13 persons injured as omni bus overturns

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

VILLUPURAM, JANUARY 17, 2019 00:00 IST

As many as 13 passengers were injured when a speeding omni bus overturned at Padur near Ulundurpet in the early hours of Wednesday.

The police said the private bus carrying 30 passengers was travelling from Coimbatore to Chennai.

Passengers trapped

The bus driver Nagaraj, of Theni district, lost control of the vehicle and it overturned after hitting the concrete median at Padur trapping the passengers inside.

On information, the Thirunavalur police rushed to the spot and rescued the passengers.

The injured were shifted to the Ulundurpet General Hospital and the Government Medical College and Hospital at Mundiyambakkam.

Lecturers accused of forging Ph.D certificates

STAFF REPORTER

STAFF REPORTER UDHAGAMANDALAM, JANUARY 17, 

2019 00:00 IST

Two assistant professors of the Government Arts College in Udhagamandalam have been accused of forging their Ph.D certificates, with the principal of the college submitting a complaint to the police, urging them to initiate action.

Police complaint

Sources from the college said that the two lecturers, working at the Department of Botany at the college, had obtained their PhDs from a college outside Tamil Nadu. When their certificates were verified by the Directorate of Collegiate Education, they were found to have been forged, and the principal of the Government Arts College was urged to submit a police complaint against the two.

Certificates verified

An official from the college said that the certificates of the two lecturers had been checked by the Directorate of Collegiate Education, which had cross-verified their certificates with the universities from where they had alleged to have gotten their degrees from.

Report to

be submitted

“After the completion of the investigation and the registration of an FIR against the two, a report will be submitted to the Directorate of Collegiate Education, after which we will await further instructions as to what action should be taken against the two lecturers,” a source from the college said.

HC raises motor accident claims compensation

STAFF REPORTER

MADURAI, JANUARY 17, 2019 00:00 IST

The tribunal had erred in its calculation of victim’s income

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has raised the compensation awarded to the family of a motor accident victim after the Motor Accident Claims Tribunal erred in its calculation.

Justice J. Nisha Banu increased the compensation from Rs. 10.57 lakh to Rs. 15.38 lakh after the claims tribunal failed to take 25% of the income of the deceased as future prospects. The tribunal had notionally fixed the income of the deceased at Rs. 9,000.

The family of the deceased from Madurai moved the High Court Bench seeking an enhancement on the compensation amount granted by the claims tribunal. They claimed that at the time of the accident, the 45-year-old victim was working as a carpenter, earning Rs. 21,000 a month.

However, the claims tribunal had failed to add 25% of the income as future prospects as per guidelines laid down by the Supreme Court, the family said. It was established during the course of the hearing that the family had failed to produce the documents pertaining to the income of the deceased before the claims tribunal. Therefore, this prompted the claims tribunal to fix the income at Rs. 9,000. The court ordered the settlement be made within eight weeks.

For diabetics, jaggery no substitute for sugar

Serena Josephine M.

CHENNAI, JANUARY 17, 2019 00:00 IST

Not so sweet:While jaggery is a nutritive sweetener, sugar is a non-nutritive one. But both are calorie dense and high in glycemic load, say nutritionists.V.M. Maninathan

Diabetics must avoid substance, say doctors

It is that time of the year when jaggery becomes integral to a traditional festive spread. But this is no sweet news for diabetics. Doctors and nutritionists say that jaggery is not a substitute for sugar, and those with poor control over their blood sugar levels should steer clear of recipes containing jaggery. ‘Sakkarai’ Pongal is synonymous with the festival of harvest. But this popular dish that contains jaggery should be kept out of bounds for diabetics. Sugarcane too should be avoided, say doctors.

Jaggery, unlike white sugar, does have a nutritive side to it. As Meenakshi Bajaj, senior nutritionist, Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super Specialty Hospital, pinpoints, it provides up to 5mg of iron per 100 grams and is a good source of calcium and potassium. But as far as diabetics are concerned, they should stay away from jaggery and sugar as both have equally high glycemic load.

Anand Moses, former director, Institute of Diabetology, Madras Medical College, said jaggery too gets converted into sugar in the body. “The only difference is the time taken for absorption. White sugar gets absorbed quickly, while jaggery gets absorbed slowly,” he said.

He receives patients with questions on whether they can take sweets during festivals, and about jaggery too. “As far as diabetics are concerned, only those with good control of diabetes can take food prepared with jaggery, and that too, in moderation. Those with no control of diabetes should stay away from such food. Jaggery is not a substitute for sugar and raises sugar level in the blood,” he explained.

Good control

By good control, he means a fasting sugar of below 100 mg/dl, two hours after meal of below 180 mg/dl and HbA1c (average level of blood sugar for three months) of below 7%.

