HC go-ahead for offline exams in colleges, varsities

 HC go-ahead for offline exams in colleges, varsities

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

26.01.2022

Bhopal: A division bench of MP high court on Tuesday allowed offline exams in colleges and universities of the state with the presence of 50% of the students in a day. With this, the court disposed of a petition filed by a law student from Rani Durgavati University, Jabalpur, seeking a direction to hold online exams for college and university students in the wake of the third wave of Covid.

Deputy advocate general Swapnil Ganguly, who appeared on behalf of the state government in the case, told the court that students infected by Coronavirus would also be given a chance to appear in the exams two weeks after the exam date under complete Corona protocol.

President of Law Students' Association in Rani Durgavati University, Vishal Baghel, in his petition contended that the university had decided to organise exams in offline mode towards the end of the last year because the Corona cases had dropped drastically then. But, the situation has completely changed now. We are amidst the third wave of Coronavirus. Cases of Coronavirus are spiralling. In such a situation, holding exams offline won't be advisable. Under pressure from the stu-dents' unions, the university administration postponed the exams which were slated to begin from January 20 but it has only been postponed by a week. The exams will be taken through offline mode by January 27, which is risky for the health and lives of the students. He prayed the court to direct the university administration to hold exams online.

The division bench of chief justice R V Malimath and Justice Purusendra Kaurav had asked the deputy advocate general to take instructions in the matter from the state government.

Ganguly on behalf of the state government told the court that the exams would be held in offline mode and with the presence of 50% of the capacity students. Students, who have Corona infection, would also be given a chance to take the exams later on. Following arguments from both sides, the court allowed the state government to organise college/university exams offline and disposed of the petition.

9,845 MBBS seats up for grabs this year

 9,845 MBBS seats up for grabs this year

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SruthySusan.Ullas@timesgroup.com

26.01.2022

Bengaluru: Karnataka will have 9,845 MBBS seats for academic year 2021-22, an increase of 500 seats from last year.

As per the list of the consolidated seats shared by Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences, there are 2,200 seats available in deemed universities, 3,050 in government medical colleges, 650 in private universities and 4,045 in private colleges. In all, there are 62 institutions where students can pick seats from.The new government college in Chikkaballapura — Chikkaballapura Institute of Medical Sciences — has 100 seats on offer. Director of medical education Dr PG Girish said it is likely the new college in Chikkamagaluru will get approval, taking the number of seats to over 10,000 this time. “Appeals on new colleges in Yadgir and Haveri are also pending,” he added.

There is an increase of 500 seats compared to last year. The Employees’ State Insurance Corporation Medical Colleges in Bengaluru and Kalaburagi have added 25 seats each to make a total of 125. Khaja Bandanawaz University, Faculty of Medical Sciences added 50 seats to reach150.

The new medical college in Chikkaballapura added  another 100. GR Medical College and Research Centre and Jagadguru Gangadhar Mahaswamigalu Moorusavirmath Medical College have150 seats each.

The seat matrix is yet to be notified on the KEA website. Of the total 9,845 seats, as many as 2,520 will be available through all-India quota counselling.

The remaining 7,325 will be offered through the counselling process conducted by Karnataka Examinations Authority.

The National Medical Commission had rejected the approval of four new medical colleges in the state. If permissions are given in time for further rounds, Karnataka will cross around 10,000-seat availability for the first time.

Now, renew your driving licence sitting at home

 Now, renew your driving licence sitting at home

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Christin.MathewPhilip@timesgroup.com

26.01.2022

Bengaluru: In a major relief to motorists across the state, driving licence can now be renewed without visiting Regional Transport Offices.

The transport department on Monday made four more DLrelated services (Sarathi) contactless/faceless. They are: renewal, issuance of duplicate one, change of address and name in licence.

With these four new services, 10 DL-related services are now contactless. Services like issuance of learners licence (LL), change of address in LL, DL extract, issuance of duplicate LL, issuance of international driving permit and change of name in LL have been made contactless from November 1, 2021, in the state.

Rajender Kumar Kataria, principal secretary, transport department, who was instrumental in making these services contactless, said: “Contactless services like renewal of DL will benefit lakhs of vehicle owners across the state. They can avail these services from the comfort of their home and pay fees online. Very soon, citizens will need to visit RTOs only for driving physical tests and fitness certificate (FC) renewal. All other services will be contactless/faceless,” he said. Kataria said the CM has shown special interest in making these services faceless.

Transport department records show 23. 5 lakh applicants across the state availed LL in 2019-20 and 17. 7 lakh in 2020-21. Similarly, 6. 9 lakh applied for renewal of DL in 2019-20 and 6. 2 lakh in 2020-21. Officials said those who want to avail faceless services will have to authenticate with Aadhaar-based e-KYC (paperless offline verification).

