‘Terrorist’ Sanjeev who threatened to blow up airport, railway station arrested

Bengaluru, May 28: A thousand government schools in Karnataka are set to get Englishmedium sections from this academic year (2020-21). These institutions will function in both English and Kannada medium.

The decision was taken by primary and secondary education minister S Suresh Kumar and officials of the education department at a meeting on Wednesday.

Suresh Kumar said dualmedium will help improve the standard of schools and enable their development. The poorest of the poor spend almost 40% of their income on their children’s education in private schools. With the introduction of dual-medium, the government hopes such families will be able to save their earnings, he said. These schools will impart lessons in both English and Kannada. They will also provide textbooks in both languages.

‘Kannada must for all’

The meeting reviewed implementation of the compulsory Kannada Language Learning Act, 2015. Officials from the Kannada Development Authority were present at the meeting who claimed that some private schools have failed to implement the Act properly.

“Action will be taken against such institutions. Every child studying in schools across the state must learn Kannada,” Kumar said at the meeting.

Bengaluru, Feb 18: A 26-year-old Kannada singer committed suicide over alleged dowry harassment on Monday. Sushmitha, a playback singer who got married to Sharath Kumar about one-and-a-half years ago, hung herself from the ceiling at her parent's home in Nagarabhavi, Bengaluru on Monday.

The singer sent a Whatsapp to her brother and mother before hanging herself early morning on Monday. She accused her husband and his relatives of dowry harassment in her death note.

According to Bengaluru Police, the singer has accused her husband, his sister and his aunt of harassing her for dowry in her death note. On Monday morning, Sushmitha's brother alerted the police after he found her dead body hanging from the ceiling. She used her dupatta to hang herself.

Sushmitha had lent her voice for Kannada songs in films like Haalu Thuppa and Srisamanya.

Police informed that Sushmitha sent a Whatsapp message to her brother, Sachin, at around 1 am on Sunday and explained that her husband Sharath and her relatives have been harassing her since the time she got married. Sachin read the message at around 5:30am and rushed to her room where he found her hanging from the ceiling.

In the text message, Sushmitha wrote that her husband, Sharath, his sister, Geetha, and his aunt, Vydehi, harassed her and they were the reason behind her ending her life. She also stated that she did not want to end her life in their house and hence came to her parents’ house.

The Annapoorneshwari Nagar police have registered a case of dowry death, charging her husband and his sister and aunt based on complaint filed by Sushmitha’s mother Meenakshi. The three accused are on run after hearing about her death and police said that efforts are on to trace them.

Sushmitha's husband Sharath Kumar is a manager in a car showroom and a resident of KS Nagar in Bengaluru.

Bengaluru, May 21: With temples yet to open for devotees as coronavirus restrictions are in place, the Karnataka government is preparing for live streaming of sevas (service) and poojas offered to deities at temples that comes under the state's Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Department.

The government has also decided to develop an app and web-based software with an intention to provide information to devotees regarding temples, also to facilitate online donations and advance booking for various sevas offered there.

Regarding online live streaming, Commissioner of the Hindu Religious Institutions and Charitable Endowment Department has written to the Deputy Commissioners of all the districts and Executive Officers seeking a list of temples that comes under their jurisdiction where such facility can be provided.

"It has been intended to do online live streaming of sevas and pooja rituals at temples that come under the department in the backdrop of COVID-19 crisis. In this regard it is requested to provide a list of temples where online live facility can be provided to devotees, by abiding the traditions and practices of the temple," the letter said.

Though the temples are holding daily poojas and rituals, they are not open to public for now, with COVID-19 induced lockdown restrictions in place.

Officials had recently had stated that the department was planning to have a standard operating procedure (SOP) in place, that needs to be followed at temples in a post lockdown scenario, once they are opened for the public.

There are over 34,000 temples in the state that come under the department.

Meanwhile, in another letter to DCs of 15 districts, also Executive officers and administrators of 'A' grade temples, aimed at development of app and web-based software, the Commissioner has sought information regarding sevas offered at temples in their jurisdictions and those sevas for which option can be provided for devotees to do advance booking.