Around 50 students face insufficient data pack to attend online NEET classes

Around 50 students face insufficient data pack to attend online NEET classes

01/07/2020

Around 50 students of government and government-aided schools across the district have been identified as those who have difficulties in attending the School Education Department’s online crash course for cracking NEET examinations, citing insufficient data pack and poor network coverage.

S. Vennila Devi, a government teacher and district coordinator for NEET, said that based on instructions from senior officials, her team had identified these students who couldn’t attend the classes due to insufficient data packs.

“There are plans to recharge internet packs for these students, so that they can attend the online classes. There will be an online meeting with senior officials on Wednesday to discuss the issue,” she said.

Initially, around 370 students from the district had registered for the online classes which commenced on June 17. Then the strength was increased to around 400 students. The students have video lectures and online tests as part of the crash course.

Usually, in the run-up to the NEET examinations, the School Education Department conducts a one-month residential crash course for students. However, due to COVID-19 pandemic, online classes were started this year.

Chief Educational Officer R. Swaminathan said that around 90% of registered students attended the online classes everyday. However, students, especially those from interior pockets, had issues in attending online classes citing insufficient data packs or poor network, he said.

‘Seriously concerned’ by ban on apps: China

‘Seriously concerned’ by ban on apps: China

State-run media warn of fall in exports and investments

01/07/2020

Zhao Lijian

China on Tuesday said it was “seriously concerned” by India’s move to block 59 Chinese apps, which it described as “a deliberate interference in practical cooperation” between the two countries.

China’s state media warned the move would bring economic repercussions, including affecting outbound Chinese investment into India.

In separate statements issued by China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing and its Embassy in New Delhi, the Chinese government called on India to review the decision.

“I want to stress that the Chinese government consistently asks Chinese enterprises to abide by international rules and local laws and regulations when conducting external cooperation,” China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian said, expressing “strong concern”.

“The Indian government has the responsibility to protect the legitimate rights and interests of international investors in India, including Chinese businesses, in accordance with market principles,” Mr. Zhao said.

“Practical cooperation between China and India is mutually beneficial. Deliberate interference in such cooperation will not serve the interests of the Indian side,” he added.

In a separate statement, the Chinese Embassy in Delhi said it was “seriously concerned with and firmly opposed to such action”.

“India’s measure selectively and discriminatorily aims at certain Chinese apps on ambiguous and far-fetched grounds, runs against fair and transparent procedure requirements, abuses national security exceptions, and suspects of violating the WTO rules. It also goes against the general trend of international trade and e-commerce, and is not conducive to consumer interests and the market competition in India,” the statement said

The Embassy said the ban “will affect not only the employment of local Indian workers who support these apps, but also the interests of Indian users... ”

Chinese media and social media widely discussed the ban on Tuesday. China restricts a number of foreign apps and websites in the mainland, and among those blocked are WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

In an editorial, the Communist Party-run Global Times slammed what it said was “a lacklustre explanation for the nonsensical move”.

The newspaper quoted experts who “predicted Chinese overseas direct investment (ODI) into India will drop sharply in 2020, with two experts forecasting a more than 50% [reduction].”

Telangana puts off all entrance tests

Telangana puts off all entrance tests

A-G conveys govt. decision to HC

01/07/2020

All Common Entrance Tests (CETs) in Telangana for admissions to different courses, including the POLYCET 2020, were postponed by the government.

The High Court, hearing a petition for deferment of the tests, was informed by Advocate-General B.S. Prasad that the next dates would be announced in due course.

NSUI State president B. Venkat Narsing Rao had filed the petition. After hearing counsel for the petitioner, a Bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B. Vijaysen Reddy sought to know from Mr. Prasad whether the government would reimpose a lockdown in Hyderabad. The AG sought time till noon to ascertain the government stand. When the Bench re-assembled, he said the Cabinet was likely to take a call in a couple of days. To the Chief Justice’s question on the petitioner’s contention on deferment, he sought time till 2.30 p.m., saying the Chief Secretary was consulting the Departments concerned. When the Bench re-assembled, he announced the decision to postpone all tests.

Increase in retirement age of public servants is not to save money, State tells High Court

Increase in retirement age of public servants is not to save money, State tells High Court

A policy decision taken by the govt., it says without citing any reasons

01/07/2020

The State government on Tuesday denied as “false and wholly baseless” a claim that it had increased the retirement age of public servants from 58 to 59 only to prevent disbursal of terminal benefits to the tune of ₹5,000 crore and instead use the money to fight COVID-19.

Justices R. Subbiah and Krishnan Ramasamy of the Madras High Court were told that the increase in retirement age was a policy decision of the government and that an order issued by it in this regard on May 7 does not cite any reason for the increase.

The submissions were made in a counter affidavit filed in response to a public interest litigation petition preferred by advocate M. Karpagam, through her counsel R. Prabhakaran, against extending the benefit to government employees facing corruption charges.

Opposing the petitioner’s plea, the government told the court that the May 7 GO had been made applicable to all government servants irrespective of those facing disciplinary proceedings since their guilt could be proved only after conclusion of inquiry and not before that.

The government also stated that there were well laid down procedures for conducting inquiries against government servants and that they could be prevented from retiring even after attaining the age of superannuation just to complete the disciplinary proceedings.

Further, a government letter issued on May 14 had clarified that the May 7 GO would not be applicable to those who had not been allowed to retire as on April 30 and whose services had been retained for the limited purpose of concluding disciplinary proceedings.

The GO provides for extending the retirement age only for those who were due to retire from service on May 30 and beyond. Therefore, nothing survives in the PIL petition for adjudication as the government had taken all issues in consideration before issuing the GO, it said.

