TN govt schools to teach AI, tech trends from this yr

TN govt schools to teach AI, tech trends from this yr 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 29.04.2025

Chennai : Students from classes 6 to 9 studying in govt schools of Tamil Nadu will be taught artificial intelligence and emerging technologies from this academic year (2025-26), said the state’s school education secretary B Chandra Mohan on Monday. 

At the golden jubilee celebration of the departments of adult and continuing education at the University of Madras, Mohan said, “We also shared the syllabus with companies in Chennai and asked them if it will be relevant for the way technology is emerging. We took their com ments and incorporated the changes they suggested.” Mohan said 25,000 schools in rural Tamil Nadu have smart classrooms with smart boards. 

“When it comes to furniture, facilities, and computer labs, the state govt is investing not only in access and physical accessibility but also in tremendous improvements in quality,” he added. K Parthasarathy, former VC of Tamil Nadu Open University, said the department of adult and continuing education experimented in a big way in spreading literacy through TV & radio. The department started courses after regular class hours.

NMC vacates stay on doctor’s debarment KHYATI CASE

NMC vacates stay on doctor’s debarment 

KHYATI CASE 

Considers GMC’s Letter Raising Objections

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  29.04.2025

Ahmedabad : The National Medical Commission (NMC), in a letter to the Gujarat Medical Council (GMC), vacated the stay on the debarment of Dr Prashant Vazirani. A cardiologist, he was named as one of the prime suspects in the deaths of two patients at Khyati Hospital after unwarranted angioplasty procedures in Nov last year. In an order dated April 10, NMC had directed GMC to stay the debarment of Dr Vazirani’s name from the register of medical practitioners of GMC for three years until the hearing of the matter. Following the relief granted to Dr Vazirani, GMC wrote to NMC last week with facts related to the case, including the report from the fact-finding committee constituted by the govt of Gujarat. 

GMC’s letter also stated that if the stay by NMC continues, it will pose a significant threat to public health and undermine trust in the medical regulatory framework. The NMC letter vacating the stay, signed on April 25, reads, “Therefore, after going through the contents of the communication dated April 23, 2025, of GMC and material facts provided therein, EMRB, after careful consideration, hereby vacates the exparte stay order dated April 10, 2025, passed by the Board.” Signed by Dr Raghav Langer, secretary of NMC, it also mentioned that GMC’s letter dated April 23 “brought forth certain new facts to the notice of EMRB” that included Dr Vazirani being in judicial custody since his arrest on Nov 13, his status as a non-empanelled doctor at the hospital for the PMJAY scheme and him performing unwarranted angiography and angioplasty procedures. 

The NMC letter has directed the GMC and Dr Vazirani to submit case related documents, investigation report, case chargesheet among other relevant documents within 10 days of receiving the order. Dr Nitin Vora, president of GMC, said that it is a victory for GMC and sets the right precedent. “We had presented the facts in the case and had requested NMC to consider the other side of the arguments, too. We will comply with the requirements by NMC in this case,” he said.

NEWS TODAY 25.04.2025

 

Bank ex-staffer uses old login ID, swindles ₹5cr

Bank ex-staffer uses old login ID, swindles ₹5cr 

Shishir.Arya@timesofindia.com 27.04.2025

Nagpur : An outsourced employee who quit his job at apublic sector undertaking bank continued using his login to claim fake tax returns in the name of people who did not even possess an account there. He inserted their PANs against bank details to claim refunds. The fraud is being pegged at Rs 5 crore. The I-T department detected the fraud and sent notices to the bank and its staff, sources said. 

The accused, who handled TDS deductions for deposit holders on behalf of PSU banks, did not surrender his login access after quitting the job. He traced depositors, mainly senior citizens, who did not submit their PAN to the bank. One of the reasons was that their income was too low to be taxed. He accessed the system and put PANs and other details of persons known to him in the bank’s accounts and later claimed a refund with the I-T department, sources said. 

