Shiroor seer’s entry to poll fray will help Congress in Udupi: Raghupati Bhat

Mandya, Jun 13: Degree colleges will begin classes after the lockdown is lifted and dates for examinations will be announced later, said deputy chief minister CR Ashwath Narayan on Friday.

Speaking at College of Agriculture, Mandya (VC Farm) on Friday, Ashwath Narayan said the lockdown will be completely phased out on June 30 and degree colleges will begin classes after that. “We will speak with all stakeholders to chalk out measures as to how to reopen degree colleges amidst coronavirus scare. All students must continue their studies and be prepared for exams,” he said.

Narayan said the cabinet has approved to upgrade VC Farm as a university and an ordinance will soon be promulgated in this regard. “There is a need to change the present curriculum to meet present day requirements. VC Farm will be made into a world class agriculture university and a vice chancellor will be appointed,” he said.

“Apart from traditional education, we must concentrate on skill-based education as it should create more job opportunities. We are committed to establish more skill-based educational institutes in Mandya district,” Narayan said.

Later Narayan visited Shivaragudda near Maddur and inspected 48 acres of government land which could be used for establishing skill-based education institutions. “This land was earlier used for imparting skill-based education in a collaboration with Denmark. Sir M Visvesvaraya had established skill-based institutions here in 1923 and now they have become defunct. The then prime minister of Denmark had inaugurated this century old institution. We will revive it and this will help local youths,” he said.

‘Ticket promised only to R Shankar’

When asked, Narayan said R Shankar, who quit the Congress-JD(S) coalition and joined BJP will be given a party ticket to contest the legislative council election. “Except Shankar, the high command did not promise council tickets to those who quit congress and JD(S) and joined our party. It is true that there is hectic lobbying in BJP to get tickets,” he said.

Bengaluru, May 19: Containment zones in Karnataka will be much smaller in size under the latest lockdown norms. However, rules and loopholes will be tightened and action against violators will be stringent in order to check the spread of the disease.

Revised guidelines issued by the Centre to the state, reveal containment zones are delineated based on mapping of cases and contacts. Intensive action will be carried out in these areas with the aim of breaking the chain of transmission. Therefore, the area of a containment zone should be appropriately defined by the district administration/local urban bodies with technical inputs at local level.

The health department is considering shrinking the size of containment zones from the existing 100 metres to open up more space for economic activities. Medical education minister K Sudhakar, also a member of the Covid taskforce, said additional chief secretary (health department) Javed Akthar will issue a new definition of a containment zone after the Covid-19 taskforce holds its next meeting.

“We are planning to further shrink it and restrict containment zones to an apartment complex, independent house or even a lane where the Covid-19 patient resides,” Sudhakar said. He went on to say bigger containment zones will impede businesses and normal activities in the vicinity, something which the government wants to avoid.

The minister said Karnataka will also do away with colour-coding districts. “With restrictions being relaxed for almost all activities, it does not make sense to pursue with colour codes. It is either containment zone or outside containment zone,” he said.

In rural areas, the minister said containment zones will be identified by the taluk heads. Government sources say it is difficult to restrict activities to certain areas or smaller location in rural areas as farmers and people will have to travel to the outskirts of their villages for their livelihood.

An official said, a containment operation (large outbreak or cluster) is deemed successful when no case is reported in 28 days from the containment zone.

Bengaluru, Jan 26: BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel has been served with a court notice asking him to personally appear before the special court for people’s representatives on February 24, in connection with a defamation suit filed by Congress MLA Rizwan Arshad.

Rizwan had lodged the defamation suit against Kateel and state BJP social media chief after the party, in a tweet during the 2019 Lok Sabha election, alleged Rizwan’s involvement in the manufacture of fake voter identity cards.

Apart from Kateel, head of the party’s social media unit has also been asked to appear in person at the above court on February 24.