‘Free darshan at TTD once Covid-19 over’

‘Free darshan at TTD once Covid-19 over’

Sandeep.Raghavan@timesgroup.com

Tirupati: 08.08.2021 

Sarvadarshan (free darshan) at Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) can be resumed only after the World Health Organisation (WHO) denotifies the Covid-19 pandemic. This was informed by TTD specified authority chairman and executive officer (EO) Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, on Saturday.

Addressing the pilgrim callers during the monthly ‘Dial your EO’ programme at the TTD administrative building here, Jawahar Reddy said the temple administration was forced to impose curbs on inflow of pilgrims due to the pressing situation.

“We are forced to issue only limited darshan tokens. However, the TTD has increased the special entry darshan tickets quota to 8,000 tickets a day from 5,000 ,” the EO said.

“Pilgrims can register complaints at 9989078111 and before their departure from Tirumala, their grievances will be resolved,” Jawahar Reddy added. About 5.32 lakh devotees visited the temple in July.

Covaxin under ‘active review’ of Health Canada

Covaxin under ‘active review’ of Health Canada

Swati.Bharadwaj@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad: 08.08.2021  

Bharat Biotech’s US and Canada partner Ocugen Inc said it has submitted all the requisite data of indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin to Canadian authorities and the application is under “active review” by Health Canada.

“We have submitted all the data, what is needed for...Canadian submission...it's under active review by Health Canada,” Ocugen chairman and CEO Shankar Musunuri said during an earnings call on Friday but declined to comment on approval timelines.

Ocugen, which inked a deal for the development, manufacture and commercialisation of Covaxin in Canada in June this year after bagging US rights in December 2020, had initiated rolling submission of Covaxin data to Health Canada through affiliate Vaccigen in mid-June.

He said the regulatory submission filed under Canada’s interim order was transitioned into a new drug submission for Covid-19 “in such a short order, especially when urgency is increasing in Canada”.

Pointing out that Covaxin was the first vaccine to evaluate efficacy against the Delta variant in a controlled setting, he said: “Majority of the symptomatic cases identified in aggregate in Covaxin and control arms in phase-3 clinical trial were Covid-19 variants...majority were identified as Delta variant B.1.617.2. Data showed Covaxin achieving a 65.2% efficacy rate against Delta variant.”

“Data from Covid cases demonstrated low viral load...in vaccinated individuals compared to placebo group, showing potential for less transmission of the disease by individuals who received Covaxin...these data on Delta are very suggestive that Covaxin is a valuable tool in our fight against this virus now, especially with this variant now dominating this fourth wave we are experiencing,” he said.

Musunuri said as Covaxin trains the immune system to attack the whole Covid-19 variants based on multi-antigens, including the spike in nucleocapsid proteins, it has the potential to be effective against multiple variants and reduce the possibility of mutant virus escape.

India-UK one-way fare skyrockets to ₹4L; IAS officer writes to govt

India-UK one-way fare skyrockets to ₹4L; IAS officer writes to govt

Saurabh.Sinha@timesgroup.com

New Dehi:

India-UK fares have skyrocketed as restrictions on travel imposed from here during the deadly second wave are relaxed from Sunday morning. Senior IAS officer Sanjeev Gupta took to Twitter on Saturday to complain about one-way fares touching Rs 4 lakh and that he has raised the issue of with aviation secretary P S Kharola.

“Fare of Rs 3.95 lakh one way Delhi to London on August 26. No, it’s not first class. It’s economy on British Airways. Air India, Vistara also Rs 1.2 to 2.3 lakh. College admission time! See minimum fare on @GoogleTravel in August. Have alerted aviation secretary,” Gupta, secretary of Inter State Council Secretariat secretary that comes under the Union home ministry, said on social media.

Comments were sought from the Union aviation ministry on whether it is planning to rein in the rampaging India-UK airfares but no comment came till the time of going to press.

Airlines, on their part, say the only way out is to add capacity by allowing more flights – something that may happen soon. A combination of three factors has led to fares spiralling.

