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Jatin Anand | Nikhil M. Babu

They complain of silence on the part of the authorities
The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust lakhs of civil service aspirants across the country in the lurch and silence on part of the authorities concerned, they complained. They alleged that they are struggling to cope with lack of study material, coaching facilities and general anxiety in the run-up to arguably the most important examination of their lives.

Among those who had travelled to their respective hometowns for a break or to spend Holi with family are those who await word on postponed interviews — uncertainty about whether or when they will be allowed to travel to the Capital. There are others who were to appear for their preliminary examinations scheduled on May 31 and are stranded without study material.

Left job to study

Gourav Sharma, an IIT Bombay alumnus who worked as the Chief Data Scientist at the Mumbai airport, left his job to study for his Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) preliminaries in October last. The 28-year-old Aerospace Engineering graduate then moved to Old Rajinder Nagar in Delhi and was in the midst of his preparations for his second attempt when the COVID-19 pandemic broke out.

“There are major issues that are not conducive to preparation. A major part of the day goes into chores; coaching was shut several weeks ago and the mental, as well as economic stress, are problems in themselves. One of my friends who is a fellow aspirant is stuck in Udaipur, another is stuck in Bhopal. All we are asking for is clarity,” Mr. Sharma, who initiated an online petition seeking the postponement of these exams on change.org, said. “We, the aspirants, support our government and its efforts in tackling this pandemic. However, adequate attention must be paid to our issues as well,” his petition stated.

“UPSC prelims require dedicated preparation of 3-4 months and looming uncertainty over extension of lockdown is hampering our preparation…Anxiety and stress are preventing us from performing at our best,” the petition, addressed to the UPSC, Department of Personnel and Training, Union Minister Jitendra Singh and Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, stated.

Other aspirants like Mr. Sharma, complained they were facing similar problems. “I went back to my hometown in Kerala before the flight operations stopped. Back in Delhi, I was going to the institute and was on track. Now I have lost it and I’m trying to get back on track,” said Pranoy Maxwell, 27, who is studying at a coaching institute in the city said. “There is a lot of uncertainty right now. My exam centre is in Gurugram and I don’t know whether I will be quarantined if I come back to Delhi. The exam should be postponed,” he said.

Swati Singh, 25, who lives in west Delhi, had passed her 2019 UPSC preliminary examination and was waiting for her interview on April 3, when the lockdown happened. “Now my interview has been postponed, which would take place only after May 3. I have registered for the prelims, which is to be held on May 31, but right now we are not able to give mock tests and then meet our teachers for feedback like we used to do and it is affecting our preparation. The exam should be postponed,” she said.

Gopika Gopinathan Pillai, who is studying at a coaching centre in the city said that her preparation has been affected because of the lockdown. “There is no clarity at this point on whether the exam will be postponed or not that increases the pressure on us. Also, how much can a person study when she is locked inside a room for the whole day? My studies have been affected by about 60% since the lockdown,” she said.

In a statement issued after a special meeting of the Commission on April 15, the UPSC said dates for all interviews, exams and recruitment boards where candidates and advisers are required to travel from all parts of the country “will be reviewed from time to time.”

“…A decision on fresh dates for the remaining Civil Services-2019 Personality Tests will be taken after May 3, following the second phase of the lockdown will be notified on the website of the UPSC,” it stated.

(With inputs from The Hindu)

PTI

Five deaths in Gujarat, total toll 58

For the second day in a row, Gujarat saw a spike in the COVID-19 death toll as five people succumbed to the disease. This brings the total toll in the State to 58, said the health department.

The State also saw 228 new cases. Overall, 1,604 people have tested positive for the infection in Gujarat.

Of the five deaths, four are from Ahmedabad and the other from Surat. Three of the dead are female and two male. According to the health department, 94 patients have recovered so far.

With 140 new cases today, the number of cases in Ahmedabad now stands at 1,002. Twenty nine people have died in the city while 27 have recovered.

Another death in Rajasthan, toll is now 22

A 62-year-old man died in Jaipur, taking the death toll in Rajasthan to 22. The COVID-19 patient was admitted to the hospital on Thursday with complaints of fever and breathlessness. He was identified as COVID-19 positive on Saturday, according to the State Medical and Health Department.

