Baghel shifts collector who slapped youth

Baghel shifts collector who slapped youth

Rashmi.Drolia@timesgroup.com

Raipur:24.05.2021

Day after a video of Surajpur district collector Ranbir Sharma slapping a youth for violating lockdown protocol went viral, Chhattisgarh CM Bhupesh Baghel ordered his removal.

Sharma has been shifted to the secretariat as joint secretary while Gaurav Kumar Singh, a 2013 batch IAS officer, replaced him as Surajpur collector. While ordering Sharma’s removal, CM Baghel tweeted: “Such conduct is not acceptable in public life by any officer. I am upset with this incident. I apologize to the young man and his family.”

During Saturday’s lockdown Sharma encountered a youth, Aman Mittal, 23, who was out to get medicines for his grandmother and book a blood test for his brother. Mittal was stopped by cops, and the video showed Sharma slapping him while accusing him of recording the event. The collector threw his mobile phone on the ground and ordered cops to beat him.

Full report on www.toi.in

Couple tie the knot on board flight to Madurai

Couple tie the knot on board flight to Madurai

Padmini.Sivarajah@timesgroup.com

Madurai:24.05.2021

Pompous weddings have become a thing of the past and lockdown weddings lacklustre events, but Meenakshi Rakesh and Dhikshana decided not to let the virus play spoilsport on their special day. On Sunday, they tied the knot on a flight from Bengaluru to Madurai with their relatives on board.

Sources said the entire contingent had cleared the RT-PCR test before boarding. In the video clip doing the rounds, the two are seen tying the knot inside the aircraft as nadaswaram plays in the background. The couple and their entourage later had q small reception at a hotel in the city.

Meanwhile, Sunday also saw several weddings advanced from the auspicious days of May 24 and 28 thanks to the relaxation allowed by the government ahead of the week-long total lockdown. They included the marriage of two doctors whose wedding was planned as a grand ceremony on Monday in Madurai. As the Covid second wave started, they started thinking of a low key affair.

“I did not print cards as it would have been a waste of money, designed one and sent by WhatsApp to relatives and friends,’’ said K Karthikeyan, father of the groom.

With the announcement of total relaxation for the weekend coming on Saturday afternoon, phone calls were hurriedly made urging all those who could make it to come for the wedding.

Decorators who had booked natural flowers for decorations were asked to do what they could with artificial ones. R Senthilkumar of Helo Events said the uncertainty had made four of his clients prepone their weddings planned for May 24, 28 and July 6 to Sunday. “However, 80% of the couples could not get the garlands or flowers of their choice, and had to manage with what was available,’’ he said. Many weddings were held outside closed temples including Sri Meenakashi temple.

A Ravichandran, a priest who conducts weddings, said many elderly priests are wary of attending weddings. Hence, some younger priests who did not have any bookings were enlisted at the last moment for the rituals. “They came double masked with turmeric applied on their hands because marriages have become a risky affair,’’ he said. The demand for flowers in the Matuthavani flower market also went up with jasmine selling for ₹500 a kilogram.

SKY HIGH: Meenakshi Rakesh and Dhikshana tied the knot on a flight from Bengaluru to Madurai with their relatives on board

‘Make sure lockdown rules are fully followed’

‘Make sure lockdown rules are fully followed’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

24.05.2021

As Tamil Nadu geared up for a weeklong intense lockdown, chief minister M K Stalin held a virtual meeting with district collectors on Sunday and asked them to achieve the lockdown’s objective of controlling the Covid-19 spread in their respective districts.

Stalin told the collectors to ensure adequate supply of essentials like vegetables, fruits, milk, drinking water to all and healthy food for Covid patients undergoing treatment in hospitals during the lockdown. “Lockdown rules should be fully followed, but at the same time make sure transportation of agriculture products are not affected,” he told the collectors. Keep a check on the availability of oxygen and life-saving drugs in hospitals and make sure that they are optimally used, he told them urging to spread awareness on Covid prevention and ensure the Covid chain is broken. “Unless the chain is broken, Covid cannot be controlled. This lockdown is aimed at breaking the chain. Explain this to people, that the lockdown was only for a safer society,’’ he urged them.

