Reject BJP, it’s playing the politics of lies; I was a fool to believe in Modi: Jethmalani

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has rationalised the syllabus for classes IX to XII for the academic year 2020-21 by up to 30 per cent to make up for academic loss caused due to COVID-19, Union HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal 'Nishank' announced on Tuesday.

"Looking at the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and the world, CBSE was advised to revise the curriculum and reduce course load for the students of classes IX to XII.

"To aid the decision, a few weeks back I also invited suggestions from all educationists on the reduction of syllabus for students and I am glad to share that we received more than 1.5K suggestions. Thank you, everyone, for the overwhelming response," Nishank tweeted.

"Considering the importance of learning achievement, it has been decided to rationalize syllabus up to 30 per cent by retaining the core concepts," he added.

Bengaluru, Jul 4: A case has been filed against a man who posed himself to be the PMO's National Security Council 'youth advisor' during his visit to Bengaluru.

According to the police, Ankit Dey (22 yrs) who had visited Bengaluru between 16 to 20 June and for his stay at ITC Gardenia, posed himself as a youth advisor to National Security Council at PMO.

As per the information given by the hotel staff, the police department had communicated with the PMO. They got clarification that there is no such person designated in the Prime minister's office. A complaint has been filed in Cubbon Park police station.

"The man found to be 22-year-old as per the identity shown in the hotel, left his visiting cards. Although he did not ask for any discount in the hotel," said Police.

A senior police officer said, "A criminal case has been filed against the accuse 'Ankit Dey' under the section IPC 420 (cheating and dishonesty), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (using as a genuine forged document), 417 (cheating).

Police have started its work to find him as per the clues we have got. At this point of time, we can not reveal more details," Officer said. 

Bengaluru, May 17: Left to itself, Karnataka will look to spring back towards normalcy under Lockdown 4.0 as the state government is on standby to resume public transport services from May 18, if the Centre allows it. 

Though KSRTC and BMTC have been preparing for resumption of services, officials in the two corporations told DH that they cannot make a move till the government makes a decision.

Transport Commissioner N Shivakumar said the department will take a decision based on the state government's orders. "The government will take a call on buses as well as taxi and other transport services," he said.

Senior officials in the state government said Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi has written to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari seeking a nod for resumption of the services. 

Transport Secretary Gaurav Gupta has written a separate letter to his counterpart in the Union government requesting permission to operate public transport. "The state government wants the services to open. The official has listed out the steps the corporations will take to ensure social distancing other steps that will be taken to check spread of Coronavirus," a source said.

The B S Yediyurappa administration has been bullish on easing lockdown restrictions. 

If the Centre empowers the states to define Lockdown 4.0, Karnataka is likely to do away with the red-orange-green zoning of districts and allow public services to resume, except in COVID-19 containment zones. The government is also likely to redefine its containment strategy by micromanaging localities where COVID-19 cases are reported, without letting life in an entire district get affected. 

The government has already shown willingness to allow hotels and gyms to open after May 17 subject to social distancing norms and restrictions. In fact, the government has proposed to allow the resumption of all economic activities in standalone establishments. The government, however, is not keen on opening malls, theatres, diners and establishments that have centralized air conditioning. 

“Everything depends on the Centre,” Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said. “Our only stand is that the red zone should be treated at par with the other zone when it comes to relaxation.”