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TIMES NATION

THE TIMES OF INDIA, NEW DELHI

MONDAY, JUNE 6, 2016

Gave report on med reforms, Ubers new friends: Recruiters

no fresh study needed: Panel who earn lakhs in referrals
Fears Radical
Advice May Be
Watered Down
Rema.Nagarajan
@timesgroup.com

he announcement that
the petitions committee
of Lok Sabha will study
medical reforms needed in
the country has caused surprise, coming on the heels of
the parliamentary standing
committee on health submitting a report calling for scrapping of the Medical Council
of India (MCI) among other
radical reforms.
The Lok Sabha secretariat advertised on May 21 that
the petitions committee was
taking up a petition on medical reforms and sought memoranda from experts, individuals, institutions, organisations and other stakeholders interested in the subject
matter by June 10, after
which it will take oral evidence through hearings.
One of the members of
the standing committee, Jairam Ramesh, has written to
the chairman of the petitions
committee, B S Koshyari,
pointing out that he and fellow members had spent almost a year and prepared the
report after a great deal of

Apprehensions of the private medical college lobby

being politically influential enough to stall reforms
are echoed by many who point out that several
MPs are on the boards of private medical colleges
consultations, deliberations
and discussions. The letter
added that the petitions
committee is going to virtually repeat this exercise.
Ramesh said he hoped the
governments move to appoint a three-member committee to examine the standing committees recommendations and the move of the
petitions committee did not
mean that radical surgery of
the MCI, as recommended by
the standing committee
unanimously and unreservedly, and the surgery so very
badly and urgently needed
but so very stoutly being resisted by many politically influential people, is not going
to become a reality soon.
Apprehensions of the private medical college lobby being politically influential
enough to stall reforms are
echoed by many who point
out that several MPs are on
the boards of private medical
colleges and even part owners. The PM had appointed
the three-member committee
after a letter from several
eminent doctors and former
health secretaries described
MCI as a highly corrupt and

shameful organisation that

brazenly allows private
medical institutions to run as
business ventures with ghost
faculty and fake patients.
Others who did not wish to
be identified expressed the apprehension that another set of
recommendations from a parliamentary committee could
dilute the impact of the standing committees report.
The question being raised
is: Why should a matter discussed over almost a year by a
31-member standing committee representing both Houses
be taken up yet again by
a 15-member committee of
only Lok Sabha members?
The standing committee on
health had tabled its report
on March 8. On March 9, a petition on medical reforms filed by BJP MP Om Prakash
Yadav was taken up by the
petitions committee.
The scathing report of the
standing committee sought a
complete overhaul of the
MCI and recommended a
combined entrance exam.
The SC, in late April, ordered
a combined entrance exam
for all medical colleges, government-owned or private.

New building code aims

at access for the disabled
Ambika.Pandit
@timesgroup.com

New Delhi: The new National Building Code (NBC)

will, for the first time, have a
detailed chapter on making
buildings and urban sites
accessible and barrierfree for the elderly and persons with disabilities.
Most buildings and public spaces are inaccessible to
Indias disabled, estimated
at 2.68 crore, and the ministry of social justice and empowerment is keen to make
accessibility a focus area
in the draft code.
The National Building
Code, 2005, is under review
and the draft is likely to be finalised soon. At a recent meeting of state ministers and
secretaries (disability affa-

irs) here, the Union ministry

said a dedicated chapter in
the NBC will bolster efforts
to address lack of access.
The NBC, which comes
under the Bureau of Indian
Standards, is not binding,
but provides a national
benchmark for construction
activities. The code is adopted by state and local bodies.

FOR ELDERLY TOO

The draft chapter on accessibility says the requirements set out in the code apply to all buildings and facilities open to and used by the public, including all forms of
public housing by the government/civic bodies or private
developers. It does not apply
to private residences.
The chapter takes into ac-

count a range of disabilities

to make planning inclusive,
including hearing disabilities, heart and lung diseases,
and epilepsy. It elaborates
that access would include
planning designated cycleand motor-vehicle parking
lots near a buildings main
entrance, accessible path to
the entrance, appropriate external lighting, accessible external furniture (seats, bins
etc), accessible information
at the entrance to the site, suitable drop-off point near the
main entrance, and easy access to information desks,
lifts and toilet compartments.
The code also brings attention to the need for slipresistant walking surfaces,
and important information
communicated via two senses or more.

