Flight suffers bird hit, returns to Delhi airport

Press Trust of India, Mumbai, Nov 18 2017, 15:38 IST

The Airbus A320 neo plane suffered the bird hit when it was on the climb.

A Patna-bound GoAir flight with 174 passengers on board on Saturday returned to New Delhi following a bird strike soon after it took off from the Indira Gandhi International (IGI) airport, the airline said.

The Airbus A320 neo plane suffered the bird hit when it was on the climb, forcing the pilot to discontinue the journey and return to New Delhi for an inspection of the plane, GoAir said in a statement. The incident took place at 10.30 am.

"GoAir Flight G8 140 from Delhi to Patna had a bird hit as the aircraft was climbing after take-off, " the private carrier said.

As a precautionary measure, the pilot decided to return to the Delhi airport for an inspection of the aircraft, it said, adding there were 174 passengers on board.

The stranded passengers were immediately accommodated to another aircraft to Patna, it added.

Karnataka set to make Aadhaar a must

Bharath Joshi, Belagavi, DH News Service Nov 19 2017, 1:53 IST

The government is also working on introducing e-sign, an Aadhaar-based electronic signature that will negate the need for citizens to physically sign documents.

Karnataka is quietly building a technology backend to deliver services through Aadhaar and is in the process of framing a law to make the 12-digit unique number compulsory.

The government’s e-governance wing, a portfolio Chief Minister Siddaramaiah handles, is moving to issue certificates and documents virtually through DigiLocker, the Centre’s flagship Aadhaar-based platform for storage, sharing and verification of documents.

The government is also working on introducing e-sign, an Aadhaar-based electronic signature that will negate the need for citizens to physically sign documents.

For starters, services of the Revenue department such as caste and income certificates, and the ration card by the Food and Civil Supplies department, will be issued to citizens’ DigiLocker accounts. A pilot project will be launched soon.

DigiLocker, according to Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani, is a key part of the India Stack: presence less, paperless, cashless and consent-driven governance. With documents stored in a cloud, service providers can pull them from DigiLocker with citizens' consent, making physical copies unnecessary.

"Right now, we issue administrative orders on Aadhaar. But, without a legal framework, these orders can be challenged. We are enacting a legislation and a draft has been prepared. This will enable departments to make Aadhaar compulsory," Additional Chief Secretary (e-governance) Rajeev Chawla said. "The draft will be placed before the Cabinet shortly."

The draft is modelled after the ones enacted in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Haryana. It has been vetted by a committee headed by Law Minister TB Jayachandra.

While 6.18 crore citizens have Aadhaar in Karnataka, only 1.41 lakh have DigiLocker accounts. States such as Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala have adopted DigiLocker.

The e-sign facility will be a game-changer, Chawla said. "Citizens are forced to visit government departments because they need to sign on forms. With e-sign, a farmer, for instance, can visit a citizen service centre (where he can apply for a service online), authenticate himself with his fingerprint and digitally sign the document."

While every e-sign costs Rs 5, the government plans to bear the cost initially without burdening the public. "No state has made use of e-sign. We have worked things out with the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) to roll out the e-sign facility," Chawla said.

At present, Aadhaar is being chiefly used by the Food and Civil Supplies department for the public distribution system, the Education Department for a Student Achievement Tracking System and the Revenue department for Parihara, a direct benefit transfer scheme for farmers.

"The ecosystem will build on its own once we are able to show people value through DigiLocker and e-sign facilities," Chawla said.

HC summons AG on posting of law officers

TNN | Updated: Nov 17, 2017, 10:34 IST

MADURAI: The state's advocate general has been directed to appear before the Madras high court Madurai bench in a case that alleged that the government is planning to appoint people who have not been recommended by the principal district and sessions judge of Kanyakumari as law officers — government pleader and public prosecutor — in the district,.

When the petition filed by advocate M Ashok Padma Raj of Kanyakumari came up for hearing before justice R Mahadevan, the judge directed the government to ask the advocate general to come to court on November 22.

