HC upholds relief for accident victim’s kin

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:11.10.2021

The Madras high court has confirmed the compensation awarded to the family members of a car driver who was killed in a road accident when a government bus collided with his car in Sivaganga in November 2004.

Kannan was driving a car on Thirupathur-Sivaganga Road when the bus coming in the opposite direction collided with it, killing him on the spot. His family members moved the motor accidents claims tribunal for compensation. The tribunal directed the transport corporation to pay ₹17.07 lakh compensation to the victim’s family as the accident happened due to the rash and negligent bus driver. It was also asked to pay ₹40,000 to the car owner who also sought compensation. The transport corporation challenged both the orders before HC Madurai bench.

The standing counsel for the transport corporation submitted that the bus driver had stated that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the car driver against whom a criminal case was also registered. Without considering these facts, the tribunal had erroneously fixed negligence on the bus driver, he said.

A division bench of Justice V Bharathidasan and JusticeJ Nisha Banu observed that an eyewitness had stated that the accident had occurred due to the negligence of the bus driver. The evidence of the bus driver cannot be taken into consideration as he is an interested witness. The transport corporation did not examine any of the passengers on the bus to prove that the accident occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of the deceased. Therefore, the judges said the tribunal had rightly fixed the negligence on the part of the bus driver.

The judges observed that though the claimants, who are the widow, parents, minor child and unmarried brothers and sisters, are entitled to consortium of ₹40,000 each, the tribunal had not granted any amount to them.

The judges dismissed both the appeals by the transport corporation.

UGC asks all univs to campaign against single-use plastics

UGC asks all univs to campaign against single-use plastics

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.10.2021

The University Grants Commission on Friday asked universities and colleges to conduct impactful awareness campaign to avoid the single-use plastics as part of Centre’s ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign.

“Awareness programmes to avoid single-use plastics have been identified as one of the themes for the campaign with a view to gather momentum, scale visibility and outreach,” UGC secretary Rajnish Jain said in a letter to the vicechancellors of all universities. The letter called for awareness on the recently notified Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, as well. The rules aim to phase out single-use plastics which have low utility and high littering potential by 2022.

53% absent for UPSC prelims exam in city

 53% absent for UPSC prelims exam in city

Chennai:11.10.2021

Of 28,422 candidates who registered for the Union Public Service Commission’s civil services preliminary exam from the city, only 13,216 candidates (47%) appeared for the exam on Sunday.

The exam, which was scheduled to be held on June 29, was postponed due to the Covid-19 second wave. Trainers said attendance varies each year depending on the vacancy and preparation of the candidates.

According to aspirants, the general studies paper on Sunday was a mixed one with less questions from current affairs and geography. “More than 20 questions were from history and few were from current affairs. Unusually, the UPSC asked three questions from sports,” a candidate said.

Another candidate said the questions were interpretative and not straight forward this year.

“The general studies paper was tougher than last year, the aptitude test was more or less the same,” said S Chandru, academic head, Shankar IAS Academy.

Israel Jebasingh, founder and director of Officers Training Academy, said the cut-off will be 96 or 97 marks out of 200, which will be slightly higher compared to last year. TNN

Online quiz to up discussion skills of Class X students

 Online quiz to up discussion skills of Class X students

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.10.2021

The school education department is conducting weekly online quiz every Saturday to spur Class X students to take part in classroom discussions, The basic quiz is aimed at bridging the gap in learning for government school students who have been learning through Kalvi TV video lessons in the past 18 months.

The quiz is designed based on the learning outcomes of Class IX and X lessons. A quiz is conducted for 90 minutes and students have to attend 10 objective type questions from each of the five subjects at a hi-tech lab in high and higher secondary schools.

After each quiz, the department sends questions with correct answers for classroom discussions.

"The questions will not be directly from textbooks and the performance will not be counted for any evaluation. The main purpose is to initiate classroom discussions as these children were away from schools for a long time," an official from the school education department said.

The department is planning to conduct eight quizzes, and so far, four have been completed.

However, teachers said students are finding it difficult to answer the questions as a majority of the questions are from outside the textbooks.

"It's a good move, however, the internet speed in hitech labs is very slow and many students could not submit their responses due to poor net connection. The state government should provide high speed internet connectivity to government schools on priority basis," said A Peter Raja, president, Tamil Nadu High and Higher Secondary School Headmasters' Association.

Railways wants to shut down schools, shift students to KVs

Railways wants to shut down schools, shift students to KVs

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11,10,.2021

The Railway Board has once again mooted a proposal to shut down schools run by zonal railways which don’t have a significant number of students on their rolls. Those schools with substantial number of students may be merged with Kendriya Vidyalayas, the board said.

In a letter issued on September 28, Mahesh Kumar Meena, joint director (establishment) in Railway Board wrote to zonal railways to assess schools managed by them.

This is in line with the board's instructions which stipulate that ‘efforts should be made to progressively close down existing railway schools matching the expansion of KVs and other nonrailway schools.’ Eventually, railway schools would be transferred to Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).

This is being done to optimise the utilisation of resources spent on running schools, the letter stated. “A quota for children of railway employees might be given in KVs,” the letter stated.

The letter has asked zonal railways to identify railway schools which can be handed over to KVs and also close down schools where the enrolment is small and where it is not feasible to merge it with another institution.