At present, six vehicle-related services (Vahan) have been made contactless — change of address in registration certificate, composite fee for national transport permits, hypothecation addition, hypothecation continuation, issue of duplica-te RC and issue of NOC. Most still prefer offline mode Transport department records show 1,01,998 applications were received through e-KYC for DLrelated services (Sarathi) between November 1, 2021 and January 22, 2022. Of this, 96,985 applications were disposed of. A majority of the applications — 1,01,444 — were for LL. However, most Sarathi applicants are still using offline mode (non-e-KYC). A total of 1. 5 lakh applications were received through non-eKYC during the same period.

It’s the same for Vahan services as well. While Vahan portal received only 2,460 applications through contactless mode, RTOs got 74,226 applications through offline mode between November 1, 2021 and January 22, 2022.

Besides tackling corruption and touts at RTOs, contactless services are also aimed at reducing crowding during the pandemic. However, some motorists said few RTOs still reject applications citing small errors. “Some officials insist on visiting RTOs for reasons best known to them. These contactless services are a good move, but they should be monitored at a higher level to ensure people get these benefits without having to pay bribe or facing delays,” said a motorist.

Mini-buses ideal for B’luru roads: CM

Bengaluru: Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday asked the transport department to start procuring more mini-buses for Bengaluru. Saying that they are ideal for public transport in the city due to its narrow roads and heavy traffic, Bommai said the department must start inducting more of them. He also asked transport minister B Sriramulu to start converting the existing bus fleet to CNG. Last year, GAIL had promoted CNG conversion for Bengaluru Urban and Rural bus services.

Car plunges 40ft, 7 medical students killed

 Car plunges 40ft, 7 medical students killed

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Soumitra Bose & Balwant Dhage

TNN

26.01.2022

Nagpur/Wardha: Seven medical students returning from a birthday celebration were killed in Maharashtra's Wardha around midnight on Monday when their car plunged 40ft from a bridge in-

to the dry, rocky bed of the Badhari river along DeoliWardha Road. State BJP MLA Vijay Rahangdale's son Avishkar, a first-year MBBS student, was among the dead.

All seven victims were students of Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences at Sawangi in Wardha. It took a nightlong operation for their bodies to be retrieved from the wreckage, the police said.

PM Narendra Moditweeted his condolences to the bereaved families on Tuesday and announced ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh for each life lost in the tragedy.

Barring Avishkar, whose father is the MLA from Tirora in Gondia, the rest of the deceased were from Bihar, UP and Odisha. They had travelled to Yavatmal, around 69km from Wardha, in intern Neetesh Singh's car to celebrate first-year student Pawan Shakti's birthday. The accident occurred on the return journey, around 20km before Wardha.

GU to hold convocation online on Sat

 GU to hold convocation online on Sat

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26.01.2022

Ahmedabad: Gujarat University will hold its annual convocation ceremony online on Saturday. Chief minister Bhupendra Patel will deliver the keynote address of the event. Education minister Jitu Vaghani will also be present, the university said in a media statement.

A total of 49,527 students will be conferred degrees and more than 200 students will be awarded medals at the convocation. The entire event will be held online. This means students will be able to participate in the ceremony online. Gujarat Technological University, the state’s largest varsity, will hold its annual convocation ceremony in person on January 27. The chairman of Zydus Cadila is set to be the chief guest.

. TNN

School students in TN must learn other Indian languages, says Guv Ravi

 School students in TN must learn other Indian languages, says Guv Ravi

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

26.01.2022

Chennai: Stressing the need for school students in Tamil Nadu learning other Indian languages, Governor R N Ravi said depriving students of knowledge of other Indian languages was unfair to all. He also emphasised on improving the quality of education in government schools and restoring the once-enviable reputation of universities.

In his Republic Day address on Tuesday, Ravi underscored the importance of Tamil language, and added: "Itis also important thatour school students learn other Indian languages like students in other states. Depriving our students of knowledge of other Indian languages is unfair to all. Besides fostering brotherliness and bettermutual appreciation, a linguistic intellectual and cultural cross-pollination willenrich all of us and also open several opportunities for our harmonious growth,” he added.

Pointing out that improving the quality of education in government schools is the crying need of the time, he said, the negative differential in the educational outputs between the government and private schools is worrisome.

"Before the introduction of NEET, the share of students from government schools to the seats in government medical colleges was hardly 1%. Thanks to the affirma-tive action of 7. 5% reservation for Government school students that the number has improved significantly. However, there is urgent need to improve the quality of education also in the Government schools," Ravi said. “In higher education too, we mustwork hardto restore the once enviable reputation of our universities,”he added.

