Videocon loan case: ICICI Bank officials quizzed 

TIMES OF INDIA 01.04.2018

New Delhi: CBI has examined a few ICICI Bank officials in its probe related to the alleged nexus between ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot.

The agency may soon take a call on whether to call Deepak Kochhar for questioning along with Dhoot and Chanda Kochhar as there are allegations of “conflict of interest” on the latter’s part. Sources said ICICI Bank officials were examined to know more about the details of loan – ₹3,250 crore — given by India’s largest private sector bank to Videocon as part of a consortium and whether they were aware about any quid pro quo. The ICICI Bank officers examined by CBI are nodal officers, whose names officials refused to divulge.

As reported by STOI, CBI lodged a preliminary enquiry (PE), a first step to investigate any matter of alleged irregularity, last month against Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar apart from unknown bank officials.

Officials said they have already examined several documents and private companies connected to the loan have also been asked to provide certain documents.

CBI is investigating if Dhoot provided crores of rupees to a firm promoted by Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after Videocon group got ₹3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012. TNN

PIL filed in SC against CBSE’s decision for re-examination
‘All Students Shouldn’t Be Penalised’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  01.04.2018

New Delhi: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the CBSE’s decision to cancel Class XII economics paper and conduct fresh examination on April 25 after the question paper was leaked.

The petitioner, Reepak Kansal, filed the PIL in the SC through advocate Ashutosh Garg, contending that all the students should not be penalised by forcing them to again appear in examination and probe should be carried out to catch the culprits involved in the paper leak.

Another petition by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava sought CBI inquiry into the paper leak and a compensation of ₹1lakh to each student for the mental agony they suffered due to cancellation of the paper.

“It is to be noted that this year 16.38 lakh students appeared for Class X and 11.8 lakh students for Class XII in the CBSE board examinations. And therefore, to penalise the entire student community for an incident which is under investigation is arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional. There is absolutely no justification whatsoever on the part of the CBSE in deciding to re-conduct the mathematics examination of Class X and economics of Class XII without holding any inquiry and finding out the persons responsible for such serious and intentional lapse,” the petition said.

“It is submitted that due to inaction/ wrong actions of CBSE officials, fundamental rights of students have been violated, who fall in the category of re-examination, as they would not have proper time and opportunity to appear in their respective competitive examinations and are undergoing mental stress and agony due to actions of CBSE officials. It will naturally affect their performance whereas the students who do not fall in the category of reexamination would have more time and opportunity to prepare and appear in their respective competitive examinations,” the petition said.

The HRD ministry has announced April 25 as the date of re-examination for Class XII economics paper and the government said that the CBSE will take a call in the next 15 days if there was a need to conduct retest for Class X mathematics paper. Preliminary inquiry has revealed the Class X paper leak occurred in Haryana and Delhi-NCR and re-exam might be held only in these two regions. 


UP IN ARMS: Students protest in front of the CBSE regional office in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday

Monkey takes away 16-day-old sleeping infant in Odisha village

Binita.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com 01.04.2018

Cuttack: In a shocking incident, a monkey snatched a sleeping 16-day-old boy in Talabasta village, in Banki block of Cuttack district, on Saturday. A massive search operation was launched in the area but neither the monkey, nor the baby had been found till the time this report was filed.

The father of the yet-tobe-named infant, Rama Krushna Nayak, 32, was lying next to his child in the verandah of their house when the incident occurred.

His wife, 28-year-old Sarojini, who had woken earlier and was busy with some chore, saw the animal approach the verandah by scaling the boundary wall and scamper off with her child around 6.10am. By the time she could scream, the animal had disappeared with the baby. “The child was sleeping under a small mosquito net. The monkey managed to lift the net and take him away. Sarojini saw it flee with her baby,” said Pramilla, a relative.

Other family members said the infant did not cry since it had been born prematurely and was very weak. After being under treatment in Cuttack, he had been brought home on Thursday. “We are really worried about his health,” said Suresh, another relative. The infant is the Nayak couple’s first child. Sarojini, who has fainted several times since morning, has been admitted in hospital.

Forest officials, accompanied by more than 500 villagers, participated in the search operation. Small teams were formed to look through every tree-top, house and field in Talabasta and its surrounding villages but to no avail.

