Aus among 16 countries to OK Covaxin for entry

Aus among 16 countries to OK Covaxin for entry

02.11.2021

Australia will recognise Covaxin, apart from Covishield, allowing those fully jabbed entry into the country, reports Saurabh Sinha. While WHO’s emergency use listing is awaited, some of the 16 countries that have recognised Covaxin include Estonia, Greece, Iran, Mauritius, Mexico, Nepal, Oman, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe

13.7L files cleared out, 8L sq ft space freed

GOVT OFFICES

13.7L files cleared out, 8L sq ft space freed

New Delhi:  02.11.2021

In a massive weeding exercise, over 13.73 lakh files were cleared out and almost 8 lakh square feet of space freed in central government offices over the past month, as part of a special campaign for disposal of pendency from the government of India.

Minister of state for personnel Jitendra Singh, who on Monday reviewed the outcome of the special campaign launched on October 2, said that the government earned Rs 40 crore through disposal of scrap during this period. At the review meeting with top officials of department of administrative reforms and public grievances (DARPG) on outcome of the campaign here on Monday, Singh noted with satisfaction that more than 13.73 lakh files were weeded out of 15.23 lakh files identified for the purpose. Similarly, against the target of 3.28 lakh public grievances, 2.91 lakh were redressed within 30 days.

Out of 11,057 references from MPs, 8,282 were resolved. Moreover, 685 out of 834 identified rules and processes were simplified during the said period. Singh said the special campaign on disposal of pendency in government was conducted on the directions of the PM and the progress will be presented to him this week. He informed that during this campaign, files of temporary nature were identified and weeded out.

Bankers question arrest of ex-SBI chairman Chaudhuri

Bankers question arrest of ex-SBI chairman Chaudhuri

Feel It’ll Raise Fears Of Sanctioning Loans, Initiating Recovery

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Mumbai/New Delhi:  02.11.2021

Bankers have come out in support of Pratip C Chaudhuri, the former SBI chairman, and have questioned the way he was arrested in a case involving Alchemist Asset Reconstruction Company and an aggrieved borrower.

“Prima facie, it appears that the norms have been ignored. This is not the way it is done, without giving an opportunity to a person to be heard... It does not appear to be a case of corruption,” former SBI chairman Rajnish Kumar told TOI. He said that the case involved a dispute between an ARC and the property owner and one person seems to have been singled out. “It is not about an individual. Today it is him, tomorrow it may be someone else,” Kumar added.

Arundhati Bhattacharya, who succeeded Chaudhuri and was the first woman to head the country’s largest bank, too backed her former boss.

Ironically, the arrest came a day after the finance ministry’s norms on uniform staff accountability framework for non-performing assets (NPA) accounts of over Rs 50 crore, meant to protect bankers from bona fide business decisions that prove wrong later. Bankers have been wary of action by law enforcement agencies, prompting several of them to go slow in sanctioning loans, a concern that had prompted even PM Narendra Modi to step in and comfort them.

“Absolutely pathetic, is the system being gamed again by defaulters despite all efforts by Modi govt, time for overhaul of judicial processes to improve transparency and introduce accountability,” tweeted former SBI deputy MD Sunil Srivastava. Reacting to Kumar’s comments to a news platform, Mohandas Pai took to social media to seek government intervention.

Several bank executives said that Chaudhuri’s arrest will once again raise fears, not just in sanctioning loans but even in the recovery process, where lenders and borrowers often opt for settling the dues and waive the penal interest. SBI sources alleged that the borrower has sought to frustrate the bank’s attempts to recover the dues for a long time. Executives also pointed out that given the size of the transaction, it is unlikely that it would have been Chaudhuri’s decision. “Also, even in smaller loans, it is never one person who decides on the recovery action” an SBI executive said.

“If a defaulter can send a former bank chairman to jail on an allegation, how can bankers be expected to do this? The government has repeatedly assured us that authorities cannot pick up a banker without reason. The case has been filed just before the courts are closed for Diwali — this appears to be premeditated,” said a senior banker.

Biometric entry for central staff to resume from November 8

Biometric entry for central staff to resume from November 8

New Delhi:02.11.2021

With Covid cases on the decline, the Union government on Monday ordered resumption of biometric attendance for all its employees from November 8.

