1 kg of tomato touches Rs. 100 mark

C. Jaisankar 

 

Tiruchi, July 07, 2017 00:00 IST

Traders say it’s due to dwindling arrival

Price of tomato has shot up to Rs. 100 per kg in Tiruchi’s retail market. Till two weeks ago, one kg of tomato was being sold between Rs. 15 - 20 a kg.

The price rose gradually and swung between Rs. 50 - 60 a week ago and now hovers in the range of Rs. 80 to Rs. 100 a kg. A retail grocery trader at Cantonment in Tiruchi was selling a kilo of tomato at Rs. 100 on Thursday.

However, wholesale traders at Gandhi Market quote Rs. 60 for one kg of tomato and it was Rs. 10 higher in Gandhi Market’s retail shops. The rate was the same at the Uzhavar Sandhai in Thennur.

The price of one box (25 kg) of tomato hovered between Rs. 1,400 and Rs. 1,600 at Gandhi Market, traders said. “Out of a 25 kg box, 2 kg would have rotten during the transportation period. Traders will have to make profit with the remaining 23 kg of tomato,” said an official of Uzhavar Sandhai.
Since the price was high, customers shied away from buying tomatoes. “Though tomato is an important commodity for cooking, not many customers prefer to buy one kg of tomato at Rs. 100. They manage the situation by limiting their purchase to 200-300 grams,” said G. Manikandan, a retail grocery trader at Cantonment.

Traders attribute the high price to the dwindling arrival from Andhra Pradesh, Krishnagiri, Theni and Oddanchathiram. A wholesale trader in Gandhi Market said that as against the arrival of 20 loads, it had come down to just four to seven loads per day and this situation had persisted for the last 10 days, he said.

Officials’ absence embarrasses govt.

 Against tradition of House: DMK

The brief absence of senior Indian Administrative Service officials and the Director General of Police from the officers’ gallery in the State Legislative Assembly caused huge embarrassment to the AIADMK government on Thursday, as the DMK questioned their absence not just once but twice, contending it was against the tradition of the House.

DMK Deputy Floor Leader Duraimurugan went on to say that he would not commence his speech on the debate on the demand for grants on the police department until the DGP and the Chennai Police Commissioner arrived in the House.

“It has long been the tradition of this House that the police officers are present during the police (department) demand. You can ask former DGP R. Natraj (Mylapore AIADMK MLA), who is here,” Mr. Duraimurugan said and refused to continue his speech until the officers came.

Even as the Leader of the House K.A. Sengottaiyan said the DGP was in the adjacent conference hall and would arrive soon, DGP T.K. Rajendran was seen rushing into the officers’ gallery. When Minister P. Thangamani contended that that the DMK cannot compel the government on this account, Mr. Duraimurugan said it was only part of the tradition of the House.

When the Chief Minister, other Ministers and the MLAs gestured that the officer had arrived, Mr. Duraimurugan went ahead with his speech.

IndiGo does not want govt in any AI deal

Saurabh Sinha

New Delhi:





`Don't Sell Assets Abroad To State-Owned Airlines' 

 

Low-cost carrier (LCC) IndiGo does not want the government as a partner if its attempt to acquire the international operations of Air India and AI Express works out. The airline also said it will start low-cost long-haul overseas flights “with or without“ the AI deal working out. It has cautioned that selling AI's assets like slots at airports abroad to a state-owned foreign airline could be a “Shakespearean tragedy“, akin to “outsourcing“.

 

“We would look at acquiring all of AI's international operations and AI Express,“ IndiGo's reticent founder-promoter Rahul Bhatia said on Thursday.His partner, Rakesh Gangwal, said, “A joint venture or joint ownership with the government is at best a very , very difficult proposition .... government has owned and managed AI for more than 50 years. They are looking to divest in it ...From our perspective as a corporate entity , we would not go down a path where there would be a JV or even a minority , majority stake which the government would own. Maybe (it's) a good model, but we cannot bring value to that proposition.“

IndiGo had last Wednesday sent a formal expression of interest for international operations of AI and AI Express after the government had approved divesting its stake in AI. If acquisitions of only inter national operations are not possible, IndiGo had offered to acquire all operations of AI and AI Express.
  
Explaining this move, the two founder-promoters said India is a huge market for international travel but its hubs for globetrotting are abroad. With over 40% domestic market share, IndiGo felt it should enter the long-haul market “irrespective of how the AI story plays out“. “Our original plan was to share our thinking at the end of this month. However, that got pre-empted due to the government's in principle decision to divest itself of Air India,“ Gangwal said. “We believe international long-haul markets are ready for right type of low cost operations,“ Gangwal said.
According to Rahul Bhatia, carving out of an airline operations for sale is not a new concept. “A few decades ago, United Airlines acquired Panam's Pacific operations. Based on the success of that transaction, United then followed up by acquiring Pan Am's London routes in 1990.“





Now, students will have a say in accreditation of varsities

Manash Gohain

New Delhi





Like universities abroad, students in India will now have a say in assessment and accreditation of their academic institutions. The National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC), which launched its new methodology for grading universities, will give 20% weightage to online student satisfaction survey (SSS) while offering accreditation from this year.