Governor also paid rich tributes to freedom fighters from Tamil Nadu including Veeramangai Velu Nachiyar, Veerapandia Kattabomman, V. O. Chidambaram Pillai and Mahakavi Subramania Bharathi.

Admissions to top med colleges: CBSE students hold advantage

 Admissions to top med colleges: CBSE students hold advantage

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Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

26.01.2022

Chennai: CBSE students hold advantage over state board board students in getting admissions to top state medical colleges this year.

Among the top 1000 rank holders in the MBBS merit list for government quota seats released on Monday, 579 are CBSE students, 27 from other boards such as ISCE and 394 from the state board, according to the data provided by the directorate of medical education. This means that a majority of seats from top government colleges including Madras Medical College (MMC), Stanley Medical College, Kilpauk Medical College (KMC) would go to CBSE students this year. However, among the applicants, state board students constitute 64% while CBSE students account for 34% and other board studentsadd up to 2%.

"It will give a huge advantage to CBSE students in admission to top colleges as students within top 1000 ranks join colleges like MMC, KMC, Stanley Medical College, Madurai Medical College and Coimbatore Medical College," said Manickavel Arumugam, a students counsellor.

After reducing all-India quota seats and 7. 5% seats reserved for government school students, MMC has 197 seats, KMC has 117 seats while Stanley Medical College has  196.

"CBSE students are better prepared and their exam pattern encourages them to score more in NEET. State board students are yet to come out of the fear of entrance exams. Teachers should give them confidence and change their mindset. Syllabus revision for state board is also yet to reflect on NEET scores," he added.

Career consultant Jayaprakash Gandhi said state board students lack access to proper coaching compared to CBSE students.

"Students from affluent sections of the society alone are able to do well," P B Prince Gajendrababu, general secretary of State Platform for Common School System, said.

TN offers to take in AIIMS students

Tamil Nadu has offered to take in AIIMS Madurai students in Government Ramanathapuram Medical College, which will begin admissions for the first batch of undergraduate medical students for 2021batch in the upcoming medical counselling. “The college has facilities to accommodate 150 students, but it has the permission to admit just 100 students this year. We have told the centre that we can admit 50 more students who are admitted to AIIMS Madurai on this campus,” health minister Ma Subramanian said. The state, he said, is awaiting a reply from the centre.

TNN

What harm will learning Hindi do, Madras HC asks TN govt

 What harm will learning Hindi do, Madras HC asks TN govt

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Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

26.01.2022

Chennai: “What harm will learning Hindi do? Many have lost the opportunity of getting central government jobs without knowing Hindi,” the Madras high court said on Monday.

The first bench of acting Chief Justice Munishwar Nath Bhandari and Justice P D Audikesavalu made the observation while hearing a public interest writ petition seeking implementation of the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 in Tamil Nadu.

Responding to the observation, TN advocate-general R Shunmugasundaram said, “The Tamil Nadu government follows two-language policy and not three-language policy as it would be overburdening students. ” Moreover, no one is stopped from learning Hindi in the state. “There are institutions like the Hindi Prachar Sabha where one can learn Hindi,” he added.

To this, the court said, “Learning is different from teaching”. The court then admitted the plea moved by Arjunan Elayaraja of Cuddalore and directed the state to respond within four weeks.

‘Learning only mother tongue won’t be helpful’

According to the petitioner, learning only a person’s mother tongue would not be helpful.

The language has to go hand in hand with other Indian languages, particularly Hindi and Sanskrit, he said.

“…the authorities must take concerted effort in implementing NEP 2020 and also in upholding the constitutional mandates and the directions of the Supreme Court,” the petitioner said. One has to shudder over what would be the consequence if every state would take a stand like Tamil Nadu, he added.

Actually, NEP does not impose either Hindi or Sanskrit. It only offers multiple languages and introduces a three-language policy with emphasis on mother tongue, he said.

“But considering the constitutional mandate and the judgments of the Supreme Court the state has to make Hindi compulsory and may be, Sanskrit optional,” the petitioner claimed.

Cold-wave conditions likely to set in from January 28-29

 Cold-wave conditions likely to set in from January 28-29

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23.01.2022

According to India Meteorological Department (IMD), Narela was the coldest station as the maximum temperature settled at 13. 5 degrees Celsius, eight notches below normal. Severe cold day was also witnessed at the Ridge and SPS Mayur Vihar. While Lodhi Road, Palam, Jafarpur and Ayanagar saw cold day as the maximum temperature was recorded at 14. 9, 14. 8, 14. 7 and 14. 8 degrees Celsius, respectively.

The met department has predicted cold day conditions at a few places for Tuesday and Wednesday. “Delhi saw a long spell of cold day conditions in parts of the capital from January10 to 21. However, the current spell will not continue for long as significant improvement is expected from January 27 as strong winds are likely to set in,” said R K Jenamani, senior scientist at IMD.

