Another school meal shocker: One litre milk diluted with water for 81 children
Binay Singh@timesgroup.com

Varanasi:29.11.2019

A litre of milk was allegedly diluted with copious amounts of water to meet the nutritional needs of 81 children at a primary school in UP’s Sonbhadra district on Wednesday, reminiscent of the midday meal controversy stoked by a viral video purportedly showing students of a school in Mirzapur having roti with salt.

As news of the latest midday meal sham spread on social media, the district education authorities laid the blame at the school’s door. Basic shiksha adhikari Gorakhnath Patel, who visited Salaibanva Primary School in Chopan block on Thursday, held the staff there accountable for the lapse. “Appropriate action will be taken against the erring staff after a probe,” he told TOI later. The children at the school were to be served tehri (vegetable mixed rice) and milk on Wednesday. But since only a litre of milk was available in the kitchen, water was generously used to make up for the shortfall. Dev Kalia, a member of the Kota gram panchayat, reported the alleged adulteration.

“According to midday meal norms, each student of a primary school should get 150ml of milk. In junior high school, the prescribed quantity for every child is 200ml,” Patel said. “It was sheer carelessness on the staff’s part not to arrange the required quantity of milk for the children. More milk was arranged and served to the children after the lapse was brought to our notice.”

In August, a video purportedly showing “roti-namak” being served to children at a primary school in Mirzapur district had triggered a furore. The administration accused the journalist who shot the video and the person who had invited him there of criminal conspiracy to malign the government’s image.


MIDDAY MEAL SHAM: The children at the school were to be served tehri (vegetable mixed rice) and milk on Wednesday. But since only a litre of milk was available in the kitchen, water was generously used to make up for the shortfall

Pharma companies offer women to bribe docs: Study

TIMES NEWS NETWORK
29.11.2019

Medical representatives have revealed the widespread use of bribes including foreign trips, microwave ovens, expensive smart phones, gold jewellery and even women by pharmaceutical companies even as the government drags its feet on a 2016 proposal to bring in a Uniform Code of Pharmaceutical Marketing Practices (UCPMP) “with teeth” in the form of penal provisions.

In a report on pharmaceutical marketing practices compiled by a public health group Support for Advocacy and Training to Health Initiatives (SATHI), medical representatives (MRs) talked of the tremendous pressure exerted by companies on them through high sales targets. They also revealed how training for MRs is focused less on technical knowledge and more on salesmanship and ‘management of customer (read doctors) relations’.

The report is based on indepth interviews with 50 MRs, area sales managers, allopathic and Ayush doctors and pharma executives from six cities conducted last year. Though the code of ethics of the Medical Council of India bars doctors from accepting any gifts, cash, travel facilities or hospitality from pharma companies for themselves or any member of their family, there are no laws to deal with such corrupt marketing practices of pharmaceutical companies.

According to the MRs, hardly 10-20% doctors follow the MCI code of ethics, while the rest accept or even demand ‘incentives’ to prescribe products of a company. The most common inducement is the sponsoring of doctors for national and international conferences. In many high value deals, such as instalments on the purchase of a car, the company even threatens the doctor if the targeted business (a certain number of prescriptions for a drug) is not achieved, revealed MRs. The report revealed how cash bribes have changed to petrocards, credit cards or e-vouchers for online purchases.

Full report on www.toi.in


The report is based on in-depth interviews with 50 MRs, area sales managers, allopathic and Ayush doctors and pharma executives from six cities conducted last year

IMPERSONATION CASE: ADVANCE BAIL SOUGHT

NEET scam: Student’s dad asked to appear before probe officer

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:29.11.2019

The Madras high court has directed an MBBS student’s father to appear before the investigating officer and cooperate with the probe in a NEET impersonation case.

V Ravikumar and his son, of Chennai, filed two separate petitions before HC seeking anticipatory bail as a case was registered against them in connection with impersonation in NEET. In the petition, Ravikumar stated that his son had cleared NEET and the allegation of impersonation was due to mismatch of photograph in the hall ticket. He stated that he had informed this issue to the authorities concerned and his son was allowed to appear in the exam.

