Play on Mother Teresa staged

Bengaluru, Jul 3: Over 35 acres of land in nine villages on the outskirts of Bengaluru have been earmarked for burial and cremation of bodies of COVID-19 victims after concerns were raised over the safety of funerals being held in burial grounds located in residential areas.

Deputy Commissioner of Bengaluru Urban District GN Shivamurthy issued an order setting apart about 35.5 acres in the villages under four Taluks of Bengaluru North, Bengaluru South, Anekal and Yelahanka.

The order directed the respective Tahsildars to register these chunks of land as reserved for burial grounds and not to use for any purpose.

According to the sources in the district administration, Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu and Revenue Minister R Ashoka had directed the officials to identify places on the city outskirts to dispose of the bodies of COVID-19 victims.

Mr Sriramulu had on Wednesday said COVID-19 victims will not be laid to rest in burial grounds in the city and separate places will be earmarked on the outskirts in the backdrop of safety concerns raised by public.

He had also warned against unscientific disposal of used Personal Protection Equipment kits worn by the families of the victim for the final rites, referring to reports about such instances.

In some places, people have also expressed concern over bodies of those who died of the coronavirus being buried in their neighbourhood.

Bengaluru, Mar 13: In the wake of coronavirus outbreak, Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa has summoned an emergency meeting with ministers and senior officials on Friday to discuss the situation.

The schools, malls and other public places have been shut to control the spread of the deadly virus.

Schools in the state have announced early summer vacation for their students this academic year as a precautionary measure amid Covid-19 scare.

Bengaluru, July 10: The Karnataka government has decided to hold examinations only for the final semester students of undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG) in various universities of state and promote other semester students to the next level without holding any examination.

The decision was taken to safeguarding the students' interest as well as academic career of lakhs of students during the time of Covid-19 pandemic. The significant move by the Higher Education department was announced by Deputy Chief Minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan who is also the minister for Higher Education.

The DCM announced that the examination for final semester UG and PG students will be conducted as per the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) by the end of September 2020.

As per the latest decision, all students who are either at the beginning or middle semester of their UG and PG courses will be promoted to next semester without any examination. The state government further made it clear that the latest decision would only be applicable for this academic year--2019-20.

The students will be promoted to the next semesters based on academic performances during the previous assessment.

Giving details of the decision, Dr CN Ashwath Narayan told media persons that the decision was taken in the interest of the students. "Keeping in mind the safety of students during Covid-19 pandemic times, the government has taken the decision. We have also discussed with education experts, former Vice Chancellors before arriving at this decision," he said.

The DCM also revealed that Governor Vajubhai Vala who is the Chancellor of all the universities has also given his consent for the decision. Students can call up on the department helpline 080-22341394 for any academic queries.

How will students be promoted?

The students who are pursuing UG and PG courses at mid semester levels will be evaluated internally based on their academic performance along with the marks scored during the previous semester or year.

"Based on this comprehensive evaluation, we will promote the students to next semester. But for the first semester students, they will be promoted entirely based on internal evaluation on academic performance," the Deputy Chief Minister explained.

In case if the students wish to improve their marks further, they can take the exams separately later. This apart, students with backlog subjects have also been allowed to carry those subjects further into the next semester subject to only the present academic year.