After taking the counter on file, the judges reserved their orders in the case after granting liberty to the petitioner to file a rejoinder, if she preferred to do so.

Flight brings back 177 from Kuwait

Flight brings back 177 from Kuwait

Mohali:02/07/2020

The GoAir flight number G8-7228, carrying 177 Indian passengers from Kuwait, landed at the Chandigarh International Airport around 7.15 pm on Wednesday.

Mohali Civil Surgeon Dr Manjit Singh said all the passengers have been asked to undergo strict institutional quarantine at their respective districts and their passports have also been taken into possession by the administration.

All repatriated persons, who mostly belong to different parts of Punjab and nearby states, will reach their districts under the supervision of the respective state government representatives, where they will be quarantined. TNN

Patanjali can sell Coronil but not as ‘cure’ to Covid-19: Govt

Patanjali can sell Coronil but not as ‘cure’ to Covid-19: Govt

New Delhi/Haridwar: 02.07.2020

The Union AYUSH Ministry Wednesday said Patanjali can sell Coronil but only as an immunity booster, days after yoga guru Ramdev's company launched it as a medicine for COVID-19 and is now calling it a product to “manage” the disease.

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd said there is no disagreement now between it and the Union ministry, which had last week asked it not to sell the ayurvedic drug till the issue it examined.

At a press conference, Ramdev lashed out over the flak he received after the launch of the drug, saying some people are hurt by the “rise of Indian culture”.

"I want to tell people who want to try these medicines that there is no restriction on their sale now and they will be available in a kit everywhere in the country from today," Ramdev said, referring to Coronil and the two other products Patanjali is promoting together.

The company claimed that the AYUSH Ministry has “categorically agreed” that Patanjali had “appropriately worked on COVID-19 management”.

"Now there is no difference of opinion between AYUSH Ministry and Patanjali,” it added in a statement.

The ministry confirmed that Patanjali can sell the product but not as a cure for the disease. ] “AYUSH Ministry has only given permission to sell this particular formulation as immunity booster and not as a medicinal cure for COVID-19,” it said.

Meanwhile, the Uttarakhand High Court issued notices to Patanjali, the Centre and the state government to file their replies within a week on a plea accusing the herbal products company of the COVID-cure claim it made at the launch of the drug.

In Haridwar, Ramdev told reporters that the AYUSH ministry had asked him to use the term “Covid management” in place of “Covid treatment” and he is following the instruction.

Even while backtracking on describing Coronil as a “treatment” for COVID-19, the company stuck to its claim that its trial on mild to moderately ill patients was successful.

The company's statement said the trial, conducted after the necessary approvals, showed 100 per cent recovery of patients within seven days. PTI

Patanjali Ayurved Ltd said there is no disagreement now between it and the Union ministry

Google removes over 100 Chrome extensions

Google removes over 100 Chrome extensions

Anam.Ajmal@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:02.07.2020

Google has removed over 100 malicious Chrome extensions as they were found collecting sensitive data by taking screenshots of the user’s screen and harvesting keystrokes to read passwords and other confidential information.

According to an advisory issued by India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) last week, these malicious extensions posed as "tools to improve web searches, convert files between different formats, as security scanners, and more."

An extension is a small software that helps users in customizing a web browser. They can be used for several purposes, including blocking cookies, playing games and creating shortcuts.

CERT-In added that these extensions bypassed Google Chrome Web Store security scans, and had the "ability to take screenshots, read the clipboard, harvest authentication cookies or grab keystrokes to read passwords and other confidential information."

"Your browser history contains sensitive information and even when we are not using the web extension, they can still keep a track of our web activity. They can then collect data and misuse it," said cyber security expert Rakshit Tandon.

He added that one of the ways to eliminate this cyber threat is to not add third party extensions at all. "General public may not understand what is harmful for them. So, we advise people not to install any extension on their computer. Even if users install them, they should do it only after studying its reviews," Tandon added.

Sans ‘experience’, over 10L PPEs useless

Sans ‘experience’, over 10L PPEs useless

Melvyn.ReggieThomas@timesgroup.com

Surat:02.07.2020

Lakhs of personal protection equipment (PPE) kits that could have shielded thousands of frontline health workers from Covid-19 infections are gathering dust in the godowns of textile manufacturing units in Surat.

Reason: The online tenders on the government emarketplace (GeM) by various government departments, organizations and PSUs now has a special clause of ‘experience criteria’ ranging from 1-3 years for the suppliers of PPE kits.

Sensing a business opportunity after directives from the union textile ministry, at least 15 textile companies in the city to diversify into manufacturing PPE coveralls using the non-woven fabric. However, two months after making lakhs of PPEs, these units have suddenly become ineligible to sell the kits to the government, which is biggest buyer, as they don’t have the mandatory ‘one-three years experience.’ After research and development during April, the actual production of PPE kits started in the first week of May. In Surat alone, about 50,000 PPE suits were manufactured per day, which included coated and laminated suits with 100% breathable technology.

Shalin Vaidya, director of Sachin GIDC-based Rudra Digital Solution, a garment manufacturing company, told TOI: “We made significant investment for manufacturing 10,000 PPE kits per day. However, except for few private orders, we haven’t been able to make a bulk deal with the government agencies due to the experience criteria in the online tenders.”

Sanjay Saraogi, managing director of Laxmipati textile group, which has the capacity of making 5,000 PPE kits per day, said, "In April, the textile ministry had called for the indigenous manufacturing of PPE kits to lower dependency on import. We had no inkling that they require experience.”