Hearing the petition on Thursday, Justice G R Swaminathan directed Ravikumar to appear before the investigating officer on November 29 and cooperate with the probe.

Bridge washed away, kids wade through river to reach school

Vincent.Arockiaraj@timesgroup.com

Nagapattinam:29.11.2019

For children of five villages in Nagapattinam district, going to school has never been as risky and challenging as it has been in the last two months. Ever since the wooden bridge across the Vettaru river was washed away in September, the students as well as villagers of Kilvelur union have been wading through the water to reach the other side.

“Ever since the monsoon set in, we have been walking through the water all drenched from the hip. We carry school bags on our head. Since there is a heavy flow now, we cross the river risking our lives. It is affecting our studies,” said S Arun, a student of government higher secondary school, Kilvelur. The affected students are mostly from schools in Nagapattinam, Kilvelur and Tiruvarur.

P Mahalaxmi of the same school said they carry an extra pair of clothes. “After crossing over, we change to our uniform . We rarely manage to reach on time. While coming back, the uniform also gets wet,” she said. Many fall ill and are forced to skip classes frequently. Some lucky ones, small in size, are carried on shoulders of a parent or a relative. As for little kids, parents invariably have to carry them both ways.

Around 1,500 families in Okkur, Kadamangudi, Moongilkudi, Vilampakkam and Mulapadugai have been going through this ordeal. They had approached the authorities several times but no action has been taken, said K Sundharambal, a villager who wants nothing short of a concrete bridge built.

Sources said there was nothing across the river until 2017, when a wooden bridge linking Vilambakkam and Kohur villages came up at ₹6 lakh from the constituency development funds of Kilvelur’s DMK MLA U Mathivanan. In September this year, due to the heavy flow, the wooden bridge was washed away.

When contacted, Keelvelur block development officer K Arunmozhi told TOI that they had sent a proposal to construct a bridge across the Vettaru river. “Since it is a huge project, it will take some time to get the proposal cleared. Since water is flowing on the river, work can start only during summer. We hope to complete the work in the coming summer”, the BDO said. Attempts to contact MLA Mathivanan and the district collector went in vain as both were not reachable.

RISKY ROUTE: Students of five villages in Nagapattinam district risk getting uniforms wet to get to school

NEWS DIGEST

29.11.2019

Delhi-Chennai flight makes priority landing

A Delhi-Chennai AirAsia flight with 160 passengers made a priority landing at Chennai airport on Thursday and was towed to the parking bay near the terminal following a snag in the steering of landing gear. An airport official said it was not an emergency but the flight was given priority to land. In a statement the airline said, “AirAsia flight, I5-761, operating from New Delhi to Chennai had a cautionary message regarding the nose wheel steering system. The captain elected to not taxi back and requested a tow back to the bay, it was conveyed to the air traffic control (ATC) and was arranged for.”

Photography contest on water, energy conservation: Grundfos India has launched their annual online photography contest ‘The Essence of Light and Water’ to spread awareness on water and energy conservation. The contest will be live on Grundfos India’s social media platforms till December 3. Participants must upload photographs that capture the interplay of both elements — light and water. For more details, check the company’s social media platforms Ek Boondh Pani and i Save Energy on Facebook and Twitter.

British Council to organise award ceremony: British Council will organise International School Award 2019-22 at Taj Coromandel, Nungambakkam on Friday at 5pm. The international school award is an accreditation for schools that have shown a commitment to embedding international awarenss and global citizenship within their class and school. The accredtation is valid for three years. There will also be a pane discussion on ‘how can we prepare our students for an uncertain future?’ prior to the award ceremony between 2pm and 4pm.

Psychiatric hospital to mark 10th anniversary: Buddhi Clinic, a psychiatric hospital, will celebrate its 10th anniversary at Madras Management Association on Saturday at 5.30pm. Anurag Sharma, Lok Sabha MP and director, Baidyanath Group, Venu Srinivasan, chairman, TVS Motor Company Ltd, professor Perminder Sachdev, neuropsychiatric institute, Sydney, Australia and Dr Rema Raghu, chief clinical officer, Buddhi Clinic, will be present.

