Resident doctors boycott OPD over NEET-PG counselling delay

Resident doctors boycott OPD over NEET-PG counselling delay

Tamil Nadu Resident Doctors’ Association has called for a Statewide agitation

02/12/2021

Seeking a remedy: Members of the resident doctors’ association staging a dharna at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital on Wednesday. B. JOTHI RAMALINGAMB. JOTHI RAMALINGAM

Special CorrespondentCHENNAI

Several postgraduate medical students, under the banner of Tamil Nadu Resident Doctors’ Association, boycotted outpatient department (OPD) services as a sign of protest over the delay in holding counselling for NEET-PG 2021.

As part of the Statewide protest, the resident doctors decided to stay away from OPD services from Wednesday until their demand to conduct counselling was met. In Chennai, the doctors staged demonstrations at the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH) and the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.

While the NEET-PG was held in September, counselling had not been conducted because of a case in the Supreme Court over the EWS quota. “First, the NEET-PG was postponed and held in September. Now, the counselling has been delayed. This led to washout of an entire academic year for medical students,” said a doctor at the Government Stanley Medical College Hospital.

Faced with financial constraints, many aspirants were in a dilemma as to whether to wait for counselling or take up employment.

“The next court hearing is scheduled to be held in January. It will take another two or three months [to get a clear picture]. So, the government should conduct counselling on an urgent basis by following the existing reservation structure,” a resident doctor of RGGGH said.

The association urged the Centre and the Supreme Court to take note of the grievance of resident doctors and take steps to expedite NEET-PG counselling as well as the admission process and speed up court proceedings.

The delay in admission had caused a strain on the existing resident doctors. They said the workload of the existing postgraduate doctors had increased as they were involved in COVID-19 vaccination, flood relief camps and dengue management.

DVAC search at house of former MKU Controller of Examination

DVAC search at house of former MKU Controller of Examination

Documents of 22 vehicles and properties seized

02/12/2021

Special Correspondent MADURAI

Sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption on Wednesday seized documents of 22 vehicles and properties from the residence of former Controller of Examination, Madurai Kamaraj University, O. Ravi, 57, who has been charged with amassing wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

A day after DVAC DSP M. Sathyaseelan filed a first information report against Ravi and his wife Sumathi on Tuesday under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, Inspectors A. Kannan, K. Kumaraguru, A. Ambrose and T. Suryakala conducted a surprise house search during which the documents were seized.

A DVAC source said 18 rental vehicles, including 12 vans, were registered in the name of Sumathi, a homemaker. Besides, they found documents of properties in the name of Sumathi, their daughter and son-in-law.

Ravi is now the Principal of Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar College, Usilampatti.

Based on specific information, DVAC conducted an investigation into his income and wealth between July 2013 and June 2020 and found that the family had acquired wealth of ₹2.91 crore over and above the known sources of income.

CBSE exam question on 2002 riots causes stir

CBSE exam question on 2002 riots causes stir

It violated guidelines, says CBSE

02/12/2021

Priscilla Jebaraj NEW DELHI

A question in the Class 12 Board examination of the CBSE on sociology on Wednesday has created a stir. “The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under which Government?” asked question no. 23 in the sociology paper. The choices offered to students were: “(a) Congress (b) BJP (c) Democratic (d) Republican.”

“A question has been asked in today’s Class 12 sociology Term 1 exam which is inappropriate and in violation of the CBSE guidelines for external subject experts for setting question papers. The CBSE acknowledges the error made and will take strict action against the responsible persons,” said a statement on the CBSE’s Twitter handle.

Several teachers said the question was within the syllabus. In the textbook “Indian Society”, a chapter on “The challenges of cultural diversity” includes a section on communalism.

“To the extent that Governments can be held responsible for communal riots, no Government or ruling party can claim to be blameless in this regard,” says a paragraph on page 134 of the text approved by the NCERT.

“In fact, the two most traumatic contemporary instances of communal violence occurred under each of the major political parties. The anti-Sikh riots of Delhi in 1984 took place under a Congress regime. The unprecedented scale and spread of anti-Muslim violence in Gujarat in 2002 took place under a BJP Government.”

Another teacher who has previously set questions for the CBSE agreed that the question was within the syllabus, but noted that the Board’s guidelines for examination papers were more restrictive. “Ensure that the questions should be class-neutral, religion-neutral, not touching the controversial, social, political, critical issues under the prevailing conditions in the country,” say the guidelines seen by The Hindu.

Problems galore in BU Syndicate election

Problems galore in BU Syndicate election

02/12/2021

Special CorrespondentCoimbatore

Election of four persons to the Bharathiar University Syndicate, it appears, is running into problems.

