For seniors, an arduous wait for vaccines

For seniors, an arduous wait for vaccines

Nivedha.Selvam1@timesgroup.com

Coimbatore:18.06.2021

Around 6 am on Thursday, 63-year-old S Jayanthi, a resident of Vellakinar, and her 68-year-old husband rushed to corporation’s elementary school upon hearing that the civic body was administering Covid-19 vaccine to those above 45 years. But their joy of finally getting vaccinated was short-lived.

While standing in a serpentine queue awaiting their turn to get the jab, a corporation worker appeared and asked them to come back the next day as there were no available slots. For the second time in the last two days, the couple returned without taking the jab. The couple has decided to try their luck again on Friday, and plan to visit the school a little early in the day as they are due for their second dose.

“We took our first dose of Covishield in March at a private hospital. When we were due for our second dose in May, we visited multiple primary health centres and waited for several hours... but to no avail,” said Jayanthi.

Hers is not a lone case in the district. For many senior citizens like her, getting vaccinated is a gargantuan task as they have to wait endlessly in queues at corporation centres for multiple hours.

A resident of Vadamadurai M Madhankumar questioned if it was difficult for officials to inform the public about the location and timings of vaccination camps in advance. “Most of the time, the CoWin website has no booking slots available.”

When contacted, a corporation official said that his team has directed all centres to distribute tokens in advance to avoid crowding at centres. He said steps would be taken to adopt uniform timings in all the centres.

NO STOCK: A corporation centre in Coimbatore has no vaccines

In1st meet, CM asks PM to scrap NEET, drop oil exploration in TN

In1st meet, CM asks PM to scrap NEET, drop oil exploration in TN

PM Modi Promises Full Support, Said Stalin Can Reach Him Anytime

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:18.06.2021

Chief minister M K Stalin, in his maiden meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi after assuming charge, requested him to scrap NEET and drop plans to extend such entrance exams for admission to other courses. He also asked the PM to drop hydrocarbon and neutrino projects planned for the state.

In a 25-minute meeting with the PM in New Delhi on Thursday, Stalin sought adequate allotment of vaccines and drugs for Tamil Nadu to fight Covid. The CM also demanded early commencement of vaccine production at HLL Biotech in Chengalpet and Pasteur Institute in Coonoor to overcome vaccine shortage.

The PM assured his full support for development projects in the state and said he could be reached anytime, the CM said.

Accompanied by water resources minister S Duraimurugan, chief secretary V Irai Anbu and DMK Parliamentary party leader T R Baalu, Stalin reached the PM’s residence at Lok Kalyan Marg at 5pm. It was “happy and satisfactory,” Stalin told reporters about the meeting later in the day at Tamil Nadu House in New Delhi.

‘Will stay friendly but firm on state’s rights’

The state government chose not to release the full text of the 117-page memorandum submitted by Stalin to Modi.

The DMK government’s demands included revival of Sethusamudram shipping canal project and Maduravoyal-Chennai Port elevated road project. While the first was dropped by the BJP government at the Centre, the latter was spiked by the AIADMK government. It has also sought setting up of the apex court bench in Chennai.

Reacting to social media reports that the DMK government had agreed to implement the Chennai-Salem greenfield expressway project, the state government clarified that it had urged the Centre to drop the project.

Stalin sought to point out to Modi that the Centre was not supplying adequate quantity of Covid vaccines to Tamil Nadu. “The PM assured us of supply. We have been speaking to the PM and ministers over phone. They tell their difficulties,” Stalin said, seeking to recall the Centre’s direction to not reveal details of vaccine shortage. Urging speedy construction of AIIMS in Madurai, the state government has also demanded that an AIIMS-like institution be set up in Coimbatore.

On the farm front, the DMK government urged the Centre to repeal the three farm laws. It also demanded that the Citizenship Amendment Act, electricity amendment bill 2020, national education policy and the draft EIA notification 2020 be withdrawn. “He (the PM) assured us that he would consult the ministers and officials concerned and take a good decision,” the chief minister said, adding that his government would follow the principles of former chief minister M Karunanidhi when it comes to maintaining Centre-state relations. “We will extend a friendly hand for relationship and raise our voice for the rights.”

Stalin said he had requested Modi to declare Tamil as official language of India, that the proceedings in the Madras high court be carried out in Tamil and also demanded that Thirukkural be named the national literature.

On the release of seven Rajiv assassins, the chief minister said the state government had sent a letter to President Ram Nath Kovind after governor Banwarilal Purohit decided that the President was the competent authority to decide on remission of sentences. Stalin said the government would shut down Tasmac outlets in a phased manner akin to the previous AIADMK government’s policy. “Those who cast votes for us should remain happy and those who did not cast votes should feel sorry,” Stalin said, responding to queries about the 42 days of his governance.

