Pejawar seer in ICU after surgery; Muslims offer prayers for his health

Bengaluru, Feb 13: Veteran freedom fighter and advisor to the Karnataka Government in Education Reforms HS Doreswamy on Thursday has recommended Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa to make it mandatory for MLA and MLCs to adopt at least three govt Schools in their respective constituencies.

Mr Doreswamy appealed to the Chief Minister to implement the suggestion in the State budget for 2020-21 to be presented by him on March 5.

Addressing a press conference here, Mr Doreswamy, on the higher education sector, stressed the need to appoint highly qualified candidates for Vice Chancellor posts. There is no dearth of talent and eligibility in the State and authorities concerned must ensure that the right person is appointed by taking extreme care".

Tumakuru, Jan 3: Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa, who has drawn flak for the Centre releasing “inadequate” flood relief to the State, on Thursday asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for additional relief during his speech at a farmers’ convention in Tumakuru.

The Chief Minister even said, “I have brought this to the notice of the Prime Minister three or four times, but till now no additional relief has been sanctioned. I request him with folded hands to release it soon,” in Kannada. The Prime Minister, who spoke later at the event, however, did not respond to the Chief Minister’s request in his speech.

Mr. Yediyurappa said the State had witnessed losses to the tune of over ₹30,000 crore because of floods.

‘Stress on irrigation’

Addressing farmers at one of his main support bases of Tumakuru, the Lingayat strongman advised the Prime Minister that his dream of doubling farmers’ income by 2023 could become a reality only if he focused on “providing scientific price to farm produce, bringing water to farms through irrigation, and by interlinking rivers”.

Mr. Yediyurappa’s remarks made at a programme to release the fourth instalment of the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana, a farm subsidy cash transfer scheme of the Union government, have raised eyebrows.

Stressing on the key role of irrigation schemes in farmers’ welfare, he sought a special package of ₹50,000 crore for completion of long-pending projects in Karnataka.

The five-minute-long speech is being seen as an attempt by the Chief Minister to assert himself within the party by publicly putting even the Prime Minister on the mat. This comes in the wake of the BJP suffering defeats in multiple States and the party’s victory in the recent bypolls in the State under Mr. Yediyurappa’s leadership, both of which have only strengthened the Chief Minister, sources in the party said. “We are curious as to how the party high command will now deal with this public assertion in front of the Prime Minister,” a senior party leader said.

The Chief Minister has been reportedly “deeply unhappy” over the delay in the flood relief by the Union government and also the “inadequate” amount released. The Opposition has attacked him over lack of adequate Central relief, which was interpreted as the BJP central leadership’s reported unhappiness with him. The Chief Minister had then said he was doing a “tightrope walk”.

After a delay of over two months, the Centre released ₹1,200 crore as flood relief in October 2019.

Benglauru, June 14: Even as schools are divided over providing online education, the state Higher Education Department is stressing on continuing online education.

Deputy Chief Minister and Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan has stressed the need for digital learning to eliminate educational inequalities.

Taking part in a Webinar on ‘Digitising Higher Education - Challenges and Opportunities,’ organised by the Padmashree Institute of Management, he asked educational institutions to give emphasis to digital learning.

“Digital learning is a means to ensure quality education to all sections of the society without discrimination on the basis of caste, region and religion. This is a solution to eliminate discrimination. Through digital learning, a student in a remote village will also get an opportunity to learn from an experienced and highly qualified teacher.”

In addition to this, students are getting study material in digital form. Keeping these important aspects in mind, all educational institutions should give stress to digital learning without wasting any time,’’ he said.

He, however, admitted that digital learning has its own challenges like - quality internet connectivity, laptops and mobile gadgets.

“We are trying to find a solution to it by raising funds through Corporate Social Responsibility or through government funds,” he said. “We are making efforts to provide 4G network across the State,” he said.