TN CM Stalin encourages media to indulge in constructive criticism

TN CM Stalin encourages media to indulge in constructive criticism

Chennai:11.10.2021

Tamil Nadu chief minister MK Stalin on Sunday encouraged the media to indulge in constructive criticism of his government.

"I welcome constructive criticism by the media. At the same time, while it has the tendency to blow up small issues, it forgets to appreciate the positive measures undertaken by this government. Only those who tend to appreciate the good things reserve the right to criticise," Stalin said after unveiling the inaugural issue of 'Merchants of Madras', a weekly special page of The Times of India, at ITC Grand Chola.

“Government and politics have changed for the better in Tamil Nadu. The state has excellent human resources and offers a conducive atmosphere for establishing industries across sectors. This has to be propagated to the rest of India and the globe by media organisations like The Times of India,” Stalin said. The strengths of Tamil Nadu and the local businesses need to be highlighted, he added.

Highlighting the importance of the recently constituted CM’s economic advisory council, Stalin said the government is working towards achieving “inclusive growth for all people and communities”, which former Union finance secretary and member of the council S Narayanan termed as the ‘Dravidian model’.

He pointed out that Tamil Nadu is reeling from a debt of Rs 5 lakh crore and the state public sector undertakings (PSUs) have an additional burden of Rs 2 lakh crore. Only a handful of avenues offer scope for revenue generation as the Centre has, through GST, taken away the rights of the states to collect taxes. “Instead of depending on tax collections, we have to tap our own resources to strengthen ourselves and grow better,” he said, listing out several steps taken by his government on the industrial front, including an exclusive export strategy for the state and an export handbook for MSMEs. TNN

CBSE: Phase 1 of Board exams 2022 to begin soon

CBSE: Phase 1 of Board exams 2022 to begin soon

11.10.2021

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) class X and XII board exams 2022 are scheduled to be conducted in two phases. As the first phase will be held in November-December 2021, the datesheet of the same is expected to be released soon on the official website, cbse.gov.in and cbse.nic.in. As per an official from CBSE, candidates appearing for the multiple choice question (MCQ)-type first phase exams will be allowed to use only pens to mark the answers. At the same time, the OMR sheet will have an additional blank space for candidates to use if they want to change their answers, said the official. The first term practical exams will also be held by the respective schools, further said the official. All questions will be of equal marks, and candidates will get options to choose questions they wish to answer, the official said. CBSE schools have already submitted the list of candidates (LOC) for the board exam. The question papers in the term 1 board exam will be in the MCQ format, including case-based MCQs and assertion-reasoning MCQs. The duration of the exam will be 90 minutes. Each term will include 50% of the rationalised syllabus. Students can download the revised syllabus from the board's website. Term 2 exams are scheduled to be held between March and April 2022.

Pre-departure RT-PCR test a major headache

Pre-departure RT-PCR test a major headache

Ayyappan.V@timesgroup.com

Chennai:11.110.2021

Taking pre-departure rapid RT-PCR tests at Chennai airport’s international terminal, compulsory for those going to countries in the Middle East, especially the United Arab Emirates (UAE), has become a problem, with little social distancing.

Poor crowd control and a lengthy procedure involving paying money, offering samples and receiving reports make it a hassle. Those who have to reach the airport 5-6 hours before departure are forced to crowd in front of the counters to give samples and obtain the results between 12am and 5am for early morning flights. There are no Airports Authority of India (AAI) staff or Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel to regulate things. Online registration can be done, but the queue system is inefficient, say passengers. Arun B, who recently travelled to Dubai, said he had to wait for almost half an hour to collect a form for the rapid test. “People have to fill it up, stand in a queue to make payment and then go into another queue to give samples and then hang around for announcements to collect the report. The announcements are not clear, making people crowd around closer to listen.”

The payment of Rs 3,400 should be made online to save time, he said. “People are sometimes told to come back later after they reach the counter because they would have reached too early and some other passenger had to be given priority due to early flight timings. The worst part is the form filled manually has to be filled again online.” The entire purpose of the tests is defeated as it makes it a place to spread Covid, Arun added.

Basheer Ahmed of Chennai Metro Travels said the process is not done professionally. “There is an option to pay online but it is not easy. We have got inputs from passengers saying they had to go too early for the tests because of the crowd. There are around four flights early in the morning.” An AAI official promised to streamline the procedure and make it online. “Crowd control measures will be adopted. The test for arriving passengers too will be expanded to provide space because the number of flights has increased.”

No Covid deaths in Chennai for second consecutive day

No Covid deaths in Chennai for second consecutive day

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.10.2021

For the second consecutive day, not a single person in Chennai succumbed to Covid-19. Besides Chennai, another 29 districts in Tamil Nadu including Coimbatore reported no Covid-19 deaths on Sunday.

