Public health officials in South Carolina said they identified two cases on Thursday.
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Thursday, January 28, 2021
JD(S) to back anti-cow slaughter Bill in Karnataka Council, claims MLC
This is contrary to the regional party's earlier stand to oppose the Bill.
Senior JD(S) Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Basavaraj Horatti on Thursday said his party will support the contentious anti-cow slaughter Bill in the Karnataka Legislative Council, where it is yet to be tabled. This is contrary to the regional party's earlier stand, to oppose the Bill. Both JD(S) patriarch HD Deve Gowda and his son HD Kumaraswamy, who is the legislature party chief, had repeatedly said that they were opposed to the anti-cow slaughter Bill. "Now, there's no question of defeating the Bill," Horatti told reporters in response to a question about JD(S) supporting it. "Naturally, in the Council, whenever the government changes, it's a question of the majority. If important Bills are there, they'll be passed...JD(S) and the BJP have a total of 43 members (in the 75-member Council), so no question of defeating the Bill. We will support the Bill 100%," he said. This statement by Horatti about supporting the Bill comes a day after JD(S) came to an understanding with the ruling BJP for the Legislative Council Chairman and Deputy Chairman post. As per the arrangement, the BJP will support the JD(S) for the Chairman post, while the regional party will return the favour by ceding the Deputy Chairman post. While Horatti will most likely be the JD(S) candidate for the Chairman post, BJP's nominee MK Pranesh on Thursday filed his nomination for the Deputy Chairman post. According to sources, the ruling BJP agreed to support JD(S)' Horatti for Chairman post, in return for the regional party's support to its no-confidence motion to oust incumbent Chairman K Pratapachandra Shetty of the Congress and passage of certain key Bills, including the land reforms Bill. The government last month promulgated the anti-cow slaughter ordinance that provides for punishment for killing of cattle and offers protection to those "acting in good faith" to save them, as the Bill to this effect is yet to be cleared by the Legislative Council. Under the ordinance, slaughter of cattle will lead to imprisonment of up to three to seven years and a fine ranging from Rs 50,000 to Rs 5 lakh, and subsequent offences will attract imprisonment of up to seven years and a fine from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 10 lakh. According to it, cattle is defined as a cow, calf of a cow, bull and bullock of all ages and 'he or she buffalo below the age of 13 years', while beef has been defined as the flesh of the cattle in any form. The government had to opt for the ordinance route, as the Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill that was passed by the Assembly last month amid a din with stiff opposition from the Congress, has not yet been approved by the Legislative Council. The Council was adjourned sine die even before the Bill was tabled. For a Bill to become law, its passage in the Council, followed by assent by the Governor is necessary. According to sources, BJP, which had hurriedly tabled the Bill and ensured its passage in the Assembly during the winter session, did not table it in the Council sensing that the numbers were not in its favour with combined opposition Congress and JD(S) against it at the time.
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Karnataka schools for classes 9 and 11 to resume from Feb 1
The education department has also suggested that Class 10 board exams should be held between June 14-25.
PTI : Image for representation
The Karnataka government has decided that schooling for students of classes 9 and 11 will resume starting from February 1 for the first time since they were shut due to the pandemic in 2020. This decision was announced by Education Minister S Suresh Kumar after Health Minister Dr Sudhakar held a meeting with the Technical Advisory Committee on Thursday appointed by the state government. The Primary and Secondary Education Department has also suggested that Class 10 board exams or SSLC exams should be held between June 14-25. A decision was also made to continue the Vidyagama scheme to continue for Classes 6-8. The committee will again meet in the coming week to decide if normal classes should resume for junior classes. TNM had earlier reported how many academics and civil society groups were urging the state government to reopen schools citing multiple reasons. This included the risks of children taking up work, turning to marriage and discontinuing their education. Academics argued that students from classes 5 and above need to be in the school environment learning from their peers and from teachers. Unlike their private school counterparts, Karnataka government school students have not had regular online classes in this academic year. The state government started the Vidyagama scheme or the community learning scheme in July before shutting it down in October. The state government's decision came amid reports of COVID-19 cases among teachers and students. Regular classes for 10 and 12 had already begun starting from January 1. The attendance on day 1 was reported to be 41% across the state. Teachers were made to take a COVID-19 test before reporting to take classes in Karnataka. The state government held meetings with the health department about reopening schools for students of lower classes. "The Technical Advisory Committee will meet again in the second week of February 2021 to take due decision on the opening of the remaining classes," a release shared by the state government said.
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Biden starts rolling back Trump anti-abortion rules
Executive orders aim to put new administration's reproductive rights stamp on the global stage.
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Biden taking first step toward bolstering Obamacare
The new administration will reopen enrollment and begin reversing Trump changes to the law that Democrats derided as sabotage.
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Student faints in shock after seeing tiger on way to college in Kodagu
The girl was given first aid at the Srimangala Primary Health Centre and doctors reported that she was recovering from the shock of seeing the tiger.