Forty-four new COVID-19 positive cases have been detected in Rajasthan, taking the State’s tally to 1,395. As many as 205 patients have recovered, says officials.

PTI

Three lakh more Rapid Antibody Test kits used for the quick detection of the coronavirus (COVID-19) have been dispatched to India from Guangzhou, the Indian envoy here said on Saturday, as India ramped up the global hunt to procure more kits to tackle the rising cases of the infection.

The kits were airlifted to Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu, Vikram Misri said. Great work on ground by our team, Mr. Misri tweeted.

This is in addition to the 6.50 lakh antibody and RNA Extraction Kits China sent earlier this week.

India is procuring the medical supplies from China in recent weeks to ensure availability of adequate supplies.

The Rapid Antibody Test Kits deliver results in 15 minutes and work on blood samples instead of nasal swabs to tell whether a patient has ever been exposed to the virus.

The RNA extraction kit enables the total RNA extraction from tissues. This extracted RNA is a mix of a person’s own genetic material and, if present, the virus’ RNA.

Two major consignments of the medical kits were reported to have been sent to India from China earlier as part of the efforts to step up testing especially in hotspots during the lockdown.

India has been facing severe shortage of personal protection equipments and testing kits in view of the rising cases.

By Saturday evening, the toll due to the infection rose to 488, while the number of cases climbed to 14,792, according to data provided by the Centre.

On Tuesday, Mr. Misri told the media here that India has placed orders for 15 million personal protection gear from China for medical personnel treating the COVID-19 patients, besides three million testing kits.

The orders are being placed with bona fide firms with the help of the Chinese government.

“I think facilitation of our needs and our requirements in a timely manner, in a smooth manner, on a predictable timeline at prices that are stable and orderly, would be the best signal possible to send for the India-China relationship,” Mr. Misri said.

Government sources in New Delhi had said large consignments of PPE kits are being bought from a number of countries to meet their increasing demands by several States battling to stem the spread of the infection.

In the wake of adverse reports about the quality of Chinese medical equipment, spokesperson in the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, Ji Rong, earlier said China attaches great importance to the export of medical products and that steps have been taken to ensure their quality.

As the demand for Chinese medical supplies scaled up, China on Wednesday asked all the countries to import these items through reputed Chinese firms cleared by the government and vowed to punish those involved in counterfeiting.

Cyber security agencies suspect a massive data breach has occurred over the last few days, enabling cyber criminals to obtain proof against citizens visiting pornographic websites and blackmailing them.

PTI

According to the Maharashtra Cyber police, a rise has been observed in extortion emails received by people over the last few days.

“The victims receive their own account passwords in the email or their browser history which shows that they have accessed porn sites. The emails demand large amounts in bitcoins for not making these details public. Such emails have become rampant over the last few days and this may be due to a data breach event,” Balsing Rajput, Maharashtra Cyber SP, said.

Mr. Rajput said the data breach could be a result of any number of possibilities.

“Often, cyber criminals instal trackers on porn sites which creep into the browsers of the targets when they visit the sites. Once the trackers have access to the victims’ browsers, they can do anything that they are programmed to do, including capture log in names and passwords of email or other accounts.”

Another possibility, he said, is that passwords of a large number of targets, which were hacked at a previous date, have been sold in bulk to a gang specialising in cyber-extortion and are now being used to intimidate the victims. The fact that the criminals have their passwords convinces the targets that they have access to their browsing history as well, the officer said.

The issue, however, does not end here. As viewing pornographic material comes with a stigma, many prefer paying up to alerting the authorities. While the Maharashtra Cyber department has been informally approached by a few people, none of them was willing to register a complaint. The absence of clear data also becomes a hindrance in trying to detect the source of the breach, sources said.

Mr. Rajput said everyone should follow basic cyber hygiene to avoid falling prey to such scams.

“One can go for a two-factor authentication while logging in to email accounts, which alerts the user every time there is an attempt to log in. All devices should have anti-virus software and should be scanned regularly. Any application or programme which is not downloaded by the users should be deleted immediately.”