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Koppal, Aug 3: The activists of Popular Front of India (PFI) have won the heart of the people by performing the last rites of a local leader of Bharatiya Janata Party in Koppla district of Karnataka. 

Somashekhara Gowda, a senior BJP leader in Koppal’s Gangavathi died of covid-19. His family members were reportedly quarantined. His own party activists also were not ready to participate in the last rite due to the fear of coronavirus infection.

Following requests, a team of PFI comprised of district secretary Fayaz, and members Yaseen, Abdul Aalam, Shamid Razi and Husain Azarauddin performed the last rites as per Veerashaiva Lingayat traditions. 

Speaking to media persons PFI district president Zaheer Abbas lamented that people still have plenty of misconceptions about covid-19. “Due to the misconceptions, performing the last rites of those who die of covid-19 has become a challenge,” he said.

He said that PFI activists followed all the health guidelines and took necessary precautions while performing the last rites. “Under the guidance of district health officials and with the consent of the family members of the deceased, the last rites were performed as per Veerashaiva Lingayat traditions,” he said.

Bengaluru, Jul 28: After the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) reduced the syllabi for Classes 9 to 12 due to COVID-19 pandemic, the Karnataka government has followed the suit. The Department of Public Instruction has omitted the chapters on legendary south Indian rulers Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan from the textbooks of Class 7 in their attempt to reduce syllabus for state board schools by 30 per cent. 

The department, however, has decided to retain similar chapters on Tipu Sultan in 6th and 10th Classes, though the syllabus in text books for all classes from 1 to 10th has been trimmed. 

The trimmed textbooks uploaded on the website of the Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT) by Karnataka state Textbook Society revealed removal of chapters on Tipu Sultan for the seventh grade.

Justifying the decision, officials said, "students study similar chapters in Class 6 and more in the 10th grade." Yet another senior official from the Text Book Society said, "Trimming does not mean we have removed half of the syllabus from textbooks. It is only keeping in mind the repetition we have condensed the chapters. In case students study about a particular dynasty in higher grades, then the same had been removed from lower grades."

A few months ago, there was an uproar over dropping of content on Tipu Sultan and MLAs from the ruling BJP also demanded the same and petitioned to the Chief Minister. Even an expert committee led by Prof Baraguru Ramachandrappa suggested to not drop any content on the historic figure. However, the department still decided to drop lessons from one of the classes while keeping the syllabus short for the next 120 active academic days.

Earlier this month, a controversy had erupted over the CBSE's decision to omit topics like federalism, secularism, citizenship, etc while reducing the syllabus for Classes 9 to 12. The education board had issued a detailed clarification later, stating that topics claimed to be dropped "are either being covered by the rationalised syllabus or in the Alternative Academic Calendar of NCERT".

"The rationalisation of syllabus up to 30 per cent has been undertaken by the Board for nearly 190 subjects of class 9 to 12 for the academic session 2020-21 as a one-time measure only. The objective is to reduce the exam stress of students due to the prevailing health emergency situation and prevent learning gaps," it said.

Last week, the Congress in Uttar Pradesh expressed its concern over 'deliberate and systematic' deletions of chapters related to the freedom struggle and the party's role in it from the Class 10-12 syllabi of the Secondary Education Board.