So far, a total of 35,783 have died of the virus in the state. This included 15 deaths reported on Sunday.

For more than two months, the state's case fatality ratio hasn't come down. It has hovered around 1.3%. It means for every 100 confirmed cases, at least one died of Covid-19.

But the number of fresh infections has continued to decline in Tamil Nadu. On Sunday, 1,329 tested positive for the virus.

Though Chennai reported the maximum number of cases (164), the test positivity rate (TPR) of the district remained unchanged at 0.8% this week, which was below the state's average of 0.9 %.

Coimbatore, which stood second on Sunday's infection chart with 157 fresh cases, has a slightly higher TPR of 1.3%. Erode is another western district with a similar TPR. Namakkal (64 new cases) in this region had the highest TPR of 2 % on Sunday.

"As the vaccine coverage has increased, the infection rate has reduced in 18 Tamil Nadu districts compared to last month and many were in western Tamil Nadu", said J Radhakrishnan, state health secretary.

However, those with fever should immediately contact the nearest hospital instead of self-medication, he told reporters on Sunday.

But on the flipside, the number of samples tested at TN labs has dropped last month. Earlier, it was above 1.55 lakh a day. But it has dropped to 1.4 lakh now.

HC upholds relief for accident victim’s kin

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Madurai:11.10.2021

The Madras high court has confirmed the compensation awarded to the family members of a car driver who was killed in a road accident when a government bus collided with his car in Sivaganga in November 2004.

Kannan was driving a car on Thirupathur-Sivaganga Road when the bus coming in the opposite direction collided with it, killing him on the spot. His family members moved the motor accidents claims tribunal for compensation. The tribunal directed the transport corporation to pay ₹17.07 lakh compensation to the victim’s family as the accident happened due to the rash and negligent bus driver. It was also asked to pay ₹40,000 to the car owner who also sought compensation. The transport corporation challenged both the orders before HC Madurai bench.

The standing counsel for the transport corporation submitted that the bus driver had stated that the accident occurred due to the negligence of the car driver against whom a criminal case was also registered. Without considering these facts, the tribunal had erroneously fixed negligence on the bus driver, he said.

A division bench of Justice V Bharathidasan and JusticeJ Nisha Banu observed that an eyewitness had stated that the accident had occurred due to the negligence of the bus driver. The evidence of the bus driver cannot be taken into consideration as he is an interested witness. The transport corporation did not examine any of the passengers on the bus to prove that the accident occurred due to the rash and negligent driving of the deceased. Therefore, the judges said the tribunal had rightly fixed the negligence on the part of the bus driver.

The judges observed that though the claimants, who are the widow, parents, minor child and unmarried brothers and sisters, are entitled to consortium of ₹40,000 each, the tribunal had not granted any amount to them.

The judges dismissed both the appeals by the transport corporation.

UGC asks all univs to campaign against single-use plastics

UGC asks all univs to campaign against single-use plastics

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:11.10.2021

The University Grants Commission on Friday asked universities and colleges to conduct impactful awareness campaign to avoid the single-use plastics as part of Centre’s ongoing Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav campaign.

“Awareness programmes to avoid single-use plastics have been identified as one of the themes for the campaign with a view to gather momentum, scale visibility and outreach,” UGC secretary Rajnish Jain said in a letter to the vicechancellors of all universities. The letter called for awareness on the recently notified Plastic Waste Management Amendment Rules, 2021, as well. The rules aim to phase out single-use plastics which have low utility and high littering potential by 2022.

53% absent for UPSC prelims exam in city

 53% absent for UPSC prelims exam in city

Chennai:11.10.2021

Of 28,422 candidates who registered for the Union Public Service Commission’s civil services preliminary exam from the city, only 13,216 candidates (47%) appeared for the exam on Sunday.

The exam, which was scheduled to be held on June 29, was postponed due to the Covid-19 second wave. Trainers said attendance varies each year depending on the vacancy and preparation of the candidates.

According to aspirants, the general studies paper on Sunday was a mixed one with less questions from current affairs and geography. “More than 20 questions were from history and few were from current affairs. Unusually, the UPSC asked three questions from sports,” a candidate said.

Another candidate said the questions were interpretative and not straight forward this year.

“The general studies paper was tougher than last year, the aptitude test was more or less the same,” said S Chandru, academic head, Shankar IAS Academy.

Israel Jebasingh, founder and director of Officers Training Academy, said the cut-off will be 96 or 97 marks out of 200, which will be slightly higher compared to last year. TNN