Killing of pregnant elephant triggers nationwide outrage

Killing of pregnant elephant triggers nationwide outrage

NGO Announces ₹1L Cash Reward For Info Leading To Culprits’ Arrest

TNN & AGENCIES

Palakkad: 04.06.2020

The killing of a pregnant wild elephant has triggered a nationwide outrage even as Kerala chief minister promised strict action against the offenders. “The forest department is probing the case and the culprits won’t be spared,” chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday.

Mannarkkad forest division registered a case and initiated a probe into killing of the 15-yearold cow elephant. Two organizations announced cash reward to anyone providing information that would lead to the arrest of the offenders.

The elephant had chewed on an explosive-stuffed pineapple that went off in its mouth. The injured animal stood in Velliyar River, where it died on May 27 at Thiruvizhamkunnu forest section in Kottopadam grama panchayat. The forest department had employed two kumki elephants to rescue the injured animal. The efforts went in vain.

According to Mannarkkad divisional forest officer (DFO) Sunil Kumar, the elephant might have come from Silent Valley National Park’s buffer zone. It died on a private land 300m from Thiruvizhamkunnu forest section. “We have registered a case for killing the wild elephant but nobody has been arrested. We are waiting for the postmortem report to find out the exact cause of its death,” he said. The officer said the firecracker-filled fruit could have been placed to kill crop-raiding wild animals.

Wildlife warden of Silent Valley National Park Samuel V Pachuau said that patrolling has been intensified after the elephant’s death.

Meanwhile, BJP leader Maneka Gandhi slammed the state government—and Rahul Gandhi—for not taking cruelty against animals seriously. She came down heavily on the illtreatment of captive elephants. “Forest secretary should be removed and the minister (for wildlife protection), if he has any sense, should resign. Rahul Gandhi is from that area, why has he not taken action,” she asked. The elephant’s tragic end became public after a forest official, Mohan Krishnan, tendered an emotional apology on his Facebook page.

“Sorry sister,” Krishnan, who witnessed the elephant’s death, posted on Facebook. “With her mouth and tongue destroyed in the explosion, she paced around hungry without being able to eat. She must have been more worried about the health of the child inside her than about her own hunger.”

Several celebrities including Virat Kohli, Anushka Sharma, Shraddha Kapoor, Randeep Hooda, John Abraham and Akshay Kumar demanded action against animal cruelty.

Announcing a reward of ₹1 lakh, Wildlife SOS, an NGO, said the practice of stuffing explosives in food materials has been often done to maim and kill wild animals. It added that it would ensure that the heinous act would not go unpunished. The NGO could be contacted over its elephant hotline 9971699727 or over email, info@wildlifesos.org.

(With inputs from Thiruvananthapuram and Kochi)

In East Godavari village,1man infects 150

In East Godavari village,1man infects 150

Umamaheswara.Rao@timesgroup.com

Kakinada:04.06.2020

About 20km from Kakinada, situated between green fields and coconut groves, lies Gollala Mamidada village. The otherwise nondescript hamlet in Pedapudi mandal in East Godavari district is now making headlines for having earned the dubious distinction of being the first village in the country to have 116 confirmed cases of Covid-19 as of Wednesday.

Gollala Mamidada is the mandal headquarter with a population of about 16,000. While most of the infected villagers are in home quarantine, a few have been isolated at a local private medical college.

On May 20, a 53-year-old Covid-19 infected person from the village succumbed to complications brought on by the virus at the Governmental General Hospital (GGH) in Kakinada within half-an-hour of admission.

The deceased, who was employed at a hotel and doubled up as a photographer, is believed to have been a super-spreader because of the nature of his job, as well as the delayed onset of symptoms. The patient directly or indirectly transmitted the virus to at least 150 people in Pedapudi and neighbouring Ramachandrapuram, Anaparti, Bikkavolu and Mandapeta mandals.

The deceased was believed to have contracted the virus while photographing an event in Ramachandrapuram. It was also learnt that the deceased participated in a mask distribution programme conducted by a local organisation.

However, district officials are yet to establish the origin of the disease in the super-spreader. The son of the deceased was also diagnosed with the disease around the same time as his father, raising doubts over who transmitted the virus to whom. According to officials, the son had thrown a party for his friends at a local bakery before testing positive. Medical tests are being conducted on all primary and secondary contacts of Covid-19 patients.

