You might get Rs. 20,000 if your flight is delayed/cancelled 

19 Apr 2018 | By Gogona Saikia

NEWSBYTES 



If the aviation ministry's recommendations are approved, you might soon be entitled to a compensation of up to Rs. 20,000 if your flight is delayed or cancelled, depending upon the impact.

It will soon release the draft of the proposals online and invite feedback.

However, the move might backfire too, as airlines have warned they'll pass the additional cost on to passengers.

In context: Government proposes norms to hold airlines more accountable

Current rulesWhat do the present rules entail?

Currently, if a flight is delayed by over two hours, you are entitled to free refreshment from the carrier. If it's delayed for over 24 hours, you can get a free hotel stay.

There is no provision for any kind of compensation if it is delayed while on the tarmac.

There is also no monetary compensation for delays or cancellations from the airline's side.



Proposed normsWhat has the ministry proposed now?

The ministry has now proposed full refund for delays of over six hours. If that means flying the next day, you'll get a free hotel stay.

If the flight gets late by 1-2 hours on the tarmac, you'll get free snacks. Post that, you'll be allowed to deboard.

If you miss a connecting flight due to delay/cancellation, you'll get Rs. 20,000 as compensation.

OthersYou might get higher compensation for on-board injury and baggage-loss

There are other proposals: the airline's limit of liability will be same for both domestic and international flights in case of death/injury on board (presently Rs. 20L and Rs. 1cr respectively) and loss/damage of luggage (presently Rs. 20,000 and Rs. 1L respectively).

In case of voluntary deboarding, airlines will have to conduct on-the-spot auctions. For forced denied boarding, the minimum compensation will be Rs. 5,000.

AirlinesAirlines protest, warn they will hike airfare

Opposing the suggestions, airlines said that airfares in India are one of the lowest globally, and imposing extra cost on carriers will increase their burden.

In many cases, delays/cancellations are due to infrastructural issues at the airports, they said.

"Existing rules already safeguard passenger interests," they argued.

If the government imposes extra costs, they'll be forced to "pass on the cost" to flyers.

NEET: 23 students will compete for each seat this time 

19 Apr 2018 | By Gogona Saikia 
 NEWSBYTES


  The number of candidates registering for the NEET 2018 has increased by a whopping 2L since last year.

This time, 13.36L candidates would be competing for the 60,000 seats in MBBS and BDS institutes across India; there were 11.5L candidates in 2017.

But the dress code remains the same: students have to wear "light-colored half-sleeve dress" and no shoes.

In context: 13L students to appear NEET 2018

19 Apr 2018NEET: 23 students will compete for each seat this time

The number of candidates registering for the NEET 2018 has increased by a whopping 2L since last year.

This time, 13.36L candidates would be competing for the 60,000 seats in MBBS and BDS institutes across India; there were 11.5L candidates in 2017.

But the dress code remains the same: students have to wear "light-colored half-sleeve dress" and no shoes.

AboutThis is the third time the NEET is being conducted

NEET, conducted by the CBSE, decides admissions into graduate/postgraduate medical courses like MBBS, BDS, MD or MS in colleges run under the Medical/Dental Council of India.

This is the third time undergraduate medical college admissions are being decided through NEET.

The exam is scheduled to be conducted across India on May 6. Results will be out in June.



FactorsRegistrations increasing sharply due to these reasons

Since the exam was mandated for admission to all medical and dental institutes, more and more states have been getting rid of their own Common Entrance Tests and opting for NEET.

Moreover, the number of students qualifying Plus-2 exams is also increasing due to "various policies and scholarships by the Center and states," said Dr Pravin Shingare, director, Directorate of Medical Education & Research.

SeatsBut the number of seats has remained stuck at 60,000

Due to these factors, registrations for NEET have been sharply increasing, and the trend is expected to continue: in 2016, there were only 7.5L candidates, up by 53% to 11.5L the next year, and up by another 17% to 13.36L this time.

"Sadly the number of seats is still very limited and the competition keeps getting tougher," said Aruna Roy, a candidate's parent.