Work with the goal of bringing down Covid in your respective districts, he told them.

“Tamil Nadu is facing twin challenges of financial crunch and health crisis at the same time. Hence it is imperative to put an end to Covid as early as possible,’’ he said.

Stalin asked the collectors to adopt a multi-pronged approach to make the lockdown yield the desired results. They should take on board local administration and agriculture department to ensure vegetables and fruits was available to every household.

Families Exit City On Bikes, Autos; Buses Packed

Thousands leave city with belongings

Families Exit City On Bikes, Autos; Buses Packed

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:24.05.2021

Thousands left Chennai for their native places on Sunday ahead of the extended total lockdown till May 31 in Tamil Nadu. With a limited number of buses operated, families of three or four were seen exiting the city on two-wheelers, while a few left in autorickshaws and minitrucks with their belongings.

According to official data from the transport department, more than 65,746 passengers left in 1,331 government buses from Chennai Mofussil Bus Terminus (CMBT) and Tambaram on Saturday and Sunday (until 6pm). In other parts of the state, around 5.94 lakh passengers travelled in 3,662 special buses during the weekend.

There was no mad rush at CMBT as seen ahead of the total lockdown in May 2020. However, almost all the buses ran packed. “But no passenger was allowed to travel standing,” said C Samayamoorthy, state transport secretary.

The exodus was smaller than last year as many left for their natives places on May 9, when restrictions increased as the state entered its14-day lockdown from May10-24.

The government’s decision to operate 1,500 buses from Chennai to other districts, however, has attracted criticism from various quarters as this could spread disease to rural areas and places where the infection rate is less compared to Chennai.

At Perungalathur bus stand, wait time for buses was long and private vans, cabs were seen offering ride-sharing services at exorbitant rates. “We have been waiting for more than two hours. All buses reaching Perungalathur are packed. We have no option but to pay what the van operators demand to reach our destinations before the curfew begins,” said Divakaran, who paid ₹1,500 to reach Madurai.

Mini-trucks and share autos were also in great demand as many left the city with all their belongings including furniture and electronics, anticipating the stay at their native place would get longer. Movement of such vans and three or four of a family riding a twowheeler was a common sight at the Chengalpet toll plaza, where the district police checked e-registration receipts.

In Coimbatore, Madurai and Salem, which act as transit points to tier-II cities, smaller towns and villages, passengers complained of shortage of buses. In Tirupur, people resorted to protests.

Speaking to reporters from Madurai, transport minister S Rajakanappan said, “Roughly 40% buses are being operated as there was not much crowd. However, additional buses  (400) are available in case demand increases late in the evening”. Despite his warning, private omni buses charged ₹1,500 or more for inter-district bus commute from TN.

TAKING ANY WAY OUT: A family of four leaving the city seen on a two-wheeler at the Chengalpet toll plaza on Sunday

Stop sharing TOI e-paper, HC tells WhatsApp

Stop sharing TOI e-paper, HC tells WhatsApp

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:24.05.2021

The Delhi high court has restrained social messaging apps WhatsApp and Telegram from illegally circulating e-papers of The Times of India and sister publication Navbharat Times on their platform.

The HC issued notice to the two apps along with certain other individuals who are administrators of various groups on the platforms while barring them from circulating the e-papers on account of alleged copyright violations.

Justice Jayant Nath said “prima facie” the act of illegally circulating the e-papers of plaintiff on the defendants’ platforms is violative of its copyright and ad-interim injunction is granted in the favour of Bennett, Coleman and Company Ltd. The court asked them to respond to the suit and comply with the order, listing the matter for further hearing on August18.