Southern Railway runs seven schools (six of which are in Tamil Nadu), which has a total enrolment of 2627. Amount allotted to them is around Rs 20 lakh. These schools are in Perambur, Arakkonam, Madurai, Tiruchirapalli, Erode, Pothanur and Palakkad.

M Suryaprakash, working general secretary of Southern Railway Employees Sangh (SRES), which is one of the unions representing employee issues, said that this was a move keeping in line with the Union government’s plan to privatise railways.

“Facilities like schools and hospitals were created by Railways for the benefit of its vast number of employees. It is the government’s responsibility to maintain and upgrade them, instead of shutting it down. Railway schools can offer some special railway related subjects that can help students prepare for a career in the organisation,” he said.

Met dept predicts more rain

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.10.2021

The city will continue to receive thunderstorms and moderate rain at a few places on Monday.

An IMD forecast said the sky condition will likely be cloudy, with thunderstorms and rain in some areas.

The city received heavy rain on Sunday evening. Nungambakkam recorded 20.6mm, Meenambakkam recorded 23 mm, Anna University 16mm, Taramani 14.5mm, MRC Nagar 5.5mm rain till 7.30pm. OMR got a good amount of rain, clocking 40mm.

Weather bloggers said more rain is expected due to an upper air circulation and convergence of wind from north west over northern parts of the state.

Govt to take over Air India’s unpaid bills of ₹16,000 crore

Govt to take over Air India’s unpaid bills of ₹16,000 crore

Sidhartha & Surojit Gupta TNN

New Delhi:11.10.2021

The new holding company for Air India floated by the government, which will take over its non-core assets, will also be saddled with a heap of unpaid bills from the bleeding national carrier, besides bank loans.

These “excess liabilities” being transferred to Air India Asset Holding Company Ltd add up to ₹15,834 crore — more than a quarter of the airline’s total debt, pegged at ₹61,562 crore in end-August.

What are these “excess liabilities”? Government sources said these are largely dues of oil companies, airport operators and vendors that AI managed to avoid over the years, being a wholly-owned government company. The government too has some part in this as it often delays payments, including for tickets purchased for its employees through another public sector company, Balmer Lawrie. “The sale will not just stop the hit that the government has to take on a daily basis but also help clean up the system and release funds,” a government official told TOI.

Liabilities to be taken over by new entity immediately

While the liabilities, including loans and unpaid bills, will be taken over by the new entity immediately, it will only be able to monetise the assets over the next few years, depending on the market condition. In the interim, it will have to work out arrangements with banks and other creditors to rework the terms, which the government believes should not be an issue as the government has guaranteed 94% of the loans used to keep the airline afloat, against accumulated losses of nearly Rs 84,000 crore at the end of March. Besides, the terms of the transaction provide for the government to bear the financial impact of AI operations until the company is transferred to its new owner by the end of December, officials said. Looked at another way, these excess liabilities are more than the book value of non-core assets of Rs 14,718 crore that have been transferred to the new entity and 35% of the total liabilities of Rs 44,679 crore that the new entity will have after factoring in the Rs 18,000 crore of debt and cash from TataSons and the non-core assets.

New proposal to nullify pilots’ flying licence if not used for over 3 years

New proposal to nullify pilots’ flying licence if not used for over 3 years

Manju.V@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:

Pilots who don’t use their flying licence for over three straight years stand to lose it, according to an amendment to the existent aviation regulations, proposed recently by the civil aviation ministry. For thousands of jobless pilots in India, the draft amendment, if passed, would mean spending thousands of rupees every three years to fly in order to hold on to their flying licences. Currently, that minimum mandatory flying to keep a licence valid needs to be done only once every five years.

The extraordinary gazette, published on September 30, lists the draft rules amending the Indian Aircraft Rules-1937 and is currently open for objections and suggestions till the month-end.

The draft rules increase the validity of a Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) and the higher, Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL) to ten years from the current five years. But with a condition, which appears on page 18.

It states: “In case where the privileges of the licence has not been exercised during the validity period of licence, for a period exceeding 3 years, the applicant shall be required to requalify in examinations and skill tests required for issue of such licence before exercising the privileges of such licence.”

“The new rules will reduce the workload on aviation regulator as each licence will come up for renewal every ten years and not five years,” said a flying instructor.

“But it adds to the woes of jobless pilots. A student spends ₹25-30 lakh to earn a CPL. India has over 5,000 jobless CPL holders currently. The proposed change will send them to flying school every 3 years where they will do some minutes of flying with an instructor to hold on to their licence. With Covid and Jet Airways’ closure, life was anyway tough for jobless pilots burdened with heavy education loans and EMIs,” he said. “

Full report on www.toi.in

Kids’ vaccine ZyCoV-D to be given to pvt hospitals too

Kids’ vaccine ZyCoV-D to be given to pvt hospitals too

25L Doses To Be Set Aside For Pvt Sector Initially: NTAGI Chief

Umesh.Isalkar@timesgroup.com

Pune:11.10.2021

ZyCoV-D, the first vaccine to be approved for use in children in the age group of 12-17 in India, will also be made available to private sector hospitals across the country. The Centre’s supply principle in the ratio of 75:25 for public and private vaccination will remain applicable for this vaccine as well. ZyCoV-D is going to be introduced in the country’s Covid vaccination programme by October 20.