“If a person is perfectly healthy and has no blood sugar issues, then he / she may use jaggery as an alternative to white sugar. Individuals with Type 2 diabetes should treat it as same as other sugars and use it sparingly as it still might raise blood glucose levels,” Ms. Bajaj noted. She added that the difference between the two — jaggery and sugar — is in being nutritive and non-nutritive sweeteners. “But both are calorie dense, high in glycemic load and glycemic index,” she pointed out.

Nihal Thomas, professor and head, Department of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism, Christian Medical College, also stressed the need for good control of diabetes. “If this is the case, they can have one odd meal but need to be careful. Jaggery contains 60 to 80% sucrose depending on how it is processed. Apart from this, it has healthy components such as iron, calcium and anti-oxidants that are good for the body. But it is as bad as sugar for diabetics,” he said.

10% quota in all admissions for 2019-20

SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

NEW DELHI, JANUARY 17, 2019 00:00 IST

The 10% reservation for the economically weaker sections in the general category will be implemented in all colleges and universities, including private institutions, from 2019-20, Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said. “The UGC and AICTE will be given the operational mandate within a week to implement it.”

This quota will be over and above the existing quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Castes, which will also be implemented in private institutions, the Minister said on Tuesday.

Income criteria

The income criteria for the EWS quota would be set at a gross annual household income of Rs. 8 lakh, said a senior Ministry official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

5 THINGS YOU SHOULD NEVER SAY TO YOUR PARTNER DURING A FIGHT

— Anannya Chatterjee, iDiva.com  17.01.2019

Had an ugly fight with your partner last night? Regretting all those mean things you said to him in the heat of the moment? We all tend to do this, and you are no exception. When we’re angry, we fail to realise that there are certain things we shouldn’t say to our partner. Here we have made a list of the phrases and topics you should completely avoid during an argument.

1 ‘I WILL LEAVE’

Deep within you know that you won’t and you love your partner too much to leave. So, why threaten him? Empty threats often take the wrong route, and can affect your relationship. It’s a heartless thing to say and can lead to anxiety and fear. If you love your partner, don’t make him go through this emotional trauma.

2 ‘DO YOU LOVE ME?’

Questioning your partner’s love for you is the stupidest thing you can do during an argument, and yet we all do it! Just because you are having an argument or a fight, doesn’t take away his love from you or your relationship. It’s absolutely normal to have an argument, and that just proves you both have an opinion of your own. Being opinionated is always a good thing but don’t question love. You will damage your relationship.

3 BRINGING UP PAST QUARRELS

Do you want your relationship to turn toxic? No, right? So, don’t dig your own grave because nobody likes to be blamed time and again for buried hatchets. Neither will your partner, we can assure that. Don’t yell at him for past incidents. Imagine yourself at the receiving end. Multiple accusations give rise to retaliations and attacks. Rather, try to focus on the current issue and fix it. Raking up the past repeatedly will only make your partner question whether the relationship is worth it.

4 CALLING EACH OTHER NAMES

When you are hurt and angry, you don’t realise what you’re saying and it often goes to an extent of name-calling. A relationship should steer clear of any abuse, be it verbal or physical. Name-calling will only demean your love. Couples also often indulge in character assassination during a fight. But guys you need to draw the line somewhere.

5 PERSONAL ATTACKS

There comes a point in an argument, where winning it becomes the motto, and you get distracted from the real issue. In fact, to win the argument you would go to any extent, even personal attacks for that matter. We strongly recommend against this. It will drive emotions into a negative space, and to get back from there can be really difficult.

Activists in Rajasthan get used condoms in RTI reply

Jaipur  17.01.2019

: They wanted answers under RTI but what they got were sealed packets of used contraceptives. This happened in Rajasthan where two petitioners sought answers under the RTI Act from their village panchayat on development projects.

Vikas Chaudhary and Manohar Lal, residents of Chani Badi in Bhadra tehsil of Hanumangarh district, had sent an RTI query to the panchayat on April 16 last year on alleged corrupt practices in the projects undertaken since 2001.

The RTI Act mandates that reply be given within 30 days but the petitioners said the reply came only recently. They said the reply was sent by the panchayat on the state information commission’s orders.

Choudhary was the first person to get a response. Apprehensive over the content of the other envelop, he and Lal called the BDO to their village so he could see what was in the other packet, Chaudhary said. “However, the BDO declined to come. Hence, we opened the packet in the presence of other villagers,” said Chaudhary.

The other packet also contained used contraceptives. The sarpanch implied the petitioners could have mailed the condoms to themselves. Navneet Kumar, zila parishad CEO, said there was a rivalry between groups who are trying to downplay each other.

IANS

Navneet Kumar, zila parishad CEO, said there was a rivalry between groups that are trying to downplay each other