Dr Kaup Mohamed urges for value based quality education in universities

Bengaluru, Mar 11: Heated verbal exchange between Minister K Sudhakar and former Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar in the assembly over disqualification of 17 MLAs last year, continued to disrupt the proceedings on Wednesday, with both opposition and treasury benches pushing for a privilege motion and demanding action.

Chaotic scenes and adjournments marked the House proceedings, with both sides not ready to budge.

As the House met for the day, around 11 am, senior Minister K S Eshwarappa accusing Congress MLA Ramesh Kumar of using "expletive" during a debate last evening, demanded his apology and that he be kept out of the proceedings.

Sudhakar, against whom expletive was allegedly used by Kumar, said, the words used were unpardonable and he should be heard, as he has given notice.

Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah then demanded that he be allowed to speak first as he had given notice on Tuesday itself.

The Congress leader on his part has accused Sudhakar of breaching Kumar's privilege by allegedly making derogatory remarks against him.

Intervening, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri said he has received breach of privilege notice from both sides and would allow it only after the question hour as per rules.

Though Congress expressed its agreement with the Speaker about letting them raise the matter after question hour, BJP legislators including Ministers said, Ramesh Kumar should be suspended.

Pointing out that Kumar was not inside the House, some ruling party MLAs even called him "escapist" and demanded action against him.

Strongly objecting to it, Siddaramaiah questioned the ruling party's intentions in running the house smoothly.

As this was followed by heated arguments between both sides, the Speaker adjourned the House for 15 minutes.

When the house met after much delay at 12:55 pm, the chaos continued.

As the Speaker allowed Minister Jagadish Shettar to speak, who was requesting permission to raise a point, Siddaramaiah objected to it and said he had given notice first.

He said, "this is not correct, it looks like government doesn't want the House to function, they don't want discussion on the budget, they are purposely blocking the proceedings of the House".

However, some BJP MLAs reacted to this by shouting slogans "shame shame Ramesh Kumar".

As his repeated attempts to conduct the proceedings failed, the Speaker adjourned the House for lunch.

Sudhakar, while speaking during a special discussion on the Constitution on Tuesday evening had made critical remarks against the decision of Kumar, as speaker, to disqualify 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs under the anti-defection law, including him.

Angered by this Kumar, who opposed discussion on the subject, amid heated argument between BJP and Congress members allegedly uttered the expletive, which aggravated the situation and had resulted in pandemonium in the House last evening.

Bengaluru, April 3: Thirteen people in Karnataka, who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi, have tested positive for coronavirus, said state education minister S Suresh Kumar.

"13 attendees of Delhi's Tablighi Jamaat event have tested COVID-19 positive and 187 were tested negative," said Kumar, who has been entrusted to look into queries related to COVID-19.

He added, "A total number of four COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed today -- a 75-year-old man in Bagalkote, a 70-year-old in Belagavi, a 26-year-old in Belagavi and a 20-year-old in Belagavi."

"The three people from Belagavi had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event in Delhi," he said, adding that the total number of cases in the state increased to 128.

The reports of 88 other people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat event are yet to be received, the minister said.

The total number of COVID-19 positive cases in India on Friday rose to 2,547 including 162 cured/discharged and 62 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

Bengaluru, May 5: Karnataka Education Minister, S Suresh Kumar on Monday announced that the SSLC exams will be held as soon as possible, the officials have been asked to be prepared.

The guidelines have been given by the Primary Education Minister to all Deputy Directors of Education departments.

"Sanitisers, masks, screening, and all guidelines will be followed at exam halls," said Kumar in a statement.

Meanwhile, Karnataka has reported 651 COVID-19 positive cases so far, said State Health Department said on Monday.