Dress codeWhat students should and shouldn't wear

Meanwhile, the CBSE has asked students to wear "light clothes with half-sleeves, not having big buttons, brooch/badge, flower etc with salwar/trouser," and "slippers, sandals with low heels, not shoes."

If students want to wear their "customary dress," they will have to reach the exam center an hour earlier to ensure timely security check.

Cellphones, geometry/pencil box, handbags, belt, watches and other items are banned.

Tamil Nadu: BJP's S Ve Shekher makes derogatory remarks on women journalists, apologises later

By PTI | Published: 20th April 2018 01:32 PM | 
 
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Actor-turned-BJP politician S Ve Shekher (Facebook Photo)

CHENNAI: Actor-turned-BJP politician S Ve Shekher has stoked a controversy with his derogatory remarks about the media and in particular against women scribes, drawing the ire of journalists.

His shared Facebook post, reportedly put out yesterday but later found removed, makes insinuations against the media and women journalists in light of the 'patgate' row involving Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit.

The 78-year-old governor had patted on the cheek of a woman journalist earlier this week during the conclusion of a press meet in Chennai, apparently to diplomatically avoid queries posed by her.

The incident had triggered a furore with political parties, including the opposition DMK, calling for his removal as Tamil Nadu governor.

Purohit later apologised to the woman scribe.

Shekher's shared post also had some caustic references to the woman scribe whose cheek the governor patted.

These drew instant condemnation, with a number of individual journalists lashing out at his post, which was later found removed.

The Chennai Union of Journalists criticised Shekher for the post, with many journalists also taking to Twitter and Facebook to condemn him.

Meanwhile, S Ve Shekher issued a written apology for the same today. 
     

Payment of fees means seat is taken 

Staff Reporter 
 
PUDUCHERRY, April 21, 2018 00:00 IST

Centac Coordinator (Admission) P.T. Rudra Goud has said that as per the judgment of Supreme Court in Das-us-Slam case, once the fee is deposited with the counselling authority, the candidates are deemed to have been admitted.

Therefore, Centac will not conduct counselling for all these seats where students have paid the fees. Stringent action will be initiated against those colleges which refuse admission.

Only 25 students pay fees for PG medical admissions 

S. SENTHALIR
PUDUCHERRY, April 21, 2018 00:00 IST



Final tally:Centac Coordinator (Admission) P.T. Rudra Goud completing the formalities at the Centac office on the last day of admission to PG medical colleges.

L-G says medical colleges violating rules will face serious consequences

On the last day of admission to PG medical and dental colleges for the students allotted seats in the first round counselling, only 25 students paid the fees.

Nearly 147 students were allotted seats for PG medical and dental colleges in Puducherry through Centralised Admission Committee (Centac) in the first round of counselling.

The second round of counselling is expected to begin soon. As on Thursday, nearly four students had filed complaints with the Centac grievance cell over the denial of admission to private medical institutions.

Centac Coordinator (Admission) P.T. Rudra Goud said that admissions for all students who have paid the fees through Centac will be ensured.

“All the grievances of students will be addressed to help them in admissions without any hurdles,” he said.

Following the complaints from medical students over denial of admission by private medical institutions, Lieutenant Governor Kiran Bedi warned on Friday that medical colleges violating the rules would face serious legal consequences.

Talks tough

Chief Secretary Ashwani Kumar said: “We should resort to sealing one of their main premises which may cater to first year students. Also, the Health department should let the colleges know of these consequences.”

Health Secretary V. Candavelou held a review meeting with Mr. Goud. “The admission list will be published immediately and all the measures will be taken to admit them in respective colleges.

“This time the consequences for non-compliance, if any, will be very severe including contempt, criminal and administrative action against the college,” he said.

Ms. Bedi met the newly appointed Chairman of Fee Committee for Medical Colleges N. Authinathan, former Madras High Court Judge, to check on the arbitrariness of fee structures in medical institutions.

