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Colleges to open in first week of November

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The DyCM had said this will be confirmed after a meeting with Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa,  which is scheduled in three days, a source said.

BENGALURU:  While there is no official announcement yet about the start of the academic year offline for college students, top officials from the education department have indicated that colleges will reopen offline in the first week of November, and preparations for the same are on.Deputy Chief Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, who is also Higher Education Minister, told reporters on Monday that the department is preparing to reopen colleges in November. UGC has come out with an advisory for state governments to reopen colleges, he said.

The DyCM had said this will be confirmed after a meeting with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa,  which is scheduled in three days, a source said. A top source from the department confirmed to TNIE that the department is looking to open colleges in the first week of November. However, students will be given a choice between offline and online classes, the source added.

A committee of current vice-chancellors of universities, that met on Saturday, also reportedly suggested that classes be held on Sundays too, if need be.“The committee can only recommend how colleges can be opened, and not the schedule, which has to be decided by the UGC and government. A hybrid model of education, instead of going completely offline, will help decongest the campus and hostels,” a vice-chancellor told TNIE.

In the meantime, the department has also mandated Covid-19 tests for teaching and non-teaching staff in private, aided and government degree colleges that come under the ambit of the state education department. Personnel in the office of the joint director have also been asked to undergo the test.The official said there is no confirmation whether students will be subject to it before commencement of offline classes. Meanwhile, AICTE has allowed engineering colleges to start the academic session from December 1. It was earlier scheduled for November 1.AICTE has also extended admission deadlines for first-year courses in engineering colleges to November 30. This is owing to “prolonged emergent conditions and requests from state governments and ongoing admission processes of IITs and NITs”.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot writes to PM Narendra Modi, wants control over cooperative societies

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Gehlot argued that recent amendments placing multi-state Cooperative Societies under the Centre’s control were contrary to the basic spirit of the cooperative movement in the states.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot

JAIPUR: The issue of control over cooperative societies and banks has sparked a tug of war between Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the central government.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gehlot has strongly objected to the amendments made in the provisions of the Banking Regulation (BR) Act in September 2020 whereby effective control has been given to the RBI.

Gehlot argues that these amendments will adversely affect the basic spirit of Cooperative Banks and the entire cooperative movement in the states. CM Gehlot has urged the PM to reconsider the said amendments and restore the earlier system.

In the past few years, Rajasthan has been rocked by several scams  in cooperative societies and recently the name of union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat had also surfaced in a cooperative scam.

Through a series of tweets, Gehlot revealed the broad tenor of his letter to the PM regarding Multi State Cooperative Societies and Banking Regulation Act. He argued that recent amendments placing multi-state Cooperative Societies under the Centre’s control were contrary to the basic spirit of the cooperative movement in the states.

In his letter to PM Modi on October 19 , Gehlot  has strongly objected to the amendments made in the Banking Regulation Act on September 16, 2020  giving the control of cooperative societies to the Reserve Bank of India

Gehlot claims the recently amended provisions of Banking Regulation Act are against the basic principles of cooperatives and would have a negative impact on the functioning of State Cooperative Banks and has asked PM Modi to withdraw these amendments .

“Under the new provisions, all administrative control of the Co-operative Banks has been given to the RBI. As a result, the administrative control of the co-operative banks under the state government will go under RBI, which is an encroachment on the principle of co-operatives.

Under amended provisions, the principle of one member one vote does not hold any longer. The previous structure and provisions must be restored in the interest of cooperatives,” said Gehlot in a statement.

Gehlot claims that the move has made the Rajasthan Co-operative Societies Act 2001 (which is responsible for managing and monitoring co-operatives) irrelevant. “The amendment will adversely affect the basic spirit  of the cooperative banks and the cooperative movement in the state,” reads a statement by Gehlot.

He also points out that a large number of common people have invested in Multi State Cooperative Societies operating in the state and the Rajasthan police have received complaints from around 73 thousand investors regarding irregularities amounting to Rs 1419.77 crore.

As such, Gehlot has asked PM Modi to initiate remedial measures by “directing the Central Registrar to authorise State’s Cooperative department to take action in the matter in order to save the interests of common people”.