“If there are buyers, up to 25 lakh doses of the ZyCoV-D would be made available to private sector hospitals every month as the initial monthly vaccine availability will be one crore doses,” NK Arora, chairman of the Centre’s Covid-19 working group of the National Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation (NTAGI) told TOI on Sunday.

The needle-free ZyCoV-D vaccine, manufactured by Zydus Cadila, has received emergency use authorisation for being administered to children between 12 and 17 years of age in India. The three-dose vaccine is to be given with a 28-day gap between each dose. “The biggest hurdle with this vaccine is its slow production. Initially, the manufacturer can only make available one crore doses every month,” Arora said.

He, however, added that the private sector had not shown much interest in vaccine purchases after the new guidelines about Covid-19 vaccine supply in the ratio of 75:25 came into effect. Sanjay Lalwani, medical director of Bharati Hospital in Pune, said: “It is a three-dose vaccine, hence the vaccination cost is likely to be high, which may negatively impact purchase in the private sector.”

A woman dressed as Goddess Durga distributes masks in Kolkata

States, UTs given 96cr doses: Govt

Around 96 crore vaccine doses have been provided to states and UTs so far, the union health ministry said on Sunday. Around 8.3 crore balance and unutilised vaccine doses are still available with the states and UTs, it said. The vaccination drive has been ramped up through availability of more vaccines and advance visibility of vaccine availability to states and UTs. PTI

Ready to join hands with anyone to fight Centre: Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao

Ready to join hands with anyone to fight Centre: Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao

Speaking in the Assembly, Rao said that his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin had written to him expressing concern over the way the Centre was acting vis-a-vis states.

Published: 08th October 2021 11:38 AM 

By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Taking a strong exception to the Centre usurping the powers of States, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Thursday said: "Not satisfied with what it has done so far in emasculating the states, the Centre recently tried to bring the sale of petroleum products under the ambit of the Centre. It later beat a hasty retreat after BJP-ruled states opposed it vehemently."

Speaking in the Assembly, Rao said that his Tamil Nadu counterpart MK Stalin had written to him expressing concern over the way the Centre was acting vis-a-vis states. "I am ready to join hands with anyone who wants to fight with the Centre to safeguard the interests of the State," the CM asserted.

He referred to the "cold response" from Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he met the latter recently and proposed the development of five metro cities excluding Delhi by allocating Rs 20,000 crore each. The CM had suggested that the states concerned could contribute half the sum.

Private colleges don't need state government's nod to add, drop courses: Telangana HC

Private colleges don't need state government's nod to add, drop courses: Telangana HC

The court was hearing a series of batch petitions filed by several engineering colleges questioning certain regulations of the JNTUH that mandate the State's permission to add or drop courses.

Published: 08th October 2021 11:57 AM 

By Express News Service

HYDERABAD: Granting relief to private engineering colleges in the State, the Telangana High Court on Thursday said that they no longer have to seek permission from the government to add courses or drop existing ones.

A bench comprising Justice A Rajasekhar Reddy and Justice T Vinod Kumar was hearing a series of batch petitions filed by several engineering colleges (Sree Educational Society, Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology and others), questioning certain regulations of the JNTUH that mandate the State's permission to add or drop courses.

Senior counsel S Niranjan Reddy, who appeared for the engineering colleges, contended that certain traditional engineering courses were not creating job opportunities anymore. After hearing the arguments, the bench suspended the impugned regulations and further directed JNTUH to grant affiliation to these petitioners.

Unvaccinated Delhi govt employees will not be allowed to attend office from Oct 16: DDMA

Unvaccinated Delhi govt employees will not be allowed to attend office from Oct 16: DDMA

All such unvaccinated Delhi government employees, including teachers and frontline workers, will be treated as 'on leave' till they get the jab, the order stated.

Published: 08th October 2021 03:01 PM 

A health worker administers a dose of Covaxin COVID-19 vaccine to a woman at a municipal health center. (File Photo | AP)

By PTI

NEW DELHI: Delhi government employees and teachers not having at least one shot of COVID-19 vaccine will not be allowed to attend their offices and workplaces from October 16, according to a Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) order on Friday.

All such unvaccinated Delhi government employees, including teachers and frontline workers, will be treated as "on leave" till they get the jab, the order stated.

The heads of departments concerned will verify vaccinated employees through Aarogya Setu app or vaccination certificate, it stated.

The order, issued by Delhi Chief Secretary and DDMA executive committee chairperson Vijay Dev, stated that the central government "may consider issuing similar directions in respect of its employees working in Delhi."

The DDMA, in its meeting on September 29, had decided to ensure 100 per cent vaccination of all government employees, frontline workers, healthcare workers as well as teachers and other staff members in schools/colleges.

These categories of persons have frequent interaction with the general public and vulnerable section of the society, stated the order.

All government employees working in departments/autonomous bodies/ PSUs/local bodies/educational institutions under Government of NCT of Delhi, including frontline workers, healthcare workers as well as teachers and other staff working in schools/colleges should get vaccinated (at least first dose) by October 15, said the order.

"The aforesaid government employees/ frontline workers/healthcare workers / teachers and other staff working in schools abd colleges, who do not get vaccinated (at least first dose) by October 15 shall not be allowed to attend their respective offices/ health care institutions/ educational institutions with effect from October 16, till they have obtained the first dose vaccination," it said.

Three flights up, merger on cards?

PLAN READY SINCE 2019

Three flights up, merger on cards?

