Kashmiri students stranded in city, want to return home

Aditi.R@timesgroup.com

Chennai:1.5.2020

Kashmiri students in city colleges including professional institutions are stranded due to the shutdown and are struggling to access essentials.

A group of students living in Selaiyur said that their parents are slowly finding it difficult to send them money because they have not earned any income from their businesses since the lockdown was imposed in their state. And by the day the essential supplies in their locality too are becoming expensive which the students are unable to afford.

“A packet of instant noodles whose MRP is Rs. 10 is now sold at not less than 20. This is the same for all other food and grocery items,” said Owais, a college student from Kashmir who is pursuing a professional course in a private institution in the city. He added that the store is open only for a few hours in the morning, but every time they go there they are charged higher rates. “If we question, the shopkeeper asks us to find another store. But no other grocery store is open here. This is the only one and we have no option to buy it from here,” he said.

Owais and his four friends, who are also from Kashmir but came to the city to study, moved to a flat at Selaiyur, near Agaram main road, after their universities closed the campus and declared that all students must vacate the hostels, due to the COVID-19 outbreak, over a month ago. The students were all living in their respective college hostels before.

“We had already paid the hostel fees but then were suddenly asked to leave,’ said Qasim, another student from Kashmir. “We wanted to go home, but couldn’t since no transportation was available at that time. So we moved to a flat, temporarily, hoping that the lockdown will be lifted soon, but it’s only getting extended,” he said.

The students said that apart from spending on their daily essentials, they also have to pay their monthly rent. “My father has been sending me money, but since there is no business happening back home, he is also struggling. I have three siblings there, who are also studying. He needs to look after them too,” said Owais.

The students said that they had a hard time during the four day shutdown. “Our gas cylinder got over and despite several requests, the agency kept delaying. We were surviving on biscuits and whatever food we had during this time because all restaurants were also shut,” he said.

All their classes are now being held online, the students said that they were also told that their colleges will not reopen until August.

A few state governments like Kerala have started registering their students who are currently stuck in different parts of the country and abroad, to bring them back home. The government of Jammu and Kashmir has been circulating forms to bring back Indian nationals from the state, who are working or studying abroad, back home.

Several students living in Selaiyur said that their parents were slowly finding it difficult to send them money because they had not earned any income from their businesses since the lockdown was imposed in their state

HC imposes ₹10,000 cost on lawyer for PIL on bank EMIs

Chennai:1.5.2020

Madras high court imposed Rs 10,000 as cost on a lawyer who wanted the court to direct the Union government and the RBI to extend the EMI moratorium granted for all types of bank loans till July without interest.

A special bench of Justice M Sathyanarayanan and Justice M Nirmal Kumar imposed the cost while dismissing the plea moved by advocate B Ramkumar Adityan. The court also wondered whether the petitioner, who is a lawyer, himself has personally contributed anything towards Covid-19 relief measures. According to the petitioner, everyone irrespective of profession has suffered financially in this nationwide lockdown. TNN

Colleges may use online classes post lockdown

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:1.5.2020

With majority of students and faculty members familiarising themselves to online learning, city colleges may use online classes to avoid crowded classrooms and to maintain social distancing post Covid-19 lockdown.

Some colleges are also thinking of starting next the semester early with online classes in case the start of the academic year is delayed further due to Covid-19 spread in the city. Though online classes started as contingency plan to finish portions, many faculty members and students are accustomed to the new mode of learning and plan to integrate them with the regular mode of learning.

Thomas Amirtham, principal of Loyola College said online classes would be handy to maintain social distancing when colleges reopen.

"We have nearly 10,000 students studying in both the shifts in our college. Covid-19 is expected to be dormant and there are chances for a second and a third wave. If we conduct classes for entire students that would be risky for students as well as faculty members," he said. "We have to think new ways of facilitating teaching and learning. We can allow students to learn through online platforms wherever it is possible and schedule contact classes once or twice in a week," he said.

P Duraisamy, vice-chancellor of Madras University, said colleges may have to shift to online classes to avoid crowded classrooms post Covid-19. "Online classes would be useful at the start of the academic year. Faculty members may upload video lectures and later conduct classes by splitting them into small groups to clarify doubts," he said.

Many colleges said online learning would be integral part of teaching and learning post Covid-19.

