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NEET-UG 2024: 'Announce an action plan, issue daily bulletin,' ex-Infosys CFO to Education Ministry

businesstoday.in/india/story/neet-ug-2024-announce-an-action-plan-issue-daily-bulletin-ex-infosys-cfo-to-education-ministry-434393-2024-06-23

June 23, 2024

The Ministry of Education transferred the probe into irregularities in the medical entrance exam to the CBI, saying certain cases of alleged irregularities, cheating, impersonation, and malpractices had been reported. The CBI registered an FIR on Sunday

Business Today Desk

• Updated Jun 23, 2024, 3:29 PM IST

Mohandas Pai, former Chief Financial Officer at Infosys

Mohandas Pai, former Chief Financial Officer at Infosys, has appealed to the Centre to announce an action plan to safeguard the interests of 24 lakh students who took the NEET-UG examination. He also urged the Education Ministry to issue a daily bulletin of actions taken and future actions. "Students are very stressed," he said in a tweet. 

Pl announce an action plan to safeguard interests of 24 lakh students now, issue a daily bulletin of action taken, future action Students are very stressed @dpradhanbjp https://t.co/CarVq7FqsZ

— Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) June 23, 2024

The NEET examination was held on May 5 across 4,750 centres. Some students alleged irregularities after as many as 67 students scored a perfect 720, which had never happened in the NTA's history. The reports of paper leak also surfaced first in Bihar, and then Gujarat's Godhra.

Bihar's Economic Offences Unit arrested 13 people, including prime suspect Sikandar Yadavendu, in connection with the alleged paper leak. The EOU is also exploring the "possibility of conducting narco analysis and brain mapping tests" of the accused.

The Ministry of Education transferred the probe into irregularities in the medical entrance exam to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), saying certain cases of alleged irregularities, cheating, impersonation, and malpractices had been reported. The CBI registered an FIR on Sunday. 

"The central government has also enacted the Public Examination (Prevention of Unfair Means) Act, 2024, to prevent unfair means in the public examinations and to provide for matter connected therewith or incidental thereto," the ministry said. 

The ministry also formed a high-level committee of experts to improve the functioning of the National Testing Agency (NTA). The committee will be headed by former ISRO chief K Radhakrishnan. 

The ministry also postponed the NEET-PG entrance, the fourth entrance exam to be impacted in recent days. "We stand for transparent, tamper-free, and zero error examination. A panel has been formed on exam reforms, strict action has been taken against officials and the case has been handed over to CBI," Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said. 

"Students' interest will be safeguarded at any cost," he said amid protests in different parts of the country on the issue of alleged irregularities in entrance exams. 

The Health Ministry announced the postponement of NEET-PG entrance, a night before the entrance exam, as a "precautionary measure" in the wake of recent allegations on the integrity of certain competitive exams. 

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Russia could reduce decision time for use of nuclear weapons, lawmaker says

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/europe/russia-could-reduce-decision-time-for-use-of-nuclear-weapons-lawmaker-says/articleshow/111205673.cms

Reuters / Updated: Jun 23, 2024, 15:02 IST

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Russia considers reducing decision-making time for nuclear weapons use as threats increase, amid tensions with the West over Ukraine. President Putin may change nuclear doctrine conditions, influenced by pressure from hardliners.

MOSCOW: Russia, the world's biggest nuclear power, could reduce the decision-making time stipulated in official policy for the use of nuclear weapons if Moscow believes that threats are increasing, parliament's defence committee chairman said.
The war in Ukraine has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, with President Vladimir Putin last month saying that Russia might change its official nuclear doctrine setting out the conditions under which such weapons could be used.

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On Sunday Andrei Kartapolov, the head of the Russian lower house of parliament's defence committee, was quoted by state news agency RIA as saying that if threats increased then the decision-making time for using such weapons could be changed.
"If we see that the challenges and threats increase, it means that we can correct something in (the doctrine) regarding the timing of the use of nuclear weapons and the decision to make this use," RIA quoted Kartapolov as saying.

