Diana Award to city medical student for fundraising work

Diana Award to city medical student for fundraising work

Vinamrata.Borwankar @timesgroup.com

Mumbai:  04.06.2020

A 21-year-old medical student from the city, Meera Mehta, has received the Diana Award, established in memory of Diana, princess of Wales, for her fundraising and volunteering work. During the pandemic, Mehta raised over Rs 33 lakh and aims to reach Rs50 lakh. She is currently a volunteer at the NGO Shrimad Rajchandra Love and Care in Gujarat.

The award is given to a person aged between nine and 25 years for their social action and humanitarian work by a charity named after the late princess. It is supported by her sons, princes William and Harry.

A third-year MBBS student of MGM College in Navi Mumbai, Mehta began her volunteering journey at the age of six. “When I was eight years old, we sold chocolates and raised Rs 1 lakh to rehabilitate animals. I then started regularly raising funds through the Mumbai Marathon and have raised over Rs 1.5 crore since,” she said.

Meera Mehta (21) has raised over Rs 1.5 cr till now

Stop conducting final-yr e-exams, says state, but ICT digs its heels in

Stop conducting final-yr e-exams, says state, but ICT digs its heels in

Hemali.Chhapia@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:  04.06.2020

After conducting three e-exams for its final-year students, the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) was asked by the state to stall its examination process on Thursday evening. The technical institute, however, has decided to continue with the exams for about 300 undergraduate and master’s students and after a week, also hold e-exams for junior students.

The institute had decided to hold the e-exams after a meeting with class representatives and branch representatives. However, after three papers, the authorities were hounded by calls from Yuva Sena and the directorate of technical education (DTE) questioned the move.

“We have two more papers to go and an elective exam. Apart from two or three students, almost everyone wanted an exam. They want transcripts to fly out for higher education, many want to submit results to prospective employers,” said ICT vice-chancellor Aniruddha Pandit. The ICT is the first institute of the city to conduct e-exams and the efforts to stonewall the process reflects the political will of the state.

“All state universities have to follow the government resolution issued. Not only is the ICT holding final-year exams, its plans to hold them for the students of secondand third-year too,” said Yuva Sena’s core committee members Sainath Durge. He added that students sent an anonymous email to Aaditya Thackeray, following which Yuva Sena complained to the higher and technical education minister, who within hours had the DTE higher-ups ring vice chancellor Pandit.

“We had to explain the rationale of holding the e-exams to the DTE officers. Though our junior students were a part of entire process wherein we asked them how they’d like to be assessed, we will again conduct a survey in case they have a change of heart and conduct exams if they still want,” said a senior ICT faculty.

The e-exams require students to download question paper and upload the answer book using email or even WhatsApp to a secured website.For students who cannot take this version, another exam is planned in August without any drop in the grade or any other academic penalty.

LU defers exams following spike in Covid-19 cases

LU defers exams following spike in Covid-19 cases

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

04.06.2020

The Lucknow University has on Friday postponed the examinations scheduled from July 7 till further orders.

Over 1.4 lakh students of LU and its 170 associated colleges were to take the examinations.

The move came after the UP government decided to review the situation due to a spike in Covid-19 cases before taking a call on conducting examinations.

LU students feel relieved, say protest against exam paid off

The order issued by the University’s controller of examination AM Saxena said, “The government is reviewing the decision regarding the conduct of examination at the time of the pandemic. LU will wait for the government’s decision and direction hence the university examination scheduled to begin from July 7 has been postponed.”

Earlier, the then ongoing annual undergraduate examinations of LU held in March had to be postponed as lockdown was announced. Also, semester examinations scheduled in May could not be held as the lockdown continued. As the phased unlock was announced in June, the government directed universities to conduct examination after which LU released the schedule on June 19.

Soon after the dates were declared, the university’s decision faced protests from students and teachers who demanded postponement of examinations considering the novel coronavirus pandemic situation.

A group of students had challenged the university’s decision in the high court, while others staged a protest on the campus and on social media with #BoycottLUexam figuring among the top 16 most trending tweets in the country.

