Most Gulmarg hotels booked till mid-April

Most Gulmarg hotels booked till mid-April

Bharti.Jain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:01.03.2021 

As the mercury shoots up in the plains, tourists with a passion for skiing are thronging a snowed-out Gulmarg. Most hotels in this picturesque Kashmir town are fully booked through March and some even till mid-April with many well-heeled domestic tourists, who used to flock to foreign ski havens for their annual winter break in pre-Covid times, discovering Gulmarg as a refreshing alternative closer home.

Not only skiing enthusiasts — mostly from Delhi and Mumbai — Gulmarg is also attracting less-adventurous folks bored of being largely confined to their homes for a year. “The peaceful atmosphere in J&K over the last couple of years and the mandatory Covid testing at airports has made tourism here a safe and secure alternative to flying abroad,” says Vinit Chhabra, general manager of The Khyber Himalayan Resort and Spa in Gulmarg.

As many as 29 hotels and resorts in Gulmarg, according to a list accessed by TOI, are fully sold out for most of March, while some have 100% bookings till mid-April. The Khyber is fully booked till March end, The Rosewood Hotel till April 10, The Vintage till April 13 and JKTDC Huts through most of March.

Tourists enjoy themselves in snow-clad Gulmarg on Sunday

‘Early snowfall in Nov brought in skiing enthusiast & tourists’

The early snowfall in November this year brought in skiing enthusiast and tourists here. Of course, the continuing curbs on international flights have given a boost to tourism in Gulmarg," Vinit Chhabra, general manager of The Khyber Himalayan Resort and Spa in Gulmarg says.

“People who always had J&K on their bucket list are now coming here, having been presented with an opportunity. Also, mandatory Covid testing (at airports/railway stations/inter-state border) gives a psychological assurance that no visitor infected with Covid will make it to tourist spots inside the state,” he added.

Most hotel and resort managers TOI spoke to were upbeat about the positive impact on the regular tourist season in Kashmir, which starts in May, with Pahalgam, Srinagar, Sonmarg likely to witness good arrivals. “For the locals, a good tourist season means better earnings and more job opportunities,” said Eijaz Bhat, manager at Jammu & Kashmir Tourism Development Corporation (JKTDC) Huts in Gulmarg.

Bhat attributed the full bookings in Gulmarg to the conscious push given by the Centre as well as J&K government under LG Manoj Sinha, to revival of tourism in the Valley. For instance, Khelo India event was held in the ski resort last week, with the Prime Minister inaugurating it. He added that JKDTC has offered 50% discount on its hotel fares through the Union Territory.

According to Farooq Ahmad of The Rosewood hotel at Gulmarg, tourists from all income groups are making a beeline for Gulmarg. “The excitement of witnessing a snowfall, a first for many, is the main attraction,” he said. “Even for those interested in skiing, Gulmarg is a far cheaper alternative to foreign resorts,” added Bhat.

Of course, the celebrity arrivals in Gulmarg have helped. Bollywood actors Vidya Balan and Arbaaz Khan recently took vacations in Gulmarg. Chhabra of The Khyber disclosed that he recently had to deny a room reservation to actress Sara Ali Khanas the hotel was fully booked.

People climb up a snow covered mountain after fresh snowfall at the ski resort of Gulmarg on Sunday

India’s first digital varsity to create tech leaders

India’s first digital varsity to create tech leaders

The admission process for the first cohort of PhD and postgraduate programmes will begin in March and April 2021, respectively

c-Sheetal.Banchariya@timesgroup.com

01.03.2021 

In a first, India has become home to a digital university. The Kerala University of Digital Sciences, Innovation and Technology (KUDSIT) is established by upgrading the Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala (IIITMK), which was set up in 2000. It will focus on four key themes required for digital world leadership – Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Sustainability and Entrepreneurship.

It is important to note that the digital university is not a virtual university, says Saji Gopinath, vice-chancellor of KUDSIT. “It has an offline campus, and most programmes will be offered through blended mode. But the focus is on creating talent and knowledge for advancements in the digital era.”

