Attendance dips at DK colleges

Attendance dips at DK colleges

Kevin.Mendonsa@timesgroup.com

Mangaluru:28.03.2021 

Schools and colleges in Dakshina Kannada district are reporting a drop in attendance amid concerns over Covid-19. Some parents are wary of sending the children to campuses.

Students from Kerala are missing classes because of the mandatory Covid-19 testing requirement. People travelling from the neighbouring state must furnish a Covid-19 negative certificate to enter Karnataka. Vittal K, the principal of Kittel Memorial PU College, told STOI that a girl student from Kerala had not attended classes for the past few weeks. “It is due to the mandatory RTPCR test. We will have a clear picture of the attendance in PU colleges on Monday,” he said.

A professor from Mangalore University College in Hampankatta said that local students were also avoiding classes. One deemed university has temporarily shut its constituent colleges and Mangalore University has suspended PG classes on its main campus after cases were reported there.

New wave may be severe, say experts as cases climb

New wave may be severe, say experts as cases climb

TIPPING POINT: Doctors Warn There Is No Room For Complacency

Cases Among Young Kids And Students Pose New Challenges

Sunitha.Rao@timesgroup.com

Bengaluru:28.03.2021 

With Karnataka now reporting more than 2,500 Covid-19 cases a day, experts have warned that the second wave could be severe. Health minister K Sudhakar also expressed concerns about the surge on Saturday.

“There are about 2.8 lakh cases in Maharashtra, 24,000 in Kerala, 22,000 in Punjab and 19,000 in Karnataka. It is clear that the second wave has begun. If we don’t curb activities, the danger is imminent,” he said, urging citizens to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour. He added that Karnataka’s daily positivity rate of 1.6 per cent was slightly higher than the national average of 1.5 per cent.

According to epidemiologist Dr Giridhara R Babu, a member of the state technical advisory committee on Covid-19, multiple factors are at play and there are some unanswered questions. “We don’t know what proportion of the current cases are reinfections. We don’t know because the patients probably didn’t know it the first time in the absence of symptoms,” he said. Antibodies that work against coronavirus may have waned and the same strain may have resulted in reinfection.

Dr Babu is concerned about the spread of newer variants of the virus. According to a recent study by Nimhans, 34 lineages of the virus have been detected in Bengaluru. “The new variants might be more infectious, spreading among people in a shorter period. But this has not been proved. The surge is real and we need to find out why it is happening. For this, we will have to track a group of people who had Covid-19 earlier and test them again,” he said.

The government also needs to commission cell culture or in vitro studies to ascertain how fast new variants spread. “If resources are made available, there are several advanced laboratories where this research work can be conducted,” he added.

Another way to understand the virus transmission rate is by conducting contact tracing and identifying the variant in the index case. The same should be checked among the primary and secondary contacts. “The results should be compared with the infectiousness of other variants,” Dr Babu said, adding the pace of vaccination must pick up.

Dr CN Manjunath said the latest infection trends should be analysed. “It’s too early to say whether the second wave is going to be worse. The impact of the resurgence of the old strain, in addition to new variants around, is not known,” he said.

BEST SHOT: People register for vaccination in Bengaluru on Saturday

Oppn, govt argue over numbers

Opposition leader Siddaramaiah on Saturday accused the state government of lying about the Covid-19 deaths, claiming the health and planning & statistics departments had mentioned different figures. “The health department said 12,090 people died because of Covid-19 in the state till December 2020, while the statistics department put this figure at 22,320. Which one is true?” Siddaramaiah asked.

He alleged that the government had also lied about procurement of medical supplies (masks, sanitisers, PPE kits) and demanded a white paper on the actual number of Covid-19 cases, including deaths, treatment details and compensation paid.

Health minister K Sudhakar termed the allegations as false. “The government has no intention to hide statistics. It is not possible to hide or fudge data,” he said. On the different figures cited by the said departments, he said the chief registrar of births and deaths had clarified that the numbers were provisional entries and subject to reconciliation.

At 73, retired teacher places ad for partner

At 73, retired teacher places ad for partner

Shrinivasa.M@timesgroup.com

Mysuru:28.03.2021 

A matrimonial advertisement published by a 73-year-old retired teacher seeking a husband has triggered debate and discussion in the city and online, with many cheering her boldness and positive attitude, and others advising caution against frauds.

In the ad, the woman sought an alliance from any healthy man older than her, and mandatorily a Brahmin, of her community. She said she is leading a lonely life and looking for a “jeevana sangati”. She told STOI: “I don’t have a family of my own. My parents are no more. My first marriage ended in divorce. I fear staying alone. Thoughts that I may fall at home and fail to get help or fear of walking home from the bus stop have led me to look for a life partner.”