‘Circulating e-papers is violation of Copyright law’

In its order, the HC has also issued notice to the ministry of electronics and information technology for its response on the suit. In its plea, BCCL contended that e-papers of Times of India and Navbharat Times are being circulated on various WhatsApp groups and Telegram without any authority and this amounts to infringement of its copyright.

“That despite the various measures taken by the plaintiff to protect its proprietary site content, it has been recently observed that under the garb of providing online services, various web portals, mobile applications, intermediaries, social media platforms and their users, are misusing and perpetuating the misuse of the e-newspapers and e- magazines of the Plaintiff, by sharing unauthorized and illegal copies of the same in PDF format to/among their own users or subscribers on different platforms such as websites and mobile applications, etc. The foregoing actions by such web portals, mobile applications, social media platforms and their users necessitate the filing of the instant suit so as to protect against and prevent the infringement of its proprietary information/content,” it added.

The court was informed that ever since lockdown was imposed in 2020 to contain the spread of Covid-19, several individuals started downloading the e-papers and circulated it, which is a violation of Copyright law.

Data breach at AI: 10 yrs’ flyer records compromised

Data breach at AI: 10 yrs’ flyer records compromised

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:22.05.2021 

Air India’s customer database — name, date of birth, contact information, passport information, ticket information, frequent flyer data and credit cards data — has suffered a massive security breach, following a cybersecurity attack. The airline has informed affected passengers that the “breach involved some personal data registered between August 2011 and February 2021.” It adds that “no passwords data was affected.”

This is the second major airline data breach in last six months. In December last, some servers of IndiGo were hacked and the airline had said there was a “possibility that some internal documents may get uploaded by hackers on public websites and platforms.”

“This is to inform that SITA PSS, our data processor of the passenger service system (which is responsible for storing and processing of personal information of the passengers) had recently been subjected to a cybersecurity attack leading to personal data leak of certain passengers. This incident affected around 45 lakh data subjects in the world. While we had received the first notification in this regard from our data processor on February 25, 2021, we would like to clarify that the identity of the affected data subjects was only provided to us by our data processor on March 25 and April 5,” Air India said in a statement.

The breach involved personal data registered between August 26, 2011 and February 3, 2021. However, in respect of credit card data, CVV/CVC numbers are not held by our data processor, the AI statement adds.

The airline says it has taken steps to ensure data safety, including “investigating the data security incident, securing the compromised servers, engaging external specialists of data security incidents, notifying and liaising with the credit card issuers and resetting passwords of Air India FFP program.”

“Further, our data processor has ensured that no abnormal activity was observed after securing the compromised servers. While we and our data processor continue to take remedial actions including but not limited to the above, we would also encourage passengers to change passwords wherever applicable to ensure safety of their personal data. The protection of our customers’ personal data is of highest importance to us and we deeply regret the inconvenience caused and appreciate continued support and trust of our passengers,” AI said.

The airline has informed affected passengers that the breach involved some personal data registered between August 2011 and February 2021. It added that no passwords data was affected in the breach

How to get 1st dose certificate

How to get 1st dose certificate

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:23.05.2021 

Dozens of citizens who have taken both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine are unable to find the certificate for the first dose, causing some panic. However, officials say those who are fully inoculated do not need the first-dose certificate since it’s only provisional.

Officials say the certificate after the first dose only indicates the vaccine taken and the date after which the beneficiary becomes eligible for the second dose. The certificate issued after the second dose is the final one that shows one is fully inoculated.

But given the lack of clear guidelines for travel, several citizens are concerned. Those taking the first dose now, or those who are awaiting the second dose can download and save the provisional certificate.

How to download

Once you have got the first dose and received a confirmation SMS, you can sign into the portal using your mobile number and register by entering the one-time password shared on the registered mobile number. The screen shows you have been partially vaccinated, and the number of days left for the second dose. Your personal information is displayed below this. Below that is a tab called ‘certificate’. A simple click on that allows you to download the certificate.