Man poses as PhD scholar to marry woman

Man poses as PhD scholar to marry woman

Ahmedabad:06.11.2020

A man was booked on Wednesday for allegedly concealing his first marriage and posing himself as a PhD scholar from Australia to woo a woman for marriage.

In her complaint with Ghatlodia police station, Zeel Choksi (32), a resident of Jawaharkunj Society on Ashram Road, alleged that the accused, Priyank Choksi, had claimed to have got a PhD degree from an Australian university in his bio-data in order to impress her for marriage in 2011. According to police, the victim was introduced to Priyank through a family friend. Impressed with his educational qualification, Zeel decided to marry him. The couple got married on December 7, 2012. After she moved to his place in Ghatlodia, Zeel chanced upon a family album that had pictures of Priyank with another woman. “Priyank claimed that they were pictures of his engagement with another woman in the past. However, upon investigation, Zeel found that Priyank had earlier married a woman named Mamta Patel in 2008 which he had concealed from Zeel,” said an official from Ghatlodia police station.

When Zeel took up the issue with Priyank, Priyank walked out on her on April 21, 2015. She then filed a court complaint against Priyank. The couple separated two years ago. TNN

More flights operate, but passenger footfalls stay low

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:06.11.2020

Even though the number of flights operating from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International (SVPI) airport in Ahmedabad has risen, with more domestic and international routes opening, passenger footfalls at the airport have remained low. Aircraft capacity continues to be underutilized, according to data from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).

Some 2.74 lakh passengers used SVPI airport in Ahmedabad in September 2020, against 9.21lakhin September 2019.This means passenger footfalls declined by 70%.

Travel agents said footfalls havedeclinedduetowidespread apprehensions among people about travel due to the pandemic. “Airport passenger movement has improved marginally in September, but with restrictions on international travel and limited leisure travel, the number of travellers is really low,” said a city-based tour operator.

Corporate travel has also been affected asseveralentitieshave imposed travel restrictions on employees. This segment contributed about 40% of all travellers. Only people who have to address emergencies are travelling, tour operators in the city said. The four major airports in the state — Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara andRajkot—saw passenger footfalls decline by an average of 78% this August, against the same month last year.

Things are likely to improve marginally in October and November due to the festival season, sources said.

“Holiday inquiries for the festive season are good. Even though most people are reluctant to travel by air, inquiries for certain destinations are coming in and this will improve passenger footfalls,” said Manish Sharma, secretary, Travel Agents’ Federation of India (TAFI), Gujarat.

The travel and tourism business has taken a major hit and many players have turned to alternative businesses.

UGC leaves it to VCs and state govts to decide on reopening of classes on campus

UGC leaves it to VCs and state govts to decide on reopening of classes on campus

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:06.11.2020 

The UGC on Thursday notified guidelines for reopening of higher education institutions, leaving it to the vice-chancellors (VC) and heads of the centrally funded institutions to take decision on resumption of physical classes on campus while respective state governments will have to take call with regard to state universities and colleges.

The guidelines on reopening of campuses, closed since March due to the pandemic, suggest a six-day schedule, reducing class size, setting up isolation facilities on campus and Covid-19 screening of students, faculty and staff, among other things.

The universities and colleges have been asked to plan the opening of campuses in a phased manner, with such activities that adhere to Covid-19 protocols, including social distancing, use of face masks and other protective measures. The commission said universities and colleges may consider breaking classes into multiple sections to maintain physical distancing and depending on availability of space, allow up to 50% of students on a rotation basis to attend classes.

“For centrally funded higher education institutions, the head should satisfy herself or himself regarding the feasibility of opening of physical classes and decide accordingly,” the guidelines stated, “For all other institutions, including state universities, private universities, and colleges, opening of physical classes to be done as per the decision of the respective state governments.”

“The universities and colleges shall only be allowed to open if they are outside the containment zones. Further, students and staff living in containment zones will not be allowed to attend the colleges ... The faculty, staff and students of the university and college should be encouraged to download ‘Aarogya Setu App’,” the commission said.

Full report on www.toi.in

WhatsApp launches ‘disappearing messages’ option

WhatsApp launches ‘disappearing messages’ option

Sindhu.Hariharan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:06.11.2020 

Amid recent concerns around privacy of WhatsApp chats, the messaging app now wants to give users more control over their conversations.

WhatsApp has introduced a ‘Disappearing messages’ feature for its chats, which is being rolled out worldwide across both Android and iOS starting Thursday.

When the feature is turned on in a chat, messages part of the particular chat will disappear after seven days, helping keep the conversation more private.

In one-to-one chats, either person can turn the disappearing messages feature on or off, and in groups, the admins will have the control.

Photos, videos and other media files shared in the chats will also disappear if this feature is enabled, but they will still be saved on the phone if auto-download is on.

