IAS reshuffle: Pradeep Yadav is secy to Udhaya

IAS reshuffle: Pradeep Yadav is secy to Udhaya 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 03.10.2024 

Chennai : State govt on Tuesday carried out a reshuffle of senior officers, posting additional chief secretary Pradeep Yadav as secretary to deputy chief minister Udhayanidhi Stalin. An order to this effect was issued by chief secretary N Muruganandam. 

K Gopal has been appointed secretary of higher education department. Rajesh Lakhoni is now commissioner of revenue administration and disaster management, replacing P Amudha, who held the additional charge.

 Satyabrata Sahoo, the chief electoral officer, will now hold the full additional charge of post of secretary of animal husbandry, dairying, fisheries, and fishermen welfare until further orders. 

BC, MBC, and minorities welfare secretary C Vijayaraj Kumar would hold full additional charge as secretary of human resources management, replacing Nanthakumar. Nanthakumar has been appointed chairman and managing director of TNEB and Tangedco.

 V Amuthavalli would steer handlooms, handicrafts, textiles, and khadi department as secretary. Dharmendra Pratap Yadav has been named chair man and managing director of TN Small Industries Corporation Limited. S Swarna has been posted as state project director of Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan.

 E Sundaravalli and R Lilly would serve as commissioners of collegiate education and social welfare. Vishnu Chandran has been designated as director of employment and training and R Lalitha director of textiles.

19 govt school students get MBBS seats in the state

19 govt school students get MBBS seats in the state 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  03.10.2024 

Chennai : At least 19 govt school students, in addition to 680 candidates under the 7.5% quota meant for them, secured MBBS seats in Tamil Nadu in 2023, state directorate of medical education said. Officials said there were 8,316 medical seats available under the state quota in 2023, of which 683 MBBS and BDS seats were allotted to govt school students under the 7.5% quota. Besides these, 78 students from govt schools secured admission in various medical colleges, including govt quota seats in selffinancing colleges, a senior official said. “Of the 78 students, four of them got it under the disability quota, nine students secured admissions in govt medical colleges, and six of them secured MBBS seats in self-financing medical colle ges. The remaining 59 got admission to BDS seats. One among them was allotted a seat in a govt college,” the official said.

 Experts noted that the performance of govt school students has improved over the last four years. When NEET came into force, the number of govt school students entering medical college dropped to less than 10. The cut-off for medical admissions has been increasing under all categories, making admissions challenging each year. The number of repeaters securing seats under these quotas is also very high. In 2024, almost all the top 10 candidates in the 7.5% quota were repeaters, and the average number of repeaters ingovt school quota is nearly 80%. Data also showed that students from state board syllabus fared almost at par with CBSE students. For in stance, 4,140 students who secured seats were from CBSE, 4,030 students were from the state board, and 39 others were from other boards. However, the directorate warns that not all information it has is verified.

 “We had sought information from students on whether they attended NEET coaching in private tutorials. We wanted this information for policy matters. Many students told us they haven’t attended, and we are unable to verify this,” the official said.  In 2023, 3,248 candidates who secured admissions said they did not attend NEET coaching, while 3,248 students said they attended coaching. “While we can verify the school, board, or if they are repeaters, there is no registry to check if they took private coaching. It is selfdeclared information,” he added.

NEWS TODAY 02.10.2024

 

King cobra sighted in Chanakyapuri, a first for capital

King cobra sighted in Chanakyapuri, a first for capital

Priyangi.Agarwal@timesofindia.com 02.10.2024 

New Delhi : The forest and wildlife department rescued a king cobra that was spotted in a tree in Chanakyapuri on Tuesday. Forest officials said this was the first sighting of a king cobra in Delhi. Since the venomous snake was found outside the under-construction Uttarakhand Bhawan, officials suspect the cobra may have travelled in a vehicle from Uttarakhand carrying construction material. 

The snake is listed as a vulnerable species on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species. Rajesh Tandon, deputy range officer of the west wildlife division, said, “After we received information that a snake had been spotted, we immediately reached the spot. The king cobra, around 10 feet long, had climbed a tree.” The forest department contacted Delhi Fire Services for two fire tenders. 

The wildlife team used the hydraulic ladder from the fire tenders to reach the branch where the cobra had taken shelter. Using a snake hook, the team successfully rescued the snake. “It was a challenging rescue operation,” said Tandon. A video of the rescue operation, which is circulating on social media, shows a crowd clapping in appreciation after the snake was safely removed. Several residents in the area watched the rescue from their balconies. 

The king cobra is currently being kept at a forest department rescue facility. “This was the first sighting of a king cobra in Delhi. It is believed the reptile crawled into a vehicle from Uttarakhand and ended up in Delhi,” said Tandon. He added that the snake would be released into Rajaji National Park in Uttarakhand, as Delhi is not its natural habitat. 