Pramod Chaudhary, chairman of Pratibha Group, said, “Our PPE kits are approved by South India Textile Research Association (SITRA) and they are made out of laminated non-woven fabrics. In the government tenders, apart from the experience criteria, there is no mention of the laminated PPE kits. We are unable to make the PPE kits due to utter confusion.”

Mandatory experience criteria of suppliers has rendered huge losses

All the PPE kit manufacturers in Surat are either manufacturing fabrics, saris or garments. They don’t have any experience of making PPE kits. The government should keep the quality as criteria.

Jitendra Vakharia |

PRESIDENT ,SGTPA

PG medical intake 2nd round from today

PG medical intake 2nd round from today

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  02.07.2020

The second round of admissions for over 500 seats in postgraduate medical courses will begin on Thursday and the students can fill in their choices till July 4.

The second round is taking place after the central government surrendered 180 seats in the all-India quota, which remained vacant during the first round of admissions. Thus an additional 180 seats became available in this round.

Some 130 admissions were also cancelled after the first round of admission.

These seats will also be available. These seats are over the 400-odd seats that remained vacant in the first round of admission, sources said.

Students will have three days to make their choices clear. The allocation process will take place on July 6. The students will have time then to pay the fees by July 10. Students whose admissions have been confirmed will have to report to help centres between July 7 and July 11.

Money stolen without OTPs

Money stolen without OTPs

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:  02.07.2020

A 36-year-old man from Vasna, Tapan Parikh, on Tuesday filed a complaint with the cyber crime police station on behalf of his aunt, in order to recover money stolen from her bank account by cyber cheats.

Parikh, on behalf of Miksha Patel, who is from Memnagar and presently lives in Dallas, stated that cyber criminals had managed to siphon off Rs 85,000 from Patel’s account in six transactions using a mobile application between April 3 and May 2019 without one-time passwords (OTPs). As he learned about this on May 21, he made an application to banking authorities to the block the account.

Speaking to TOI, Parikh said, “I made an application to the Reserve Bank of India to block the account on May 21, 2019. The bank did not do much and the cheats managed to siphon off another Rs 1,05,400 from the same account on May 23, 2019. The bank had to reimburse the Rs 1,05,400 as it was taken after I made the application. However, for the Rs 85,000, I had to submit an application to the cyber crime police station. On Tuesday, they called me and registered an FIR,” added Parikh, a manager with a private company.

DCP Rajdeepsinh Jhala of cyber crime police station, said, “This is unique case as the cheats managed to get the money without the OTPs. We will certainly crack the case.” Jhala said that according to the rules, the bank is liable to pay money after an FIR has been filed.

Govt yet to decide on medical, dental exams

Govt yet to decide on medical, dental exams

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:02.07.2020

Gujarat government on Wednesday announced cancellation of all final semester exams across all varsities and colleges in the state.

The decision, however, does not include exams for medical, paramedical and dental courses, a state government official clarified.

A final decision on this will be taken according to directions by the central government whose advice the state has sought in this matter, the official added.

Gujarat University, which has deferred all exams except those for medical, paramedical and dental courses, issued a media statement on Wednesday clarifying that there has been no change in the schedule of these exams.

“GU officials are of the view that medical and dental courses are regulated by Medical Council of India (MCI) and Dental Council of India (DCI) and hence the direction of the state education minister issued on Tuesday does not apply to them,” said a source.

Bhupendrasinh Chudasama, the state education minister had announced the decision to cancel all final semester college exams in the state on Wednesday.

The minister’s decision is for the varsities accredited or affiliated to the University Grants Commission (UGC) said sources in GU. Medical and dental colleges can avail UGC grants only for research activities, they added.

The paramedical exams have begun at GU from this week and the second paper is on July 2. The exams for medical and dental courses will be held later this month.

Some students have been in favour of the decision of GU holding exams in July, especially with the entrance exams for super-speciality courses expected to be held in September.

Members of the National Students Union of India (NSUI) want the varsity to defer the exams in line with GU’s decision for arts, commerce, science, and education colleges.

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for Super Specialty courses (NEET SS) 2020, to be conducted by the National Board of Examinations, is expected to be held on September 15.

School kids to take tests from home

School kids to take tests from home

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad: 02.0702020

At a time when state education minister Bhupendrasinh Chudasama announced the cancellation of all college exams in the state, the government said it has decided to conduct exams for primary school students.

The state education department on Tuesday directed all governmentrun, grant-in aid and private schools in the state to conduct exams for primary school students in the last week of July.

The periodic evaluation test is meant to check the progress of the child and will be conducted from the comfort of their homes under the supervision of the parents, a media statement said.

The test will be on the main language and maths. Each test will be of 25 marks and the schools have to make arrangements to ensure that question papers reach the students’ homes by July 28 at the latest. The parents have to submit the answer sheets to the schools by July 31. The question papers will carry five questions of five marks each.

Earlier this month, to ensure that the new academic session is not affected by the pandemic, the government had initiated a ‘Home Learning’ programme.

Students are provided ‘weekly learning material’ through various social media platforms.

Schools have been shut since March due to the coronavirus pandemic and school students have been promoted en masse for the 2019-20 academic year.

In support of Centre’s ban, TikTok users now seek Indian alternative

In support of Centre’s ban, TikTok users now seek Indian alternative

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:02.07.2020

While they are in complete support of Centre’s move to ban TikTok, users of the app are now wishing for an Indian alternative at the earliest. They say that other platforms such as Instagram or Youtube serve a different purpose and cannot be a replacement to a creative app like TikTok.

