Student union survey finds that almost all students think Karnataka CET exams should be postponed

Education

The Karnataka government has announced that asymptomatic COVID-positive students would be allowed to write the exam.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

File photo

Following the Karnataka government announcing that the state Common Entrance Test (CET) exam, would be held as scheduled, student organisations have responded by strongly condemning the decision. KCET is an entrance exam written by students who have completed their class 12 or 2nd PU to be eligible for getting admitted into undergraduate engineering, pharma, agriculture, veterinary and technology programmes in Karnataka. They have been scheduled to be held at the end of the month, while the government has allowed for asymptomatic COVID-positive students to write the exam. Read: Karnataka to allow asymptomatic COVID-19 students to write K-CET exams In a statement, The All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO) condemned the government decision to go ahead with the exams even as the pandemic is underway in full swing. “The state government, while disdaining the popular peoples' demand to 'Postpone Karnataka CET', has unilaterally decided to conduct the exam as decided earlier, on July 30 and 31st. The All India Democratic Students' Organisation (AIDSO) Karnataka State committee in its strongest word condemns this anti- student decision of the government.” A survey conducted by the organisation showed that out of 4,557 responses from PU students, who are scheduled to take the exams, a whopping 96.9% percent said that the Karnataka CET exams should be postponed. “From past many days students across state had been protesting to postpone CET. AIDSO had conducted a survey among PU (pre-university) students, the students have expressed worry about their own and their family’s life. While the pandemic is rising in bounds and leaps, the uniform demand of the students, teachers, and parents was to postpone Karnataka CET. But the government has acted exactly opposite to it. The government has taken decision in the interest of private management lobby,” the statement alleged. Students and educationists have been trending the hashtag #postponeKCET on Twitter over the past week. Does the gOvernment live under a rock??!! Do u STILL wana risk it by conducting EXAMS??@drashwathcn #postponekcet2020 #postponekcet pic.twitter.com/1eMTdrNGL7 — Srushti G Shetty (@SrushtiGShetty1) July 19, 2020 What games did you play during quarantine? Ludo? Pubg? Man,you're not competent enough. Our Government is a big time gamer, playing with over 1.8lakh families.#postponekcet2020 — Amulya Srinivas (@AmulyaSrinivas6) July 19, 2020 #postponekarnatakaCET #postponekcet2020#StudentLivesMatter pic.twitter.com/o2aSX5f9Xi — AIDSO Karnataka (@KarnatakaAidso) July 19, 2020 Karnataka has seen an increasing number of coronavirus cases being reported in the state, with no signs of abating. The Chief Minister Yediyurappa has announced that there would be no more lockdowns anywhere in the state as the economy was suffering. As per the latest bulletin of July 22, there were 4,764 new cases of the coronavirus in Karnataka, taking the total reported cases in the state to 75,833. There are 47,069 active cases of coronavirus currently.

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Jaya, Ramamurthy and now Asgar in ‘French Biriyani’: The many faces of Danish Sait

Film

Danish stars as 'Asgar' the autodriver in the upcoming online release 'French Biriyani.'

Prajwal Bhat

Danish Sait as Asgar in 'French Biriyani'