There are several people who earn interest on their FDs. The tax payable on it is deducted at source by the banks which can be claimed later as refund if the amount exceeds the actual tax liability. In this case, the conman meticulously chose accounts where PANs were missing. He used the other PANs to submit the returns instead, the source said.

‘Doctor’ held with fake degrees, fraudulently obtained passport, IDs

‘Doctor’ held with fake degrees, fraudulently obtained passport, IDs

Ahmed.Ali@timesofindia.com 25.04.2025

Mumbai : Worli police on Wednesday arrested an orthopaedic surgeon who is attached to a few five-star hospitals in the western suburbs for allegedly practising medicine with fake degrees, endangering patients’ lives, th reatening individuals, and misusing personal documents to fraudulently obtain official IDs and a passport. Senior inspector of Worli police station Ravindra Katkar said Dr Atul Wankhede was arrested based o n a complaint filed by a food delivery boy, Avinash Suresh Saminder (24), from Chembur against the doctor’s treatment for his back pain. 

He was produced before a local court, which remanded him to judicial custody. Saminder suffered from a chro nic spine condition since 2016-17. After learning about the doctor online, he reportedly consulted him at a suburban hospital on Nov 19, 2024, for severe back pain. According to the complaint, Wankhede dismissed his pain as minor and prescribed pain killers, in addition to some exercises. 

After finding out about the fake documents, Saminder wrote to the Maharashtra Medical Council — a quasi-judicial organisation that has the power to suspend or revoke licences of allopathic doctors — to ascertain if Wankhede’s degree wa s authentic. As per the FIR, MMC officials told him that the doctor’s degree was under probe since 2015. Saminder then lodged a complaint with police.

NEWS TODAY 26.04.2025

 

Why only 18 out of 56 invited vice chancellors attended the annual conference called by TN governor R.N. Ravi?

Why only 18 out of 56 invited vice chancellors attended the annual conference called by TN governor R.N. Ravi?

According to sources, none of the VCs gave reasons or sent any message to the governor for not skipping the conference 

By Lakshmi Subramanian Updated: April 25, 2025 21:03 IST

President Jagdeep Dhankhar poses for group photos during the inauguration of the Vice Chancellors conference in Tamil Nadu, in Udhagamandalam. Tamil Nadu Governor RN Ravi is also seen | PTI In yet another blow to Tamil Nadu governor R.N. Ravi, only one-third of the Vice Chancellors (VC) turned up to the annual VC conference called by him at Ooty on Friday. Inaugurated by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, the meeting turned into a damp squib even when Ravi had tried to impress saying that there was no power struggle between the government and the Raj Bhavan.

Out of the 56 state, central and private universities in Tamil Nadu, only 18 VCs attended the conference. The VCs of all the 18 state-run universities skipped the meeting. All the VCs including the heads of five central universities, 20 state universities, four central institutions, and 27 private universities were formally invited by the Raj Bhavan for the annual VCs conference. But only 18 of them attended, according to the sources in the Raj Bhavan.

And out of the 18 who attended the meeting only two were from the state universities and even these two were not VCs and only representatives. One of them, the director of the research department - was deputed by Periyar University VC as his representative. The other was a college principal representing Alagappa University’s physical education department.

However, according to sources, none of the VCs gave reasons or sent any message to the governor for not skipping the conference. Raj Bhavan sources said, “reasons unknown” when asked. Sixteen VCs who attended the meeting were from the central universities.

The meeting which had been an annual affair since 2022 has always had full attendance. But this time there was very poor attendance indicating a political backlash for the conference. While Ravi and Raj Bhavan call the meeting a meaningful event aimed towards building a stern path to improve the academic dialogue and innovation in the higher education sector, the VCs of the state universities skipping the conference stems out of the growing tussle between the governor and the government and the recent Supreme Court ruling against Ravi.

Earlier on Wednesday the Raj Bhavan, in a media release, slammed the reports saying that the VCs conference called by the governor was not a power struggle between the government and the Raj Bhavan and that it was a regular affair. The governor’s office then called the media reports as “entirely erroneous and mischievous.”