Colleges take e-way to admission to bypass lockdown restrictions

Colleges take e-way to admission to bypass lockdown restrictions

Zeeshan Jawed & Somdatta Basu TNN

Kolkata:  15.07.2020

Several colleges across the city started the admission process to their undergraduate courses this week. Most colleges indicated on their websites that the entire admission process will be online due to the pandemic. St Xavier’s College (autonomous), Kolkata, on Tuesday started its application process for undergraduate students and decided to suspend all entrance tests. Instead, students will be evaluated on based their Class XII performance.

The online applications for St Xavier’s College (autonomous) will continue till August 20. The selection will be based on the ‘index marks’ calculated separately for each course.

Dates of admission tests for the UG courses at Presidency University will be announced once the authorities get the education department’s nod, an official said. At Jadavpur University, too, the admission process will begin only after the declaration of the HS results.

Most colleges affiliated to Calcutta University will start taking applications only after higher secondary results are declared. Some have initiated the process. “We are yet to hold a meeting to decide on UG admissions,” informed vice-chancellor of CU, Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee.

The Bhawanipur Education Society College has started inviting applications on its website. “Aggregate marks will be calculated by adding the scores in the top four subjects,” said an official.

Shri Shikshayatan College on Lord Sinha Road, too, has started the admission process. “Students can call on the two helpline numbers on the website between 11am and 6pm for queries. The entire admission process will be online,” said a faculty member.

The internal arrangements for admissions to Loreto College have started, but students can apply only after the higher secondary results are declared. “Every year, we have several applicants from the districts. This is the reason we start accepting applications after the results of the West Bengal Higher Secondary Examinations are declared,” said a representative of the college.

At Scottish Church College, the admission process to the undergraduate courses will start after a notification by Calcutta University. “The notification will be issued soon after the declaration of the HS results,” an official said.

Times View

Universities and colleges will have their hands full managing first-year admission this season. But clarity (about the way ahead) and real-time dissemination of information to students can reduce confusion to an extent. Proper planning is important even during normal times but, this season, it is essential.

This time, for bachelor of management studies, we shall allot 50% to the candidates’ Class-XII performance and 25% to maths marks and remaining 25% to the Class-XII English score

FR DOMINIC SAVIO

Principal St Xavier’s College

Bihar goes for lockdown again

Bihar goes for lockdown again

Piyush.Tripathi@timesgroup.com

Patna:  15.07.2020

Bihar is going in for a complete 16-day lockdown starting July 16, the state government announced on Tuesday. Lockdown 6.0, which will end on July 31, will cover all urban areas and block headquarters in rural areas with relaxations for agricultural activities.

The latest lockdown comes in the wake of a massive surge in Covid-19 cases and district-wise lockdowns over the past few days, which failed to stem the tide of coronavirus cases that have now crossed the 18,000 mark in the state. The state home department’s order cited an alarming surge in the number of Covid-positive cases in Bihar in the past three weeks as the reason behind enforcing the lockdown. As many as 9,378 cases were reported in Bihar in 34 days during the Unlock period (June 1- July 14), while 9,475 cases were reported in 70 days since the first three cases were reported on May 22.

Deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi told TOI that rampant violation of preventive norms was the reason behind enforcing the fresh lockdown. “It has been noticed that after the Unlock period began since June 1, very few people were wearing masks and social distancing norms were hardly being followed. Large gatherings were seen in markets and people went out without any essential work. This led to a spike in Covid cases,” he said.

Full report on www.toi.

MBBS student in isolation found dead

MBBS student in isolation found dead

Kottayam:  15.07.2020

A female student who was under home quarantine was found hanging on Monday night. Krishnapriya, 20, hailing from Payippad in Changanassery, was found dead in her home. She was a second-year MBBS student in Russia and had reached Kerala on July 5.

To facilitate for her home quarantine, the family members had shifted to the house of another relative. She had talked with her family members over phone till Monday noon. It was her father who reached home in the evening and found her hanging. Her swab was taken for Covid-19 test and the result was negative. Police are probing whether she was having any mental trauma after being in home quarantine. Her laptop and phone will be examined, police said. TNN

TSRTC staff get single-digit salaries, protest pay cuts

TSRTC staff get single-digit salaries, protest pay cuts

Moulika.KV@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  15.07.2020

Employees of the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) are up in arms against authorities over pay cuts for June.