"Online classes will be an integral part of teaching learning process post Covid-19 lockdown," says R Ganesan, principal for DG Vaishnav College. "The online platforms can be useful to give assignments to students, can be helpful to students who cannot attend classes and to take extra classes," he said adding that poor students may not have facilities like smart phones, computers and internet connectivity and colleges need to consider them as well while shifting to online classes.

Engineering colleges say except analytical subjects, they can take online classes for other subjects and it could supplement the regular classes.

"If next semester is delayed, then we may start with online classes," said B Chidambaranathan, principal of Valliammai Engineering College. He further said colleges may ask their faculty members to take online classes one day in a week if working days extended to six days a week.

While many colleges use tools like Google Classroom, IT companies are also open to offer their online platforms to colleges to take classes and conduct tests.

"Accenture, one of our recruiters offered to share online platform to conduct online classes and tests. Companies also using online platforms for onboard training," he said.

K Maran, director of Sri Sairam Engineering College said webinars and online faculty development programmes are increasingly getting popular among faculty members besides online classes.

Cases re-emerge in Salem, Madurai

TIMES NEWS NETWORK  1.5.2020

Health authorities in Salem hoped the district would soon join neighbouring Erode and Nilgiris which reported zero Covid-19 cases for the past several days.

But there was disappointment on Thursday when a person from Salem tested positive for the virus after a gap of five days. It is not just Salem that has reported a fresh case after a lull. Madurai, which did not have a positive case, for two consecutive days, reported five new cases on Thursday. Similar is the case of Ramanathapuram, where three people tested positive after a gap of three days. So were Perambalur and Ariyalur districts which had two and one positive cases respectively when they were showing signs of hope without cases for consecutive days.

The Salem patient is an employee of a sub-court in Mettur. “He is from Kottagoundampatty village near Omalur. We have traced his source of infection to a woman patient from Suramangalam,’’ R Balajinathan, dean of the Salem Government Mohan Kumarmangalam Medical College and Hospital. He said that the woman had tested positive at the Kerala border when she was heading to the neighbouring state for work a few days ago. Health officials have sealed the street along which the patient was residing and have disinfected the locality.

There was slight disappointment among health officials, particularly in Madurai, because of the unexpected spike in cases when they were hoping to flatten the curve. Nevertheless, they say it is not alarming. Among the five positive cases in Madurai, for instance, two were frontline workers and one was from a containment zone, officials said.

Among those who tested positive is a 26-year-old man, a native of Tuticorin, who is serving in the disaster management team. He had been working in Chennai and was deployed to Madurai. Another Covid positive patient, a 42-year-old woman, was a health worker from the Government Rajaji Hospital.

In Ramanathapuram, all the three who tested positive were frontline workers - a 30-year-old traffic police constable, a 29-yearold fireman and a 33-year-old domestic breeding checker. The southern district reported the last Covid case on April 26.

“The police station and fire station have been closed following the test results. The traffic police station is now functioning just outside the station building as a temporary measure. We are screening all the personnel in the police station and fire station,” said a health official.

Health authorities said the number of people testing positive would drop in the coming days.

RISHI KAPOOR | Sept 1952 – April 2020

Man of easy charm & comic timing bids adieu

Avijit.Ghosh@timesgroup.com

1.5.2020

Rishi Kapoor, who stormed into young hearts and stardom with the bubblegum blockbuster Bobby (1973), and who reinvented himself in the new millennium deftly navigating fluctuating popular trends and fickle public taste, passed away in a Mumbai hospital on Thursday. The actor, who was battling leukemia, was  67. “He remained jovial and determined to live to the fullest right through two years of treatment across two continents,” his family said in a statement.

Rishi arrived at a time when Rajesh Khanna’s reign of romance was fast on the fade. Amitabh Bachchan and action were the new box-office currency. With his chocolate looks and red lips, Raj Kapoor’s second son appeared to be on the wrong side of vogue. But Rishi didn’t fight the tide; rather he found ways to survive and thrive.

