhi, 433 in Chennai, 352 in Hyderabad and 312 in Mumbai (as on last Thursday as per US State Dept website).