The teachers too joined in the protest, with Lucknow University Associated College Teachers’ Association threatening to boycott the examinations and the Lucknow University Teacher’s Association meeting the deputy chief minister Dinesh Sharma with an appeal to postpone the examinations considering the rise in Covid-19 cases.

The news regarding postponement of examinations on LU’s website was a relief for university students who were concerned about writing the examination.

Antibody tests to help KGMU study herd immunity

Antibody tests to help KGMU study herd immunity

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow:  04.06.2020

King George’s Medical University (KGMU) has started conducting antibody tests in communities to check if herd immunity is getting developed against coronavirus.

Prof Tulika Chandra, head of transfusion medicine, who is also heading the research, said: “Tests are being done on health workers and voluntary blood donors who do not have Covid-19 symptoms or have never suffered from the disease.”

“If antibodies are found in most subjects, it would reflect herd immunity in that community. The target is to conduct 5,000 tests in three months. The first report based on the data will be released after completion of 1,000 tests,” she said.

The drive started on Thursday with the staff of the department.

Antibodies are developed by the immune system to fight against a virus. Presence of antibodies in blood shows the person has been infected earlier and developed immunity against it.

If antibodies are found in a substantial number of people in a community, it is termed as herd immunity, which has the potential to stop further spread of the virus.

Times View

Many Covid-19 cases which surfaced in the past month have been from offices and call centres. The fact indicates employees are not following the safety protocol at their workplace. As a result, several buildings have had to be shut for sanitization, disrupting the workflow in a crisis. Responsible behaviour like wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing is the need of the hour.

Online university tests ‘discriminatory’: Kapil Sibal

Online university tests ‘discriminatory’: Kapil Sibal

New Delhi: 04.06.2020

Universities should not conduct examinations in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and even holding online tests is not right as it is 'discriminatory' towards poor students, former human resource development minister Kapil Sibal said on Sunday.

The senior Congress leader also said that with almost half the 2020-21 academic year of schools over without proper classes due to the Covid-19 spread, board examinations for Class X should not be held next year as it would burden the students unnecessarily.

“What has happened is that half the year has been lost and we don't know how long this pandemic will continue. There is no need for Class 10 board exams for a while for these two years -- this year and next year --and then they could relook at this policy,” Sibal said.

Sibal, who as the HRD minister had spearheaded a reforms process in the education sector under which it was decided to abolish compulsory CBSE Board exams for Class X, said it was a sensible policy to have been followed but when the NDA came to power they reversed that.

“Thank god they have listened to some sane advice and they have cancelled the board exams. Consider the impact it would have had, especially on the poor students who don't have access to any online facilities,” said Sibal, who was the HRD Minister from May 2009-October 2012 in the UPA-II government.

“Quite frankly even university exams should be postponed,” Sibal said.

Till such time there is a pandemic, there should be no exams and holding online examinations will be 'extremely discriminatory' because in a lot of places in India, in remote areas, there was no facility for online examinations and the poor would be discriminated against, he said. AGENCIES

‘Fake news’: Bharat Biotech rubbishes viral forward on VP getting COVAXIN

‘Fake news’: Bharat Biotech rubbishes viral forward on VP getting COVAXIN

A post circulating on social media claimed that Bharat Biotech’s Vice President DR VK Srinivas is the first person in India to be administered COVAXIN.

NEWS FAKE NEWS FRIDAY, JULY 03, 2020 - 20:40

TNM Staff Follow @thenewsminute

Bharat Biotech on Friday rubbished social media posts doing the rounds claiming their Vice President DR VK Srinivas is the first person in India to be administered COVAXIN, the vaccine against the novel coronavirus developed by the firm. 

A post doing the rounds on social media on Friday claimed that the Vice President of Bharat Biotech, Dr VK Srinivas is the first person in India to take the COVAXIN vaccine. The post intended to show that the employees of the firm have full faith in the vaccine developed by them. 

The Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) has set a deadline of August 15, 2020 for COVAXIN, India’s indigenous COVID-19 vaccine, to be made available to the public. ICMR had partnered with Bharat Biotech International Limited (BBIL) to develop the vaccine derived from a strain of SARS-CoV-2 isolated by ICMR-National Institute of Virology, Pune. The clinical trials are expected to begin only by July 7.

However social media posts doing the rounds read, "Dr V. K.Srinivas, Vice President, Bharat biotech, taking a clinical trial of Corona vaccine.He said that he is the first person in India to take vaccine developed by him & his team. Look at the confidence that they have in their product." 

The post also has a photo attached showing a nurse and a man. The picture shows the nurse collecting blood samples from a man but has been wrongfully attributed as the nurse administering the vaccine intravenously. 

In a statement to the media, Bharat Biotech said, “This is not true. This image is routine procedural blood drawn for testing all our production staff. You can see the black band on his arm. A classic case of fake news circulation in WhatsApp.”

Another firm Zydus Cadila has also come out with a vaccine 'ZyCoV-D' which has received permission to initiate phase I and II of human clinical trials in India.

Why did police take TN father-son duo to jail 109 km away?

Why did police take TN father-son duo to jail 109 km away?

Kovilpatti Sub-jail May Hold Some Dark Secrets In Jeyaraj-Beniks Custodial Death Case

A.Subramani @timesgroup.com

Chennai: 04.06.2020

Several questions remain unanswered in the horrific Jeyaraj-Beniks custodial murder narrative, and one particularly dark part is the health condition during their stay in Kovilpatti sub-jail.

The father-son duo spent 15 hours at the Sathankulam police station and two nights inside the sub-jail. Jeyaraj spent an additional night at Kovilpatti government hospital, but did not live to see the next dawn.

Jeyaraj was probably the only eyewitness outside the police and prison circles to his son’s lock-up torture as borne out by medical records. He, too, was bleeding.

Why was no step taken to rush him either to a hospital along with his ‘ill’ son, or to a safer place in view of his status as the sole direct eyewitness to the treatment his son was subjected? That makes Jeyaraj’s death more intriguing than his son’s.

Did Jeyaraj and Beniks get timely and adequate medical treatment inside the Kovilpatti sub-jail for the injuries suffered during their detention at Sathankulam police station? Obviously, no. Beniks died within 75 minutes of being taken to the Kovilpatti government hospital on June 22 and Jeyaraj died within seven hours after being taken to the same hospital. Their delayed admission in Kovilpatti government hospital defies every logic.

The two men, with gluteal injuries ostensibly due to lathi blows, were admitted to the Kovilpatti sub-jail at 2.30 pm on June 20, 2020. It was at 7.45 pm on June 22 – after two nights in the jail – that Beniks was taken to the hospital, only to be declared ‘expired’ at 9 pm.

Even the ‘hospitalisation’ and the subsequent death of Beniks did not spur the sub-jail personnel to rush Jeyaraj for a medical check-up. Jeyaraj was kept in the jail for about 90 minutes after his son died, and till he ‘complained’ of some health problem. Admitted to the hospital at 10.30 pm on June 22, he was declared ‘expired’ at 5.40 am the next day.

Questions are also being raised about why the two were driven all the way to Kovilpatti sub-jail located 109 km from Sathankulam, though there were at least three jails, including Palayamkottai central jail, which were nearer? Remanding magistrate B Saravanan did not specify that the two should be taken to a far-off jail. While Tuticorin is about 60 km away, Tiruchendur is just 33 km away. The Palayamkottai central jail is about 48k m.

Veterans among police and prosecution refuse to believe that an FIR could be registered against someone for delaying closure of their shop during the lockdown. They say third-degree treatment meted out to Jeyaraj and Beniks is disproportionate to their alleged ‘offence’ which is delayed closure of shop or arguing with policemen. The fact that they were driven more than 100 km to be lodged in a sub-jail (Kovilpatti facility is headed by a sub-inspector-grade superintendent, a head constable-grade head warder and four warders of constable-grade) where they die of ‘sudden illness’ after two nights adds another layer to the mystery.

P Jeyaraj (right) and his son Fennix spent 15 hours at the Sathankulam police station and two nights in the sub-jail.