The 53-year-old man was employed at a hotel and doubled up as a photographer, is believed to have been a super-spreader because of the nature of his job, as well as the delayed onset of symptoms. The patient directly or indirectly transmitted the virus to at least 150 people

Health min issues rules for safe ENT practice

Health min issues rules for safe ENT practice

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi:04.06.2020

The health ministry on Wednesday issued guidelines for safe ENT practice amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The guidelines are aimed at minimising the spread of Covid-19 infection among ENT doctors, nursing staff, support staff, patients and their attendants.

According to the guidelines, all patients entering the ENT OPD shall be thermal screened.

The ministry said that Covid-19 positive patients are to be operated only for emergency indications in designated operation theatres for Covid-19 patients.

Patients having symptoms suggestive of Covid-19 pertaining to both ENT symptoms or respiratory symptoms, should be seen in a separate Covid-19 screening clinic and not in the ENT OPD, it said.

The ministry also recommended teleconsultation as a preferable option. “Avoid performing endoscopy (nasal endoscopy, 90 rigid or flexible endoscopy for larynx) in routine OPD,” it said, adding even if this has to be performed, it should preferably be performed in a separate demarcated area with Level II PPE kit i.e. Cover-all gown, N-95 mask, gloves and goggles.

The ministry said that the Covid-19 suspect patients should be treated in a separate ward , and should be shifted to ENT ward only after confirmation of Covid negative status while it must be ensured that suspected and confirmed Covid patients are kept separately.

Number of recoveries crosses 1 lakh

New Delhi:Even as new cases of Covid-19 are increasing rapidly, on the brighter side, the number of recovered people crossed the 1 lakh-mark on Wednesday to touch 1,00,303 or 48.31% of those infected by the Sars-Cov-2 virus. The number of Covid-19 cases in India rose to 2,07,615 with yet another biggest single-day spike as 8,909 fresh cases and 217 deaths were recorded by the health ministry on Wednesday. The death toll has gone up to 5,815. There were1,01,497 active Covid-19 cases in the country, the ministry said.

“We are expecting cases to increase because restrictions are gradually being lifted. While containment exercise will continue, it is a relief that recovery rate is improving fast and deaths are limited. Our focus is to keep death rate as low as possible. Increasing number of recoveries shows that our strategy of early detection and clinical management are right,” a health ministry official said.

According to ministry data, Maharashtra has reported 72,300 cases so far, followed by Tamil Nadu with 24,586 cases and Delhi with 22,132. Of the 5,815 deaths across the country, Maharashtra accounted for the highest number at 2,465, followed by Gujarat

No call yet on opening places of worship in state

No call yet on opening places of worship in state

Julie.Mariappan@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.06.2020

The state government on Wednesday chose to remain non-committal on the demand by religious leaders to reopen places of worship after it received mixed views from representatives of various congregations. It, however, indicated that when religious places are finally opened, as suggested by the Union government, it would start with rural areas of Tamil Nadu. Some of the religious leaders preferred a cautious approach and suggested deferring a decision for now.

The Tamil Nadu Jama’Athul Ulama Sabai and the Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council, a supreme body of Catholic bishops in the state, urged the government to allow religious places to open from June 8, assuring maintenance of social distancing norms and strict enforcement of the safety guidelines imposed by the state. “Many leaders said people were getting emotional and wanted religious places opened, others took a cautious approach as they did not want to be the cause for spreading the disease,” chief secretary K Shanmugam told TOI. “They said the government could take the call and they would follow whatever conditions were laid down. We will have to be cautious,” said the officer.

A section of Muslim leaders too recommended that the government defer reopening mosques by at least a month. The Tamil Nadu Jama’Athul Ulama Sabai representatives had stated that the community was keen to begin worship in mosques, and even prayers during Ramzan. “We assured that all safety precautions would be in place, forbidding vulnerable people from coming, avoiding hand shakes or hugging and maintaining a strict schedule. People are more aware about the dangers of Covid than they were earlier,” TNJUS state deputy secretary Ilyas Riyaji said. The officials told the leaders that chief minister Edappadi K Palnaiswami would be apprised of the developments after which he would take a decision.

A section of Hindu leaders, including Ramakrishna Mission, had left it to the government to decide on the date. “We feel that the government should defer plans, if any, to reopen since the Covid cases are on the rise in Chennai and neighbouring districts,” said Swami Satyajnananda of Ramakrishna Mission. The leaders suggested banning devotees from sitting or standing for too long in the temple in the initial days.

