Hyderabad: Telangana State Engineering, Agriculture, and Medical Common Entrance Test (TS EAMCET) is all set to begin on Wednesday. However, this year the Telangana State Council of Higher Education (TSCHE) announced that intermediate marks won’t be taken into consideration while ranking.
During the pandemic, the TSCHE had not considered intermediate marks for deciding the final rank of the EAMCET examination.
However, this change was made without prior notice. Starting in 2023, the Intermediate Public Examination (IPE) weightage is believed to be permanently waived off for all applicants appearing for EAMCET.
Those who clear the exam will be eligible for admission into first-year undergraduate professional courses, including BE, BTech, BPharmacy, BSc, BVSc, and PharmD, offered by colleges in the state.
The convener of TS EAMCET, Dr B Dean Kumar on Monday asserted that students appearing for the EAMCET exam must strictly adhere to the instructions given on the hall ticket.
Students have been especially cautioned to reach the exam centres on time. The convenor said that those coming late or changing slots will not be permitted to write the exam.
The TS-EAMCET-2023 is scheduled to be held from May 10 to 14 in two sessions, between 9 am and 12 noon (morning session) and 3 pm and 6 pm (afternoon session).
The exam convener has requested all the local authorities including superintendents of police, commissioners of police, electricity board, and TSRTC for their cooperation in providing arrangements for the smooth conduct of the examination in 104 centres in Telangana.
Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad (JNTUH) will be the centre of the exam in Hyderabad. Candidates can download the hall tickets at the website.
TMC chief and West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee (File Photo)
Kolkata: Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri on Tuesday informed that he had sent a legal notice to the West Bengal Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee for her alleged derogatory comments about the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ directed by him.
Agnihotri announced this through a Twitter message, where he has also uploaded a copy of the legal notice.
In his message, Agnihotri pointed out his objections to the chief minister’s announcing ban on the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’ in the state on Monday, where she claimed that films like ‘The Kashmir Files’ and ‘The Kerala Story’ were meant for humiliating a certain section of the society.
“I have, alongwith @AbhishekOfficl & Pallavi Joshi, sent a LEGAL NOTICE to the Chief Minister, Bengal @MamataOfficial for her false & highly defamatory statements made with malafide intention to defame us & our films #TheKashmirFiles & upcoming 2024 film #TheDelhiFiles,” Agnihotri said in his Twitter message.
“They are trying to create division among the people on the basis of religion and caste. That is why ‘The Kashmir Files’ was made just to malign the people of a particular community. And now we have ‘The Kerala Story’, which is yet another untrue story with distorted facts,” the chief minister said on Monday while announcing the ban on the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’.
The announcement of the ban has attracted scathing criticism from the opposition BJP, which is even planning to challenge it in the court.
SRINAGAR: Kashmiris are once again facing exorbitant airfare prices ahead of the busy travel season, with some paying two to three times the usual fees to fly from Srinagar to Delhi. Typically, this flight would cost between Rs 3000 and Rs 5000, but the current prices range from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000.
Even Haj pilgrims are not immune to these high prices, with those departing from the Srinagar Embarkation Point (EP) having to pay Rs 50,000 more than those leaving from the Delhi EP. The price hike has prompted criticism from some quarters, who accuse the airlines of profiting unfairly at the expense of the public.
Senior CPI (M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami took to Twitter to denounce the increase in airfare prices. “Airlines are arbitrarily raising fares, leaving travellers in distress,” he tweeted. “Even Haj pilgrims are being forced to pay more. The tentative Haj amount payable by pilgrims at the Srinagar Embarkation Point (EP) is Rs 50,000 higher than that for pilgrims embarking from Delhi EP.”
During the 2023 Hajj conference, Smriti Zubin Irani, the Minister for Minority Affairs, announced that Indian citizens travelling to Saudi Arabia for Hajj would pay at least Rs 1 lakh less than the previous cost.
New Delhi: While hearing a bath of pleas for same-sex marriages, Supreme Court on Tuesday queried whether anyone has a fundamental right to marry, or is there no fundamental right to marry at all and stressed that the Constitution itself is a tradition breaker.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud asked senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, representing the Madhya Pradesh government, “forget the issue of same sex, does anyone have a fundamental right to marry? Or, is there no fundamental right to marry at all? Because your submission is that no one has a fundamental right to marry”.
Dwivedi said that so far the marriage is between two heterosexual individuals.