NDA has taken Kashmiris

from IS to IAS: Mukhtar
Shafaque.Alam
@timesgroup.com

Noida: It was with a rather

puzzling statement that
Union minister Mukhtar
Abbas Naqvi sought to emphasise the progress he said
minorities
had
made under the
Modi government.
Youths
in
Kashmir
earlier
joined ISIS. They
have now started
joining the IAS (Indian Administra- Naqvi
tive Service). The
second-ranker in
this years civil services
examination is a Kashmiri,
the minister of state for minority affairs said at a press
meet here in connection

with the NDA governments

second anniversary.
Naqvi was referring to
the success of Kashmiri
youth Athar Aamir-ul-Shafi
Khan. For the record, not a
single case has been filed
against a Kashmiri for joining the terror outfit.
With Union minister for tourism and
culture
Mahesh
Sharma in tow, Naqvi said the central
government, in the
last two years, has
tried to uplift the
poor and needy people, and ensure overall welfare. Representation of minorities in central
government jobs has risen
from 6.2% to 8.4% in two
years, he added.

With an eye on the 2017 assembly polls, he blamed the

Uttar Pradesh government
for the Mathura violence.
The incident took place due
to the callous attitude of the
state government. The encroachment thrived under
the nose of the government.
This was an example of criminal negligence, he said.
Naqvi also slammed the
previous Congress-led UPA
government at the Centre.
Were ensuring a corruption-free and developmentoriented system in the country, he said. H
On the Ram temple issue,
he said it will be constructed
through court or mutual settlement. I can only say BJP
wants a temple at the site,
he added.

On May 2, the apex court appointed a committee headed

by former chief justice of India RM Lodha to oversee the
functioning of the MCI.
Despite strong resistance
from the private medical college lobby, on May 24, the government issued an ordinance
that ensured all private medical colleges submit to a common entrance exam.
Of the 15 members of the
petitions committee, four are
from states with the highest
number of private medical
colleges Karnataka, Tamil
Nadu, Maharashtra and Kerala and three from Uttar Pradesh, which has witnessed a
rash of private medical colleges being opened in the last
five years, many of which
have been accused of admission fraud and poor facilities.
The quorum to constitute a
sitting of the committee is
just five. So five of the 15 MPs
are enough to hold hearings
and prepare a report.
All parliamentary committee reports are advisory
and it is for the government to
act on them or not. In this
case the petitions committee
could be used to drum up evidence against some of the
more drastic reforms proposed by the standing committee so that it gives the government a handle to take
whatever they find convenient, said a bureaucrat who
did not wish to be identified.

Our firms face

issues in setting
up shop in India:
Chinese leader
Shanghai: President Pranab
Mukherjee asked Chinese
investors to be a partner in
Indias growth story and
assured a conducive business
environment during his recent visit to Guangzhou, but a
senior member of Chinas top
advisory body feels there are
still some issues in setting
up shop in India.
In an interview, Zhao Qizheng, vice-chairman of foreign affairs of Chinese Peoples Political Consultative
Conference (CPPCC), said Chinese businessmen were not
clear about rules and business environment in India.
Zhao maintained that
public diplomacy could help
both sides understand the issues related to doing business
in each others countries.
Over the past few years,
Chinas outbound FDI is rocketing. In particular, some foreign investors in China and
even some local companies in
China have made a lot of outbound investment and India is
one of their good choices. But
we have some issues when it
comes to investment in India. I
think that the two countries
need to enhance their mutual
understanding before making
mutual investment.
For example, many Chinese businessmen are not very clear about the laws, regulations as well as investment
environment in India, and Indian people may not be fully
aware of how Chinese enterprises treat their employees,
said Zhao, who played a key
role in attracting foreign investment in Shanghai.
My point is that we might
have different ways in treating employees than our counterparts in India, he added.
Investment from Chinese
firms in India in 2015 stood at
$870 million a six-fold increase in comparison to the
previous year. IANS

Ensemble technique to predict rains

W

hat causes monsoon?