“Our men climbed every tree in the area but we are yet to find the two,” said Sangram Keshari Mohanty, the ranger of Dampara forest range. “If the monkey enters the Chandanka-Dampara wildlife sanctuary near the village, it will be impossible tofind it,” said a forestofficer.

Angry villagers alleged that monkeys often strayed into their area. “They enter houses and take away vegetables and household items. But this is the first time a baby has been taken,” said Dipak Das, a villager.

Madras varsity set to charge colleges ₹2K per student to digitise student records

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com  01.04.2018

Chennai : A move by the University of Madras to collect an administrative fee from autonomous affiliated colleges for digitisation and preserving records of students on Saturday was met with stringent opposition from some senate members representing affiliated colleges.

During its senate meeting, the university proposed to ratify a syndicate decision to collect ₹600 per year per student for undergraduate students, ₹1,000 for postgraduate and ₹2,000 for MPhil students of self-financing and aided autonomous colleges as administrative fees. It proposed half the fee for autonomous state-run colleges.

Using these funds, the university proposes to provide a digi-locker facility. All student documents such as degree certificates and mark sheets from 2005 onwards will be digitised and will be available at the click of a button. Currently, students have to wade through red tape for copies of these documents.

RKM Vivekananda College professor J Gandhiraj said the fee was too high and requested the university to reduce it and make it a one-time payment. “We were told that this fee was fixed because the university’s financial position is bad,” he said.

However, vice-chancellor P Duraisamy said the fee had nothing to do with the university’s financial position. “The university collects ₹250 for issuing a degree certificate. We have been subsidising the autonomous colleges by using funds from non-autonomous colleges. While we collect only ₹65 per paper for examinations, autonomous colleges collect ₹150. UGC also gives funds to autonomous colleges for conducting examinations,” he said, justifying the levy. An MOU has been signed with National Academic Depository for the purpose, he added.

Court refuses relief to PF official held on bribery charge

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   01.04.2018

Chennai: Refusing any relief to an enforcement officer of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) who was arrested by the CBI in January last under the Prevention of Corruption Act, the Madras high court has dismissed his discharge plea.

Justice G Jayachandran passed the order on the plea moved by G Elumalai seeking to set aside the order of the XIII additional special court for CBI cases, Chennai, dated December 28, 2017.

On January 15, CBI had arrested Elumalai along with the prime accused E S Durga Prasad, regional commissioner of EPFO, in an alleged bribery case involving Saveetha Group of Institutions. Five others were also arrested in this connection. According to prosecution, Durga Prasad had allegedly demanded Rs 25 lakh as illegal gratification for favouring the educational group which runs a university and a few colleges in Tamil Nadu. Based on a tip, CBI sleuths laid a trap and nabbed Durga Prasad near Ambattur while accepting a bribe of Rs 14.5 lakh from Sengottiyan. When the plea came up for hearing, Elumalai submitted that he has only discharged his duty as an enforcement officer and there is no evidence to show that he received any amount as illegal gratification. Mere association with the other accused in an official capacity cannot be considered to make him aparty to the conspiracy.

“When no material was seized from me and when no incriminating evidence was placed before the court against me, the prosecution ought to have dropped the proceedings against me,” Elumalai contended. Relying on the evidence given by the prosecution, the judge said it appears from the material that when Durga Prasad received the bribe, this petitioner was present along with him. There is enough material to indicate that the petitioner herein had full knowledge of it and was party to the demand and acceptance of illegal gratification. Since prima facie case is made out against him that is sufficient to frame charges, the request to discharge the petitioner does not arise.

Limb lost, but not love: Couple wed in hospital

Shanmughasundaram.J@timesgroup.com 01.04.2018

Vellore: Love conquers all? Isn’t that’s the dog-eared cliché of improbable romantic novels?

It’s also the story of a 23-year-old woman who on Saturday married the love of her life in Vaniyambadi Government Hospital, where he was recuperating after losing a leg in a fall from a moving train on January 23.

To say Shilpa — from Masinagudi in Ooty, who met Vijay in class as a BSc (computer science) student at a Coimbatore college in 2013 — and her new husband are up against the odds would be putting it mildly.

Shilpa and Vijay graduated in 2017. Shilpa is yet to find a job (though, a relative said, in feverish SMSs to Vijay as he lay in hospital, she vowed to do whatever it took to provide for their new household).