The bench, also comprising Justices S.K. Kaul, S. Ravindra Bhat, Hima Kohli and P.S. Narasimha, said it is not on heterosexual, “does any citizen of this country for whom this court, our society, our polity, has placed the individual at that highest pinnacle. And, we have gone ahead carved and discovered so many rights — to personhood, right of choice, right of left alone, privacy, dignity… with all this, the question is does a person or citizen have a right to marry”.
Justice Bhat asked: “Is it part of Article 21 or not part of it? We have to start with the premise that there is no unqualified right. Right to free speech is not unqualified right, right to association is not unqualified, personal liberty is not unqualified, right to life. Therefore, there is no absolute right, if we start with that premise. Does the right to life have the concomitant right to marry.”
The bench asked Dwivedi to not start the debate that same sex people do not have right to marry, rather start with is right to marry or is there a right to marry.
Dwivedi said heterosexual couples have the right to marry in accordance with their custom, personal law, and religion, and that is the foundation of their right.
The Chief Justice observed: “Therefore, you concede the fact that there is a right to marry under the Constitution, but it is only confined to only heterosexual persons according to you, or is it your argument that there is no right to marry at all as a fundamental right?”
Justice Bhat said: “Custom, culture, religion, rewind 50 years ago inter-caste marriages were not permitted. Even inter-faith marriages unheard of, therefore, the context of marriage has changed.”
Dwivedi said: “these changes have been brought about by legislation and legislature can alter the customs. The Constitution only gives a fundamental right to form relations, associations, which is in Article 19 (1) (c) which can be regulated. He added that marriage over the years has resulted in social institutions as a result of society’s evolution, and the right to marriage which was existing as a part of social institutions will be accommodated in the right to associate in a particular manner.
Justice Bhat said: “The Constitution has not granted anything. It only recognizes and guarantees, nothing is granted. We’re free citizens. We have taken this to ourselves. Right to speak, to associate, these are part of our inherent rights. The Constitution doesn’t grant it… Even legislation has only recognised the right to marry is inherent. If we say the right to marry is inherent then it is part of the Constitution. You may locate it in (Articles) 19 or 21a.”
Justice Bhat said “the moment you bring tradition, the Constitution itself is a tradition breaker. Because the first time you brought in (Articles) 14, you brought in 15, and 17, those traditions are broken”.
The bench queried, “if those traditions are broken, what is held hallowed in our society in terms of caste?”
“We made a conscious (decision)… and said we don’t want ita.outlawing untouchability in the Constitution. But at the same time let us be alive to the fact that the concept of marriage has evolved.”
Dwivedi submitted that the point is that all these reforms are made by the legislature for the interest of women and children and they do not alter the core aspect of the social institution of marriage, “namely that it’s an institution. Hindu marriage is regarded as a Sanskar”.
Dwivedi contended that the core aspect of marriage remains and pointed at alimony, maintenance, divorce, inter caste and added that ultimately the marriages remain heterosexual marriages.
The bench observed that to state at the extreme that there was no fundamental right to marry under the Constitution would be far-fetched.
“What are the core elements of marriage? If you look at each element, each is protected by constitutional values,” it said.
The Chief Justice said one, marriage itself postulates two individuals to cohabit; two, marriage accompanies with it the existence of family; three, marriage has procreation as a very important ingredient; four, marriage in a significant way is exclusionary to all others; and five, social acceptance of existence of marriage.
The top court will continue to hear arguments in the post -lunch session.
Ahead of the trailer launch of the widely anticipated film ‘Adipurush’, starring Prabhas as Lord Ram, Kriti Sanon as goddess Sita, Sunny Singh as Lakshman and Saif Ali Khan as Raavan, flags walked in the venue — a multiplex in the heart of Mumbai’s Juhu area with saffron flags chanting ‘Jai Shri Ram’.
As the media waited with bated breath for the trailer release, fans, dressed in ethnic wear, walked in holding saffron flags and chanted the name of Lord Ram, who is essayed by Prabhas in the film.
They also chanted “Shri Ram Lakshman Janki, Jai Hanuman ki” (Lord Ram, Lakshman and Sita, all hail Lord Hanuman).
The religious emotion was also drummed up by the emcee who chanted in unison with the crowd.
The coordinated activity also saw different placards on the same lines. The chants grew stronger as the trailer release drew closer.
Earlier, the film’s dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir countered Congress’s claim for putting a ban on the religious outfit Bajrang Dal as a part of their manifesto during the high-voltage Karnataka elections.
