19 sacked staffers protest at Nimhans

19 sacked staffers protest at Nimhans

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:  02.09.2021

Alleging that their jobs were illegally terminated at Nimhans, 19 hospital assistants have been protesting on the hospital campus for the past two months. Sixteen of them are women. Nimhans, however, claimed they were from an outsourcing agency and were not employed by the hospital.

Nimhans Pragathipara Workers Union said hospital assistants employed in the radiology department had demanded a night drop in July since night curfew was in force and those on the second shift got off work only at 9.30pm. “The second shift was only till 7.30pm but it was extended to 9.30pm making it difficult for the women to get back home,” said M Basava Raj, general secretary of the union. “When they demanded a night drop, they were removed from work.”

The women have been demanding that they be reinstated. They stage a dharna every day, condemning the institute’s move which has cost them their jobs.

While the union claimed 19 women lost their jobs, Nimhans said 16 workers who were outsourced from an agency were protesting, and the hospital had nothing to do with it. “All the 16 workers belong to Vinayaka Enterprises, the outsourcing agency. None of these persons are employed by Nimhans and the institute does not have control over these workers,” the institute said in its release.

Raj, however, said: “The agency entered into a contract with Nimhans only in 2017, but 16 of the striking staffers were recruited long before that.”

NO WORK: Employees who were allegedly terminated from their jobs at Nimhans protest outside the hospital in Bengaluru on Wednesday

‘You can easily monitor blood pressure at home’

‘You can easily monitor blood pressure at home’

Dr Roopesh Singhal, MBBS, MD, DM, Cardiology, shares about things a patient should keep in mind while monitoring blood pressure at home, including position and time of measurement:

If you want to monitor your blood pressure regularly, you can easily do so at home using an automated or digital blood pressure machine. To accurately measure your blood pressure at home:

Place the cuff on your upper arm Relax your arm and place it on the arm of the chair or a table Press the button on the blood pressure machine to inflate the cuff and sit calmly without talking Jot down the result

TIPS FOR MEASURING YOUR RESTING BLOOD PRESSURE AT HOME:

Check the device’s accuracy. Before using a monitor for the first time, have your doctor check its accuracy against the office model

Don’t measure your blood pressure right after waking up

Avoid food, caffeine, tobacco and alcohol for 30 minutes before taking a measurement

Go to the bathroom beforehand, since a full bladder can elevate your blood pressure slightly

Before using the device, sit quietly for about 5 minutes in a comfortable position with your legs and ankles uncrossed and your back well-supported

Stay calm, avoid thinking about stressful things, and don’t talk to anyone while your blood pressure is being measured

Place the cuff on bare skin, not over clothing. Rolling up a sleeve until it tightens around the arm can result in an inaccurate reading

Wait for one to three minutes after the first reading, and then take another to check its accuracy

Contact no: 9099016535 Email : roopeshsinghal@gmail.com Address : The Heart Clinic, Akshat Multispeciality Hospital, 7th Floor, Medico house, Near Visat circle , Motera Ahmedabad- 380005 * Views expressed in the column are the sole responsibility of the expert

Dr Roopesh Singhal

Difficult to hold ’22 polls if EVMs not freed: EC

EVMs Locked As SC Extended Limitation Period To File Poll Petitions Due To Covid-19 Pandemic

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:02.09.2021

Uncertainty looms over next year's assembly elections in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur as the Election Commission moved the Supreme Court seeking timely release of EVMs and VVPATs used in state elections last year and this year, which are kept in safe custody in anticipation of filing of election petitions.

As per the statute, EVMs are to be kept untouched and safe for 45 days from the declaration of results, which is the time limit for a defeated candidate to file an election petition challenging the results. If no election petition is filed within the period of limitation (45 days), EVMs can be released for re-use in subsequent elections.

The problem faced by EC stems from an order of the Supreme Court which, keeping in mind the difficulties posed by the Covid pandemic, indefinitely extended the limitation period since the disease gripped the country from March last year.

This means, all election results declared within 45 days of the lockdown enforced in March last year due to the pandemic, would still be open for challenge by the defeated candidates. Thus, all the EVMs deployed for assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Delhi, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal could not be reused unless the SC fixed a specific time period for filing of election petitions concerning these polls.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh mentioned the EC's application before a bench headed by CJI N V Ramana and sought urgent an urgent hearing while conveying the anxiety of the poll panel about the uncertainty around next year’s state elections, given the fact that about 4.5 lakh EVMs, used in the assembly polls this year and last year, remain locked. The bench agreed to list the application as early as possible.

The EC, in its application filed through advocate Amit Sharma, said, "Every Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) used in an election and kept in the custody of the District Election Officer shall be kept untouched, under the standard protocol of security, tilt confirmation of election petition position from the high court concerned after the completion of the period for filing election petition, that is, 45 days from the declaration of the result."

"In the case of elections, where no election petitions have been filed or no other court cases are pending, after the aforesaid period of 45 days, EVMs may be used for any future election or any other purpose like movement, physical verification of EVMs. In case of any election where election petition has been filed, the following action shall be taken:- (i) If EVMs are the subject of the election petition, EVMs used at all polling stations in the constituency concerned shall continue to be kept in the safe custody of the District Election Officer, till such time the election petition is finally disposed of by the courts. (ii) If EVMs are not the subject of the election petition, an application may be moved to the court concerned for allowing EVMs concerned to be taken out of the strong room for any future election or any other purpose like movement, physical verification of EVMs etc," the EC said.

