MUHS declares postgraduate, diploma results in six days

MUHS declares postgraduate, diploma results in six days

Ranjan.Dasgupta@timesgroup.com

Nashik:17.09.2021

Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) on Wednesday night declared the results of the summer 2021 post graduate (allopathy) and diploma (medical) offline examinations, just six days after the completion of the exams.

As many as 2,150 students had appeared for these exams and the pass percentage was over 95%. In the previous exam too the pass percentage was around 95% among about 2,000 students who had appeared.

MUHS authorities said this is one of the shortest periods in recent times that the examination department has announced the exam results.

“We were able to announce the results within six days due as the evaluation of the answer scripts started immediately after completion of the theory papers on August 23. We requested all examiners to complete checking the answer scripts as soon as possible. Each answer script is checked twice by two different examiners,” the university’s controller of examination, Dr Ajit Pathak, told TOI.

Pathak said acting vicechancellor, Nitin Karmalkar, had been guiding the examination department to declare the results speedily. Moreover, the department’s officials and staff worked even on holidays.

Govt puts cap on vehicle price, no high-end cars for university bigwigs

Govt puts cap on vehicle price, no high-end cars for university bigwigs

Hemali.Chhapia@timesgroup.com

Mumbai:17.09.2021

The state government has capped the price for purchasing automobiles for university authorities. A government resolution to that effect has been passed and the upper limit for a vehicle for a vicechancellor (VC) has been set at Rs 12 lakh, which includes the cost of installing additional accessories and services. Similarly, the expenditure limit for a pro vice-chancellor’s car is Rs 10 lakh.

The GR caused ripples in the academic circles with heads of universities making frantic calls to Mantralaya to find out whether the rules would be applicable retrospectively too. “We have issued a resolution to ensure that university heads do not splurge on cars. After all, this money is collected from students’ fees,” minister for higher and technical education Uday Samant told TOI. “VCs are on a par with state secretaries and after due diligence, my team has issued the expenditure limit that all university authorities need to adhere to.”

VCs who have been enquiring regarding the application of rules on purchases already made, may have to wait for clarity. “The matter on whether university heads should personally pay the difference between the cost incurred and what is permitted for a car is pending before the higher education secretary,” said Samant.

Interestingly, the minister who toured several state universities noticed that most VCs had purchased very high-end vehicles “Our cabinet ministers travel in a car costing Rs 12 lakh. Our state’s chief secretary has a car costing Rs 15 lakh. But our VCs are traveling in cars ranging from Rs 45 lakh to Rs 60 lakh. We were worried that if a GR is not put in place, we will find VCs travelling in vehicles that will cost a crore,” said a source from the ministry.

Couple get twins on same date that their 2 kids died

Couple get twins on same date that their 2 kids died

Umamaheswara.Rao@timesgroup.com

Visakhapatnam:20.09.2021

T Appala Raju and Bhagyalakshmi, residents of Vizag, had lost both their daughters in one of Andhra’s worst boat accidents in the Godavari on September 15, 2019. About 50 people had drowned in the accident, the two little girls aged 3 and 1 were among the victims.

Exactly two years after the accident, on September 15, 2021, Bhagyalakshmi gave birth to twins. As fate would have it, both are daughters. The couple says it is God’s blessing to have twins on the same day they lost their daughters. Tragedy had hit Appala Raju and his family when a doubledecker launch had capsized after it was caught in a whirlpool midstream.

T Appala Raju & Bhagyalakshmi with their twins in Vizag

‘Newborns even have same features as of deceased sisters’

The couple had cancelled their trip at the last minute after Appala Raju, 32, , an employee in a glass manufacturing company, complained of uneasiness. However, they sent their two daughters, Geetha Vaishnavi, 3, and Dhatri Ananya, 1, with relatives for pilgrimage to the Sri Rama temple at Bhadrachalam on the banks of the Godavari. In all, there were 11 members from four families related to Appala Raju. Of them, only one had survived. Even as the tragedy continued to haunt the couple, on September 15, exactly two years after the mishap, Bhagyalakshmi, 28, was blessed with the twins.

Bhagyalakshmi told STOI, “The newborns even have the same features as of their (deceased) sisters. Both babies are doing well,” said Bhagyalakshmi. TNN

18-yr-old girl poisons family to elope with lover in Surat

THREE BOOKED

18-yr-old girl poisons family to elope with lover in Surat

Executed Plan 2 Days After Her 18th Birthday

Yagnesh.Mehta@timesgroup.com

Surat:20.09.2021

Police booked three persons including an 18-year-old girl on Friday for allegedly poisoning her family to elope and marry her boyfriend. The girl was waiting to turn into a major to marry her lover and two days after her birthday, she poisoned her parents and brother and eloped. Police booked the girl, her ‘husband’ and his father as well.

Based on a complaint by the girl’s father Dipak Vanzara, Dindoli police booked Khushbu (18), her husband Sachin (22) and his father Ashok More (49) for causing hurt by means of poison and conspiracy.

Vanzara had lost his job during lockdown as an contractual employee in an industrial unit in Hazira.

Police arrested Ashok, a property broker, on Saturday while his unemployed son, Sachin, and Khushbu are on the run. Police suspect that the duo of taking shelter at a relative’s place. A police team is in search of the accused couple.

Investigation revealed that the two families lived in the same society in Dindoli where the two accused developed friendship.

Even in an earlier instance, Khushbu, who quit studies after class X, had eloped with Sachin around two years ago. After the duo was found at the home of Sachin’s relative, Khushbu was brought back home as she was still a minor. Her parents were against their relationship.

More family, meanwhile, shifted to another area and they also sold off their house to repay debt but the families stayed in touch.