‘Adipurush’, is set to be released theatrically on June 16.
Similar scenes were witnessed in Hyderabad during the trailer launch in the city where fans raised slogans of ‘Jai Shree Ram’, after flocking to the AMB theatre in Gachibowli and streets surrounding it as the word of Prabhas’s attendance spread like wildfire.
Kriti and Prabhas watched the trailer inside the theatre alongside the ecstatic fans.
New Delhi: Microsoft-owned LinkedIn has laid off 716 employees, as the company makes changes to its Global Business Organisation (GBO), along with shutting down its InCareer app in China.
The company’s CEO Ryan Roslansky said in an email to employees that the move was aimed at streamlining the company’s operations.
“As we guide LinkedIn through this rapidly changing landscape, we are making changes to our Global Business Organization (GBO) and our China strategy that will result in a reduction of roles for 716 employees,” he wrote late on Monday.
“If your role is directly impacted by this decision, you will receive a calendar invitation within the next hour for a meeting with a leader from your team and a representative from our GTO,” he added.
He admitted that while the platform is making meaningful progress creating economic opportunities for its members and customers and experiencing record engagement on the platform, “we’re also seeing shifts in customer behaviour and slower revenue growth”.
“In an evolving market, we must continuously have the conviction to adapt our strategy in order to make our vision a reality,” said the CEO.
LinkedIn saw record engagement in the March quarter as more than 930 million members globally now turn to the professional social network to connect, learn, sell and get hired.
The LinkedIn revenue increased 8 per cent in the March quarter for the tech giant. In 2016, Microsoft acquired LinkedIn for more than $26 billion.
The company was also in the process of discontinuing product and engineering teams in China and the downsizing of corporate, sales, and marketing functions.
Roslansky said that they will focus China strategy on assisting companies operating in China to hire, market and train abroad.
“As we plan for FY24, we’re expecting the macro environment to remain challenging. We’re adapting as we have done this year and will continue to operate with the ambition we need to deliver on our vision and the pragmatism required to run the business well,” said the CEO.
SRINAGAR: Parents in Kashmir have raised concerns about abrupt increases in annual fees for the current academic session at Tyndale Biscoe and Mallinson higher secondary school. They claim that the school has increased fees by over Rs 2000 without the approval of the school fee fixation committee, and without consulting with parents.
“In this era when business in the Kashmir valley has shuddered, Tyndale Biscoe and Mallinson higher secondary school enhanced the annual fee,” parents claimed.
A group of parents has called the increase arbitrary and fears that the school will continue to raise fees annually if they don’t protest. The school has also charged additional Rs 3000 for summer camp, which was previously included in the annual fee.
Attempts to contact school authorities for comment have been unsuccessful.
Reports suggest that other private schools, even those with lower student enrolment and fewer facilities, have also increased their fees.
Director of Education in Kashmir, Mr. Tasaduq Hussain, has stated that schools must charge fees based on the facilities they offer, and parents should be able to pay in instalments. He has also warned that action will be taken against schools that charge extra fees. [KNT]
Seoul; Samsung has announced that the Irregular Heart Rhythm Notification (IHRN) feature of the Samsung Health Monitor app for Galaxy Watch has received FDA (Food and Drug Administration) clearance.
Together with the app’s existing on-demand Electrocardiogram (ECG) function, the IHRN feature proactively monitors heart rhythms suggestive of atrial fibrillation (AFib — a type of arrhythmia), right from the wrist.
“We’re excited to announce that Irregular Heart Rhythm Notification, designed to help millions of people around the world who may not be aware of a potential heart risk, has been cleared by the FDA,” Hon Pak, Vice President and Head of the Digital Health Team, MX Business at Samsung Electronics, said in a statement.
As cardiovascular disease remains one of the world’s leading causes of death, the company said to help users better understand their heart health Galaxy Watch offers tools such as the Samsung BioActive Sensor, including on-demand ECG recording and HR Alert function that detects abnormally high or low heart rates.
The addition of the new IHRN feature enables Galaxy Watch users to monitor another aspect of their health.
Once activated in the Samsung Health Monitor app, the IHRN feature will check for irregular heart rhythms in the background via Galaxy Watch’s BioActive Sensor.
If a certain number of consecutive measurements are irregular, Galaxy Watch then alerts the user to possible AFib activity and prompts them to take an ECG with their watch for a more accurate measurement, according to the company.
