Scams force MKU to revamp distance education centre

tnn | Jul 3, 2019, 04.49 AM IST

Madurai: The Madurai Kamaraj University (MKU) administration has decided to undertake a major revamp of its directorate of distance education (DDE), which has been in troubled waters and in the news for wrong reasons of late. According to the officials, five broad changes would be made to the current functioning of the DDE and the courses it offers.

The university had recently received a letter from the directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC) which pointed to a major scam in DDE. MKU conducted a syndicate meeting immediately to grant permission to DVAC to probe the matter. Officials from MKU said that DVAC had claimed that bogus mark sheets and provisional certificates were issued to about 500 students who had not even registered for the distance education courses properly. “They (DVAC) seem to have proof for this and further, they even claimed that Rs 1lakh was demanded from each of those candidates as bribe. The certificates were issued in 2017,” a highly placed official in the university said.

With such allegations of irregularities surfacing, MKU administration decided to revamp the functioning of DDE and sort out its troubles. The officials said that this was indeed the reason for the April examination being postponed to August so as to have enough time for implementing some changes. Speaking to TOI, MKU vice-chancellor M Krishnan said that the revamp would mainly consider bringing about a change on two major aspects: increasing transparency by shifting the procedures to online and ensuring that only approved courses were being run there. “Further, in order to ensure that the courses are being run in a proper manner, we are restricting the learner centres to just four districts – Madurai, Theni, Virudhunagar and Dindigul. There would be no private centres as well hereafter,” he said. According to the DVAC complaint, three people from MKU and a handful of centres had a role in the scam.

When asked about the DVAC’s letter to MKU, Krishnan said that the university had given its nod to DVAC to conduct the inquiry but that it was yet to be held. The other changes that would be implemented in DDE are conducting examinations for distance education along with regular courses and ensuring there are enough qualified faculty for all the courses offered via distance education.

Chennai: Transwoman struggles hard, no job in sight

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | YAMUNA R

Published  Jul 3, 2019, 1:02 am IST

State’s failure to pass GO proving to be hurdle.

Rakshika Raj

Chennai: Be it education, societal acceptance or recognition of rights the transgender community has never had it easy, always having to overcome the hurdles thrown at them by society. The story of 22-year-old Rakshika Raj, a transwoman with a nursing degree and no job in hand, is yet another example of the hard lives of illustrious transgenders.

Born as Rajkumar in Walajabad, Kanchipuram, she says she identified her sexuality when she was in high school. She says,”When I confessed this to my parents, they treated it as a mental disorder. I then undertook a hormonal assay which showed my testosterone levels to be below average than that of a male. “

After she was identified as a transgender, her family shunned her and she was left to fend for herself. She says,” I worked as a peer educator at the NGO SWAM Social Welfare Association for Men during my student days, where I educated HIV positive people on safe sex. This helped pay my tuition fees.” She says this was when she became interested in nursing.

“My community faces a lot of discrimination. As a nurse, I want to help my community,” she says.

She then joined Padmashree college of nursing, Walajabad where she says she received a lot of support from the college’s then principal Dr.K.Menaka.

“I never faced discrimination in college. My principal extended her full support and warned of severe action against anyone who bullied me. I was easily accepted in my college circle.”

However, life was not easy for this aspiring nurse later.

Rakshika who was recently in the news for receiving her degree in BSc Nursing from Governor Banwarilal Purohit at the 31st convocation ceremony of MGR medical varsity asks,”What is the use of receiving a degree when one can’t find a job? The Tamil Nadu Nurses and Midwives Council (TNNMC) does not have a separate box for transgenders. When I approached the council’s registrar regarding the matter, they asked me to tick the female box.

But I don’t identify myself as a female. All my documents have been changed to identify myself as a transgender which I am extremely proud of. Identifying as another gender is forgery.”

This news comes after the Supreme Court’s historic 2014 judgement which ruled that transgenders are eligible for all rights just as every other citizen of the country and can apply for education and employment under the ‘other’ gender category. “The TNNMC is waiting for a government order (GO) to implement it,” Rakshika accuses. The failure on government’s part to pass the GO has made Rakshika’s life hard, as she is struggling financially with no job in hand, even a year after she graduated.

Chennai-Kollam Express receives refurbished coaches

There is an auto janitor system to spray air freshener every few minutes automatically and health faucets have been provided in lavatories.

