Two Maoist supporters held for plot to kill Hyd central varsity VC 

They’re Working On Order Of Telangana Maoist Brass To Avenge Vemula’s Death

TIMES NEWS NETWORK   01.04.2018

Kakinada/Hyderabad:

Two people with Maoist leanings were arrested on Friday night by East Godavari Police on the charge of hatching a plot to assassinate the vicechancellor of University of Hyderabad (UoH), Podile Appa Rao.

Police claimed the duo was acting on orders of Maoist brass of Telangana to avenge the death of dalit research scholar Rohit Vemula, who committed suicide on the campus.

Producing them before media on Saturday, East Godavari SP Vishal Gunni identified them as Ankala Prudviraj, 27, from Gannavaram in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh and Chandan Kumar Mishra, 28, from Howrah in West Bengal. The two were students of UoH when Vemula committed suicide in January 2016, and have strong Maoists links.

They hold vice-chancellor Appa Rao responsible for Vemula’s death, police said.

During questioning, Prudviraj and Mishra said they were following orders of Maoist Telangana state committee secretary Haribhushan alias Yapa Narayana and central committee member Chandranna.

By killing the VC, the guerrillas hoped to attract more youth into their fold and replenish their depleting cadre strength, said police.

The duo was arrested at Pitchukalapadu ‘T’ junction on the Bhadrachalam-Cherla Road, after they were evasive to queries by a police patrol party.

Prudviraj, who is currently studying in Siddhartha College, Vijayawada, was a student of UoH between 2010 and 2013 and was an active member of Telangana Vidyarthi Vedika. Drawn to Maoist ideology, Prudviraj later met Sukhadev, Dal commander in Charla area in 2013 and moved with his dalam for two months.

Later, he was arrested by Palvoncha police and sent to Warangal central jail for assisting a Chandranna dalam member. On his release on bail, he resumed work for Maoists.

Police said Chandan Kumar Mishra joined UoH in 2013 to study post-graduation and was a member of Telangana Praja Front, a frontal organization of Maoists. During the agitation after Vemula’s suicide, he got acquainted with Prudviraj and both continued their friendship even after Prudviraj moved to Vijayawada to study law.

In December 2017 and January this year, Mishra and Prudviraj met Maoist leader Haribhushan in Cherla area where they were instructed to kill HCU vice-chancellor Appa Rao.

Speaking to STOI, Cyberabad police said they were informed by AP Police about the arrests of two Maoist sympathisers, who were conspiring to eliminate Appa Rao, but they are yet to get full details.

“The state government has deployed two gunmen for the security of vice-chancellor Appa Rao. He resides inside the UoH campus and there are private security guards at his home too. We are waiting for recommendations of AP police and if required we may further beef up his security,” a senior Cyberabad police told STOI.

HATED FIGURE: The state government has deployed two gunmen for the security of vice-chancellor Appa Rao

New AIIMS plagued by huge vacancies: House panel

Rema.Nagarajan@timesgroup.com   01.04.2018

The parliamentary standing committee on health has expressed concern over the fact that work on six AIIMS-like institutions started in 2010 in phase-I of the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY) remained incomplete even as more such institutions are being announced and taken up for construction. Even in these first six AIIMS-like institutions, only 38.5% of faculty positions and 18% of non-faculty positions have been filled, the panel noted. Yet, 13 more AIIMS-like institutions have been announced since then, of which construction has started in four.

In its report on demands for grants of the department of health and family welfare for 2018-19, it observed that only 704 faculty posts had been filled in the six AIIMS-like institutions out of the sanctioned 1,830 as on January 1, 2018. Only 4,202 posts had been filled out of 22,656 sanctioned posts for nonfaculty positions, with an additional 2,548 posts being filled up on an outsourced basis. With this level of shortage, almost all these institutions have been taking in MBBS students since 2012.

The revelation about the difficulties in staffing even central government funded AIIMS-like institutions raises the question of how the government expects to find the required personnel for upgrading 24 district and referral hospitals to medical colleges, as was announced in the budget this year.

The PMSSY had been launched in 2006 with the objectives of correcting regional imbalances in the availability of affordable and reliable tertiary healthcare services and to augment facilities for quality medical education in the country. Along with setting up AIIMS-like institutions, PMSSY also funds the upgradation of existing general medical colleges (GMCs). Of the 13 GMCs taken up in phase-I, 10 have finished upgrading. Another 39 GMCs taken up in phase-II have just started upgradation work.

The shortage of doctors in rural India and hugely expensive private medical colleges having almost 3,300 more seats than government medical colleges, the need for the government to augment the seats for reliable and affordable medical education is obvious.

However, the parliamentary panel was of the view that funding for PMSSY remains sub-optimal. It wondered how the targets would be met within the set time frames. The health secretary told the committee that the projected demand for PMSSY scheme was ₹8,398 crore out of which only ₹3,825 crore, or less than half, has been allocated.

Had the department undertaken a critical analysis of the requirement of faculty and non-faculty staff at the six AIIMS-like institutes, the issue of vacant posts would have been addressed, stated the report adding that the vast shortage of manpower would crumble even the strongest infrastructure.

