C M Ibrahim seeks Karnataka govt nod for mass Eid-ul-Fitr prayers

Bengaluru, Jun 24: About 8,48,203 students will appear in the Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination tomorrow, i.e., June 24, said Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday.

Students have been advised to report to the examination centre three-hour before the commencement of the examination i.e., at 07:30 am. The examination will commence at 10:30 am.

Early entry to the centres will also help maintain social distancing that is very much essential during the pandemic, minister for primary and secondary education S Suresh Kumar said.

"SSLC exams to take place tomorrow. About 8,48,203 students will write the exam. Social distancing needs to be followed and the mask should be used. Minister of Education and I have already held a lot of meetings. Students from containment zones will be carefully handled," said Sriramulu.

Commenting upon the situation arising in the state due to COVID-19, Sriramulu said, "There is a panel of experts to decide about lockdown. There has been an opinion that the COVID-19 test should be increased. Workers, traders, and others should be categorised in 15 categories and tests must be conducted," he added.

Sriramulu further said that there will be a meeting of task force on the coming Monday.

"All the issues will be brought to the notice of the Chief Minister at the task force meeting, then CM will take a call on what needs to be done," he said.

Meanwhile, Suresh Kumar, Minister of Education inspected the schools and places where SSLC exams will be held.

Earlier Karnataka Education Minister S Suresh Kumar had announced that SSLC examinations, which were stayed in view of the coronavirus pandemic, will be conducted 'between June 25 and July 4' in the state.

According to the Union Health Ministry, Karnataka has 9,721 COVID-19 cases including 150 fatalities.

Mysuru, May 6: A seven-months pregnant woman fled Covid-19 hotspot Mumbai along with her family, and made it to her village 1000 km away in KR Pet taluka in Mandya district of Karnataka, flashing her mother's ID card at each checkpost. After reaching her destination, she got herself tested for Covid-19.

She tested positive for the virus on Monday in Mandya.

The 20-year-old woman (assigned the number P637) had been living with her husband and in-laws at Santa Cruz East, Agripada in Mumbai for the past three years. To get out of the containment zone, they started out from Mumbai at 7.30 pm on April 23 -- she, her husband, brother-in-law, co-sister and their children, and a 19-year-old girl. She made it past checkposts at Belagavi, Hubballi, Davanagere, Kadur, Arasikere, Channarayapatna and Shravanabelagola and reached her village Jaaginakere at 3 pm on April 24.

She stayed at her home in the village from 24 April to April 29. With the Mandya district administration testing people on a campaign mode in the entire district, she and her family got themselves tested on May 1.

Her test returned positive on May 4, according to deputy commissioner M V Venkatesh.

Along with her, the 19-year-old girl (P638) who travelled with the family also tested positive. The girl is in the sixth semester of her BE Electronics course at an engineering college in Mumbai.

This is not the first case of a corona fugitive from Mumbai. Earlier, a 50-year-old man who ran a hotel in Mumbai travelled in a vehicle carrying dates and reached Channarayapatna in Hassan district.

In fact there have been three such incidents, including that of seven people coming to Mandya from Mumbai transporting a dead man's body for cremation in his native village of B Kodagalli in Pandavapura taluk.

Mandya deputy commissioner Dr Venkatesh has appealed to natives of Mandya who are stuck in Mumbai to stay there till the Covid situation comes to control.

So far 28 people in Mandya diatrict have tested positive for Covid 19. Seven people have been discharged. Currently there are 21 active cases being treated at the Mandya Institute of Medical Sciences.

Bengaluru, Apr 19: Former Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Sunday thanked Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa for backing his family regarding his son Nikhil s wedding, which drew flak for allegedly violating lockdown norms.

Asserting that social distancing was maintained during the wedding, the JD(S) leader in a series of tweets hit out at those accusing his family of violating lockdown norms, by stating that they were doing it out of "political hate".

"Despite maintaining social distancing and following rules during Nikhil's marriage, there are discussion that norms were not followed.

Because of political hate, poisonous comments are being made about an auspicious event, but Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa by rejecting all this is standing by the truth," Kumaraswamy said in a tweet in Kannada.

He said, "heartfelt thanks to Yediyurappa for his statement that a big political family in the state has conducted the marriage ceremony in a simple way."

Nikhil, the grandson of former prime minister H D Deve Gowda, entered wedlock on Friday at a Bidadi farmhouse with Revathi, the grandniece of former Congress minister M Krishnappa.

On the day of the marriage several posts on social media, also media reports had criticised the Gowda family for violating locdown norms and social distancing during the event.

Coming to the defence of Gowda family, Yediyurappa in response to a question on Saturday told reporters "They (family) had all the permissions and the event was held in a simple fashion. There's no need to discuss this.

"Despite having many relatives, they stuck to the limitations. For this, I congratulate them," he had said.

Stating that lockdown rules were followed during Nikhil's marriage, Kumaraswamy said, "By looking for politics in Nikhil's marriage, certain faulty minds on social media are spewing venom that is in their mind."

Gowda family had scaled down Nikhil's wedding, which was earlier planned in a 95-acre land near Ramanagara with a lavish set, with lakhs of party workers and well-wishers in attendance, followed by a grand reception in Bengaluru.

Nikhil has acted in couple of Kannada films in the lead role.

He had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from the party bastion of Mandya and had lost against multilingual actress Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent candidate supported by BJP, in a bitterly contested polls.