From a quiet island to the hustle and bustle of tinsel town

Sindhu.Viijayakumar@timesgroup.com

TOI 07.02.2019

Actress Sonia Vikram has reasons to smile. The television serial, Azhagi, which was aired on a popular TV channel for about five years, is now being aired online. All thanks to the popularity of her character, Divya. Sonia talks to us about her foray into television and her Kollywood debut...

She’d never ever dreamt of being an actor. For, in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where she hails from, entertainment meant watching Hindi serials, she recalls.

However, it was a chance meeting with a film crew that piqued her interest and led her to pursue a career as an actor. “Life on the island is totally different from that here (Chennai). It’s a very small place, with very few people, and everyone knows one another. My dad is a businessman and I have two elder brothers. But dad’s word is the law in our family. Unfortunately, one of my brothers went missing and that kind of messed up things in the family. Everything went topsy-turvy and, that was the time that I was spotted by a film crew that was on a location hunt on the island.”

Sonia says that she was on her way to the school, and was waiting for the bus at a stop close to her house when a film crew passed by in a car.

“Spotting me, they reversed the car and asked me whether I would be interested in acting in a film. And that is how it all began,” says Sonia.


SONIA VIKRAM

‘My dream is now coming true’

“I was scared and told them to contact my parents. With the help of a known person, they reached home and tried convincing my dad. My dad was furious and said no immediately. For people on the island, the entertainment industry is not something that they want their children to be in. But the film’s crew didn’t lose hope. They kept visiting us along with their family members. Meanwhile, my dad fell ill and just as family members do, the crew called on my father. Though that gave my family some confidence in them, they still didn’t allow me to go to Chennai.”

After a year, with the support of her mother, Sonia decided to come to Chennai, after all. “By this time, we had come to know that my brother was in Chennai, and I assured my mother that I will find him and bring him back. I think she agreed to send me only because of that.”

However, Chennai was totally different from what she had imagined, she says. “When I came here, I realised life can be harsh. I had a very secure and protected upbringing on the island. My relative, who I thought would give me shelter, refused to accommodate me, and I found myself on the streets.”

With no support and money, she was stranded. But she says that she didn’t want to let her parents know about her plight, or return to the island. “I found a hostel and started staying there and got in touch with the film’s crew. Through their reference, I got in touch with the TV industry. Soon, I started getting offers for doing television serials. My first serial was Vellai Thamarai, in which I played the female lead. In the soap, they kept my name for my character, too,” she recalls.

However, it was Azhagi and Munthanai Mudichu that propelled Sonia to stardom. “I played Divya in Azhagi and my character’s name was Meena in Munthanai Mudichu. Both the characters became very popular that people almost forgot my original name,” she chuckles.

Sonia got married to Vikram, a businessman, in 2015. “Not many could attend the wedding, since it was at that time the flood ravaged Chennai,” she says.

Sonia says she realised the power of her characters and the reach of television, while on a visit to a temple in Maharashtra. “One woman saw me praying at Shirdi and recognised me. And by the time we reached Shani Shingnapur, she had assembled a contingent and all of them wanted to click photos with me. More than me, it were my in-laws who were proud of my popularity,” she says. Recalling another incident when an old man came and hit her, she says, “I was picking up some knick-knacks at a shop. All of a sudden, an old man came running and punched me on the head. I didn’t know what was happening. My husband came to my rescue and when questioned, the man said that he was upset that in the previous episode I had said I am committing suicide. ‘Thappu illa adhellam? Eppudi Divya nee appadi sollalam?’ was his argument.”

After doing several powerful roles in nearly a dozen television serials for various channels, Sonia says she decided to take a break. “I was shooting three to four schedules per day, and it took a toll on my health.”

However, the actress in her doesn’t want to call it quits. “I left Andaman to act in films and now that dream is close to being realised. I will be playing a surrogate mother in Thaayme, a film directed by Samaran.”

It’s a strong role, she says, “In fact, the director asked me to choose the role. It’s a female-centric movie and there are two female lead characters. But I found the second lead more challenging and opted for that,” she says.

Sonia is happy that she has found a foothold in the entertainment industry and has made her parents and her entire island proud. “I am the first one from the island to enter the television industry. They have all subscribed to Tamil television channels, thanks to my serials, and they keep sending me their wishes and feedback.”

Before signing off, she says, “Though my dad doesn’t show it, I know that he is super proud of me. Also, I have reached out to my brother, and soon, I hope, we will all be one happy family again.”


SONIA VIKRAM

SPOTTING ME, THEY REVERSED THE CAR AND ASKED ME WHETHER I WOULD BE INTERESTED IN ACTING IN A FILM

THOUGH MY DAD DOESN’T SHOW IT, I KNOW THAT HE IS SUPER PROUD OF ME. ALSO, I HAVE REACHED OUT TO MY BROTHER, AND SOON, I HOPE, WE WILL ALL BE ONE HAPPY FAMILY AGAIN WHEN I CAME TO CHENNAI, I REALISED LIFE CAN BE HARSH. I HAD A VERY PROTECTED UPBRINGING ON THE ISLAND. HERE, MY RELATIVE, WHO I THOUGHT WOULD GIVE ME SHELTER, REFUSED TO ACCOMMODATE ME

I’m now more grateful towards life; I thought I had lost it: Manisha

World Cancer Day just went by on Feb 4, but Manisha Koirala says her journey of fighting the disease is something she remembers every day

Madhu Daithota  : TOI 07.02.2019

Fans still swoon over the image of her running in an ethereal blue dress in Tu Hi Re from Bombay at the picturesque Bekal Fort located on the Kasargod-Karnataka border. “But I had been coming to Karnataka much before that film. In fact, I’ve been coming to Bengaluru for shoots since my third film. Yalgaar was one of the earliest films I shot for here, which I have fond memories of,” says Manisha Koirala. However, her visit to silicon city this time was about showcasing her true grit. Having successfully battled ovarian cancer, Manisha was there on World Cancer Day (February 4) to share her remarkable tale of recovery. “Like every person who’s just been informed of their illness, I was also not in a state of mind to accept it. My family was shaken up. As a celebrity, there’s often a dilemma about whether or not to share the news of your illness with the public. It’s an individual choice, but I wanted to share it and that helped build a wider support system,” says Manisha.


Manisha Koirala

Value yourself and look after yourself, says Manisha

Manisha adds, “At the time I was diagnosed with ovarian cancer, there wasn’t anybody whom I could look to for inspiration and that’s when I resolved to come out with my truth and speak to the world.”

From battling stigma attached to cancer and her capability to work in the initial days of being diagnosed, to playing a cancer victim as Nargis in the recent Sanjay Dutt biopic, Sanju, Manisha’s come a long way. “Of course, having gone through such a tough journey, when I was offered a role in Sanju, I was in a quandary. For one, I had to play the legendary Nargisji. I also had to relive painful memories. I accepted the film with a little apprehension, but it was just one scene where the cancer is actually spoken about, so I managed to deal with it,” adds Manisha. However, with her trademark smile, the actor confesses that cancer has bestowed her with three gifts. “The first is to value yourself and look after yourself. The second is gratitude towards life, which I thought I had lost. The third is to cherish your family and loved ones, who stand by you in your toughest times,” Manisha signs off.


Manisha Koirala

WHEN I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER, THERE WASN’T ANYBODY WHO I COULD LOOK TO FOR INSPIRATION AND THAT’S WHEN I RESOLVED TO COME OUT WITH MY TRUTH AND SPEAK TO THE WORLD

— Manisha Koirala

Absentmindedness may signal ‘silent stroke’ risk

Toronto:07.02.2019  TOI

People who frequently lose their train of thought or often become sidetracked may be displaying earlier symptoms of cerebral small vessel disease, also known as a “silent stroke”, a study warns.

The study, published in ‘Neurobiology of Aging’, found that adults with damage to the brain’s white matter, caused by silent strokes, reported poor attentiveness and being distracted more frequently on day-to-day tasks.

Despite these complaints, about half of the people with identified white matter damage scored within the normal range on formal laboratory assessments of attention and executive function.

“Our results indicate that in many cases of people who were at a higher risk of silent stroke and had one, they saw a notable difference in their ability to stay focused, even before symptoms became detectable through a neuropsychological test,” said Ayan Dey from the University of Toronto.