“While many premier institutions use technology for expanding their reach, there is a need to supplement these efforts by doing in-depth studies on the development of effective learning models, assess the impact of digital technology and learning in various aspects of society, which form the mandate of the digital university,” he adds.

The university’s research and development activities will focus on new technologies to drive the digital revolution, training and curating talent to effectively apply the digital means in various sectors of the economy such as agriculture, health care, industry, entertainment and education, says Gopinath.

What’s on offer

The university will initially focus on five disciplines – Computer Science and Engineering, Electronics Systems and Automation, Informatics, Digital Sciences, Digital Humanities & Liberal Arts. Two types of courses will be offered by the digital university – long-duration postgraduate programmes and short-term skilling programmes.

“The varsity will host two batches every year, starting in July and January. The admissions will be conducted through a nationallevel exam. The candidates with GATE or GRE scores will also be considered,” says Gopinath.

Be a warrior, not worrier, Modi tells students ahead of exams

Be a warrior, not worrier, Modi tells students ahead of exams

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:01.03.2021 

Wishing students ahead of their examinations, PM Narendra Modi on Sunday urged them to “be a warrior, not a worrier” as he invited parents and teachers to give suggestions for ‘Pariksha pe Charcha”. Speaking in his monthly radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’, the PM also urged the youth to think beyond traditional ways.

Noting that the next few months were of special importance for students with board and other exams approaching, Modi said, “You have to become a warrior, not a worrier, go gleefully for the examination and come back with a smile. You have to compete with yourself, not with anyone else. Get adequate sleep and be mindful of time management. Do not stop playing, for those who play are the ones that blossom. Revision and smart methods of memorisation are to be adopted, that is, overall, in these exams, you have to bring out your best.”

He said due to pressures of traditional thinking, the youth were often not able to do what they really liked. “That is why you should never hesitate in thinking new, doing new. In the same manner Sant Ravidasji has given another important message. This message is ‘to stand on one’s own feet’. It is not fair at all that we remain dependent on others for our dreams. Things remaining the way they are… Ravidasji was never in favour of this. Today, we see that the youth of the country too is not at all in favour of this thinking. Today, when I see the innovative spirit of the youth of the country, I feel Ravidasji would have definitely felt proud of our youth,” he added.

Modi underlined that Aatmanirbhar Bharat was not just a government policy but a national spirit, and said the mantra of self-reliant India was reaching the villages.

He called for a 100-day campaign to clean all water bodies and prepare them for rainwater harvesting before the monsoon started. Stressing the importance of collective responsibility towards water conservation, he said the Jal Shakti ministry would soon initiate a ‘Catch The Rain’ campaign with its main theme being “catch the rain where it falls, when it falls”.

Go gleefully for the examination and come back with a smile. You have to compete with yourself, not with anyone else

NARENDRA MODI, Prime Minister

TN govt notifies Vanniyar quota law after governor nod

TN govt notifies Vanniyar quota law after governor nod

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:01.03.2021 

Tamil Nadu government has notified the law mandating 10.5% internal quota for Vanniyakula Kshatriya community within the 20% reservation for Most Backward Classes (MBC) and Denotified Communities (DC) after governor Banwarilal Purohit gave his assent to a Bill for the same. The government had hurriedly introduced and passed the Bill in the assembly just half-an-hour before the Election Commission announced the poll schedule for the state and the model code of conduct came into effect on Friday.

The Bill was then sent to the governor for his assent, which the government secured the same day.

Following the nod from the governor, the state government notified the ‘Tamil Nadu Special Reservation of Seats in Educational Institutions Including Private Educational Institutions and of Appointments of Posts in Services under the State within the Reservation for the MBC and DC, Act, 2021’ in an extraordinary gazette. Vanniyakula Kshatriya community includes Vanniyar, Vanniya, Vannia Gounder, Gounder, Padayachi, Palli and Agnikula Kshatriya castes.

The law provides internal reservation for three categories — 10.5% quota for MBC (Vanniyakula Kshatriyas), 7% for DC and the MBC Communities having similarity with DC and 2.5% for the other MBC not included in the above category.

