Kilambakkam bus terminus to open by March

EASING CONGESTION

Kilambakkam bus terminus to open by March

Broken Chairs, Illegal Parking And Ramshackle Facilities Are Common At Most MTC Bus Depots

Ram Sundaram TNN

21.09.2021

The Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) is likely to throw open a new bus terminus at Kilambakkam for public use by March 2022.

The terminus, which is being constructed for ₹397 crore, has more than a dozen toilet blocks, a waiting area with seats, escalators and can accommodate 245 government and private omni buses at a time. Around 3,000 private vehicles can be parked at in the complex.

Besides mofussil buses, CMDA has created separate bays and a depot for city buses. The MTC has already started operating buses from Kilambakkam and has partially shifted the base from Perungalathur to the new location.

The State Express Transport Corporation (SETC), which operates long-distance government buses, will no longer use CMBT, Koyambedu, from next year. Buses to southern districts like Madurai, Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari will leave from Kilambakkam.

However, several commuters have said the project has its own pitfalls. People living within the city have to spend more to reach the terminal. The nearest suburban station from Kilambakkam is at least 2 km away. If passengers choose a cab or auto, they will have to pay more.

A senior SETC official said getting down at Kilambakkam, which is 30 km from Koyambedu, and boarding another MTC bus in the wee hours is going to be tedious for many passengers.

The other problem is the delay in expanding Tambaram-Chengalpet highway (NH-45) along which the terminus is located. The NHAI is converting the existing four-lane into six-lane roads.

G Ganesh, a resident-activist from Singaperumalkoil, said, “If they (NHAI) don’t complete it before next March, it is going to chaos here. Already private buses and vans of industries in Oragadam are using NH-45 instead of Bengaluru highway in order to avoid the toll gate at Sriperumbudur. This coupled with more government buses on incomplete roads will make traffic congestion worst”.

Hi-tech tools help cops nab cyber crooks

Hi-tech tools help cops nab cyber crooks

City Digital Forensic Lab Got Busier Since First Lockdown

Ram Sundaram & Sindhu Kannan TNN

Chennai:21.09.2021

Last year, Kirthika* continuously received sleazy messages and nude photographs on her mobile phone from a stalker for nearly two months. The 16-year-old Chennai resident lodged a police complaint. The stalker deleted the messages and broke his mobile phone, believing he could go scot-free. But, using a highend data extraction tool procured by the Tamil Nadu Forensic Department, police managed to retrieve all the messages and media files. The stalker is now in jail.

Retrieving such deleted files from damaged electronic devices is possible due to Universal Forensic Extraction Device (UFED), a mobile tool available at Chennai Forensic House, Mylapore. The lab has other globally-accepted software tools such as EnCase, XRY and Magnet Axiom, which extract crucial evidence from not only mobile phones (Android and iOS) but also from storage devices (laptops, hard disks, pen drives and memory cards) and CCTV cameras.

Ever since the Covid-triggered lockdown, there has been a three-fold rise in the Prevention of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act and women harassment cases dealt by Chennai Forensic House. On an average, every month, the lab deals with at least 50 such cases a month. Earlier, it was less than 15, according to police data. In almost all these cases, the lab reports have helped police get the perpetrators convicted by courts.

“Though there are hundreds of open-source data extraction tools available in the market, only National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)-standard tools such as these are admissible in a court of law. Such tools are sold only to state enforcement agencies and we procured them three years ago using Tamil Nadu Innovative Initiative (TANII) funds,” said a senior forensic department official.

A senior scientist from the Chennai lab said data from a cell phone can be extracted using two methods: logical and physical. In the first method, the extraction tool interacts with the phone using its own programming language to retrieve calls and text logs, passwords to social media accounts, saved photos and videos. But it has limitations since deleted and password-protected files can’t be accessed. In the other method, deleted files can be extracted as the tools create a bit-by-bit replica of all the files in the phone, including hidden files in subfolders. Currently, UFED is the most preferred tool by the Chennai lab as it presents the extracted data in a searchable and user-friendly format.

“Despite using such highend tools, extracting and analysing data is becoming increasingly difficult as mobile manufacturers keep updating their products. The type of smartphone, OS and security features determine the amount of access to data. There is no guarantee that all data can be retrieved. But the forensic tool firms also keep updating their products at regular intervals to meet the challenge,” the scientist told TOI.