The Irregular Heart Rhythm Notification feature will be available as part of the newly announced One UI 5 Watch, coming first to the upcoming Galaxy Watch devices later this year and later expanding to previous editions.
Hyderabad: The Board of Secondary Education (BSE) of Telangana is all set to announce the results of the SSC exams tomorrow. The exams were conducted from April 3 to 13, 2023, and the results will be available on SSC Board’s official website and other websites.
This year, as many as 4,94,620 students, including 2,49,747 boys and 2,44,873 girls, applied for SSC exams. The SSC Board has taken all necessary steps to ensure that the results are error-free.
Steps to download Telangana SSC exam results
Visit the official website of the Telangana SSC Board (click here).
Click on the link that says “TS SSC results.”
Enter the required details like the hall ticket number.
Click on submit, and the results will be displayed on the screen.
Download and take a printout of the results for future reference.
Apart from the official website, students can also check their results on following websites
Manabadi (click here).
Schools9 (click here).
Students who fail to clear the exams need not worry as they can appear in advanced supplementary exams that will be conducted soon.
TSBIE released inter 1st, 2nd year results
Today, the Telangana State Board of Intermediate Education (TSBIE) released the inter 1st and 2nd-year results.
According to the official data, a total of 948153 students appeared for the examination at 1473 centers. Out of these students, 482675 were of the first year and 465478 were of the second year.
A total of 297741 candidates cleared the first year exam whereas, 295550 students were successful in second year exam.
The results show that the girl students have outperformed boys yet again. As per the official announcement, 68.68 percent of girls have cleared the Inter 1st year results, while only 54.66 percent of boys could make it. Similarly, 71.57 percent of girls and 55.60 percent of boys cleared the Inter 2nd year results.
Thousands of youth, adults and children are consuming tons of animations and the consumption is only going up. Muskan Fatima reports the trend and the factors pushing the new fad
Two Kashmir animated characters – Meem Laaleh (L) and Kashir Shinchan (R). While the former has gone into oblivion, the latter is still in circulation.
In 2019 fall, when Meem Laaleh, a Kashmiri comic feminine character appeared on social media with impressive social messages, it was a huge sensation. Operating with a tagline – Balai Lagai, Yuth Ni Mushkil Gaczvev (Forgive me, do not take it otherwise), the caricature was a hit with its brief satire on social issues that its creator termed ‘sit down comedy’. Almost on a daily basis people would wait for Meem Laaleh to take potshots on the life Kashmir was living. By early 2021, Meem Laaleh went silent, perhaps forever.
This inspired many others to follow suit. A young boy launched Keashir Shinchan in June 2019. It is a young Kashmir lady telling interesting tales about the people around, making fun of things and using puns to send the message around.
Tragically, however, neither Meem Laaleh nor Keashir Shinchan is part of the estimated US $28.61 billion that the animation industry cloaked in 2022. Anime is primarily Japanese animation characterized by colourfully vibrant graphics and action-filled plots that more than 100 million people watch globally. Right now more than 6000 anime shows exist and the majority of them are made in Japan.
= While the new generation has skipped looking at the sector as content creators, they are huge consumers of animation. In most of the homes, kids require animation shows at breakfast, lunch and dinner and now even parents are addicted to these shows. Asks anybody in nursery or kindergarten, they are well aware of Pokemon, Naruto, Dragon Ball Z and Shin-chan. It is their butter if not the bread. Off late, even adults like the animation. In Kashmir, Doraeman was virtually in politics for years.
Hyder, an MBA from the University of Kashmir has been watching anime for a while. He fell in love with Naruto in 2017 when the comic character somehow popped up on his timeline.
“It was a blessing in disguise I would say,” Hyder admitted. “I was doing a lot of binge-watching as I lacked focus. Suddenly Naruto popped up so I thought I should give it a go and the way it kept me inclined towards itself was mind-blowing.”
It is not just the plot and the graphics that connect people to Anime. Some people say they feel a personal connection with the characters and they can relate to the emotions portrayed by them.
Hyder said that watching the animation has helped being become responsible because most of the shows convey a message “I suddenly used to care about everyone no matter how bad they seemed. This was a thing I gathered from Naruto,” Hyder said. “It taught me nobody is a villain. Another anime Haikyuu teaches you that if you are passionate about something it does not matter whether you have the skills or not. Hard work is the key. I would say anime made me a better person.”
