Christian priest gets 40-year jail term for molesting minor in Church

Bengaluru, Jul 31: The Karnataka government on Wednesday put on hold a controversial proposal to drop certain chapters, including on Islam, Christianity, Tipu Sultan and his father Hyder Ali, from social science textbooks to reduce the 2020-21 syllabi for students in classes 1-10.

Citing the COVID-19 pandemic and the disruption caused to the academic calendar of the year, the government had earlier dropped the chapter on Tipu Sultan and Hyder Ali from the Class 7 social science textbook, saying chapters on Tipu Sultan have been retained in the Class 6 and 10 textbooks.

The move did not go down well with the opposition, which saw certain ulterior motives behind the decision.

Apparently under sharp criticism, the Department of Public Instruction issued a new notification on Wednesday "on the directions of the Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar".

There is a delay in opening the schools during the academic year 2020-21 due to COVID-19 pandemic, said the latest order.

In this context, the order said, chapters were dropped to fit in 120 days of the academic year for classes 1 to 10 and the same was published in the department's website.

"However, on the directions of the Minister for Primary and Secondary Education, the decision to drop certain chapters has been put on hold. A review will be done following which the deleted chapters will be uploaded in the website," the order read.

Earlier in the day, Mr Kumar had issued a statement, saying that the decision to truncate the syllabus has not been finalised yet. He also made it clear that his department would not remove chapters unnecessarily.

Former chief minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah had attacked the government on the issue.

"The government, which has failed to control the spread of coronavirus, is using it as an opportunity to push its clandestine agenda of saffronising the textbooks," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

Mangaluru, Aug 4: The Kasaragod district administration has decided to restore the e-pass system for daily commuters between Kasaragod and Mangaluru amid covid-19 crisis. 

As covid-19 cases began to increase in Dakshina Kannada, the Kasargod district administration had unilaterally newly introduced of daily pass system on July 6 for entry and exit from Talapady border. This had inconvenienced hundreds of employees, who visited Mangaluru daily to eke a living. 

The decision to resume the pass system was taken in a video conference of Kerala Revenue Minister Chandrasekharan with officials and elected representatives on August 3.

The minister said the Kasaragod district administration will resume issuing of passes for daily commuters between Kasaragod and Mangaluru. But they should undergo rapid antigen test for every week to renew their passes.

"Similarly, one-time interstate passes will be issued for those who want to take part in marriages, funeral and other functions in both states. Even they should undergo antigen test after returning from the functions,” the minister added.

As per the previous order, daily commuters, especially employees, had to stay in Mangaluru for 28 days before returning to Kasargod. Later, Kerala government relaxed rules on July 23 allowing only bank employees from Kasaragod to travel daily in their private vehicles to their workplace in Dakshina Kannada.