Raise your population if you want Ram temple: Union minister tells Hindus

Udupi, June 26: BJP leader K Raghavendra Kini has been appointed as the new Chairman of Udupi Urban Development Authority (UUDA) by Government of Karnataka.

A well-known businessman, Raghavendra Kini is also serving as the president of Kunjibettu Consumers’ Multipurpose Co-operative Union.

Along with him, the State Government has appointed Suma Naika, Praveen Kumar Shetty and Kishor Kumar as members of the Authority.

Bengaluru, May 27: Amid uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which has disrupted school education in Karnataka, the state government is seeking the help of the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to televise classes, a state minister said on Tuesday.

"We request you to provide minimum three channels on the Doordarshan network exclusively for the Department of Public Instruction, Government of Karnataka," Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar said in a letter to Union I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar.

Suggesting co-branding the channels under DD and the state education department, he asked for the channels to be mandatorily transmitted by the cable and DTH operators under the Cable Act.

The state education department has already discussed with Prasar Bharti officials, who, according Kumar, have assured 3+3 hours of timeslots on the education channel Chandana on cost basis.

"We have also made all the necessary arrangements for content creation by the teachers," he said.

Meanwhile, the minister has revealed that television is the best medium for the students as a home learning mode in these challenging times.

"The department of public instruction reviewed various technological options and considered TV as one of the best means for home learning," Kumar said.

In a survey conducted by the education department, it was found out that 95 per cent households had television sets.

Kumar said the state operates government schools in nine languages, including Kannada, English and Urdu.

"To cater to all the students, and considering a long-term strategy to run schools by maintaining social distancing, we are in immediate need of minimum three exclusive channels to teach through TV," he said.

According to Kumar, the Karnataka government is facing hardships to meet the capital expenditure requirements, hence, it is seeking help from the I&B Ministry.

Mangaluru, May 8: Dr Arathi Krishna, former deputy chairman of Karnataka NRI Forum, today called on Karnataka chief secretary Vijaya Bhaskar and urged him to exert pressure on the Centre through chief minister to expedite evacuation of Kannadigas stuck in Saudi Arabia amidst covid-19 lockdown. 

She also conveyed the message from labourers in Gulf countries requesting for free quarantine facility upon their arrival. Positively responding to the demand, Mr Bhaskar said that free quarantine facility will be arranged at BSF base in Bengaluru apart from paid quarantine facility in different hotels and guest houses.

Dr Arathi Krishna told coastaldigest.com that she also spoke to the officials in-charge of Gulf in the Ministry of External Affairs  and requested them to take necessary steps to add more special flights from Gulf countries to Karnataka. 

The officials have promised to consider operating flight from Riyadh to Mangaluru via Dammam in the second wave of evacuation, the schedule of which is expected to be announced in a few days, she said.