Lalu seeks bail on medical grounds

Sanjay Sahay TNN 21.04.2018

Ranchi: Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad on Friday pleaded before the Jharkhand high court for provisional bail on medical grounds. His advocate has appealed to the court, saying Lalu needs three more months for treatment of various illnesses, related to heart and kidney, in advanced medical centres.

Lalu, who has been convicted in four fodder scam cases to date, is currently undergoing treatment in AIIMS, Delhi, under judicial custody.

The RJD chief had filed a petition for provisional bail in all the three fodder scam cases in which special CBI courts have convicted him during the last four months.

Lalu’s lawyer Chitttranjan Sinha said, “We have appealed to the court, stating that Lalu has ulcers in his rectum which could turn fatal if infected.”

He said Lalu’s kidneys were 60% damaged, adding that his blood pressure and sugar levels were also not under control.

“We pointed out that AIIMS reports, too, have stated that Lalu’s blood pressure was fluctuating and his sugar level was also not under control. We argued that Lalu needed some time for getting his blood pressure treated at the Asian Heart Institute, Mumbai, where he had undergone heart surgery. He also needed treatment for his kidney at Medanta hospital,” Sinha said. 

High fees in pvt med colleges account for low quality intake 

With Up To ₹1Cr For Course, Only Rich Can Afford Medical Studies

Rema.Nagarajan @timesgroup.com   21.04.2018

There are only 60,000-odd MBBS seats in India, so how does someone ranked 4 lakh or more in NEET get admission even if he or she qualified? With all colleges having to go by the NEET ranking in admissions, this seems an impossible situation, but the high fees charged by most private colleges make it possible. That topples merit by forcing thousands of students with high scores to forego seats, allowing poor performers with money to get admission.

Take admissions to colleges in Punjab — eight of them under the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, three government-run and four private ones and a private university. The student with the highest NEET marks among those admitted into the private university had lower marks than the last student admitted to the open category in each of the government colleges. In the private university, the fees for the MBBS course are ₹64 lakh compared to just ₹4 lakh in the government colleges.

While data for all states was not available, a similar pattern was evident in Tamil Nadu as well. In fact, even within private institutions, those who got into the government quota of private colleges had the best scores, while private universities saw candidates with much lower scores gaining admission. It’s no coincidence that the tution fees for the government quota in private colleges is fixed at ₹4 lakh for the course compared to roughly a crore in the private universities.

To get a better sense of how exorbitant fees are lowering the standards of intake in medical colleges, consider this. If all 60,000-odd seats were in government colleges, where the fees are not prohibitive, the last rank to get in would have been at worst in the range of 80,000 even assuming that one-third of the top 60,000 ranks opted out for various reasons. The 80,000th rank in NEET 2017 had a percentile score of about 92.6 and marks of 399 out of 720, or about 55.4%.

Experts have suggested 1:3 as the ideal seats to eligible students ratio. That would have meant fixing the percentile cutoff so that about 1.8 lakh qualify. In 2017, the cut-off would then have been 83.4 percentile, or roughly 295 out of 720 marks (41%). The actual ratio achieved by the 50th percentile cut-off for general students and 40th percentile for reserved students was close to 1:10 with the lowest ranks even among general students getting as little as 131out of 720 or 18%.

“Things have become much better with NEET, which stopped the completely unregulated MBBS admissions happening earlier. But to ensure that only meritorious students get in, the fees of these teaching shops that pass off as colleges have to be regulated so that students who perform poorly don’t use money power to defeat poor or middle class students who have scored much better. The government also needs to open more medical colleges,” said Dr Raj Bahadur, vice-chancellor of Baba Farid University of Health Sciences.

Jawaharlal Shanmugam, who has filed a public interest petition in the Madras high court seeking fee regulation in all medical colleges, pointed out that when NEET was introduced, many private colleges increased their tuition fees to offset the ‘loss’ of capitation fees. “Thus they ensured that meritorious students without money would never get admission. The tuition fee is fixed arbitrarily to cater to only rich or super rich students. How can the government allow this when the Supreme Court had made NEET mandatory for even private colleges and deemed universities to ensure that medical admissions are merit-based?,” asked Shanmugam.