With NEET tomorrow, states too have a test

With NEET tomorrow, states too have a test

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:11.04.2021

Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan has written to all the chief ministers seeking their support in conducting the largest single shift competitive exam in India—the NEET-UG scheduled for September 12, Sunday.

With a record 16.14 lakh candidates having registered and in keeping with the Covid-19 situation and protocols the number of centres have been doubled to 3,858 and candidates have been allotted different entry times to ensure staggered entry.

The National Testing Agency has also issued an advisory on its website on Friday and has mailed the same to the candidates. Meanwhile, the ministry of education has also written to the chief secretaries of all the states/ UTs to permit mobility to the candidates on the basis of the admit card in case there are Covid restrictions in place.

NTA also warned candidates against falling prey to messages on WhatsApp claiming that the leaked question paper can be accessed on payment of a certain sum of money. “NTA would like to advise the students to desist from trusting such a fake platform. The exam is secure and it’s a way to fleece the students. The agency will also approach appropriate authorities for action on such activities,” said Vineet Joshi, director general, NTA.

In his letter to the CMs, Pradhan said: “We have recently seen the second wave of Covid-19 and conducting an examination of this magnitude in this background requires support of all stakeholders.

Now, use CoWin API to know others’ vax status

Now, use CoWin API to know others’ vax status

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:11.09.2021

To facilitate faster reopening of economic activities while also ensuring safety of people during the pandemic, CoWin has launched a new software interface (API) that will make it easier for organisations to know the vaccination status of their employees and customers.

On this API, “Know Your Customer’s/Client’s Vaccination Status”, or KYC-VS, one just needs to enter the individual’s mobile number and name. Thereafter, the individual will get a one-time password (OTP) which he/she will have to enter. CoWin will send a response to the verifying entity on the individual’s status of vaccination. The response will indicate whether the person is not vaccinated (denoted by ‘0’), partially vaccinated (denoted by ‘1’) or fully vaccinated (denoted by ‘2’).

The new feature is consent-based and privacy-preserving, the health ministry said on Friday.

CoWin is already issuing a digitally verifiable certificate as a proof of vaccination. This certificate can be saved on a digital device like smartphone, tablet, laptop or stored in Digi-Locker from where it can be digitally shared as and when required.

However, there may be instances where an entity does not need to see the certificate in full and would just need to know whether an individual has been vaccinated. For instance, employers may want to know the vaccination status of their employees to resume work from offices. Similarly, hotels may want to know the vaccination status of their customers. The API may also be used for railway reservation and flight bookings.

“There is a need for an Aadhaa rlike authentication service for the status of vaccination through CoWin. To take care of these cases and others that may come up, CoWin has developed a new API called ‘Know Your Customer’s/Client’s Vaccination Status’ or KYC-VS,” the ministry said.

Nearly 73 crore vaccine doses have been administered so far. This response through KYC-VS will be digitally signed and can be shared instantly with the verifying entity.

Punjab to send unvaccinated on leave

Punjab to send unvaccinated on leave

Chandigarh:11.09.2021

Punjab CM Amarinder Singh announced on Friday that state government employees failing to take even the first dose of a Covid vaccine for any reason other than medical will be compulsorily sent on leave after September 15.

This strong measure, an official statement said, was announced by chief minister Singh to protect the people of the state from the disease and to ensure that those who are vaccinated do not have to pay the price for continued vaccine hesitancy of those who are not.

At a high-level virtual Covid review meeting held on Friday, the CM said vaccine effectiveness is evident from the data being analysed. Special efforts were taken to reach out to government employees, and those who continue to avoid getting vaccinated will now be asked to go on leave till they get the first dose, he said. Singh also ordered extension of the existing Covid restrictions till September 30. PTI

NIRF Medical Rankings Released: Check Out 10 Best Medical Colleges In India

NIRF Medical Rankings Released: Check Out 10 Best Medical Colleges In India

By Garima Published On 9 Sep 2021 5:07 PM | Updated On 9 Sep 2021 5:07 PM

New Delhi: The ranking of top medical colleges across the country, based on the government's National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF), has been released today by the Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan.