‘₹1.5L flight ticket unaffordable for most students’

A combination of three factors — 30 weekly flights between India and the UK, pent up demand for travel for almost 3.5 months since the UK restricted travellers from India and the ongoing peak student season — has led to fares spiralling. “If economy class isn’t available, it automatically fetches business fare but shows economy on travel portal. The basic point still remains (about) Rs 1.2 lakh for one-way direct flight is still too high,” Gupta tweeted.

“Even Rs 1.15 lakh is exorbitant and unaffordable for most students seeking admission purely on merit and not on financial strength,” he said in another tweet.

From August 8, India will move to the amber category under which travellers from India will be allowed without any need for a mandatory 10-day hotel quarantine as they will be allowed to do so at their homes or other places of stay in the UK. The opening amid pent-up demand has led to fares spiralling. A quick sear on travel portals Saturday evening show Mumbai/Delhi-London one-way, economy fares being over Rs 1 lakh on a majority of days in August. Fares start falling after September 10, by when the pent up rush would have flown out. Delhi/Mumbai-London one-way goes all the way upto Rs 1.3 lakh. TNN

Fares start falling after September 10, by when the pent up rush would have flown out. Delhi/ Mumbai-London oneway goes all the way upto Rs 1.3 lakh

B’luru cops travel twice to TN, get NRI’s stolen passport, visa

B’luru cops travel twice to TN, get NRI’s stolen passport, visa

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru: 08.08.2021 

City police undertook a double journey to Trichy in Tamil Nadu to trace the passport, visa and international driving licence of an NRI, visiting his hometown. They were stolen from the KSRTC bus terminal when Hasnar Sab Hosur, working in Dubai, was waiting for a bus. In their second attempt, police succeeded in finding his passport and visa thrown near a garbage heap in Ramjinagar, Trichy.

Hasnar, a cab driver in UAE, is all praise for city cops, as his return journey would have been impossible without the documents. Applying for a new set would have taken time, which could have put his job at risk, he added.

A special team from Upparpet police station travelled twice to Trichy: Once to recover the gold that was stolen from Hasnar and again, to find his passport. “Hasnar was in tears when we told him that we have recovered the gold but not passport and visa. He pleaded with us saying he cannot return to UAE. We decided to give another chance and formed a special team led by inspector CB Shivaswamy to find the missing documents. A daylong search in a big garbage heap yielded results,” deputy commissioner of police (west) Sanjeev Patil said.

TRICHY GANG STRIKES AT BUS STATION

Ravi, Damodaran and Rangan

Hasnar’s bag was stolen from the KSRTC bus terminal on the night of July 17. Hosur’s wife had arrived here from Sagar in Shivamogga district to accompany him.

Living in Dubai for the last 21 years, Hasnar visits his family once a year. “We were waiting for a bus at platform no. 5 at 10.30pm. I had kept the bag by my side and miscreants stole it when I was checking for the bus,” he said. It contained his passport, visa, driving licence, resident ID card of UAE, gold pendant of 12 grams and Rs 3,000. He lodged a complaint with Upparpet police who found seven men—Ramjinagar gang from Trichywere behind the robbery.

“We found the gang had travelled to Mandya, Srirangapatna and Mysuru, targeting other persons in bus and railway stations. We went to Mysuru in July and nabbed four prime accused. Four more are elusive,” police said.

Search in garbage heap

The accused told police Hasnar’s bag was taken to Ramjinagar by their associate the same night. Soon, a team left for Ramjinagar and returned with the gold pendant. “The accused had spent the cash and threw the remaining documents near a dumpyard,” an officer said.

Upparpet police contacted Hasnar and informed him about the gold. “But Hasnar Sab was more concerned about his documents. Realising their importance, we decided to give it another try and send the team again to Trichy,” Sanjeev Patil said.

The search was not easy for the inspector and his team. “The miscreants had forgotten the exact place where they had dumped the papers. After a search for almost a day, we traced them,” an officer said.

The arrested are Raju Naidu, 25, Ravi Kumar, 43, Damodaran, 35, and Rangan, 55, all residents of Trichy.

Over 100 students test +ve in Hassan

Over 100 students test +ve in Hassan

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Hassan: 08.08.2021

Over 100 nursing college students here, the majority from neighbouring Kerala, tested Covid positive in the past three days. Two are said to be in a critical condition at the district hospital.