The primary cause of
monsoon, which is the seasonal reversal in wind direction,
is the difference between annual temperature trends over
land and sea. The apparent position of Sun with reference to
Earth is not fixed it oscillates from Tropic of Cancer to
Capricorn through the equator. The heating leads to the
creation of a low-pressure region. The northeast and southeast trade winds converge in
this low-pressure zone which
is also known as Intertropical
Convergence Zone or ITCZ.
This region witnesses the continuous rise of moist wind
from the sea surface to the upper layers of the atmosphere,
where the cooling causes the
loss of moisture, resulting in
precipitation. It is observed
that the rainy season of east
Asia, sub-Saharan Africa,
Australia and the southern

parts of North America coincides with the shift of ITCZ towards these regions.

soon over Kerala if 60% of the

14 enlisted stations falling in
the southern states report a
rainfall of 2.5mm or more for
any two consecutive days after May 10.

 What causes monsoon in

India?
The Thar desert and adjoining areas in the northern and  How is monsoon forecast?
central Indian Subcontinent Generally, there are three
heat up during the summer. main approaches for the longBecause of the rapid solar range forecast of southwest
heating, mainly in
monsoon. The first is
April-May, a low-presthe statistical methsure cell is created
od, which uses the
historical relationover the subcontinent.
ships between the
To fill up the void,
southwest monsoon
moisture-laden winds
and various global
from the Indian Ocean
LEARNING weather parameters.
rush in. ITCZ, someWITH
times also referred to
The second approach
as
the
monsoon THE TIMES is empirical, which
trough, also shifts
uses time-series analnorthwards towards the sub- ysis of past rainfall data. The
continent, causing monsoon third is the dynamical methrains which typically reach od, which uses general circuthe mainland in the last week lation models of atmosphere
of May or the first week of and oceans to predict the
June. The Met department southwest monsoon. The stadeclares the onset of mon- tistical approach has so far

yielded the most accurate results for the Indian monsoon.

However, none of the models
can claim 100% accuracy.

 Which method is used by

our Met department?
Prior to 2002, IMD used to issue an annual forecast using
a model based on 16 parameters but it failed. Since 2003,
two new models were introduced, which used 8 and 10 parameters, respectively. Apart
from this, a two-stage system
was also introduced the
first-stage forecast was issued in mid-April and an update by the end of June. This
model gave inaccurate predictions for 2004, but continues to be in use. Since 2007, a
new system employing an ensemble technique is being
used. Instead of relying on
one model, the ensemble
method uses inputs from all
the models to calculate the final result.

Getty Images

Drivers, waiters &

homemakers turn
scouts, use the cab
companys app, Dost,
to boost income
Shalina.Pillai@timesgroup.com

mesh Ramadas is one of Ubers

success stories. But not the
driver-turns-daulatmand kind
Ramadas has been piling up
the cash the old-fashioned way: helping
demand find supply. Put simply, he helps
the radio taxi company find competent
drivers, and earns more for his referrals
than he did driving.
Ramadas started out as a driver for a
BPO company in Bengaluru on a salary
of Rs 20,000. Insufficient to support a family, he took a loan, bought a second-hand
Indica and signed up with Ola, and later
Uber. He encouraged some of his friends
to switch too.
About 11 months ago, Uber, faced with
a shortage of drivers, started a programme to monetarily reward those who
referred good drivers. Having seen Ramadas previous record of referring good
men, an Uber executive suggested Ramadas take up the role more seriously. That
advice turned Ramadas life around.

CHANGING GEARS: Uber pays Rs 5,000 per successful referral in Bengaluru, and Rs 3,000
each in Mumbai and Hyderabad. This has lured many drivers to turn recruiters

number is rising daily.

We are in a hyper growth environment and wanted to find strategic partners who can help us scale our supply,
said Nikhil Goel, product manager, international growth, Uber, At the same time,
several tour and travel companies are
suffering because everythings moving
online. They have a network of professional commercial drivers, and with this
new platform, they can refer them to us.
Like everything else at Uber, this pro-