STANDING UP FOR LOVE: Vijay lost his leg after falling off a moving train last January

After battle to get married, couple ready to take on life

Vijay, also 23, from Govindapuram in Vaniyambadi, had a temporary job as a data entry operator in Coimbatore when a friend gave him a lead: A promising job in Bengaluru.

While returning home after attending an interview for the post, he slipped and fell from a train near Bangarapet in Kolar district of Karnataka. Doctors at a hospital in Karnataka had to amputate his leg just below the knee. Doctors at the Karnataka hospital later referred referred him to Vaniyambadi Government Hospital.

Vijay, whose parents Ram and Muthamma are daily wage workers, hopes to find work in four months or so, by which time doctors said he would have started physiotherapy and should be able to get around with a walker.

Having overcome objections from her mother — anxious that Vijay may now not be able to provide for her daughter — to get married to, however, Shilpa is far from intimidated by the future, said a relative who arrived at Vaniyambadi Government Hospital for the marriage. “Her courage has rubbed off on Vijay,” he said.

“After they completed their studies, Shilpa and Vijay decided to get married,” the relative said. “They had their families’ blessings. Then tragedy struck.” After she learned about Vijay’s condition, Shilpa tried to convince her mother, a widow, and her relatives that she intended to go with the wedding, he said. Married life would not be easy but she did not care, the relative said.

One of Vijay’s relatives accompanied Shilpa on the train from Ooty. The wedding took everyone in the hospital by surprise. Wary of any adverse reaction from either family, officials discharged Vijay from the hospital. But patients in the ward and their relatives blessed the couple by sprinkling flowers on the groom and blushing bride by way. The nuptials may have caught the doctors off guard, but most were pleasantly surprised by Shilpa’s conviction.

“We were surprised when [Vijay] tied the knot with the girl,” a doctor said with a goodnatured smile. “She was wearing a traditional sari.”

வேலூர் விஐடி தின விழா: 4,187 மாணவர்களுக்கு ரூ.12 கோடி உதவித் தொகை
By DIN | Published on : 31st March 2018 02:23 AM |

சிறந்த மாணவியாக தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட கே.ரட்சணாவுக்கு தங்கப்பதக்கம், விருது வழங்கி கௌரவித்த விஐடி வேந்தர் ஜி.விசுவநாதன்.

வேலூர் விஐடி பல்கலைக்கழக தின விழாவில் 4,187 மாணவ, மாணவிகளுக்கு கல்வி உதவித் தொகையாக ரூ. 12.03 கோடி வழங்கப்பட்டது. மேலும், சிறந்த மாணவிக்கான வேந்தரின் தங்கப்பதக்கம் மாணவி கே.ரட்சணாவுக்கு வழங்கப்பட்டது.

விஐடி பல்கலைக்கழக தினம், விளையாட்டு விழா விஐடி அண்ணா அரங்கில் வெள்ளிக்கிழமை நடைபெற்றது.

விழாவுக்கு, தலைமை வகித்து, பல்வேறு பிரிவுகளின் தேர்ந்தெடுக்கப்பட்ட சிறந்த மாணவ, மாணவிகளுக்கு தங்கப்பதக்கம், ரொக்க விருதுகளை வழங்கி வேந்தர் ஜி.விசுவநாதன் பேசியதாவது:

விஐடி மாணவர்கள் கல்வி, நன்னடத்தை, ஆராய்ச்சி உள்ளிட்ட அனைத்திலும் சாதனை படைத்து வருகின்றனர். ஆயிரக்கணக்கான மாணவ, மாணவிகள் பயிலும் விஐடி வளாகம் தூய்மை வளாகமாக விளங்கி வருகிறது. இதற்கு தூய்மை திட்டத்தில் மாணவர்களுக்கு உள்ள ஆர்வமும், அர்ப்பணிப்புமே காரணமாகும். விஐடியில் செயல்படுத்தப்பட்டு வரும் கற்றல், கற்பித்தல் திட்டத்தால் பேராசிரியர்கள், மாணவர்களிடையே ஆராய்ச்சிப் பணிகளில் ஆர்வம் ஏற்பட்டுள்ளது. இதனால், ஆராய்ச்சி இதழ்களை வெளியிடுவதில் நாட்டில் விஐடி முதலிடத்தில் உள்ளது.

