Puducherry:Pvt medical colleges directed to collect tuition fee fixed in 2018

Enforcement Directorate has arrested a person named Anas Ahmed in a money laundering case connected with fraud committed through Power Bank and other such fraud mobile applications. The agency said, Anas Ahmed is partner in two accused firms which are responsible for collection of approximately Rs 84 crore  from public. It said, Anas Ahmed has Chinese links and is suspected of being the mastermind of the whole racket.

-In the union territory of Puducherry all the private medical colleges are directed to collect the tuition fees of the government sponsored students for MBBS, BDS,  Nursing, B Pharm courses fixed in the year 2018.The fees committee headed by Justice Sudandiram, retired Judge of Madras High court revised the fees structure for these courses with effect from 2021- 2022. The Pondicherry State Students and Parents Welfare Association raised objections to the revised fee structure. Later in the order issued by the Lieutenant Governor Dr Tamilisai Soundararajan , it is said that the the Medical Colleges are  conducting  classes in the hybrid mode of both off- line and on-line and the fee fixed in 2018 by the earlier committee for the academic year 2021-22 may not be detrimental to the institutions. So the fees fixed earlier will continue.

-In Kerala, schools will be closed down across the State, in the wake of intense transmission of Covid-19. Restrictions on par with lockdown will be clamped on this and coming Sundays with exemption to essential services. Curb has also been imposed on  the number of persons attending public gatherings. The Covid Review Committee which met today also decided against complete lockdown in the State. Meanwhile, Kerala today reported 46,387 positive cases, taking the actives cases to 1,99,041.  Fifteen thousand 388 persons under treatment recovered. Test Positivity Rate climbed to 40.21 per cent. Thiruvananthapuram district recorded the highest daily caseload of 9,720 followed by Ernakulam -9,605.  Omicron positive cases also rose to 707  with 62 more persons contracted infection of the virus variant.

-As the cases of COVID-19 seem to be plateauing in Maharashtra, the state government  said that schools across the state will be allowed to reopen from 24th January. Maharashtra’s School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad said that offline resumption of classes can begin for students from classes one to twelfth and also for pre-primary students, subject to the permission by concerned district authorities. She said that the decision to reopen schools has been taken following deliberations with the pediatric task force, parents, teachers, district collectors and education experts. Mrs. Varsha Gaikwad said that consent of parents will be a must to attend physical classes. Stating that health and safety of students continues to remain top priority, Mrs. Gaikwad said the decision to restart schools has been left entirely to the district administration. She added that local authorities can decide to begin offline classes, considering the ground situation and willingness of parents. While detailed orders are yet to be published, the government has said that vaccination of students needs to be ramped up to ensure safe resumption of schools. Meanwhile, a decision to reopen colleges and universities is also likely in the next few days.

-Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Science & Technology, Earth Sciences, Dr Jitendra Singh on Thursday launched Mobile COVID testing facility for Northeast, beginning with Mizoram. On the occasion of launching the facility virtually, Chief Minister Zoramthanga. State health Minister Dr. R. Lalthangliana joined the program. This is the first of its kind Mobile Diagnostic Laboratory (I-LAB) capable of doing both RT-PCR and ELISA tests. On the occasion, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said, the Lab developed with the support from the central Department of Biotechnology is meant to provide COVID testing access to rural and remote parts of North eastern region. He said, the unit has bio-safety facility and is capable of performing both RT-PCR and ELISA tests and this facility can also be utilized for testing of other infectious diseases like TB, HIV and therefore will remain relevant even in post-COVID times.Dr Jitendra Singh called for linking the I-LAB with a tele-consultation facility in accordance with disease profile of the population of the North-Eastern region. He informed that tests like Mammography and Vision-testing can be added with the mobile laboratory. The facility will be hugely beneficial to the people of the region.