This follows the recommendation of the chairman of the TN Backward Classes Commission on the demand made by various communities to provide internal quota. PMK, a key ally of AIADMK, had held a series of protests since December, demanding exclusive quota for Vanniyars.

Why coronavirus didn’t hit India as hard as America and Europe

Why coronavirus didn’t hit India as hard as America and Europe

Most Diseases, From Diphtheria To Malaria, Affect Poorer Countries More Than The Rich. Why Is The Coronavirus Pandemic Different?

01.03.2021 

On Monday, Covid deaths in the US crossed the half-million mark. India had less than a third as many deaths despite a rickety health infrastructure and four times the population. Where Covid has felled elderly Americans in droves, here everybody knows neighbourhood uncles and aunties who recovered at home with only mild symptoms. It’s the same story across the developing world.

Why has Covid been kinder to India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and almost the entire Africa? It’s an “epidemiological mystery,” Siddhartha Mukherjee, cancer specialist and author of the bestselling ‘The Emperor of All Maladies’ writes in a recent New Yorker article.

The possibilities are many, and Mukherjee investigates some at length before concluding that if this were a murder mystery, it would not have a “one murder, one murderer, one weapon” plot. Here’s a look at three of the key suspects.

Younger population

Covid’s severity increases with old age. “After the age of 30, your chance of dying if you get Covid-19 doubles roughly every eight years,” says Mukherkee. So, countries with an older population – Belgium, Italy, the US and UK, for example – are bound to be disproportionately hit by it.

In contrast, poorer countries have a younger population overall. India’s median age (the middle value of all ages) is 28; Italy’s is 47. It’s easy to see which country will have more Covid deaths for every million people. And age is the most common explanation for Covid’s varying impact between rich and poor nations.

Mystery solved? Mukherjee points out that the median ages of Mexico (29) and India are roughly the same. The share of population older than 65 is also similar. “Yet India’s reported rate of Covid-19 deaths per capita is less than a tenth of Mexico’s.”

Immune system’s T cells

Street wisdom says Indians don’t need to fear Covid because our immune systems are not wimps. Filth, street food, flies, dengue, malaria – we are attuned to all of them.

Mukherjee looks at immunity from a scientific angle. There are three main players in it: antibodies, B cells and T cells. Antibodies cannot explain our better response to SARS-CoV-2 – the novel or new coronavirus – because they are custom-made for each germ. Because the coronavirus is new, there is no possibility of having antibodies for it without exposure.

As for B cells, their job is to make antibodies. That leaves us with T cells. When scientists at California’s La Jolla Institute for Immunology tested blood plasma samples collected before the pandemic, they found that in 40% of the samples, “the new coronavirus was somehow triggering a T-cell response.”

What exactly are T cells? They are immune system cells that “hunt for cells infected by a pathogen.” When a virus infects you, it starts turning your cells into factories to make copies of itself. T cells blow up these virus factories.

That does not explain how T cells can recognise a brand-new virus. Mukherjee says it’s because they target germs on the basis of resemblance, not a perfect photo match (unlike antibodies). Why does the new coronavirus look familiar to T cells? It’s because there are four other coronaviruses – called OC43, 229E, NL63 and HKU1 – that cause common colds. Everybody’s been infected by one or more of them. Research at Seattle Pacific University shows all coronaviruses – new and old – have many common building blocks that can trigger T-cell action. At Boston University, scientists found that Covid patients who had a cold between 2015 and March 2020, had “lower rates of mechanical ventilation, fewer ICU admissions, and significantly fewer deaths.”

Undercounting

Can it be that poorer countries are underreporting Covid deaths? Zambia has officially reported only 1,040 Covid deaths so far, but postmortems of 364 bodies in its capital Lusaka found the coronavirus in 70. Roughly one in five dead was infected. Analysis of household surveys that are done every four months in India also showed “deaths doubled between May and August” last year, but a deeper examination revealed the deceased were often younger people in rural areas. Not exactly the typical Covid fatality profile.