I scout railway stations, tea

stalls and other locations where
cab drivers usually gather. Just
last week, I earned over Rs 1 lakh by
referring 20 drivers
UMESH RAMADAS, DRIVER-TURNED-RECRUITER
He stopped driving and started scouting railway stations, tea stalls and other
locations where drivers gather. Hed then
make a recruitment pitch for Uber. He
must have been persuasive to reportedly
direct 2,000 drivers to the platform. Some
months he apparently earns as much as
Rs 4 lakh in commissions. Just last week,
I earned over Rs 1 lakh by referring 20
drivers, says the 37-year-old. He now has
14 people working for him to connect with
potential drivers.
Under this referral programme, called
UberDost, Uber pays Rs 5,000 per successful referral in Bengaluru, and Rs 3,000 in
Mumbai and Hyderabad the three cities where the programme is operational.
Uber says it now has 5,000 Dosts, and that

gramme too runs totally through an app

developed by its engineering and design
team in San Francisco in collaboration
with teams in India. The referral amount
is paid only after the referred driver completes 60 trips on Uber.
Priyanka Ramakant Kate of Mumbai
got to know about the Dost platform after
her husband joined Uber as a driver in
July last year. A 30-year-old homemaker
with two children, Priyanka didnt have
the means to go out and look for potential
driver partners on her own. So she
struck a deal with a car-rental company,
from where her husband had hired a car
to drive, to provide her with details of
customers who could be potential drivers
for Uber. She has made more than Rs 1

lakh by referring over 60 drivers since

last October. For every Rs 3,000 she gets
as referral reward, she gives Rs 1,000 to
the car-rental company. I plan to make
a deal with another car-rental company
in Mumbai soon, she said.
Each recruiter has his/her own modus operandi. Shahid Khan, 25, uses flyers
to make potential drivers aware of the
opportunity. He also visits drivers in markets and other places they generally congregate. Once they know I make referrals it becomes easier, as the word
spreads, says Khan, whose previous
salary of Rs 30,000 a month as a manager
at a Samsung regional office, leaped to Rs
1 lakh. He says he has successfully referred over 400 drivers.
For agents like Hyderabad-based
Prashanth Paravastu, career growth
couldnt have been more precipitous.
The 28-year-old started out as a waiter
at a Pizza Hut outlet; he now earns Rs 1.5
lakh to Rs 2 lakh a month.
But how sustainable is this business?
Its too early to say. Uber already has
350,000 drivers registered on its platform.
But it is present only in 26 cities in India,
compared to rival Olas 102 cities. So Uber
still has a long way to go. Ola uses its own
executives and offices to find and register
drivers. Uber too uses this method, but to
a much smaller extent. And as it moves
into smaller towns, the Dost programme
is its preferred mode.
Even the recruiters are planning to
spread out. Ramadas has his eye on Hyderabad even as Paravastu is trying to
get a foothold in Bengaluru. As for Uber,
the programme has been so successful
that it has expanded it to countries like
Indonesia, Philippines and Taiwan. And
everywhere, its called UberDost.

Dog saves master from tiger attack, dies

Photo for representational purpose only

Kanwardeep Singh

TNN

Shahjahanpur: In a tragic
example of loyalty and unconditional love of mans
best friend, a dog who lived
with a farmer in a village
near Dudhwa National Park
here fought with a tiger to
save his master, giving up his
life in the process.
The incident occurred on
Friday night at Barbatpur
village near Khutar town, 52
km from here. The farmer,
Gurdev Singh, was sleeping
outside his house with four-

Four-year-old Jacky had been

with Singhs family since birth

year-old Jacky when a tiger

approached them from the
forest of South Kheri nearby.
Sensing danger, Jacky
tried to wake up his master
but before Singh realised

what was happening, the tiger attacked. Jacky took on

the big cat, giving his master
just enough time to grab a
stick and call for help. But by
then, the tiger had escaped
and dragged a severely injured Jacky away with it.
Singhs family later found
Jackys body some distance
away. Jackys mother was a
street dog and my children,
Supreet and Gulshanpreet,
took him in four years ago as a
pup. It was a part of our family
and used to follow them to
school. Gulshanpreet is in-

Unique epilepsy form sees

man doze off at first bite
RARE FORM OF THE ILLNESS, SAY DOCTORS
WHAT IS EPILEPSY

THE CASE
Hariom Gupta,
a 25-year-old
flower-seller
from Thane,
suffered
from eating
epilepsy in
which eating
is a
precipitating
factor for the
epileptic fits
He would get up to
5-7 seizures a day,
70% of them were
triggered by eating