Gaurav Barhadiya, assistant professor in the environmental studies department at Ramanujan College, University of Delhi, noted that Uttarakhand has a growing population of king cobras. “Over the years, the population of king cobras in Uttarakhand has increased, with sightings in Dehradun, Mussoorie, and other areas. It seems that this king cobra took shelter in a vehicle to regulate its temperature and travelled to Delhi,” said Barhadiya, who has been studying snakes in Delhi for 10 years. He added, “We don’t have any king cobras in Delhi at all. The city is not a habitat for king cobras."

Airline fined ₹75k for delayed return of passenger’s baggage

Airline fined ₹75k for delayed return of passenger’s baggage

Vineet.Upadhyay@timesofindia.com

02.10.2024

 New Delhi : Holding an international airline liable for deficiency in service, a Delhi consumer court recently directed it to pay Rs 75,000 for misplacing a passenger’s check-in baggage and returning it after several days. “...It is clear that the bag of the complainant, which was rather a check-in baggage, was misplaced and was handed over to the complainant in Delhi at her given address on June 7, 2016. We find that this is a deficiency of service on part of the opposite party (Etihad Airways), as it caused great inconvenience to the complainant due to delay in getting her clothes, etc,” stated the coram comprising president Sangeeta Dhingra Sehgal and member JP Agrawal of Delhi State Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission. 

Asha Devi, the complainant, had alleged that valuable items, including Rs 30 lakh in cash and 30 grams of gold, had also been misplaced. However, the commission found no merit in this aspect and stated that Devi had failed to declare the high-value items, including money and jewellery, at the airport. Devi had purchased an Etihad Airways ticket to travel from Sweden to Delhi on June 1, with layovers in Berlin and Abu Dhabi. During her stop at the Berlin airport, her flight was upgraded to business class. 

On boarding from the airport, her bag was relocated to a different area due to a lack of space in the overhead compartment. After reaching Delhi, she was unable to find her bag. Following several attempts, she submitted a “Lost Cabin Baggage” application and was given a carbon copy of the form. Nearly a week later, her bag wrapped in plastic was returned to her. She claimed when she unwrapped the bag, her money, a gold chain and locket, a wristwatch, and a mobile phone among other items were allegedly missing. Etihad Airways personnel were contacted by her to resolve the issue. However, she alleged that no action was taken. Etihad Airways submitted before the court that Devi’s allegations were fabricated. The airline  argued that Devi should have approached “Air Berlin” whose crew had allegedly relocated her bag.

HC confirms death for man who killed mother, ‘cooked’ organs

HC confirms death for man who killed mother, ‘cooked’ organs

 Swati.Deshpande@timesofindia.com

02.10.2024 

Mumbai : Bombay HC on Tuesday confirmed the death penalty for a man who was convicted in 2021 of killing his 60-year-old mother on Aug 28, 2017, in Kolhapur, holding that the “grotesque” murder was premeditated. “Apart from the extreme brutality, cruelty and barbarism with which the convict had murdered his mother in a cold-blooded manner, one cannot turn a Nelson’s eye to the fact that his conduct was akin to cannibalism and, therefore, he could be a potential threat and danger to the inmates in the jail, in case a sentence of life imprisonment is awarded,” said a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan. 

The convict, Sunil Rama Kuchkoravi, was 35 when he stabbed his mother with knives and a ‘sattur’, cutting her neck and other parts, said HC. “It was... grotesque murder of a hapless, helpless and fragile old mother by her son,” it said. “It was indeed a cold-blooded and preplanned murder. The convict used to pick quarrels with his mother over his demand of money for liquor.” 

The judgment observed, “The convict had almost eviscerated the inner parts of the body of the deceased and was about to proceed further to place some of the parts in the kitchen on a stove with chilli powder and salt. It can be easily inferred from all the circumstances as to what might have been cooking in his mind.” His social integration is unquestionably foreclosed, HC said, while upholding the death sentence.The trial court had held that the prosecution examined 12 witnesses and produced proof to nail the convict in the case based on circumstantial evidence. The sessions court also held it to be the “rarest of rare cases”, a prerequisite to hand out a death sentence.

Guest worker treated for starvation succumbs at Chennai hosp

Guest worker treated for starvation succumbs at Chennai hosp 

02.10.2024

Chennai : A 35-year-old man — one of five guest workers from West Bengal who collapsed due to starvation at Dr MGR Chennai Central Railway Station a fortnight ago — died on Monday despite intensive care at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH). Doctors said acute renal failure, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and sepsis caused the death of the worker, Samar Khan. Twelve workers came to Chennai in search of agricultural work but decided to leave as they did not find jobs. On Sept 15, when they were at MGR Central Railway Station waiting to board a train for their home state, five people who had not eaten for a long time fainted. 

GRP identified them as Asit Pandit (47), Ganesh Midha (52), Manik Ghoroi (50), Samar Khan and Sathya Pandit (42), rushed them to RGGGH, where doctors said some of them hadn’t eaten for nearly six days. On admission, they had low blood pressure and their levels of creatinine — a waste product that comes from the breakdown of muscle tissue and the digestion of protein in food — were high, indicating poor kidney function. They were wheeled into the ICU and treated since Sept 16 for acute gastroenteritis and renal failure.