Tension in Sullia college after lecturer asks Muslim girls to remove headscarf

Panaji, Feb 6: Goa Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Wednesday told the Legislative Assembly that neighbouring Karnataka has diverted the Mahadayi river water, due to which its flow in the state has taken a hit.

He was speaking during a debate on the motion of thanks to Governor Satya Pal Malik for his address.

Goa and Karnataka are locked in a dispute over sharing of the Mahadayi river water. Goa is strongly opposing the Kalasa Banduri project proposed to be built by Karnataka on the river, which is aimed at providing drinking water to three north Karnataka districts by diverting the Mahadayi water into the Malaprabha river.

Speaking in the House, Sawant said that the flow of Mahadayi river has reduced due to the diversion of water by Karnataka.

"I am admitting that they (Karnataka) have diverted the water. We have brought it to the notice of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change," he said.

The Goa government has explained to the Centre that the water which flows into the state is "not wasted".

"We have told them that the perennial flow of water is necessary for Goa's wildlife," he said.

Sawant said that his government was serious on the issue of Mahadayi.

"Mahadayi is more than a mother to me. We have not compromised anywhere on the issue. I have been associated with the Mahadayi agitation since 2000," the chief minister said.

He said the issue would be fought before the Supreme Court, where special leave petition has been filed by the state.

Bengaluru, Jul 4: In a heart-wrenching incident, a 65-year-old coronavirus patient at Hanumath Nagar in South Bengaluru died outside his house waiting for an ambulance on Friday evening. The body was kept on the road for more three hours.

The deceased tested positive for coronavirus on Friday and immediately called an ambulance to reach a hospital. However, according to his family members, as he waited for the ambulance for nearly three hours, he collapsed on the road in front of his house complaining of breathlessness and died.

As the body lay unattended on the road, it began to rain heavily. Soon, videos of the body lying on the road in the heavy rain went viral on social media. 

A senior doctor in charge of the division, however, claimed that the ambulance had arrived in less than half an hour but the patient had died before they reached the spot. 

"The patient had given samples on Thursday at KIMS and tested positive on Friday. BBMP officials informed them that they would reach his house. But the man, fearing that he may be stigmatised in the locality, began walking to the corner of the road and collapsed on the street and died," the officer said. 

Another health official from Basavanagudi limits said: "As the ambulance staff do not transport the dead, they informed the hearse van, which was set to arrive in 30 minutes. But due to the sudden rain and heavy traffic ahead of the curfew hours, they were stranded for almost three hours later." The officials also said the deceased had been suffering from cardiac ailments for almost 10 years. 

Regretting the incident, BBMP officials said they were helpless as was an acute shortage of hearse vans. "We were told that there were 20 deaths today and there are only eight hearse vans available. They had to shift this patient after attending to another mortality and were stuck in traffic. By then, due to the fear of infection, nobody attended to the deceased," the officer explained. 

BBMP commissioner B H Anil Kumar said that such incidents should not recur and ordered an investigation and sought a report. "We will ensure that such incidents do not recur," Kumar said.  

Following outrage on social media, a hearse van was summoned and the body was shifted to the Victoria Hospital mortuary as per the protocol. Police have opened a case of unnatural death.

Bengaluru, Jul 10: Former Karnataka Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah on Thursday condemned the decision of the HRD Ministry to drop chapters on citizenship, secularism and federalism from Class 11 political science syllabus, stating that this will "deprive a generation of students from understanding the important pillars of Indian democracy".

"I strongly condemn the decision of @HRDMinistry to drop chapters on citizenship, secularism and federalism. This will deprive a generation of students from understanding the important pillars of Indian democracy. #Stop Saffronisation Of Education," Siddaramaiah tweeted.

The Congress leader further alleged that BJP does not believe in the principles of citizenship, secularism and federalism.

"Chapters on citizenship, secularism and federalism are dropped from Class 11 Pol Science. syllabus. Does this explain something? Yes, it explains that @BJP4India doesn't believe in these principles and validates its past behaviour," he said in another tweet.

Earlier in the day, Union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank rejected criticism over alleged conspiracy in CBSE's decision to reduce the syllabus of schools due to COVID-19 outbreak and urged the critics to "leave politics out of education".

"There has been a lot of uninformed commentary on the exclusion of some topics from #CBSESyllabus. The problem with these comments is that they resort to sensationalism by connecting topics selectively to portray a false narrative," the Union Minister tweeted.

"It is our humble request:#Education is our sacred duty towards our children. Let us leave politics out of education and make our politics more educated," he added.

The CBSE has revised the syllabus for the classes IX to XII during the academic session 2020-21 in the wake of the situation created by COVID-19.

In a circular issued to all the heads of the institutions affiliated to it, the CBSE had said that the revision of syllabi has been done due to the extraordinary situation prevailing in the country and different parts of the world.