“People found it funny when I made music videos in that app. I love music and I am passionate about making the videos. I am living my life the way I wanted to by putting out everything I wanted to in public domain. However, at the same I am a responsible person,” said Kalyani Gorre, an environmentalist, who is also pursuing her Ph D. In a very short time she got more than 10,000 followers and put out 1,500 videos. “Sometimes I would put out a social message asking people to plant trees, or simply make sound tracks and act it out,” said Kalyani, a resident of Lingampally.

While Kalyani is pursuing her own goals, Eshwar of Kavadiguda was had high hopes and believed that the app would take him to higher places. The 27-year-old has been marketing his videos and hoped to gain an entry into films. He imitates Tamil actor Dhanush, son-inlaw of Rajnikanth, as he has an uncanny resemblance to him. “I myself was shocked when one of my videos got 11.9 millions views,” Eashwar Dhanush, as he calls himself, told TOI. “I put out only 340 videos in the last two-and-ahalf years but people liked what I did,” he said.

The Centre’s decision to ban TikTok does affect creative people but Yugandhar Munagala, who is popular on the app agrees that the interest of the nation should come first. “I must admit that I got my identity by doing videos where I showed off my beard,” Yugandhar, who has already forayed into tinsel town, said. The 28-year-old, who is a post-graduate in microbiology, works for a Germany-based seeds company. With two lakh followers, Yugandhar, a resident of Suchitra said that the need of the hour is to come up with an Indian app that matches TikTok or has better features.

A CREATIVE OUTLET FOR MANY

Vikarabad man makes it ‘app’en after TikTok ban

Vikarabad man makes it ‘app’en after TikTok ban

Sushil.Rao@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 02.07.2020

Banking on the void created by the ban on Chinese social networking platform TikTok, a 29-year-old man from Vikarabad has developed a similar video sharing app.

‘ChatPat’, which was put up on Google Playstore on June 28, already has 15,000 downloads and been given 4.2 stars out of five. The app specifically mentions that it is made in India.

The developer of the app, Naskanti Srinivas, said that the ban on TikTok incidentally coincided with the release of ‘ChatPat’. “I was working on the app for the last 15 days because I felt an Indian app should be available to people instead of a Chinese one. Incidentally, with the ban on TikTok, my app started getting huge traffic,” Srinivas of Nawabpet village in Vikarabad told TOI.

Srinivas studied B.Com (computers) and has so far created six apps, including an online shopping platform. While the rest of his creations did not get adequate attention, ‘ChatPat’ was an instant success. He has said that he learnt everything about app development from YouTube. “I now have to increase the server capacity so that many people will be able to download and work on it,” Srinivas said.

Chevella MP Ranjith Reddy has congratulated Srinivas. “What Srinivas has come up with is commendable and I have assured him to give any support that he needs,” said Reddy.

One of the first users of the app is one Shiva of Vikarabad. He has identified himself on his ‘ChatPat’ account with the name @Madapathi814744276. “Naskanti Srinivas you did a great job. All the best for your furture,” he said while appreciating the developer of the app.

Some of the users have also posted their old TikTok videos on the new platform.


I was working on the app for the last 15 days because I felt an Indian app should be available to people instead of a Chinese one. Incidentally, the ban on TikTok came at the time when I put up ‘ChatPat’ on Google Playstore and my app started getting huge traffic

Naskanti Srinivas| APP DEVELOPER

Plea in HC against huge Covid bills

Plea in HC against huge Covid bills

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:02.07.2020

Dealing with a petition that wanted the court to direct the state government to restrain private hospitals from overcharging the patients in the name of Covid-19 treatment, the Telangana high court on Wednesday gave the petitioner two weeks’ time to furnish evidence and also make the hospitals as respondents in the case.

A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy said this while hearing a PIL filed by DG Narasimha Rao, general secretary of Patnam, an NGO working in health and environment areas. The petitioner, in his petition, annexed newspaper reports published in prominent dailies from Hyderabad, detailing how the corporate hospitals were collecting nearly Rs 50,000 to Rs 1.5 lakh per day from Covid-19 patients depending on severity of the case even after the government imposed a cap in the range of Rs 4,000 to Rs 9,000 per day.

“The private and corporate hospitals are swindling patients and profiteering in the name of treating ovid-19 patients in Hyderabad and other parts of the state,” said V Mallik, counsel for the petitioner. He sought a direction to the state to take over at least 50% of beds in private, corporate and teaching hospitals and evolve a transparent web-based mechanism in allotting the beds to patients who are in need and provide treatment at the rates fixed by the government.

The judges noticed that none of the private hospitals was made as a respondent and directed the petitioner to implead them because allegations were made against them about collection of exorbitant treatment charges.

The petitioner pointed out that none of these hospitals was implementing the rates fixed by the government and charging exorbitantly. He charged that these hospitals were cashing in on the anxiety of the kin of the patients while rushing them to hospitals.

The bench posted the case to July 10.

Govt issues new directives to hospitals

Govt issues new directives to hospitals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hyderabad: 02.07.2020

The state government on Wednesday issued certain guidelines while permitting hospitals with a 100-bed capacity to treat Covid-19 patients.

The guidelines state that the hospitals should set up separate admission and exit routes for suspected Covid-19 patients and must have exclusive wards and rooms to place them under isolation. The government has also instructed the staff to take necessary precautions while testing and treating suspects.

The guidelines alsostatethat the patients,whotest positivefor Covid-19, should be regularly examined by physicians. Cardiologists, pulmonologists and anesthesiologists have been asked to conduct regular video consultations. In case of a death due to infection, the hospital is to strictly follow the rules while shifting the body and performing the last rites. In other clinics and hospitals, only four patients per hour should be given appointments, the notification said. “If patients with symptoms are given an appointment in the outpatient department, they should be examined in a different room,” it said.

