Pejawar seer spends day reading books, chanting mantras after discharge from hospital

Bengaluru, June 10: The Department of Primary and Secondary Education of Government of Karnataka today ordered a ban on online classes for children from KG to class 5.

The decision was taken following a report based on the report submitted by director NIMHANS, recommending online classes only above the age of 6 years and also following the complaints from several parents about online classes conducted by private schools even for kindergarten kids.

Briefing the media soon after the meeting with department officials, S Suresh Kumar, primary and secondary education minister said, "We have taken two major decisions today. The online classes for LKG, UKG and primary classes should be stopped immediately."

Even collecting fees in the name of online classes should be stopped, said the minister. "We have already issued a circular about it insisting that schools not collect fees in the name of online classes and also requesting schools not to increase fees for the 2020-21 academic year considering financial constraints of several people due to the COVID-19 pandemic," said the minister.

The department, however, also discussed how to engage children during this period as there was no clarity over the reopening of schools for the 2020-21 academic year. "We have constituted a committee to prepare guidelines on how to engage students and increase their knowledge. The committee is headed by Prof. MK Sridhar," he said.

Before taking this decision, the department had three rounds of discussions with various experts, including Prof. MK Sridhar, Prof. VP Niranjanaradhya, Dr John Vijay Sagar and other departments, including the home and health departments.

Dubai, Jan 10: Indian expats in Dubai and the northern Emirates will now be able to get passports issued on the same day under certain conditions, including a higher fee, the Consulate here has announced.

Consul General of India in Dubai Vipul on Thursday announced that the Consulate will start issuing tatkal passports (issued in emergency cases) on the same day, the Gulf News said in a report.

Vipul made the announcement during the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (Non Resident Indian-NRI Day) celebrations at the consulate.

He said the same day issuance service for tatkal passports can be availed only if the application is submitted before noon at the office of BLS International, the outsourced service provider for Indian passport and visa applications, in Al Khaleej Centre, Bur Dubai.

"We already issue tatkal passports in 24 hours. We are going one step beyond that. We are going to issue tatkal passport on the same day if it is applied for before 12 noon. By evening, we can issue the tatkal passport," the Consul General added.

The mission receives about 850 passport applications daily.

Last year, the consulate issued more than 200,000 passports, over 2500 emergency certificates (one-way travel document), over 2,800 police clearance certificates and provided 72,000 attestation services including registration of births and deaths, according to Vipul.

Mangaluru, June 21: The first ever repatriation flight from Saudi Arabia’s Dammam Karnataka’s Mangaluru under Vande Bharat Mission (VBM) today brought home around 165 stranded passengers. 

The IndiGo flight took off from Dammam International Airport at 11 a.m. (Saudi time) and landed at Mangaluru International Airport at 6:30 p.m.

The stranded passengers included pregnant women, senior citizens and those who are in need of emergency medical treatment are on board.

The passengers were screened at the Airport before being despatched for institutional quarantine in special buses. 

Even though a few charter flights arranged by a couple of NRI entrepreneurs have already repatriated hundreds of stranded people from Dammam to Mangaluru, the government of India had not operated any repatriation flight under VBM on this sector so far. 

Saudi Kannadigas Humanity Forum (SKHF), an NGO which came into existence to help the stranded Kannadigas in Saudi Arabia during covid-19 lockdown had been successful in persuading the government of India operate a flight on Dammam-Mangaluru sector under VBM. 

SKHF has also set up an online portal for those who were in need of emergency repatriation. In today’s flight around 100 passengers have obtained seats through SKHF.

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