NEET-UG on Sept 12, regn opens today

NEET-UG on Sept 12, regn opens today

13.07.2021 

The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test-Undergraduate (NEET-UG) will be conducted on September 12, online registration for which will commence at 5pm on Tuesday, Union minister for education Dharmendra Pradhan said on Monday. The exam was scheduled for August 1 but was postponed due to rising Covid cases. “...To ensure social distancing norms, the number of cities where examinations will be conducted has been increased to 198,” he tweeted. More than 16 lakh candidates are likely to take the test. P10

வரும் 21-ம் தேதி பக்ரீத் பண்டிகை

வரும் 21-ம் தேதி பக்ரீத் பண்டிகை

சென்னை

தமிழகத்தில் வரும் 21-ம் தேதிபக்ரீத் பண்டிகை கொண்டாடப்படும் என்று அரசு தலைமை காஜி அறிவித்துள்ளார்.

பக்ரீத் எனப்படும் ஈகைத் திருநாள் முஸ்லிம்களால் கொண்டாடப்படும் மிக முக்கியமான பண்டிகையாகும். இறைத் தூதரான நபியின் தியாகத்தை நினைவுகூரும் வகையில், 12-வது மாதமான துல்ஹஜில் இது ண்டாடப்படுகிறது.

அரசு அதிகாரிகளுக்கு அவகாசம் அளிக்க அறிவுரை

அரசு அதிகாரிகளுக்கு அவகாசம் அளிக்க அறிவுரை

Added : ஜூலை 11, 2021 00:29

மதுரை-'அரசுத் துறை அதிகாரிகளிடம் மனு அளித்து, அவர்களுக்கு கால அவகாசம் அளிக்காமல் உடனடியாக நீதிமன்றத்தில் மனு செய்தால், அபராதத்துடன், மனு தள்ளுபடி செய்யப்படும்' என, உயர் நீதிமன்ற மதுரைக் கிளை எச்சரித்துள்ளது.

தஞ்சாவூர் மாவட்டம், பூதலுார் மாரனேரியைச் சேர்ந்த பிரபுதாஸ் தாக்கல் செய்த மனுவில், 'மாரனேரியில் குறிப்பிட்ட சர்வே எண்ணில் உள்ள விவசாய நிலத்திற்கு, என் பெயரில் பட்டா வழங்கக் கோரி பூதலுார் தாசில்தாருக்கு ஜூன் 7ல் விண்ணப்பித்தேன். நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க உத்தரவிட வேண்டும்' எனக் குறிப்பிட்டார்.நீதிபதி என்.ஆனந்த் வெங்கடேஷ் உத்தரவு:அரசுத் துறைகளில் மனு அளித்த ஒரு வாரத்தில், அதன் மீது நடவடிக்கை எடுக்க உத்தரவிடக் கோரி இந்நீதிமன்றத்தில் பல வழக்குகள் தாக்கலாகின்றன.

இது மிக துரதிர்ஷ்டவசமானது. மனுவை பரிசீலிக்குமாறு பல்வேறு அதிகாரிகளுக்கு வழிகாட்டுதல்களை நீதிமன்றம் தினமும் பிறப்பிக்கிறது. இதனால் நீதிமன்றத்தின் மதிப்புமிக்க நேரம் வீணாகிறது.இதனால் 10 ஆண்டுகளுக்கு முன் தாக்கலான வழக்குகளை விசாரணைக்கு எடுக்க முடியவில்லை. அவற்றுக்கு தீர்வு காண முடியாமல் நிலுவையில் உள்ளதை கவனத்தில் கொள்ளும்போது வேதனையாக உள்ளது.அரசுத் துறை அதிகாரிகளிடம் மனு அளித்து, அவர்களுக்கு கால அவகாசம் அளிக்காமல் உடனடியாக நீதிமன்றத்தில் எவ்வித ஆவணமும் இன்றி, வரும் காலங்களில் மனு செய்தால் அபராதத்துடன் இந்நீதிமன்றம் தள்ளுபடி செய்யும். இவ்வழக்கு தகுதியானது அல்ல. போதிய ஆவணங்கள் தாக்கல் செய்யவில்லை. மனு தள்ளுபடி செய்யப்படுகிறது.இவ்வாறு நீதிபதி உத்தரவிட்டார்.