Published: 01st July 2019 07:13 AM 

Chennai-Kollam Express (Photo | EPS)

By Express News Service

CHENNAI : Four months after introduction, Chennai-Kollam Express got the upgraded refurbished coaches on Sunday. The 14 coaches were upgraded at Perambur Carriage Workshop, Perambur Loco workshop and Golden rock workshop, Ponmalai.

The refurbished rake also called Utkrisht coaches are environment-friendly developed as a part of Utkrisht Project of Indian Railways.

The coaches are fitted with energy efficient LED tube lights, panel of LED lights in doorway and gangway, dustbins in the toilets and stickers with ‘Go Green’ messages. In addition, integrated basin-cum-dustbins provided in AC coaches.

There is an auto janitor system to spray air freshener every few minutes automatically and health faucets have been provided in lavatories.The provision of Braille signage for berth numbers and information stickers has also been provided.

Most within 1-km radius unaware of smart city plan in Chennai's T Nagar

Apart from lack of awareness, the report also said implementation of the mission had resulted in loss of livelihood.

Published: 01st July 2019 07:27 AM 

Apart from lack of awareness, the report also said implementation of the mission had resulted in loss of livelihood. (Photo | EPS)
By Express News Service

CHENNAI: Around 80 per cent of residents within one-km radius of implementation of the Smart City in T Nagar do not know about the project nor about its mission, a report on the level of participation of deprived urban communities in the project, has found.

The report by Information and Resource Centre for the Deprived Urban Communities (IRCDUC) also said of the 20 per cent that has heard about it, none participated in any consultation or discussion regarding the same.

For this, the centre surveyed 100 individuals. Of these 64 per cent belong to SC, two per cent belong to ST, 12 per cent are from OBCs and 22 per cent from general category.

“It is claimed that Chennai is one of the first few cities in Tamil Nadu to create the discussion page at mygov portal and one among the first five cities in India and that the discussion page has the highest number of responses and comments received in the area,” the report said.


It is believed that the comments received were from people other than the ones living in the vicinity of the smart city project.“However, the marginalised sections do not have access to these portals. Therefore, the needs and priorities of the Mission is also more towards those who can access these platforms,” it added.

Impact on livelihood

Apart from lack of awareness, the report also said implementation of the mission had resulted in loss of livelihood. “As the assessment was predominantly undertaken at T Nagar where the project under Urban Mobility is being implemented, only two per cent said there were positive impacts, 60 per cent pointed out there was no impact and 38 per cent said there were negative impacts,” the report said.

Of the 38 per cent, 47 per cent said their livelihood was affected. Vendors and small-scale businesses were affected by the diversion of traffic and temporary or permanent closure of vending spaces.

When contacted, a Corporation official said, “All projects, including water bodies restoration, smart classrooms in corporation schools, public parks, public spaces like pedestrian plaza and smart roads, sensory park next to corporation school for children with disabilities are meant for all citizens, equally and inclusively.” The official said any suggestion on improving inclusiveness is welcome.

Vendors affected

While some street vendors who were in the job for over 40 years have lost their livelihood, others said they were inconvenienced by the temporary closure of roads

Faster than IRCTC: Tout held for using illegal app to book tatkal tickets worth Rs 5 lakh

The arrest happened after RPF director general Arun Kumar got an alert from the Railway Board about ‘unusual transactions’. Later, an inquiry was ordered into the matter.

Published: 02nd July 2019 04:55 AM |

By Anbuselvan B

Express News Service

CHENNAI: Though IRCTC claims its ticket booking portal is secure and immune to threats from external software applications, a travel agent was arrested on Monday for using external software to book tatkal tickets.

R Dipak Shit (30) was arrested a few days ago and 141 expired tickets worth over Rs 5.19 lakh were seized from his ‘Bhai Bhai Bengal’ travel agency in Thousand Lights. Dipak also had 14 other tickets worth Rs 50,657 booked for a future date.

Inquiry has revealed that Dipak was using an illegal software called ANMS, sold online for about Rs 2,600, to book multiple tatkal tickets within a time span of 10 to 20 seconds. The software, officials say, transfers information provided on it to the IRCTC portal for booking while helping the user bypass CAPTCHA codes and bank OTPs.

“The software used by the agent allows ticket booking on six windows at a time on a laptop, each with a different user ID. In the home page of each window, he would key in the passenger and banking details in advance,” said an RPF official, while explaining how it works.


“When booking opens, all he does is click enter and tickets get booked. He has booked 24 tickets in one go.” The RPF official said it was not clear how the information entered on the software’s home page gets transferred to IRCTC portal.

