“In the world of technology we live in, everyone is constantly monitored in some way or the other and hence there is a need to be cautious,” said Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan here on Friday.

He was speaking at ‘Women’s safety awareness programme’ at Tidel Park.

“In the film Ocean’s Eleven , Julia Roberts says, ‘In your hotel, there is always someone watching.’ That's how it works now. There are CCTV cameras everywhere and in a way, this kind of a technology helps us arrest the accused,” he said.

In social media too the situation was no different. “You have to be very careful about what you do and what you share on social media. What you write on social media remains there forever,” he added.

“Stalking and eve-teasing are the other issues that women often face. Stalking is unfortunately glorified in some films and it should be condemned,” he said.

He noted how sexual harassment at work place should be dealt with and women should carefully discuss and come forward to complain to either the office or to the police.

Deputy Commissioner of Police Rohit Nathan Rajagopal said the IT industry had helped many people from rural areas move to the big cities, and they were suddenly brought face to face with corporate culture. “For instance, a person may be the first graduate in the family and may have joined work in the city, but a casual hug in an informal team activity or gathering can sometimes be mistaken. Often, personal and professional lives get blurred. So, companies have modules or training for new recruits so that the transition is easier for them and there are no issues,” he said.

Garima Tyagi, Diversity and Inclusion India Head, Verizon, said, companies should also have regular sensitisation programmes on sexual harassment at work place.

Ref : The Hindu | Read more

The Madras High Court has decided to delve deep into the validity of admissions made last year in MBBS with respect to students who had obtained nativity certificates from revenue authorities in Tamil Nadu as well as from other States in order to try their luck in securing a medical seat in either of the places. Justice N. Kirubakaran has directed the High Court Registry to list for hearing on Monday a batch of cases related to the issue. The order was passed after holding a brief hearing through video conferencing from the Madurai Bench on Thursday. In the meantime, he directed a Special Government Pleader (SGP) to produce relevant files.

During the course of hearing held on Thursday, counsel representing one of the writ petitioners brought it to the notice of the court that a prospectus issued for MBBS admissions for the academic year 2017-18 had clearly stated that nativity certificates of the candidates should have been issued by the jurisdictional Tahsildars.

“Yet, hundreds of students had produced nativity certificates issued to them by Deputy Tahsildars and the selection committee constituted by the Director of Medical Education too had accepted those certificates issued by the subordinate revenue authorities and granted admission to all those students. This is ex-facie illegal,” he contended.

Though the revenue officials ought to have conducted an elaborate enquiry with respect to the nativity of every applicant before issuing certificates to them, the counsel claimed that no such enquiry had been conducted which was evident from the fact that the certificates had been issued within a few days from the date of application.

In reply, SGP T.M. Pappaiah contended that the Revenue Manual empowers the Deputy Tahsildars also to issue nativity certificates and sought time to produce all the records for the perusal of the court. He disputed the allegation of many students having obtained the nativity certificates fraudulently by bribing the revenue officials.

After hearing them, the judge said that he would prefer to hear the case in detail when he comes down to Chennai on Monday.

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In a move aimed at facilitating hassle-free movement of goods, the Department of Commercial Taxes and Registration said on Wednesday that the e-way bill system would be mandatory from February 1.

According to an official release, goods falling under the purview of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Act, irrespective of whether they are taxable or exempt, and whose value exceeds Rs. 50,000, while being transported, shall be accompanied with documents prescribed under the GST Act viz., invoice or bill of supply or delivery note along with a copy of an e-way bill or an e-way bill number.

“This system shall work on a self-declaration model. E-way bill can be generated either by the supplier, the recipient or the transporter. It can be generated on the portal (www.ewaybillgst.gov.in) or through mobile app or SMS. The necessary rules relating to the e-way bill (Rules 138 to 138D of the Tamil Nadu Goods and Services Rules) have already been notified,” stated the release.