Delay in Covaxin supply caused average daily vaccinations to dip

Delay in Covaxin supply caused average daily vaccinations to dip

Issue At BB Facility Sorted; Govt Expecting 45L Doses In July

Sushmi.Dey@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:12.07.2021 

There is a dip in average daily vaccination against Covid-19 which fell to 37.23 lakh doses in the week of July 05-10 from over 61.14 lakh doses in the week starting June 21 and nearly 42 lakh doses in the following week (June 28-July 04), Co-Win data shows.

While the decline in vaccination has raised concerns, the government is expecting to maintain a daily average of 40-45 lakh doses in July with an estimated supply of at least 12 crore doses this month, an official source said. According to the source, the slow down in vaccination is primarily because of some disruptions at Bharat Biotech’s Bengaluru plant which resulted in delay in supply of some batches of Covaxin that were expected in the beginning of this month.

“It is a new facility with large scale fermentation plant. The trial batches were disrupted during standardisation process and therefore, the supply of Covaxin was less than expected. That has been sorted out now,” the official said.

Co-Win data shows the decline is mainly driven by less number of people initiating first dose and a lower uptake in rural areas. Between June 25-30, the number of daily doses administered in rural areas were in the range of 9.9 lakh- 40.43 lakh. However, it dropped to 8 lakh-38.08 lakh doses between July 1-9.

In urban areas, the daily doses varied from 8.25 lakh-31.80 lakh doses during June 25-30, whereas during July 1-9, around 7.6 lakh -27.85 lakh doses were given.

“The combination of progressive reopening and declining vaccination numbers is dangerous. We are not really protected against the current delta variant until we fully vaccinate 60-70% of the population by December. For that we need to administer 90 lakh to 1 crore doses per day. And that needs vaccine stocks which we seem to be running short on. If we can’t vaccinate enough, I’m afraid we need to be obsessed about Covid-appropriate behavior and rethink relaxing restrictions,” says Dr Arvinder Soin, chairman, Medanta Liver Transplant Institute.

However, the average daily vaccination still remained above the pre-June 21 level and officials said with improved supplies and campaigns, pace of vaccination is likely to pick up again in the following weeks.

“The supplies are dynamic. We are constantly working with companies to ensure manufacturing capacities are increased. More vaccine supplies are also expected by August which will help the programme,” the official said.

More than 37.22 crore doses of Covid vaccine have been administered across the country till July 11.

PES student gets ₹1.5cr/yr offer in UK

PES student gets ₹1.5cr/yr offer in UK

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:12.07.2021 

A computer science engineering student from PES University here has bagged an offer of Rs 1.5 crore per year to work in the London office of Confluent.

Sarang Ravindra  from Jayanagar has been interning with the company over the past six months, before he attended interviews and got his placement confirmed.

“I want to believe that it is only my intent to learn and curiosity that the company saw in me. It will overshadow all the other talents. With virtual internships, networking and visibility might come down. But your hard work will show and help you get noticed,” the student said. Sarang said he spoke to his manager and got interviews organised and cleared them.

While the joining date is in July-end, travel will depend on the pandemic scenario, Sarang added.

“I took science in PU and we had computer science in the junior college. That’s when my interest started building. My elder brother is also a computer science engineer. I started coding with him and enjoyed it,” said Sarang.

A tabla player, Sarang completed his schooling from Kumaran’s School and pre-university education from RV PU College.

PES stated that 1,283 sixth-semester students across its campuses had virtual internships during the pandemic year, with them receiving monthly stipends ranging from Rs 15,000 – Rs 87,000. The highest stipend offered was around Rs 1.3 lakh per month.

‘Placements on track’

“The Covid-19 pandemic has had no negative impact on placements. The internship offers are good and conversion rates to preplacement offers are over 90%. Companies want to catch the students young and train them before anyone else can offer them jobs. The numbers are very encouraging. The final placements for the next academic year will start by August and not July because of the pandemic,” said Shridhar KS, registrar, PESU.

One-way airfare to Canada costs students 10% of total course fee

One-way airfare to Canada costs students 10% of total course fee

Non-Acceptance Of RT-PCR From India Forces Detour

Parth.Shastri@timesgroup.com

Ahmedabad:12.07.2021 

Parents of Hansal Khatri, from Ghatlodia were in for a shock when they started checking availability of flights to Canada. “I have admission in a PG diploma course for business management at a university in Canada for Fall semester (starting September). I need to be there by the last week of August,” he said. His entire course fees is Rs 20 lakh while current one-way airfare by carriers such as Air India is Rs 1.75 lakh to Rs 2 lakh – accounting to 10% of total course fees.