Gehlot’s concern on the issue has been preceded by crores of investors in Rajasthan losing their hard-earned money in a series of scams connected to Cooperative Societies. Hundreds of crores have been embezzled by Adarsh, Navjivan and Sanjeevani Credit Cooperative Societies and last year the State Cooperative department had  cancelled registration of 7 credit cooperative societies.

Cases of fraud by three big credit societies in Rajasthan had been exposed by the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the Rajasthan police who had arrested Vikram Singh, the owner of the dubious Sanjeevani Credit Cooperative Society for allegedly siphoning off over a thousand crores.

In  the complaint related to Sanjeevani Credit Cooperative Society, the complainant  had named Union Jal Shakti minister and Jodhpur MP Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and others as the alleged accused in the scam and sought further investigation by the SOG into their role.

Shekhawat, his wife and other partners had been named in the complaint in the Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society scam in which around 50,000 investors allegedly lost about Rs 840 crore.

Maharashtra COVID numbers at 16,17,658 with 8,142 new cases; 23,371 discharged

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Mumbai city reported 1,609 positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall case count to 2,45,869, while its death toll rose to 9,912, of which 48 were reported today.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra’s COVID-19 tally on Wednesday increased to 16,17,658 with the single-day rise of 8,142 cases, a state health official said.

The state also reported 180 deaths, which took the fatality count to 42,633, he said.

A total of 23,371 patients were discharged during the day after treatment, taking the tally of recovered people to 14,15,679.

With this, the number of active patients in the state stands at 1,58,852.

Mumbai city reported 1,609 positive cases during the day, which pushed its overall case count to 2,45,869, while its death toll rose to 9,912, of which 48 were reported today.

Pune city added 442 COVID-19 cases, raising its tally to 1,69,178, while three deaths took toll to 3,876. The state has so far conducted 83,27,493 tests.

Maharashtra’s COVID-19 tally is as follows: Positive cases: 16,17,658, new cases: 8,142, death toll: 42,633, discharged: 14,15,679, active cases: 1,58,852, people tested so far: 83,27,493.

Fake TRP scam: Names of two more channels crop up during probe

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Earlier three channels, including Republic TV, was found allegedly involved in the TRP racket.

MUMBAI: The names of two more TV channels have surfaced during the investigation of alleged fake Television Rating Points (TRP) scam, police said on Wednesday.

While one is a news channel, the other one is an entertainment channel, the official said.

“During the investigation, it came to light that these two channels were also involved in fixing the TRP by paying money to households for watching them,” he said.

“While investigating the fake TRP racket, the police have added fresh sections of IPC, including 174, 179, 201, 204,” he said.

According to the official, the police had earlier registered an offence under section 409 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), 120(B), 34 of IPC in the case, he said adding the crime branch submitted the letter to the court about adding new sections.

Earlier three channels, including Republic TV, was found allegedly involved in the TRP racket.

Meanwhile the probe team on Wednesday once again recorded statements of Republic TV CFO S Sundaram and executive editor Niranjan Narayanswami, he said.

The alleged fake TRP scam came to light when ratings agency Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC) filed a complaint with the police through Hansa Research Group, alleging that certain channels were rigging TRP numbers to lure advertisers.

It was alleged that some families at whose houses meters for collecting data of viewership were installed were being bribed to tune into a particular channel.

Trump says will win by ‘bigger’ margin, seeks ‘thundering’ defeat for rival Biden

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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump has exuded confidence that he will win the November 3 election by a bigger margin than that of 2016 and urged his supporters to deliver a “thundering” defeat to his Democratic challenger Joe Biden.

In his hour-long speech at an election rally here, Trump reiterated that his challenger Biden and his running mate Senator Kamala Harris, if elected, would convert the US into a socialist country.

“It’s time to send a message to these wealthy liberal hypocrites by delivering Joe Biden, sleepy Joe, a thundering defeat on November 3rd. Got to get out and vote,” Trump told his supporters in Pennsylvania on Tuesday.

