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Mysuru, Jan 2: Mysuru-based Karnataka State Open University is gearing up to offer courses online from this year onwards and a proposal in this connection will be placed before the University Grants Commission (UGC) this month, after approval from the board of management.

As of now, the university offers 31 courses, including undergraduate, postgraduate, and diploma programmes.

Vice-chancellor Vidyashankar S Said that the university will submit its proposal to the UGC soon.

“This is being done to make learning convenient and help students study their courses of choices from the comfort of their homes.”

After launching online admissions for courses, this is another step to go paperless and towards an e-campus, the V-C explained.

The university has also proposed to launch 12 new courses for 2020-21.

A proposal in this regard will be placed before the board for approval on Thursday and the same will be submitted to the UGC for its nod.

Prof. Vidyashankar said the these courses will be in addition to the 31 already available.

The new courses include LLM, MA in Education, BBA, BSc, BCA, diploma in Information Technology, postgraduate diploma in Information Technology, BSc in Information Technology, MSc in Information Technology, MSc in Botany, PG diploma in Banking and Insurance, MSc in Zoology, MA in Telugu, Executive MBA, and MSc in Food Sciences and Nutrition.

The new courses had been proposed based on students’ feedback and the trend.

The V-C said the admissions for the January cycle have begun and over 380 students had so far taken admissions online.

“We are hoping for good admissions this cycle and are expecting around 12,000 admissions,” he replied.

Bengaluru, July 13: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday made it clear that the government had no plans to extend the lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Bengaluru Rural districts beyond July 22.  The two districts will enter a lockdown starting 8 pm on July 14. 

“There is no proposal before the government to extend the lockdown in Bengaluru Urban and Rural districts. The chief minister requests citizens not to panic and cooperate with the government without paying heed to rumours,” the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO) said. 

“The lockdown is being imposed to control the rising number of Covid-19 cases in these districts. The CM has instructed officials to make all arrangements in a week’s time and make ready whatever is necessary,” the CMO said. 

The clarification came after Yediyurappa chaired a meeting of the Covid-19 task force meeting. Yediyurappa also held a video conference with officials from all districts to review the Covid-19 situation, rainfall and irrigation measures. 

Two more districts - Dakshina Kannada and Dharwad - have decided to impose a lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19 following Yediyurappa’s video conference. Starting July 15, Dakshina Kannada will be under a lockdown for a week whereas it will be a 9-day lockdown in Dharwad. 

During his video conference, Yediyurappa noted that the number of cases was on the rise in Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Dharwad, Ballari, Udupi and Kalaburagi. 

He further noted that Covid-19 fatalities were going up in Bidar, Dharwad, Gadag and Mysuru. He asked authorities to bring this under control. “Bidar is among five districts nationally when it comes to deaths. This has to be controlled,” Yediyurappa said, seeking a report by experts on this. 

Yediyurappa told authorities to prioritize rapid antigen tests. “One lakh test kits have been procured. Use them wisely in emergency cases,” the CM said. He ordered that those aged above 60 years, those with serious illnesses and showing symptoms of influenza-like illness (ILI) have to be identified and subjected to Covid-19 tests.  

Bengaluru, Apr 13: Eminent scientist and NITI Aayog member V K Saraswat said on Monday the number of COVID- 19 cases is not going to go beyond what's being reported daily in India as he maintained that the country is in the process of flattening the curve.

The former Scientific Adviser to Defence Minister said the coronavirus positive cases have seen a sharper rise in the last four-five days because of increase in the number of testing.

"It's a good sign; all those asymptomatic cases lying hidden they are also coming out," Saraswat told PTI. "We certainly had a catalytic factor which was basically this (Nizamuddin) Markaz problem which has actually created clusters at different places and that has also been one of the factors for the kind of rise that has taken place."

But he said India is in a much better shape compared to other nations in the battle against COVID-19. "I can only say that the rate is not going to go beyond what has been going on now, may be 700 to 800 cases per day. So, we are in the process of flattening the curve."

The government's decision to declare nation-wide lockdown has paid dividends, Saraswat, a former chief of the Defence Research and Development Organisation, said.

Noting that India has seen a series of virus attacks in the last 15-20 years including Chikungunya and Dengue, he said the emphasis now should be on more and more R & D to find vaccines in advance.