ஏர் இந்தியா விமானத்தில் விநியோகிக்கப்பட்ட உணவில் கரப்பான் பூச்சி: பயணிகள் அதிர்ச்சி
By DIN | Published on : 03rd February 2019 08:52 PM |

போபால்: ஏர் இந்தியா விமானத்தில் விநியோகிக்கப்பட்ட காலை உணவான சாம்பார் இட்லி வடையில் கரப்பான் பூச்சி கிடந்ததால் பயணி அதிர்ச்சி அடைந்தார். இச்சம்பவம் சமூக ஊடகங்களில் வைரலாகி பரபரப்பை ஏற்படுத்தி வருகிறது.

கடந்த சனிக்கிழமை மத்தியப்பிரதேச மாநிலம் போபாலில் இருந்து மும்பை சென்ற ஏர் இந்தியா விமானத்தில் ரோகித் ராஜ் சிங் சவுகான் என்பவர் பயணித்தார். அப்போது அவருக்கு காலை உணவாக சாம்பாருடன் கூடிய இட்லி வடை விநியோகிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. சாப்பிடுவதற்காக இட்லியில் சாம்பாரை ஊற்றியபோது அதில் கரப்பான்பூச்சி இறந்து கிடப்பதைக் கண்டு பயணி அதிர்ச்சி அடைந்துள்ளார்.


இது குறித்து மற்ற பயணிகளுக்கு விநியோகிப்பதற்கு முன்பாக உணவக ஊழியர்களிடம் புகார் செய்துள்ளார். அதை அவர்கள் காதுகொடுத்து கேட்க மறுத்துவிட்டனர். வேறு வழியின்றி சமூக ஊடகங்களின் அதிகாரத்தை பயன்படுத்த முடிவு செய்த சவுகான், இட்லி, வடைக்கு அடுத்ததாக இருந்த கரப்பான் பூச்சியை புகைப்படம் எடுத்து, பின்னர் அதனை சமூக வலைத்தளங்களில் வெளியிட்டுள்ளார். இத்தகைய செயலுக்கு ஏர் இந்தியா நிர்வாகம் எந்தவித நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க முன்வரவில்லை என்றும், விமானநிலைய அதிகாரிகளிடம் புகார் அளித்தும் பயனில்லை என்று பதிவிட்டுள்ளார்.

இச்சம்பவம் சமூக ஊடகங்களில் வைரலாகி பரபரப்பை ஏற்படுத்தி வருகிறது.

இந்நிலையில், அதுபோன்ற எந்தவிதமான புகாரும் வரவில்லை என்று போபால் ஏர் இந்தியா மேலாளர் ராஜேந்திர மல்ஹோத்ரா மறுப்பு தெரிவித்துள்ளார்

இன்று தை அமாவாசை: ராமேசுவரம் கடற்கரையில் ஏராளமானோர் முன்னோர்களுக்கு தர்ப்பணம்

By DIN | Published on : 04th February 2019 08:23 AM |

தை அமாவாசையொட்டி கன்னியாகுமரி, ராமேசுவரம், கோடியக்கரை உள்ளிட்ட இடங்களில் கடலில் ஆயிரக்கணக்கான பக்தர்கள் இன்று அதிகாலை முதலே புனித நீராடி வருகின்றனர்.

தென்னகத்து காசி என்று அழைக்கப்படும் ராமேசுவரம் ராமநாதசுவாமி கோயிலில் மாதந்தோறும் வரும் அமாவாசை நாளில் பக்தர்கள் குவிந்து அக்னி தீர்த்தக்கடலில் நீராடி முன்னோர்களுக்கு திதி கொடுப்பது வழக்கம். அதிலும் வருடத்தில் முக்கியமாக ஆடி, தை மாதங்களில் வரும் அமாவாசை அன்று பக்தர்கள் திரளாக குவிந்து சாமி தரிசனம் செய்வார்கள்.

அதன்படி இன்று தை அமாவாசயையொட்டி நேற்று முதல் பல்வேறு மாவட்டங்களில் இருந்து குடும்பம், குடும்பமாக கார், வேன், பஸ்களில் பக்தர்கள் ராமேசுவரத்துக்கு வந்தனர். தை அமாவாசை நாளான இன்று ராமேசுவரத்தில் லட்சக்கணக்கான பக்தர்கள் குவிந்தனர். அதிகாலை 4 மணியளவில் அக்னி தீர்த்தக் கடலில் பக்தர்கள் புனித நீராடி பின்னர் கடற்கரையில் முன்னோர்களுக்கு தர்ப்பணம் செய்து வழிபட்டனர்.

