RTI QUERY REPLY

K’taka govt says no bar on people sitting cross-legged in its offices

Kiran.Parashar@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:30.08.2019

Is sitting cross legged in government offices banned? No, says the Karnataka chief secretary’s office in reply to an RTI query.

After a police constable asked his advocate-friend not to sit cross-legged in front of a police officer’s chamber at a police station, activist T Narasimha Murthy sought from the state’s top bureaucrat “any order, guideline, notification, directive or announcement” that restricts citizens from sitting cross legged in government offices, including police stations.

The chief secretary’s office has replied in the negative and instead attached an answer available online to a similar question raised on Quora.com, a citizen-centric platform.

According to the online information shared by the chief secretary’s office, a boss, who is unmindful of a junior sitting before him or her cross-legged, is high on self-esteem. If a superior officer takes exception to a junior sitting cross-legged, then it exposes his insecurities. Murthy and his advocate-friend Sudha had recently visited Hennur police station in Bengaluru.

SIT AS YOU LIKE

What crossing one’s legs means

While there is something about raised blood pressure and poor posture in crossing your legs while sitting, across cultures, it is seen as disrespectful and rude or casual at the very least. Body language wise, crossing the legs in front of someone is seen as establishing dominance and displaying confidence. Coupled with crossed arms, though, it projects being closed to the conversation or interaction at hand.

Non-Hindu workers of Tirumala temple must quit: Jagan govt
Tirupati:30.08.2019

The Andhra Pradesh government has ordered that employees of the Tirumala temple who converted to non-Hindu religions should quit as they can’t continue in their posts.

Authorities were directed to check the antecedents of all the employees of Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanam (TTD), which manages the affairs of the world’s richest Hindu temple atop Tirumala.

Chief secretary L V Subrahmanyam, during his visit to the temple early this week, said if necessary surprise checks would also be conducted at the houses of the employees to ensure that they are not practising non-Hindu religions. “There are employees who have converted to other religions. It’s their choice. Nobody can stop them from doing so but they can’t continue in their jobs in the TTD. Nobody should hurt the religious sentiments of others,” he said.

Subrahmanyam said while every individual was free to follow and practice the religion of his choice, no non-Hindu can continue to serve in the TTD. “Such people should come out and speak with courage and leave,” he added.

There are an estimated 48 non-Hindu employees in TTD and they came under scanner amid concerns being expressed in some quarters over increasing proselytization in Tirumala.

Last year after a video of a TTD official praying at a church had gone viral, the higher-ups had removed some non-Hindu employees.

The chief secretary also assured measures to strictly implement orders issued in the past banning propagation of other religions in Tirumala. The latest move by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government comes amid controversies and mounting criticism by the opposition, especially Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which dubbed him “anti-Hindu”. IANS

Chief secretary L V Subrahmanyam said while every individual was free to follow and practise the religion of his choice, no non-Hindu can continue to serve in the TTD

Traffic offenders will now be ‘named & shamed’

Dipak.Dash@timesgroup.com

New Delhi:30.08.2019

In its bid to tame habitual traffic offenders, enforcement agencies will be allowed to put names of people committing repeated offences such as jumping red signal, using mobile phone while driving, drunk driving, racing or blocking the way of emergency vehicles in public domain.

This is for the first time the government has made a provision in the amended Motor Vehicles Act to name and shame such offenders by uploading the details of their offences, which people can see. This will be in addition to the higher fines that they will have to pay besides facing the risk of going to jail. In certain cases, their driving licences (DLs) will also be revoked.

The act recently notified by the road transport ministry says that while for the first offence driving licence can be suspended for three months, for second or any subsequent offence the DL can be revoked. “..where a driving licence is revoked under this section, the name of the holder of such driving licence may be placed in the public domain in such manner as may be prescribed by the central government,” the amended law says.

For the first time, the government has made a provision in the amended Motor Vehicles Act to name and shame such offenders by uploading the details of their offences, which people can see

Thesis rejected, MPhil student consumes acid
Trichy:30.08.2019

A 23-year-old MPhil student of Government Arts College in Kumbakonam tried to end her life by consuming acid kept in a laboratory in the college since her thesis was rejected as it was incomplete. Meanwhile, her parents said her guide had verbally abused their daughter and rejected her thesis for no reason.

The final year zoology student of Alamenkuruchi near Kumbakonam, consumed acid on Wednesday evening, according to police. Later, her classmates informed the college administration, and officials rushed her to the Kumbakonam government hospital, where doctors said her condition was stable. Sub-inspector Natarajan of Kumbakonam East police station told TOI the woman decided to take her life as her guide refused to accept her thesis saying it was incomplete.

Asked if the guide had hurled any abusive remarks at her, the SI said, “I held inquiries with three of her classmates. They said their guide Ravichandran refused to accept her thesis stating it was incomplete and not up to the level.” P Sivanesan, principal (incharge) of the college, said the guide had advised her to get an extension to submit a fullfledged thesis. But, with no time left, she went to the lab and consumed acid, he said. TNN

2 students expelled over caste ‘tilak’
College Says Their Families Sought TCs
Jaya.Menon@timesgroup.com

Tirunelveli:30.08.2019

Caught in a caste turmoil, two final year college students, a dalit and thevar, have been ‘expelled’, six months ahead of their final semester examinations.

