JEE Mains: 115,000 Students, 25% of Those Registered, Drop Out in Past Three Days

JEE Mains: 115,000 Students, 25% of Those Registered, Drop Out in Past Three Days

least 114,563 students dropped out from appearing the Joint Entrance Exam (JEE Mains) in the first three days, bringing to the fore that the students fear of Covid-19 and demand for a shift in entrance dates was real than orchestrated.

According to education ministry data released on Thursday, while 458,521 students had registered t sit for the JEE Mains in the first three days, only 343,958 went to give the exams. This is almost a drop-out of 25%. The JEE Mains exam will continue till 6 Sept.

Dropping out of almost 115,000 students is a significant number considering that this could close the door for students in trying to enter the best engineering schools in the country. LM

Iam Not On Facebook, How Can I Be Banned, Asks BJP MLA Raja Singh

Iam Not On Facebook, How Can I Be Banned, Asks BJP MLA Raja Singh

Banned by Facebook on Thursday over hateful content and labelled a "dangerous individual", controversial Telangana BJP MLA T Raja Singh claimed it had been more than a year since he left the social networking website and asked whether the company was working under Congress "pressure". Defending Facebook as "a neutral platform", Mr Singh said linking it with BJP is not fair. He said he will write to Facebook to open a new account for him and promised to follow all rules.

"I will write to Facebook to open my official account. I will follow all rules and regulations to use it. I should be given the right to use Facebook account and I will seek their permission," said the BJP leader known for incendiary speeches that usually target Muslims.

Under fire for weeks over its handling of hate speech by those linked to the ruling party, Facebook on Thursday said it has banned Raja Singh from its platform and Instagram for violating its policy on content promoting violence and hate.

Osmania Hospital Junior Doctors Threaten to Boycott Services From September 8

Osmania Hospital Junior Doctors Threaten to Boycott Services From September 8

The junior residents at Hyderabad’s Osmania General Hospital have threatened to boycott their services starting September 8 if their infrastructural demands are not met.

The OGH is Telangana’s only apex tertiary care hospital for non-COVID-19 care at the moment after Gandhi hospital, another tertiary care center, was designated for COVID-19 management. The century-old hospital is marred with issues ranging from an alleged shortage of medical equipment, lack of space for patient care or even to perform surgeries.

The hospital’s outpatient block or the heritage block was officially shut down on July 22, and all elective surgeries in departments of general surgery, general medicine, and surgical gastroenterology are stopped for lack of an operation theatre, and only emergency surgeries are performed. Indian Express

Escaped COVID Prisoners Yet To Be Traced, Hyderabad Police Launch Mega Hunt

Escaped COVID Prisoners Yet To Be Traced, Hyderabad Police Launch Mega Hunt

With no clue about the four COVID-19 prisoners who escaped from Gandhi Hospital on August 27, the special teams of the Hyderabad city police on a hunt to nab them.

The teams dispatched to the neighbouring states have also said to have not received any fruitful information about the fugitives.

Two convicts M Somasunder, 20, and P Narsaiah, 41, and two undertrials Md Abdul Arbaz, 21, and Md Javed, 35, were admitted to Gandhi Hospital after they tested for COVID-19. The four prisoners were put in the prisoner’s ward situated on the second floor of the hospital on August 27.

A police official who is part of the probe said, “The prisoners are still absconding. So far no clues have been identified, but we are hopeful of nabbing them soon.”DC

Telangana Migrant Stranded in the UAE, Reunited with Family After 16 Years

Telangana Migrant Stranded in the UAE, Reunited with Family After 16 Years

It was an emotional reunion for 47-year old Neela Yellaiah, a migrant worker from Telangana with his wife and daughter at Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Airport on Tuesday after being stranded in the UAE for 16 years.

Yellaiah, who lost his passport and was suffering partial memory loss all these years, returned to Hyderabad from Dubai in an Air India flight in the early hours of Tuesday. He was received by E Chittibabu, special officer of NRI cell in the Telangana government and his family members.

“His wife Rajavva broke into tears on seeing her husband after 16 years. His daughter Sunanda, who was a breastfeeding baby when he went to Dubai in 2004, was also emotional on seeing her father for the first time,” Mandha Bheem Reddy, president of Telangana Gulf Migrants’ Forum, who coordinated the entire process of bringing Yellaiah back to India, told Hindustan Times.

Though it was mandatory for Yellaiah to be in institutional quarantine for a week as per the Covid-19 protocol, the Telangana government permitted him to be taken straightaway to his native village Chinthamanpalli in Domakonda block of Kamareddy district in view of his physical weakness and memory loss. He will have to be in home quarantine for two weeks

PUBG Video Game App Among 118 New Chinese Apps Banned Today

PUBG Video Game App Among 118 New Chinese Apps Banned Today

PUBG MOBILE, a wildly popular online multiplayer shooting game, is among 118 Chinese apps blocked by the government today amid tension over fresh Chinese provocation in Ladakh. The move is in the interest of India's sovereignty and integrity, defence and security, the government said in a statement.