(*name changed)

Law student armed with shotgun kills 6 on Russian campus, 19 hurt

Law student armed with shotgun kills 6 on Russian campus, 19 hurt

It Is Second School Shooting This year

Moscow:21.09.2021

An 18-year-old law student wielding a pump-action shotgun went on a shooting spree on a Russian university campus on Monday, killing at least six people and wounding 19, according to state media, government officials and a university spokeswoman.

Students described scenes of chaos, saying they barricaded themselves in classrooms and waited in terror while hearing shots and screams in their building, Russian media reported. Others escaped by jumping from second-story windows and running away. Police published a video showing hallways and a stairway covered in broken glass, spent shotgun shells and blood. The gunman resisted arrest but was later wounded and taken into custody, law enforcement officials told local media. Ivan Pechishchev, a lecturer at the university, said that when he saw students jumping out of windows he thought there had been a fire. Pechishchev said he hid with students in an auditorium for more than an hour before they were told they could leave the building. “The city is shocked. I walked home because it was impossible to get a taxi,” he said.

RIA Novosti, a state news agency, posted videos showing a slender man dressed in black clothing, a black helmet and carrying a gun. He was identified as a student at Perm State University, where the shooting took place, about 1,046 km east of Moscow. The man had obtained the shotgun legally in May, the Investigative Committee law enforcement agency said, according to state media reports. A traffic police unit was the first to reach the scene, and the suspect opened fire on them, according to the interior ministry. He was wounded when police returned fire and then was disarmed, the ministry said. The gunman also was armed with a knife, it said. A member of parliament, Alexander Khinshtein, identified the gunman as an 18-year-old student in the university’s law faculty. The university said about 3,000 people were on the campus at the time of the shooting.

A lengthy social media post attributed to the gunman went up shortly before the attack on Monday, and local media published it. It was a misanthropic screed stretching to several pages, suggesting a lifelong fascination with violence. He did not hint at a political motive. Social media company Vkontakte blocked his account on Monday.

While still rare, school shootings have become more common in Russia in recent years. This was the second mass shooting at a Russian school this year. In May, an attacker killed seven students and two school employees in the Russian city of Kazan. That was Russia’s deadliest school shooting since 2018, when a student at a college in Russian-annexed Crimea killed 20 people before turning his gun on himself. Russia raised the minimum age for buying firearms from18 to 21 after the Kazan shooting, but the new law has yet to come into force. AGENCIES

Shocked students speak on their phones near the university in Perm on Monday. Russia has strict restrictions on civilian firearm ownership, but some categories of guns are available for purchase for hunting, self-defence or sport to those who meet specific requirements

All Indian students safe, says embassy

All Indian students studying at Russia’s Perm medical university are safe, the Indian embassy in Moscow said on Monday. “Shocked at horrific attack at Perm State University in Russia; our deep condolences for the loss of life and best wishes for early recovery of those injured,” the Indian embassy tweeted. “Embassy is in touch with local authorities and representatives of Indian students. All Indian students at Perm State Medical University are safe,” it said. PTI

Racist, bizarre: Indians slam UK travel rules

Racist, bizarre: Indians slam UK travel rules

21.09.2021

The UK’s new international travel rules came under fire in India with many terming the rules, which don’t recognise people vaccinated in India as being “fully vaccinated” and mandates a 10-day quarantine, “offensive”, “bizarre” and “racist”, reports Naomi Canton. Rajya Sabha member Jairam Ramesh tweeted: “Absolutely bizarre considering Covishield was originally developed in the UK and the Serum Institute, Pune has supplied to that country too! This smacks of racism.” A representative told TOI that the British high commission is in discussions with the Centre

7.5% quota: TN to pay full edu cost of govt students

7.5% quota: TN to pay full edu cost of govt students

Chennai:21.09.2021

The Tamil Nadu government would bear the entire education cost — tuition fees, hostel fees and counselling fees — of all government school students joining professional courses under the 7.5% quota, chief minister M K Stalin said on Monday.

Issuing admission letters to 50 students under special reservation in Anna University, Stalin said around 12,000 students would join engineering, agriculture, veterinary science, fisheries and law courses. “This will lead their families and the places to development, besides benefiting the state. I am proud to issue these admission letters,” Stalin said. TNN

BIG HELP: CM M K Stalin said 12,000 students would join engineering & other courses

Special quota is a rural development scheme, says Stalin

Among the beneficiaries, G Viswanathan got admission in electronics and communication engineering, while Monish K got admission in computer science engineering — both in College of Engineering, Guindy. They had lost their fathers many years ago and their families were struggling to make ends meet.