Patients from Bihar and Uttarakhand continue to burden AIIMS, Delhi as AIIMS Patna and AIIMS Rishikesh are not up to the mark, noted the report. 

No need for women to depose in domestic violence cases, says HC

Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com   01.04.2018
 
   TIMES OF INDIA 
Mumbai: In a landmark ruling that comes as a boon to wives battling for maintenance from estranged husbands under the domestic violence Act, the Bombay high court has held that an affidavit filed by the women would suffice as evidence. A woman need not depose in court to make her case. The court, though, can permit the husband to cross-examine her based on the affidavit.

The question before the high court was whether a woman who has filed an application under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (DV Act), can be allowed to submit evidence in the form of an affidavit alone. A magistrate in Pune had permitted such a submission, prompting the husband in one case to move high court to challenge it last year. He and his lawyer Abhijit Sarawate wanted the woman to first step into the witness box and depose.

They claimed that an affidavit cannot substitute oral evidence recorded in court in the presence of both sides in a DV case. The wife’s lawyer, Abhijeet Desai, though, argued that the magistrate was right in allowing her affidavit in evidence.

Narrow interpretation would defeat purpose of DV Act, says Bombay HC

After interpreting salutary provisions of the DV Act, the high court answered in favour of the wife. Justice Anuja Prabhudessai, who passed the judgment, held that the DV Act allows the court to devise its own procedures to ensure speedy disposal. “The court, in its discretion, can allow evidence on affidavit and permit cross-examination to test the veracity of the evidence,” she held, adding that “a narrow interpretation would defeat the purpose of the Act”.

The DV Act provides effective and speedy protection to women who are victims of domestic violence, setting out a disposal deadline of 60 days.

“This Act was enacted keeping in view rights guaranteed under articles 14 for right to equality, 15 for prohibition of discrimination on grounds of race, sex etc, and 21 for right to life of the Constitution, to provide for a remedy under the civil law, which is intended to protect the woman from being a victim of domestic violence and to prevent occurrence of domestic violence in society,” said Justice Prabhudessai.

The question of law had emerged in a dispute between a couple that wed in 2013. Two years into the marriage, the husband filed for divorce. The case is pending before a Pune family court. The same year, in 2015, the wife filed for interim maintenance before a magistrate. Her plea was fixed for a date in November 2016 for court to record her evidence. With days to go before the hearing, though, the husband moved the magistrate to claim that she was not entitled to file an affidavit and wanted the court to direct her to step into the witness box as, he said, the proceedings have to conform with provisions for seeking maintenance under Section 125 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC).

The Pune magistrate, though, held that Section 28(2) of the DV Act permits the court to lay down its own procedures for disposal of an application for relief, filed under Section 12. Keeping in mind the 60-day time frame, the Pune court had said the wife’s deposition could be dispensed with and her evidence could be presented through an affidavit. Last year, the husband moved high court to challenge the magistrate’s order. The court found the magistrate was justifiably right. It observed that the DV Act mandates the magistrate to fix the first date of hearing, ordinarily not beyond three days from receipt of the application by the court. The magistrate is required to endeavour to dispose the application within two months from first hearing.

Applying principles of interpretation to effectuate legislative intent, the high court observed, “The DV Act is a beneficial piece of social welfare legislation aimed at providing to the victims of domestic violence speedy relief, which is civil in nature. Though..., there is no specific provision in the DV Act to give evidence on affidavit, Section 28(2)…gives flexibility to the court to depart from the procedure prescribed under Section 28(1) and to devise its own procedure in deciding application under Section 12...”

FOR SPEEDY DISPOSAL

Videocon loan case: ICICI Bank officials quizzed 

TIMES OF INDIA 01.04.2018

New Delhi: CBI has examined a few ICICI Bank officials in its probe related to the alleged nexus between ICICI Bank MD and CEO Chanda Kochhar’s husband Deepak Kochhar and Videocon Group chairman Venugopal Dhoot.

The agency may soon take a call on whether to call Deepak Kochhar for questioning along with Dhoot and Chanda Kochhar as there are allegations of “conflict of interest” on the latter’s part. Sources said ICICI Bank officials were examined to know more about the details of loan – ₹3,250 crore — given by India’s largest private sector bank to Videocon as part of a consortium and whether they were aware about any quid pro quo. The ICICI Bank officers examined by CBI are nodal officers, whose names officials refused to divulge.

As reported by STOI, CBI lodged a preliminary enquiry (PE), a first step to investigate any matter of alleged irregularity, last month against Dhoot and Deepak Kochhar apart from unknown bank officials.

Officials said they have already examined several documents and private companies connected to the loan have also been asked to provide certain documents.

CBI is investigating if Dhoot provided crores of rupees to a firm promoted by Deepak Kochhar and two relatives six months after Videocon group got ₹3,250 crore as loan from ICICI Bank in 2012. TNN

PIL filed in SC against CBSE’s decision for re-examination
‘All Students Shouldn’t Be Penalised’

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  01.04.2018

New Delhi: A petition has been filed in the Supreme Court challenging the CBSE’s decision to cancel Class XII economics paper and conduct fresh examination on April 25 after the question paper was leaked.

