Green-Fest: Jamiyyatul Falah, Green View School-College hold annual sports day

Bengaluru, Mar 6: School children in Karnataka will have 'bag-free' days on two Saturdays in a month as part of efforts to create a joyful learning experience, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced on Thursday. By making two Saturdays in a month as bag-free days, "Sambhrama Shanivara" will be observed with the objective of creating a joyful learning experience by reducing the burden of text books, he said, presenting the 2020-21 budget in the state assembly.

"The main purpose of such days is to create awareness, by means of activities, on topics that are necessary for students to be ideal citizens," he added.

He also said for the first time in the history of the state his government presented a "child budget", making it a special feature of the budget.

All the policies and programmes for the development of children below the age of 18 are consolidated and presented in this budget and as many as 279 programmes involving Rs.36,340crore, which is 15.28 per cent of the total volume of the Budget, have been earmarked.

English medium of instruction would be given along with Urdu in 400 government Urdu schools and Rs one crore will be provided during 2020-21 for this purpose, Mr Yediyurappa said.

For the education of children of auto drivers, up to Rs 2,000 would be provided annually to each family. For this purpose, Rs 40 crore will be provided in the coming fiscal, the Chief Minister added.

Mangaluru, Jun 3: Mangaluru MLA and former minister U T Khader has urged the state government and Dakshina Kannada district administration to take steps to facilitate the return of Indians stranded in foreign countries amid covid lockdown.

A delegation comprising Mr Khader, DCC President K Harish Kumar, and MLC Ivan D’Souza met District In-charge Minister Kota Srinivas Poojary and submitted a memorandum on Tuesday.

“Kannadigas who are working outside the state are in distress due to the lockdown. More than 50,000 people had uploaded applications on Seva Sindhu portal seeking permission to return to their villagers and are waiting for permission. With the authorities failing to take any decision, they are worried,” said the delegation.

The government should initiate measures to get them back and quarantine them, urged the delegation.

Mr Khader said, “Many workers stranded in foreign countries are eager to return home. The district administration should make arrangements to quarantine those returning from foreign countries and other states.

There are thousands of migrant labourers from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Bihar stranded in DK. They are waiting to return to their families. The state government should facilitate their return journey, the delegation urged.

MLC Ivan D’Souza said, “Assistance should be provided to private bus staff, beedi workers, tailors, garage labourers and street vendors who are in distress. The price of Covid-19 tests in private laboratories should be reduced.”

The delegation informed that after Wenlock Hospital was converted into the designated COVID-19 hospital, poor patients are facing many inconveniences. A portion of the hospital should be earmarked for treating other patients, they said.

Bengaluru, Mar 28: A case has been registered against an Infosys employee in Bengaluru for a shocking social media post urging people to "go out and sneeze" and spread the highly contagious COVID-19 virus that has infected over 800 people across the country and claimed 19 lives.

"Let's join hands, go out and sneeze with open mouth in public. Spread the virus," the man wrote on Facebook.
"A case has been registered against the person. Further investigation on. Looking forward to get adequate support from your end during investigation," Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, Bengaluru city tweeted by tagging along a tweet by Infosys.
Taking congnisance of the post by its employee, the Infosys said the post was "against the code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing".
"Infosys has completed its investigation on the social media post by one of its employees and we believe that this is not a case of mistaken identity," the company said in a statement on Twitter.
"The social media post by the employee is against Infosys' code of conduct and its commitment to responsible social sharing. Infosys has a zero tolerance policy towards such acts and has accordingly, terminated the services of the employee," the statement added.

Earlier this month, the IT firm had vacated one of its buildings in Bengaluru after an employee was suspected to be infected.