He added, “Six western disturbances impacted the region this January and a seventh one is expected to affect from January 28. Western disturbances led to cloudy sky, excess rain and cold day conditions. ”

The criteria for a “cold day” is when the minimum temperature is below 10 degrees Celsi-us and the departure of maximum temperature from normal is 4. 5 degrees or above. A “severe cold day” is declared when the departure of maximum temperature from normal is 6. 5 degrees or above.

Though January saw a long spell of cold day conditions, no cold wave was seen in this month so far. However, cold wave conditions may set in from January 28-29. “The minimum temperature is likely to dip from January 2829. The night temperature mostly remained above normal this January,” said Jenamani. A cold wave is considered when the minimum temperature is four or more degrees below normal.

The minimum temperature on Monday was reported at 8 degrees Celsius. Shallow fog was recorded in Delhi as the visibility was 700-800 metres at Palam till 9. 30 am. The visibility at Safdarjung was 800 metres from 5. 30 am to 7. 30 am.

Delhi’s air quality, meanwhile, continued to remain in the “poor” category with an overall Air Quality Index (AQI) of 241. System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the forecasting body under the union ministry of earth sciences, said, “Relatively stable atmosphere and low mixing layer height has prevented settling of higher level dust to near the ground. AQI is likely to remain within “poor” category on Tuesday and the Republic Day as the impact of western disturbance has diminished. ”

City shivers on ‘severe cold day’, more ahead

New Delhi: Delhi shivered under “severe cold day” conditions at several places and “cold day” in the rest on Monday as the day temperature stayed below 15 degrees Celsius, with cold northerly winds sweeping the region and low clouds screening out sunlight, reports Priyangi Agarwal.

Safdarjung saw the first severe cold day of the season as the maximum dipped to 14.8 degrees Celsius, seven notches below normal. Similar conditions are expected over the next two-three days while a drop in night temperatures after January 27 is likely as Delhiites are in for cold spells till nearly the end of the month.

Nursing staff protest wait for Covid ex gratia

 Nursing staff protest wait for Covid ex gratia

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TIMES N EWS N ETWORK

25.01.2022

New Delhi: Hundreds of nursing staff at various state-run hospitals on Monday wore black ribbons to register their protest over “pending” ex gratia from the Delhi government for eight of their colleagues.

Nursing staff at Lok Nayak, GTB and DDU hospitals, and other Delhi government-run facilities took part in the “peaceful protest” to put forth the demands, said Liladhar Ramchandani, secretary general of Delhi Nurses Federation (DNF).

“It’s been a year since the Delhi govern-ment announced that any doctor, nurse, paramedical staff, sanitation worker and others who die in line of Covid duty, his or her kin will get a compensation of Rs 1 crore. Eight nursing officers have died, but ex gratia is still pending,” he added. There was no immediate response from the government.

In a letter to chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on January 20, DNF demanded that it be paid in seven days or they would go on an agitation. It also listed the names and their hospitals. While four of them were employed at LNJP Hospital, one each was working at DDU, GB Pant and GTB Hospitals, and one with CDMO, Delhi Health Services.

Ramchandani said the protest would continue on Tuesday. If the demand is not met, all nursing officers will come out for two hours from January 27, but it wouldn’t affect patient care, he added.

44% students want changes in education due to Covid to stay

 44% students want changes in education due to Covid to stay

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Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

25.01.2022

New Delhi: 86% of Indian students think that access to digital content has changed the way they learn and 56% think that the way they study will not go back to how it was pre-pandemic. According to a survey, globally 44% of Gen Y and Gen Z respondents expect changes brought in by Covid-19 to become permanent.

A new EY report, ‘Are Universities of the Past Still the Future’, argues that universities in advanced economies are facing a number of existential issues in the wake of the pandemic. Based on EY’s analysis about the future of the higher education sector and 29 interviews with university leaders from the US, UK, India, Singapore and Australia, the report finds that universities will quickly need to adapt to a new reality due to demographic shifts, geopolitical challenges, changing workplace demands and high student expectations for a quality digital experience.

As per the report, changing attitudes and behaviours toward digital and emerging technologies present new opportunities for universities across the globe to reinvent learning delivery. The generation of students coming through are digital natives. While 77% of the of the Gen Y and Gen Z respondents to the global survey said that the way they use technology changed during the pandemic, this proportion is higher in emerging economies (88% in Indonesia, 86% in India and 85% in Brazil) as against 66% in Scandinavia and 67% in France.