Encouraged by the high level of energy and enthusiasm of thousands of his supporters, with a large number of them waiting for hours on a chilly night, Trump asserted that his victory on November 3 is going to be bigger than that of 2016.

“This is going to be bigger than four years ago. There is more enthusiasm,” he said amidst a huge applause from his supporters.

“The crowds are bigger. They will never be forgotten again not after this one. They tried to find out, who are all these people that showed up last time. Now they are finding out again except even more so. Now you see what’s going on though with the lines and everything,” he said.

Biden, 77, is leading the polls. However, Trump’s rallies in particularly in the battle ground States have been attracting massive crowds. The hour-long speech of the US President was marked with applause and cheers from his supporters.

“In our lifetimes, we’ll never see a president like Donald Trump again,” Congressman Mike Kelly said in his brief remarks reflecting the sentiments of his supporters.

At one point of time, as Trump was speaking, the mike suddenly stopped working apparently due to a technical snag. The crowd shouted “fake news turn it back on!” The microphone was back in about a minute and the president quipped that the brief outage was likely caused by “crooked Hillary.” Trump reiterated that his challenger Biden and his running mate Senator Harris, if elected, would convert the US into a socialist country.

“Only by voting for me can you save your fracking in Pennsylvania. We are going to have a great time because you are going or reject the radical left. The United States I’ll say and I’ll say it a thousand times, the United States will never be a socialist nation,” he asserted.

Listing out his achievements, Trump asserted that his administration has revived the country’s economy, that was badly hit by COVID-19, in less than six months. The next years is going to be the greatest. Unemployment rate is now in single digits and will drop further, he said.

The president accused China of spreading coronavirus in the US and the world. He said that if not for the virus, he would not have to campaign in places like Erie because he would be so far ahead of his rivals. Trump claimed the coronavirus pandemic was nearing its end.

“We’re rounding the turn on the pandemic,” Trump said.

According to Philadelphia Inquirer, Erie as is one of the most hotly contested and symbolically weighted parts of Pennsylvania.

“Erie County became a symbol of Trump’s white, working class support in 2016, and is being nationally watched for clues about how strongly he has retained his hold on those voters,” the daily reported. Trump exuded confidence of winning this battle ground State.

“If we win Pennsylvania, we win the whole thing,” he said.

Interestingly, the campaign played a video of Biden on fracking during Trump’s speech. Biden and Harris want to ban fracking and kill American jobs, Trump said.  The president slammed Biden for his policies and continued to raise the allegations of corruption against him and his son Hunter Biden.

Trump thanked his countrymen for electing a non-politician like him.

“If I don’t sound like a typical Washington politician, it’s because I’m not a politician. And if I don’t always play by the rules of the Washington establishment, it’s because I was elected to fight for you and nobody has ever fought for you harder than I have. That I can tell you. I’m fighting so hard because I love my country,” Trump said.

“Joe Biden has made a corrupt bargain exchange for his party’s nomination. He’s handed control of his party over to socialists. I added another word, communists, Marxists, left-wing extremists. And they’re full of hate and rage and scorn for the middle class and for everybody. Frankly, for the middle class and for everybody,” he said.

“The fact is whether you like it or not, whether you want to hear it or not, Biden is a corrupt politician. He is a corrupt politician. And smoking gun emails show that the Biden family sold the Vice Presidency for a very, very substantial amount of money,” Trump claimed.

“More money than anybody would believe. He let China plunder our jobs while his family raked in millions of dollars from China and foreign nations,” Trump alleged.

“The Bidens got rich while Pennsylvania got robbed and so did the rest of our country. If Biden wins, China wins. If Biden wins, China will own the USA and you know it,” he alleged.

Time not ripe yet to reopen schools, pediatricians to CM Yeddyurappa

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Indian Academy of Paediatrics also said that such a move in the US and Korea has led to a huge rise in community infections.

schools reopening

BENGALURU:  Citing the high number of Covid-19 cases, and rapid spread of the illness in closed environments like classrooms, the Indian Academy of Paediatrics (IAP), Karnataka chapter, has urged the State government not to reopen educational institutions anytime soon. 

