CBSE schools may move court over order on Kannada teaching

Bengaluru, Mar 10: With concerns growing by the day, the Karnataka government is readying three more labs to test throat swab samples.

Currently, only two labs in Bengaluru — National Institute of Virology and Virus Research and Diagnostics Laboratory (VRDL) lab attached to Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute — are categorised biosafety level 2+, a requirement for coronavirus tests.

Now, the government is working on upgrading three more labs, one each in the government medical colleges at Hassan, Mysuru and Shivamogga. “The labs will be ready within one week,” the authorities said.

Currently, the labs are testing only throat swab samples of suspected patients and taking 24 hours to give the results. “A patient’s blood sample will be collected only if he or she tests positive for covid-19 infection in the first throat swab sample.

While earlier the state would send all samples of suspected coronavirus cases to NIV, Pune, the two labs were upgraded to biosafety level 2+ in mid-February.

The Bharatiya Janata Party workers belonging to Muslim community are bewildered over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act. A considerable number of BJP’s Muslim workers have distanced themselves from the pro-CAA meetings being organised by the party in different parts of India.

There is a deep divide within members of the BJP minority wing, with many upset and angry with the party. During its membership drive in 2018 for the minority wing, BJP had enrolled lakhs of Muslims across India.

A senior Muslim member of the saffron party in Hyderabad explained, “We are very upset. There is no one listening to us within the party. Majority of the members are introspecting on their future role in the party. Few are vocal about it. Those, who believe they still have a future in the party, have decided to keep quiet on this issue.”

This is the reason why they are not attending the pro-CAA rallies or interacting with people. If anybody approaches and questions them about CAA, they maintain they have no idea, just like the common man. A member of the BJP belonging to the minority community says they have been hurt by the decision of the government on CAA.

“Shia Muslims in Pakistan are suffering. They have been targeted in that country from time to time. The BJP patronised a large number of Shia Muslims. The Shia community in Uttar Pradesh even sided with the BJP. But what has the community got in the end? The persecuted Shia minorities in Pakistan have not got justice,” the party member from minority community lamented.

There are 400 families belonging to the Shia community in Hyderabad, who have relatives in Karachi and Quetta in Pakistan. These Shias had migrated to Pakistan from the Nizam state after its accession to India. These families were hopeful that after aligning with BJP, there would be a reprieve for them. But the stand taken by BJP has left them in lurch. The CAA provides for granting Indian citizenship only to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

“We have been left with nothing. Shias have not been politically active in all the three countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and have suffered due to this reason. There was some hope in India, but even that has been lost now,” the minority wing leader remarked.

National vice president of BJP minority cell Farid Sheikh Liaquat Ali says, “Party workers and common people are asking the same question.”

I have told them what union home minister Amit Shah has said in Parliament, that CAA is not against Indian Muslims. But people are not convinced. Every meeting or social function that I attend, I find that people are angry and upset. I have been with the BJP for 33 years and whatever I hear from the people is being conveyed to the party.”

The incident that occurred at the madarasa in Uttar Pradesh has led to a pointed question: “If this can happen to Muslims in UP, will it not repeat elsewhere?”

Mangaluru, Feb 8: Professional services company Cognizant on Friday opened a new facility in Mangaluru, expanding its presence in Karnataka. Located in the heart of the city, the new 100,000 sq- ft facility can accommodate more than 1,100 employees, the NASDAQ-listed company said in a statement.

Cognizant has had an association with Mangaluru since 2011 when it acquired CoreLogic Global Services Private Limited (CoreLogic India), the India-based captive operations of CoreLogic, one of the largest real estate information and analytics provider in the US market.

From its existing centre in Mangaluru, Cognizant provides consulting, enterprise applications and business process services in the area of mortgage processing covering property taxes, research and investigations, property data warehousing and management of geospatial data.

The company currently employs more than 600 professionals in Mangaluru, more than 50 per cent of whom are women.

In addition to experienced professionals, Cognizant also hires fresh graduates for its Mangaluru centre from leading institutions such as Sahyadari Institute of Technology and Management, Manipal Institute of Technology, N.M.A.M. Institute of Technology, St Joseph's College of Engineering, Canara Engineering College, N.I.T.K. Surathkal, PA College of Engineering and Srinivas College of Engineering, as mortgage origination and servicing specialists, business analysts, consultants, automation specialists and software engineers.

In Karnataka, Cognizant also has operations in Bengaluru and Mysuru. The company has more than 28,000 professionals in Bengaluru and nearly 700 professionals in Mysuru.

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