SDPI, PFI disturbing peace in Karnataka with the support of Congress: Sriramulu

Manglauru, Jun 1: The southwest monsoon has made an onset over Kerala, marking the commencement of the four-month long rainfall season, the India Meteorological Department said on Monday.

"The southwest monsoon has made an onset over Kerala," IMD director general Mrutyunjay Mohapatra said.

The four-month monsoon season from June to September accounts for 75 per cent of rainfall in the country.

Private forecaster Skymet Weather on May 30 had declared arrival of monsoon, but the IMD had differed, saying conditions were not ripe then for such an announcement.

Orange alert

Meanwhile, coastal Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district, which is receiving sporadic rains for past couple of days, is on orange alert.

Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh declared the orange alert following IMD’s prediction of heavy rainfall in the region.

Mumbai, Jul 1: The Maharashtra government will set up a Marathi medium college in Kolhapur for the Marathi- speaking people residing in the border areas of Karnataka, a minister said on Tuesday.

Higher and technical education minister Uday Samant, in a statement here, said the decision has been taken with a view to cater to the educational needs of the Marathi-speaking population residing in the neighbouring state.

He said the new state-run college will be a sub-centre of the Shivaji University at Kolhapur.

The Kolhapur district collector will provide a five- acre plot for the proposed college following which all necessary official permissions will be given, Samant said.

The college will start functioning from the next academic year, the release said.

Acommittee headed by Shivaji University vice- chancellor Nitin Karmalkarwill work out the modalities for establishing the educational institute, it added.

The border areas of Karnataka have a sizeable Marathi- speaking population.

New Delhi, Jul 9: The Central Board of Secondary Education has strongly defended its decision to drop topics like democratic rights, citizenship, federalism, secularism etc in the name of reducing the syllabus for Classes 9 to 12 due to COVID-19 pandemic. 

The board has claimed that the dropped lessons "are either being covered by the rationalised syllabus or in the Alternative Academic Calendar of NCERT".

The CBSE said it had to come up with the clarification after realizing its decision was "interpreted differently".

"The rationalisation of syllabus up to 30 per cent has been undertaken by the Board for nearly 190 subjects of class 9 to 12 for the academic session 2020-21 as a one-time measure only. The objective is to reduce the exam stress of students due to the prevailing health emergency situation and prevent learning gaps," it said.

While it has said that no questions can be asked from the reduced syllabus in the next board exams, the CBSE has also directed schools to follow alternative calendars prepared by the NCERT.

"Therefore each of the topics that have been wrongly mentioned in media as deleted have been covered under Alternative Academic Calendar of NCERT which is already in force for all the affiliated schools of the Board," it clarified.

On Wednesday, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee tweeted: "Shocked to know that the central Government has dropped topics like citizenship, federalism, secularism and partisan in the name of reducing CBSE course during the COVID crisis."

"We strongly object to this and appeal the HRD Ministry to ensure these vital lessons aren't curtailed at any cost," Banerjee added.