For months now, Danish Sait's living room has substituted the comedy clubs where he usually performs, and his thousands of followers online have taken the place of the crowds that populate the audience.  He captured the absurdity of the lockdown in his nearly-daily churn of videos bringing to life characters like Jaya, the domestic help and Ramamurthy avare, the quintessential Bengaluru uncle. But this week, followers of his comedy can watch him in his latest role — as 'Asgar' in French Biriyani, his second film outing releasing on Amazon Prime Video on Friday.  Ask Danish what we can expect from the film and he simply says "laughter."   The News Minute · Jaya, Ramamurthy and now Asgar in ‘French Biryani’: The many faces of Danish Sait "It is not a film that changes anyone's life. It is not going to make anyone come back from the United States like Swades. It's a fun film and the only change we can bring about in anyone's life right now is by adding a bit of laughter," Danish says.  Just like his first film Humble Politician Nograj, the character of 'Asgar' that Danish plays in French Biriyani is inspired by his wildly popular radio days. "Panna (director Pannaga Bharana) said he has an idea about an auto driver and a foreign tourist (Sal Yusuf) who comes to the city (Bengaluru) and that it's a comedy of errors. I had two characters during my prank call days - Asgar who had a shrill voice and Saleem who had a nasal voice. We are bringing Asgar to life for the film but we decided against keeping the shrill voice since it is more suited to a short sketch than a full-length film," Danish says.   In fact many of Danish's characters take roots from his long-running radio show on Fever 104 FM. But Danish is quick to point that his input in the creative process of the film was minimal. The film director Pannaga Bharana, son of famous director TS Nagabharana, wrote the film along with Avinash Balekkala. "They have different characters in the film and have made me a part of that world. We then took the script to Puneet (Rajkumar) and he liked it. He (Puneet) said these are stories he would probably never do himself but he wanted younger talent to do it because we have a different thought process," Danish says.  The film is set in Bengaluru's Shivajinagar, a place Danish says has an "insane amount of character". "You'll find the rich buying fruits and vegetables and you have a tiny chai shop like Savera where people are sitting and having conversations about nothing in particular.” “It gave me the impetus to be an auto driver in the film standing amid a crowd of onlookers, having a foreigner with me and people genuinely looking at him curiously!," Danish says. The release of the film amidst a surge in popularity for Danish thanks to his lockdown videos, and Danish does not rule out the possibility of seeing 'Ramamurthy' or 'Jaya' in a film. Danish credits actor Sasha Baron Cohen and Family Guy creator Seth Macfarlane as two of his heroes as both have created an ensemble of diverse characters through their comic work. Similarly, Danish is on course to build his own universe of characters. "My characters are my Avengers ensemble. I should come up with something where Ramamurthy, Nagraj, Chacko, Jaya and others are in a film!" he laughs. Danish says that there is a process involved in publishing each of his videos, and names comedian Vamsidhar Bhogaraju and his sister Kubra Sait among the people who 'filter' out his content. "There was a process from day one. We had an order to the chaos and I run it by people who are close to me who give me honest advice," says Danish.   But it has not been all smiles for stand-up comedians in India during the lockdown. Over the past week, Danish's counterparts in the Indian stand-up comic industry including Rohan Joshi, Vir Das and Kaneez Surka have alleged that their personal contact information and addresses were leaked, subjecting them to threats and abusive messages over making jokes on religion. Religion and politics is something Danish is conscious of and he says that he tries to keep them out of his jokes, and advocates for debate and discourse. "Are people sensitive about certain topics? They certainly are. Do they have a right to be sensitive about it? They do, right? As much as you have a right to say something, they (audience) have a right to be sensitive as well. However, I do believe that there are some topics I wouldn't touch and religion is something I wouldn't make fun of," he says.  There are occasions when Danish broaches politics, like the time he posted a video 30 minutes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'aatmanirbharta' speech complaining that he did not understand his intricate Hindi. But it is mostly to induce comic relief rather than turn it into hard-hitting socio-political commentary    "Comedians need to be open to understanding people's sentiments about some subjects. If someone is offended by a joke, debate and discourse is important. It is also important to learn and grow. We are performing for a mass and the mass will teach us and extract from us," he adds.  Danish says he will continue to tell stories in the future. After the release of French Biriyani, he will turn his attention to the sequel of Humble Politician Nograj which will be released as a web series and 777 Charlie, which is Rakshit Shetty's next film in which Danish plays a part.  "Whether it is films, web series, improv, prank call or whether I am with or without makeup, I will continue to tell stories. I know that I have to keep hustling," he adds. 

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Govt publicising BIEC COVID centre, but where are the medical staff? asks Congress

Politics

Congress leader Eshwar Khandre along with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited BIEC earlier this week and inspected the beds and cots in place.