According to the NIRF rankings 2021, the premier healthcare institution of the country, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi got rank number 1 with a score of 92.07; AIIMS was adjudged as the number 1 institute last year as well with a score of 90.69.

The Post Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh (PGIMER) bagged the second position with 82.62 score and Christian Medical College (CMC Vellore) got the third rank with 75.33.

As per NIRF 2020 list last year, the PGIMER had got 80.06 and CMC Vellore 73.56. All the top 3 institutes haveX increased the score by around 2 points this year.

Similar to last year, the National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences, Bangalore (NIMHANS) has bagged the 4th position with a 73.62 score by the ministry. Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow (SGPGI) comes at 5th rank with a score of 72.45; last year it was 70.21. The institute had applied for NIRF for the first time in the year 2019.

Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore Tamil Nadu is a new entry to the list. The institute bagged the 6th rank with a 69.25 score in its hand.

The Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi (BHU) has slipped down to 7th rank. Last year it had got the 6th position with a 64.72 score. However, this year, the institute had improved its overall score by around 3 points with getting 67.62 from the Ministry.

The Jawaharlal Institute of Post Graduate Medical Education & Research, Puducherry (JIPMER), similar to last year, stays at 8th rank. This time it has got a score of 67.42 compared to last year's 63.17.

While King George's Medical University, Lucknow (KGMU) which had got the 10th rank in 2020 with 62.20, has jumped to 9th position this year with an improved score of 64.67; Kasturba Medical College, Manipal has got the Rank 10 compared to last year's 9th. The medical college has this year got 63.60 score, last year it was 62.84.

The NIRF is the annual Indian ranking that rates various institutes based on the parameters set by the organization includes the best colleges in the fields of engineering, medical, and MBA, including the top universities. This framework outlines a methodology to rank institutions across the country. The methodology draws from the overall recommendations broad understanding arrived at by a Core Committee set up by the Ministry of Education, to identify the broad parameters for ranking various universities and institutions. The parameters broadly cover "Teaching, Learning and Resources," "Research and Professional Practices," "Graduation Outcomes," "Outreach and Inclusivity," and "Perception".

IIT-Madras ranked best institution, IISc top univ

IIT-Madras ranked best institution, IISc top univ

Manash.Gohain@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:10.09.2021

Continuing its good run for the third year in a row, IIT-Madras has topped the ‘India Rankings 2021’ released by the ministry of education on Thursday, while in the colleges category Delhi’s Miranda House and Lady Shri Ram College for Women retained the first and second positions among the top 100. IIT-Madras retained top position in the ‘engineering’ and ‘overall’ categories.

Among the universities, IISc-Bangalore is ranked number one, followed by Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). In the research category, that was introduced this year, IISc-Bangalore emerged topper and IITMadras second.

This is the sixth edition of the India Rankings instituted by the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) by the ministry of education, which now ranks higher education institutions in 11 categories.

Poor performance by Guj in overall rankings

The poor performance of Gujarat in the latest NIRF ranking continued into 2021. IIT Gandhinagar (IIT-Gn) ranked 33 in the ‘overall’ national ranking announced on Thursday, Gujarat University (GU) ranked 43rd in the ‘Universities’ category. The only saving grace for Gujarat was performance of institutions in various categories. TNN P 5

Tamil Nadu has 19 institutions in top 100 Indian universities

Number of unique applicants to the rankings have increased from 2,426 in 2016 to 4,030 in 2021 whereas the total number of applications for ranking in various categories have increased from 3,565 in 2016 to 6,272 in 2021.