In October this year, the University issued a notification to elect four persons to the Syndicate – two from the teachers’ constituency and a like number from the principals’ constituency in the Senate. It had said that November 9 would be the last date for receipt of nomination and November 16 the date for withdrawal of nominations and the election will be held on December 8.

Earlier, the University had accepted applications for inclusion of names in the voters’ list for the two constituencies.

After the University published the list of candidates in the fray in the teachers’ constituency, it came to light that one of the contestants – D. Gnana Senthil Kumar, a faculty of a self-financed college in Tiruppur district, was not even a voter in the teachers’ constituency.

Clerical error

When this was raised with the University authorities, the reply was that Mr. Kumar was very much a voter in the teachers’ constituency and the failure to include his name in the voters’ list was a clerical error.

The second, according to sources, was a few persons had approached the University to include names of 22 persons who were either principals or principals in-charge in self-financed colleges but were not in the voters’ list.

After the move came to light, the Association of University Teachers objected to it saying inclusion of names after the finalisation of voters’ list, notification of election and finalisation of candidates was illegal.

The Association’s State president P. Thirunavukkarasu, in his note to Vice Chancellor P. Kaliraj, said as per election rules, inclusion of names at such a very late stage in election was arbitrary and illegal.

The final electoral rolls the University had published on November 8 was final.

Objection

Sources said one of the four contestants in the fray in the principals’ constituency objected to the inclusion of names in electoral rolls.

Vice-Chancellor Mr. Kaliraj said it was true that a move was made to update the rolls. But the University had decided against it because it had had given ample time for updating electoral rolls in both the constituencies.

As for the candidature of Mr. Kumar, Mr. Kaliraj said the application for inclusion of his name in voters’ list was submitted well before the deadline.

HC rejects student’s plea for govt seat

HC rejects student’s plea for govt seat

BDS Candidate Wanted To Swap Pvt Seat

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:03.12.2021

The high court rejected a petition filed by a student seeking permission to participate in the mop-up round of counselling to get a government seat. He is already enrolled in Bachelor of Dental Surgery (BDS) course at Sri Jagadguru Murugarajendra Dental College and Hospital, Chitradurga, under private quota.

P Prajwal from Bengaluru contended that many students less meritorious than him were allowed to participate in the mop-up round.

However, a division bench headed by Justice Alok Aradhe said the petitioner had participated in counselling, been allotted a seat and even paid admission fee. “He has no right to seek a government seat after having taken admission in the first round under private quota,” the bench observed. It said Prajwal had neither furnished details of the “less meritorious” candidates nor impleaded them in the writ petition.

Prajwal appeared for NEET 2020 and secured an all-India rank of 2,14,774. He participated in counselling and was allotted a private quota seat. He paid the fee and joined the college in Chitradurga. However, Prajwal claimed he learnt through an RTI plea that many candidates less meritorious than him were allotted government seats in the course during the mop-up round. He subsequently approached the court seeking a direction to consider his candidature for a government seat and adjust the excess fee paid.

‘Deadline over’

Counsel for the government and Karnataka Examinations Authority said the petitioner was allotted a seat in the first round of counselling under private quota and the last date for admission to the course was now over.

Centre, UGC told to decide college status

The high court directed the central government and University Grants Commission to pass within two months a reasoned order on the status of Rajarajeshwari Medical College and Hospital (RRMCH), Bengaluru.

A division bench headed by Justice Alok Aradhe said both have to comply with the procedural mandate contained in UGC Regulations, 2016, and decide on inclusion of the college under the ambit of Dr MGR Educational and Research Institute, Chennai, a deemed-to-be university, after taking into account the state government’s views.

The bench noted that in this case, the procedure was not followed as UGC did not take into account views of the government and approved and forwarded to the Centre an expert committee’s recommendation. Based on this, on February 14, 2019, the Centre issued a notification transferring RRMCH to the Chennai-based institution.

On November 3, 2020, a single-judge bench quashed the Centre’s order. The bench pointed out that UGC shouldn’t have made a recommendation without considering Karnataka’s objections.

A direction was also issued for restoring the medical college to Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS), Bengaluru. The plea of Moogambikai Charitable and Educational Trust, Bengaluru, was dismissed.

The trust managing RRMCH had challenged the state government’s May 16, 2019, order and the June 29, 2019, decision of RGUHS not to allow disaffiliation of the college. TNN

SA traveller, B’luru doctor are India’s first Omicron patients

SA traveller, B’luru doctor are India’s first Omicron patients

46-Yr-Old Indian Had No Recent Travel History

Sunitha Rao & Sushmi Dey TNN

Bengaluru/New Delhi: 03.12.2021

India’s first Omicron-infected Covid-19 patients have been detected in Karnataka.