The arrest happened after RPF director general Arun Kumar got an alert from the Railway Board about ‘unusual transactions’. Later, an inquiry was ordered into the matter.

Agents target patients who travel to Chennai

Dipak Shit was arrested based on an inquiry into sources of bank accounts from which large amounts had been paid for e-tickets. “The agent made all his payments through one bank account,” said an RPF official.
Industry sources say there are over 30 travel agents in Thousand Lights which focus on patients coming here for treatment from other States, especially West Bengal and North East.

“Patients and those who accompany them will not be in a position to book the tickets at counters. They mostly purchase tickets from travel agents for double the price,” said a travel agent.

K Baskar, a member of divisional rail users consultative committee, said the complaints regarding manipulation in e-ticket bookings had fallen only on the deaf ears.

When contacted, a senior IRCTC official claimed ignorance about the incident. “In December 2017, when a similar incident happened in Delhi, IRCTC introduced additional safety feature in the portal which disabled the ticket booking in less than 60 seconds,” said the official.

Jet Airways crisis makes dent in Chennai airport’s earnings

The Airports Authority of India is now giving away slots that Jet is not able to operate to Indigo and SpiceJet.

Published: 04th July 2019 06:02 AM 

By C Shivakumar

Express News Service

CHENNAI: The grounding of Jet Airways has chipped away 10-15 per cent of Chennai airport’s earnings. The Airports Authority of India is now giving away slots that Jet is not able to operate to Indigo and SpiceJet. Thanks to the Jet crisis the aviation sector’s performance has been sluggish this financial year, and Chennai airport is planning strategies to overcome the challenges, says airport director S Sreekumar.

It’s learnt that the airport is losing out on landing and parking charges and other rental revenues from Jet. Operators and fuel suppliers, too, have lost a big customer.

Being one of the largest private airlines, Jet had a fleet of 119 aircraft and operated 600 flights a day before the liquidity crisis came to the fore on December 31.

The domestic airline traffic in April declined for the first time in six years, as per International Air Transport Association’s data. India’s air traffic fell by 0.5 per cent in 2019 compared to the previous year, primarily due to the Jet impact.

Sreekumar, however, is worried about how Chennai airport will handle the growing traffic in future. Works are being undertaken to enhance operational capacity. Rapid taxi-ways and new, parallel taxi-tracks are being constructed to handle more flights.

“This will ensure that flights get take-off clearance faster, thereby helping us operate more flights per hour. The works are likely to be completed within six months,” says Sreekumar. This, however, may not be enough. Chennai airport is likely to reach its saturation level in the next 5-8 years. The runway capacity will hit the saturation point by 2025. A masterplan made for the Chennai-Bengaluru industrial corridor by Japanese agency JICA stresses on the need for an additional airport.

It says a second airport is necessary in Chennai as the passenger demand is likely to surpass the capacity of the current one by 2020-21. Sreekumar says the government has identified certain land parcels for a second airport, but he is not aware of further developments.

Currently, Chennai Airport is going in for a major expansion under the second phase .

3K medicos fail to send documents, rank list delayed

According to Health department officials, this made the selection committee delay the release of rank list tentatively scheduled for Tuesday.

Published: 03rd July 2019 06:21 AM |

By Sinduja Jane

Express News Service

CHENNAI : The Directorate of Medical Education, which introduced online submission of MBBS and BDS applications on June 7 for the first time, faced a new challenge after about 3,000 candidates, who filled and submitted applications online, failed to send hard copies of the necessary documents to the selection committee even after the lapse of the June 21 deadline.

According to Health department officials, this made the selection committee delay the release of rank list tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. Over 3,000 candidates goofed up by just applying online, but failing to send photocopies of documents including NEET UG mark-list, Plus-Two mark-sheet, transfer, community and nativity certificates.

Meanwhile, the selection committee, in its website notification on Monday, requested the candidates to send the certificates by email immediately. “Don’t forget to mention their online application number. The documents can be mailed to mbbsbds20191@gmail.com”, the notification said.


Dr G Selvarajan, secretary, selection committee, said,”We have asked the candidates to send the certificates by email since there is no time to send by post. We have given time till 7 pm on Wednesday. By Tuesday we have received documents from many candidates and we hope we will receive from all candidates before the deadline”.Meanwhile, Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar said in the Assembly that the rank list would be released in one or two days.