In a recent letter to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, the association said the time is not yet ripe for reopening of schools and colleges. Such a move in the US and Korea has led to a huge rise in community infections, they said. 

“In the interest of the health of children and community at large, we urge you to take a decision based on scientific and epidemiological data… (We are) in the process of bringing out a set of recommendations, which shall be shared with you immediately on its release,” said the letter signed by Dr Shantharaj A, president, and Dr Natesh B H, secretary of IAP Karnataka.ADVERTISING

The association has 32,000 members nationwide and 2,600 pediatricians statewide. 

Dr Sharath Chand S, vice-president of Bengaluru division, said, “Kids will not be able to follow wearing of masks and social distancing in schools. If one child contracts the virus, the entire family, including parents and grandparents, will be affected. This will create a burden on health infrastructure. Children are fragile and Covid-19 will increase their mortality as well as morbidity, although until now we have fortunately seen most kids remaining asymptomatic, on testing positive.” 

He urged educational institutions to remain closed for this academic year, or at least till a vaccine is found. There is no guarantee on how long antibodies remain after patients recover.

“We need to understand this disease well. We will not lose anything by giving up an academic year,” Dr Chand added. 

President-elect of IAP Karnataka, Dr Ashok R Dastar said the decision to reopen schools must be taken at the district level, based on local and epidemiological data.

“If a district does 100 tests a day, and less than five people show up positive, or if there are 20 or fewer cases in a district of 10 lakh population, such a place can consider reopening schools. Teachers and doctors here can take lessons on wearing masks, social distancing and other norms. The decision must be taken in consultation with parents and pediatricians,” he said.

Children remaining away from schools for 7-8 months has impacted their learning, but at the same time, we must not put them at risk and need to take parents’ opinion, he added. 

Pre-university syllabus to be cut by 30% 

Although classes are yet to start officially, the Department of Pre-University Education has taken steps to reduce the syllabus by 30%, due to “the variation in the annual academic activity this year due to the Covid-19 situation”.

The move comes after the Centre recommended that the syllabus for Classes 1-12 be reduced by 30%.

The board noted that it would reduce the syllabus, similar to the manner in which the Central Board of Secondary Education had done for four subjects – Physics, Chemistry, Maths and Biology.

For other subjects, members of the textbook creation and revision committees have already been approached.  

Various committees have thus far given their reports and recommendations on which verse, prose, chapter and sub-chapter should be cut off. 

The government is yet to announce the changes.Of 34 subjects offered in Class 11 and 12 state board, all except Carnatic Music will have omissions.

Carnatic Music has been kept out of the revision process for the past two years as not a single student had enrolled for it, said Snehal R, director of PU education. 

COVID-19 Updates IN india Virus infection cases in India cross 77 lakh-mark, death toll at 1,16,616

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Total case tally in the country stands at 77,06,946 including 7,15,812 active cases and 68,74,518 recovered.

India on Thursday recorded 55,838 fresh cases of virus infection and 702 deaths. 

Total case tally in the country stands at 77,06,946 including 7,15,812 active cases, 68,74,518 recovered and 1,16,616 deaths, according to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

As the country proceeds towards the winter season, experts said that cooler weather is likely to worsen as it happens with most viruses that attack the respiratory tract and may lead to possibly a second, even a bigger wave of cases and deaths in the country.

Allow us to hold BBMP poll in 198 wards: Poll panel to Karnataka High Court

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Karnataka HC
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BENGALURU: The State Election Commission (SEC) has moved the Karnataka High Court seeking directions to hold elections to 198 wards of Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and not wait till the delimitation process is over.The SEC has sought the direction in its application before the court, pleading to add additional facts and prayer to the public interest litigation which was filed in January 2020 seeking directions to the state government to hold elections before the BBMP Council term expired. With this, the SEC has questioned the state’s decision to postpone the elections. 

The SEC said that the final delimitation notification was issued on June 23 and draft reservation notification on September 14 to hold elections to 198 Wards. The same arrangement should continue and the state government should be directed to issue the final reservation notification, irrespective of the Karnataka Municipal Corporation (Third Amendment) Act, 2020 — amending Sections 7 and 21 of the Act to increase the number of Wards from 198 to 243, the SEC prayed before the court. 