TNM Staff

Senior Congress leader Eshwar Khandre criticised the Karnataka government for the delay in setting up a 10,000-bed COVID-Care Centre at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre(BIEC) on the outskirts of Bengaluru to treat asymptomatic COVID-19 patients.  BIEC was shortlisted as one of the locations for a COVID-Care Centre over a month ago as the largest centre to treat COVID-19 patients in the state but it is yet to begin operations.  Eshwar Khandre said that the facility is still incomplete and that there was a lack of progress in the work done by the state government and that it was far from being operational. "They (state government) focused on the number of beds and publicised it but they are yet to recruit doctors and nursing staff which should have been the first thing they did. The centre should have been ready by now," Eshwar Khandre added.  "If this was in place last month then people would not struggle without beds in Bengaluru like we have seen in the past month. We(Opposition) had suggested that the government turn BIEC into a treatment centre in March itself," Eshwar Khandre told TNM. Eshwar along with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah visited BIEC earlier this week and inspected the beds and cots in place. Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that he had directed officials to procure the items needed for the centre instead of leasing them on a rental basis. The plan by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike(BBMP) to lease materials would cost the state exchequer a sum of Rs 24 crores per month but Yediyurappa said an amount of Rs 4.23 crore per month will be spent on procuring beds as well as items like mattresses, fans, buckets, mugs and dustbins at Rs 7,500 per set. In addition, an initial outlay of Rs 7.32 crore was spent in arranging beds and cots.  The COVID-Care Centre was publicised by Yediyurappa on July 10 as the largest COVID-Care Centre in the country but two weeks on, it is yet to begin treating patients.

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Kin of COVID-19 victim allegedly set ablaze ambulance in Karnataka

Violence

The 55-year-old victim was a SARI patient and passed away from COVID-19 on Wednesday.

TNM Staff

Family members of a person who passed away due to COVID-19 in Belagavi, which is around 500 kilometres from Karnataka’s capital Bengaluru, allegedly set ablaze an ambulance and tried to vandalise the hospital. The incident took place at the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences (BIMS) on Wednesday night. The victim, a 55-year-old man who had Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARI), was admitted to the hospital on July 19. He was found to have been infected by SARS-CoV-2 – the virus that causes COVID-19 – and was in the Intensive Care Unit. However, he succumbed to the disease on Wednesday. Angry relatives of the patient, who were part of a larger crowd, came to BIMS and allegedly set the ambulance on fire. Visuals of the incident show the vehicle in flames with the sound of fire engines in the background. The ambulance was charred and mangled. The police officials reached the spot following the incident.   A case has been registered by the police against eight persons and 10-15 others whose identities are not yet known. The FIR has been filed under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 307 (attempt to murder), 353 (assault to criminal force against a public servant), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to public servant), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by means of any instrument for shooting, stabbing or cutting, or any instrument which, used as weapon of offence, is likely to cause death, or by means of fire or any heated substance), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of Rs 50), 435 (mischief by fire), 504 (intentional insult or provocation to break public peace), and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code. The accused have also been booked under the Karnataka Prevention of Destruction and Loss of Property Act 1961, Disaster Management Act 2005, and Epidemic Disease Act 1897.   Karnataka has been seeing a surge in daily coronavirus cases, and has been reporting over 4,000 cases. On Wednesday, the state reported 4,664 new patients and 55 deaths. The state has a total of 47,069 active cases – of whom 618 are in the ICU – and 27,239 recoveries. Belagavi has the third-highest number of COVID-19 patients in the state, after Bengaluru Urban (27,969 active) and Udupi (910) active. In Belagavi, 859 patients are under treatment for COVID-19, while 1,315 people have tested coronavirus positive till date. The district has also reported 426 people who have been discharged post recovery from the illness, and 30 deaths.

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85-yr-old Karnataka conservationist featured in PM’s ‘Maan ki Baat’ gets COVID-19

Coronavirus

The state government had honoured Kamegowda with the Rajyotsava award in 2019 in recognition of his yeomen community service.