One of them is a 66-yearold flyer from South Africa while the other is a 46-yearold anaesthetist from Bengaluru, the health ministry said on Thursday. Fear of the variant is high, given concerns over its transmissibility and ability to evade vaccine-induced immunity.

“We are tracing three types of contacts — primary, secondary and tertiary. We have already traced the remotest contacts of these two cases,” said Sujeet Kumar Singh, director of the National Centre for Disease Control.

The anaesthetist tested positive on November 22 and five of his contacts tested positive between November 22 and 25, Karnataka health officials said. Their samples have been sent for sequencing. Officials said an absence of travel history for the doctor suggests the presence of the new variant in the community.

The doctor and his contacts are in hospital isolation.

‘6 boosters safe after Covishield shots’

Six different Covid-19 boosters are safe and provoke strong immune response in people who have received a two-dose course of Covishield, the first randomised phase-2 trial of boosters published in The Lancet shows. Apart from the Covishield and Pfizer shots, Novavax, Janssen, Moderna, VLA2001 (Valneva) and CVnCov (Curevac) were studied. P 7

Let us not fear or panic, let us all be responsible: Govt

Thirteen of the doctor’s primary contacts and 205 secondary ones have been traced so far.

The 66-year-old South African national travelled from his country, labelled ‘at risk’, on November 20. Asked to self-isolate at a city hotel, he left on November 27 for Dubai before authorities got the results of his genome sequencing. The two Omicron patients showed only mild symptoms. Both were double-vaccinated.

The new Omicron variant of SARS-CoV2 — first reported by South Africa — is spreading rapidly in many countries and appears to be outcompeting other variants in transmissibility. “The new variant is possibly around 500% more competitively infectious,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary in the health ministry.

Omicron is “heavily mutated” with 45-52 amino acid changes across the whole genome and 26-32 changes in the spike protein — the part that attaches to human cells — Agarwal said, underlining that the variant is considered to be highly transmissible, and has improved binding affinity.

However, on the upside, all Omicron patients are found to have mild symptoms so far. The government said the situation is being closely examined and all issues including a ban on international flights is under discussion within the technical and scientific circles. “Let us not fear or panic, let us all be responsible. It is an unfolding situation and we are all learning,” said VK Paul, member health, NITI Aayog.

Officials emphasised that the tools to combat even the new variant remain the same. While full vaccination was underlined as a must to protect against severe disease, officials also stressed on the need to wear masks and adhere to other Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The Bengaluru municipal corporation has traced 264 persons in contact with the man from South Africa and none of them tested positive. In the anaesthetist’s case, a total of 218 contacts have been traced and five of them have tested positive, including three primary contacts and two secondary ones.

› COVID CASES DOUBLE IN A DAY IN SOUTH AFRICA, P 15

Now, book an Uber on WhatsApp

GLOBAL-FIRST INTEGRATION

Now, book an Uber on WhatsApp

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Bengaluru:03.12.2021

Uber has partnered with WhatsApp to allow people to book a ride via Uber’s WhatsApp chatbot. The service is first being launched in India, and Lucknow will be the first city to experience it.

Nandini Maheshwari, senior director of business development in Uber Asia Pacific, said, “We want to make it as easy as possible for all Indians to take an Uber trip, and to do that we need to meet them on platforms they are comfortable with. We are thrilled at this global-first integration for Uber, and look forward to rolling it out across India.”

Ther service is built on WhatsApp Business Platform. Abhijit Bose, head of WhatsApp India, said the WhatsApp Business Platform has been an important lever for businesses that want to build a direct connect with their consumers. “The Uber experience on WhatsApp is simple, familiar, and relatable for users and has the potential to accelerate adoption of Uber with a new category of riders in India,” he said. With this integration, riders will no longer need to download or use the Uber app. From user registration to booking a ride, and getting a trip receipt will be managed within the WhatsApp chat interface.

WhatsApp users can book an Uber ride through three simple ways: messaging to Uber’s business account number; scanning a QR code; or clicking a link directly to open an Uber WhatsApp chat. They will then be asked to provide pickup and drop off locations. Users will receive upfront fare information and the driver’s expected time of arrival.

The companies said that riders will get the same safety features and insurance protections as those who book trips via the Uber app directly. Drivers on Uber’s platform will see no change in their experience with rides booked via WhatsApp.