Biometric attendance, which involves pressing one’s fingers on a scanner, was discontinued across central government offices since last year, as a precautionary measure against Covid. Attendance was instead being maintained through physical registers.

An order issued by the department of personnel and training said the matter had been reviewed and “it has been decided to resume biometric attendance for all levels of employees”, with effect from next Monday. It added that the heads of departments would be responsible for ensuring sanitisers next to biometric machines. Also, physical distance of six feet must be maintained by all employees while marking attendance and if need be, additional biometric attendance machines may be installed to avoid overcrowding.

Asking all employees to wear masks at all times, including while waiting to mark their attendance, DoPT said designated personnel should be deployed near biometric stations to clean/wipe the touchpad/ scanner areas of biometric scanners frequently. TNN

NEET results: Leena is only student from state in top 25

NEET results: Leena is only student from state in top 25

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Jaipur:02.11.2021

Leena Khandelwal  was the only student from the state to secure a place in the top 25 in the National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), the results of which were announced on Monday. With AIR 23, she is all set to join an elite medical institution.

Alwar resident Leena will be the first doctor in her family. She secured 710 out of 720 marks in the exam. She said she believed in her capabilities and prepared for NEET from NCERT syllabus. “Preparations done with similar type of study materials, notes, modules and NCERT syllabus is enough. I believe that if we prepare with the one type of study materials constantly, then we can score better. If you use different study materials or books, you tend to get confused,” said Leena.

The last two years have been challenging for everyone because of the pandemic. Coming to online classes after offline classes caused some problems in the beginning for Leena but she soon adjusted to the system. Leena was a classroom student from Allen Career Institute for the last two years.

Uttar Pradesh resident Aman Tripathi, who secured AIR 4, was studying in Kota for the last three years.

A classroom student of Allen Career Institute Kota, Aman said hard work has no substitute and consistency is the key. “Constant support is all that an aspirant needs for exam preparation. I believe in consistency and made a proper study plan before starting my preparation. I kept myself away from distractions — social media, relatives, friends. It’s self-study that helped me get a grip on the subjects,” said Aman.

BRINGING HOME LAURELS

T boy gets perfect score in NEET, shares No. 1 rank with two others

T boy gets perfect score in NEET, shares No. 1 rank with two others

Nirupa.Vatyam@timesgroup.com

Hyderabad:  02.11.2021

Mrinal Kutteri

from Telangana, Delhi’s Tanmay Gupta and Maharashtra girl Karthika G Nair scored a perfect 720 to be declared joint toppers of this year’s National Eligibility-cum Entrance Test for admission to undergraduate medical courses, according to the results announced by the National Testing Agency (NTA) on Monday night.

In all, two Telugu states bagged four places in the top 20 list. Apart from Kutteri, Chandam Vishnu Vivek and Gorripati Rushil, both from Andhra Pradesh, and Khandavally Shashank from Telangana secured an all- India rank of 5.

In 2020, as many as eight students from the two states — three from Telangana and five from AP — figured in the top 20 list.

Mrinal Kutteri

Confusion for hours as NTA mailed results

I want to do MBBS from AIIMS, Delhi and become a surgeon one day,” Kutteri, told TOI soon after the results were announced. The elated topper said the fact that no one pressurised him to study or follow a particular timetable actually helped him to prepare for the test at his convenience and secure the first rank.

But hours of confusion preceded the celebrations on Monday as NTA, which conducted the test, emailed the results to every candidate even before there was an official confirmation on the release of the results. This started from around 6 pm when many could not access their results on the official NEET website. “It would have been better if the results were made available on the website first. I was very tense as I couldn’t access my results, but all my friends got theirs,” said Rushil, a student from Sri Chaitanya, Vijayawada. He is one of 12 students from the country to secure all-India 5th rank. Rushil said he could access his results only around 9 pm.

The institutes too said that students were anxious as they couldn’t access their results on the website. “It took us more than two hours to figure out that the topper was from our institute. The servers were down,” said K Seshagiri Raju, deputy director, Aakash Educational Services Limited (Telangana).

Meanwhile, four students from Telangana-- Kasa Lahari, Emani Srinija, Dasika Sri Niharika, and Pasupunoori Sharanya — secured a spot in the list of top 20 female toppers in the country. Another Telugu student, Adireddi Srinivas, made it to top 10 male (person with disabilities) candidates list while several others from the two states figured in the toppers list in categories such as EWS, SC, ST, and OBC-NCL.

