Dr E T Selvam, a renowned eye surgeon and former dean of the 200-year-old Government Ophthalmic Hospital and Regional Institute of Ophthalmology in Egmore, Chennai, died last week.
He was 93. During his term at the Egmore hospital from 1977 to 1982 Dr Selvam spearheaded major reforms like upgrading hospital equipment and staff training. He instituted teaching syllabus for postgraduates so that it was recognised by the Medical Council of India as an institution for postgraduate studies. 
He won the Dr M G R Medical University award for conducting the maximum number of eye camps in Tamil Nadu. A specialist in the older form of cataract surgery, his skill in glaucoma, retinal and cataract surgeries is lauded even today by colleagues, former students and leading eye doctors. 
Even after retirement he continued as a visiting doctor in private hospitals and eye camps. 

Child rapist suspected of killing mother
Police are on the lookout for Tashwanth, 23, an engineer jailed for raping and killing a 7-year-old girl, and who was out on parole since February this year, for allegedly killing his mother at their residence in Kundrathur in suburban Chennai last week.
Tashwanth’s mother Sarala was found dead with her head smashed and jewellery missing. His father told the police that his son was missing and had switched off his mobile phone. 
Tashwanth was granted bail after his father moved courts to stop him being booked under the stringent Goondas Act. 
The family had also shifted to Kundrathur from Muglivakkam where he had lured a neighbour’s 7-year-old girl, raped and killed her and burnt her body in a nearby deserted area in February.
Meanwhile, the rape victim’s father, who has been given police security, pleaded for his re-arrest as he was proving to be a social menace.

67-year-old woman gets MA degree
A woman got her master’s degree at the age of 67. The Chennai woman, identified as M Chellathai did the course in History through the Tamil Nadu Open University (TNAU). She was handed the certificate by Tamil Nadu Governor Banwarilal Purohit in Chennai.
Chellathai, a native of Sattur in Virudhunagar district, was barred from college first by her father and later by her husband. Some years later she shifted to Chennai where her husband allowed her to work as a clerk in the Tamil Nadu Civil Supplies Corporation. She retired in 2009 and after her husband’s death in 2013 she enrolled in a college with the support of her children. 
“I educated my girls and they motivated me. I will also join another course to study law. Age cannot deter me from getting degrees,” she said.

Dolphins wash up on shore
Environmental activists and ocean scientists were puzzled when nearly 50 dolphins, eight of which were dead, washed up on the shore of coastal Tuticorin district last week.
Scientists rubbished theories that oceanic pollution and large-scale marine activities had caused the exodus. They suspect that either the whales’ feed of plankton and small fish had reduced or they had lost direction due to shock caused by dynamite explosives often used in deep sea fishing. 
A fortnight earlier, a large dead whale on the Chennai coast sparked a beach cleaning drive after its stomach was found crammed with plastic waste.
In a third incident, large shoals of dead fish floated on the Adyar estuary and creek.