The 140-year-old Madurai Diraviyam Thayumanavar Hindu College at Pettai, Tirunelveli, last week issued transfer certificate (TC) to the two students after they fought over a ‘caste tilak’.

The college, however, maintained that the families of the students had sought the TC, concerned about their safety.

It was about a year ago that the dalit youth, a final year BA (Economics) student and member of the Students Federation of India (SFI) from the nearby Sutta Malli village, confronted his thevar collegemate outside the institution’s premises for wearing a yellowred ‘tilak’ on the forehead. “I just advised him that he should not wear it to college as it may cause problems,” the dalit student, seeking anonymity, told TOI.

On August 19, a year after the incident, the thevar student came to college accompanied by two relatives, who were carrying swords, and threatened the dalit student with dire consequences.

A shaken college management decided to expel the two students just months before the final examinations. “The dalit student’s family voluntarily sought TC fearing for the safety of the student,” said principal Dr A Subramanian. Police made inquiries about the incident, but no case was registered, said the principal. “We are a philanthropic institution. The management is proud of serving the poor and the downtrodden. It does not take capitation fee for admission or for appointments,” said Dr Subramanian. The dalit student, however, said his brother was ‘pressured’ to submit a requisition letter to the management seeking the transfer certificate.

As the afternoon sun beats down on Sutta Malli village, the expelled dalit student has already found a vocation — working at a construction site. “I hope to complete the exams,” he said. A fairly bright student, he has six arrears to complete.

Faculty members of the college said the two students could take their final exams as private students and complete their arrears.

Activists in the region were critical of the college’s decision to send out the students, pointing out that it had the responsibility of ensuring students’ safety on the institute’s premises. “My safety outside the college is equally a question mark,” said the dalit student.


CASTE CONUNDRUM: The Madurai Diraviyam Thayumanavar Hindu College in Tirunelveli

‘VISIT WAS TO BE INFORMAL’

Following uproar, guv secy skips meet with BDU faculty

Sambath.Kumar@timesgroup.com

Trichy:

Tamil Nadu governor’s secretary R Rajagopal skipped a meeting scheduled with Bharathidasan University’s (BDU) officials on Thursday following an uproar in academic circles. The university in a circular had asked its deans and heads of departments to be present for it in ‘pleasing attire’. Teachers say the move by the governor’s secretary to meet the university officials was unprecedented.

Sources in the university said the proximity to governor’s office had helped the university proceed with the recruitment of 54 faculty members despite a directive from the state government asking universities to fill vacant seats with the excess staff from Annamalai University. Rajagopal was scheduled to meet deans and heads of departments of BDU on Thursday evening. The move did not go down well with the state government either as higher education minister K P Anbalagan termed it unprecedented and said he was unaware of such a meeting.

Association of University Teachers (AUT) was quick to condemn the meeting accusing the governor’s office of trying to interfere in the recruitment process. AUT general secretary M S Balamurugan asked why the governor’s secretary should conduct a meeting at the university when he has no locus standi. “When Bharathidasan University is not in sync with the higher education department in the appointment of 54 faculty members, their proximity to the governor office raises suspicion,” he said. “By such a move, the governor’s office is trying to say it has more say than the elected government,” he added. Speaking to TOI, vicechancellor P Manisankar said the issue was blown out of proportion as the governor’s secretary was scheduled to come on an informal visit to BDU. The circular was for the faculty members informing them about his visit, he added.

Docs remove toy part stuck in toddler’s nose for 2 months

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:30.08.2019

For more than two months, parents of 2-yearold Rajesh* were worried about his continuous cold. The boy was breathing heavy and mucus was oozing despite several courses of medicines.

It was then that ENT surgeons at Mehta Multi-Speciality Hospital spotted the 1-cm-long sponge, a part of an educational toy, stuck in the upper part of the boy’s throat behind the nose, the nasopharynx. The sponge, in the shape of number eight, was pulled out endoscopically. It was eroding the mucous membrane, a tissue that lines the nasal cavity, causing excessive bleeding.

“The child has recovered well. But, we are seeing an increase in the number of children being brought in with foreign bodies. That’s worrying,” said anaesthesiologist Dr R Dhenesh at the hospital. If peanuts and peas were the most common foreign bodies that blocked the air passage in children till recently, now it’s tiny toy parts, button batteries and whistles, he said. The hospital receives at least 15 cases of children choking — 60% boys — every month.

In younger children, the cases were more complicated because they were not able to explain their trauma. For instance, Rajesh’s parents didn’t know that the toy part was blocking his respiratory tract. “We identified it as his symptoms were what we see in textbooks,” said hospital emergency medicine expert Dr Sharada Satish. “Luckily, it wasn’t a button battery or magnet and it didn’t get into the lungs,” she said.

This numeral made from sponge was pulled out by doctors