The petitioner, Reepak Kansal, filed the PIL in the SC through advocate Ashutosh Garg, contending that all the students should not be penalised by forcing them to again appear in examination and probe should be carried out to catch the culprits involved in the paper leak.

Another petition by advocate Alakh Alok Srivastava sought CBI inquiry into the paper leak and a compensation of ₹1lakh to each student for the mental agony they suffered due to cancellation of the paper.

“It is to be noted that this year 16.38 lakh students appeared for Class X and 11.8 lakh students for Class XII in the CBSE board examinations. And therefore, to penalise the entire student community for an incident which is under investigation is arbitrary, illegal and unconstitutional. There is absolutely no justification whatsoever on the part of the CBSE in deciding to re-conduct the mathematics examination of Class X and economics of Class XII without holding any inquiry and finding out the persons responsible for such serious and intentional lapse,” the petition said.

“It is submitted that due to inaction/ wrong actions of CBSE officials, fundamental rights of students have been violated, who fall in the category of re-examination, as they would not have proper time and opportunity to appear in their respective competitive examinations and are undergoing mental stress and agony due to actions of CBSE officials. It will naturally affect their performance whereas the students who do not fall in the category of reexamination would have more time and opportunity to prepare and appear in their respective competitive examinations,” the petition said.

The HRD ministry has announced April 25 as the date of re-examination for Class XII economics paper and the government said that the CBSE will take a call in the next 15 days if there was a need to conduct retest for Class X mathematics paper. Preliminary inquiry has revealed the Class X paper leak occurred in Haryana and Delhi-NCR and re-exam might be held only in these two regions. 


UP IN ARMS: Students protest in front of the CBSE regional office in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday

Monkey takes away 16-day-old sleeping infant in Odisha village

Binita.Jaiswal@timesgroup.com 01.04.2018

Cuttack: In a shocking incident, a monkey snatched a sleeping 16-day-old boy in Talabasta village, in Banki block of Cuttack district, on Saturday. A massive search operation was launched in the area but neither the monkey, nor the baby had been found till the time this report was filed.

The father of the yet-tobe-named infant, Rama Krushna Nayak, 32, was lying next to his child in the verandah of their house when the incident occurred.

His wife, 28-year-old Sarojini, who had woken earlier and was busy with some chore, saw the animal approach the verandah by scaling the boundary wall and scamper off with her child around 6.10am. By the time she could scream, the animal had disappeared with the baby. “The child was sleeping under a small mosquito net. The monkey managed to lift the net and take him away. Sarojini saw it flee with her baby,” said Pramilla, a relative.

Other family members said the infant did not cry since it had been born prematurely and was very weak. After being under treatment in Cuttack, he had been brought home on Thursday. “We are really worried about his health,” said Suresh, another relative. The infant is the Nayak couple’s first child. Sarojini, who has fainted several times since morning, has been admitted in hospital.

Forest officials, accompanied by more than 500 villagers, participated in the search operation. Small teams were formed to look through every tree-top, house and field in Talabasta and its surrounding villages but to no avail.

“Our men climbed every tree in the area but we are yet to find the two,” said Sangram Keshari Mohanty, the ranger of Dampara forest range. “If the monkey enters the Chandanka-Dampara wildlife sanctuary near the village, it will be impossible tofind it,” said a forestofficer.

Angry villagers alleged that monkeys often strayed into their area. “They enter houses and take away vegetables and household items. But this is the first time a baby has been taken,” said Dipak Das, a villager.

Madras varsity set to charge colleges ₹2K per student to digitise student records

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com  01.04.2018

Chennai : A move by the University of Madras to collect an administrative fee from autonomous affiliated colleges for digitisation and preserving records of students on Saturday was met with stringent opposition from some senate members representing affiliated colleges.

During its senate meeting, the university proposed to ratify a syndicate decision to collect ₹600 per year per student for undergraduate students, ₹1,000 for postgraduate and ₹2,000 for MPhil students of self-financing and aided autonomous colleges as administrative fees. It proposed half the fee for autonomous state-run colleges.

Using these funds, the university proposes to provide a digi-locker facility. All student documents such as degree certificates and mark sheets from 2005 onwards will be digitised and will be available at the click of a button. Currently, students have to wade through red tape for copies of these documents.

RKM Vivekananda College professor J Gandhiraj said the fee was too high and requested the university to reduce it and make it a one-time payment. “We were told that this fee was fixed because the university’s financial position is bad,” he said.

However, vice-chancellor P Duraisamy said the fee had nothing to do with the university’s financial position. “The university collects ₹250 for issuing a degree certificate. We have been subsidising the autonomous colleges by using funds from non-autonomous colleges. While we collect only ₹65 per paper for examinations, autonomous colleges collect ₹150. UGC also gives funds to autonomous colleges for conducting examinations,” he said, justifying the levy. An MOU has been signed with National Academic Depository for the purpose, he added.