கடற்கரை முழுவதும் மக்கள் கூட்டத்தால் அலை மோதியது. இதேபோல், தை அமாவாசையையொட்டி தமிழகத்தில் கடல் பகுதியில் பொதுமக்கள் புனித நீராடினர். ராமேசுவரம், குமரி, கோடியக்கரை, திருச்செந்தூர் கடலில் புனித நீராடி முன்னோர்களுக்கு பொதுமக்கள் தர்ப்பணம் செய்தனர்.

Pay Commission revision in allowances cheer academicians

Hike in salaries and stipend will motivate researchers and increase the dignity of academicians

04.02.2019

c-Jagriti.Kumari@timesgroup.com

Seventh Pay Commission brought a bouquet of delightful news for 30,000 teachers and staff of central universities and 5,500 in deemed to be universities, while it will also make the lives of retired professors relevant. The government announced revision of allowances and special allowances for teachers and equivalent academic cadre, registrars, finance officers and controller of examinations in central universities.

Besides increasing the allowance for academicians, the UGC has enhanced honorarium for guest faculty to Rs1500 per lecture subject to a maximum of Rs 50,000 per month. Guest faculties are not entitled for benefit of allowances, pension, gratuity and leave etc as admissible to regular teachers.

“Announcement of allowances, HRA, and the 100% honorarium hike for guest faculties in universities and colleges has come as morale booster for teachers. Such kind of hike is an effort to maintain dignity of a university teacher,” said VS Negi, associate professor, SBS College (evening), Delhi University.

Apart from allowance for academicians, central government has also enhanced the fellowship of PhD students and other research personnel enrolled in any area of science and technology, effective January 1, 2019.

“Hike in research stipend is a commendable move as it will help to retain young talent to focus on research, which is largely ignored in India,” said Vinod Kumar Jain, vice-chancellor of Tezpur University, Assam.

Increased in Junior Research Fellowship (JRF) and Senior Research Fellowship (SRF) is yet another welcome step. “Earlier, the hike in fellowship would take place only after 3-4 years of announcement of pay commission,” says Negi.

Fellowship increase will directly benefit more than 60,000 research fellows and will also provide a template to the state government to consider increase in their fellowship rates. Fellowship for the JRFs in the first two years of PhD has increased from Rs25,000 to Rs31,000 per month. Similarly, in the remaining tenure of PhD, SRF will get Rs35,000 a month as against Rs28,000, offered earlier.

This might come as a relief to researchers who recently staged a protest against the MHRD in December 2018, demanding a hike in the stipend.

Centre allocates Rs 93,847.64 to provide quality education for all

Budget announces Rs 37,461.01 crore for higher education, Rs 56,386.63 crore for school education, and National Education Mission increased to Rs 38,572 crore

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  04.02.2019

The Budget 2019 has put maximum emphasis on quality improvement programmes and has allocated funds to boost the setting up of new IIMs, IITs and research.

There has also been 245% increase in the allocation for quality improvement programmes in Technical Education (TEQIP-III).

Budget allocations have also been increased for setting up new IIMs and new Schools of Planning and Architecture.

For research programmes such as IMPRESS, Rs 130 crore has been allotted marking an increase of 37% compared to the previous year.

The IITs have been allocated Rs 6,223 crore in the interim budget apart from projects valued at Rs12,028 crore which have been sanctioned from Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA). More projects under HEFA will be announced in the coming year. The Central Universities have been provided Rs 6,484 crore while UGC has been allocated Rs 4900 crore.

In order to improve the skill levels among students, allocation for skill-centric programmes has been raised from Rs 40 crore to Rs 125 crore.

Overall, the HRD ministry received a budget allocation of Rs 93,847.64 crore in order to provide quality education for all in the interim Budget 2019-20 which is more than Rs 10,000 crore from the previous year’s budget allocation.

The government has increased budget allocation to the higher education sector by Rs 2,450 crore and has also made available more than Rs 17,000 crore using the HEFA funding mechanism. Total fund availability for the higher education sector for 2019-20 would be Rs 69,193.68 crore in 2019-20 which is almost double as compared to the last year.

The government has also provided an additional equity of Rs 2,100 crore to HEFA to help mobilise funds for building superior infrastructure in higher educational institutions. An increase of 70% has been allocated for the Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, under which 10,000 villages have been adopted by the higher educational institutions.

Commenting on the budget, D A Prasanna, director, The National Institute of Engineering College, Mysore said, “Compared to last year’s budget, the significance given to education sector is really not up to the sectoral expectation. However, the positive side of it is that, the outlay for premier engineering institutions including the IITs and IIMs has increased. Also the allocation for research and higher education has increased. Aspiration of institutes to rank high in the country and the world, will take a longer period to realise.”

Chennai techie abducted for 8hrs, robbed of ₹45k

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:04.02.2019

A 25-year-old software engineer from Chennai was abducted in a minivan, blindfolded, assaulted and robbed of ₹45,000 — all in a span of eight hours — before being abandoned by a four-member gang in Bengaluru in the wee hours of Friday.

