Former Mangaluru Mayor Ashraf joins Congress party once again!

Mangaluru, Jan 13: A truck parked at the site of protest against the new citizenship law and National Register of Citizens (NRC) at Deralakatte on the outskirts of the city was charred down to ashes after it was set on fire by miscreants, police said here on Monday.

Police said that Deralakatte Citizenship Protection Committee had organised a protest rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) here on Sunday. After the rally concluded, a few unidentified miscreants set the vehicle on fire.

The incident resulted in chaos, causing panic among the locals who informed the police immediately.

Condemning the incident, the local unit of Popular Front of India has claimed that the incident was an attempt by saffronist goons to disrupt peace and trigger communal riot in the region. It has urged the police to nab the accused immediately without yielding to any political pressure.

Mangaluru, Apr 27: Two more people including an elderly woman have been tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Dakshina Kannada. 

With this the total number of covid-19 cases in the district reached 21, though most of them have recovered and returned home. 

In its today's bulletin, the health and family welfare department confirmed that a 45-year-old man and his 80-year-old mother tested positive for the deadly disease. 

It is learnt that one of them had undergone treatment at a private hospital where a woman from Bantwal, who died of covid-19, was being treated for breathing difficulties, before she was shifted to Wenlock Hospital which is now converted into covid-19 hospital.

Bengaluru, May 3: Undergraduate and postgraduate students skipping online classes held by their universities run the risk of being debarred from writing their exams. 

State universities, which are monitoring the attendance of online classes, are asking their affiliate colleges to send the monthly online attendance details and this would reflect in their regular attendance. This would apply to those studying professional courses like medicine and engineering. 

State medical education minister Dr K Sudhakar has asked all medical colleges to regularly send attendance details to the Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS).

RGUHS vice-chancellor Dr Sachidanand confirmed to DH that the varsity is indeed monitoring the attendance of students. “Online classes are equal to classroom teaching. (Such method of conducting classes) are necessary during the Covid-19 pandemic and the nationwide lockdown,” he said.

According to the Supreme Court directions, students should have 75% attendance to be eligible to appear for the final exams. There could be relaxations if they have health issues. If students are bunking online classes, it would reflect on their minimum attendance necessary to appear for the exams, the vice-chancellors of state-run varsities said.

Bangalore University vice-chancellor Prof K R Venugopal said most of the students are attending online classes and teachers are messaging the parents of those who are irregular. “(Of course) if they fall short of the minimum attendance, they won’t be allowed to appear for the exams,” he said.

Bengaluru North University vice-chancellor Prof T D Kemparaju said the administration has asked its teachers to record details of students attending online classes and update the university.

Mixed signals 

Meanwhile, the University Grants Commission (UGC) on Wednesday issued guidelines directing all universities to treat the lockdown period as “deemed as attended” for students and research scholars. Experts pointed out that the order would prompt students not to take the online classes seriously.

“Arrangements have been made at the state varsities to make students attend online classes compulsorily and students are also serious about it. Now, because of the UGC guidelines, they may bunk classes,” said the vice-chancellor of a state-run university.