Reeba.Zachariah@timesgroup.com

09.10.2021

Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran had told TOI in 2019 that he would not run a third airline in addition to Vistara and AirAsia India, unless they merged. Which means that an amalgamation of aviation interests is on the cards. But a person familiar with Tata Sons’s thinking said that the integration of multiple aviation units will be possible only after the chairman spruces up the business.

Moreover, the Air India acquisition comes with a provision restricting the new owner from transferring its shares directly or indirectly to any person for one year from the date of closing the transaction. A merger is, however, allowed provided the new owner holds more than 51% during the oneyear lock-in period.

Tata Sons threw its hat into the Air India bidding ring because it had been looking for a solution for its sub-scale aviation business. In the same 2019 interview, Chandrasekaran said he wanted to scale up the aviation business and needed “to find a solution” for it.

Since then, the dynamics at Tata Sons’s aviation business have changed. It had bought Malaysian partner’s 33% share in AirAsia India, increasing its holdings to 84%. Tata Sons now has the option to buy AirAsia’s remaining 16% by next year. Once the share-purchase happens and the brand-licensing agreement with AirAsia ends, the company will be offering a “white-label service”, which could then be combined with Air India or Vistara, said a different person.

The Air India acquisition has, however, put the spotlight on Vistara and its co-promoter Singapore Airlines.

Singapore Airlines cancelled the non-compete clause in Vistara’s contract, allowing Tata Sons to participate in the Air India auction. But the island city-state is unsure of consolidation. “Singapore would like to wait and see how Tata Sons’s aviation business pans out,” said a source. Tata Sonswill have five brands — Air India, Air India Express, Indian Airlines, AirAsia India and Vistara — after the acquisition. Consulting firm Arthur D Little’s managing partner Thomas Kuruvilla feels the company could have multiple brands for different segments.

HC notice to med varsity on plea seeking CBI probe

MARKSHEET SCAM

HC notice to med varsity on plea seeking CBI probe

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bhopal/Jabalpur:

A division bench of MP High Court on Monday issued notice to MP Medical University in response to a petition filed by some medical students seeking a CBI or court-monitored probe into marksheet scam in the university.

The petitioners Avinash Gaur, Aditya Jain and 7  more medical students said that they are students of a private medical college and that they had taken admission in MBBS first year in 2019. Their exams were postponed by 6 months in the wake of the Corona pandemic. Results of their exam was declared on October 21, 2021 and half the students failed to clear one paper or more. The university had decided to allow revaluation or spot valuation on payment of Rs 2000 but later, the provision of revaluation or spot valuation was scrapped, thereby leaving the students with no option for redressal if they are not satisfied with the marks obtained.

They said that a marksheet scam by the company which was given the contract to hold exams and prepare marksheet of students by the medical university has also surfaced. The university doesn't have answer-sheets of students.

Citing rulings of various high courts and the Supreme Court, advocate for the petitioners Aditya Sanghi contended that if the university doesn't have data of its students, it should have given average marks to all the students and declared them pass. He also demanded a CBI or a court-monitored probe into the marksheet scam of the university. The case will now come up for hearing on October 21.

AI Indore to Sharjah flight from Nov 1

AI Indore to Sharjah flight from Nov 1

09.10.2021

From November 1, Air India will start a flight from Indore to Sharjah. It will be the second international flight by AI from Indore, the first being to Dubai. “The flight will also connect Delhi and Mumbai from Mumbai to Indore, then to Sharjah. In return, it will come back to Indore and then fly to Delhi,” AI Indore station manager Vikas Shah told TOI.

Allow students to take exams, HC tells RGUHS

Allow students to take exams, HC tells RGUHS

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:09.10.2021

In huge relief for 20 medical students enrolled in different colleges in Karnataka, the high court directed Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) to allow them to take their examinations later, if, for any reason including Covid-19, they could not appear for them when scheduled.

The exams commenced from September 20, but the high court ruled they will have to be conducted subsequently for these students.

Justice R Devdas issued this order, while disposing of petitions filed by Pani Yapung, a student from Arunachal Pradesh and 19 others. All the petitioners are from different states, including Kerala.

“Having gone through the advisory issued by the [state Covid-19] Technical Advisory Committee (TAC), this court finds that it is possible that some students arriving from Kerala may have tested positive,” Justice Devdas said in his order.

The judge added: “It is also possible that students other than those arriving from Kerala may also have tested positive. Therefore, under such circumstances, the respondent university [RGUHS] had issued a notification earlier enabling such students who were issued hall tickets but were unable to attend examinations to write examinations subsequently.”

Taj resonates with Air India’s heartbeat

BY INVITATION

Taj resonates with Air India’s heartbeat

By R K Krishna Kumar

09.10.2021

The return of Air India to its original home is a momentous event. It will take some time to fly AI again under the Tata banner. A man who will be truly happy is Ratan Tata, chairman emeritus of Tata Sons and, at one time, chairman of AI, after nationalisation. This time, after a lot of hard work, and no doubt, deep study, Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran has boldly moved forward. AI is no ordinary brand. After J R D Tata founded it in 1932, he nursed the airline for several decades and made it a luminous star amidst other airlines like PanAm, TWA and Swiss Air, many of which have since disappeared. His passion for detail accompanied by his vision for India made AI what it became — a legendary leading global airline carrying the Indian flag.

