Haj pilgrim from Mangaluru dies in Makkah

New Delhi, Feb 7: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Central government on a plea challenging the Constitutional validity of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and effective implementation of the Assam Accord.

A bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde also sought Centre's response on the plea filed by Assam Social Justice Forum.

The petition sought appropriate directions for taking effective steps for the implementation of Assam Accord, 1985 in letter and spirit and for conservation and preservation of the of a distinct culture, heritage and traditions of the indigenous people of Assam.

The Assam Accord, 1985, had fixed March 24, 1971, as the cut-off date for deportation of all illegal immigrants irrespective of their religion.

The Bench also sought Centre's response on another fresh batch of pleas challenging CAA and tagged them along with other petitions pending in the matter.

One of the petitions, filed by the Association of Advocates from Maharashtra among others, sought to declare the Citizenship Amendment Act as discriminatory, arbitrary, and illegal and consequently set aside the impugned act as ultra-vires the Constitution of India.

On the other hand, over a hundred petitions have been filed in the apex court, for and against the amended citizenship law, which is facing opposition and protests across the country.

CAA grants citizenship to Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians who fled religious persecution in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan and took refuge in India on or before December 31, 2014.

Mangaluru, Jan 30: A dentist has been arrested by the Dakshina Kannada district police on charge of sexually harassing a woman patient during treatment at a hospital in Beltangady taluk.

The accused has been identified as Dr Sudhakar. He is facing charges under section 354, 354A(1)(I) of IPC.

The incident occurred yesterday when a local woman had been to the government hospital at Kasaba village in Beltangady for dental treatment.

According to the woman, Dr Sudhakar deliberately touched her body inappropriately and sexually harassed during treatment.

The shocked woman went to the jurisdictional Beltangady police station and lodged a complaint. The doctor was arrested and produced before the court.

Udupi, Jan 17: In a unique philanthropic initiative, two US based NRI children have established the first unit of Keithan & Keisha Skill Development Centre at SVS English Medium School, Katapady in Udupi district.

The centre was inaugurated by Dr. Ranjan B. Kini, Professor of Management - Information Systems of Indiana University Northwest (UCN), USA on Saturday, January 11, 2020.

The centre will provide exposure to rural high school students in technical skills in emerging technological domains, soft skills and life skills through online training and video conferencing during weekend seminars. The centre is established by Keithan and Keisha with the help of their parents. They are the children of Katapady Krishna Mohan Pai, CEO of Invenger Technologies Inc., USA. One 55 inch LCD TV, two computers and one laptop were donated as part of the initiation package.

Dr. Srikanth Prabhu, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering, MIT, Manipal will be anchoring the training sessions which will cover emerging fields like Robotics, its impact and the opportunities in the future. The training will include international online programmes and video conferencing.

“In today’s competitive world, students need technical knowledge to keep pace with the changing scenarios. Along with technical exposure, they should also be equipped with soft skills, communication skills and organizing abilities,” said Dr. Ranjan B. Kini after inaugurating the first unit at SVS English Medium School, Katapady.

Dr. Srikanth Prabhu informed the gathering about the idea behind the project, explained its features and programmes. “If good awareness is given to students at a young age regarding latest developments in technical fields and if they are trained in soft skills and other complementary skills, they will be able to face the future with confidence and attain the heights of success even if beginning from zero,” he said.

Presiding over the function K. Sathyendra Pai, Director of Invenger Technologies said, “This is the first centre to be set up under our initiative to train rural children in add-on skills and help them to gain parity with better educated students.”  More such centres will be set up in other schools soon, he added.

Katapady Krishna Mohan Pai, CEO of Invenger Technologies Inc., Amith Nayak of Archana Developers, Umesh Rao, President of Rotary Club Katapady, Savitha Manjunath, PWD Officer of Udupi, technical experts Nidhi Manjunath and Mitesh Singh were the guests of honour. Directors of the company B. C. Pai, Srinivas Vasudev Kini and Venkatramana Bhat were present.

School Headmaster Devendra Nayak welcomed the gathering. Megha gave a vote of thanks. School teachers Uma and Chaitra along with other teachers coordinated the event. Student leaders Dhanush and Jessel Vinola Quadros compered the programme.