Cerebral small vessel disease is one of the most common neurological disorders of aging. This type of stroke are connected to the development of vascular dementia and a higher risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

The strokes are “silent” since they do not cause lasting major changes seen with an overt stroke, such as affecting a person’s ability to speak or paralysis. Despite a lack of obvious symptoms, cerebral small vessel disease causes damage to the brain’s white matter (responsible for communication among regions), which can cause memory and cognitive issues over time.

“There are no effective treatments for Alzheimer’s, but brain vascular changes can be prevented through smoking cessation, exercise, diet and stress management, and keeping one’s blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol under control,” said an expert. PTI

Double whammy: Students return from US only to stare at loan burden

Sudipta.Sengupta@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:07.02.2019

After battling the trauma of detention, it’s the fear of being sucked into a severe financial crisis that’s come to haunt students from the sham University of Farmington — most of them from Telangana and Andhra Pradesh — who were forced to fly out of the US earlier this week. With little or no savings, and a bleak career ahead, these students fear that their families might even lose the bank guarantees, they had taken loans against, to travel to America. Worse, bank officials are now mounting pressure on them toclear thedebt assoon as possible, the amount ranging from anywhere from ₹20 lakh to₹40 lakh.

Speaking to TOI, these distraught students said they are now scurrying around to find jobs in Hyderabad, even if that means drawing meagre salaries of ₹15,000 to₹20,000.

“The branch manager called my father (an employee of a Nalgonda-based chit-fund company), soon after I returned, and told him to pay off the loan in the next four months. Else, they’ll forfeit our land that we gave as surety,” said L B Nagar-based Ramesh* who was arrested on January 29 and kept at a detention centre in San Josefor closeto48 hours. Ramesh went to the US in 2014, to pursue a master’s degree from the Northwestern Polytechnic University (NPU). While he managed to work on an OPT (Optional Practical Training)for a brief while,earning $3,200 a month, he had to quit when the university’s STEM programme lost accreditation.

“Because my H1B application wasn’t picked in the lottery, friends suggested I enrol with Farmington and find another job under CPT (Curricular Practical Training). This was the best option because the feewaslow anditofferedinstalment facility. Little did I know that I’d end up in jail and be left with nothing ultimately,” said Ramesh, who has to pay ₹28 lakh (principal and interest).

Narayana* is sailing in the same boat. While he managed to escape detention, the Mahbubnagar boy had to return to India almost overnight, with ₹10 lakh loan (he paid a part of it) hanging over his head. His deadline: June 2019.

(*All names changed on request)

Not taking chances

Following the Farmington fiasco, Indian students enrolled with other US universities offering Day 1 CPT are also taking the next flight back. While there has been no crackdown on these varsities, students do not wish to take a chance. This despite, some of these universities issuing notifications assuring students about their being no legal issue with the institutions. TNN

We have to start our careers all over again in India. That means we’ll need to settle for a beginner’s salary, which won’t be enough to cover our EMIs. Now, I have to pay a monthly instalment of ₹52,000 towards my loan. I have no idea how I’ll do this. Our only hope is the central government

Prakash | STUDENT FROM HYDERABAD

PUSHING INNOVATION, ONE CITATION AT A TIME

Here’s Why Two TN Scientists Are In The Elite Club Of Most Referred Researchers

U.Tejonmayam@timesgroup.com

07.02.2019

More than a decade ago, applied mathematician R Sakthivel spent hours in a robotics laboratory in South Korea rolling out an algorithm that would go on to improve sensors that act as the eye of robots. A year before that, in 2007, Rajnish Kumar, a research scholar in University of British Columbia, Canada, published a paper along with his supervisors on the process of capturing carbon dioxide before exhaust gases are released into the atmosphere from coal-based thermal power stations.

A few months ago, Sakthivel, a mathematics professor at Bharathiar University in Coimbatore, and Kumar, an associate professor of chemical engineering at Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, reached a milestone that only a handful of Indian researchers managed to achieve. Over the years, their research had helped several more who were working on similar topics. They were among the 10 in the country and two from Tamil Nadu to be named world’s most ‘influential’ and ‘highly-cited’ researchers in 2018. The list released by the firm Clarivate Analytics in its fifth edition selected 4,000 researchers from across the world. The two scientists are now part of the elite 0.1% of researchers, who have made it to the list based on their citations.

Recognized twice in a row, Sakthivel’s work to improve performance of low-cost sonar sensors that acts as an eye or ‘pathfinder’ for robots was cited 196 times. From military operations, to aiding surgeries and for vacuum cleaners, the algorithm is used in diverse fields. “Though sonar sensors are 25% cheaper than laser sensors, they work like the eye of a 75-year-old, while laser ones are like that of a 25-year-old. Hence, sonar sensors require constant improvement,” said the mathematician, who has more than 6,700 citations to his credit from the 265 published papers.

Kumar’s insight on carbon dioxide recovery was cited more than 284 times. “When you burn coal, you may use the energy to heat water or produce electricity. A lot of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and oxygen are released in the process. Now with checks on carbon dioxide, and the Paris agreement restricting its release into the atmosphere, my work on separating the gas before release into the air becomes a turning point,” he explains.

Areas like energy, carbon dioxide capture, water and nano materials, which have a direct impact on the day-to-day lives of the people, are cited often as more researchers are working on it to find solutions to these related issues. But for researchers to be recognized, it takes more than just one paper. “You need to have at least 10 papers that are highly ranked in reputed journals,” says Kumar. “For a researcher, success comes only years after you publish your first paper, because your citation count increases only when your area of research and the work done is considered important and others cite your paper.”

Sakthivel’s area of expertise goes beyond number crunching. Control Theory being one of his areas of research, he often collaborates with engineers to develop algorithms that can control and make a system work according to the requirements. “My algorithms can be used in robotics. In research, there are three stages — theoretical, simulation and experimental set up. To test the effectiveness of my algorithm, I compare it with the data from existing experimental setup,” he said.

Indian industries may not be ready yet to utilize the expertise of chemical engineers like Kumar, especially since the country is in a nascent stage in the field of manufacturing, unlike the US. But his work still reaches the common man. For instance, he was involved in producing biodiesel from sunflower oil using a chemical reaction with ethanol and methanol at very high temperatures (supercritical fluids). “Supercritical fluids act as a solvent as well as a catalyst. This was demonstrated for the first time for the synthesis of biodiesel and thus was cited heavily — around 260 times,” he says. Kumar is now involved in a long-term project on methane recovery from marine natural gas hydrates, which could meet the country’s requirement for the next two centuries.

In between producing quality research work, scientists also have to deal with several other challenges to get noticed in the international community. According to the professors, active collaboration and promotion are ways to do it. “In science individual achievement is almost impossible. Collaboration brings a different dimension to your research. You also have to actively promote your work through interactions and attending international conferences. Scientists won’t know your work and won’t cite your paper unless they have interacted with you,” says Kumar. Funding and lack of government support are other impediments in research. “I applied for Centre’s funding for a project, but it was rejected after the first review. There were no applied mathematicians in the committee that scrutinized the proposal. How will they understand my work,” he asks.

DISCUSSION TODAY
Conference to discuss embalming techniques

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.02.2019

Stiff and fragile cadavers preserved in sub-minimal temperatures at morgues dipped in cancer-causing chemicals may no longer vex medicos and surgical interns at medical schools as doctors will come together to discuss advanced embalming techniques using safe chemicals at the conference of society of clinical anatomists at Sri Ramachandra University on Thursday.

A team of embalming technicians from Australia and Japan will perform hands-on demonstration on methods that do not require formalin tanks.

At present, anatomy departments use concentrated formalin to embalm dead for dissection purposes. “They are stored in large tanks of 2500 litres formalin. These bodies become rigid and are frozen at about -24°C. It may not be easy for surgeons to use them for surgical demonstrations. Once they are put on the table for dissection, they last no more than six hours. They will have to be completely discarded,” said Dr T Vijay Sagar, head of department of anatomy, Sri Ramachandra Medical University.

Several developed countries are discouraging use of toxic formalin and have been looking for better ways for judicious use of cadavers. “The tissue consistency with the new chemicals is soft and it provides an almost life-like scenario for training purposes,” Dr Vijay Sagar said. The amount of formalin will be reduced by about 30% to 4% in the new technique.

Avoid hasty ‘Friday arrests’, Madras HC tells TN police

Wants Cops To Show Maturity In Probing

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.02.2019

Pull up your socks and show more quality and maturity in investigation techniques, the Madras high court has told the Tamil Nadu police, annoyed by the unnecessary anticipatory bail applications of those worried over hasty arrests, particularly ‘Friday’ arrests, by police.