Image for representation
A pre-university student in Karnataka's Kodagu district fainted when she spotted a tiger strolling out of a coffee estate towards her on Wednesday morning. Around 8 am in T Shettigeri village of the district, Tasma Dechamma was walking to her usual bus stop when she saw the big cat. She fainted at the sight of the tiger and suffered an injury on her head. The tiger walked away from the spot. Tasma was given first aid at the Srimangala Primary Health Centre and doctors reported that she was recovering from the shock of seeing the tiger. She is a student at Ponnampet Government College in Kodagu district. Local residents asked the Srimangala RFO Veerendra Kumar to drive the tiger from the coffee estate to the forest nearby. But even though Nagarhole Tiger Reserve officials conducted a search for the tiger, it was not found on Wednesday. Speaking to TNM, Srimangala RFO Veerendra Mari Basavannanavar told TNM that the search was on for the tiger. "The tiger is currently near the coffee estate and has evaded our search team so far. The girl is recovering and is stable in the hospital. We (forest department) will be covering her medical expenses," Veerendra said. He requested local residents to cooperate and said that a cage will be placed to capture the animal and release it in the forest. T Shettigeri is located 35 km from Virajpet in southern Kodagu. It is surrounded by thick forest areas. The incident comes in a week when a leopard caused a scare in a residential society in Bengaluru's Bannerghatta. It was spotted in Prestige Song apartment building close to the Bannerghatta National Park area.
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Karnataka has vaccinated over 2 lakh health workers, but stumbling blocks remain
TNM spoke to various stakeholders in the vaccination process in the state to understand the challenges faced by authorities.
Representational image
On Monday, Karnataka became the first Indian state to vaccinate over 2 lakh people against COVID-19. While no other state in India has done more, the state government’s own assessment shows that till Tuesday (January 16 to January 26), only 55% of the intended target has been reached. While 4.21 lakh people were set to be vaccinated in these 11 days, only 2.31 lakh were given the jab in Karnataka. TNM spoke to various stakeholders in the vaccination process in the state to understand the challenges faced by authorities. The prime factors that came to the fore was the enrollment process, technical glitches with the Co-WIN app and vaccine hesitancy. While a majority of the beneficiaries want to get vaccinated, all staff in government institutions were enrolled en masse, said administrators. This meant that even those who wanted to stay away from the process were also counted as a target beneficiary. In Bengaluru, all government hospitals were asked to submit their employee rolls by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). The same was done by respective district authorities in other parts of the state. The Co-WIN app randomly selects 100 names from the pool of beneficiaries in each centre and updates them on their date of vaccination, a day in advance. This centralised system has meant that the target itself has been inflated. A senior nurse in NIMHANS, Bengaluru got an SMS to come for vaccination even though she is pregnant. She said that many of her colleagues who are out of station had also got the SMS, and when they don’t show up, it is likely to impact the coverage percentage. Read: Teething troubles & privacy concerns: A look at Co-WIN, India’s vaccine portal Dr Lakshmipathy, coordinator for COVID-19 vaccination at the KC General Hospital in Bengaluru said, “For the first two days, we could not start the drive as the app was not loading due to server problems. But from January 18 onwards, we have been able to carry out the process without any hindrance. Even then, the turnout has been low but is gradually picking up.” As far as vaccine hesitancy is concerned, Dr Lakshmipathy said, “Initially there was natural hesitancy among beneficiaries and there were some refusing to take the vaccine citing comorbidities and other health conditions like cough and cold. Few people are scared to take it without any reason.” Most of Lakshmipthy’s opinions were shared by Dr Nagaraj Naik, District Health Officer, Shivamogga district. He said, “It would have been better had the app allowed us to notify beneficiaries two days ahead of the vaccination instead of one day. This would allow us to call them and inform them, as some may not look at their messages. A provision to allow registered people to come to the session site at a convenient time may have also worked better.” Dr Naveen Kumar, a senior resident doctor in Shivamogga Medical College, “Now that many people have already taken the vaccine and there are no reports of major side effects, many people who had earlier skipped the process, are coming back.” He suggested other than the hesitancy, there are some issues with the app in peripheral areas. Dr Lakshmipathy too, agreed. She said, “People who were not ready to take the vaccine on the first day have now come back. We are also offering an option to people who had missed the earlier appointment, who can be given the vaccine now. From our side, we are calling every beneficiary and requesting that they turn up.” “Due to data mismatch or wrong data entry, some people who are willing and eligible for the vaccine did not get the SMS as their phone number was not updated. So now, we are asking them to come with their identity documents, so that we can vaccinate them. This facility was also not there in the app from the beginning,” she added. Read: ‘Will wait 3 months’: Several TN frontline workers hesitant to get COVID-19 vaccine Need for a decentralised approach With the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination set to roll out in little more than two weeks time in Karnataka, public health experts have suggested that the stumbling blocks in the first phase be negated to smoothen the process. Dr Giridhar Babu, an epidemiologist with the Public Health Foundation of India and part of expert committees formed by the state and union government, said that vaccination should be carried out with a decentralised approach. “The enrollment is based on the institutional database but after enrolling, there should have been a system to interact through the app with candidates. The scheduling should have ideally taken place in a better manner,” he said. “The Indian government also acknowledges the issue with the Co-WIN app and they are saying that the app is a work in progress. Hopefully the app issues are fixed within this phase,” he added.
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