 

NAAC has made the new methodology completely digitised and technology-driven with far less human intervention. This was necessitated following complaints of corrupt practices during assessment in the past. The council re-opened the process for universities to apply for assessment on Thursday . In order to do away with “corruption“ and subjectivity in assessment and grading of higher education institutions, the ministry of human resource development had in March asked for a complete overhaul of the accreditation process.The new methodology gives just 20% weightage to peer team assessment instead of 100% as in the past in deciding the grade of an institution. In top universities across the globe, students' feedback for facultycourses is mandatory and an important aspect of assessment. Many universities use this as an internal ranking parameter as well.

According to sources, NAAC's SSS will carry 20% weightage during the assessment and grading. Institutions will have to provide email IDs of students and an online survey will be conducted.

 “This is an important factor in the assessment process and the online survey will be done in the second stage of the assessment,“ said Virander Singh Chauhan, chairperson of University Grants Commission. The MHRD, according to sources, has asked the council to outsource the entire travel and logistics of the peer team. “Till now the institutions used to arrange the logistics of the peer team.From now on, they will have no say in this matter and till the last moment the institution will not know who is visiting them for the on site assessment,“ said a ministry official. According to sources in MHRD, concerns were raised over inferior institutions being granted good grades in the past. “So NAAC is planning to get the data submitted by an institution via Quality Indicator Framework,“ said the official.

Terminate jobs, studies of those faking caste: SC

DhananjayMahapatra

New Delhi





The Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that those using fake caste certificates to avail of quota for admissions to educational institutions or getting government jobs must lose the benefit the moment the forgery is discovered. Despite clear directions from the SC to adopt “zero tolerance“ against those using fake certificates to illegally usurp seats in educational institutions and government jobs, there have been instances where HCs have permitted such persons to continue in their jobs because they had put in several years in service. In other instances, HCs have permitted students to complete studies after paying fine for using fake caste certificate to gain entry into educational institutions.

Settling a major issue in determining castes which belong to the scheduled category in Maharashtra, a bench of CJI J S Khehar and Justice D Y Chandrachud said leniency by the HCs must stop forthwith as those who used fake caste certificates had criminal intent to usurp the benefits reserved for persons belonging to oppressed and socially and educationally backward commu nities.

Writing the judgment for the bench, Justice Chandrachud said leniency to such people would amount to depriving a genuine beneficiary of his her dues. He said the person found usurping benefits with fake caste certificate must face prosecution.

The issue for consideration before the bench arose from Maharashtra, where a full bench of the Bombay HC had held that even when the caste certificate was invalidated by the SC, the person who used this to get the job could continue in service considering the long period he had spent in the job. This judgment had a spiralling effect as smaller benches followed this to grant similar benefit.
Setting aside Bombay HC's judgment, the SC bench reminded HCs that in1994, the SC had cancelled the admission of one Kumari Madhuri Patil midway through her BDS course after the scrutiny committee found her caste certificate to be forged.

“It is true that the applications for admission to educational institutions are generally made by a parent, since on that date many a time the student may be a minor. It is, therefore, necessary that the certificates issued are scrutinised at the earliest .“





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Pondy univ bars 304 MBBS students from 1st yr exams

Bosco Dominique

Puducherry:





Pondicherry University has barred 304 MBBS students, who joined under management quota in three private medical colleges, from appearing for first year examinations, as neither the Puducherry government nor the college managements submitted necessary documents to prove their basic academic qualifications.

 

Pondicherry University , which had deferred the examinations for first year MBBS students for the academic year 2016-17 by a month, finally decided to hold it from July 13. The university had not received the proof of academic qualification of the students who joined the course in three private colleges under management quota.

“The first year MBBS exam is conducted only for those students whose qualifications are recognised and registered as matriculates of our university for the academic year 2016-17. For the remaining students admitted under management quota, examination will be conducted on receipt of recognition order from the academic section of the university ,“ said controller of examinations (in-charge) K Tharanikkarasu in an official communication.

The Puducherry government and private medical colleges have to submit the list of students joining MBBS course under state and management quotas with documents proving their academic qualifications to Pondicherry Univer sity. “The university recognised the lists of MBBS students under state quota but raised a few queries on the lists of MBBS students under management quota and sought the concurrence of the government,“ said a university official.
An health directorate official said it has begun issuing concurrence to the university and added that the government will soon decide on the issue. “We are waiting for the government's direction,“ said the official.