In a significant move, the feature of disappearing chats also extends to the chat backups.

A spokesperson for the app told TOI that if a user creates a backup before a message disappears, the disappearing message will be included in the backup, but the next time they back up their chats, the expired message is removed from the backup. “But it will still be there between the time it expires and when a user next backs up,” the person said. WhatsApp said it decided to start with a seven-day window since the timeline “offers peace of mind that conversations aren’t permanent, while remaining practical so you don’t forget what you were chatting about.”

As per WhatsApp’s FAQ page, this won’t work if a user forwards the message to a chat window that has disabled the feature, or takes a screenshot of a disappearing message and save it before it disappears. Similarly, if you reply to a disappearing message by quoting it, the quoted text might remain in the chat even after seven days.

The concept of making digital conversations short-lived and fleeting was earlier popularized by WhatsApp’s rival Telegram and social network platform Snapchat, who have had this feature for a few years now.

Over 100 from TN, Pondy ranked among world’s top 2% scientists

Over 100 from TN, Pondy ranked among world’s top 2% scientists

Bosco.Dominique@timesgroup.com

06.11.2020

medicine. The report was based on a data-set of one lakh top scientists from 22 main fields and 176 sub-fields. Based on various indicators, mainly the impact of the scientists in terms of citations of their publications, the Stanford team has identified the world’s top 2% scientists.

Specialist doctors, researchers and teaching faculty from more than a dozen premier institutions Puducherry: More than 100 experts from Tamil Nadu and Puducherry have featured in the top 2% of scientists worldwide, in a report by Stanford University. The Stanford report was published in the October issue of PLOS, a nonprofit and an open-access publisher empowering researchers to accelerate progress in science and including Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras, National Institute of Technology (NIT), Trichy, Christian Medical College (CMC), Vellore, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Madurai Kamaraj University, Bharathiar University and Bharathidasan University in Tamil Nadu, and Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (Jipmer) and Pondicherry University in Puducherry, are among the top 2%.

The list includes N Kumarasamy (virology) from Chennai Antiviral Research and Treatment Clinical Research Site, Jipmer director Rakesh Aggarwal (gastroenterology & hepatology), former Jipmer director S C Parija (tropical medicine) and S A Abbasi (strategic, defence & security studies) from Pondicherry University among others.

Kumarasamy is the chief and director of the centre at Voluntary Health Services (VHS) Hospital in Chennai, an advisor and expert panel member for WHO - ARV treatment guidelines committee and a clinical advisor to Clinton Health Access Initiative. Parija has two patents, authored 16 books and more than 350 papers both in the national and international journals of repute.

Actor Vijay denies entry into politics

Actor Vijay denies entry into politics

Chennai:06.11.2020 

Actor Vijay clarified on Thursday he had no connection with the political party registered by his father with the election commission of India and has urged his fans not to join or work for it just because the party was started by his father S A Chandrasekar.

The actor released a statement shortly after his father and film director S A Chandrasekar said a political party in the name of ‘All India Thalapathy Vijay Makkal Iyakkam’ has been registeredwiththeElection Commission of India. “I got to know through the media that my father has started a political party. I statecategorically to myfans andthe public that I do not have any connection, directly or indirectly,withthe political party started by my father,” he said. He urged his fans not to join the political party just because his father started it. “I request my fans to not join the political party or workfor itjustbecause it was started by my father. I like to inform you that there is no connection between that party and our ‘Iyakkam’,” he said. TNN

MNM is third front in TN, says Kamal Haasan

MNM is third front in TN, says Kamal Haasan

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:6.11.2020 

The two-year-old Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) has emerged as the third front in the Dravidian land, its president Kamal Haasan, claimed on Thursday. Pointing out that he would seek the support of his good friend and actor Rajinikanth, the actor-turned-politician said this would be only if the 71-year-old actor did not launch his own party.

Asserting that the MNM would be a serious contender in the 2021 polls, vice-president R Mahendran announced that Kamal would kick-start the election campaign on November 26 and 27 in Trichy and Madurai districts and would travel to Coimbatore and Salem districts on December 13 and 14.

“The party’s top priority is to weed out corruption,” Kamal Haasan said. “We will invite upright people (politicians) to be part of the party,” he said, adding that he got a lot of positive inputs from functionaries during a recent threeday meeting.

The party infrastructure has been strengthened and functionaries in 68,000-odd booths digitally connected. The party is in the process of selecting candidates, he said, asserting that “the voice of MNM” would be heard in the assembly after the polls. He would also be in the fray, he said.

Welcoming TN’s decision on the BJP’s Vel Yatra, Kamal said “Vellai (employment) is important now, not Vel”. Despite repeated questions, he refused to be drawn into the row over Manusmriti, saying, “It is not in practice now. So, it's not apt to talk about it.”