Globally 45% of the Gen Y and Gen Z respondents think that the way they study will not go back to how it was pre-pandemic, which again is higher in emerging economies (56% in India and 55% in Brazil) as against Western Europe (32% in France and 35% in Scandinavia). According to the findings of the survey, “Universities are moving to make quality digital learning a part of their core offering. Some are partnering with online learning platforms. ”

Transfer counselling of govt teachers begins, over 57,000 to attend

 Transfer counselling of govt teachers begins, over 57,000 to attend

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

25.01.2022

Chennai: More than 57,000 teachers and headmasters from government schools will attend the online transfer counselling which began on Monday. On the first day, 642 government higher secondary school headmasters applied to the counselling, 227 headmasters got transferred and 329 of them skipped and 89 were absent. The counsellingwill g o ontill February22.

Students from backward educa tional blocks, which have large teacher vacancies, might get teachers as the school education department identified 40 priority blocks. Teachers who opt for these blocksindistricts such a s Thiruvannamalai, Villupuram

, Krishnagiri, Kallakurichi will be given priority in counselling.

A Peter Raja of Tamil Na-du High and Higher School Headmasters' Association, said the department had shown all the vac ancies on the first day.

While 33,000 teachers, headmasters fromthe department applied to the counselling, 24,000 from the elementary education department applied for the transfer counselling

. "The counselling will be held purely based on merit and common guidelines. The priority blocks initiative will help fill vacancies in the educationally backward districts and remote places where teachers g enerally do not wish to go," an official from the school education department.

The department also will give preference to over 400 teachers who got p unishment transfers for participating in the strike during 2019.

Air India may be handed over to Tata Group by Thursday

 Air India may be handed over to Tata Group by Thursday

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Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

25.01.2022

New Delhi: Air India is all set to return to founder Tata Group either this week or next week. The handover could happen as early as Thursday (January 27) if the airline’s closing balance sheet as of January 20, 2022, supposed to be given to the Tatas on Monday, is accepted by them and they then make the upfront payment of ₹2,700 crore.

The date was conveyed to AI employees by the airline’s finance director Vinod Hejmadi. “The disinvestment of AI is now decided to be on January 27, 2022. The closing balance sheet (has to be) reviewed by Tatas and any changes can be effected on Wednesday…. The next three days will be hectic for our department and I request all of you to give your best in these last three four days before we get divested. We may have to work late in the night to complete the task given to us,” Hejmadi, a board member and a key architect of this divestment, said in a mail to finance department staffers on Monday as they will be required to work in this week of holidays.

AI’s new owner to take over debt of ₹15,300 cr

Meanwhile, the board of AirAsia India (AAIPL), in which Tatas hold 83.7% stake and which will be merged with AI Express, met on Monday. Parallelly, the airline shareholders led by AAIPL chairman and Tata Group’s president of defence and aerospace are learnt to have made a presentation virtually to Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran. The contents of this are not known. Air India and Vistara (51% owned by Tatas and 49% by Singapore Airline, or SIA) will continue to operate as separate full service carrier (FSC) till SIA agrees to have a merged FSC.

The Tatas have so far not commented on takeover preparations or plans for the airli- ne founded by JRD Tata 69 years ago. Unless there is a difference of opinion between the outgoing and incoming owners on the balance sheet that may require recalibrating the same, the Tatas will pay Rs 2,700 crore upfront and take over the airline. Apart from the upfront payment, the Rs 18,000-crore deal requires the new owner to take over AI’s debt of Rs 15,300 crore.

The Tatas have been assured 118 aircraft from Air India and AI Express’ combined fleet of 141 will be airworthy when they take over the Maharaja. The 23 grounded planes will need an expenditure of about Rs 1,800 crore on vital components and parts like engines that the new owner will need to incur.

Full report on www.toi.in

COURT NEWS

 

ICAI can act against convicted CA: Delhi HC

 ICAI can act against convicted CA: Delhi HC

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23.01.2022

New Delhi: Delhi High Court on Friday refused to stop proceedings initiated by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) against a qualified chartered accountant (CA) after his conviction in a criminal case.

Justice Prathiba M Singh observed that the profession requires a very high standard of integrity and noted that there is a clear need for ICAI to create a framework to ensure proper disclosures with respect to convictions and pending cases by members at the inception as well as on a periodic basis.

“There are certain professions and services that are considered to be those that require a very high standard of integrity, some of which are also considered as noble professions,” the court said.

Full story on www. toi. com

In Patiala, dead villagers get wages denied to living

 In Patiala, dead villagers get wages denied to living

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Bharat.Khanna@timesgroup.com

23.01.2022

Patiala: The dead are getting paid under the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in this district’s villages, while the living who demand work are being denied or underpaid.

Fatehpur’s Ajaib Nath died in May 2020 but received six days of wages last December for the work done in November 2021, 18 months after his departure. Fellow villager Malook Singh died in December 2012 but got wages for 20 days of work finished in November 2021. These are not isolated cases.