Tamil Nadu Bishops’ Council deputy secretary L Sahayaraj said all congregations had requested that Churches be opened. “Apart from our own rules and regulations, if the government insists on imposing more conditions, we will adjure the visitirs to follow that too. We don’t need police protection as we have our volunteers. Marriages have been deferred during lockdown,” he said. The Bishop council members expressed similar views.

UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS AWAITS A VISIONARY VC

UNIVERSITY OF MADRAS AWAITS A VISIONARY VC

Ahead Of NAAC Assessment, The 163-Yr-Old Institution Stares At Issues Of Vacancies, Poor Evaluation System And Financial Crisis

K Jothi Sivagnanam  04.06.2020

Once again the search for a new vice-chancellor for the University of Madras has begun, even as the education system grapples with the changes due to Covid-19. For the 163-year-old institution facing a financial crisis, staff vacancies and an impending National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) assessment, only a vice-chancellor of mettle can lay the foundation for a university to regain its lost position.

From inadequate finances to wrong appointments, demoralised faculty, lack of motivation among students and overall inefficiency of the system, a large number of challenges await the VC. Priority needs to be given to recruitment. At present, about 60% of the teaching positions and more than 50% of the non-teaching seats remain vacant. Due to this many departments have lost student enrolment, research funding under programmes such as SAP, CAS and DST. Confusing reservation issues for faculty positions is further complicated by scores of litigations. The process of identifying vacancies is difficult as it is politicised within departments. Further, there is a dearth of quality teachers since central universities with better service conditions, age of retirement and hassle-free flow of funds attract better talent. The problem lies in the lack of recruitment rules, irregular appointments and promotions, which VCs in the past have failed to address.

The controversy regarding payment of pension to the university staff has forced many good teachers to leave. Pension arrears and some other payments have accumulated to ₹55 crore and it is mounting with each new retiree every month. The institution handles pensions through a corpus fund, but spiralling expenses after the amendment to the seventh pay commission has created a crisis. For a permanent solution, a financial system for the universities in Tamil Nadu is needed so that the salary and pension liabilities are borne by the state government, as it is being done for government-aided schools and colleges.

The second issue that needs to be addressed is the archaic examination system of the university. Based on the age-old central evaluation system, the university has to spend at least ₹3 crore each semester to evaluate about 13 lakh answer scripts and revalue 1 lakh more. Since most colleges don’t have teachers with the mandatory three-year service criterion for evaluation, teachers from other non-autonomous affiliated colleges have to be brought in. While these teachers complain of not getting paid after six months, questions are also raised on their quality. It is alleged that the number of applications for revaluation is high is a reflection on the poor quality of evaluation. It results in low credibility and poor delivery of an essential service expected from a university — proper evaluation and timely announcement of results.

In the aftermath of the pandemic, when most institutions are shifting to online examination and evaluation systems, University of Madras is yet to take any concrete step.

At the school level, the Class X examination taken by more than 12 lakh students is an orderly process through a digitised database. Answer sheets of each candidate has their details printed. In contrast, the university follows the ageold dummy number system that is manual written. This allows scope of corrupt practices. An overhaul is needed to ensure economy, efficiency, and speedy delivery of results with credibility.

Addressing these issues paves the way for better scores in the NAAC assessment. The university is due in June 2021 for which preparations have to be completed and the selfstudy report should be submitted in January 2021. The university is yet to take the first step in this direction. The accreditation may be extended to 2021-22 due to Covid-19, but the self-study report still has to be prepared. The National Institutional Ranking Framework score of the Madras university in recent years leaves much to be desired. There are many instances of underutilisation of allocated research funds. For instance, the money under the Ministry of Human Resource Development Ministry’s RUSA 2.0 scheme has not been fully used. The university has also failed to spend allocations under the University Grants Commission, Department of Science and Technology and state government. Soliciting fresh funds with this dismal track record is impossible. For the university to emerge as an institution of higher learning and research, the leadership of an able academician and visionary administrator is inevitable. It is hoped that assisted by the search committee, the governor, who is also the chancellor of the university, will shoulder the responsibility of selecting a suitable candidate who will live up to challenges.