This is a cause of concern for health officials and the government as Hassan town has become a Covid cluster with cases from three nursing colleges since Thursday. Except for a few, all the infected students are girls. On Thursday, 21 students from Nisarga Nursing College tested positive and 24 others came in contact with them. Of these 24, four tested positive on Saturday, health officials confirmed. All the 25 students are from the same college and stay in a PG accommodation.

After the outbreak, authorities tested around 1,800 students of all 10 nursing colleges in the town and over 100 were found infected. Of these, 90% are from Kerala and they had arrived in Hassan before July 27, an official said. On Friday, 37 students from Rajiv Nursing College and 24 students from Rathna Nursing College in Hassan town were infected and they’ve been isolated.

Officials are worried as students had gone to eateries and hotels in the past week. "Students in all hostels and paying guest houses will be tested. At first, students in colleges with more students will be tested from Monday", said District Health Officer Dr KM Sathish.

On Saturday, Hassan reported 129 fresh cases, which includes the students.

City student 3rd in India among girls in JEE Main

City student 3rd in India among girls in JEE Main

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:  8.8.2021

R Roshana from Chennai secured national level third rank among girl students in Joint Entrance Examinations (JEE) (Main) session-3 conducted from July 20 to 27. She secured 99.993 percentile in the exam.

The National Testing Agency (NTA) on Friday declared the results of the JEE (Main) exam results for the BE, BTech paper. More than seven lakh candidates throughout the state attended the exams from 334 cities including 12 cities outside the country. As many as 17 candidates scored 100 percentile at national level.

Roshana from Modern Senior Secondary School in Nanganallur said she had been preparing for the JEE exam for the last four years.

"I expected high marks, but was thrilled to score 296 out of 300 marks and get national level third rank among the girl students. With the high score in the third session, I will focus on JEE (Advanced)," she said.

She wants to pursue BTech in IITs and is interested in studying computer science or maths.

"Though the first two sessions were easy, my percentile in the first session was 99.83 and 99.62. In the third session, I scored better," she added.

Shankar Balajee S from Chettinad Vidhyashram in Chennai scored 99.996 percentile in the third session and emerged as topper in the state.

"I am interested in studying computer science at IIT. Though it was challenging to shift from offline mode to online mode, the coaching institute has provided us with adequate materials. I also prefer online mode as we were able to stick to our own schedule," he said.

B Pavan Kumar, deputy director, FIITJEE Chennai, said many students who appeared for the third session improved their JEE score as they had sufficient time due to the postponement of the exam. The top 2.5 lakh students in JEE will qualify to write the JEE (Advanced) exam scheduled on October 3.

Schools denying TC citing fee dues under HC fire

Schools denying TC citing fee dues under HC fire

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai: 8.8.2021

Schools that refuse to issue transfer certificates (TC) to students citing unpaid fee or any other reason will face contempt of court, said Madras high court.

Justice N Anand Venkatesh has made it clear that schools should independently workout remedies for such issues in the manner known to law, but the same can never be a reason to deny issuance of TC. “Students/parents must have absolute freedom to take a decision regarding the continuation of the education in the existing school or to get transfer to any other school. If any student applies for TC, the same must be issued within a one week from the date of receipt of the application,” the judge said.

If any school refuses to issue TC, a complaint can be made to the Chief Educational Officer (CEO) concerned and action shall be taken for violation of this order.

It shall be ensured that TC is issued to the student. If any such violation is brought to the notice of this court, this court will also initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against the school concerned for violation of the directions issued by this court, the judge added.

Justice Anand Venkatesh also made it clear that the directions are issued taking into consideration the pandemic situation and as and when the normalcy is restored, the enactments and regulations will take care of the transfer of students from one school to another.

The court also directed the commissioner of school education to issue a circular in this regard to all the schools within two weeks.

The court passed the orders on a plea moved by the United District Self Financing Schools Association, represented by its president S Prince Babu Rajendran.

The association wanted the court to forbear the school education department from permitting schools in admitting students s without transfer certificate from the members of the petitioner association where the students previously studied.