The petitioner alleged that the government is going to appoint people whose candidature was neither recommended by the district judge of Kanyakumari nor empanelled by the district collector. He further said that he sent representations to the state's chief secretary and home secretary asking them to appoint law officers on merit and not for extraneous considerations, but the officials turned a Nelson's eye to his request.

HC permits acupuncture by authorised practitioners

TNN | Nov 18, 2017, 00:26 IST

 

Madurai: The Madurai bench of the Madras high court permitted acupuncture practice with a condition that the practitioners should produce certificate confirming that they are authorised to practice it.

Justice S S Sundar gave this relief on a petition filed by president of All Tamil Nadu Acupuncture and Alternative Medical Association, S Mohamed Sabir.

"It is stated that members of the association are qualified as practitioners of acupuncture treatment. They are not practising allopathy or any other system of medicine involving administration of drugs or adopting methods of treatment which are similar to allopathy. They have obtained valid degrees from recognised universities and their certificates are accepted for practising acupuncture. Thus, the court is inclined to permit the members of the petitioner association to practice acupuncture and other systems of medicine," the judge said.

The judge also said, "The members should produce the degree or certificate authorising them to practice acupuncture, whenever the police and the Tamil Nadu Siddha Medical Council (TNSMC) officials require to confirm that they are authorised to practice acupuncture."Before that, the petitioner's side said that Union health ministry has recognised acupuncture as drugless therapy. The members are practising acupuncture without getting any complaint from public. But, the registrar of the TNSMC wants to prevent acupuncture system by engaging police. Police enter the clinics and close them besides threatening practitioners not to provide acupuncture treatment to people.

Actually, the TNSMC has not empowered the registrar to conduct any enquiry or search. Besides, the alternate system of medicines and courses to be conducted do not come under the purview of the Medical Council of India. In order to develop and propagate any alternative medicine or drugless therapy, no permission or recognition has been contemplated in any of the statues. The Calcutta and Delhi high courts have passed orders in favour of alternative medicine. Acupuncture is an alternative medicine.

Order staying promotion of dy commercial tax officers stayed

TNN | Nov 19, 2017, 00:29 IST

 

Madurai: Setting aside its single judge order staying the promotion of 18 deputy commercial tax officers (DCTO) working in Chennai, the Madras high court Madurai bench has observed that, "When there is no inter-se seniority list, giving stay to promotion of a group of persons in a partial manner is incorrect in the eye of law."

A division bench consisting of justices M Venugopal and Abdul Quddhose delivered a common judgment on a batch of three appeals filed by 25 deputy commercial tax officers against the single judge's order dated September 14 on a writ petition filed by one T Dravidaselvi (superintendent/DCTO, Theni).

Dravidaselvi in her petition said that, the government relaxed Tamil Nadu Commercial Tax and Subordinate Services Rules and the state's commercial tax secretary on August 1 last published the panel list of commercial tax officer for 2015. But, the list did not have her name. She said due to relaxation of the rule, 98 people who are juniors, were placed as seniors to her. Hence, she claimed she must be placed as senior to 98 people, the panel be prepared and she be promoted.

Following it, the single judge stayed promotion of a group of people and directed the authorities to prepare a provisional seniority list .

Against it, a group of 25 DCTOs shot appeals. After hearing concerned sides, the bench said, "It is to be borne in mind that when there is a contest or controversies between the parties concerning particular issue(s), then ordinarily a court of law will not grant final relief at an interlocutory stage. Even an interim order which has the effect of granting final relief ought not to be granted by a court of law." TNN

People know who is responsible for Veda Nilayam I-T raids: CM

TNN | Nov 19, 2017, 00:44 IST

 

Madurai: Who is TTV Dhinakaran?, How can he be responsible for my appointment when he was not in the party for ten years and only came into it after Amma's demise, asked chief minister Edapaddi K Palaniswami here on Saturday.