‘No pressure helped me prepare well’

— Nirupa Vatyam

Hyderabad:

City boy Mrinal Kutteri is on cloud nine as he managed to secure the top rank and is certain of getting a seat in his dream institute—AIIMS, New Delhi. Kutteri said that right from his childhood, he dreamt of becoming a doctor and is very happy with his NEET result. He said that his parents never forced him to study or get into a particular field. “Even when it comes to my studies, they never told me when or how to study. I lost count of how many times I prepared my timetable. No one tried to impose anything and I think that is what helped me in excelling,” he added.

›Related report: P8

HC quashes 10.5% vanniyar quota, calls it ‘discriminatory’

HC quashes 10.5% vanniyar quota, calls it ‘discriminatory’

Repeals It Citing Seven Grounds

Sureshkumar.K@timesgroup.com

Chennai:02.11.2021

Holding that castebased reservation is impermissible, the Madras high court has quashed 10.5% quota law for vanniyars, introduced by the AIADMK government minutes before the Election Commission announced the April 2021 assembly election.

“Treating vanniyar community as a separate class from the other MBCs amounts to discrimination among same category of castes,” ruled a division bench of Justice M Duraiswamy and Justice K Murali Shankar on Monday.

The court decided to quash the reservation as unconstitutional on seven grounds, which included the competency of the state to provide reservation based on caste, whether reservation can be provided without quantifiable data on population, socio-educational status and representation of the backward classes in services.

Classification in name of caste is treating equals unequally: Court

Holding that the very basis of classification in the name of caste is a clear case treating equals unequally, resulting in reverse discrimination within the MBC, the judges said: “We conclude that there is no data, much less quantifiable data, available with the state before the introduction of the law, to show the three different degrees of backwardness to make three sub-categories, as mandated by Indra Sawhney case, nor there is a data to show the inadequate representation of a group.”

Ticking off the micro-classification of MBCs into MBC (vanniars), MBC (DNC) and other MBCs as being wholly arbitrary, the judges said there is absolutely no acceptable reason for the division. There is no material or data to differentiate MBC(V) from other MBC as a separate class.

Treating one caste — vanniakula kshatriya, including ‘vanniyar’, ‘vanniya’, ‘vannia gounder’, ‘gounder’ or ‘kander’, ‘padayachi’, ‘palli’ and ‘agnikula kshatriya’ — as separate class while treating the similar castes differently is discrimination, the judges held, adding that the impugned law categorised 6 subcastes and 115 other castes into two sets and tried to give higher proportion of reservation to one caste and deprive the others.

More importantly, referring to the union government’s constitutional 102nd amendment denuding states of the power to include castes in reserved lists, the judges said: “The Constitution (102nd Amendment) Act, 2018, came into existence on11.08.2018 and the Constitution (105th Amendment) Act, 2021, was enacted on 19.08.2021 and whereas the impugned Act 8 of 2021 came to be enacted on 26.02.2021 and therefore, we hold that as on the date of enactment of the impugned Act, the State Legislature has no power to enact such legislation and accordingly, the State Legislature has no competency to pass the impugned Act. The state legislature has no competency to enact Tamil Nadu Special Reservation of seats in educational Institutions including Private Educational Institutions and appointments or posts in the services under the State within the Reservation for the Most Backward Classes and Denotified Communities Act, 2021”.

Also, as per Article 31-B of the Constitution, until the Act placed in Ninth Schedule is amended or repealed by the competent legislature, the said Act shall continue to be in force, the court said. Therefore, without amending the 1993 Act, bringing a special legislation to provide internal reservation to vanniyar community is against the Constitutional provisions, the judges said.

When counsel arguing in favour of the state law sought to highlight the fact that quashing it would put a question mark on the prospects of candidates who had already been admitted under the10.5% quota, the court said: “It has been made clear through an interim order that admissions and appointments made providing the reservation will be subject to the outcome of the pleas. Suspending the order will only complicate the issue.”

The judges further recorded that ‘so far as the reservations for Muslims and arunthathiyars are concerned, the population figures are enumerated in every census and based on that, the backwardness and inadequate representation has been studied and a valid commission report has been submitted.

Is the state government empowered to do internal reservation. The Constitution has given enough explanation. The legislation providing for internal reservation is cancelled

– MADRAS HIGH COURT