According to the police, “Two days after Khushbu’s 18th birthday, she planned to elope with her lover and the duo plotted to make her parents unconscious and escape from home on September 12. She bought some tablets from a medical store and mixed it with dough to feed her family aloo paratha,” said an officer in Dindoli police station.

In the evening, she fed the entire family food with the medicine-laced dough but refused to eat herself. When her parents asked, she claimed she wasn’t feeling hungry. A little later, when the family members started to feel dizzy and were unconscious, Ashok came to pick Khushbu up on a motorcycle and she eloped with Sachin.

The father of the girl woke up late and uneasy the next morning and found his daughter missing from home. He woke up his wife and son who too were feeling uneasy.

Meanwhile, Vanzara received a call from Dindoli police station and was asked to come there. Police informed him that his daughter had come to the police station along with her new husband after getting her marriage registered.

“She came to inform the police about her marriage and be allowed to go with her husband as she was major now,” said the police.

After this, Vanzara’s condition deteriorated and he along with other family members had to be admitted to the hospital.

After recovery, he approached the police and lodged a formal complaint.

Court orders govt to return medico’s papers

Court orders govt to return medico’s papers

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:20.09.2021

The Gujarat high court ordered the state government to return original documents to a medical student after completion of his MBBS studies. The documents were withheld over him not submitting a bond of Rs 2 lakh during his studies in lieu of one-year service in rural areas.

While directing the authorities to return the documents to Neil Ramesh Patel, who was admitted to a GMERS college in 2015, Justice Bhargav Karia told the government lawyer, “You cannot retain original documents for any fault committed by the student.” The judge was of the view that there is no rule that empowers the government to withhold original documents, and the rules stipulate that the government has to return documents as soon as the admission process gets over.

The student was against executing the bond since the beginning, and his medical studies were completed without having tendered the bond.

The government did not return his documents including marksheets and certificates. The student’s father moved the high court complaining that the government’s withholding of his son’s original documents and not issuing him a certificate for his medical studies would adversely affect his son’s career immediately, particularly his plans to go abroad.

The state government tried to defend its withholding of the documents and argued that returning them would set a bad example. To this, Justice Karia said, “This will rather set a correct example for all institutes, that they cannot withhold students’ documents.” After the high court assumed this strict posture, the government conceded and told the court that the district collector would initiate proceedings against the student for recovery of the bond amount.

This did not go down well with the court, and the judge said that the authority can do anything permissible under law for recovery, but it has no right to retain the student’s documents. It cannot ruin the student’s career without any reason, particularly for its own fault to execute the bond at the beginning of the course.

11-year-old becomes collector for a day

FIGHTING TUMOUR

11-year-old becomes collector for a day

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Ahmedabad:20.09.2021

She is 11 years old and is battling brain tumour. But Flora Asodiya has let neither her age nor her condition pull back her ambition. Flora’s wish to become a collector came true on Saturday as she held the position of the Ahmedabad district collector for a day.

Flora rode from her house at Sargasan on the outskirts of Gandhinagar to the collectorate in the official car of the district collector. She was given the ceremonial guard of honour at the entrance. She was taken to the collector’s chamber, where district collector Sandip Sagale himself made her sit in the chair of power.

Assuming the role of the district collector, Flora distributed certificates to beneficiaries under ‘Vhaali Dikri’ and ‘Vidhva Sahay’ schemes. For her contribution to the bureaucracy, she was gifted a doll set and a tablet. Earlier, all the collectorate employees had got together to cut a cake to celebrate her arrival. “My daughter studies in Class 7 and has always dreamt of becoming a collector,” said her mother Sonal Asodiya. Apurva Asodiya, Flora’s father, said: “We had become very distressed after discovering her ailment. We thank the collectorate for helping her fulfill her aspiration.” Sagale got to know of Flora through Make a Wish Foundation.

‘Online Mode Means Results Not Reflection Of Quality’

332 engg colleges bag 84% pass in ’20

‘Online Mode Means Results Not Reflection Of Quality’

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:20.09.2021

As many as 332 engineering colleges affiliated to Anna University got a pass percentage above 84% in the November/December 2020 exams. This is in contrast to the November/December 2019 exam when PSG Institute of Technology and Applied Research in Coimbatore secured a pass of 83.8%, the highest that year.

While a mere 57 colleges got above 50% pass in 2019, 400 of 411 colleges got above 50% pass in 2020, according to the academic performance released by Anna University on Saturday.

Experts say the results are not a true reflection of the quality of students and colleges and that they were boosted due to the unsupervised online exams conducted in July. After Anna University conducted a proctored online test in February, the higher education department ordered it to conduct a re-exam following complaints from students.

The results of the exam in the April/May 2020 semester were even higher as the government declared students of the first three years all-pass in view of Covid-19. As many as 30 colleges got 100% results and 412 of 441 got above 90% pass and only two colleges registered less than 70%.

Principals said the high pass percentage in 2020 will make more students eligible for campus placements in 2021-22. “Usually, we will have 60%-70% of final year students with all pass and be eligible for the screening process for campus placements. This year, we have around 90% of final year students eligible for campus placements due to inflated results,” a principal from a city college said.

R M Kishore, vice-chairman of RMK Engineering College, said the absence of an exam-like environment and unsupervised tests resulted in the surge in pass percentage, but added that that it will not impact campus recruitment. “Recruiters have their own screening process and will not consider semester exam marks while selecting candidates. They have their own recruitment tests,” he said.

Former vice-chancellor of Anna University E Balagurusamy said the results are not a true reflection of the performance of students and colleges. “Anna University should have avoided publishing these results on the website as it will mislead the engineering aspirants and public. The exams were not conducted in a proper form and it was mass copying. The 100% results shows the process of examination and evaluation is wrong. They should return to normal physical mode exams for next semester and if it is unavoidable, they should go for proctored online tests,” he added.