EC said for next year’s assembly elections in five states, 4.6 EVMs and 4 lakh VVPATs would be required. It said it has a stock of 1.4 lakh EVMs and one lakh VVPATs.

As per the statute, EVMs are to be kept safe for 45 days from the declaration of results, which is the time limit for a defeated candidate to file a petition challenging the results

Pandemic pushing more women into surrogacy

Pandemic pushing more women into surrogacy

Priyanka Chokhani TNN

02.09.2021

When the pandemic shut down their autoparts supply business in Maharashtra last year, Sheetal pawned her gold jewellery to repay debts. A lull in Covid-19 cases in the country brought the couple hope that income would pick up. Then, the second wave hit.

“This time, there was nothing left to sell or pawn,” said Rahul, Sheetal’s husband, who took up a job as a mechanic, but the pay was barely enough for their sustenance. Soon they were missing payments of their 8-year-old son’s school fees.

“We had heard about clinics where one could become a surrogate. We discussed it and Sheetal decided to become one. The money would keep us afloat until things get better,” said Rahul. His wife, 37, and three months pregnant, is currently a resident at Kiran Infertility Centre in Hyderabad.

Since the pandemic, the centre in Hyderabad has recorded “an exponential rise” in women approaching it to become egg donors or surrogates, according to Dr Samit Sekhar, executive director and embryologist at Kiran.

“Inquiries from women wanting to become surrogates have increased up to 10-fold during the pandemic. Earlier, we used to get two inquiries a day on average. Now we are getting up to 10 per day,” he told TOI.

Sekhar said that a survey of 100 women in the centre conducted last year had revealed that a majority of them had turned into donors or surrogates to make up for their husbands’ loss of income.

At the facility, surrogate mothers earn between 5 lakh to 6.5 lakh and stay at the clinic for the duration of their pregnancy so their health can be monitored and they can be provided a nutritional diet. To the couple seeking surrogacy services, the entire procedure can cost up to Rs 25 lakh.

In Gujarat, often referred to as India’s surrogacy capital, 29-year-old Chhaya has become a surrogate for the second time. The mother of two said her family fell on hard times after her husband lost his job as a waiter last year. “Agents who connect surrogates to clinics visit our area often and information on surrogacy is easily available. I have done this before so I knew what it would mean,” said Chhaya, who is five months pregnant and residing at Akanksha Hospital, one of the largest surrogacy centres in Anand.

(Names have been changed on request)

App & portal for OBC, EWS census in Chhattisgarh

App & portal for OBC, EWS census in Chhattisgarh

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Raipur:02.09.2021

Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel on Wednesday launched a mobile app and portal for the census of Other Backward Classes (OBC) and economically weaker sections of the society.

Baghel began the survey by registering his information on the app of Chhattisgarh Quantifiable Data Commission.

“The state government has taken several steps for the welfare of farmers, forest dwellers, labourers and landless people. OBC reservation was increased from 14% to 27% through an ordinance on September 4, 2019, and a provision of 10% reservation was made for economically weaker sections,” Baghel said.

The Quantifiable Data Commission was constituted when some people challenged this decision of state government in court and its implementation was stayed, said the CM.

UP cop who got gallantry medal caught taking bribe

UP cop who got gallantry medal caught taking bribe

Ishita.Mishr@timesgroup.com

Meerut: 02.09.2021

On Independence Day, inspector Vijenderpal Singh Rana turned up in his smartest uniform to receive UP police’s gallantry medal. Days later, on Wednesday, he was booked in his own thana, where he is posted as the SHO, for allegedly taking a bribe of ₹1 lakh to let off a man with a stolen truck.

A decorated officer, inspector Vijenderpal Rana was part of the police team — led by the then SP Ajay Sahni — that had shot dead Shiv Shakti Naidu, a dreaded gangster who had pulled off a sensational ₹8 crore heist in Delhi’s Lajpat Nagar in 2014. Kingpin of the notorious Naidu gang, he was killed on February 18 last year during an encounter. Sahni and Vijenderpal Rana were awarded the Police Gallantry Medal for the encounter on August 15. Vijenderpal Rana’s downhill slide from being a celebrated cop to an “absconding accused” was quick; it took him just 15 days.

3-member expert panel to look into flyover accident

3-member expert panel to look into flyover accident

Chennai:02.09.2021

The National Highways Authority of India has set up a three-member committee comprising experts from the National Institute of Technology, Trichy, the National Transport Planning and Research Centre, Thiruvananthapuram, and an independent expert to analyse the reasons for the accident at an under-construction flyover in Madurai that claimed the life of a guest worker.

The state government on Wednesday announced a solatium of ₹5 lakh to the family of N Akash Singh of Uttar Pradesh, who was killed in the accident on Saturday.

Three girders, each 35m long, under construction as part of four-laning of Madurai-Chettikulam section of NH-785, collapsed on Saturday. As per preliminary report, the accident was due to jack failure while fixing the bearing. The NHAI has appointed Alok Bhoumik, its advisor (technical), to assist the committee, an order said.

Responding to a special calling attention motion on the accident, state highways minister E V Velu said the negligence of the contractor was responsible for the accident that caused the death and injured another worker. “The Tallakulam police registered a case against the contract firm under Sections 287 (negligent conduct with respect to machinery) and 304A (causing death by negligence) of the IPC,” the minister said. TNN