Rishi acted in romantic thrillers (Khel Khel Mein) and love yarns of different shades (Kabhi Kabhie, Laila Majnu, Sargam, Prem Rog, Tawaif, Saagar, Henna). He danced better (Hum Kisi Se Kum Nahi, Karz) than most of his contemporaries. A lesser actor would have got lost in masala multi-starrers (Amar Akbar Anthony, Naseeb) but Rishi’s easy charm and comic timing helped him sail him through these megahits. And yes, his movies were synonymous with chartbusting tracks, generally composed by R D Burman and Laxmikant-Pyarelal.

With passing time, he abandoned the mannerisms that had prevented his growth as an actor. In the coda of his career, when character actor parts were more etched out, Rishi Kapoor found a second wind. A garrulous Bollywood producer (Luck By Chance), a gay dean (Student of the Year), a loathsome trafficker (Agneepath), a middle-class maths teacher who dreams of buying a car (Do Dooni Char), a spirited grandfather (Kapoor & Sons) and an aging Muslim laywer battling for honour (Mulk) — he played each part with gusto investing them with a sense of the real.

Always in step with the times, Rishi was a regular on Twitter

Rishi wrote in Khullam Khulla, the autobiography he co-authored with Meena Iyer, “My second phase as a character artiste is particularly gratifying because I could disprove certain misconceptions that people have about senior actors.”

Few Bollywood autobiographies — barring those by Dev Anand and Naseeruddin Shah — are so unsparingly honest. Rishi spoke about fearing his father before coming to admire him, his bouts with alcohol, depression and chauvinism. He wrotehowhehadobjectedtoRajeshKhanna —whom heinitially disliked — being considered for Raj Kapoor’s Satyam Shivam Sundaram, and admitted to a drunken fight with fellow actor Sanjay Khan. He admitted how he had gone to Javed Akhtar’s home to bait him after Imaan-Dharam scripted by Salim-Javed had flopped and expressed regret at not being able to help R D Burman when the down-and-out music maestro asked for work late in his career.

Kapoor was born on Sept 4, 1952 in Bombay’s no. 1 film family. “I have a vault filled with priceless memories, and a unique vantage point since birth. I have seen four generationsof Kapoors atwork—from my grandfather, my father, uncles and brothers, to Karisma, Kareena and Ranbir (his son),” he said in his autobiography.

Hewas a natural at acting.In his debut role as a boy besotted by his attractive school teacher in his father’s Mera Naam Joker, Rishi projected the right degree of infatuation with heartbreak. Bobby was made primarily by RajKapoor totideover the lossessuffered after theflopping of Joker. The love story, which sloshed the eternal rich vs poor theme with a bunch of irresistible numbers and teen glamour, became a monster hit. Songs such as Hum tum ek kamre mein band hon — now revived with gleein thesetimesof social distancing — were frowned upon by ageing India butlappedup by the young and the loveless. Kapoor and his co-star Dimple Kapadia became the vanilla of the season. The film shaped Rishi’simageof a romanticstar. In a career spanning nearly five decades, the actor starred in over 150 films forming a trendy romantic pair with Neetu Singh, who later became his wife. He also directed the flop, Aa Ab Laut Chalen.

Always in step with the times, Rishi Kapoor was a regular on Twitter.

Panel says TN can’t open up fully on May 3

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:1.5.2020

A state health experts committee on Covid-19 that met the chief minister on Thursday has advised a staggered exit from the lockdown and said Tamil Nadu cannot open up completely when the nationwide lockdown ends on May 3.

The committee met Edappadi K Palaniswami and senior government officials at the secretariat in Chennai over precautions to be followed during partial relaxation of the lockdown. “Lockdowncannot be lifted fully in the state. The situation is such that it cannot be done… Lockdown can be lifted in a phased manner,” said Prabhdeep Kaur, deputy director, national institute of epidemiology, and expert member of the panel. The committee took note of the hike in number of people being tested and jump in positive cases in TN over the past 15 days.

Panel advises against allowing public transport in TN for a month

A source said, “The state cabinet will decide on Saturday. Some corporations such as Chennai, Coimbatore and Tirupur where cases are high will maintain status quo. An expert panel on exit strategy will make a presentation before the CMon Friday and moresector-specific relaxations are expected.”

According to sources, the health committee has made zone-specific recommendations to the government: Partial relaxation in orange zones, status quo with a few more exemptionsin redzones, andtotal relaxation in green zones. The committee has told the government not to allow public transport, public gathering, and opening of cinemas and places of worship across the state for at least a month. According to Kaur, while positive cases were on the rise in certain districts, many also recordeddecline. “We have suggested indicators from epidemiological and health system point of view. The government could relax lockdown in certain areas based on surveillance and data analytics,” she said.