வளர்ந்து வரும் நாடான இந்தியாவில் உள்ள கல்லூரிகள், பல்கலைக்கழகங்களின் எண்ணிக்கை போதுமானதாக இல்லை. நாட்டில் உயர்கல்வி பயில்பவர்களின் எண்ணிக்கை 24 சதவீதமாக உள்ளது. உயர் கல்வி படிக்க தகுதியுள்ள 14 கோடி பேரில் 3.5 சதவீதத்தினருக்கு மட்டுமே வாய்ப்பு கிடைக்கிறது. எனவே, மத்திய, மாநில அரசுகள் உயர்கல்வி நிலையங்களின் எண்ணிக்கையை அதிகரித்து கல்வி உதவித் தொகை வழங்கும் வகையில் கல்விக்கான நிதி ஒதுக்கீட்டை அதிகரிக்க வேண்டும். இதற்கு, தொழில் நிறுவனங்களும் ஆதரவாக இருக்க வேண்டும்.
மேலும், நாட்டில் கல்வி முறையில் மாற்றம் கொண்டுவர வேண்டும். இதற்கான பரிந்துரைகளை இந்திய கல்வி மேம்பாட்டு சங்கம் மத்திய அரசுக்கு வழங்கியுள்ளது. சங்கத்தின் பரிந்துரைகளை அரசு கவனத்தில் கொள்ள வேண்டும் என்றார் அவர்.

இன்டஸ் இந்த் வங்கியின் தலைவர் ஆர்.சேஷசாயி பேசியதாவது:
மாணவர்களிடையே ஆழமாக கற்பதற்கான ஆர்வம் வேண்டும். அதிலும் கண்டுபிடிப்புக்காக கற்கும் போதுதான் மகிழ்ச்சி உருவாகும். அதேபோல், மாணவர்கள் தங்களை படைப்பாளிகளாக உணர வேண்டும். அதற்கு புதிய எண்ணங்களை உருவாக்கவும், அந்த எண்ணங்களுக்குத் தீர்வு காணவும் வேண்டும். வளரும் நாடான இந்தியா வளர்ந்த நாடாக மாற தொழில் முனைவோர்கள் அதிகளவில் உருவாக வேண்டும். தொழில் முனைவோரை உருவாக்குவதற்காக மாணவர்களின் கற்றல் முறை இருக்க வேண்டும். அத்தகைய கற்றலுக்கு வயது என்பது இல்லை. தொடர்ந்து கற்றல் இருக்க வேண்டும் என்றார் அவர்.

தொடர்ந்து டிஎக்ஸ்சி டெக்னாலஜிஸ் நிறுவன மூத்த துணைத் தலைவர் சாம்சன் டேவிட் கெளரவ விருந்தினராக பங்கேற்று மாணவ, மாணவிகளுக்கு கல்வி உதவித் தொகையை வழங்கினார்.

விழாவில், 4,187 மாணவ, மாணவிகளுக்கு கல்வி உதவித் தொகையாக ரூ. 12.03 கோடியும், விஐடி வேந்தரின் சிறந்த மாணவிக்கான தங்கப்பதக்கம் கே.ரட்சணாவுக்கும், சிடிஎஸ் நிறுவன விருது மாணவர் அபிஜீத் தாகூருக்கும், டிசிஎஸ் நிறுவன விருது மாணவர் ஷிவோம் பகுகுணாவுக்கும் வழங்கப்பட்டது. மாணவர் பேரவை நிர்வாகி யானிக் அந்தாவோ வரவேற்றார். விஐடி ஆண்டறிக்கையை துணைவேந்தர் ஆனந்த் ஏ.சாமுவேல், விளையாட்டு ஆண்டறிக்கையை பேராசிரியர் ரூபன் குமார், மாணவர் பேரவை ஆண்டறிக்கையை மாணவி ஐஸ்வரியா லட்சுமி ஆகியோர் வாசித்தனர்.

இதில், விஐடி துணைத் தலைவர் ஜி.வி.செல்வம், இணை துணைவேந்தர் எஸ்.நாராயணன், பதிவாளர் கே.சத்தியநாராயணன், மாணவர் நலன் இயக்குநர் அமித் கே.மகேந்திரகர் உள்ளிட்டோர் பங்கேற்றனர்.