Tencent's PUBG Mobile ranks among the world's top five smartphone games with over 734 million downloads. There are close to 50 million active PUBG players in India, according to reports and the game clocks in some 13 million daily users.

According to the IT Ministry, the Apps "are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order".

ACB Raids on Realtor's Office, 4 crore Seized in Hyderabad

ACB Raids on Realtor's Office, 4 crore Seized in Hyderabad

Sleuths from the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday conducted extensive raids on a realtor's office in the city and seized the unaccounted cash of Rs. 4.4 crore from his office.

According to ACB officials, the unaccounted cash belongs to the former IMS (Insurance Medical Services) Director, Devika Rani and pharmacist Naga Lakshmi who were arrested in disproportionate assets case and later on released on bail by the special judge for ACB cases.

Devika Rani, with an intention to purchase 6 residential flats and 15,000 square feet commercial space in the western corridor of Hyderabad, paid an advance of Rs 3.75 crore to the realtor and Rs 22 lakh on benamidar's name. Another accused officer Naga Lakshmi also paid Rs 72 lakh. Apart from these transactions additional amount of Rs 2.29 crore was paid through cheque and online transfer

The issue came to light recently after a vigilance inquiry was made by the Vigilance department into purchases made by IMS for ESI hospitals in the State and it was found that medicines which were not needed were purchased to favour a few firms and the regular medicines were purchased at higher prices.

Further investigations revealed that all the firms which supplied medicines to ESI hospitals were owned by close family members of Devika Rani and her benami persons. 

The government of Telangana then ordered the ACB to investigate the issue and after two months of conducting investigations the officials started digging into the case and unearthed the scam which further revealed that Devika Rani was involved in it. She was colluding with other officials as they prepared fake invoices, bills and records of purchase of medicines and other medical equipment and cheated the government exchequer to the tune of Rs. 11.69 crore

Several pharmacy company directors were arrested for involvement in the scam and government officials including three doctors serving in the Insurance Medical Services (IMS), were arrested in the multi-crore scam. They include Director of IMS, Dr Ch Devika Rani, Joint Director, Dr Padma, Assistant Director (store) K. Vasantha Indira, Shamshabad ESI dispensary pharmacist grade-II M. Radhika HI

Rajeev Kumar Takes Charge as Election Commissioner of India, He Replaces Ashok Lavasa

Rajeev Kumar Takes Charge as Election Commissioner of India, He Replaces Ashok Lavasa

Former finance secretary Rajeev Kumar assumed charge as the new Election Commissioner of India on Tuesday, September 1. He joined the Election Commission of India with Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra. Rajeev Kumar will be taking the place of Ashok Lavasa who resigned recently in order to join the Asian Development Bank

Former Union finance secretary and Senior Bihar/Jharkhand cadre IAS officer Rajeev Kumar took charge of his new position as the Election Commissioner of India on Tuesday, along with Sunil Arora and Sushil Chandra who will be joining as the Chief Election Commissioner and Election Commissioner respectively. "He has keen commitment to use of technology applications and to bring about amendments in extant policy regime towards greater transparency, delivery of services to citizens directly, eliminating intermediaries, PTI

Karnataka Minister K S Eshwarappa Tests Positive for COVID19

Karnataka Minister K S Eshwarappa Tests Positive for COVID19

Karnataka Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa on Tuesday said he has tested positive for COVID-19 and has been admitted to hospital on doctor's advice.

I have been confirmed with coronavirus infection today, there are no other health issues.As of now on the advice of the doctors I'm undergoing treatment at hospital," Eshwarappa tweeted.

The 72-year-old leader said he was confident of speedy recovery with blessings and good wishes from everyone.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has wished Eshwarappa speedy recovery and to get back to work soon.

Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar too has wished him speedy recovery PTI

As JEE May Begins, Urgent Plea Seeking Postponement to be Heard by Bombay High Court

As JEE May Begins, Urgent Plea Seeking Postponement to be Heard by Bombay High Court

The Nagpur bench of Bombay High Court refused to stay the JEE-Main examination but said any student residing in flood-hit parts of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region who cannot reach the exam centre or reaches late can apply to the National Testing Agency to seek a re-examination.

A division bench of Justices Ravi Deshpande and Pushpa Ganediwala said the National Testing Agency (NTA) shall consider such applications and decide accordingly, after checking the veracity of the same. The engineering Joint Entrance Examination (JEE)-Main began at 9 am across the country on Tuesday. The court said any aggrieved student can file an application to the NTA via their centre coordinator.

"The situation is grim in several districts due to flood. Students should not suffer for no fault on their part. The National Testing Agency shall then decide on the application after consulting with the district collector concerned within a period of 15 days, the court-ordered.

Just ahead of the JEE Main examination scheduled for Tuesday morning, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay High Court will take up for urgent hearing a plea filed by a citizen seeking its postponement for students residing in flood-hit parts of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region.PTI