Karur Collector comes calling with food for elderly woman in Tamil Nadu

By Express News Service | Published: 02nd April 2018 02:43 AM |

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Karur Collector T Anbazhagan shares food with 80-year-old Raakkammal of Chinnamanaikkenpatti in Karur district | Express

KARUR: Eighty-year-old Raakammal, who is living alone in her small house at Chinnamanaikkenpatti, had a surprise high-profile guest for lunch two days ago when Karur Collector T Anbazhagan, who came calling with home-cooked meal for her. After serving on a banana leaf for her, the Collector sat on the floor besides her and had his food.

Raakammal, who poured her heart during the lunch was delighted to know that the Collector later ordered a monthly old-age pension of Rs 1,000 for her. It was at a grievance redress meeting two days before that Anbazhagan was told about the woman living alone in extreme poverty by people who requested him to arrange financial aid for her.

“Due to age-related problems, she could not do any work and earn a living. The old-age pension scheme is meant to help such people. The district administration will take steps to cover all such persons under the scheme,” the Collector said.

No delays, successors get promotion orders from retiring employees in Chennai

By Express News Service | Published: 02nd April 2018 02:57 AM |

CHENNAI: To ensure that no employee with required qualification waits even for a single day to get promotion when a post is vacant, the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) at Perambur has introduced a novel method of filling posts.

On their last working day, retiring employees presented the promotion orders to their successors.

For instance, when a junior engineer of production unit retires, a grade III technician, who is qualified for the post, will get the promotion letter from the retiring staff.

“We wanted to boost the morale of our technicians for better productivity. We initiate the paperwork exactly a month before the retirement date. We ensure that every deserving staff in the unit receive promotion as soon as the post gets vacant,” said R Mohanraja, Principal Chief Personnel Officer, ICF.
He added that the practice was introduced in April 2017 and more than 150 staff members had so far received promotion orders from their predecessors.

On Saturday, 28 technicians retired from the ICF. On an average, 20 technicians retire every month.
At the felicitation function, retired employees gave the promotion orders to 14 of their qualified colleagues.

The promotion orders issued for the posts include chief office superintendent, technician grade III and junior engineer.

Alexander George, an office superintendent of the ICF, received promotion order to become chief office superintendent from Raju Balaji, who retired from the post.

Employees categorised under technicians are backbone of the Integral Coach Factory The production unit has 8,000 workers, including helpers and technicians. In addition, 2,000 administrative staff are also working in the unit.

Posts of technician are categorised as technician grades I, II and III and non-gazetted posts such as senior section engineer and junior engineer.

“We ensure that on the last working day itself employees get all the benefits to boost confidence in the management,” an ICF official said.

Why eggs are hard outside and soft inside

Jennifer Cockerell 02.04.2018

Scientists believe they have cracked the conundrum of how chicken eggs are strong enough to resist being fractured from the outside, but weak enough to be broken from the inside when the chick hatches.

A Canadian study found that eggshells develop to be strong, but also not too weak because of changes in their nanostructure that occur during the egg’s incubation.

Researchers believe that a better understanding of events that drive eggshell hardening and strength could have important implications for food safety.

The team from McGill University in Montreal used new techniques to expose the interior of the eggshells to study their molecular nanostructure and mechanical properties. They said birds have benefited from millions of years of evolution to make the perfect eggshell — a thin, protective biomineralised chamber for embryonic growth that contains all the nutrients required for the growth of a baby chick.

Eggs are sufficiently hard when laid and during brooding to protect them from breaking. As the chick grows inside the eggshell, it needs calcium to form its bones. During egg incubation, the inner portion of the shell dissolves to provide this mineral ion supply, while at the same time weakening the shell enough to be broken by the hatching chick.

Using atomic force microscopy, and electron and X-ray imaging methods, the team found that this dual-function relationship is possible thanks to minute changes in the shell’s nanostructure that occurs during egg incubation.

In parallel experiments, the researchers were also able to recreate a similar nanostructure by adding osteopontin to mineral crystals grown in the lab. They found that a factor determining shell strength is the presence of nanostructured mineral associated with osteopontin, an eggshell protein also found in composite biological materials such as bone.

Professor Marc McKee said: “Eggshells are notoriously difficult to study by traditional means, because they easily break when we try to make a thin slice for imaging by electron microscopy. The findings are published in the journal Science Advances. THE INDEPENDENT

INNER STRENGTH

‘Fell in love, couldn’t study’, writes student in answer sheet

Mohd Dilshad@timesgroup.com 02.04.2018

Muzaffarnagar: From blaming romance for lack of preparedness to hinting at the absence of a parent in life, messages UP students have left behind with their answer sheets, not to mention currency notes, are getting more imaginative and dramatic.

