Mangaluru: 16 Sri Ram Sena activists arrested for school raid

Bengaluru, Jul 31: The Karnataka government on Wednesday put on hold a controversial proposal to drop certain chapters, including on Islam, Christianity, Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali, from social science textbooks to reduce the 2020-21 syllabi for students in classes 1-10.

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption caused to the academic calendar of the year, the government had earlier dropped the chapter on Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali from the Class 7 social science textbook, saying chapters on Tipu Sultan have been retained in the Class 6 and 10 textbooks.

The move did not go down well with the opposition, which saw certain ulterior motives behind the decision.

Apparently under sharp criticism, the Department of Public Instruction issued a new notification on Wednesday "on the directions of the Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar".

There is a delay in opening the schools during the academic year 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic, said the latest order.

In this context, the order said, chapters were dropped to fit in 120 days of the academic year for classes 1 to 10 and the same was published in the department's website.

"However, on the directions of the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, the decision to drop certain chapters has been put on hold. A review will be done following which the deleted chapters will be uploaded in the website," the order read.

Earlier in the day, Mr Kumar had issued a statement, saying that the decision to truncate the syllabus has not been finalised yet. He also made it clear that his department would not remove chapters unnecessarily.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had attacked the government on the issue.

"The government, which has failed to control the spread of coronavirus, is using it as an opportunity to push its clandestine agenda of saffronising the textbooks," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

Hassan, July 31: A police sub-inspector (PSI) reportedly hanged himself at his official quarters in Channarayapatna town today morning.

The deceased has been identified as Kiran Kumar, 34, who was in charge of Channarayapatna rural police station.

Sources said that he was upset after two murder cases were reported in the last 24 hours in his limits. Kiran reportedly told colleagues an hour before the extreme step that he feared he would be suspended.  

According to locals, the SI was upset after news of the two murders due to alleged negligence of the police spread on social media. He killed himself before a visit by senior officials. IGP, southern range, and SP Srinivasagowda was planning to visit the town and the spots where the murders took place on Friday.

Kiran, a native of Lalanakere village in Arsikere taluk, was known for his rapport with local people. He was alone when the incident took place. His wife and children had gone to Lalanakere for the Varamahalakashmi festival on Thursday night. The body was shifted to the mortuary for a postmortem.