I will touch upon the foundation of the relationship between the House of Tata and AI. In Tatas, one company that resonates with the heartbeat of AI is the Taj Group of Hotels. What connects them is the powerful focus on doing everything possible to make customers supremely comfortable and happy.

Long before management jargon coined phrases like ‘customer centricity’, the purpose of being an enterprise dedicated wholly to look after its guests was an overriding passion of both organisations. The secret of the Taj brand and AI’s legacy was the care and commitment that was crafted into their service philosophy, in some ways the trail leads to the founder himself, Jamsetji Tata, who founded the Taj Mahal hotel. Many will remember the supreme example of this passion when terrorists attacked Taj on November 26, 2008. Both Ratan Tata and I were witness to the horrible siege of the Taj for three days and three nights. It was extraordinary that so many employees of the Taj continued in their positions including the telephone operators and the staff of the kitchen during the attack. We unfortunately lost 12 of our employees. The world recognised this and the Taj dome under fire became a global symbol of service above self.

AI has historically shared the bonding with its customers in the same manner as the Taj. Perhaps, because AI for so many years had different leaders under government control the original philosophy of perfection including in maintenance, upkeep and profitability had become frayed and the brand lost its sheen over time.

It will be a challenging task not only to fully revive the airline but also make it profitable. It will summon the most intensive technological changes for which Chandra must have his plans ready. The Tata Group has investments in two other airline entities, viz Vistara and AirAsia, and with the acquisition of AI it will call for a major strategic restructuring reflecting market realities. We must also remember that when the shadow of the pandemic passes, international air travel, and importantly domestic air travel, will grow exponentially.

It was a bold and daring decision of the government to take forward its economic reforms agenda by privatising the fabled airline. With Ratan Tata’s guidance and Chandra’s consistent track record of delivering performance, I believe that AI will again become a flying beacon of India’s international success.

(The writer is Tata Trusts trustee)

Docs may be wrongly tagging patients as diabetics

Docs may be wrongly tagging patients as diabetics

Pushpa.Narayan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:09.10.2021

Several senior citizens may be wrongly tagged diabetic and pre-diabetic based on the elevated levels of blood sugar seen in the glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) – a standard test for diabetes, senior diabetologists say. They have now called for age-specific cut-offs for the test to minimise risks of needless treatment and its side effects.

Results from a pan India study, published in Acta Dibetologica, shows the HbA1c levels increase with age in nondiabetic individuals. “This means, we cannot have the same normal for all adults. Laboratories should report age adjusted normal values for all their lab tests,” said senior diabetologist Dr V Mohan from the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation. “Else, we will be initiating needless treatment in elderly people and increase risk of serious side effects of the medicines,” he said.

The test is done to find the average level of blood sugar over three months and is hence considered robust and reliable. When glucose builds up in the blood, it binds to the haemoglobin —a protein found in red blood cells. Since these cells live for three months, the test shows the average level of glucose in blood for the three months. If the level is below 5 and 5.6%, its considered normal and those who have values between 5.7 and 6.4% are considered prediabetic. The value for diabetics is above 6.5%.

Scientists used data collected from the Indian Council of Medical Research – INdia DIABetes (ICMR–INDIAB) study in people above 20 years from across India. The age-wise distribution of HbA1c from 14,222 people showed in this group. Scientists used data from 1,077 others from the CURES study conducted in Chennai for validation. Analysis showed HbA1c levels increased gradually with age from about 5.16 in the 20–29 years group to 5.49% in those above 70 years. The validation study (CURES) showed HbA1c was 5.35% in 20–29 years and 5.74% in above

70.

“The pan India data showed a 0.08% increase in HbA1c for every decadal increase in age. This increase was more significant in women and urbanites. “Many elderly people may have physiological changes in their ability to regulate blood glucose. This means marginally elevated HbA1c levels need not always be indicative of pathology,” said diabetologist Dr R M Anjana, who was a part of the study.

International passenger traffic at city airport spikes

International passenger traffic at city airport spikes

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:09.10.2021

As travel has resumed, international passenger traffic has recorded a steady spike at the Chennai airport.

The airport handled 83,000 passengers in August as against 53,000 passengers in July. It is ranked third after Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Bengaluru handled 80,000 international passengers in August, as per statistics from Airports Authority of India (AAI). Sources said that the numbers for Chennai are projected to touch close to a lakh for September and October. In the pre-Covid days, the airport used to handle around 5lakh international passengers.

Though scheduled international flights are yet to resume, there is a huge demand from people travelling for education, business and leisure.

AAI and airlines officials said that the pent up demand for travel will help the airport touch pre-Covid level patronage by end of the year if scheduled flights are resumed in November.

Sri Lanka and Thailand opening up for vaccinated travellers following European countries, the ongoing Dubai expo and the IPL in the UAE are set to boost demand for travel for leisure and business in the coming weeks from the city. The government of India's decision to resume issuing visas for tourists arriving by charter flights from October 15 will also boost inbound travel.

Sri Lanka, Thailand, countries in the Middle East are the most popular destinations from Chennai. S Baskar, managing committee member of Travel Agents Federation of India (TAFI) said, “International travel is bound to increase in the coming months."

A sample survey by Thomas Cook and SOTC among their customers across metros showed that around 77% of the respondents wanted to fly abroad for leisure in October-November-December period.

Rajeev Kale, president & country head, Thomas Cook (India) Limited said, “Our survey highlights strong travel demand for the last quarter 2021."

