HC dismisses PIL against TN panel on NEET

HC dismisses PIL against TN panel on NEET

14.07.2021

The Madras high court on Tuesday dismissed a PIL field by the Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP challenging the validity of a committee constituted by the state to study the impact of NEET on students from socially and economically backward classes, saying that it was not contrary to SC orders. Chief minister M K Stalin hailed it as a significant step in the struggle against NEET and said the court has dealt a blow to the BJP and the AIADMK. He said the order upheld students’ and the state’s rights

TN ups pensioners’ contributory share to family fund scheme

TN ups pensioners’ contributory share to family fund scheme

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:13.07.2021 

The state finance department has increased pensioners' contribution to the Family Security Fund Scheme and has sanctioned ₹25 crore to clear pending settlements.

According to the scheme guidelines, pensioners make a monthly contribution till the date of death and in return, family members get ₹50,000 on the death of the pensioner.

When the scheme was launched in 1996, each pensioner contributed ₹20 and ₹25,000 was paid on their death. The contribution and settlement amount was increased at regular time intervals to run the scheme.

But in August 2020, the state government stopped paying the settlements to family members of deceased pensioners, citing fund crunch as the reason.

The Director of Pension, the state agency implementing the scheme, said that on an average they received around 15,500 claims every year and they required ₹77.50 crore to settle these claims. But the annual receipt from pensioners is around ₹43 crore. This indicates that annual deficit of accural to the fund is about ₹35 crore.

As of May 2021, there are about 13,746 pending claims for settlement and the director requested the government to sanction ₹57 crore to settle these claims.

Considering the fact that it is an optional and self-supporting scheme, the state finance department on July 7 issued orders increasing the pensioners' monthly contribution from ₹80 to ₹150.

In addition to this, the state has sanctioned ₹25 crore to settle these backlog claims. This amount has been sanctioned as an advance from the government account to the sheme recoverable over 5 years period without interest.

Welcoming this, SA Vetrirajan, a retired commercial taxes officer, said that the previous government left the scheme in the lurch. "Though it is a small amout, it becomes handy for the bereaved family members to settle hospital bills or to take care of the cremation expenses," he said.

Ramasamy from Tamil Nadu Pensioners' Association said that present state government employees also pay the same contribution (₹150 per month) but they get ₹3 lakh as settlement. "The government should at least provide half of this amount for pensioners," he said.

The association has decided to take this request to the government after their state executive committee meeting in Trichy next month. There are seven lakh pensioners in the state and roughly 96,000 among them reside in Chennai.

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.