Anurag Sharma, who works with Infosys in Chennai as a senior systems manager, was returning home after attending official work and a family event in Bengaluru.

Anurag was to leave for Chennai in a bus operated by SRS Travels around 11.50pm on January 31. “My bus was scheduled to arrive at the Bommasandra stop around 11.50pm but it didn’t. As I kept waiting, a Maruti Omni car pulled over near the Audi service centre in Electronic City phase-2. I approached the van to find out if they ferried people. There were two passengers and one of them told me that they were heading to Hosur. The next moment, the duo pulled me into the car, and two other strangers waiting at the bus stop too rushed in. They sped away immediately,” Anurag Sharma told TOI.

What followed next was eight hours of horror and inexplicable trauma. As soon as Anurag was dragged in, the miscreants began raining blows on him in the moving car. “One punched me with his fist, while the other hit me on my leg with an iron rod. They snatched my wallet and my mobile phone. They pinned me down to the car’s floor and then blindfolded me and made me immobile by wrapping a thick blanket around,” he said.

When they asked him for the debit card PIN, Anurag initially refused. He was then threatened at knifepoint, and fearing for his life, Anruag shared the PIN. “They may have driven me around the city as I remember being taken to at least four ATM kiosks. They had withdrawn ₹45,000 from my account using my debit card,” he said.

Every time Anurag tried to plead for his life, the gang members assaulted him. The horrifying episode played out until 8.30am on Friday, when he was finally thrown out of the van to a deserted stretch near Chandapura. An injured Anurag then managed to get himself admitted to Narayana Multi-Specialty Hospital. He later filed a complaint at Parappana Agrahara police station.

Anurag was working with the Mysuru Infosys before shifting to his hometown in Chennai. “I vividly remember two names — Rahul and Umesh — being used repeatedly by the gangsters,” he said.

DCP (south east) Boralingaiah said a hunt is on to arrest the gangsters. “We’ll arrest them in a day or two. We have got crucial clues and have identified the accused,” he added.

Anurag Sharma works with Infosys in Chennai as a senior systems manager

1ST ORDER UNDER CHILD RAPE LAW

Death warrant to MP teacher for raping 4-year-old

Ashutosh Shukla & Siddharth Pandey TNN

Jabalpur/Bhopal:04.02.2019

Satna district court has issued the “death warrant” against a schoolteacher convicted of raping a four-year-old child.

The child had to spend months in AIIMS-Delhi to recover after the attack, enduring multiple surgeries to get her intestines realigned.

The execution date for Mahendra Singh Gond has been fixed for March 2 in Jabalpur jail. Officials say he will be hanged unless SC orders a stay. From crime to confirmation of death sentence, it took only seven months. If he is executed, it would be the first under the new law to hang child rapists.

Gond had abducted the child on June 30, 2018, raped her in the jungles and dumped her there. Family members found her in the wee hours, barely alive, and took her to hospital. The state government immediately had her airlifted to Delhi. Police acted swiftly and arrested Gond within hours.

The conviction was unique since the survivor’s statement was taken via videoconferencing and was vital in proving him guilty. A division bench of MP high court confirmed the death sentence on January 25, 2019, holding his crime to be “rarest of rare”.

Justice P K Jaiswal and Justice Anjuli Palo said: “Courts cannot evade their duty to be tough with hardcore criminals so that there is some deterrent against indulging in such gruesome crimes, particularly because such crimes are on the rise. The incident assumes greater significance because the person involved is a teacher, who is supposed to teach lessons in morality to his students.”

Full report on www.toi.in

BDU among 7 TN varsities to have career hub for entrepreneurs

Sambath.kumar@timesgroup.com

Trichy:04.02.2019

Bharathidasan University has become one of the seven varsities in Tamil Nadu which will have entrepreneurship and innovation career hub at a cost of ₹15 crore. Prime Minister Narendra Modi digitally announced the launch of these hubs from Sher-e-Kashmir international convention centre (SKICC), Srinagar, on Sunday.

The hub will function as a separate entity in the university which will be registered under the companies act. The university will invite innovative ideas from students and develop them into a business model.

“We have been orienting students and faculty members on application-based research which will benefit society. Similarly, we are pushing for improving the rate of patent filing from the university. This funding is timely and we will make optimal use of it to give shape to innovative ideas from students,” he said. “We will rope in valuable resources and services to assist the students apart from providing career awareness, career information, and career planning,” vice-chancellor P Manisankar said.

“Under this programme, about 2.36 lakh students of Bharathidasan University, including those from 151 affiliated colleges, will benefit,” the vicechancellor said. The hub will be realized using a part of ₹50 crore given to university by ministry of human resource department under Rashtriya Utchar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA) Phase – II which includes funding for research projects.