Even if the state decides to relax thelockdown,certain measuressuch as social distancing, personal hygiene and wearing masks in public places must be adhered to. “We have to change our lifestyle. The virus is going tostayfor a long time,” shesaid.

Elderly people, who are most vulnerable, must be protected and interactions with them by young people must be restricted. Similarly, people with co-morbidities should get proper treatment to reduce Covid-19 risk. The expert said the state should continue measures such as surveillance, contact tracing, isolation of detected cases and quarantine. Only with communitysupport, the situation could be brought under control.

Epidemiologist Dr G Kuganantham said the government should ensure 25 districts where cases have seen a decline should progress to green zones. “Private hospitals should have a separate wing for ILI/SARI/Covidcaseswith adequate protective equipment,” Kaur said.

As state awaits lockdown exit, cases hit 161 in 1 day; 138 in city

Asymptomatic May Be Moved Out Of Hospitals

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai: 01.05.2020

Tamil Nadu and Chennai recorded their highest daily increase in Covid-19 positive cases on Thursday and, as demand for hospital beds in the city went up, pressure mounted on public health authorities to move asymptomatic patients out of them.

The state recorded 161 fresh cases, the count crossing three digits for the third day in a row, and Chennai accounted for 138 of them. Several other districts too reported cases after a gap of several days.

By evening, all four city government hospitals had more than 150 patients, and deans were pushing the state health administration to move asymptomatic patients and those with mild symptoms out of hospitals to Covid care centres for isolation and treatment, with enough nurses and doctors. “It is a protocol suggested by the ICMR. We are examining it,” a senior official said. Increase in cases is expected in an epidemic, said health minister C Vijayabaskar. “We are testing at least 7,000 people statewide daily, including 2,000 in Chennai. We are looking for cases and getting them.” However, the state has high recovery rates and low mortality , the minister said.

Health officials said Chennai’s expanding clusters were now impacting the neighbouring districts of Chengalpet, Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram.

HOTSPOT: Visitors washing their hands before entering Koyambedu market

98% cases asymptomatic, 22k beds in city

Chennai corporation commissioner G Prakash on Thursday said 98% positive cases in the city are asymptomatic, and work has begun to convert rooms in schools and colleges into Covid-19 care centres to set up 22,000 beds. Three weeks from now, all positive patients with ‘mild’ symptoms will be taken to these centres and not government hospitals for intensive care, the officer said. P 3

Vegetable markets are feeding clusters

For instance, a cancer patient discharged from the Adyar Cancer Institute a week ago tested positive with four family members in Chengalpet.

“We are seeing similar trends in Tiruvallur and Kancheepuram as well. Most of them had visited hotspots such as markets in Chennai,” said a senior official at the directorate of public health. While Chengalpet recorded five cases, Kancheepuram recorded three and Tiruvallur had one case on Thursday.

Vegetable and fruit vendors in Koyambedu and markets and grocers across Chennai are feeding the clusters.

On Thursday, even as a large section of the Koyambedu market complex closed for disinfection, 10 vendors tested positive. Less than 3km away, seven family members of a vendor residing at Ayyappa Nagar near Chinmaya Nagar in Virugambakkam tested positive.

“We are telling people not to visit markets and grocers every day. The elderly and vulnerable should take help from neighbours,” said Greater Chennai Corporation joint commissioner, health, Madhusudan Reddy.

Health workers fanned out into crowded areas of Teeds Garden in Perambur, Thattankulam in Choolai and Adam Street in Triplicane. One the largest clusters was in one lane in Thattankulam – 11 people who caught the virus from a fever surveillance officer, who was infected in the line of duty.

On Thursday, 48 people were discharged from various hospitals across TN taking the total number of people discharged to 1,258. However, the number of active cases – people in hospital with Covid-19 infection -- has been steadily increasing. From 809 on Monday, it touched 1,035 on Thursday.

Several districts reported cases on Thursday after a lull. A person from Salem tested positive after a gap of five days.

Madurai reported five new cases after two days. Ramanathapuram recorded three cases after a gap of three days.