While holding a protest in certain parts of the state, the drivers and conductors said that many have received single-digit salaries despite the state government’s decision to pay the employees in full for the month of June. The employees, on Tuesday, condemned the corporation’s decision to continue the deferment of salaries to employees for the third consecutive month by allegedly marking them on leave on days when they attended their duties.

“I received ₹77 for the entire month. Is it our mistake that the corporation is not running the entire fleet? They are saying that we have not attended work even after we marked our attendance in the register every single day,” said B Venkanna, a conductor working at Bhadrachalam depot. Around 20 people of the same depot received a salary below ₹100 and 50 people got below ₹1,000.

Employees of Medchal and Mehdipatnam depots have also seen a huge cut in the salaries.

However, while agreeing that most of the employees received less salaries, Sangareddy depot manager Naga Bushanam said, “Post lockdown, only those who attended duties were paid. Around 15 members’ pay was cut because they did not show up for work.” He denied allegations of marking the staff absent or on leave when they attended duties.

TSRTC drivers and conductors protest against pay cuts

HC to govt: Don’t leave everything to docs, Gandhi must conduct tests Court Pulls Up Top Official On Covid Tests

HC to govt: Don’t leave everything to docs, Gandhi must conduct tests

Court Pulls Up Top Official On Covid Tests

SagarKumar.Mutha@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  15.07.2020

Driving home the message that state government should not rely heavily on doctors in implementing its Covid-19 strategy, the Telangana high court on Tuesday pulled up Director of Medical Education (DME) Dr Ramesh Reddy for his stand that they will not conduct Covid-19 tests at Gandhi Hospital, but would admit positive patients for treatment.

Directing advocate general BS Prasad to convey the message to the government, a bench, comprising Chief Justice Raghvendra Singh Chauhan and Justice B Vijaysen Reddy, said that Gandhi Hospital has to test and treat people and it cannot throw away patients who knock its doors in distress. “There is no point in asking the critical patients to run from pillar to post in the last minute. You are the nodal hospital for Covid-19 and you have the state-of-the-art facilities to test and treat. You have to do it simultaneously,” the bench said, while hearing PILs filed by R Vatsan and Siva Ganesh Karnati, who wanted the state to do tests at Gandhi Hospital and be transparent about availability of facilities.

Petitioner’s counsel Vasudha Nagaraj told the court that the stand was resulting in deaths of patients right in front of Gandhi Hospital. However, DME Ramesh Reddy insisted that they would admit only those patients who come to them with a Covid-19 positive certificate. Initially, he contended that they do not have adequate testing facilities. Public health director Dr G Srinivas Rao told the bench that 1,500 rapid antigen testing kits were supplied to Gandhi Hospital on Monday night. The CJ asked AG to get a response from government by July 24.

Delay in removing body at Gandhi

Hyderabad: With Gandhi Hospital staff on strike, the body of a patient who had succumbed at 1 pm was not removed from the ward for a few hours, creating unrest. Superintendent of Gandhi Hospital, Dr Raja Rao said, “The patient expired around 1:00 pm. We need to take ECG to confirm and document the death which was delayed. The body was cleared late because only few workers are available today because of the strike.”

Three pilots of Air India flight from US test positive for Covid

Three pilots of Air India flight from US test positive for Covid

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

15.07.2020

New Delhi:

Three of the four pilots who operated Air India’s Washington-Delhi (AI 104) nonstop on Monday tested positive for the novel coronavirus on arrival, sparking fresh fears in the cash-strapped airline. As per protocol, these four senior pilots had been rostered to operate Delhi-Washington (AI 103) last Thursday after they tested negative. Being a long haul, the Dreamliner Boeing 787 had two sets of crew for operating it by turns.

“They had a layover in Washington for three days and operated the return flight on Sunday morning (local time) that landed here on Monday. They were tested on arrival and found positive.AI has created a facility for crew members who show mild symptoms and do not need to be hospitalised,” said an official.

The airline spokesperson confirmed that three of the four pilots of this flight had tested positive. The cabin crew of this flight was not infected.