As per the GST Act, from February 1, 2018 onwards, all tax-payers should ensure that the e-way bill is generated from www.ewaybillgst.gov.in at the time of the transport of goods, and that it is accompanied with an invoice or bill of supply or delivery note.

Further information can be obtained by calling 044-28290962 or 1800 103 6751 or e-mailing helpdesk@ctd.tn.gov.in.

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Police Commissioner A.K. Viswanathan on Wednesday inaugurated a new system to speed up police verification process (PCC)for the issuance of passports.

Mr. Viswanathan inaugurated a training programme on ‘mobile passport’ App by distributing tablets to personnel of the intelligence section. Regional Passport Officer P.K. Ashok Babu was present.

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A delegation of Ministers from the Cauvery delta districts of Tamil Nadu, led by Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami, is planning to meet Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to seek the release of Cauvery water so that the standing samba crop could be saved.

The decision was taken at a meeting of Ministers chaired by Mr. Palaniswami at Fort St. George here. An appointment has been sought with Mr. Siddaramaiah to fix a convenient date for the meeting.

According to an official release, the decision by the delegation to meet the Karnataka Chief Minister in-person was taken considering the poor inflow into the Mettur dam, which had left the authorities unable to provide adequate quantity of water for irrigation to farmers in the Cauvery delta districts.

Deputy Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam and Ministers Dindigul C. Sreenivasan, K.A. Sengottaiyan, P. Thangamani, S.P. Velumani, D. Jayakumar, R. Kamaraj, R. Doraikkannu and O.S. Manian participated in the meeting. Chief Secretary Girija Vaidyanathan, Finance Secretary K. Shanmugam and other senior officials were also present.

The two neighbouring States are involved in a litigation over the release of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, which is pending with the Supreme Court.

The Cauvery delta region comprises Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and parts of Karur, Ariyalur, Pudukkottai, Cuddalore and Tiruchi districts. Agriculture in the State depends, in large part, on irrigation through the Cauvery system.

Precedents

The last time there was a meeting between the Chief Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka was in September 2016, in the presence of Union Water Resources Minister Uma Bharti.

In 2012, the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, called on her Karnataka counterpart Jagadish Shettar in Bengaluru to discuss the water sharing dispute. A senior official said the meeting of the CMs was arranged following a suggestion made by the Supreme Court in this regard. Former Chief Ministers M. Karunanidhi and M.G. Ramachandran had also called on their counterparts in Karnataka over the issue in the past, he added.

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The Tamil Nadu Real Estate Regulatory Authority (TNRERA), a body meant for protecting the interests of the consumers, is all set to get a chairperson and two members shortly.

The State government will, in a matter of days, announce the appointment of the chief and members, says an official in the Housing Department. A three-member selection committee, comprising a judge of the Madras High Court, is said to have completed its task of zeroing in on probable candidates for the three slots.

For the time being, Principal Secretary (Housing) [S. Krishnan] is functioning as the Authority. In December, B. Rajendran, a former judge of the High Court, was made chairperson of the Real Estate Appellate Tribunal, on the basis of the recommendation of Chief Justice Indira Banerjee.

Both RERA and the Tribunal will have jurisdiction over Andaman and Nicobar Islands too.

Responding to reports of pressure being exerted on the government to include representatives of the real estate industry in RERA, the official pointed out that the government itself had invited nominations from different sections of the society. At the same time, the authorities are also “conscious that only persons of integrity beyond question” and those who have “no financial interests” in the sector should be appointed to the Authority.

M. G. Devesahayam, civil society activist, who is often critical of the working of various standing commissions, said that unless the government picked up “independent professionals” for the TNRERA, the body would not function as a meaningful institution.

However, the government official, comparing the TNRERA with the Electricity Regulatory Commission and other bodies for human rights and women, said the former was closer to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). It has got “extensive powers” including the power to order imprisonment, if one were to go by to Section 59 of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016. “Certainly, it is not an advisory body, unlike the Commission for Women or the Human Rights Commission,” the official said.

