Exam controller held for role in rigging TET

Exam controller held for role in rigging TET

‘Gave Contract To Firm That Had No Infra’

Pathikrit Chakraborty@timesgroup.com

Lucknow:02.12.2021

The exam regulatory authority (ERA) secretary, Sanjay Kumar Upadhyay, who was on Tuesday suspended for his role in the UPTET question paper leak, was arrested in Lucknow after a protracted interrogation that stretched well past midnight. The UP special task force (UPSTF) formally arrested him at 3am on Wednesday and sent him to prison by noon.

A 1995 batch Provincial Civil Services (PCS) officer, Upadhyay’s complicity in the paper leak was exposed during questioning of the director of RSM Finserv Ltd, the Delhi-based firm contracted to print Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) question papers. The director, Rai Anup Prasad, who was arrested in Noida late Tuesday, had told interrogators that Upadhyay was instrumental in handing over the contract to his company on October 26.

Confirming Upadhyay’s arrest, additional director general of police, law and order, Prashant Kumar told TOI that no accused would be spared and the gang’s network would be dismantled.

Senior superintendent of police, STF, Hemraj Meena said, “RSM Finserv Ltd based in Delhi’s Greater Kailash-II neither had infrastructure nor resources to print question papers on such a large scale. And the firm’s laxity led to a comprise in secrecy protocols enabling infiltration by the solver’s mafia. The government has instituted an inquiry against Upadhyay, who handed out work order without checking the Delhi fir m’s antecedents.”

On November 28, Uttar Pradesh Teacher Eligibility Test (UPTET) was cancelled after a question paper was leaked on social media, triggering arrests of 37 accused till late Wednesday. At least 20lakh lakh students were scheduled to write the exam at 2,736 centres in two shifts.

Another TET conduit arrested in Aligarh

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow:02.12.2021

Continuing its crackdown on those who rigged UPTET exams, UP special task force (UPSTF) on Wednesday arrested another accused, Gaurav Kumar, from Aligarh. Gaurav, who was picked from the city’s Malroz intersection, had bought question papers from the solver’s syndicate just hours before the exam and circulated them among TET aspirants for Rs 2 lakh each.

Senior superintendent of police, STF, Hemraj Meena, said, during interrogation Gaurav claimed to have bought the question papers from two other conduits, Nirdosh Singh and Vishnu for Rs 5 lakh. “He passed it on to his friends, Dharmendra Malik, Ravi Pawar, Manish Malik and Ajay for distribution in Mathura for big kickbacks. Gaurav got hold of the leaked papers just before the exam and sold them for Rs 2lakh,” said Meena.

Gaurav confessed he met Nirdosh through his brother, Updesh, who was his batchmate in AMU during 2011-12. “Updesh had told him that any online and offline examination could be easily cracked with Nirdosh’s expertise,” Gaurav told police. STF sources said Gaurav’s other aides will be tracked down and arrested soon.

IIT-BHU student bags ₹2cr package from US company in placement

IIT-BHU student bags ₹2cr package from US company in placement

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Varanasi:02.12.2021

On the first day of campus placement, a student of IIT (BHU) was offered a maximum package of Rs 2.05 crores ($274,250) by a United States company. According to the IIT (BHU) spokesperson, the campus placement started on Tuesday midnight at the IIT (BHU). Till the end of the first phase, 55 companies had given 232 offer letters to students having an average package of Rs 32.89 lakh per annum and a minimum of Rs 12 lakh.

The total number of registered students is 1,243. “Last year by this time we had 91 companies offering 324 jobs. Earlier, 66 companies had offered pre-placement to a total of 241 students of B Tech IIIrd year and IDD IVth year during their internship,” he said.

The campus selection process is being done in Aryabhatta Hostel of the institute.

Train runs over man, he remains safe

Train runs over man, he remains safe

Harveer Dabas TNN

Bijnor:02.12.2021

Umesh Jain, 60, escaped unscathed after he was run over by a goods train. Jain had fallen on a railway track at Dhampur railway station in Bijnor. He was unable to muster enough strength to get up because of a prolonged illness.

He was later rescued by the government railway police.

“I was trying to cross when I lost balance and fell on the track. I couldn’t get up even when I saw the train approaching. I laid down on the tracks remembering god. The last thing I heard was a loud rattling sound,” Jain, who is a hawker, said.

Dhampur’s GRP chowki in-charge, Ranveer Singh, said, “The train driver sent a message to the control room and informed them about a body on the track. When we reached, Jain was lying straight with his face down. We overturned him and found him in a semi-conscious state with a rapid heartbeat.”

Singh said the goods train comprised 48 wagons. “We informed Jain’s family members and they rushed to the railway station and took him to a private hospital. They said his condition is normal,” he added.

Sources said the train ran over him for roughly 45 seconds.

LU students learn to spot ‘fake news’

‘VERIFY FACTS, PIXES’

LU students learn to spot ‘fake news’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Lucknow:02.12.2021

Students of Lucknow University were on Wednesday taught various techniques to identify fake news. They were told by teachers to forward only authentic news and information on social media platforms.

The techniques were taught to students during a workshop on ‘fake news’ held as part of cyber awareness campaign in the zoology department.

Head of journalism and

mass communication department Prof Mukul Srivastava informed students how they can identify fake news and morphed photographs on social media. Apart from fact checking, people should also use their ‘common sense’ to identify fake news and verify facts before forwarding anything on social media, he said.