Actual deaths are higher

A study published in the British Medical Journal last month suggested that case fatality ratio (CFR) – deaths among total cases – can miss deaths of those who were never tested for Covid-19 but were hospitalised for complications stemming from infection. State-wise analysis shows the “corrected” CFR, which adjusts for testing failures, can be much higher than the reported CFR

Wrong predictions

Mathematical models give health authorities an idea of how much a disease will spread, and how much damage it will cause. For Covid, these models have been largely correct for rich countries, but off by a “staggering margin” when it comes to developing countries.

Doctor duped of ₹31 lakh with lure of MS admission

Doctor duped of ₹31 lakh with lure of MS admission

Has Accused Deputy Dean Of A College In Mumbai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:27.02.2021 

A doctor from Gota on Thursday filed a police complaint alleging that a former deputy dean of a Mumbai municipal medical college cheated him of Rs 31.50 lakh with the MS admission lure. The doctor said the accused, aided by two accomplices, promised him a place in the Master of Surgery (MS) course in September 2020. The complaint was filed with Sola police.

According to the complainant, Dr Hitendra Desai, a resident of Shukan Residency in Gota, the accused were Dr Rakesh Verma, the then deputy dean of Lokmanya Tilak Medical College in Sion in Mumbai, and his aides Jay Govani and Salim Patel. Dr Desai works with GMERS hospital in Vadnagar.

Dr Desai said that he had secured 411 marks in NEET (National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) and could not get admission in any college in Gujarat. He said that he got a call from Govani on September 7 asking him if he wanted admission.

“Govani told me that I would have to pay for a place at Lokmanya Tilak Medical College,” said Dr Desai. “He told me that he knew the dean of the college.” Dr Desai and his father then went to Mumbai to meet Govani. The complainant said that Govani and Patel took him to meet Verma who assured him that he would get the admission by October 5.

After meeting Verma, Desai first paid Rs 2 lakh in cash and later paid Rs 29.50 lakh through electronic transfers between September 11, 2020, and September 21, 2020. Dr Desai also submitted his original certificates to Govani.

But Govani and Patel never contacted Dr Desai again. Dr Desai tried to meet Verma, but he could not be found. Dr Desai and his father eventually traced Verma to Topiwala Medical College in Mumbai. Now, Verma told Dr Desai that he would get the admission by October 12, 2020.

However, all three accused soon vanished. After a few days, Dr Desai got his original certificates through courier. He finally approached police and filed a complaint of cheating and breach of trust against the three persons.

Cannot do business at cost of people’s lives: HC to hospitals

Cannot do business at cost of people’s lives: HC to hospitals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:27.02.2021 

The Gujarat high court has made it very clear that it will not permit hospitals to function and do business at the cost of people’s lives, if they do not have adequate fire safety systems in place.

During the hearing of the PIL and other litigations seeking action against those responsible for Shrey hospital fire and demanding proper implementation of fire safety laws, the bench of Justices J B Pardiwala and I J Vora rejected the request by Shrey Hospital to allow it to re-start its functioning.

The judges said, “You cannot run a hospital in this apartment that is for sure. Originally, it was a residential plan and you got it changed from residential to commercial purpose-…We cannot permit you to run this hospital anymore.”

The judges further said, “We cannot allow you to carry out the business at the cost of people’s lives. There are other businesses, you can do it.” The judges were very critical of the hospital owner’s approach and repeatedly commented that they are “powerful” people. The court expressed its displeasure when the kin of fire victims complained that mild charges were invoked against those responsible for the fire in which eight Covid-19 patients lost their lives in August 2020.

The court also took notice of the complaint that the hospital owner tried to influence the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation officials. Justice Pardiwala told hospital’s lawyer, “Better tell your client that he should not try to exert pressure on any of the corporation officials. You need to lie low.”

Meanwhile, Ahmedabad Hospitals and Nursing Homes Association also appeared before the court, but judges refused to hear it. “Why are you unnecessarily poking into this PIL. You remain in dialogue with the corporation. Either comply or pull down shutters. We don’t know how you run the show. If you don’t have (fire) NOC, shut down. Just comply and report. Things are going to be very serious.”