Let HC Judges Retire When SC Judges Do, At 65

Let HC Judges Retire When SC Judges Do, At 65

This will cut pendency, plus historical reasons for different retirement ages no longer hold

Arunav Kaul

08.10.2021

“How is this irrational? There has to be some reason for it,” said the Supreme Court in April in response to a petition which sought to increase the retirement age of high court judges from 62 to 65, to bring it at par with SC judges. The petition contended that the difference in the retirement ages between the two constitutional courts of the country is irrational and arbitrary and hence these must be made uniform.

The case was finally withdrawn by the petitioner but it has raised an important issue: Are the retirement ages different to show that SC judges are more important than HC judges or are there deeper historical reasons? Do the reasons still subsist and or is the time ripe to make the retirement ages uniform?

The divide has pre-independence roots

The Government of India Act 1935 was one of the first formal documents that categorically laid down the retirement age for judges. It formally established the Federal Court of India, the predecessor of the present Supreme Court of India, and laid down the retirement age at 65 years for judges of the Federal Court and 60 years for judges of HCs.

Why such a gap? The answer lies in the report of the Joint Committee on Indian Constitutional Reform set up before the passing of the 1935 Act. It opined that having a different retirement age would be necessary to secure the services of the judges from HCs.

Abhinav Chandrachud has further explained how it was contended that senior judges from HCs who were already in an established position in various prestigious courts would not be willing to relinquish the rest of their tenure for a junior position with an uncertain future at the newly established Federal Court. Hence, the additional five years were added as an incentive.

The different ages concretised in the coming years. Although the initial draft of the Constitution stated that judges of HC would retire at 60 or a higher age not exceeding 65 years based on the law fixed by state legislatures, this was eventually amended. Given past practices of retirement and health concerns at an old age, retirement age for HC judges was fixed at 60.

But SC-HC equation has changed since then

Having an age gap in retirement certainly made sense in the earlier days of SC. For instance, George H Gadbois Jr notes in his book that Justice KC Das Gupta was one of the first chief justices from a presidency HC to accept the nomination to SC in 1959 nearly a decade after the establishment of the latter court. Other chief justices showed a “reluctance to leave the glamour of a prestigious post to become the most junior SCI judge”.

However, today SC is one of the most prestigious institutions in the country, elevation to which is also seen as a matter of great prestige. Moreover the 14th Law Commission recommended even way back in 1958 that rules could be established to make it a duty for judges of HCs to accept the offer to serve at SC. Subsequently, a constitutional amendment in 1963 increased the retirement age of HC judges to 62. This was done soon after an increase in the retirement age of central government employees from 55 to 58 based on the recommendations of the Second Pay Commission which looked at health and life expectancy.

Give HC judges more time on the job

Years later in 2010, another constitutional amendment bill was introduced in Parliament to increase the retirement age of HC judges from 62 to 65. The standing committee on the bill pointed out that increasing the retirement age would impact both the vacancies and the high pendency of cases. This bill eventually lapsed but increasing the retirement age of HC judges would indeed reduce pendency, as well as provide judges ample time to spend on the bench.

On average, as of September 1, HC judges are being appointed at the age of 51. This provides them with a little over a decade before retiring. Increased retirement age will allow them to adjust to the rigmaroles of the new position and discharge their duties for a longer duration.

The bottomline is that when historical reasons are no longer relevant, it is best to amend policies so they reflect contemporary needs. So government should seriously look into the possibility of making the retirement age uniform for judges of HCs and SC. This would be the prudent approach.

The writer is a human rights lawyer

‘Can’t throw out candidates for smudging answer sheets’

‘Can’t throw out candidates for smudging answer sheets’

Highly Inequitable To Dismiss Efforts Over Scratches: HC

Ajay.Sura@timesgroup.com

Chandigarh:08.10.2021

The Punjab and Haryana high court has made it clear that it would be highly inequitable to throw the candidates for competitive examinations out at the threshold on account of having smudged a particular answer and the fact that there were vacancies as such. The HC has passed these orders while directing the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) to evaluate the OMR sheet of a woman candidate, who had appeared for the post of Physical Training Instructor (PTI) examination but her answer sheet, was not evaluated because one of the answers was smudged/scratched by her on the sheet.

Justice G S Sandhawalia passed these orders while allowing a petition filed by Suman Devi, who was a candidate for the post of PTI teacher in Haryana. She had appeared for the written examination held on August 23, 2020, but her answer sheet was not evaluated by the HSSC as one of the answers was found to be smudged and there was a cutting as such.

The petitioner has stated in her writ petition that she was an earlier appointee against the initial advertisement and got selected on April 30, 2010, and had worked in the department for around 10 years. However, her previous selection was set aside by the HC as well as the apex court. Thereafter, the entire selection process was to be redone while giving a chance to the earlier appointees.

The petitioner was a candidate under BCB category, for which 216 posts had been advertised and, required 45% marks to secure minimum qualifying prescribed marks in the written test. It was pointed out by the petitioner, who appeared in person, that on account of scratching and smudging of one of the questions on the OMR sheet, her question paper has not been evaluated.

The HC was informed that the commission has given certain benefits, as such, to candidates for certain questions and if the said benefit is given, the petitioner would make the grade of 90 marks. “Resultantly, the HSSC, is directed to ensure that if the petitioner has made the qualifying cut after deleting the benefit which is to be awarded against the smudged questions, result be declared and the same benefits be given,” the HC has ordered while allowing her plea.