Head of the zoology department Prof Sudhir Kumar, who was the chief guest on the occasion, said that the virtual world is as important as the real world.

After politics and history, the target of fake news and trolls are science subjects in which pseudosciences are projected as science and perception as history, he added.

Forms to be submitted at Collectorate

Forms to be submitted at Collectorate

Lucknow: 02.12.2021

According to the district administration, the official figure of coronavirus victims in Lucknow is 2,651. The state government has released funds for all these. An applicant needs to submit the form at room number 54 on the second floor at Collectorate along with Covid and death certificates. If there is no Covid certificate, the claims will be verified by an expert team. “If a family is denied a form at room number 54, they can visit my office. As many families don’t have Covid certificates, the directive says that a medical summary or note of symptomatic treatment will be acceptable for ex gratia sans Covid report. We will also allow submission of applications where there is no medical record. Such applications will be verified by an expert team,” said additional district magistrate (finance) Bipin Mishra. TNN

Suspected Covid treatment record enough to apply for death ex gratia

Suspected Covid treatment record enough to apply for death ex gratia

Arvind.Chauhan@timesgroup.com

Lucknow:02.12.2021

Families of patients who succumbed to suspected Covid-19 will be able to apply for ex gratia of Rs 50,000 even if there is no certificate confirming a Covid death. Medical records or doctor’s certificate detailing treatment of symptoms of Covid will be acceptable for claim, said an order from the state government on Wednesday.

Such applicants will have to submit whatever medical summary or doctor’s note they have indicating suspected coronavirus infection. However, the claim would be verified by a panel of experts. It would also only be applicable if a patient has succumbed within 30 days of treatment.

Further, responding to a query from TOI, additional district magistrate (finance) Bipin Mishra, the nodal officer for the Rs 50,000 ex gratia disbursal, said that even if there are no medical records at all, the application would be accepted.

In an investigation, TOI had found that there were many such patients who succumbed at home. In remote villages, victims died at clinics or private hospitals, often run by quacks. Such families had no document except for a death certificate to file for ex gratia claim.

The assurance from the administration has brought a ray of hope to scores of families which had followed the state government’s directives of home treatment in the absence of oxygen-supported beds in hospitals.

One such family is that of Sunita Singh’s. Her husband Sunit died in April and since then, life has been extremely difficult for Sunita and her three children. As Sunita is illiterate, her two daughters-—Saumya (18) and Shubhi

(15)—have become breadearners by taking tuition classes. The family till now could not receive any financial aid from the government because they had no medical summary or doctor’s note saying their father died of suspected coronavirus.

“There were no oxygen beds available at the time. We all were infected and took medicines (Ivermectin and Paracetamol) as advised by state health authorities. However, my father’s condition kept deteriorating and he succumbed on April 17, at a non-Covid hospital. Doctors did not give any medical summary, fearing action for admitting a Covid patient,” said Saumya, a student of LU. They live in a rented accommodation in Para.

“We have also applied for claims under Mukhyamantri Bal Vikas Yojana (Samanya) for non-Covid orphan and widow pension but have not received anything till now. On compassionate grounds, our landlord and children’s school waived off rent and fee for a year,” said Sunita.

Daily wage labourer Sanjeevan Lal (45) succumbed to suspected Covid on May 3. He is survived by his wife and five children. His eldest daughter Pooja (17) and wife Rajkumari had taken him to a local clinic in Bada Kasmandi village.

“We weren’t aware that the clinic was run by a quack. My father had all symptoms of corona, but since we don’t have certificates, we couldn’t apply for ex gratia,” said Pooja, who dropped out of school to work as domestic help to support the family.

Omicron grounds Dec 15 plan to resume regular int’l flights

Omicron grounds Dec 15 plan to resume regular int’l flights

Flights Within Air Bubbles Will Continue: DGCA

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:02.12.2021

Regular international flights to and from India are unlikely to resume from December 15, as originally scheduled, due to uncertainty over the impact of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 on the course of the pandemic, the country's civil aviation regulator said on Wednesday.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will notify the new date “in due course”, depending on how the situation unfolds. International flights within air bubbles with 31 countries will continue till scheduled flights resume.

“In view of the evolving global scenario with the emergence of new variants of concern, the situation is being watched closely in consultation with all stakeholders and an appropriate decision indicating the effective date of resumption of scheduled commercial international passenger services shall be notified in due course,” DGCA said.

UP launches 6-day focused Covid-19 testing campaign

Lucknow:

To zero in on possible carriers of Omicron variant of coronavirus, the Uttar Pradesh government launched a focused six-day testing drive on Wednesday.

The campaign aims at intensifying testing and conducting focused activities in vulnerable pockets, reports Shailvee Sharda.

Additional chief secretary (ACS), health and family welfare, Amit Mohan Prasad said while prevention and adherence to Covid-19 protocol was the best defence against the virus, including the new strain Omicron, surveillance activities had been intensified and focused testing was being carried out in the state. P 6

Omicron may weaken demand for int’l flights again

India had only last week announced graded resumption of regular international flights from December 15, nearly 21 months after all air travel had been suspended on March 23 last year. Limited flights operating within air bubbles since international travel resumed worldwide have sent fares skyrocketing. It isn’t uncommon now for oneway fares to be higher than return fares for peak season. Omicron could weaken demand for international flights again. Resumption of regular scheduled flights might also get indefinitely delayed.