“Police must understand that all criminal cases need not necessarily involve arrest of accused persons during investigation and an effective investigation can be done even otherwise. A change in attitude will bring down unnecessary filing of anticipatory bail petitions. This procedure can be effectively implemented in matrimonial disputes, commercial disputes, property disputes and other minor offences, to name a few. 

Ultimately, the aim is to top unnecessary/hasty/illegal arrests. These arrests normally take place on a Friday or a day prior to holidays to ensure that the accused does not come out on bail immediately. The popular euphemism is ‘Friday’ arrest,” Justice N Anand Venkatesh said.

Henceforth, in all anticipatory bail petitions filed before the high court where the offence concerned carries a punishment of up to seven years or below, police should instruct the public prosecutor whether they were going to arrest the accused without warrant or not. In such cases, the court will record the statement, and pass necessary orders, he said.

As for other cases where the police want to arrest the accused persons in the course of investigation, those anticipatory bail petitions will be dealt with by the high court on merits, Justice Anand Venkatesh added.

The court made the observations while granting bail to a relative of a man who was apprehended in connection with a case over causing cruelty to the man's wife.

Unnecessary arrests normally take place on a Friday or a day prior to holidays to ensure that the accused does not come out on bail immediately. The popular euphemism is ‘Friday arrest’

Justice N Anand Venkatesh

A FAILED SCRIPT

This director’s cut is a murder most foul
Tattoo On One Of The Hands Of The Deceased Helps Police Zero In On Husband

A.Selvaraj@timesgroup.com

07.02.2019

Dealing with a murder was not a new thing to him. But this time, the floor was not in a studio but at his 10*10 room in Jafferkhanpet and the plot was in real life. He was the protagonist and his estranged wife the victim.

Kollywood film director S R Balakrishnan, who murdered Sandhya on January 19 and was arrested on Tuesday, told police he smashed her head with a hammer after failing to convince her to give up her dream of becoming an actor.

Balakrishnan told police he cut up the body, scraped off the flesh, before twisting and twirling the bones and packing the parts into differed plastic covers that he sealed to ensure they didn’t fall out.

He made a few trips to dump the body parts — one to drop a bag in a bin behind Kasi theatre, another on the road leading towards Jafferkhanpet and yet another on the banks of the Adyar — all between 12.30am and 1am. While one bag, with three limbs, was discovered in a Pallikaranai dump on January 21, the second bag was found on Wednesday. The third and possibly a fourth are yet to be found.

After the disposal, he returned home, washed his blood-stained room clean and went to bed. Life had to be lived. He began watching TV and reading newspapers for ‘developments’ in the case. He called up his mother-in-law R Prasanna, of Thovazhai in Kanyakumari district, saying Sandhya had planned to travel abroad to take up a job. This was apparently to ensure her family would not lodge a missing complaint. Last week, Balakrishnan himself lodged a complaint with the Tuticorin police, saying his wife was missing.

The Tuticorin police then called Prasanna who said her daughter was in Chennai and if something had happened to her, it would bebecause of Balakrishnan.

Prasanna told police Balakrishna had never been loving toward Sandhya in 17 years of their marriage life, that he had tonsured her head so that no one would look at her.

After Balakrishnan’s arrest, police said they identified the woman with the help of a dragon tattoo on her limbs. When investigation officer Albin Raj questioned Balakrishnan, nothing in his answers created any suspicion. “We searched his mobile phone gallery for his wife’s photo but found none. Finally, we found a photo showing the tattoo on her limbs. It matched that found on a body part recovered from the dump yard.”

Balakrishnan initially denied any role in the death before finally admitting to the crime. “I didn’t like her acting. She didn’t pay heed to my plea. She spoke to many men. This pushed me into killing her on January 19,”he said.

On an earlier occasion, a police officer said, Sandhya had consumed an overdose of sleeping pills and attempted to end her life, as he was against her plan to take up acting. He rescued her and admitted her to a private hospital.

Temple board joins govt, backs entry of women to Sabarimala

SC Reserves Order On Plea Seeking Review

AmitAnand.Choudhary@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:07.02.2019

The Travancore Devasom Board (TDB), which manages Sabarimala temple, sprung a surprise by changing its stand and supporting entry of women in the “mensurating age” before the Supreme Court, which on Wednesday reserved orders on pleas seeking review of its ruling in favour of unrestricted entry of women.

The Kerala government said social harmony had been disturbed but this could not be a ground to allow an unconstitutional practice. Parties seeking a review argued the court should not intervene in a specific religious practice and that public opinion in the state had opposed the order on a significant scale.

The TDB told the court that it accepted the verdict that paved the way for all women to enter the temple.

In three and half hours of proceedings before a constitution bench of Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice R F Nariman, Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra, senior lawyers presented arguments in support and against 56 review petitions. The Devasom Board’s U-turn immediately held attention as it told the court that it would accept the verdict by which the gender barrier at Sabarimala temple was dismantled.

‘Lord Ayyappa, as a perpetual bachelor, has legal rights that must be respected’

Those opposing unrestricted entry of women have argued that the practice is specific to the Sabarimala shrine and enjoys the sanction of tradition while it does not apply to the deity’s other shrines. They said Lord Ayyappa, as a “perpetual bachelor”, has legal rights that must be respected in the case of Sabarimala.

The Board had led from the front when the apex court examined the constitutional validity of the practice by which women in the age group 10-50 years were barred. It had then submitted this is an essential part religious belief and justified ban on entry for female devotees of menstruating age to maintain purity of temple.

When senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for the Board, told the bench that the SC verdict was to ensure equal entitlement to men and women, it took everyone by surprise and Justice Indu Malhotra asked whether the Board has changed its stand. Dwivedi replied in affirmative and said the Board had already filed an application in this regard.

Opposing the review plea, Dwivedi said it was time for inclusion and women could not be denied rights to worship and society has to evolve to ensure they are treated equally as men in all walks of life including at religious places. He said that the people opposing the SC verdict should accept the judgment gracefully and allow entry of all women inside the temple.

Pressing for re-examination of the apex court’s September, 2018 verdict, senior advocates K Parasaran, V Giri, A M Singhvi and Shekhar Naphade said the court should have refrained from examining validity of a practice based on religious faith and belief. They said the entry of women in the age group of 10-50 was prohibited due to nature of deity and it was an internal matter of a community.

Naphade said it was not the jurisdiction of a court to decide what essential part of a religion is and it has to be decided by the community. Referring to protests in Kerala leading to law and order problem, he told the bench that social peace and harmony was disturbed in the aftermath of SC verdict. “The community has not accepted the verdict. Can court force its view on them? It is beyond the jurisdiction of the court,” he said.

Appearing for the state, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta said no case is made out for court to review its verdict. He admitted social harmony got disturbed but said it cannot be a ground to allow an unconstitutional practice of keeping women away.

For full report, www.toi.in

Meerut doctor is first in US to do robot-assisted lung reduction op

Ishita.Bhatia@timesgroup.com

Meerut:07.02.2019

A surgeon born and brought up in Meerut has achieved the feat of becoming the first in the US to perform a robot-assisted lung surgical procedure. Dr Ankit Bharat, 39, surgical director of the lung transplant programme at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, had successfully performed a robot-assisted lung volume reduction surgery in December 2018. The procedure removed diseased tissue within the lungs for the treatment of severe emphysema, which involves damage to the air sacs in the lungs due to which the body does not get the oxygen it needs.

Bharat studied till Class X in St Mary’s Academy here and completed his Class XII from Delhi Public School, RK Puram. He then studied medicine from Christian Medical College, Vellore, and went for further studies to the US in 2003. He completed his residency in general surgery and fellowship in thoracic surgery from Washington University. He has been working in the US ever since he completed his education.

The robotic procedure allows the surgeon to precisely remove the diseased portions of the lungs, which may reduce pain and scarring, lower the risk of infection and shorten recovery time compared to traditional robotic lung volume reduction surgery.

For full report, www.toi.in

PAN, Aadhaar linking mandatory for I-T returns: SC

New Delhi:07.02.2019

Putting to rest all doubt, the Supreme Court has said that linking PAN with Aadhaar is mandatory for filing of income tax returns.

A bench comprising Justices A K Sikri and S Abdul Nazeer said the top court has decided the matter and upheld Section 139AA of the Income Tax Act. The court’s order came on an appeal filed by the Centre against a Delhi high court ruling allowing Shreya Sen and Jayshree Satpute to file income tax returns for assessment year 2018-19 (financial year 2017-18), without linking their Aadhaar and PAN. There were some other individuals too who had been given relief last year.