The HC passed these orders while directing the Haryana Staff Selection Commission (HSSC) to evaluate the OMR sheet of a woman candidate

DU refutes prof ’s claims that Kerala students are being given preference

DU refutes prof ’s claims that Kerala students are being given preference

Shinjini.Ghosh@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:08.10.2021

Following a row over comments on students from a particular state board being given preference by Delhi University during admissions, a statement was issued by the varsity on Thursday refuting the same.

DU registrar Vikas Gupta said over 60,000 students had applied to the university under the first cutoff list out of which over 46,000 were from CBSE. At the end of the last day of approvals from college principals, applications of over 31,000 students from CBSE and 2,365 of students from Kerala Board of Higher Secondary Education were accepted, he added.

There were 1,540 students from Board of School Education, Haryana and 1,429 from Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations.

The remarks by DU professor Rakesh Kumar Pandey on the “inexplicable rush” of students from Kerala had drawn flak from several quarters. Students’ Federation of India and National Students Union of India announced that they would hold demonstrations at DU’s Arts Faculty and Kirori Mal College, respectively, on Friday.

Meanwhile, Akhil Bharatiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (ABVP) had staged a sit-in protest on Wednesday stating that the high cutoffs had led to students from “only few state boards” being admitted to the varsity.

In the statement, Gupta said, “Being a central university, University of Delhi equally and uniformly values the academic credentials of all candidates irrespective of their states and school boards. This year, too, equal opportunity was maintained by accepting applications based on merit only.”

Refuting the claim of students from a particular state board being “favoured”, Gupta added, “Being a prestigious central university with a long legacy of quality teaching and research, candidates across the country aspire to study in our colleges, departments and centres. It is our utmost responsibility to maintain justice and equity to all meritorious candidates coming not only from Indian states, but also from abroad.”

Nuthan Kiron Raj, a former student of Hindu College and a member of Telangana Students’ Association, said, “Such a statement is derogatory and condemnable. It was a very biased and prejudiced statement. There can be faults in the grading system, but singling out a particular state is unjust. As we don’t have a common grading system throughout the country, there can be differentiated grades. But that doesn’t give anyone the right to give a distorted statement against a particular state.”

Pens-only and extra blank circle: CBSE’s plan for Boards in Nov

Pens-only and extra blank circle: CBSE’s plan for Boards in Nov

Datesheet, Detailed Guidelines For Term-1 MCQ Exams Next Week

Manash.Gohain @timesgroup.com

New Delhi:08.10.2021

Candidates appearing for the MCQ-type Term 1 CBSE Board Exams this November will be allowed to use only pens to mark answers. The OMR answer sheets will, however, have an additional blank space/circle for the students to use if they decide to change their response to a question.

“If four options to answer a particular question are provided, there will also be an additional blank space. If the students, during revising or for any other reason, realise that they have marked the wrong choice, they can strike it off, darken the correct circle and write the same (like1, 2, 3 or 4 or a, b, c or d) in the additional blank space. A combination of intelligent character recognition (ICR) and optical mark recognition (OMR) techniques will be used to evaluate such responses,” CBSE controller of examinations Dr Sanyam Bhardwaj told exclusively to TOI.

He also said the practical exams will be conducted by own schools of the candidates.

He said, “Marks scored in the practical exams have always been questioned and very often we have seen significant variations in marks obtained by the same student in theroretical and practical exams. CBSE wants the school to be responsible and assess students on actual performance. The Term 1 practicals are to be conducted by schools themselves. Based on the present Covid situation and the vaccination drive underway, we are expecting that Term 2 practicals would be conducted by the CBSE”.

With around 40 days for the exams to begin, schools and candidates are eagerly waiting for the schedule and guidelines of the exams. To that, Bhardwaj said, “CBSE will issue the instructions after it finalises the complete scheme (of the exam) and we will apprise all the stakeholders with all aspects of the exam.”

TOI has learnt that students can expect the announcement of exam dates and guidelines in another four to five days once the Board gets the complete list of candidates (the last date is October 9, 2021).

The CBSE has split the board exams into two parts — Term 1 and Term 2. A candidate’s final score will be calculated on the basis of his/her performance in both Terms. As per the new scheme, Term 1 will be a 90-minute objectivetype exams, while Term 2 will be a 120-minute subjective tests. Both will have practicals.

On the marking system, Bhardwaj said each question will carry equal marks and candidates will get options as well.

IN FOR A REVAMPED SYSTEM

Take 2nd dose or get barred from public places in Indore

Take 2nd dose or get barred from public places in Indore

Indore:08.10.2021

Health authorities have asked district administration to take strict measures for completing second dose of Covid-19 doses among people resisting it.

The authorities seek deterrent measures to disallow overdue/due people from entry to public places to complete vaccination.

The district has around seven lakh overdue/ due people eligible for second dose administration but not turning out as drive lost momentum in the last one month or so. District Immunisation in-charge Dr Tarun Gupta said, “Because of lower turn out of people for taking their second dose despite becoming eligible is a cause of concern. The vaccine gives maximum protection after two dose inoculations.”

“Those who have taken the first dose and not come for the second dose are resisting it because of fake confidence of protection, vaccine apprehensiveness, complacency”, said Dr Gupta.