AI has put in place a strict three-tier testing mechanism. First, all crew members need to undergo the test and only those who test negative are assigned to operate flights. On return to India, the crew is again tested and put up in hotels till the result comes. Those found negative are sent home. Then after 120 hours, the crew which had tested negative— is subjected to another test to ensure they are Covid-free.

“We were facing issues with crew members who were found to be corona positive with mild symptoms and not so sick that they need to be hospitalised. This was especially true for crew members who flew into Delhi and tested positive because of which they couldn’t return to their Noida homes. The airline some time back created a facility for these mild or asymptomatic corona positive cases,” said a senior pilot.

Cash-starved AI has been operating the maximum number of Vande Bharat Mission flights. The crew members are, however, upset about uncertainty of pay. “We risk our lives to operate the VBM flights as a ‘national duty’ to bring our compatriots home and many of us have tested positive. Despite that, two months’ flying allowance (which comprises over 70% of their total pay) is yet to be paid to us,” said a senior crew member.

The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) had recently warned the government that they were reaching a “breaking point” because of unpaid salaries and that only “lip service” was being done while hailing AI employees as corona warriors.

12 0  HOURS AFTER FIRST TEST, THE CREW IS EXAMINED AGAIN

Kejriwal Inaugurates Delhi’s Second Plasma Bank At Lok Nayak Hospital

Kejriwal Inaugurates Delhi’s Second Plasma Bank At Lok Nayak Hospital

COVID FIGHT: CM Says Donations Playing Important Role In Reducing Death Rate

15.07.2020

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:

The capital’s second plasma bank set up at Lok Nayak Hospital was inaugurated by chief minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday. The first such facility was opened on July 2 at Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences (ILBS) in south Delhi. A third bank is likely to start functioning soon at Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital in east Delhi.

“After the huge success of our first plasma bank, we launched Delhi’s 2nd plasma bank today at LNJP Hospital #DelhiFightsCorona,” the CM tweeted after the inauguration.

Kejriwal said that plasma therapy was playing an important role in reducing the death rate of Covid-positive patients and, until a vaccine to fight the infection hits the market, it should be looked at as an effective treatment.

“We are not claiming that 100% lives will be saved through plasma therapy, but it has been effective in treating people. Plasma has also played an important role in reducing the death rate in Delhi,” said the chief minister.

The CM said more than 200 people had taken plasma from ILBS till date. “We do not want to store plasma in the bank forever. No one should suffer from lack of plasma. The arrangement should be such that one who comes to get plasma must get it easily,” he added.

With 2,000 beds, Lok Nayak in central Delhi is the city’s largest healthcare facility for Covid-19 patients. So far, over 3,600 patients have been discharged from this hospital, many of whom are eligible to donate plasma. It was also the first facility to start the trials of convalescent plasma therapy in April.

Being centrally located, the plasma bank at Lok Nayak Hospital would be easily accessible by donors. While ILBS has three apheresis machines, one unit has been set up at Lok Nayak so far. An official said the number would be increased based on the requirement.

At Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, about 30 recovered patients have been donating plasma every day. A team of about 150 doctors and medical personnel have been calling recovered patients to convince them to donate plasma. To ensure balance between demand and supply, the government has now made it mandatory for each recipient to bring a plasma donor along.

The chief minister said that the spread of the novel coronavirus was gradually reducing and the recovery rate of patients was increasing quickly. Earlier, 35 of 100 people tested used to be found Covid-positive. This number had now reduced to 7-8. Fatalities had also come down from 101 in mid-June to 40 now.

“However, I want to urge Delhiites not to become complacent about the situation. Nothing is known about the virus and infections may rise again tomorrow. Therefore, we need to take precautions, wear a mask, maintain social distancing, wash our hands and sanitise them repeatedly,” said Kejriwal, adding Delhi government would continue its efforts in setting up more facilities to rule out any possibilities of lack of treatment if cases surge in the capital.

Lauding the central government and other agencies for their support in the fight against the novel coronavirus, Kejriwal said, “I am happy that the Prime Minister has praised the Delhi model. All this has been achieved with everyone’s support.”

BATTLE ON OUR HANDS: While inaugurating the plasma bank, the CM called for need to shed complacency

CM KEJRIWAL SAYS

We are not claiming that 100% lives will be saved through plasma therapy, but it has been effective in treating people