Young fatalities: Virus could be attacking heart

Young fatalities: Virus could be attacking heart

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

02.07.2020

Bengaluru: Globally less than 1% of Covid-19 fatalities are those below 40 years, a trend in Karnataka too. Over the past four days, four men below the age of 40 have suddenly died of acute breathlessness, prompting doctors to suggest it could be a sign of viral myocarditis.

A 32-year-old was brought dead to a hospital in Belagavi on Monday, while a 29-year-old died soon after being admitted in Mysuru the same day. A day previously, a 31-year-old from Ballari died of breathlessness soon after hospitalisation, and a 40-year old from Ramanagara died hours after being admitted. None of the four had comorbidities.

Doctors say patients suddenly collapsing and dying suggest viral myocarditis, a condition where the virus attacks heart muscles, disrupting electrical pathways that are vital for the heart to pump properly. While doctors suspect viral myocarditis, it cannot be scientifically established as autopsies of Covid-19 fatalities are not allowed.

To better understand cardiac manifestations in Covid-19 patients, Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research Institute (SJICSR) had provided Covid-19 dedicated hospitals of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute with an ECG and Echo cardiogram machines each.

“It is possible that like other viruses, SARS-CoV-2 too is leading to viral myocarditis,” said Dr CN Manjunath, director, SJICSR. “First infection, followed by inflammation of the heart muscle and then clotting (thrombosis) is a typical pattern of viral myocarditis. In some patients, the virus may have caused acute respiratory distress due to infection in the lungs as well.”

Experts say host immunity matters in a viral infection and hence the experience of patients differs. The largest study to examine the association between cardiac involvement and Covid-19 was performed in Wuhan, China. Of 416 patients at Renman hospital in Wuhan University, 82 (19.7%) had cardiac injuries. Mortality among those with such injuries was significantly higher (51%).

“A heart biopsy will show inflammation in the heart muscle,” said Dr Rahul Patil, head of the project, Young Age Heart Attack, SJICSR. “Inflammation is secondary to viral infection. It might mimic a heart attack, but confirmatory tests are cardiac MRI, myocardial biopsy and Covid-19 testing if the patient is brought dead.”

Covid-19 hospitals here are not multispeciality centres, so we do not have a setup to constantly check Echo and ECG of patients. Studies done in the US say three of 1,000 patients had viral myocarditis and it could be true in India too. However, some brought dead cases had comorbidities, so we can’t draw definite conclusions

Dr Ramesh Revanna PULMONOLOGIST, B’LORE MEDICAL COLLEGE & RESEARCH INSTITUTE

We have so far seen at least 10 brought-dead cases. The virus has multiorgan involvement so we can’t categorically say death is due to viral myocarditis. There could have been concurrent renal failure or end stage sepsis

Dr KV Trilok Chandra NODAL OFFICER, CRITICAL CARE, TELE ICU TEAM

Probe test data leak, say doctors

Probe test data leak, say doctors

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

02.07.2020

Bengaluru: Ten employees of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research (SJICSR), who had tested positive last week, received messages on their phones two days ago stating they were negative for the infection. Confused, the patients underwent a retest due and were found positive. The tests were done at Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology (KMIO).

“The negative result messages were not sent from the government portal and this has led to suspicion. We have no clue how lab data is being accessed by miscreants. It needs cybercrime police investigation,” said Dr CN Manjunath, director, SJICSR and nodal officer, Covid 19 taskforce for lab testing.

The staff tested positive on June 26 and they received contradictory messages two days later. “Mischief mongers appear to be hacking data. Because of the confusion, I made sure they were all tested again,” said Dr Manjunath.

A technician from Nimhans who tested positive also received a message on his phone saying he is negative. A re-test confirmed an infection. The lab faced a similar situation again on Wednesday, when a cancer patient from Kidwai, who tested positive on June 29, received a message later saying she was negative.

“We upload lab reports on the ICMR portal. We do not send messages,” said Manjunath Siddappa, director, Bangalore Medical System, who runs the lab in KMIO. “If there is a data leak, it is not from our end.”

The lab has conducted 48,000 tests since April 28 and tests 1,200 samples a day. When contacted, Dr C Ramachandra, director, KMIO, said he was unaware of the matter. The government recently issued a notification banning all labs from sharing Covid-19 results with patients. Labs were told that the report must be communicated to the patient only through district administration.

Personal data up for sale for just 5 paise

Personal data up for sale for just 5 paise

Chandrima.Banerjee@timesgroup.com

02.07.2020

Where you live, how much you make, which mail ID you use more often — unknown to you, your personal information is being mined from companies and apps by data brokers. And it’s feeding a growing Covid data industry, which can pass on your health data to advertisers, insurance companies and hospitals.

“It’s a very disturbing trend. Covid has come at a time of increased digital adoption… But premised on the vulnerability of people, data brokers have gathered large amounts of personal data, including healthcare data,” Apar Gupta, executive director of the Internet Freedom Foundation, told TOI.

It’s all legal though. The process starts with a basic database of personal details. When TOI approached a primary data broker, five samples were shared with data about 3,855 individuals. Another data broker came back with a sample sheet of 690. And the full database? “1 lakh data cost you Rs 5k,” the broker wrote back. About 5p per person. But how much of it is legit? TOI called up some of the numbers on the sample lists. The records matched. “Even my residence address is correct,” said one of them, who was alarmed his personal information was up for sale. These datasets, privacy experts said, often come from employees in sectors that have large customer databases — like credit, banking, car dealerships or hospitals — and are largely accurate.