IANS

Karnataka's octogenarian shepherd Kamegowda, whom Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently praised for digging 16 ponds around his village to conserve water in Mandya district, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus, his son Krishna said on Wednesday. "As my 85-year-old father (Kamegowda) is an asthma patient and was having breathing problems, he was admitted to the state-run hospital in Mandya on Tuesday where his swab sample tested positive [for coronavirus]," Krishna told IANS over phone. Kamegowda's village, Dasanadoddi, is 27 km from Mandya and 120 km southwest of Bengaluru. "The district officials sent an ambulance to our home on Monday night and took my father and admitted him to the district hospital. As coronavirus test is mandatory for all patients, especially the elderly, his swab sample was taken on Tuesday and its result returned positive," Krishna said. Kamegowda's family, including his two sons and daughters-in-law, have also given their swab samples for testing. "We are under home quarantine awaiting our test results. As my father is asymptomatic and responding to the treatment, we hope and pray to god that he recovers soon," said Krishna. Mandya Deputy Commissioner MV Venkatesh also told reporters that Kamegowda was asymptomatic and was responding well to the treatment. Meanwhile, the district healthcare personnel are doing contact tracing to isolate and quarantine people besides Kamegowda's family members. In his monthly radio programme "Mann Ki Baat" on June 28, Prime Minister Modi had said that with the onset of southwest monsoon in many parts of the country, people should practice rain-water harvesting to protect the environment, just like Kamegowda was doing in Karnataka even though he was over 80 years old. "Kamegowda has dug 16 ponds through his hard work. He is a simple farmer, but his personality is extraordinary. The work done by him sets him apart from the others. At his age, Kamegowda takes cattle for grazing and has dug ponds in his village. When asked about his feat, he said as there was water shortage in his area, he was digging more ponds to conserve water for the people," Modi had said. Though the ponds dug by Kamegowda may not be big, his efforts were huge, Modi said. "Kamegowda is an inspiration for the people in the country, as he has been forming water bodies for over four decades, which have turned the Kundinibetta hillock green, providing water for drinking and farming," an official had said then. The state government had honoured Kamegowda with the Rajyotsava award in 2019 in recognition of his yeomen community service.

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AH Vishwanath, CP Yogeshwar among 5 nominated as MLCs by Karnataka BJP

Politics

The others nominated are Bharathi Shetty, Talwar Sabanna and Shantarama Budna Siddi, who is a member of the Siddi community, an African-origin tribe living in the state.

Soumya Chatterjee

The BJP in Karnataka nominated five members into the Karnataka Legislative Council including former MLAs AH Vishwanath and CP Yogeshwar.   According to political observers in the state, this is significant as AH Vishwanath was not initially favoured by the party’s high command but was pushed through by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa himself.  The others nominated are Bharathi Shetty, Talwar Sabanna and Shantarama Budna Siddi, a member of the Siddi tribal community, an African-origin tribe living in the state.  Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala confirmed the nominations in an order issued on Wednesday. A source close to the CM said, “Vishwanath was one of the persons responsible for making Yediyurappa the CM and he played a crucial role. Bharti Shetty, a former MLC is also BSY’s choice. The others as you can see are backed by the RSS-lobby.” Although Yogeshwar was initially an RSS favourite, he was backed by Yediyurappa later. The source said this was an indication that things were better between the two camps within the party “They have worked out an arrangement for now. Initially along with the two names, BSY had proposed the name of Lingayat leader and Veerashaiva Vidyabhivrudhi Samsthe president BS Paramashivaiah but he was opposed by the party saying he is 81, so Yediyurappa himself sent the name of Yogeshwar," the source added. It may be recalled that Vishwanath who was a ruling MLA in the erstwhile HD Kumaraswamy government and served as the JD(S) state president had resigned along with 16 other MLAs of the then ruling coalition. However, he lost in the elections.  Earlier last month, MTB Nagaraj who had lost against Sharath Bachegowda, a rebel BJP leader in the byepolls was given an entry to the council in similar fashion. With this nomination, VIshwanath now moves closer to his goal of finding a place in BS Yediyurappa’s cabinet.  Yogeshwar is a former ally of DK Shivakumar and had lost to HD Kumaraswamy In the 2018 Assembly elections from Channapatna on a BJP ticket. Yogeshwar is said to have been rewarded for his instrumental role in managing the rebel MLAs that eventually led to the fall of the Congress-JD (S) coalition government in July last year.