TOI has reported how Bhim Singh of a Nabha village was paid years after his death. Internationalist Democratic Platform president Gurmeet Singh Thuhi said: "After an inquiry, the district administration dismissedit as a technical error, just to save their corrupt officials. "

Punjab MGNREGS Labourers’ Front president Raj Kumar Kansuha said: “A dead Ajaib Nath got Rs 1,614 for six days of work, while a dead Malook Singh got Rs 5,380 for 20 days of toil. They raised the demand and went to work all in papers. The scale of this scam was never investigated properly. The labourers who are alive don’t get work by the rules and many of them remain underpaid. ”

The district administration investigated the matter only after the MGNREGS worker union started asking questions after being exploited for years.

Patiala additional deputy commissioner (development) Gautam Jain said: “We have a complaint and wehave initiated an inquiry. Anyone found guiltywill be punished. ”

Woman MGNREGSlabourer BaldevKaur of Nabha’s Babarpur village had reported to the district administration that she had received Rs 1,614 for six daysof job she had never done. Kansuha said that: “Baldev Kaur haddemanded 40days of work, which the officials had refused citing rules, but after she complained with the district administration, they put money into her account. ”

Covid-hit flyers stranded in UAE face double whammy

 Covid-hit flyers stranded in UAE face double whammy

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23.01.2022

Hyderabad: The woes of Canada-bound passengers from Hyderabad, who were stranded in Abu Dhabi continue as they had tested positive for Covid-19 on arrival — hours before the connecting flight — and unable to take their onward journey to Toronto.

The passengers have written to Etihad authorities to shift them to separate hotel rooms for isolation, instead of the six-people-in-a-room facility. They were also ready to pay for better facilities.

One of the passengers, Ujwal Gollapudi, an operations manager for Amazon, has also complained that there was no proper internet facility at the place. He said while he wanted to resume work, but was unable to do it due to internet connectivity issues.

“How long can we continue in such a difficult situation?” asked Ujwal.

Boeing bulletins warn pilots of possible worst-case 5G interference scenarios

 Boeing bulletins warn pilots of possible worst-case 5G interference scenarios

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Manju.V@timesgroup.com

23.01.2022

Mumbai: Aircraft manufacturer Boeing recently issued airline-specific bulletins alerting pilots to a long list of possible problems the cockpit could be besieged with at lower altitudes if 5G signals from a transmission station near a US airport ever happen to hazardously interfere with those of an aircraft instrument that measures accurately the plane’s height over ground.

Air India, the only Indian carrier that flies to the US, operates the route with Boeing wide-body aircraft. Other aircraft manufacturers too have issued similar documents, but the 5G effects vary. For instance: Airbus document states: “On A350 and A380 aircraft, 5G interference on radio altimeters are negligible,hence the absence of cockpit effects. ” A senior B777 commander said: “Boeing has listed everything that could possibly go wrong in the cockpit if 5G interference ev- er happens. The message pilots get is don’t attempt lowvisibility landings, the radio altimeter isn’t reliable. Also, when landing in good weather, stay extra alert after de- scending 2,500ft and be ready for a manual landing. ”

Another senior Boeing 777 commander, who is from Indian Pilots’ Guild, the Air India union with B777 pilot- members, said: “About eight out of 10 pilots will never face any of the situations listed in a bulletin. So long as the engines are working and the runway is in sight, there should be no problem. ”

What all pilots concur is, with 5G rollout in the US, the workload in the cockpit of USbound aircraft has gone up. For instance: at height below 2,500ft, pilots will now need to be alert for possible 5G interference. Boeing instructs them to monitor and crosscheck between two different altimeter readings. Above 2,500ft, a barometric servo altimeter gives altitude information by reading atmospheric pressure differences. It’s not affected by 5G waves. Below 2,500ft, aircraft systems and pilots rely on the more accurate radio altime- ter readings. But if 5G wave interference happens, the radio altimeter could fail or give erroneous readings, says the bulletin.

Capt Amit Singh, an air safety expert, said: “At extremely low temperatures, barometric altimeter readings are not accurate. Now, the radio altimeter reading too is under suspicion because of possible 5G interference. So how can a crosscheck happen between two sources that are not reliable?”

Low temperatures also can present low-visibility conditions which is when approach and landings such as CAT-III — ‘blind’ landings done by depending on aircraft instruments and ground navigation aids — are carried out.

A 5G wave interference could lead to erroneous radio altimeter readings being fed into aircraft systems. So the ‘autopilot’ functions that help carry out low-visibility landings could fail, said the bulletin. Warning systems that alert pilots to other aircraft on collision course could fail. Systems that give alerts on approaching terrain and obstacles might be rendered inoperative or function erroneously.