He was addressing mediapersons at the airport here on his way back to Chennai after participating in the MGR centenary function at Sivaganga. "He was not in the party for ten years, whereas I have been there since 1974 and have held many important posts that Amma bestowed on me. I have gone to prison six times for the party, how many times has Dhinakaran gone?," he said. The chief minister also listed the various posts he had held, including district secretary in 1991 and PWD minister, an appointment Jayalalithaa made. "If he had appointed me, would I not be loyal to him?'' he asked.

On Dhinakaran's charge that he (CM) and deputy chief minister O Panneerselvam were responsible for the raids on Veda Nilayam, he said, "It is you (media) who are promoting T T V Dhinarakan by giving him prominence," he said adding that Dhinakaran had nothing to do with the party. "You know who is responsible for income tax raids on Veda Nilayam and why. It is a temple for us and that is why the government has taken steps to turn it into a memorial," said the chief minister. He said that it was a well-known fact that the I-T department did not come under the state government and as to who was controlling it. Income tax raids were conducted on people who evaded taxes, he said.

The great disconnect

TNN | Updated: Nov 18, 2017, 23:45 IST

 

Chennai: Picture yourself and your family sitting on the living room sofa, each of you with a smart device — phone in your hand, another in your spouse's, your child playing with a tablet. Everyone's so connected. Now, remove the phones and tablet from the scene, but stay frozen in your poses. Do you feel the disconnect?

That's what got Eric Pickersgill started on his series 'Removed' in 2015. The US-based photographer — who is now in India working on part two of this photo-documentary — says the idea came to him one night when he was lying on his bed, phone in hand. "My wife and I were lying back to back, she had her phone, I had mine. My phone fell out of my hand, and as I leaned over to pick it up I noticed that my hand was still cupped like it was holding a phantom phone. I looked over at my wife, and wondered what it would be like if I shot everyday scenes of people with their mobile phones and iPads, but with the devices removed from their hands," says Pickersgill. "Removing the phone seemed to disrupt the scene, and make the real surreal," adds the 31-year-old, whose photo series went viral. "The idea was to show that our smartphones allow us to connect to people anywhere. But what kind of connection do they afford us? Some people who viewed the photographs didn't even notice the phones were removed. That's how much a part of us our mobile phones are," he adds.

A holiday in China placed Pickersgill in a rice field, and as he watched a farmer in a straw hat, against the backdrop of green fields, stop his work to answer his phone, the universality of his series struck him. "But China had restrictions in terms of doing a series there, so India became my first lap," says Pickersgill, who photo-stopped at Delhi, Rishikesh, Shillong and Mumbai.

One of the main differences between his original series and the one in India is the infusion of colour. Though his first series was black and white, Pickersgill realised India's vibrancy could not be contained in monochrome. "India has a lot of colour, it's overpowering," says Pickersgill, who works with film. "India was showing me how mobile phones could bring people together as well. So this series, which is also being made as a feature documentary, has a more rounded approach, showing how devices connect as well as disconnect, how new technologies create new behaviours."

In Kolkata, Pickersgill came across a group of girls in a cafe, standing on chairs and taking selfies. A few minutes later, they were seated side by side, sharing the photos. "We captured those very real moments, but with their permission removed the phones from their hands," says Pickersgill, who is creating the series in collaboration with calling app Tlkn. "The people, the poses, the scenarios we shoot are real, only the phones are missing," he adds.

In Shillong, Pickersgill captured a family at the dinner table, mum staring straight into the camera, the rest of her family staring deeply at their invisible mobiles. On a hillside, Pickersgill chanced upon a busload of tourists on a photo break, asked them to remain in pose, and then removed

their cellphones.

In Rishikesh, Pickersgill and crew interviewed a yogi, who spoke at length about how gestures were a way of displaying emotion and connection with the body, but the overuse of mobiles was changing body language from an instinctive action to a mere reaction. As the yogi paused in the middle of his discourse to answer his phone, Pickersgill asked him to freeze, then removed the phone from his hand, and took the shot. "The documentary is meant to open up conversation," says Pickersgill.