Vikas Vaidya

By Vikas Vaidya To resolve the contentious issue of unutilised non-agricultural land for industrial purposes, Maharashtra Government has come up with a novel ‘Udyog Sanjivani Yojna’. All the owners or allottees of industrial plots are expected to participate in the scheme and start their venture within next 15 months, else the Industries department has decided to take back the plot. Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had already directed that non-agricultural land earmarked for industries should be utilized only for industrial purposes. Since lot of clearances and concessions are granted for industrial plots, same must be put to use at the earliest, he had repeatedly stated. Though announcement to seize the plots were made, but never put to action fearing backlash from investors. Amidst global slump, the Government was also in a fix as such step would have deterred the investors and small industries. Devising a golden mean in the form of ‘Udyog Sanjivani Yojna’ (USY), the State In...

By Vikas Vaidya Coming down heavily on education barons particularly those running medical and dental colleges, Pravesh Niyantran Samiti, the regulating body to supervise admission in professional courses, has imposed a fine of whopping Rs 41 crore on 13 private medical and dental colleges for 206 illegal admissions done by them. For every illegal admission, the respective college has been directed to pay Rs 20 lakh each. This is a major jolt to these institutions, mostly belonging to political big-wigs cutting across party lines. One city-based private medical college N K P Salve Institute of Medical Sciences has also been hauled up by the panel for 11 illegal admissions to MBBS course for which Rs 2.20 crore fine has been imposed. The committee headed by former High Court judge Justice (retd) D K Deshmukh had requested Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Nashik to keep these admissions on hold for the academic year 2016-17 till the fine is not paid by the institutions con...

By Vikas Vaidya Maharashtra Government has decided to implement the recommendations made by expert committee to ease the school-bag load. Accordingly schools will be given a time of three months within which they would complete the formalities and the compliance should be made by November 30, 2015. Considering the fact that majority of school students are suffering from muscle pain and are falling sick due to heavy bags, Department of School Education had constituted a committee to look into the matter. Apart from other recommendations, the Committee has urged all education boards to reduce the usage of notebooks and textbooks. Education Minister Vinod Tawde was very keen to implement the recommendations. The eight-member committee had submitted the first draft in April. The committee had observed that over 58% of students below 10 years of age have mild muscle pain and 75% of students below 12 years of age were falling ill due to heavy bags. The eight-member committee has submitt...

By Vikas Vaidya Parents always find it difficult to choose an option after Class X for their wards. Now they will heave a sigh of relief as Education department of Maharashtra Government has found a solution to that problem. From the academic year 2015-16, the students appearing in Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSC) will have to appear in an additional test. It will not only check the students’ aptitude but also help them make a career choice. According to Government, it wants to check the inclination of the students and the test will give the answer. The one-hour test will be conducted online which will be a part of the SSC examination. The final mark-sheets would have a separate section, advising students which field suit them as per their performance in the aptitude test. Maharashtra Government has bestowed upon the responsibility of conducting the test on Institute of Vocational Guidance and Selection, Mumbai. The Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and ...

By Vikas Vaidya The Medical Council of India (MCI) is firm on making screening test mandatory for students completing medical graduation from five countries including US, UK, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. The then Board of Governors of MCI in the year 2012 had surprisingly given exemption to the students doing medical graduation in these countries, from screening test. The question of equivalence of foreign medical qualifications with those conferred by the Indian Universities through the recognized medical institutions had been a huge issue of controversy and problems since quite some time. The matter has been hugely litigated and finally in the year 2001 on the recommendations of the then MCI, an appropriate amendment came to be incorporated in the Indian medical Council Act, 1956, whereby section 13 of the said Act, was amended by including two sub-clauses namely 13(a) and (b) respectively. By the said amendment a ‘screening test’ came to be provided which was to be conduct...

By Vikas Vaidya Along with Gynaecologists and Radiologists; Ophthalmologists too were the soft targests as far as the purview of Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act is concerned. Now Government has exempted eye specialists from the ambit of the act, thanks to Indian Medical Association, Maharashtra branch and Maharashtra Medical Council. In a recently held meeting at Mantralaya, Mumbai under the Chairmanship of Sujata Shaumik, Secretary, Public Health Department, the issue of reevaluation of guidelines and bringing practical solutions was discussed. Twenty stakeholders including several officials of Government, Maharashtra Medical Council Chairman Dr Kishor Taori, IMA Maharashtra President Dr T C Rathod were present. Meeting was held in the context of raids conducted by appropriate authority in Pune on the establishments of Ophthalmologists. Several ophthalmologists were booked under PCPNDT act and their scan machines were sealed. When the issue was disc...

By Vikas Vaidya In a new study conducted by Pune-based Chest Research Foundation (CRF) along with Dr Rohan Shah and Dhammasagar Ujagare, postgraduate-students of Interdisciplinary School of Health Sciences from University of Pune, levels of Particulate Matter less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5) were measured and compared during the bursting of 6 most commonly used fire-crackers, viz: fulzhadi, anar, chakri, laad, the snake tablet and pulpul. PM2.5 are very tiny particles (less than 2.5 microns in diameter) present in smoke that have the ability to reach the deeper portions of the lung and cause damaging effects. Dr Sneha Limaye, Senior Scientist from CRF who supervised the study, said, “If we know which are the most harmful fireworks in terms of PM2.5 air pollution, then we can advice people to avoid bursting these fire crackers.” All the 6 different types of fire crackers were burst 5 times each individually in an area that simulated the front portion of a house area. Sufficient time wa...