A ‘Misconception’
Anime is linked to stereotypes. People see them as merely cartoons and caricatures, not essentially meant for grown-ups. That may not be necessarily true. anime and cartoons differ from each other in target audience and themes. Unlike cartoons, anime touches upon more serious themes with teenagers and adults as the target audiences.
“I made no difference between anime and cartoon till I watched Death Note,” Haroon Riyaz, a student with a keen interest in anime’s, said. “The plot twists, suspense and mystery factor of this anime were really appealing to me. Now I believe anime is a slice of life and portrays life issues and emotions that are mostly meant for the mature audiences, unlike cartoons.”
Animation watchers are so drawn towards the anime culture that many of them go out of their way to get anime merchandise, learn Japanese slang and dress up like anime characters. In recent years Japanese pop culture including anime and video games gained immense popularity worldwide due to global media exposure. Despite the language barrier people have resorted to subtitles to understand the storyline.
Mother Culture
This is something new in Kashmir. The elder generations did not grow up surrounded by this wave of anime culture and most of them are barely familiar with the term anime. Even after TV’s entry into Kashmir, Doordarshan, till recently was the only source of entertainment.
Then, people used to read books, comics, listen to radio and just play around with friends. Now, the newer generations avoid books and prefer watching things on the cell phone, TV or computer. “Youth watch movies based on novels and then claim they have read it not knowing that films are adaptations of the text, not the exact novel,” a parent said. “It is the fashion now that students prefer pdf of books rather than the book.”
Binge Watching
Globally, the use of motion pictures in educating the new generation is a preferred choice of educators. However, a huge section of the younger generation binge-watches anime shows. Some see it as addiction and many think it is an escape route.
The content creators are aware of this human weakness. So they push their characters to survive for a long time link India TV soap operas. One Piece is an anime based on the Manga by Eiichiro Oda and as of March 2023, it has more than 1000 episodes. Anybody wishing to watch it would require more than 400 hours. Data available in the public domain suggest that an average person spends 6.58 hours every day on screens connected to the internet. This is impacting the health of a generation.
Farhana Wani is pursuing her BSc (Nanoscience) in Srinagar. Her journey towards anime started when, one day, she came across a reel on social media about how Itachi, a character from Naruto sacrificed everything and how he killed his entire clan, his parents, and his love just to save the leaf village but was not able to kill his brother. That made her curious about the character and she wanted to know the whole story.
While Farhana loves anime she recognizes that it had a negative impact on her as well.
“As much as I hate to admit it, anime has become an escape route from reality for many people especially students,” Farhana said. “I sometimes also feel like I am addicted to it and that instead of studying I prefer to watch anime because it gives you that dopamine rush for a short period of time.”
German Psychologist Erich Fromm in his book, To Have or to Be? writes: “Pleasure and thrill are conducive to sadness after the so-called peak has been reached; for the thrill has been experienced, but the vessel has not grown. One’s inner powers have not increased. One has made the attempt to break through the boredom of unproductive activity and for a moment has unified one’s energies-except reason and love. One has attempted to become superhuman, without being human. One seems to have succeeded to the moment of triumph, but the triumph is followed by deep sadness; because nothing has changed within oneself.”
The Flip Side
This is the other side of anime binge-watching. People say they live in a world of joyless pleasures where it is hard to draw a line between the two.
Pleasure usually does not lead to an intrinsically adequate solution to the human condition and does not lead to greater human growth or bring an individual closer to their authentic self. Joy, on the other side, is what people experience in the process of growing nearer to the goal of becoming oneself. The lack of joy is what makes seeking pleasure necessary. People may say watching anime brings them joy but often it is pleasure they refer to.
A legitimate question remains: why Kashmiri youth are drawn towards anime? Japan, after all, has a different language and culture.
Wasim Kakroo, Consultant Clinical Psychologist at the Centre for Mental Health Services at Rambagh Srinagar has his views about the psychology behind it.
“It can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, anime offers an escape from the realities of everyday life, providing a unique and immersive world of fiction and fantasy that can be engaging and entertaining, especially for youth who lack guidance. Anime often contains themes and motifs that resonate with young people, identity struggles, and social commentary. This helps them connect with the characters and storylines. Its easy availability may be another contributor,” Kakroo said. “The psychological reasons behind this transition can be attributed to the fact that young people are seeking new forms of entertainment that offer a sense of escapism, social connection, and cultural identity. Anime provides a combination of these elements, making it an attractive option for many young people.” At the same time, anime addiction is part of the globalisation that permits individuals to make their choices.