Viswanathan of Government Higher Secondary School in Anakaputhur and the topper among government school students with an aggregate of 197.9 marks, said the government bearing his education cost would ensure that he completes his studies. His sister has been the family’s sole bread-winner after their father, a watchman, died nine years ago.

Monish, another student from the same school who works part-time to support his family, said the announcement has come as a “huge relief” to his family. He was raised by his mother after his father died in 2015. His mother works at Chennai airport’s tollgate for a monthly salary of ₹5,000. He scored 195.75 marks to get the eighth rank among government school students.

Stalin said 69% of students of government schools came from villages and the special reservation has become a virtual rural development scheme. He recalled it was the DMK government headed by M Karunanidhi that cancelled entrance exams for medical and engineering courses as it had been blocking the entry of rural students in professional courses.

“The government is conducting a legal battle against NEET. Government orders issued to ensure social justice are laying the foundation for an equitable society,” he said. Asking the departments of school education and higher education to lay the foundation for Tamil society’s allround development, he said the present government’s tenure should become a golden period for higher education, professional education and research.

MD aspirants challenge change in NEET-SS exam question pattern

MD aspirants challenge change in NEET-SS exam question pattern

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:21.09.2021

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the National Board of Examinations, National Medical Commission and the Centre within a week on a petition filed by doctors challenging the NMC’s arbitrary last-minute decision to change subject-wise distribution of marks in the question papers for the NEET-Super Speciality 2021 exam, the gateway for MD course admissions.

Appearing for the 41 postgraduate doctors, who are intending to appear for the NEET-SS examination scheduled for November 13/ 14, senior advocate Shyam Divan told a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna that the NMC without authority effected changes in the rules of the game after the play has commenced.

Divan said that the examination dates were announced on July 23 and the aspirants began their preparations suiting to the pattern of the question papers and subject-wise distribution of marks as was announced in 2018 and continued for the years 2019 and 2020.

By this uncalled for change in pattern of questions, announced on August 31, the National Medical Commission has changed the rules of the game after the play has begun, he said.

The bench issued notices to NBE, NMC and Centre and sought their responses within a week. The petitioner doctors through advocate Javedur Rehman have challenged the abrupt last-minute changes made to the exam pattern/scheme, when the NEET-SS 2021 exams were just two months away. National Medical Commission does not have any power to change the pattern of questions and mark allocations, Rehman said.

Rehman said the aspirants have been preparing in terms of the pattern that has been in place for the last three years, when the sudden change in pattern/ scheme was made public.

Full report on www.toi.in

Reopening of schools entirely for state govts to decide, says SC

Reopening of schools entirely for state govts to decide, says SC

Dhananjay.Mahapatra@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:21.09.2021

Advising a student petitioner to concentrate on his studies, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain his PIL seeking immediate physical reopening of schools and said it would not enter into decision-making on resumption of offline academic activities, which fell exclusively within the domain of the executive.

Asking senior advocate Ravi P Mehrotra to tell his young client, class XII student Amar Prem Prakash, to focus on his studies, a bench of Justices D Y Chandrachud and B V Nagarathna said it is imperious on the part of a student in Delhi to demand immediate decision by governments to reopen physical schools in a time bound manner when the entire country does not know whether or not the third wave of the Covid pandemic is on the anvil or not.

“It is a misplaced PIL if not a publicity-seeking petition. The distribution of the severity of the Covid pandemic is not the same in all states. Does the situation in Kerala match with that of West Bengal or for that matter Delhi? How the Supreme Court can issue an omnibus order directing reopening of schools?” it asked. “As we read in newspapers and various other sources, the third wave may not be as severe as the second. The vaccination is going on apace. But, we cannot equate the pandemic situation in Kerala with that of Karnataka or West Bengal or for that matter Delhi. Some states, depending on the waning of the pandemic, are gradually reopening the schools. Let us leave the decision in this regard to the state governments. Even within a state, the pandemic situation may not be uniform. Some districts may have a high infection rate while in others it may be mild. What should be done about reopening of schools, must be left to the governments,” the bench said.

Full report on www.toi.in