“The aforesaid order was passed by the high court having regard to the fact that the matter was pending consideration in this court. Thereafter, this court has decided the matter and upheld the vires of section 139AA of the Income Tax Act. In view thereof, linkage of PAN with Aadhaar is mandatory,” the bench said. Sen and Satpute had filed their returns following the court order and the assessment has also been completed. The SC made it clear that for the current assessment year, returns have to be filed after linking PAN and the unique ID.

The order flows from the September 26 verdict, which declared Aadhaar legally valid and allowed its use getting subsidies as well as linking of PAN. While several taxpayers wanted to opt out of Aadhaar and did not want to link their PAN, the government has maintained that it is critical to ensure that individuals don’t evade taxes by holding multiple PANs. A majority of the PANs have already been linked to Aadhaar, government sources said. TNN

Video piracy: HC denies bail to five accused

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.02.2019

Asserting that video piracy is affecting the film industry globally and is spreading like a wildfire hitting collection of new movies, the Madras high court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to five accused, including two theatre owners, who allegedly pirated Tamil movie 'Raja Ranguski'.

"When a film is released, the first two weeks are crucial period for collection. If the movie's pirated video is uploaded on internet, immediately the box office collection would be spoiled and no one will visit theatres to watch the film," Justice G K Ilanthirayan said.

The issue pertains to a complaint filed by producer of the film M K S Vasanth on September 21, 2018 alleging that P Subramanian and S Geetha owners of Kavithalaya theatre in Karur in collusion with S Baskar, V Sivaraman, M Maheswaran illegally videographed the entire movie which was released in the theatre and uploaded it online through piracy websites including 'Tamilrockers'.

Based in the complaint, the intellectual property enforcement cell of Tamil Nadu police registered an FIR against the five for offences under sections 379, 380, 406, and 409 of IPC read with sections 63, 63B and 65 of the Copyright Act, and section 66B of the Information Technology Act.

Apprehending arrest in connection with the case the accused had approached the high court seeking to enlarge them in the event of arrest.

HC allows ICICI to recover ₹4k cr from Subhiksha

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.02.2019

The Madras high court has upheld the order of the Debts Recovery Appellate Tribunal (DRAT) permitting ICICI Bank Limited to recover defaulted loan dues of ₹4,066.93 crore from the nowdefunct retail chain — Subhiksha Trading Services Limited.

The first bench of Chief Justice V K Tahilramani and Justice M Duraiswamy passed the order while dismissing an appeal moved by Subhiksha managing director R Subramanian.

Subramanian argued the case as party-in-person after getting special permission from the court as he is currently lodged in Puzhal Central Prison in connection with a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act. During every hearing, Subramanian was produced by the prison authorities before the court enabling him to argue the case.

The issue pertains to an application moved by ICICI to recover defaulted loan dues from Subhiksha before the debts recovery tribunal (DRT). As the bank failed to produce certificate along with the computer generated bank statement, the DRT dismissed its plea.

ICICI moved the DRAT challenging the dismissal. On February 19, 2018 the appellate tribunal passed an order setting aside the dismissal and allowed the bank to proceed with recovering the dues.

Aggrieved, Subramanian moved the present appeal before the high court. He contended that the statement of accounts, produced by the bank without the certificate could not be taken on record as valid evidence. Therefore, the DRAT should not have interfered with the order. He further submitted that in the absence of the statement of accounts, the claim made by the bank is liable to be rejected.

Rejecting the arguments, the bench said: “In the case on hand, the petitioner has not raised any objection at the time of marking the document. Even, the entries made in the statement of accounts were also not disputed by the petitioner in any manner whatsoever.... Therefore, the petitioner cannot raise objections with regard to marking of the document at a later stage.”

It is needless to say that the bank is dealing with the public money and such a huge amount cannot be allowed to go unrecovered from the defaulting borrowers, the court added and dismissed the plea.

‘PUBLIC MONEY CAN’T GO UNRECOVERED’

Retaining faculty’s docus: Court stays Anna Univ circular

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.02.2019

An Anna University letter, asking colleges to return certificates to faculty members after verification, has been stayed by the Madras high court.

The university sent a letter on December 4, 2018, advising colleges not to retain testimonials of faculty members, but return them immediately after verification. The advisory was issued after a lecturer of a self financing engineering college killed himself saying his certificates were not returned by the management, thwarting him from taking up regular vacancy in a government college.

Assailing the circular, All India Private Educational Institutions Association moved the court saying retaining certificates was necessary as there have been instances of staff leaving the institutions without prior notice, that too in the middle of academic session.

Such sudden departures would cause serious hardship not only to the management but also students, the association said. Under the circumstances, it became necessary for management of educational institutions to retain the original academic certificates of their teaching and non-teaching staff during their tenure at the institution.

Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, before whom the petition filed by association came up for hearing, granted interim stay on Wednesday and directed the registrar of Anna University to file a counter-affidavit by February 20.

The petitioner-association submitted that they held nothing personal against their faculty or other staff, adding that all educational institutions affiliated to the university were duty-bound to maintain the teaching staff declared by them to the university.

Migration of faculty members to institutions outside the university, or the state, made things difficult for the institutions, as they would be beyond the control of both the university and the management of colleges, the association said.

The university sent a letter on December 4, 2018, advising colleges not to retain testimonials of faculty members, but return them immediately after verification

2nd chance to regularize unapproved plots in state

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:07.02.2019

Owners of unapproved plots, who have not registered under the amnesty scheme for regularization, now have a fresh opportunity.

The government has said unapproved plots which are part of the approved layout framework could be regularized even if owners have not applied for the scheme. The move follows datat showing only five lakh of the 22 lakh unapproved plots across the state have been regularized, after the amnesty scheme ended on November 3, 2018.

“This opportunity is only available for individual owners, whose plots or survey number are part of the unapproved layout framework that was approved by the planning authorities through the (regularization) scheme,” an official said.

Regularization charges for municipal corporations with regard to applications filed between November 4, 2018 and May 3, 2019 would be ₹110 per sqm, which is ₹66 for municipal areas and ₹33 in town panchayats and village panchayats.

Medical Council of India moots mandatory stipends for intern doctors

TNN | Feb 6, 2019, 05.29 PM IST

 

NEW DELHI: Thousands of MBBS students working as interns in private medical colleges could gain with the board of governors of the Medical Council of India issuing a public notice proposing to make it compulsory for such colleges to pay stipends at par with what is paid by state or central governments. Interns in most private medical colleges are forced to work for free or paid paltry salaries.

The public notice, issued by the board of governors last week, stated that it was considering amending the Regulations on Graduate Medical Education, 1997 to include a provision to this effect. It sought comments and suggestions on the amendment within 15 days.

The MCI had received complaints from various states on non-payment of stipends in private medical colleges for several years. In May 2016, the state medical council in Kerala had received a complaint which it forwarded to the MCI in January 2017 stating that the issue was not under its purview.

Private colleges in Kerala were found to pay less than Rs 4,000 per month as stipend. This was even after the state government ordered an increase in stipend from Rs 15,000 to Rs 20,000 for all interns in government, private and self-financing medical colleges in June 2015.

In the meantime, interns from Karnataka too complained to the MCI. A private college in Karnataka with 150 seats would save Rs 3.6 crore per year from not paying stipends since the state government mandated rate is Rs 20,000 per month. However, the MCI decided in its executive committee meeting held in September 2017 that the issue was beyond its purview as the graduate medical education (GME) regulations do not provide for payment of stipend to interns. This was despite a recommendation from the MCI academic committee in favour of the interns.

The MCI’s post graduate medical education (PGME) regulation has a clause stipulating that post-graduate students will be paid the same stipend as in state government-owned institutions. No such clause exists in the GME regulations. However, MCI has in the past amended rules where it felt the need. In one such instance, it changed the Code of Ethics Regulations 2002 in February 2014 to take away its own power to regulate doctors' associations, thus allowing them to take money as sponsorship from pharma companies.

Yet, despite several complaints from hapless MBBS interns from various states, the council did not change the GME regulations to make payment of stipend to them mandatory. Following this decision, the Indian Medical Association too had written to the MCI supporting the interns.

தமிழக வசூலில் புதிய மைல்கல்லை எட்டுகிறது ‘விஸ்வாசம்’

Published : 04 Feb 2019 17:04 IST

ஸ்கிரீனன்





தமிழகத்தின் வசூலில் புதிய மைல்கல்லை 'விஸ்வாசம்' எட்டும் என்று விநியோகஸ்தர்கள் தெரிவித்தனர்.