She said her marriage and divorce were painful and the hurt prevented her from contemplating remarriage all these years. More than a spouse in the traditional sense, she added, what she needs now is a “companion for the rest of my life”. The advertisement, widely shared on social media, drew applause from many who said her decision would break cultural stereotypes in society.

Roopa Hassan, an activist, said the septuagenarian most likely feared loneliness and has thus chosen to look for a partner at this age, having led an independent life so far. “She should be very careful about her decision, or else, criminals may take advantage of it. The best move would be to find a life partner through trustworthy organisations,” Hassan said.

Raveesh BN, a psychiatry professor, said the ad should be an eye-opener for society where old people are most often neglected.

Council of Architecture 28.03.2021

 

HC quashes AU’s new promotion rules

HC quashes AU’s new promotion rules

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:28.09.2021 

New conditions brought in by Anna University for promotion of serving associate professors and assistant professors have been rejected by the Madras high court, which said rules of the game cannot be changed after selection is over.

Concurring with the submissions of senior counsel Isaac Mohanlal and quashing the new condition that an associate professor must have guided a PhD candidate to be eligible for promotion, Justice V Parthiban directed the university to give promotion in such cases as per existing rules.

The issue pertains to a batch of pleas moved by assistant and associate professors of the university challenging the resolutions of the university syndicate dated September 3, 2018 and November 9, 2018 bringing in the new conditions for promotion. The issues that are thrown upon for adjudication was whether or not the university is entitled to prescribe additional qualifications through the resolutions when, admittedly, the selection process was over in respect of these petitioners, much before the date of resolution.

Disposing of the pleas, the court said: “This court is of the considered view that the additional qualifications (eligibility criteria) introduced under the impugned resolutions dated September 3, 2018 and November 9, 2018 cannot be made applicable to writ petitioners.” Therefore, the syndicate resolutions are set aside only insofar as it is made applicable retrospectively to writ petitioners in respect of the selection for promotion, the court said.

PhD affiliation only for depts with PG courses

PhD affiliation only for depts with PG courses

2-Yr PG Teaching Experience Must For Guides, Says Madras Univ

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:28.03.2021 

University of Madras will award PhD affiliation only to college departments running postgraduate courses, according to modified research regulations 2021. Besides, faculty members wanting to become research guides should have at least two years’ experience in teaching post graduate (PG) students.

At the university’s Senate meeting on Saturday, headed by vice-chancellor S Gowri, the university moved a resolution to adopt the modified regulations 2021 relating to admission of PhD, conduct of PhD programme, evaluation of thesis and award of PhD degree.

Regulations related to eligibility for research supervision and recognition for institutions were also modified.

There was some opposition with regard to the rule that associate professors and assistant professors seeking to become research guides need at least two years of PG teaching experience.

Professor Rita John, head of the theoretical physics department, requested the university to empower research supervisors to issue travel allowance (TA) and daily allowance (DA) for those attending research advisory committee meetings. Gowri promised that the university will make provisions to give TA, DA for external examiners.

Senate members also opposed a provision that mandates research guides to intimate the research advisory committee in cases where research scholars go on maternity leave.

“As per the rule, the guide will give maternity leave but has to inform the research advisory committee (RAC) members as the maternity leave can last up to 240 days whereas RAC needs to meet once in six months,” dean (research) R Srinivasan said while replying to the members.

Also, research supervisors of the university and its affiliated institutions shall not be permitted to supervise research of other universities except for central government-funded institutions like CLRI.

Madhavaram MLA A Sudarsanam, who is also a member of the Senate, said the poor enrolment in the university departments is not acceptable.

“The university needs to popularise its courses and also needs to fill vacancies. To solve the financial crisis of the university, officials need to approach the state government for financial aid,” he said.

The university also conducted elections to the six seats in the Syndicate committee. Among those elected, professor R Srinivasan, dean (research) and head of the department of econometrics, professor M Srinivasan, head of the department of criminology, professor R R Krishnamurthy, head of the department of applied geology, G Baskaran, head of the centre for water resource management, and T V S Padmaja, principal of Valliammal College for Women, belonged to the Professors Forum, while professor E Murugan was from the Madras University Teachers Association.

At the university’s Senate meeting on Saturday, the varsity moved a resolution to adopt the modified regulations 2021 relating to admission of PhD, conduct of PhD programme, evaluation of thesis and award of PhD degree

RAID: Illegal Sex Determination Racket Busted in Agra, nurse, 6 others arrested

RAID: Illegal Sex Determination Racket Busted in Agra, nurse, 6 others arrested: Agra: In recent raids at several locations in Agra, the Uttar Pradesh Police, and the Special Task Force (STF) have busted an illegal sex determination racket allegedly lead by a doctor and two...