The next step is to track location and purchases. That can be done with SDKs, software development kits, which are small tools that app developers can add to cover a function. But location SDKs can, and are sometimes required to, relay information without adding functionality. VenPath, for instance, pays app developers to use its SDKs in exchange for user data. “We love some location data… The best way to collect it is every minute in the foreground and every 5 minutes in the background… The SDK grabs everything it needs,” VenPath says in its permissions section. For purchase history, there is the Mobile Advertiser ID, assigned to every device by operating systems. It creates a buyer profile by tracking purchases, searches and movement. So if someone stops at a pharmacy and later searches for “Covid symptoms”, data gatherers know where things are headed before their doctor does.

But the data from multiple points needs to be put together and processed. This is where Covid data brokers come in. One Covid data broker, for instance, offers something called a “Covid Graph” and says it can “acquire” the device ID of a person who tests positive (without saying how it will know who tested positive) and track them. Another offers to analyse the impact of Covid-19 on spending patterns. “Medical data can lead to a form of profiling that can be very invasive. It can be commercially utilised without their consent by insurance companies, for instance, which opaquely price premiums, or by hospitals,” Gupta said. “One cannot estimate the amount of money which is flowing through it.”

Covid data brokers are passing on health data to advertisers, insurance companies & hospitals

DGHS: Can use plasma therapy in moderate cases

DGHS: Can use plasma therapy in moderate cases

New Delhi:02.07.2020

Convalescent plasma can be considered for treatment of moderate Covid patients who are not improving (oxygen requirement is progressively increasing) despite use of steroids, the directorate general of health services (DGHS) said on Wednesday, clearing the air on use of convalescent plasma therapy, reports Sushmi Dey.

Convalescent plasma therapy is allowed as an investigational therapy for use in Covid-19 patients. The clinical management protocol prescribed by the government recommends convalescent plasma by plasmapheresis as in Covid-19 patients with a few safeguards.

According to the DGHS, under the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation, the special prerequisites while considering convalescent plasma include ABO compatibility and cross-matching of the donor plasma. Recipient should also be closely monitored for several hours post transfusion for any transfusion-related adverse events. “Use should be avoided in patients with IgA deficiency or immunoglobulin allergy,” it said.

The recommended dose for the therapy is variable ranging from 4 to 13 ml/kg (usually 200 ml single dose given slowly over not less than 2 hours).

The health ministry had recently revised blood transfusion guidelines to include collection of convalescent plasma under the clinical trials protocol from people who have recovered from Covid-19 infection.

The Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) is also working to create a database of potential convalescent plasma donors for hospitals treating Covid-19 patients.

Full report on www.toi.in

HC tears into T’gana govt over failed Covid strategy

HC tears into T’gana govt over failed Covid strategy

‘State Resorting To Suppression Of Information’

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:02.07.2020

The Telangana high court said on Wednesday that the state government had not only failed to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus but also kept people in the dark about its spread and did not implement important orders of the court.

A bench of Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy told advocate general B S Prasad on the one hand the chief secretary says the government is following ICMR guidelines on testing and on the other the director of public health stops testing. “The ICMR never said testing should be stopped,” the chief justice said.

The bench told chief secretary Somesh Kumar and other officials to either implement its orders by July 17 or appear before it on July 20. The judges were particularly upset about their orders about giving detailed media bulletins not being followed.

Hearing a bunch of PILs filed by Prof PL Visweswara Rao of Telangana Jana Samithi and others, the bench said public health director Dr G Srinivas misled the court about tests and dissemination of information to the people.

The judges directed the state to submit detailed information on tests conducted in the state along with tests done on asymptomatic and symptomatic people, and whether primary contacts of positive patients were being tested as per ICMR guidelines.

The judges found fault with the authorities for failing to conduct 50,000 tests in 10 days, as was promised, and for unilaterally stopping them for a few days on the grounds that they were unable to test the large number of samples. “You cannot stop things like this. This is contrary to ICMR guidelines,” the bench said.

“Instead of increasing tests, you are stopping the conduct of tests, the bench said, rejecting a report filed by the public health director. “Next time, let this director file a sworn affidavit along with his reports so that we can fix responsibility on such officials if they openly resort to perjury,” the bench added.

“Contrary to popular perception, young people in the 26-to-35 age group are most affected by the coronavirus in Telangana,” the bench said. “Instead of letting people know such information so that the younger lot will come out of the misconception that only old people have to be careful, the state is resorting to suppression of such information. None of the media bulletins carry details of age, gender, area, etc. though we gave an order on June 18 itself asking officials to reveal information to people,” the bench said.

“There is no containment policy. All containment zones were closed. There is total confusion as to the areas that were most affected by the virus. Though we have directed the state, its health officials to regularly publish details of affected people ward-wise, the authorities ignored our direction,” the bench said.

STRICT CHECKS: Health workers screen a policeman in

Visa process starts for 11 countries

Visa process starts for 11 countries

New Delhi: 02.07.2020

Amid the ongoing pandemic, foreign missions in India have gradually started resuming visa application processes. VFS Global on Wednesday said this process has restarted for specific categories for the UK, Ireland, South Korea, Turkey, UAE, Italy, Norway, Belarus, Denmark, Dominican Republic and Portugal in some cities, with the approval of respective embassies in India.

It is yet to announce visa resumption dates for big destinations like the US and Canada. VFS serves 51 client governments in India and had handled 60 lakh visa applications here in calendar year 2019.