ஜனவரி 10-ம் தேதி ரஜினி நடிப்பில் வெளியான 'பேட்ட' படத்துடன் போட்டியிட்டு வெளியானது அஜித் நடித்த 'விஸ்வாசம்'. சிவா இயக்கத்தில் வெளியான இப்படத்தில் நயன்தாரா, ஜெகபதி பாபு, ரோபோ ஷங்கர், தம்பி ராமையா, யோகி பாபு உள்ளிட்ட பலர் அஜித்துடன் நடித்தனர்.

விமர்சன ரீதியாகவும், வசூல் ரீதியாகவும் பெரும் வரவேற்பைப் பெற்றது. குறிப்பாக பி மற்றும் சி சென்டர்கள் என கூறப்படும் தமிழகத்தின் கிராமப்புற பகுதிகள் எதிர்பாராத வரவேற்பு கிடைத்தது. பிப்ரவரி 1-ம் தேதி வெளியான படங்களை விட பல பகுதிகளில் 'விஸ்வாசம்' வசூலே அதிகம் என்று தகவல் வெளியாகியுள்ளது.

இது தொடர்பாக 'விஸ்வாசம்' படத்தை வெளியிட்ட சில விநியோகஸ்தர்களிடம் பேசினோம். அப்போது அவர்கள் கூறியதாவது:

உண்மைதான். 'விஸ்வாசம்' படத்தை வெளியிட்ட அனைத்து விநியோகஸ்தர்களுக்குமே நல்ல லாபம் சம்பாதித்து கொடுத்துள்ளது. இந்தாண்டு விநியோகஸ்தர்கள், திரையரங்கு உரிமையாளர்கள் உள்ளிட்ட அனைவருக்குமே சந்தோஷமான துவக்கமாக அமைந்துள்ளது. 'பேட்ட' மற்றும் 'விஸ்வாசம்' இரண்டுமே நல்ல வசூல் தான். ஆனால், 'விஸ்வாசம்' தான் அதிகம்.

ஒட்டுமொத்தமாக தமிழகத்தில் 'விஸ்வாசம்' ஓடி முடியும்போது, கண்டிப்பாக தமிழ்த் திரையுலகில் விநியோகஸ்தர்களுக்கு அதிகப்படியான ஷேர் தொகை அளித்த படங்களின் பட்டியலில், முதல் 5 இடத்துக்குள் 'விஸ்வாசம்' இடம்பெறும் என்பதில் சந்தேகமில்லை.

'பாகுபலி 2', 'சர்கார்', 'மெர்சல்' ஆகிய படங்களைத் தொடர்ந்து 'விஸ்வாசம்' படம் இடம்பெறும் என நம்புகிறோம். இதில் 'மெர்சல்' படத்தின் வசூலை முந்தினாலும் ஆச்சர்யப்படுவதிற்கில்லை. இப்போது வரை வார இறுதி நாட்களில் மக்கள் கூட்டம் அதிகமாகவே இருக்கிறது.

மேலும், அப்படத்தின் தமிழக உரிமையை வாங்கிய விநியோகஸ்தருக்கு கொடுத்த பணத்துக்கு மேல் வந்து, அதிலிருந்து தயாரிப்பாளருக்கு பங்கு கொடுக்கும் அளவுக்கு 'விஸ்வாசம்' வசூல் அமைந்துள்ளது என்றால் பார்த்துக் கொள்ளுங்கள்.

இவ்வாறு விநியோகஸ்தர்கள் தெரிவித்தார்கள்.

டாக்டர்களுக்கு, 'நோட்டீஸ்' : தமிழக அரசு முடிவு

Added : பிப் 05, 2019 22:13


சென்னை: ஊதிய உயர்வு கோரி, போராட்டத்தில் ஈடுபட்ட, டாக்டர்கள் மீது நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க, தமிழக அரசு முடிவு செய்துள்ளது.அரசு மருத்துவமனைகளில் பணியாற்றும் டாக்டர்கள், காலமுறை ஊதியம், மத்திய அரசுக்கு இணையான ஊதிய உயர்வு போன்ற கோரிக்கைகளை வலியுறுத்தி, 2018 டிச., 4ல், புறநோயாளிகளுக்கு சிகிச்சை அளிக்க மறுத்து, போராட்டத்தில் ஈடுபட்டனர். இதில், 10 ஆயிரத்துக்கும் மேற்பட்ட டாக்டர்கள் பங்கேற்றனர்.இந்த போராட்டத்தால், சென்னை உட்பட, பல மாவட்டங்களில், நோயாளிகள் பாதிக்கப்பட்டனர். இதையடுத்து, அன்றைய தினம், பணிக்கு வராத டாக்டர்கள் குறித்த விபரங்களை அளிக்கும்படி, மாவட்ட சுகாதார தலைமை அதிகாரிகளுக்கு உத்தரவிடப்பட்டுள்ளது.பணிக்கு வராமல், போராட்டத்தில் ஈடுபட்ட டாக்டர்களிடம், விளக்கம் கேட்டு, 'நோட்டீஸ்' அனுப்பப்பட உள்ளது. அதன்பின், அவர்கள் மீது ஒழுங்கு நடவடிக்கை எடுக்கப்பட உள்ளது.அதே நேரத்தில், 'மகப்பேறு, உடல்நல குறைவு உள்ளிட்ட காரணங்களால், முன்கூட்டியே அனுமதி பெற்று, விடுப்பில் உள்ளவர்களுக்கு, பாதிப்பு ஏற்படாது' என, தமிழக சுகாதார துறை அதிகாரிகள் தெரிவித்தனர்.

85% attendance must for Visvesvaraya Technological University students

The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has made it mandatory for its undergraduate and post-graduate students to have a stringent 85% attendance.

Published: 05th February 2019 05:50 AM 

Visvesvaraya Technological University (File Photo| EPS)

By Rashmi Belur

Express News Service

BENGALURU: The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) has made it mandatory for its undergraduate and post-graduate students to have a stringent 85% attendance. Considering that most students take advantage of 10% relaxation on health grounds by submitting medical certificates and not taking the 75% attendance seriously, the university has decided to make it to 85%, so that students at least get 75% mandatory attendance.

In a circular issued recently, the VTU asked all affiliated colleges to communicate the same to their respective students. The students are upset with this move. “When the Supreme Court itself says 75% attendance is mandatory, why is the university putting so much pressure on us?” question the students.

“We have many mandatory things to do which includes compulsory internship programme for three months, and also project preparation. When this is the case, university making 85% attendance compulsory is not acceptable,” said an MBA student of VTU.As per the circular, this will apply from the odd semester from September 2018. This applies to all MBA/MCA/M.Tech and M.Arch, and all undergraduate courses for students studying at VTU.


The circular states: “The students should possess 85% of attendance. However, there is a provision for condonation of attendance to the extent of 10% on the specific recommendations of the principals as per regulations. And the candidates who are having shortage of attendance are not allowed to appear for the examinations.”

AICTE has cracked its whip against 487 technical institutions in last three years for not adhering to rules

In addition to this, the apex regulatory body for technical education in the country has also taken penal action against 167 technical institutions for violation of norms and standards.

Published: 05th February 2019 03:00 PM 

Image used for reprsentational purpose only (File Photo | EPS)

By Express News Service

COIMBATORE: The All India Council for Technical Education has withdrawn its approval for 21 technical education institutions in the country in addition to stopping admission in 299 technical education institutions in the last three years. The action was taken for not adhering to the rules laid down by the AICTE including infrastructure requirement, maintaining faculty-students ratio etc.

In addition to this, the apex regulatory body for technical education in the country has also taken penal action against 167 technical institutions, following complaints received against them for violation of norms and standards during the last three years, he added in the reply.

This information was revealed by the Minister of States for Ministry of Human Resource Development Satya Pal Singh in the Lok Sabha on Monday. In Tamil Nadu, the AICTE has withdrawn approval of two technical education institutions and stopped admission in 32 technical education institutions.

In 2016-17, the AICTE has withdrawn approval of three technical institutions and put 62 institutions under no admission list. In 2017-18, approvals of ten institutions were withdrawn and admission was stopped in 75 institutions and last year (2018-19) approval of eight institutions were withdrawn and admission was stopped in 162 institutions.In the case of Tamil Nadu, approval of one institution each were withdrawn in 2016-17 and 2018-19 and admission was stopped in ten institutions in 2016-17, five institutions in 2017-18 and 17 institutions in 2018-19.


