Vandalism in Belagavi: State DGP to speak to Maharashtra counterpart
The Hindu
Do not divide people in the name of icons who fought to unite, says Bommai
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, who strongly condemned acts of vandalism in Belagavi and desecration of statues in Belagavi and Bengaluru, said the Director General of Police of Karnataka would speak to his counterpart in Maharashtra about the safety of Kannadigas there.
Speaking to presspersons in Belagavi on Saturday, the Chief Minister said: “The responsibility of maintaining law and order in the State is ours. Similarly, the Government of Maharashtra has to maintain law and order there.” This came in the wake of reports about vehicles from Karnataka and Kannadigas being targeted in Maharashtra. “Our Home Minister will also take up the issue with his counterpart in Maharashtra and if necessary, I will speak to the Chief Minister of Maharashtra,” he said.
On Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut’s call that Marathas should unite, Mr. Bommai said that responsible people should not incite sentiments. “Chhatrapati Shivaji, Sangolli Rayanna, and Kittur Rani Chennamma fought against the British. We will be doing a disservice to them if we fight to divide society. Nobody should incite people to take law into their hands,” he said.
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.