Capt Singh said: “During training, pilots are drilled to trust the aircraft instruments to prevent spatial disorientation during low-visibility operations. With 5G, these instruments are under suspicion. Moreover, no specific set of instructions are given in the bulletin. From a human factor/performance perspective it’s a difficult task which will add to the workload and stress. ” Capt Sam Thomas, director (India) of International Federation of Air Line Pilots Association, said: “What pilots require are unambiguous information and clear-cut risk mitigating procedures. ” He added that evidence-based study needs to be carried out before a comprehensive commentary can be made. Capt Mohan Ranganathan, an air safety expert, said: “One more reason now for pilots not to be complacent with automation. They will need to have good manual flying skills. ”

In the last three weeks, the US aviation regulator has found13 radio altimeter models to be robust enough to withstand interference.

“Aircraft models with one of the cleared 13 altimeters include all Boeing and Airbus models,” it said.

 

DU graduates will not have to wait long for degrees

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Shinjini.Ghosh@timesgroup.com

23.01.20223

New Delhi: Delhi University (DU) is planning to issue hard copies of degrees to students who graduated in 2021 within two months of the convocation, which is likely to be held in February. The move is aimed at redu-cing the woes of students as it takes at least a couple of yearsto get the degrees after graduation.

Senior officials said DU was planning to give out printed degrees to over one lakh students, including those from SOL.

DS Rawat, DU’s dean of examination, told TOI, “We are planning to give degrees to all students who graduated last year. The data is be- ing sent for printing. Earlier, data was collected through colleges, which was a time-consuming and difficult process. ”

“We made a change in the examination form wherein students were asked to fill their enrolment numbers and names in Hindi. This information was reflected in their admit cards and marksheets too. After the declaration of results, emails were sent to over1. 7 lakh students to check their marksheets. In case of any correction, students were asked to contact their respective colleges,” Rawat explained.

He added, “With this exercise, we got data of all students who passed in 2021 and the same is being sent for printing. ”

According to the data shared byofficials, 77,563 regular students, including undergraduates and postgraduates, would be handed over their degrees. Similarly, around 91,850 undergraduates and 1,126 postgraduates would be receiving their degrees this year. Additionally, around 650 PhD degrees would be issued by the universitythis year.

Govt staffer alleges sexual harassment by her senior

 Govt staffer alleges sexual harassment by her senior

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TIMES NEWS NETWORK

23.01.2022

Bhopal: A 36-year-old woman employed with a government department was allegedly sexually harassed during the office hours by a senior colleague in Koh-e-Fiza locality during the lockdown period in 2021.

The case was registered at Koh-e-Fiza police station after the woman submitted an application to the police station and collector office after the incident.

Investigating officer ASI Alka Khetkar said that the survivor stated in her complaint that during the  lockdown period last year, accused allegedly harassed her inside his cabin.

The woman alleged that the accused used to call her inside his cabin on the pretext of photocopy and tried to touch her inappropriately.

The ASI said that when she felt uncomfortable and requested him to stop misbehavior, accused threatened her of dire consequences. The terrified woman kept mum for a few days, but later she gathered the courage and submitted an application to Koh-e-Fiza police station and collector office.

After an investigation, a case of sexual harassment and criminal intimidation was registered against the accused senior and further investigations are underway. The accusedand department name is withheld to protect the identity of the survivor.

AICTE launches Happiness Index

 AICTE launches Happiness Index

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Sonal.Srivastava@timesgroup.com

The need to introduce students to tools that can help them maintain emotional hygiene, and the happiness to enhance positive frame of mind was felt for long. All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has launched the Happiness Index (HI) for its affiliated institutes, the rankings of which will be announced on International Day of Happiness, March 20, 2022.

AICTE is collaborating with 5ire to create one of the biggest happiness blockchains, YourOneLife (YOL) app on 5irechain. The app aims to not only find an individual’s happiness quotient but also the average value of the institution that the individual attends. Although participation in the happiness index or downloading the app is not mandatory, the need for it was always felt because of increasing anxiety among students, especially when they get into higher education, says Anil Sahasrabudhe, chairman, AICTE. “Sometimes, they find that they are not a right fit for an Engineering course or an MBA course but they still join because of parental or peer pressure. Therefore, there are always issues that require counselling; the requirement for counselling has been there not just in ordinary colleges but even in the IITs,” says Sahasrabudhe, pointing out that the mindset is leading to increasing students' suicides in HEIs.

Full report at educationtimes. com

NEET aspirants worried over overlapping of exam with counselling

 NEET aspirants worried over overlapping of exam with counselling

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c-Puniti.Pandey@timesgroup.com

23.01.2022

While the counselling process of the much-awaited NEET PG has started recently, many MBBS doctors who were to appear for the counselling are in a fix. The PG aspirants are upset over the clash of dates for PG counselling and NEET PG exams.