Huge expectations

An urban planner, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said those who were going to be part of the Authority should be able to balance the interests of the consumers and those of the sector. “Already, the industry is struggling to overcome the lean phase that it has been going through on account of a variety of factors,” she said.

S. Ramaprabhu, secretary, southern centre of the Builders’ Association of India (BAI), said that while his organisation welcomed the establishment of the Authority, it did not want the new body to conduct itself as yet another “inspection cell” of the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) or the Directorate of Town and Country Planning (DTCP). “We will have no issues if the TNRERA functions with utmost transparency,” he said, urging the regulator to open offices in other cities of the State such as Coimbatore, Madurai and Tiruchi.

On the row over the temporary location of the Authority’s office on the premises of the CMDA, the official said that while the government was looking for a permanent site for the TNRERA, the ties between the Authority and the CMDA are not like the one between the regulator and the regulated, as the TNRERA has no jurisdiction over the CMDA. In that respect, the TNRERA is distinct from the Electricity Regulatory Commission.

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Following protests across the State against the bus fare hike, the State Government has announced a small reduction in fares with effect from Monday.

Apart from this, the government is also recategorising the bus services. The Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), Coimbatore Limited, has converted about 498 limited stop service (LSS) and express service buses into ordinary services with immediate effect.

A release issued by the Managing Director of TNSTC said that the corporation is operating a total number of 722 town buses in the city daily. Of these, except 224 semi low floor category buses, others numbering about 498 were converted as ordinary services. This would benefit the passengers commuting in city buses on a daily basis. They can save extra money paid for buses categorised as LSS and Express services hereafter, an official in charge of commercial section said.

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Very soon, the State Government will launch a scheme where for the issue of birth certificates, mother’s medical records related to pregnancy will be mandatory. The government has had a soft launch for the scheme and is testing the software for the purpose.

At the time of issue of birth records, the child’s family will have to furnish a RCH (Reproductive and Child Health) identity number, which the private or government hospitals will use to send the records to the local body concerned for issue of birth certificates.

Without the RCH identity number no birth certificate will be issued, say sources in the Coimbatore Corporation.

The number is generated when pregnant women go to private or government hospitals for their first consultation. In case of government hospitals, the authorities will get in touch with the government health nurse of the primary or urban health centre who caters to the area from where the pregnant is from.

Private hospital administration should also get in touch with the urban or rural health nurse concerned for the purpose.

The sources say that in case of delivery at a place other than their home town, the pregnant women will have to furnish the RCH identity number that they had obtained in the home town.

Since the entire system is computerised, upon entry of the identity number, the entire details of the pregnant women will be made available to the hospital concerned, they add.

The private or government hospitals will then have to furnish this number to the local body concerned for generation of the birth certificate, the sources say and add that the government has named it the civil registration system.

As for generation of RCH identity number for women from other states and women in migrant families, the government is working a solution, they add.

This civil registration system will ensure avoidance of error, duplication in birth certificates or furnishing of fraudulent details for obtaining a fake certificate.

The Coimbatore Corporation has held a meeting with sector health nurses from private hospitals on Saturday and is planning to hold a series of meetings at the zonal level before the official launch by the government in February.

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The fares to several destinations from Coimbatore in trains are far below the ticket amount to be paid to Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation (TNSTC), following the recent hike in bus fares.

For instance, the rail fare for Pollachi from Coimbatore for passenger trains is Rs. 15, where as it is Rs. 25 in TNSTC. Before hike the TNSTC fare was just Rs. 17.

In a move to tap the potential, a railway official said that railways will cash-in on the favourable situation to accommodate more number of passengers on all the routes by adding coaches in passenger/express trains and also introducing special trains in a few sectors that are so far underutilised.

The fare for Madurai from Coimbatore via Pollachi is just Rs. 50 in passenger trains and it is Rs. 120 for Express trains operating in circuitous route (via Karur).

However, the fare for Madurai in TNSTC via Pollachi is Rs. 167.

In the days to come, low fares in railways will definitely attract more passengers daily for short distance travel for employment, another official said.

Ref : The Hindu | Read More