Kartapolov, who once commanded Russian forces in Syria and now serves as a lawmaker from the ruling United Russia party, added that it was too early to speak about specific changes to the nuclear doctrine.
Russia's 2020 nuclear doctrine sets out when its president would consider using a nuclear weapon: broadly as a response to an attack using nuclear or other weapons of mass destruction or conventional weapons "when the very existence of the state is put under threat".

Russia and the United States are by far the world's biggest nuclear powers, holding about 88% of the world's nuclear weapons, according to the Federation of American Scientists.
Both are modernising their nuclear arsenals while China is rapidly boosting its nuclear arsenal.
Putin said this month that Russia had no need to use nuclear weapons to secure victory in Ukraine, the Kremlin's strongest signal to date that Europe's deadliest conflict since World War Two will not escalate into nuclear war.
PRESSURE FROM HARDLINERS
But he also said he did not rule out changes to Russia's nuclear doctrine. The was viewed as a nod to pressure from hardliners in the Russian elite who believe that Putin should be able to act more swiftly on nuclear escalation and reduce the threshold for use.
Putin said again last week that the nuclear doctrine might have to be changed because Russia's adversaries were developing ultra-low-yield nuclear devices.
Both Moscow and Washington made heavy cuts to the number of their weapons as the Soviet Union crumbled, but the Cold War arms control architecture has crumbled and many diplomats say they now fear a new arms race.
The United States may have to deploy more strategic nuclear weapons in coming years to deter growing threats from Russia, China and other adversaries, a senior White House aide said this month.
Russia says it is interested in discussing arms control with the United States, but only as part of a broader discussion involving European security and the future of Ukraine.
The U.S. 2022 Nuclear Posture Review says that Russia and China are both developing their nuclear arsenals so that by the 2030s "the United States will, for the first time in its history, face two major nuclear powers as strategic competitors and potential adversaries".

End of Article

 

Israeli women applying for gun permits triples to 42,000 after Hamas attack

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/israeli-women-applying-for-gun-permits-triples-to-42000-after-hamas-attack/articleshow/111201725.cms

TOI World Desk / TIMESOFINDIA.COM / Jun 23, 2024, 10:17 IST

Israeli woman Limor Gonen practising at a shooting range in Israeli settlement in West Bank (AFP photo)

More than 42,000 women have applied for gun permits in Israel following the unprecedented attack by Hamas on October 7, with 18,000 of them being approved. This significant increase in the number of women applying for gun permits has been attributed to a sense of insecurity after the attack by Hamas.

According to data from the security ministry, the number of applications is more than triple the number of pre-war licenses held by women.

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Feminist groups, however, have criticized this rush to arms.

The surge in gun ownership has been facilitated by the loosening of gun laws under Israel's right-wing government and its far-right security minister Itamar Ben Gvir. As a result, more than 15,000 women civilians now own a firearm in Israel and the occupied West Bank, with 10,000 enrolled in mandatory training, according to the ministry.

Expressing a change in her perspective, Limor Gonen, a political science professor, told AFP, "I would have never thought of buying a weapon or getting a permit, but since October 7, things changed a little bit."

Gonen, after attending a mandatory weapons handling class, added, "We were all targeted (on October 7) and I don't want to be taken by surprise, so I'm trying to defend myself."

Under Ben Gvir's leadership, the process for obtaining a gun license has been expedited, with Israeli media reporting that in the immediate aftermath of the Hamas attack, the authorities were often clearing hundreds of permits per day.

The eligibility criteria for gun ownership in Israel now include being a citizen or permanent resident over the age of 18, having a basic command of Hebrew, and medical clearance. However, the full list of requirements makes it nearly impossible for non-Jews to obtain a permit.

Many organisations and activists however, have condemned the policy of easy access, suggesting that this can lead to an increase in murders and violence.

Despite the criticism, some women feel safer with their newfound access to firearms. Yahel Reznik, a 24-year-old community manager, said she now felt "a lot more safe" in Ariel, a West Bank settlement. "Thanks to my training I will be able to defend myself and protect others" from an attack, she told AFP.

The October 7 attack that triggered the war resulted in the deaths of 1,194 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to Israeli official figures. In response, Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 37,431 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas health ministry.