The AICTE has withdrawn its approval for a maximum of 13 technical institutions from the State of Telangana in the last three years. When it comes to stopping the admission, a maximum of 47 technical institutions from Maharashtra faced the AICTE's action.Eom.

Pay Rs 50,000 per month, demand UGC qualified guest lecturers in Tamil Nadu

The UGC has recently hiked the salary of guest lecturers in colleges and universities to Rs 1,500 per lectures subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 per month.

Published: 05th February 2019 02:55 PM 

Image of protesting guest lecturers used for representational purpsoe (File Photo | EPS)
By Express News Service

COIMBATORE: Citing University Grants Commission's recent recommendation on salary for guest lectures, Tamil Nadu All Government Colleges UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers Association has urged the Director of Collegiate Education to provide them the monthly salary of Rs 50,000. The association has also demanded arrear amount of Rs 15 lakh for each UGC qualified guest lecturer working in government and aided arts and science colleges in the State.

In his letter to the Director of Collegiate Education R Sarumathi on Monday, Tamil Nadu All Government Colleges UGC Qualified Guest Lecturers Association President V Thangaraj has said that the UGC has written two letters, one in February 2010 and another in January 2019, to the State higher education secretaries on providing salary to guest faculty.

"Though the State government had accepted the sixth and seventh pay commission recommendations for teachers, it has not implemented the salary hike recommended for guest faculty. Guest lecturers were currently paid only Rs 15,000 per month, that too only for eleven months in a year, which has affected our livelihood," Thangaraj said.

"So, the government should provide Rs 50,000 per month for salary to the guest lecturers and also pay the arrear amount which we are eligible for from January 2010," he demanded.


The UGC has recently hiked the salary of guest lecturers in colleges and universities to Rs 1,500 per lectures subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 per month. In Tamil Nadu 3,387 guest lecturers, including 1,826 in first shift and 1,661 in second shift, are working in government arts and science colleges. Among them, around 1,700 guest lecturers possess UGC prescribed qualification. In addition to this, 40 guest lecturers are working in government BEd colleges, sources said.Eom.

19-year-old student hacked inside college

A dispute that, allegedly, cropped up during a game of kabaddi took a violent turn days later as a 19-year-old student was assaulted with lethal weapons on the college campus on Tuesday.

Published: 06th February 2019 04:30 AM

SIVAGANGA: A dispute that, allegedly, cropped up during a game of kabaddi took a violent turn days later as a 19-year-old student was assaulted with lethal weapons on the college campus on Tuesday.

The teenager, a resident of Pillur, studying in Raja Doraisingam Government Arts College sustained injuries on the head and was rushed to Government Sivaganga Medical College and Hospital. Sources said that he was referred to the GRH in Madurai. He was later admitted to a private hospital and is said to be out of danger.

Meanwhile, the police have nabbed the suspect. Sources said that a week ago, while the teenager was playing kabaddi with a group of students from his college, an altercation broke out and the teenager was beaten up. Recently, he retaliated by assaulting his attacker.

The issue did not end with this. On Tuesday, the student who was attacked, along with a few others assaulted the teenager on the college campus.


The college authorities said that the injured teenager was pursuing his 2nd year BA History course. The CCTV footage of the incident was handed over to personnel of Sivaganga Town police station.

Superintendent of Police T Jayachandran said that they had nabbed the suspect and had launched an investigation.

Nursing diploma courses to be phased out by 2022

Speaking to Express, a government nurse said, “It might not be practical to execute the system in Tamil Nadu.

Published: 06th February 2019 04:31 AM 

For representational purposes (File | EPS)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI: As a step towards standardisation of the nursing qualifications at the entry level, the Union Health Ministry has decided to phase out the General Nursing and Midwifery, a diploma nursing course by 2022, the ministry said in a copy of the discussions of the meeting held in New Delhi last year.

According to official sources, on July 25, members (Health), NITI had discussions on nursing education reforms with nursing experts and professionals from across the country to suggest recommendations for effecting changes in nursing education to provide quality health care. “There is a need for standardisation in nursing qualification at the entry level. As a step towards achieving this, it has been decided that the existing GNM course would be phased out by 2022,” the copy accessed by Express showed.

The experts also stressed the need to change the existing curriculum of the PG Nursing courses. “The curriculum should expand the scope of clinical activities. BSc nursing curriculum set by the Indian Nursing Council should be expedited to address the crisis of inadequate clinical skills,” the experts decided.

“An exit exam for BSc nursing should be introduced as proposed by the Ministry of Health. Information technology (IT) should be used more extensively for nursing education and to facilitate distance learning courses,” the recommendations said.


Speaking to Express, a government nurse said, “It might not be practical to execute the system in Tamil Nadu. There are around 1,800 diploma seats in 22 government medical colleges which have the School of Nursing. Then, all these colleges should be converted into Colleges of Nursing. But, only two or three colleges are offering PG nursing courses,” the nurse added.

However, for further discussions on the recommendations of the NITI Aayog, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare Department is holding a meeting to discuss the recommendations of NITI Aayog on February 7 under the chairmanship of deputy secretary (Nursing), at New Delhi in which all State Health department officials will be participating.

Uncommon sight, common problem as pelicans fly with plastic in mouth

The water bodies in and around Chennai attract birds of a wide variety. Nature lovers flock to some these places on weekends.

Published: 06th February 2019 04:38 AM 

A spot-billed pelican flies with a discarded plastic bag stuck inside its mouth 

| atreyo mukhopadhyay

By Atreyo Mukhopadhyay

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The water bodies in and around Chennai attract birds of a wide variety. Nature lovers flock to some these places on weekends. They are used to the sight of discarded plastic and liquor bottles piling up. Some have in fact noticed a rise in the volume of these over the last few years and although shocked, they are not totally surprised by the sight of a pelican flying with a piece of plastic stuck in its mouth, near the Sholinganallur lake.

“Not that I have not seen anything like this, but it’s not completely unexpected,” says Venkatesh Viswanath, a registered patent agent based in the city, who has been an avid bird-watcher for several years and a regular to these spots. “That’s because these places are filled with these things. Needless to say, this is harmful for the birds as well as humans. Unless the plastic ban is implemented properly, there is no respite. Even if it comes into effect, we have to see what is done with the plastic which is already out there in these places.”

Not just bird-watchers or nature lovers, those involved with animal rescue operations are also used to the problems posed by discarded plastic bags. Shravan Krishnan, who runs the Besant Memorial Animal Dispensary and also volunteers for the Forest Department, encountered a similar situation about six months ago.


“It was another pelican with a plastic ring stuck in its bill in such a way that it couldn’t open its mouth. This was near the Pallikaranai marshland (not far away from Sholinganallur) and the bird had to be captured before we could remove the object. Such problems are possibly on the rise,” says Shravan.

‘Not at risk’
Shravan feels the distressed pelican photographed near Sholinganallur is not in grave danger. “It’s difficult to capture these birds. So I’m not sure if the object can be removed by us. But going by the photograph, it seems the bag will come off on its own.”

Vellore Institute of Technology ’s plea to retrieve land binned
The judge also directed the authorities concerned to protect the government poromboke land in question, if necessary.

Published: 06th February 2019 05:17 AM |

Madras High Court (File | EPS)
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has rejected a writ plea from the Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) to quash a 2005 GO and consequently direct the Revenue secretary to assign a land measuring 41.92 acres in Katpadi village in its favour.


“The petitioner has not established even a semblance of legal right so as to consider the relief as such sought for in the present writ petition and an order of rejection passed by the first respondent (revenue secretary) is in accordance with law and no infirmity as such,” Justice S M Subramaniam said and dismissed the petition on January 31 last.

The judge also directed the authorities concerned to protect the government poromboke land in question, if necessary, by fencing the same and accordingly, implement the public welfare scheme as approved, by constructing multipurpose sports stadium, without any undue delay.

The secretary shall review all such assignments/allotments of government poromboke lands, waterbodies and water resources already made in favour of private institutions/individuals across the State, including the petitioner in respect of the assignment of the land to an extent of 98.80 acres and identify all such assignments which are all violative of the Revenue Board Standing Orders, violations of conditions and policies etc.

Banks accountable for unauthorised withdrawals: Kerala High Court
SMS alerts cannot be the basis for determining the liability of the customer and there would be account holders who may not be in the habit of checking SMS alerts at regular intervals.