SC accepts CBSE’s 30:30:40 formula for Class XII, results before July 31

SC accepts CBSE’s 30:30:40 formula for Class XII, results before July 31

Performance Of Past 6 Years For CISCE Evaluation

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:18.06.2021

The Supreme Court on Thursday ended the suspense for more than 15 lakh Class XII students over marking for the cancelled board exams by approving an evaluation formula framed by the CBSE and CISCE which factors in the Class X board result, Class XI score and Class XII’s unit, midterm and pre-board outcomes.

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) and the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) gave details of the evaluation policy formulated after consulting experts to a bench of Justices A M Khanwilkar and Dinesh Maheshwari and said Class XII results would be out before July 31. While 14.5 lakh Class XII students appear for the CBSE board, nearly 1 lakh take the exams conducted by CISCE.

The SC bench noted its inprinciple acceptance of the scheme after every petitioner conveyed that they had no grievance against the evaluation mechanism. Attorney general K K Venugopal, appearing for the Centre, and solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the CBSE, told the court that the academic performance of each student in Classes X (best three) and XI as well as the marks or grades obtained in unit and term examinations in Class XII and practicals would be taken in a graded weightage — 30% each for Class X and XI, and 40% for Class XII.

TOI report on June 16

Talks on common test for central univs next week

The Union education ministry and UGC are going to revive the discussion on the Central University Common Entrance Test next week. While central universities are keeping their options open for conducting the 2021-22 admissions, Rajeev Gupta, DU’s dean of admissions, said, “The assessment policy will not affect our admissions.” He, however, wasn’t sure of CUCET. Once cleared, CUCET ill be conducted by the National Testing Agency, reports Manash Gohain. As for the feasibility of conducting the test this year, an official said, “It will take at least two months to prepare.”P11

Entire mechanism appears to favour consistent performers

Keeping in mind the disruptions in Class XII assessments due to Covid-19, schools have been given leeway in deciding whether to take all assessments (unit tests, mid-terms, pre-boards) or just the pre-boards into account or a combination. This would be done by a “results committee” in every school.

Senior advocate Janakalyan Das informed the bench that the CISCE will consider the performance of students in the past six years in awarding marks and grades for Class XII. The entire mechanism appears to favour consistent performers rather than those who display a surprise sparkle in the board exams though the policy attempts to provide avenues for students who changed boards or are taking them for the first time. The boards explained that just taking into account Class12 results may not reflect the potential of students taking online exams in an unfamiliar setting. So, using the Class 10 board results was useful as it was the only public exam the current Class 12 students had taken. The Class11 exams were held in pre-Covid times and on the basis of the prescribed senior secondary syllabus. The SC bench noted its in-principle acceptance of the scheme after every petitioner conveyed that they had no grievance against the evaluation mechanism. The bench warded off senior advocate Vikas Singh’s plea for conducting a physical board examination for Class 12 students and asked the two boards to finalise the scheme and notify it after incorporating a grievance redressal mechanism for students after declaration of results.Venugopal informed the court that the CBSE has made a provision for holding physical examination for those students who want to improve their marks later when the situation normalises and that such scores would be final for those who decide to take the option. He said the dates for the physical examination would be announced after the declaration of results, subject to the prevailing pandemic situation.

Full report on www.toi.in

FAIR POINT: The boards explained that just taking into account Class XII results may not reflect the potential of students taking online exams

SC to examine whether to allow Punjab, Assam, AP & Tripura to hold Class XII boards

The Supreme Court on Thursday decided to examine whether four states — Punjab, Assam, Andhra Pradesh and Tripura — be permitted to hold Class XII state board examinations when 18 of the 28 states have decided to cancel physical examinations this year in view of the Covid-19 pandemic. A bench asked petitioners’ counsel S P Adgaonkar to serve copies of the petitions on the standing counsel of the four states which have not cancelled the Class XII board examinations. The counsel informed the court that six other states had already conducted board examinations. The SC posted the matter for hearing on June 21.

Petition against NEET postponement dismissed

Petition against NEET postponement dismissed

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:17.06.2021

The Karnataka high court has dismissed a PIL that challenged the central government’s decision to postpone the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET). A division bench headed by Justice BV Nagarathna observed that the decision to hold the test after August 31 cannot be faulted as it was taken after consulting experts.

“We find that the postponement of NEET was on account of the circumstances and based on experts’ views. This is not a case where there is cancellation of NEET this year. It is only a case of postponement from April 2021 because of the second wave of Covid-19 and the need to enlist services of doctors so as to manage the medical facilities and attend to patients,” the bench noted.

Dr Vinod G Kulkarni, a consulting neuropsychiatrist, advocate and activist, had filed the PIL through the Late GB Kulkarni Memorial Legal Trust on May 8. NEET-2021 was earlier scheduled to be held on April

18. He said that because of the postponement, medicos’ plans to pursue post-graduate studies were affected and they suffered from stress, anxiety and depression. He argued that when other exams were being conducted during the pandemic, there was no reason to defer NEET.