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Govt only focused on Bengaluru, rest of state left to suffer: Ex-Minister Priyank Kharge

Coronavirus

Former Kalaburagi district-in-charge minister Priyank said the govt was making unnecessary transfers which is hampering the pandemic management in the interest of corruption.

Soumya Chatterjee

File photo

With the Karnataka government appointing eight ministers to micromanage the COVID-19 pandemic in Bengaluru city, former minister Priyank Kharge has alleged step motherly treatment towards the rest of the state. In an interview with TNM, Priyank said, “Everybody in the government is only concerned about Bengaluru, there are eight corona Ministers. How many ministers have gone to Bidar, Kalaburagi or Raichur? They have not bothered to take care about the rest of the state. Yes, Bengaluru is important-the population density is high, the number of people contracting the infection is high. But that does not mean you leave the rest of the state to die.” Since the onset of the pandemic, the two-term minister and son of Congress stalwart and Member of Parliament Mallikarjun Kharge has been highlighting the lacunae of the government in his district since the onset of the pandemic on social and mainstream media. Speaking about his home district—  Kalaburagi, which incidentally saw the country’s first COVID-19 death, he said the government’s keenness to transfer officials with the interest of alleged corruption and lack of political will to manage the pandemic is the major problem. Incidentally, the Kalaburagi City does not have a full-time civic body Commissioner for more than two weeks as he's being transferred. “I don’t know why the government, during a pandemic, wanted to transfer an officer from such an important post for a person who has not completed even one year and was doing a decent job?” he questioned. “The government has institutionalized corruption regarding transfers in our district. I can understand if an official has corruption charges or not doing his duty. But what the government is doing with this arbitrary transfer is just adding to the chaos. During this crisis if you transfer these officers, it means that the new person has to learn the demography, geography and the specifics of the area from scratch. And with this, crucial time is lost.” He mentioned the incident on April 28 when the government withdrew the transfer order of District Commissioner Sharat B within hours. “In less than four hours, due to the public sentiment he was restored. Give me one solid reason why the government is so keen on transfers during this time without any corruption or dereliction of duty?,” he said. He added, “Then they changed the District Health Officer and that person could not take charge as the person who is currently in charge did not want to give up his position. So that order was also withdrawn. Even at taluk level, in my constituency, they have changed block level education officers and police officers. They were all doing good work under the tehsildar.” Priyank said the same can be said about Wadi town which is a hotspot-the government changed the Chief Municipal Officer without notice and brought in a junior officer who has allegedly failed to rise to the challenge.  Kalaburagi had recently made news for the wrong reasons after a video went viral with a group of pigs seen walking on the corridor of the COVID-19 designated hospital in the city. Commenting on this, he said, “I was also the district-in charge minister here, I have visited the hospital many times, I have never seen such many pigs. Standard operating procedures like maintaining the compound clean alone can’t be done by this administration.” The Congress leader claimed that the present BJP government is  busy profiteering from corruption in transfers and procurement of masks, sanitizers and PPE kits as alleged by his party colleagues and the Parliamentary Action Committee. He said, “We have limited ourselves to testing 800-1000 per day, we have a backlog which means that sometimes people have to wait for 10 days to get their report back.Moreover, how much central government funds have come for this pandemic? Absolute zero. How many ventilators that were promised so far by PM Cares have come, you tell me? He further alleged the district authorities are unresponsive. “For the last three days, I have been trying to reach the Deputy Commissioner to hand over the 550 beds arranged by Mr Kharge (Mallikarjun Kharge).”

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