The SEC pleaded that the state government requires at least 12 months to issue delimitation and reservation notification for 243 Wards if it starts the process after receiving recommendations from the Delimitation Commission constituted recently. After that, 4-5 months will be needed to prepare and finalise fresh electoral rolls for new wards. The election process that has already started cannot be postponed as it would amount to flouting the mandate of the Constitution, the SEC argued. 

Similar arguments were placed by the other petitioners also. After hearing them, the bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Ashok S Kinagi directed the state government to file its response by November 7 explaining why it was delaying the election process. The hearing was adjourned till November 10, 2020.

After Punjab, now Rajasthan government to bring bill against Centre’s farm laws

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Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot announced this on Twitter, hours after the Punjab assembly unanimously passed four bills and adopted a resolution against the Union government laws.

Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot

JAIPUR: Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Tuesday said his government will bring a bill against the Centre’s farm laws on the lines of Punjab.

The chief minister announced this on Twitter, hours after the Punjab assembly unanimously passed four bills and adopted a resolution against the Union government laws.

“INC under the leadership of Smt #SoniaGandhi ji& #RahulGandhi ji stands absolutely with our annadatas and will continue to oppose the anti-farmer laws passed by NDA Govt. Today Congress Govt in #Punjab has passed Bills against these laws.

Earlier, the Congress leadership had suggested states where the party is in power to pass laws of their own, negating the central legislation.

In the meeting of the state council of ministers held at the chief minister’s residence, the effects of Centre’s three new laws on the farmers were discussed.

The council of ministers decided that a special session of the Legislative Assembly will be convened soon and amendment bills will be brought to preserve the interests of the farmers, an official statement said.

The council also emphasised on the imperative of procurement of crops at minimum support price (MSP).

The council observed that the removal of the maximum limit of stock of various agricultural commodities under normal circumstances under the Essential Commodities Act after the implementation of the new agricultural laws will increase black marketing, unauthorised storage and rise in prices.

It was also discussed in the meeting that the provision of MSP in the Contract Forming Act will be in the interest of the farmers of the state, the statement said.

The meeting also discussed the coronavirus situation in the state government’s efforts to deal with it.

The council decided that the mass movement against COVID-19 in the state should be extended for a month till November 30.

New COVID-19 cases remain below 60,000 mark for the third consecutive day, India tally nears 77,000

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A total of 54,044 fresh infections were reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,15,914 with 717 fatalities being registered in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed

NEW DELHI: The number of new coronavirus infections reported in India in a span of 24 hours remained below 60,000 for the third consecutive day, taking the COVID-19 caseload to 76,51,107, according to the Union Health Ministry data updated on Wednesday.

A total of 54,044 fresh infections were reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 1,15,914  with 717 fatalities being registered in a span of 24 hours ,the data updated at 8 am showed.

As many as 67,95,103 people have recuperated from the disease so far pushing the national recovery rate to 88.81 per cent while the case fatality rate due COVID-19 has dropped to 1.51 per cent.

The active cases of coronavirus infection remained below 8 lakh for the fifth consecutive day.

There are 7,40,090 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country which comprises 9.67 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated.

India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23 and 40 lakh on September 5.

It went past 50 lakh on September 16,  60 lakh on September 28 and crossed 70 lakh on October 11.

According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 9,72,00,379 samples have been tested up to October 20 with 10,83,608 samples being tested on Tuesday.

The 717 new fatalities include 213 from Maharashtra, 66 from Karnataka, 61 from West Bengal, 50 each from Chhattisgarh and Tamil Nadu, and 41 from Delhi.

A total of 1,15,914 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 42,453 from Maharashtra followed by 10,741 from Tamil Nadu, 10,608 from Karnataka, 6,714 from Uttar Pradesh, 6,481 from Andhra Pradesh, 6,180 from West Bengal, 6,081 from Delhi, 4,037 from Punjab and 3,651 from Gujarat.

The health ministry stressed that more than 70 per cent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.

“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its  website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.

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