Published: 06th February 2019 01:46 AM 

Kerala High Court (File photo)
By Express News Service

KOCHI: The Kerala High Court held that bank cannot be exonerated from the liability for the loss caused to its customer on account of the unauthorised withdrawals made from the person’s account merely on the ground he/she has not responded promptly to the bank’s SMS alerts.

“Needless to say a bank owes a duty to its customers to take necessary steps to prevent unauthorised withdrawals from their accounts. If a customer suffers a loss on account of the transactions not authorised by him, the bank is liable to the customer for the loss,” observed the court. Justice P B Suresh Kumar issued the order while dismissing the appeal filed by the State Bank of India, Pala branch chief manager, challenging the order of Sub- Court, Pala.

What the court said

It is the obligation of the banks to create a safe electronic banking environment

SMS alerts cannot be the basis for determining the liability of the customer

 Some account holders may not be in the habit of checking SMS

P V George, who is working in Brazil, is an account holder of the SBI, Pala. As he is working in an offshore rig in Brazil, he used to be in India for 28 days after every 28 working days. When he was in India, he noticed a sum of Rs 240,910 was withdrawn from his account from different places in Brazil.

He filed a complaint to the bank.


The bank argued withdrawals were not possible from the account without the knowledge of the person. However, the Sub-Court held the bank was liable for the loss. Hence, the bank approached the High court. The bank submitted before the HC when amounts were withdrawn by international fraudsters from ATMs in a foreign country, it cannot be made liable for the loss caused to account holders.

The bank said SMS alerts were given to him with regard to the withdrawal and he has not requested for blocking the account immediately. Besides, he has not responded to the SMS alerts. It was the obligation of the banks providing electronic banking services, to create a safe electronic banking environment to combat all forms of malicious conducts resulting in a loss to their customers.

SMS alerts cannot be the basis for determining the liability of the customer and there would be account holders who may not be in the habit of checking SMS alerts at regular intervals. If a customer suffers loss in connection with the transactions made without his junction by fraudsters, it has to be presumed that it was on account of the failure on the part of the bank to put in place a system which prevents such withdrawals, and the banks are, therefore, liable for the loss caused to their customer, held the court.

Air India Express suspends Sharjah flights

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

TIRUCHI, FEBRUARY 06, 2019 00:00 IST

To and fro Tiruchi for two days a week

Overseas passenger traffic is likely to take a hit at the international airport here as Air India Express has announced suspension of its service on the Tiruchi-Sharjah-Tiruchi sector for two days in a week with effect from February 17 to March 31.

The airline has formally communicated its decision to the Tiruchi airport authorities with travel industry circles also in the know-how of the latest development.

The move comes at a time when there has been persistent demand from travellers for introduction of direct flight services to key Middle-East destinations in view of the large workforce hailing from this part of the region employed in the Gulf region.

Air India Express launched daily services to Sharjah from Tiruchi in September 2016 taking into account the potential for new services amid travellers’ demands.

Airline sources say the Sharjah- Tiruchi flights will not be operated on Mondays and Saturdays from February 16 to March 30. The Tiruchi - Sharjah flights will not be operated on Tuesdays and Sundays from February 17 to March 31.

The sources attribute the suspension to “operational reason”, exuding hope that it will resume during the summer schedule starting April. The daily single service in the sector has a fairly good patronage with a Boeing-737 being operated by the airline on the route, they say.

Suspension of service for two days from here comes at a time when there has been a decline in international passenger movement at Tiruchi airport during April-December 2018 as compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

Airports Authority of India statistics reveal that the airport handled 10,40,072 international passengers during April-December 2017, while it was 9,16,462 during April -December 2019 with the difference being over 1.23 lakh travellers.

The Tiruchi airport presently has direct connectivity to Colombo, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai and Sharjah operated by different international airlines.

A senior representative of the tourism industry here feels that though a temporary phenomenon, the suspension of service to Sharjah for two days in a week up to March 31 will definitely impact international passenger traffic at the airport at a time when the current fiscal comes to a close next month.

The fear among travellers is that the airline should not make it a permanent one.

“The daily service was serving passengers going from here and the suspension of flights for two days in a week will now force them to travel to Chennai or other nearby airport to travel to Sharjah,” said M.A. Aleem, Member, Airports Advisory Committee, Tiruchi.

The airline can offset the stoppage by operating a new service either to Kuwait or Doha or Muscat from Tiruchi as there is heavy demand from passengers from this part of the region, said the tourism industry representative.

Given the large number of workforce from this part of the region working in the Middle-East, there is definite need for new connections to places including Kuwait just when Tiruchi airport is on an expansion mode, says Dr. Aleem.

Airline sources here say their higher ups have been briefed about the high demand for a new service to Kuwait and Abu Dhabi from the city.

Not in a position to pay UGC rate for guest faculty: State varsities

R. Krishnamoorthy

TIRUCHI, FEBRUARY 06, 2019 00:00 IST

Citing depleted finances, State universities say they are not in a position to implement revised guidelines for enhancement of the rates of honorarium of guest faculty, following the implementation of the seventh pay commission.

The UGC had, last month, sent a communication to registrars of all universities recommending that the honorarium for guest faculty appointed against sanctioned post be enhanced to Rs. 1,500 per lecture subject to a maximum of Rs. 50,000 per month.

The UGC had specified that the selection procedure for appointing guest faculty must be the same as those of regularly appointed Assistant Professors, but made it clear that the guest faculty will not be given the benefit of allowances, pension gratuity and leave as admissible to the regular teachers.

However, in the latest advertisement released to invite applications for appointment of a guest lecturer in Biochemistry, Bharathidasan University had specified that the candidate must have the qualifications of SLET/NET or Ph.D., but had mentioned the scale of pay as Rs. 12,000 per month.

Fund crunch

According to university sources, constraint of funds was a major hindering factor in implementing the UGC's latest recommendation on revised honorarium for guest faculty.

State universities are not funded by UGC, and will be in a position to pay guest faculties as per its recommendation only when there is additional funding from the State Government, sources said.

The stand of the State universities is that the current funding from UGC that is confined to specific projects is not adequate for paying guest lecturers the revised amount.

It was to cut down on excess expenditure that Bharathidasan University chose not to renew the services of principals of its 10 constituent colleges, who drew monthly salaries of Rs. 40,000 each.

Since the posts of principals were filled with regular faculties, the university could cut down monthly expenditure to the tune of Rs. 4 lakh per month.

While the aspiration of guest faculties holding the qualification to receive payment as per the latest UGC recommendation is genuine, the implementation hinges on the State Government's readiness to provide extra funding, the sources said.

LIC to send SMS instead of renewal notice

Mayur.Shetty@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:06.02.2019

State-run LIC has decided to do away with physical renewal notices and send text messages instead. According to corporation sources, the shift will happen for all policies where LIC has updated customers’ mobile numbers. The corporation has sent out text alerts to policyholders saying that from March 2019, it will send premium due intimations and reminders only through SMS. LIC officials said that text messages are more effective as policyholders are alerted instantly and it is possible to send multiple reminders. The move will result in cost savings for the corporation as it can save on postage and stationery. LIC has over 28 crore policies in force, of which over 2 crore policies were sold in 2017-18. Unlike banks, LIC has a very small percentage of its customers’ mobile numbers. Sources said that of the total customer base, the percentage of policyholders whose phone details are available would be in single digits.

One Court Order, Two Victory Claims

‘Triumphant’ Didi Ends Stir, Asserts Fight Will Continue

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Kolkata:06.02.2019

Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday claimed “moral victory” over the Supreme Court order and called off her 70-hour “satyagraha” in the evening in the presence of TDP chief Chandrababu Naidu. She also announced a “Save-India, Save-Constitution” dharna in Delhi after a meeting of opposition parties on February 13 and 14.

Mamata had started the dharna at Metro Channel on Sunday evening — terming it an apolitical “satyagraha” — demanding an end to the “misuse” of central agencies by the Modi government. That followed a visit by CBI officers to the residence of Kolkata Police commissioner Rajeev Kumar “for questioning” him. The CM had immediately thrown her weight behind Kumar.

On Tuesday, Mamata claimed “moral victory” saying the SC had stopped the CBI from taking any “coercive step” against Kumar.

“This dharna is a victory for the Constitution and democracy; so, let us end it today,” Mamata said.