Local cabbies launch app-based taxi service without surge pricing

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:29.11.2019

Twenty-five drivers of app-based cab services have joined hands to launch their own service in Chennai in an attempt to overcome competition from corporate firms like Ola and Uber.

Within days of the launch, around 160 car and auto drivers have subscribed to ‘D-Taxi’ its founders say will have no surge pricing. It is run by a cooperative society registered with the state industrial department in May 2018. The society floated tenders to design a mobile app for customers and drivers’ use before the service was formally launched on Monday.

Any taxi driver-cum-owner can enrol with D-Taxi if they have a commercial licence and pay ₹100 as registration fee. There will be no commission withheld and drivers can take home whatever they earn. Yhey need to pay a fixed fee of ₹3,000 per month. “The key feature about our service is that there is no surge pricing during peak hours. Users can pay for only the distance they have travelled,” said G Balaji, president.

For autos, the base fare is ₹25 for the first 1.8km and ₹12 for every km travelled thereafter. Waiting charge is 30 paise per min. For hatchback (small) and sedan cars (executive), the base fare is ₹30 and ₹12.50-₹13 a km after that. Waiting charge is ₹1.50 per minute.

As far as XUVs are concerned, ₹150 will be the base fare and rate per km is ₹18-₹19.

Besides short trips, long distance and outstation trips too can be booked using the app available on Google Play Store. Rates vary from ₹9.50 to ₹13 depending on the car model for such trips which cover minimum of 250km.

Bookings can be done on the spot. Drivers will help users make bookings on their app and users can continue if they find the estimated fare satisfactory, said Balaji. “We are trying to set an example. It will be expanded to Coimbatore and Madurai soon,” he added.

WELCOME MOVE: Members of the group that launched the service

MTC runs small buses as regular services

Move Leaves Commuters Confused

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:29.11.2019

Amid the increasing demand for small buses in Chennai, Metropolitan Transport Corporation (MTC) has silently converted some of them into regular services. This unannounced conversion has created confusion among commuters.

Based on complaints from passengers, TOI did a reality check at Mandaveli depot. Small buses were operated along regular route 21 (connecting Broadway with Mandaveli) as express services.

MTC has permits only to operate conventional town buses with 48 seats along this route. According to rule 248 of the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989, vehicles owned by state transport corporations including MTC should be operated only along routes approved by the transport authority and any violation attracts ₹2,500 fine. More than 1,500 government buses have been booked for this offence in the past.

“It was very uncomfortable to travel in a small bus till Broadway as they are designed only for short trips. It was very difficult to get down or even move inside when it gets crowded,” said Prabhakar, a commuter from Mandaveli.

In response, an MTC official said this was done only twice a day to help government employees working at the state secretariat to travel easily between their residences and workplace. But the reality check was done around 2.30pm on Thursday which was no way close to offices’ closing or opening hours. “By default, all small buses were operated as express services. Moreover, it will be a loss to operate small buses along regular routes since the seating capacity is less,” the official added.

But when asked about fares, a conductor said it would cost ₹12 to travel to Broadway from Mandaveli and hid the route board under the driver’s seat soon after this reporter left the spot. The fare for ordinary services is just ₹9.

On an average, 120 services are operated along this route from Mandaveli depot on a daily basis carrying around 5,000 commuters.

Besides this, small and regular MTC buses are diverted to neighbouring districts during festivals and special occasions. Though they are eventually brought back to Chennai, passengers suffer in the meanwhile. Patronage will take a beating if services are irregular, say experts.

Corroborating this, official data says daily patronage recorded per small bus dropped from 625 in 2017 to 565 now.

Of the 200 small buses launched in Chennai in 2013 to improve last mile connectivity, more than 180 are operated regularly and rest could not be due to high absenteeism rate among drivers, say officials.

A small bus, to be operated on route 21, at Mandaveli depo