(The author is head of department of economics and membersyndicate, University of Madras)

Email your feedback to southpole.toi@timesgroup.com

ISSUES AT HAND

VACANCIES About 60% of the teaching and more than 50% non-teaching positions are vacant. The last faculty recruitment was done in 2014

EXAMINATION SYSTEM The manual poor evaluation system costs the university at least ₹3 crore every semester. Steps have not been taken to ensure evaluation is done by qualified teachers to increase credibility and reduce the number of re-evaluation requests

NAAC RATING According to the last assessment the University of Madras secured an A grade from NAAC. A higher grade makes the institution eligible for higher UGC grants for research projects, infrastructure. The issues of vacancies and of evaluation may not bode well when the next assessment is due in 2021

No room for social distancing as buses run crowded across state

No room for social distancing as buses run crowded across state

Ram.Sundaram@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.06.2020

Despite assurances from the state government that bus frequency will be increased based on demand, many buses in Tamil Nadu remained overcrowded on Wednesday, with social distancing gone for a toss. Tamil Nadu witnessed the first case of a bus driver being infected with Covid-19 on Tuesday.

The infected employee was driving a bus on the Tiruvannamalai-Cuddalore route, in which 140 passengers had travelled.

On Wednesday, in some areas like Bodi in Theni district and Pollachi in Coimbatore district, passengers, who waited for long at bus stands, resorted to minor protests demanding that more services be run.

Though the government promised that 50% of buses will be operated, only 30% were out on the roads, multiple sources confirmed to TOI. The transport department, however, was unavailable to comment on it.

Conductors too had a tough time in stopping excess passengers from boarding the buses.

“We have been instructed to drop and pick up passengers at intermediate bus stops. If there are 10 passengers waiting at one such stop for more than an hour, will they listen to us if we say only two seats were vacant? Eventually, we were forced to carry on despite risks of getting infected,” said Siva, a Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC) conductor.

K Arumugam Nainar from CITU-affiliated state transport union, said Wednesday being an auspicious day for marriages saw more than the anticipated crowd arriving at bus stops and that local authorities didn’t respond appropriately. “Now that the government has allowed most shops and factories to run, more people will depend on buses to travel to work and back home as trains are not operated. So there is no point holding back on 50% of the bus fleet,” he added.

In response, a state transport department official said managing directors of all transport corporations and branch managers were given powers to operate more buses to avoid crowding and that scenarios as Wednesday’s will be rectified from Thursday.

“Despite huge losses due to the pandemic, we haven’t hesitated to spend money on buying masks, personal protective equipment (PPEs) and disinfectants for buses. There will be no compromise on workers’ health and welfare,” the transport official added.

LIKE ANY OTHER DAY: A video grab shows a fully packed bus in Pollachi

Deemed univs to hold final yr exams online

Deemed univs to hold final yr exams online

AI Tools To Help Keep A Check On Test Candidates

Ragu.Raman@timesgroup.com

Chennai:04.06.2020

In view of pandemic-related restrictions, a majority of deemed universities are likely to conduct exams for final year students online to help them graduate. The institutions are offering choices varying from online open book tests to permitting students with connectivity issues to take tests offline.

Some of the deemed universities are preparing question banks for the online exams.

SRM Institute of Science and Technology (SRMIST) is conducting viva-voce online for final year students. “In a few branches, students have course work in the final semester. We are offering them online tests,” said Sandeep Sancheti, institute vice-chancellor. For students who are not able take the tests online, the university will conduct tests in the offline mode at the earliest.

“If, for some reason, say lack of proper smart devices or connectivity issues, they fare poorly in the online tests, students can give the test again offline. We plan to consider best of the two results. It will make students more comfortable while taking exams online,” Sancheti added.

The institute’s online tests for all students will include multiple choice questions, descriptive questions and will be monitored by artificial intelligence (AI) tools. For some courses, the institute plans to reduce the weightage for end semester exams and increase weightage of internals.

Sastra University also plans to conduct end semester exams for final year students online. “It will be an open book online test backed by oral assessment,” said S Vaidyasubramaniam, its vice-chancellor. “A software will allot questions — a mix of MCQs, descriptive and analytical questions — randomly to students so they do not get identical ones. The oral assessment will ensure students know the concepts,” he added.

Students in other years of their degrees, given they have 50% attendance, will be graded based on internal exams and can opt to appear for an improvement exam later.

Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology is planning to conduct exams online if the situation does not improve by the first week of July. “We plan to conduct pen and paper mode exam for final year students. For others, we may conduct it online depending on the Covid-19 situation,” a senior official from the institute said.