Accusing the Centre of misusing the central agency, she said: “All political opponents are being harassed... Tomorrow they will say arrest Mamata Banerjee because she wears hawai chappals.” The CM remarked that it was good that Kumar has been asked to appear for the CBI probe in Shillong. “Good,” she said. “He works round the year. This will give him two days of relaxation.”


END OF DEBATE? The Bengal CM said the dharna was a victory for the Constitution and democracy

Going abroad for studies? You may’ve to register with govt

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:06.02.2019

Indian students looking to study abroad may soon have to register with the government before they take that flight to their destination of choice for higher studies. The proposal is a part of the draft Emigration Bill 2019 which the ministry of external affairs (MEA) will introduce in Parliament once it has completed the process of feedback which it is seeking from the public.

Official sources said though that the bill out in the public domain since January 9 is not yet final and, depending upon public feedback, several changes could be made. The process of registration/ intimation by students is unlikely to be cumbersome as it will be done online, said officials familiar with the issue.

“The bill makes mandatory registration/intimation of all categories of Indian nationals proceeding for overseas employment as well as students pursuing higher studies abroad. Registration/ intimation is proposed to be technology/digital platform driven so as to keep emigration a swift, efficient and hassle-free process without causing any inconvenience to our workforce and students pursuing higher studies abroad,’’ says the proposed bill, adding that necessary provisions have been incorporated to exempt certain categories in this regard on a need basis.

India had earlier this year made similar registration mandatory for those seeking work in 18 countries – UAE, Afghanistan, Bahrain, Indonesia, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, South Sudan, Syria, Thailand, and Yemen. According to Indian officials, registration is not a tedious process and is only meant to protect the interests of Indian nationals.

According to the government, mandatory registration/intimation by students and Indian nationals working abroad are aimed at assisting them in times of distress and emergency and putting in place an “effective emigration management framework”. The bill, it says, aims at optimum utilization of existing resources and manpower rather than creating new elaborate structures.

The proposal is a part of the draft Emigration Bill 2019 for which the MEA is currently seeking public feedback

PG holders apply for sanitary workers’ job

Sivakumar.B@timesgroup.com

Chennai:05.02.2019

Tamil Nadu is a highly urbanized and industrialized state, but it may not be creating adequate job opportunities for its educated youth. Sample this, of the 4,607 people who responded to the advertisement put out by the Tamil Nadu assembly secretariat to fill up 14 posts of sweepers and sanitary workers recently, there are scores of graduates, post-graduates, diploma holders and professional degree holders.

The profile of the applicants shows that they belong to all sections of society, caste and geographical regions. They are from rural, semi-urban and urban areas. Some are from Chennai city too. The secretariat has rejected 677 applications as the applicants did not comply with the age criteria. High demand for government jobs could be the primary reason for highly educated youth applying for such jobs, feel economists.

“First of all, we are surprised to see so many people applying for the post of sweepers and sanitary workers. Presence of professional degree holders among them is more intriguing,” said a senior official in the assembly secretariat. All the applicants had approached for the job through the employment exchange. “The salary is ₹17,000 per month. Some could have been attracted by the pay package. Only after the Lok Sabha polls will we finalise the selection,” said the official.

A vast majority of applicants, out of the 3,930 received, have studied only up to 10th or 12th standard. Many have not passsed 10th standard. Sasi, (name changed) a Chennaibased graduate, has applied for the job. “I am employed in a private company and I get ₹7,000 plus a travel allowance of ₹2,000 every month. But I heard the salary for a sanitary worker in government is more than double of what I get now. So I did not think twice to apply for the post,” he said.

Labour economist M Vijayabaskar said a large number of engineers and other graduates are jobless in Tamil Nadu. “We may be an industrialized state, but companies are shifting from labour-intensive production to machine-centric production. The number of job aspirants is much more than the job opportunities available in the state,” he said.

Government job has become more attractive after the implementation of the new pay commission recommendations. Moreover, it entails pension. “When the government invited applications for temporary teachers’ post during the strike of government employees and teachers, in a single day itself about 3 lakh people submitted applications. They also knew that it is not a permanent job. It reflects the level of unemployment in Tamil Nadu,” said Tamil Nadu Government Employees’ Association general secretary M Anbarasu.

High educational qualification does not stop them from applying for lower level jobs.

“All they want is a secured job with a good salary. They are not bothered much about the nature of work,” said Anbarasu.

REVIEW ALLOTMENT

HC seeks report on free land given to colleges

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 05.02.2019

Cracking the whip on educational institutions sitting on vast tracts of land granted for free by governments over the years, the Madras high court on Tuesday questioned the logic behind authorities evicting poor encroachers from small pieces of lands, while allotting hundreds of acres to even profitmaking educational institutions across the state.

Rejecting the plea made by Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) to order the state government to allot 41.92 acres of land at Katpadi for the institute, Justice S M Subramaniam directed the state to review its earlier order allotting 98.8 acres to the institute and to review possible violations of conditions by the institute imposed by the government at the time of allotment.

Expanding the scope of the order to cover all institutions in the state, the court asked the authorities to review allotments made in favour of individuals and institutions to check if there were violations of revenue board standing orders, conditions and government orders.

“If any irregularities or illegalities are identified in respect of those assignments/allotments of government lands, water bodies and water resources, suitable action must be initiated to cancel all such illegal or irregular assignments and restore the public property in favour of the government and utilize the same for the welfare of the public,” Justice Subramaniam said.

The court also directed the government to issue suitable circulars/instructions to all district collectors in this regard to verify and review all assignments already granted in favour of private individuals and institutions, and submit a report to the government.

‘Plot must be safeguarded for welfare scheme’

Justice Subramaniam said, “When the state is actively initiating steps to evict those who encroach upon government lands measuring one or two cents for their livelihood, on what basis, the state is justified in assigning or allotting huge extent of land to commercial institutions either free of cost or by collecting a meagre amount?”

It was VIT which had moved the court against rejection of its plea to allot 41.9 acres of poromboke land lying adjacent to its campus at Katpadi. The government rejected the proposal saying the land had been allotted for the state sports development authority for construction of a multi-purpose sports complex.

Justice Subramaniam, upholding the rejection order, ordered that if necessary the plot should be fenced and safeguarded for public welfare scheme “by constructing a multipurpose sports stadium through without any undue delay.”

“VIT is a private institution and it had already been assigned a land by the government of Tamil Nadu to an extent of 98.8 acres from and out of the said assignment land. VIT is making profits by running the institution. The government rejected VIT’s claim for further assignment of 41.92 acres on the ground that it was a profit-making institution and so can purchase patta lands for the development of their institution,” observed Justice Subramaniam.

Justice Subramaniam, upholding the rejection order, said if necessary the plot should be fenced and safeguarded for public welfare scheme “by constructing a multipurpose sports stadium through without any undue delay”

PGIMER agrees to doctors’ demands, fixes convocation in every October 

The resident doctors had launched a signature campaign to boycott the convocation. Jagat Ram, director, PGIMER also issued letter to the Association of Resident Doctors in which he regretted the inconvenience caused to the recipients of degrees and their families.

Written by Yasir Ahmed | Chandigarh | Published: February 5, 2019 8:43:39 am

   

The 35th convocation, which was scheduled on February 4, was rescheduled owing to Union Health Minister JP Nadda’s busy schedule.

The standoff between the Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) administration and resident doctors came to an end on Monday with the director of the institute agreeing to the demands and issuing a written apology. It was also decided that the convocation will be held in October every year.

The 35th convocation, which was scheduled on February 4, was rescheduled owing to Union Health Minister JP Nadda’s busy schedule. The resident doctors then launched a signature campaign to boycott the convocation. Jagat Ram, director, Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER) on Monday issued letter to the Association of Resident Doctors in which he regretted the inconvenience caused to the recipients of degrees and their families.

The letter said, “Doctors are the symbol of nobility, humanity and empathy. It is hoped that these basic qualities would be kept in mind for all times to come and it is expected that all of us together will keep the PGI flag flying high.”

In his letter, the director also mentioned that the matter was deliberated in detail with senior functionaries, committees and stakeholders. “From next year, the convocation of PGI will be held in October every year,” he said. He also said degrees will be sent by courier to the resident doctors who would not be able to reschedule their visit to PGI.

President of the Association of Resident Doctors (ARD), Dr Uttam Thakur, asked for a written apology for the inconvenience to each of the resident doctors on mail by the administration. The doctors also demanded sending degrees by post, free of cost. The third demand was that a month be fixed for the convocation and a fall back option for chief guest.

The convocation will be held on February 9 from 11.30 am.