An adult person become due after completing a gap of 84 days after first dose in case of Covishield and for covaxin it is 28 days. The overdue people are those, who aren’t taking their second doses after 14 days of prescribed gap in Covishield and seven days in Covaxin. TOI on October 6 reported how the mass vaccination drive lost momentum.

Following it, the district administration in the last week wrote to secretaries, presidents of all associations to ensure full immunization of their members. TNN

Indoreans get jab at a mobile vaccination centre

PG resident doctors protest hike in fees, non-payment of pandemic allowance

PG resident doctors protest hike in fees, non-payment of pandemic allowance

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:08.10.2021

Resident doctors pursuing post-graduation courses in various medical colleges in Karnataka boycotted elective work on Thursday, while seeking reduction in academic fees and payment of Covid-19 allowances. However, they called off the protest by the evening after the medical education minister assured them that their allowances will be paid soon.

Doctors said that although the Covid allowance was announced in May, none have received it yet. The allowance amounts to Rs 10,000 a month per resident doctor.

Emergency services, ICUs and Covid-related services were unhindered by the strike since doctors only boycotted only elective services. Authorities at Victoria Hospital said faculty, staff, senior residents and fellowship persons of all departments managed OPDs on Thursday.

The resident doctors’ other demand — reduction of tuition fees — is yet to be addressed. “The minister said it will take time to decide as there are technical issues involved,” said a Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors office bearer.

The association revealed the state government had hiked fees from Rs 23,000 to Rs 1.3 lakh in 2019. There are around 5,000 resident doctors in the state. The association says fees for PG courses in the neighbouring state of Kerala is only Rs 11,500, while Rajasthan charges Rs 12,000. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh charge no fees. In Maharashtra, it is Rs 90,000. At the same time, the stipend is the lowest in Karnataka amongst these states at Rs 45,000-Rs 55,000. In Delhi and Gujarat, it is as high as Rs 85,000.

“Although the government and public glorified us as Covid warriors, it is of interest to note that, as young doctors, have in reality paid the government a hefty sum of money to do this thankless job,” the association said. “Umpteen representations were made to the government and administration in the past year to waive fees for the year 2021-22 in view of the fact that the past academic year was solely spent on Covid-19 care with near nil academics and clinical exposure in our chosen specialities. Government has no explanation for the hefty fee hike from thousands to lakhs.”

About 65-75% of patients in state-run hospitals are managed by resident doctors and one-fifth of them had contracted Covid-19, they said.

WARRIORS IN THE LURCH: Members of Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors during their demonstration on Thursday

Demand for travel bookings surges beyond pre-Covid levels

Demand for travel bookings surges beyond pre-Covid levels

Swati.Mathur@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:08.10.2021

A steady increase in Covid vaccination, combined with easing of travel restrictions and the ensuing festive season, have led to a surge in demand for travel that service providers say is even higher than pre-Covid levels.

TOI spoke to multiple players including Thomas Cook India Ltd (TCIL), SOTC Travel Ltd, MMT, Booking.com and Yatra and each said bookings for travel in the last quarter of 2021 have been witnessing a big surge.

A joint survey of 2,500 customers by TCIL and SOTC, showed the UAE, particularly the ongoing Dubai Expo 2020, to be the biggest drivers of demand for international travel in the coming months. A similar assessment of travel appetite by Booking.com, on the other hand, found the UAE, France and UK, Switzerland and Italy were the top five international destinations picked by Indian travellers between October 1 and November 30.

The TCIL survey also said that almost 77% of its surveyed customers were keen on international travel, and that apart from the Dubai Expo 2020, venues of IPL and T20 World Cup matches have been good crowd pullers too.

The pent-up demand for travel also seems to be impacting holiday durations and budgets, with most willing to loosen their purse strings for a chance to set out again. A majority of travellers appeared keen to take week-long breaks at least, while budgets, TCIL said, ranged for anything between ₹70,000 (for a four-night trip) to upwards of ₹2,50,000 per person for luxury packages.

TCIL’s Rajeev Kale said customer response has also prompted his company to tailor demand-based curated products.

Full report on www.toi.in

India to issue tourist visas from Oct 15

India to issue tourist visas from Oct 15

Bharti Jain & Saurabh Sinha TNN

New Delhi:08.10.2021

Announcing the opening up of the country to international tourists almost 19 months after tourist visas were suspended due to outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the home ministry on Thursday said it will begin issuing fresh tourist visas in a phased manner, starting with foreigners arriving on chartered flights, from October 15 onwards.

While fresh tourist visas will be granted to foreigners entering India via chartered flights with effect from October 15, 2021. The facility will be extended to foreigners coming in flights other than chartered ones from November 15, 2021. An officer explained that ‘other than chartered flights’ meant that fresh tourist visas may initially be granted to foreigners coming in from countries with which India has an ‘air bubble arrangement’. As and when demands builds up and commercial flights also start operating, tourist visas will be issued for those entering India by commercial flights.

All due protocols and norms relating to Covid-19, as notified by the ministry of health & family welfare from time to time, shall be adhered to by the foreign tourists, carriers bringing them into India and all other stakeholders at landing stations, the home ministry said in a statement.

During a virtual event with a cross-section of people from Goa last month. Prime Minister Narendra Modi had said that the central government was taking steps to welcome back foreign tourists.

Full report on www.toi.in

BOOST FOR TRAVEL INDUSTRY