The UK will begin accepting applications for all visa categories in 11 cities beginning July 6 and Ireland will do so only for student and long-stay categories for now. Turkey, Belarus and UAE (DVPC-eVisas for Emirates passengers only for travel from July 7) have started accepting applications for all categories in Delhi and online (for UAE). Italy, Denmark, Norway and Portugal will, for now, take only for some categories (see box) in Delhi alone. TNN

Unpaid corpn teachers say funds used to pay safai staff

Unpaid corpn teachers say funds used to pay safai staff

Paras.Singh@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:  02.07.2020

More than 9,000 municipal teachers and pensioners of North Delhi Municipal Corporation continue to remain unpaid for the past three months. While a section of teachers deployed on Covid duties received a month’s salary, they were left penniless again after using the money to repay loans and pending bills.

The teachers’ union also alleged that the money meant for them was diverted to pay sanitation workers. Kuldeep Khatri, who heads Shikshak Nyaya Manch Nagar Nigam, said, “Our salary is pending from March to June. Around 5,400 teachers who were on Covid duty were paid only for March, but there was favouritism during disbursement. Another Rs 49 crore was released by Delhi government, but it was used to pay sanitation workers.”

Ramniwas Solanki, general secretary of Nagar Nigam Shikshak Sangh, said, “Teachers haven’t been able to pay loans, house rent and even school fees of children. They are being forced to live a life of desperation and economic insecurity. The problem of delayed salary goes back to the faulty trifurcation of the municipal corporation. In 2014, the salary was delayed by a month. But now the dues are of four months.”

“Our job is to teach, but we are being used to distribute rations, carry out surveys and deployed in containment zones. Are we not human? We are being told to find Covid patients without being paid. More than 200 teachers have been infected with the virus on duty, but no one cares about us,” Khatri said.

Jai Prakash, north corporation mayor, said, “It will be wrong to say that only the corporation and not Delhi government is to blame. We were supposed to get Rs 556 crore in the first quarter of the year, but didn’t. Delhi high court also blasted the government. The court said we will be blamed if the teachers don’t get paid. The teachers are being used by Delhi government to distribute rations and fight the virus, so it should help us.”

“We have extended the deadline for paying property tax so that our revenue stream increases and we can pay the employees. The government should help in this extraordinary situation as we are providing it manpower,” added Prakash.

4 9  CRORE RUPEES RELEASED BY DELHI GOVT

Sisodia orders financial audit of women’s college

Sisodia orders financial audit of women’s college

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:  02.07.2020

Deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia has ordered financial auditing of Delhi University’s Bhagini Nivedita College, stating that the government has received several complaints against it.

In an order to the secretary of higher education, Sisodia wrote that he had “received multiple complaints regarding financial irregularities in Bhagini Nivedita College, one of the colleges fully funded by the government of NCT of Delhi”.

Sisodia, who is also the state education minister, said the complaints had come from different stakeholders such as students, parents and teachers. They “allege financial irregularities in tendering processes, hiring of a car for the principal, buying of unnecessary items not needed in an educational institution, etc,” he added.

The matter is serious and the directorate of higher education should immediately get the college accounts of last two years audited, “preferably by a CAG-empanelled auditor”, Sisodia said. A compliance report will have to be submitted in 15 days. “Strongest action must be taken against officials concerned if any irregularities are found in the audit,” he said.

Despite repeated attempts, Charu Sharma, the principal of the women’s college didn’t comment. A senior DU official, however, claimed the auditing had been announced to force the college to accept the government’s governing body (GB) nominee. “The current acting principal has been around for only a year. The government should have done auditing earlier if they had proof of financial irregularities from the past two years,” the official said.

A Delhi government official said financial irregularities in the college were well known and the government was acting on complaints. “This is not related to the GB formation. But it is likely that the college did not allow its formation as they were worried GB would ask for the accounts. That would have been problematic for the college authorities,” he said.

A DU OFFICIAL SAYS

The government should have done the auditing earlier if they have proof of financial irregularities for the past two years

Rush at SDM offices for EWS certificates

Rush at SDM offices for EWS certificates

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi: 02.07.2020

As registration for admissions to Delhi University is going to end in three days, students and parents have started thronging the sub-divisional magistrate’s offices in the city to get economically weaker section (EWS) category certificates.

Flouting social distancing norms, parents and students gathered in large numbers at the SDM’s office in Dwarka on Wednesday.

An applicant, Harshit Gupta later told TOI, “While OBC certificates are procured online, there is no such provision for EWS category students. There is a long process that we need to complete at the SDM office and hence, there was crowding.”

The EWS reservation was introduced in the university last year and the number of seats under the category has now increased by 10%.

The university has said that students belonging to the EWS category can submit the application receipt. However, students are even finding it difficult to submit the application in many cases.

Amisha Nanda, a DU student who is helping the aspirants with registrations, said, “We have been receiving a lot of queries from students related to certificates, including caste certificates. Some students are not being able to apply online also, which is adding to their stress and anxiety.”

A DU official, on condition of anonymity, said, “the rules for procuring EWS certificate are set by the government of India and DU cannot do much about them, except extending the dates of the registration period.” The admission branch has asked applicants not to panic as they still have over two weeks to upload the documents.

Shobha Bagai, dean (admissions), said: “We had also put up a video on our website explaining this to applicants and they shouldn’t be anxious. The university has also assured applicants that they can apply online for the certificate and upload that application receipt on the DU admission portal while registering. They can update the form with the certificate later.”

1 0  % QUOTA FOR EWS STUDENTS IN DELHI UNIVERSITY

Kol doctor performing dialysis for ₹50 during curbs for critical kidney patients

Kol doctor performing dialysis for ₹50 during curbs for critical kidney patients

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com

Agra:02.07.2020

At a time when instances of hospitals and doctors turning away critically ill patients are surfacing with alarming regularity, a doctor in Kolkata, helped in a non-for-profit initiative by 59 others, is performing dialysis on severe kidney patients for a nominal charge of ₹50.