Stating that IISc is the benchmark in research, which IIT-Madras will work towards, professor Bhaskar Ramamurthi, director, IIT-Madras, said, “We are delighted to maintain our pre-eminent position in the NIRF rankings yet again which indicate that we are constantly improving in all the parameters. In fact, all the institutions are improving which is a good thing. IIT-Madras continues to excel in teaching, research, and innovation, and has launched several new initiatives to implement the National Education Policy (NEP).” While not much have changed in terms of the rankings of the top institutions in the category of overall, engineering, law, medical and management, the college category has maximum changes with Loyola College (3), St Xavier’s Kolkata and Ramakrishna Mission Vidyamandira, Howrah (5) breaking into the top five for the first time. However, Delhi University, which itself has not featured in the overall and university top10, has five of its colleges in the top10 and12 in the top 20 categories. There are 28 colleges in the top 100 from Delhi, followed by eight each from Chennai and Coimbatore.

Region-wise, Tamil Nadu has 19 institutions in top 100 universities, followed by Maharashtra with12 and10 from Karnataka. In the overall category too the numbers are same for Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. However, Delhi with seven in top 100 overall pips Karnataka with third highest numbers of institutions in this category.

HC: Freezing of bank a/cs would affect right to life

HC: Freezing of bank a/cs would affect right to life

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:10.09.2021

Freezing of bank accounts would affect the right to life under Article 21 of the Constitution, the high court has observed.

Justice Mohammed Nawaz made this observation while allowing a petition filed by Narayana Yadav, a New Delhi-based businessman, and directed the CEN police station at Yadgir to intimate the banks to defreeze his accounts. The defreezing is subject to the petitioner-businessman abiding by his commitment to give a bank guarantee for a sum of ₹3.7 lakh, the court said.

Yadav had challenged the June 22, 2020 notice issued by police, directing the manager of Axis Bank to freeze his account and linked account numbers, four in all.

The action was based on a complaint from Ludra Mary, a resident of Shahpur in Yadgir, who alleged that she received a mail on May 27, 2020 stating that she had won ₹48.5 lakh lottery. To get hold of the same, she had to log in to a certain website. Accordingly, she entered the password and the user name provided and filled up the information requested. In response, she was asked to deposit a certain amount to the account numbers provided. Until June 10, 2020, a total of ₹3.7 lakh was deposited in those accounts, but thereafter Ludra did not get the promised money.

Full report on www.toi.in

Covid vaccines 97% effective in preventing deaths: Tracker data

Covid vaccines 97% effective in preventing deaths: Tracker data

Also Helps To Monitor Reinfection & Breakthrough Infection After Vax

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:10.09.2021

Anti-Covid vaccines available in India are around 97% effective in preventing mortality, whereas vaccination significantly reduces hospitalisation, the assessment of real time vaccination data captured by the ‘Covid Vaccine Tracker’ has revealed. The soon-to-belaunched tracker also provides data for the government to monitor reinfection and breakthrough infection after vaccination, officials said.

Analysis of data shows that a single dose of Covid vaccine is 96.6% effective in preventing death, whereas two shots provide a 97.5% shield, ICMR director Balram Bhargava said. The data is for the April-August period and does not distinguish between the different Covid vaccines currently being administered in the country, he added.

“The vaccines are diseasemodifying in that they prevent serious disease and death. They are not diseasepreventing. So, breakthrough infections will occur even after the vaccination and that is why we keep on recommending that even after vaccination one must continue to use mask and adhere to Covid-appropriate behaviour,” Bhargava said.

The tracker combines data from CoWIN, the national Covid-19 testing database and the Covid-19 India portal of the health ministry to understand trends in vaccinations. “The data so far has shown the same effectiveness across all age groups in preventing mortality,” Bhargava said.

Meanwhile, the causality assessment details of 88 reported serious adverse events following Covid immunisation shows 61 have consistent causal association to vaccination. Of these 61 cases, 37 were vaccine product related reactions, whereas 22 were immunization anxiety related reactions. Two cases were immunization error related reactions.

Apart from these 61 cases, another 18 have inconsistent causal association to vaccination (coincidental — not linked to vaccination) including three death cases. The remaining nine cases (of the 88) were in the “indeterminate category” including two death cases, says the AEFI report, approved by its national committee on June 28.

Currently, Serum Institute of India’s Covishield constitutes majority of the doses administered in the country, followed by Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin that is gradually increasing supplies. Russia’s Sputnik V is also being administered.