“The tickets were costing between Rs 50,000 and Rs 70,000 in January this year. While it was still costly, we justified it due to Covid conditions. But air fares rising three times is too much when majority of passengers during this time are only foreign-bound students,” said Amit Khatri, his father. “As he has already secured admission, we have no option but to shell out the money, but it is not fair," the father felt.

It’s not just students – even regular passengers are bearing the brunt. Naranpura resident Subhash Ghonchala said a one-way ticket for his daughter-inlaw from Ahmedabad to Toronto, Canada on July 5 cost Rs 1.77 lakh which was three times the normal price of Rs 70,000.

It’s not just students – even regular passengers are bearing the brunt

Covid has pushed up travel costs

More than money, my daughter-in-law and her baby had to go to Toronato via Belgrade in Serbia where there was a stay of 2 nights and one day to get RTPCR test done. So, she went from Ahmedabad to Toronto via Mumbai-Frankfurt-Belgrade-Frankfurt- Toronto,” said Subhash Ghonchala .

Sanket Patel (name changed), 21, said he had deferred his travel to Canada due to the second wave in May. “My visa expires in December. While I’ll still wait a month to get the economic deal, what if third wave starts or Canada changes its rules? There’s a strong buzz there would be relaxation in some categories announced in the last week of July, but it’s always a gamble,” he said. “Getting the visa was a great feeling, but it’s now turning into desperation.” Travel and visa consultant Sabina Advani said Covid-19 specific sanctions imposed by countries have pushed up travel duration and cost of travellers.

“Countries like Canada do not accept Indian RT-PCR reports mandating travel via third countries for RT-PCR reports. For the US, currently there is a 14-day quarantine in a third country hotel. We are hopeful of Maldives and Dubai opening post July 15 which would be preferred by Indian travellers due to easy availability of Indian food,” says Travel and visa consultant Sabina Advani .

Due to these rules, travellers are going via Mexico, Belgrade and Armenia currently where 14-day quarantine stay with meals pushes the ticket price to upwards of Rs 1.75 lakh on confirmed flights.

Sameer Yadav, a citybased student visa and immigration consultant, said that there are a few sites offering cheaper tickets. “But often the travellers are not going for it – the chances of flight cancellation are high. Currently there are no direct flights to Canada, and most are taking detours. While the cancellation amount comes back, it cannot help the students who have to reach Canada in a time-bound manner,” he said.

Protest to safeguard students’ future is not unlawful: HC

Protest to safeguard students’ future is not unlawful: HC

K Kaushik@timesgroup.com

Madurai:12.07.2021 

A protest with an intention to safeguard the future of students cannot be construed as unlawful assembly, the Madras high court has said while quashing the final report filed against people who staged a protest seeking action against 30 bogus nursing and paramedical colleges in 2016.

The prosecution case was that the four petitioners along with others belonging to Abdul Kalam Latchiya India Party carried out a protest without prior permission against the bogus institutions and blocked the road disrupting traffic in Dindigul on April 14, 2016. Based on a complaint from the sub inspector of police, Dindigul Town North police registered a case against the protesters under sections 188, 143 and 145 of IPC. The police also filed the final report which was taken cognizance of by the Dindigul judicial magistrate II court. The four petitioners had filed the petition seeking to quash this report.

Justice G Ilangovan observed that for taking cognizance of offence under Section 143 of IPC, the ingredients under Section 141 of IPC must be brought on record. It appears that the petitioners and others staged a protest to initiate necessary action against bogus nursing and para medical colleges which spoiled the life of students. The court observed that there is no material on record or collected during the investigation to show that the agitation ended in violence. Hence, the ingredients of offence under Section 141 of IPC are not applicable to the present occurrence.

The judge said that in Section 145 of IPC, the words “unlawful assembly” are mentioned. The petitioners and others held the agitation with an intention to safeguard the future of students and hence it should not be considered as unlawful assembly.

“Registration of case and filing of final report may not be considered to be proper since the right of agitation has been recognized and that too conducting the agitation without any violence cannot be considered to be per se illegal,” observed the judge. Though only four people had approached the court, the judge quashed the final report in its entirety.