Dr Fuad Halim, son-in-law of former vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah, started the service during the lockdown. “I saw the problems that patients were facing due to the Covid-19 lockdown. So many had been rendered jobless and didn’t even have money to travel for treatment. So I decided to charge a token amount of ₹50 for a dialysis at my clinic,” he told TOI. So far, his team of three other doctors and four technicians has conducted 2,357 procedures. Two of the doctors are volunteers.

With Covid-19 status no bar, the clinic has seen a surge of patients. “We are not insisting on Covid-19 certificates from patients. We want to give hassle-free treatment. Approximately, 95 patients are visiting the clinic for dialysis every month as opposed to 70 that were being admitted prelockdown,” said Halim. And patients are turning up even from far-off places like Murshidabad, about 200km from Kolkata.

Across the country, dialysis and cancer patients have struggled to get treatment during lockdown as hospitals were either busy with Covid-19 patients or conducting only emergency surgeries. There were reports of hospitals turned away patients out of fear that they could be asymptomatic carriers and infect others. For many such patients, Halim’s clinic has been a lifesaver.

Halim is being assisted by Kolkata Swasthya Sankalpa (KSS) — a non-profit initiative he started with 59 others — mostly friends and family — to keep the cost of medical treatments down. The association has been providing affordable dialysis services to needy patients for over a decade.

Dr Fuad Halim, son-in-law of former vice-chancellor of Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) Lt Gen (retd) Zameer Uddin Shah, started the service during the lockdown

UPSC to allow prelims candidates option of changing exam centre

UPSC to allow prelims candidates option of changing exam centre

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

02.07.2020

New Delhi: The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has offered applicants for Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020, scheduled for October 4, the option of changing their examination centre. The new centres, the choice for which must be submitted to UPSC in two phases —July 7-13 and July 20-24 — will be allotted on a first-come-firstserved basis.

“Keeping in view the large number of candidates of the Civil Services (Preliminary) Examination, 2020 (including the Indian Forest Service (Preliminary) Examination, 2020) and requests received from candidates for changing their centres, the commission has decided to give an opportunity to them to submit their revised choice of centre. The requests of the candidates for change in their centres will be considered against the additional/enhanced capacity intimated by the centres for accommodating the additional candidates,” UPSC said in a press release on Wednesday.

UPSC said all requests for change in the centres will be considered based on the principle of “first-apply-first allot” and once the capacity of a particular centre is attained, it will be frozen. The candidates who cannot get a centre of their choice due to the ceiling, will be required to choose from the remaining ones.

Full report on www.toi.in

IIT Bhubaneswar holds end-semester exams with 100% attendance

-Manash Gohain

New Delhi:

Even as top IITs ditched the final year exams and an increasing number of exams were cancelled in view of the prevailing Covid-19 outbreak, IIT Bhubaneswar showed the way by not only conducting the end-semester exams online, but ensuring 100% attendance. This second generation IIT customised the online exam system so that the examination could be conducted in a comprehensive form without any compromises, yet ensuring that the students are not put at risk.

Indian students from Gulf nations move SC seeking NEET-UG centres abroad

Indian students from Gulf nations move SC seeking NEET-UG centres abroad

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

02.07.2020

New Delhi: Nearly 4,000 Indian students in Gulf countries, the majority from Kerala, moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday seeking examination centres abroad to appear in the National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test (Undergraduate) scheduled for July 26 or its postponement till normalisation of the pandemic situation.

One of the parents, through advocates Pallavi Pratap and Haris Beeran, said most students had registered with Indian embassies in Qatar, Oman, the UAE and Saudi Arabia to travel to India on Vande Bharat mission flights and appear in the examination for admissions to MBBS and BDS courses in medical colleges. However, they could not be accommodated on the flights as priority was accorded to other categories of passengers stuck abroad.

In their appeal against a Kerala high court order refusing to interfere with NEET 2020 to be conducted by the National Testing Agency, petitioner Abdul Azeez said that the NTA had the capability and willingness to open examination centres in Gulf countries as they had been doing so for the Joint Entrance Examination (JEE) for admissions to IITs and NITs. However, the NTA said it would open examination centres abroad only if the Medical Council of India (MCI) approved the proposal.

“The MCI, in its communication dated May 21, informed that online test for NEET is not possible. During these exceptional circumstances, the MCI and the Union government need to be flexible so as to facilitate these students to sit for NEET,” the petitioner said.

Full report on www.toi.in

IN THE LURCH: The National Testing Agency said it would open NEET-UG examination centres abroad only if the Medical Council of India approved the proposal

They should not go scot free: Rajini

They should not go scot free: Rajini

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:02.02.2020

Actor Rajinikanth on Wednesday said those responsible for the twin custodial deaths at Sathankulam should be punished. “We need to ensure that,” Rajinikanth said in a statement, which was his first official reaction on the incident, even though he spoke to the family of the deceased over phone a few days ago.

“Even after people opposed and condemned the barbaric way the father and the son (P Jeyaraj and J Beniks) were tortured and killed, I am shocked at the way some policemen brazenly acted in the presence of a magistrate. All those involved should definitely be punished and we need to ensure that,” Rajinikanth said in the statement.

The statement was tweeted with a hashtag ‘satthiyama vidave koodadhu’ (I swear they shouldn’t go scot free) in Tamil. The tweet, which had a picture of a grim looking Rajinikanth, started trending nationally, soon after. While many hailed his statement as one of the “strongest” on the Sathankulam episode, quite a few questioned his delayed reaction on the episode, which has already been condemned nationally with even Bollywood stars and cricketers joining in.