Epilepsy is a treatable brain

disorder in which the

normal activity of
brains neurons is
disturbed, causing
strange
sensations,
emotions, and
behaviour or at
times, convulsions,
muscle spasms, and loss
of consciousness
Anything that disturbs the
normal pattern of neuron activity
from illness to brain damage to
abnormal brain development
can lead to seizures

Malathy.Iyer
@timesgroup.com

Mumbai: Every time phoolwala Hariom Gupta bit into

an apple, a sandwich or any
other eatable, he would fall,
like Sleeping Beauty, into a
stupor. But his sleep not
more than a few seconds to a
couple of minutes long
was actually an epileptic
seizure whose intensity
worsened and frequency increased with every passing
year over the last decade.
Gupta suffered from
eating epilepsy in which
eating is a precipitating
factor. It is a comparatively
rare form of epilepsy, said
Dr Sangeeta Ravat, head of
the neurology department
of KEM Hospital, Parel,

Epilepsy may develop because

of an abnormality in brain wiring,
an imbalance of nerve signalling
chemicals called
neurotransmitters etc
1% of the population has
epilepsy. It can happen to anyone
at any age. If treated early and
managed well, 70-80% of people
get their seizures under control
Most of the adults with
epilepsy are working and/or are
parents. Children with epilepsy go
to mainstream schools. They lead
normal lives

who has been treating Gupta for the last two years. She
said that 70% of his seizures
were triggered by eating.
The patient had sought
treatment from hakims to
naturopaths across the
country. He turned to KEM
Hospital when he read that
it offered surgery to treat
epilepsy. But his wish
wasnt simple. The affected area in his brain was located in the left dominant lobe that controls comprehension and expressive speech.
The chances of him losing
speech were high, said
KEM Hospitals neurosurgeon Dr D Mazumdar.
However, Gupta, who lives in Thanes Gandhi Nagar
sprawl, was desperate to get
cured. On March 31, the KEM

(SOURCE: Samman Association

& NINDS Epilepsy)

team decided to use a less invasive operation, called multiple subpial transaction, in
which brain tissues werent
removed and only cuts were
made on the brain to stop the
electric impulses.
His seizures havent
completely stopped, but the
frequency has reduced from
five times a day to once in five weeks, said Dr Ravat. Dr
Mazumdar said that while
this technique isnt known
to offer a permanent solution, there was a chance that
it would hold for a long time.
Gupta is a relieved man
now. I couldnt attend school
after I started getting these
fits. His brother Pintu said,
People never understood his
condition... Hopefully, those
days are a thing of the past.

consolable and didnt eat for a

day. Jacky returned the favour
of a few chapatis a day by giving up his life. I wish humans
could learn from him how to
love others, Singh said.
Barbatpur is very close to
South Kheri forest, which is a
part of Dudhwa National
Park. A large part of the forest
land has been encroached upon by humans. The entry of a
tiger in a village is not surprising. Tiger population in
this part is very high and they
sometimes come out for food,
forest ranger S N Yadav said.

Hope for infant

with cancer
after marrow
transplant
Sumitra.DebRoy
@timesgroup.com

Mumbai: A six-month-old baby has received a bone marrow transplant at a city hospital, becoming one of the youngest in India to undergo the
complicated procedure successfully. The procedure, wherein the babys own healthy
stem cells were transplanted
into his body, is supposed to give him the best shot at fighting
an aggressive cancer.
The baby was diagnosed
with neuroblastoma, one of
the common cancers during
infancy which is known to originate from the nerve cells.
The family, which did not wish
to be identified, first felt the tumour in the infants stomach
when he was two weeks old.
An ultrasound and a CT scan,
followed by a biopsy at the Tata Memorial Hospital, Parel,
confirmed their worst fears.
About 200 new cases of neuroblastoma are detected in
India every year. The treatment is usually a combination
of surgery, chemotherapy and
radiotherapy. In aggressive
cases, the bone marrow transplantation is performed as an
added measure to cut down on
the chances of recurrence
that can be as high as 40-45%.
In most cases, the challenge is
to collect the stem cells from
an already ailing body. The baby, said to be recovering well
since the May 9 surgery, may
have to go through radiotherapy for complete recovery.