Mangalore, June 25: Dozens of devotees under the leadership of vice-president of Sri Manjunatha Temple Jeernodhara Samiti Pradeep Kumar Kalkura offered tender coconuts to the presiding deity for the welfare of mankind here.
Mangalore MP Nalin Kumar Kateel, deputy speaker of the state assembly N Yogish Bhat, administrator of the temple D K Kusumadhar, Corporator Ashok, Kannada activist Pradeep Kumar Kalkura and leading citizens of the area participated in the rituals.
Bengaluru, Apr 19: With six new cases of COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, Karnataka's total count of coronavirus patients has surged to 390, said the State's Health Department on Sunday.
"Six new cases have been confirmed for COVID-19 in the State from 5 pm yesterday till 5 pm today. Cumulatively, 390 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state," said the Health Department in a statement.
The total coronavirus cases in the State include 16 deaths and 111 discharges.
Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said that "only essential and critical number of" employees of the Information Technology (IT) companies will be allowed to work from offices from April 20 onwards in Bengaluru, while others will have to continue working from home.
According to the latest update by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of positive cases in India has mounted to 16,116 and 519 deaths have been reported till now.
Bengaluru, July 23: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the state government to formulate Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for child protection, particularly for cases of child pornography and child missing.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice M Nagaprasanna passed a detailed order and asked the state government to submit compliance within three months.
The division bench passed the order on two PILs, including a suo motu litigation registered in 2018. The PILs were registered to ensure effective implementation of the directions of the Supreme Court on the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, 2015 (JJ Act).
The bench observed that in normal courses, courts do not issue writ of mandamus to the legislature on rule-making aspects. However, when the failure of the state is demonstrated under exceptional circumstances, courts can issue directions. The bench directed the state government to expedite the rule-making process to ensure proper implementation of the JJ Act.
The bench expressed displeasure on the insensitive police investigation in cases of child pornography. “The police machinery did not show the sensitivity expected from it while dealing with cases of alleged child pornography. Therefore, it will be appropriate if the state issues SOP or guidelines for dealing with cases of child pornography so that proper investigation is carried out in such cases. As we are directing the formation of SOP for dealing with child pornography cases, the state is also directed to formulate guidelines on child missing cases,” the bench said.
The bench had been issuing several directions since 2018 and has also been monitoring police investigations. The court observed that while the state government has incorporated several directions, some issues still remain unaddressed.
The bench directed the government to have dedicated staff for the Directorate of Integrated Child Protection Scheme considering the sensitive nature of work.
On working of Juvenile Justice Boards (JJB), the court asked the Registrar General of the Karnataka High Court to issue directions to the principal magistrates of all the JJBs in the state to sit on all working days for a minimum of six hours a day.
The high court directed the state to exercise the rule-making powers for obtaining an annual report from the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Bengaluru, Jul 1: Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister S Suresh Kumar on Wednesday played down reports about confusion regarding valuation of Second Pre- University and the Secondary School Leaving Certificate exam papers.
"Creating confusion has become a habit. There was confusion before the exam, during the exam and now confusion about the valuation of the exam papers," Kumar told reporters in Ramanagara when asked about the confusion over the valuation of answer sheets.
He had gone there to inspect a few centres where the SSLC or the 10th standard exams are underway.
The minister reminded people not to speak about the abilities of the students with contempt.
"Our students have toiled hard and are enthusiastically appearing for the examination. They are eligible for the marks they will score. So we should not speak about our children with disrespect," Kumar said.
The Education Minister said he had spoken to many leaders including former chief ministers Siddaramaiah and H D Kumaraswamy on conducting the examinations.
"Kumaraswamy had insisted on postponing the examination. I personally spoke to him and apprised him about the steps taken by us. I told him that we will work with more sincerity to ensure the safety of the children," Kumar said.
The SSLC exam was scheduled to take place from March 27 but due to the coronavirus-induced lockdown, it was postponed.
While the CBSE and a few other states either decided to give marks based on the students' performance in the previous examinations such as quarterly and half-yearly exams or gave general promotion to the students, Karnataka went ahead to hold the exam.
According to Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board officials, around 8.5 lakh students have enrolled this year for the SSLC examination.
The exams are being held at 2,879 exam centres across the state.
Prior to the SSLC examination, the last exam of the Second PUC was also conducted on June 18, which was also put on hold due to the lockdown.
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