The Centre defended the move, saying that because of the severe nature of the pandemic, a policy decision was taken in mid-April at the highest level. The court was told that NEET aspirants were recruited to assist doctors at Covid hospitals.

Another lion dies of Sars Cov-2 at city zoo

Another lion dies of Sars Cov-2 at city zoo

10 More Big Cats Under Treatment

Oppili P & Ram Sundaram TNN

Chennai:17.06.2021 

A 12-year-old lion died of Covid-19 at Arignar Anna Zoological Park at Vandalur on Wednesday morning, authorities said. The big cat, a male named Pathbanathan, is the second lion to die due to the infection at the zoo. The first was a nine-yearold lioness named Neela which died in the evening on June 3.

Officials at the zoo said Pathbanathan tested positive for Sars Cov-2 as per the report of the National Institute of High Security Animal Diseases (NIHSAD) in Bhopal received on June 3. Samples were collected from Pathbanathan after five lions in the zoo showed symptoms such as coughing and loss of appetite. The animal, housed in the lion safari area, was under intensive treatment since then and died around 10.15am on Wednesday, said an official release from AAZP.

At present, the zoo houses 10 more infected lions, being treated by an in-house veterinary team in coordination with an expert team from Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences (Tanuvas) University.

“Two lionesses — 19-yearold Bhuavana and 23-year-old Kavitha — which were critical last week have started to respond to treatment and are taking food properly now. All other infected lions too are under close observation to ensure they recover soon,” said an AAZP official.

Zoo authorities said they were taking all precautionary measures to protect the infected lions and to prevent further spread of the virus to other animals. The zoo had introduced thermal scanning and ultra violet irradiation of the beef that was fed to the big cats. Zoo workers were administered vaccines for the infection. Periodic sanitisation of the animal enclosures had been taken up and the workers were provided with PPE kits while entering the enclosures.

The zoo is also taking the help of Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, run by Union government’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research in Hyderabad, to sequence the virus variant to understand zoonotic transmission better.

Besides Covid-19, one lion has been tested positive for a more contagious Canine Distemper Virus (CDV). Zoo sources said the 19-year-old lion named Ragave was kept in isolation and is healthy now. Efforts were underway to keep stray dogs and cats out of the zoo premises as they had the potential to transmit diseases to the zoo inhabitants. The zoo has been closed for visitors from April due to the Covid second wave.

An official from the city zoo said two lionesses that were critical last week have started to respond to treatment and that their appetite was returning. All infected lions are under close observation

Private schools want TC made must for admission

Private schools want TC made must for admission

K Sambath Kumar & M K Ananth TNN

Trichy/Madurai: 17.06.2021 

Worried over a large number of students migrating to government schools due to the financial implications of the pandemic, private schools want the government to make transfer certificates mandatory for admission. Since the pandemic has affected livelihoods, parents who are unable to pay fees in private schools have been taking their wards to government schools where students get free education along with free textbooks, notebooks, uniforms, school bags and footwear.

Admission to Class XI and other classes had started in 27 districts on Monday. The school education department instructed government schools not to ask for transfer certificates if parents and students wanted to migrate from private schools. Government schools have been receiving many queries from parents of students studying in private schools in the past few days.

“Around 10% to 20% of students from matriculation schools and 30% to 40% from primary schools switched to government schools in the last one year alone,” said Arumugam, president of Federation of Private School Associations (FePSA) in Tamil Nadu. The federation wants the government to make Transfer Certificate (TC) mandatory to enrol students till Class VIII from another school.

“Under the right to education (RTE) act, schools can admit any child up to Class VIII without any documents including TC from the previous school. While the particular rule was aimed at bringing down dropout rate in schools, it has brought pushed private schools to the verge of closure,” said D C Elangovan, secretary, Federation of Associations of Private Schools in Tamil Nadu (FAPSIT).

Elangovan said popular private schools, which constitute less than 10% of schools across the state, could manage to retain students and collect fees from parents. But the majority of the schools are struggling to pay their teachers. According to the RTE Act, students need not produce a TC for admission if they are unable to get it from the previous school. They can get enrolled with age proof and Aadhar number. Schools also can download TC from EMIS (Education Management Information System) portal after entering the number allotted to each student.

According to data from the school education department, admissions to government schools increased by 1.3lakh in 2020-21.

‘Complete construction of 11 med colleges by year-end’

‘Complete construction of 11 med colleges by year-end’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:17.06.2021

PWD minister E V Velu on Wednesday directed the officials concerned to complete the construction of the 11 new medical colleges by end of this year. He also asked them to submit detailed project reports and designs for the ₹320 crore projects, including multi-super specialty hospital at Guindy, soon.

Chairing a meeting, Velu asked officials to ensure the quality of the raw materials used the construction and directed them to display the quality certificate of the materials at the worksites.

The minister reviewed the construction of colleges of the six newly formed districts and several other projects. He applauded PWD officials for providing oxygen lines for 11,993 beds in various government hospitals on war footing during the pandemic.