“I love my Pooja,” writes a student of UP board’s intermediate exam in bold as he begins answering his chemistry paper. “Yeh mohabbat bhi kya cheez hai, na jeene deti hai aur na marne… Sir, iss love story ne padhai se duur kar diya warna… (This love is a strange thing. It doesn’t let you live nor does it allow you to die; Sir, this love story didn’t let me study for the exam, or else…),” the examinee goes on to explain in detail. Rest of the answer sheet is blank except for a beautifully drawn heart pierced by an arrow.

Well, he is not the only one who chose to describe in great detail the chemistry of his own relationship, rather than care for some poor John Dalton or Dmitri Mendeleev.

Muzaffarnagar district inspector of schools Munesh Kumar said, “Yes, we are getting currency notes stapled with answer sheets and some weird messages.”

“Guruji ko copy kholne se pehle namaskar. Guruji, pass kar dein. Chitthi tu ja sir ke pass, sir ki marzi fail karein ya pass (Accept my greetings before you begin to check this answer sheet. Please pass me. O, my letter, you fly to the teacher, it’s up to him if he fails me or not),” wrote another examinee.

One student made an emotional appeal. “I have got no mother and my father will kill me you fail me.” Another student threatened to commit suicide if he gets failed.

EVERYTHING’S FAIR IN LOVE...

Three-hour limit for Taj visitors: No mechanism in place to enforce rule

Anuja.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com 02.04.2018

Agra: The three-hour time slot restrictions for visitors to the Taj Mahal that kicked in from Sunday for better crowd management failed to take off on the first day, as there was no one at the entry and exit points to brief tourists or enforce the rule.

Though the validity of the tickets issued by the ASI clearly mentioned it is valid for three hours, there was no mechanism in place to enforce this.

Talking to TOI, superintendent archeologist of ASI (Agra circle) Bhuvan Vikram Singh said that the staff was asked to go soft on them as it was the first day. “The staff has been directed to be lenient and this will be continued for the next three-four days, till the word spreads around,” he said. Asked how they plan to enforce the 3-hour restriction for the visitors, Singh said random checks will be initiated till the installation of turnstile gates. Many of the tourists, both foreigners and local, told TOI they were not aware of any such restrictions.

In a public notice issued last week, ASI had decided that the entry ticket to the world heritage monument would be valid for only three hours. The move was necessitated by the surge in the number of visitors. Many times, during peak tourist season and other occasions, the number of tourists to the 17th century Mughal-era monument crosses 60,000 to 70,000. This could prove harmful for the foundations of the monument, said ASI officials.

“We’ve had situations where over 50,000 visitors come to Taj Mahal in a single day. The monument space is limited and we cannot extend that. We have to make do with the available area and manage visitors within that limited space. Sometimes it gets very difficult to manage the crowd,” said an ASI official, adding that limited-validity tickets are expected to sort it out.

STILL CHAOTIC

Anitha dad’s advice at NEET app launch

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 03.04.2018

Trichy: There should not be too much obsession with MBBS and parents should not pressurise their children to opt for higher education in a particular field, said T Shanmugam, father of S Anitha who committed suicide on September 1 last year as she could not clear NEET and get a medical seat, here on Sunday.

Shanmugam was speaking at the launch of a mobile application ‘T4P Lets Act’, which will provide a free online NEET crash course for aspirants, at the St Joseph’s College. The Android app has been developed by a Chennai-based NGO, Tech for All, to cater to students from rural areas.

Apart from Shanmugam, gynecologist Dr Indira Natarajan and St Joseph’s College rector John Britto were also present at the event.

Multiple leak claims rock CBSE

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com 02.04.2018

New Delhi: Rumour mills kept CBSE officials on high alert all through Saturday and till Sunday morning. The board keep pushing media alerts specifying that papers circulating on WhatsApp were incorrect. The alerts continued till 12.44 am on Sunday and school education secretary Anil Swarup also tweeted that the Hindi paper doing the rounds on social media was a fake.

The multiple claims and versions of so-called leaked papers are making the task of the CBSE, the investigators and the HRD ministry difficult. At least some of the versions of exam papers were circulated and even sold in order to make a quick buck.

Meanwhile, papers claiming to be “leaked” and allegedly concerning remaining Class X and XII exams emerged on You-Tube channels on Saturday.

‘SLEEPLESS NIGHTS’

‘Checking all papers in circulation’

According to CBSE sources, a team of officials checked the papers on social media. The papers included political science and Hindi (elective) for Class XII and Sanskrit for Class X.

CBSE found that the papers were of exams from earlier years. The board alerted the media that various question papers in circulation on social media platforms like WhatsApp and YouTube were not the original papers.

“Things have been very difficult of late as we have been cross-checking the papers in circulation with those of previous years and also with the original if there is any resemblance. Thankfully, there has been none so far,” a senior CBSE official said.

Even though no paper other than maths and economics has been found to be leaked in the ongoing board exams, CBSE officials are sure to have more sleepless nights.