Expectations high in Dakshina Kannada as SSLC exams begin

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 31: The Kerala government

on Tuesday rejected concerns of community spread of novel coronavirus in the state in the wake of the second death of a patient here who had no travel history or reported contact with any infected person.

Setting aside the concern, Health Minister K K Shylaja said the deceased man, a native of nearby Pothancode, was already suffering from several other health issues including high blood pressure.

The 68-yearold man died at the government medical college here, taking the total number of COVID-19 deaths in Kerala to two, the government said.

"We have got information that the deceased man had come in contact with some persons arrived from the Gulf. As he was very sick and was not in a position to speak, we could not collect details from him directly," she told reporters here.

"So we had to collect such details from his relatives now. As per preliminary assessment, it was a case of contact spread. So, as of now, there is no need to get panic about the community spread," she said

The possibility of death was high among patients, aged above 60 years and suffering from other diseases like heart ailments or diabetics, she said.

"That's why we are giving strict directions to the elderly people to remain in homes and avoid contact with infected persons, " the minister said.

However, the minister directed those came in contact with the deceased person to remain in self-quarantine and inform the authorities if they developed any infection symptoms.

In both the coronavirus deaths in the state, the deceased persons were aged and were suffering from other diseases, she added.

Bengaluru, Jul 10: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday condemned the decision of the HRD Ministry to drop chapters on citizenship, secularism and federalism from Class 11 political science syllabus, stating that this will "deprive a generation of students from understanding the important pillars of Indian democracy".

"I strongly condemn the decision of @HRDMinistry to drop chapters on citizenship, secularism and federalism. This will deprive a generation of students from understanding the important pillars of Indian democracy. #Stop Saffronisation Of Education," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

The Congress leader further alleged that BJP does not believe in the principles of citizenship, secularism and federalism.

"Chapters on citizenship, secularism and federalism are dropped from Class 11 Pol Science. syllabus. Does this explain something? Yes, it explains that @BJP4India doesn't believe in these principles and validates its past behaviour," he said in another tweet.

Earlier in the day, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank rejected criticism over alleged conspiracy in CBSE's decision to reduce the syllabus of schools due to COVID-19 outbreak and urged the critics to "leave politics out of education".

"There has been a lot of uninformed commentary on the exclusion of some topics from #CBSESyllabus. The problem with these comments is that they resort to sensationalism by connecting topics selectively to portray a false narrative," the Union Minister tweeted.

"It is our humble request:#Education is our sacred duty towards our children. Let us leave politics out of education and make our politics more educated," he added.

The CBSE has revised the syllabus for the classes IX to XII during the academic session 2020-21 in the wake of the situation created by COVID-19.

In a circular issued to all the heads of the institutions affiliated to it, the CBSE had said that the revision of syllabi has been done due to the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and different parts of the world.

Kundapur, Mar 2: A 43-year-old man was arrested by the local police in Udupi district after he allegedly raised pro-Pakistan at Mini Vidhana Soudha in Kundapur today morning.

The man has been identified as Raghavendra Ganiga (43), a resident of Kody in Kundapur. He was working as a Hindi teacher in a private school in the town a few years ago.

According to sources, Ganiga arrived at the Mini Vidhana Soudha at around 10 am and scaled the steps to the building raising 'Pakistan Zindabad' slogans repeatedly.

He continued to raise slogans on the corridor and after entering a hall.  A few people recorded this drama on their mobile phones and informed the police.

Later, Kundapur tahisldar filed a written complaint against with the local police, who took Ganiga into custody.

According to police, Ganiga was under depression after his wife deserted him and left him with their only child.