The counselling dates for NEET-PG 2021 were postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and court hearings over the OBC and EWS quota issue. The NEET PG exam is scheduled for March 12, 2022. The issue lies with the date getting overlapped with the ongoing counselling of NEET PG 2021, which will end by March 16, 2022.

“The situation is becoming difficult for the borderline rank holders who are uncertain about securing a seat this year since their ranks are in the hanging line. These students are worried about whether to appear for the counselling process or sit for the NEET PG on March 12,” says Dr Chinmayee Gowda, Women Wing incharge Federation of all India Medical associations, State Vice President, NSUI Karnataka.

“For NEET MDS, the examination got postponed by three months because their counselling procedures were not over in December 2021. So why is our concern not dealt with, in the same manner,” she questions.

“Many students who got ranks between 20,00050,000 have enrolled into NEET PG counselling 2021 hoping for a seat in their de-sired branch. But now the National Board of Examination (NBE) announced NEET PG 2022 exam even before the completion of the counselling process of the previous year. The final day for NEET PG 2022 registration is February 5 and our second round counselling results will be out on February 12. This will force a large number of students to register for NEET PG 2022 and pay for both counselling and NEET PG registration,” says Dr Madhu R, Intern, AJ Institute of Medical Sciences and Research Centre, Karnataka.

More than 8000 interns are not eligible to write the NEET PG 2022 as their final exams were postponed due to Covid and the internships started late. “My internship was postponed and it started last year in October. This does not fulfil the 10-month compulsory internship criteria that a student is required to appear for NEET PG 2022. I will not be able to attempt the NEET PG 2022 with no fault of mine. The uncertainty of next year's PG curriculum just adds to this anxiety," says Dr Aman Sinha, Intern, Jawahar Lal Nehru Medical College, Bhagalpur.

From 2023, NBEMS is planning to replace the NEET PG with NEXT which has a completely different approach. NEET PG 2022 is essentially the last NEET for postgraduate students. Stealing this opportunity from the PG aspirants is not fair idea, says an MBBS student from CU Shah Medical College and Hospital, Gujarat.

Statements of CAs always qualified with riders: SC

 Statements of CAs always qualified with riders: SC

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23.01.2022

Writing the judgment, Justice V Ramasubramanian, part of a bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta, said, “The statements of the chartered accountants are always qualified with certain riders such as ‘according to the information and explanations given to us in the course of our audit’ or ‘to the best of our knowledge and belief and according to the information and explanations given to us’. ”

The bench added, “The statement in the auditor’s report is as per the information given to them or as per the information culled out to the best of their ability”.

The SC said the CBI registered an FIR for the offences  under Section 420 read with Section 120B of the IPC only on March 16, 2015, nearly four years after the termination of the deal. “The officers of Antrix as well as officials of the government were also implicated in the FIR for offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988. Therefore, the appellants cannot set up a plea of estoppel on the ground that the termination of the agreement in the year 2011 was not on the ground of fraud, when the discovery of fraud itself was many years later,” it said.

It also rejected the plea against winding up on the ground that even during the ICC arbitration proceedings, Antrix had not taken the plea of fraud. The bench said, “The arbitral proceedings commenced in 2013 and the award itself was passed on September 14, 2015. Antrix cannot be expected to plead fraud in the arbitral proceedings, even before the discovery of fraud. ”

The bench said, “Persons who are ducking/avoiding summons in the criminal prosecution, cannot be heard to contend that they must have been heard in the petition for winding up. Taking advantage of their citizenship/residence abroad, these shareholders are prosecuting proceedings for the enforcement of (i) ICC Arbitral Tribunal Award in India; and (ii) BIT Awards overseas, even while making it impossible for CBI to serve summons on them for the past five years. It is not open to such persons to raise the bogey of failure to afford an opportunity. ”

Can’t cite clean chit by auditor to stall co’s winding up, says SC

New Delhi: In the recent landmark Antrix-Devas judgment, the Supreme Court ruled that proceeding for winding up of a company on ground of perpetrations of a fraud cannot be stalled by shareholders by citing reports from chartered accountants or auditors giving clean chit or reporting nondiscovery of any fraud during the period inquestion.

The SC rejected the arguments of Devas and its shareholders that since the au- ditors’ reports of 2012, 2016, 2017 and 2020 had certified that "no fraud on or by the company has been noticed or reported during the course of the audit", the AntrixDevas deal was terminated not on the ground of fraud. "The auditor’sreport can neither be taken as gospel truth nor act as estoppelagainst the company," the court said.

Writing the judgment, Justice V Ramasubramanian, part of a bench comprising Justice Hemant Gupta, said, "The chartered accountants/auditors are notexperts either in criminal law or in the technology that formed the subject matter of the agreement between Antrix and Devas ."