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Around 4.3 lakh government officials participated in the Karmayogi Saptah or National Learning Week and took online courses centred around citizen-centric governance, digital fluency, and Indic Knowledge System, a government statement said.

The skill development initiative was organised from October 19 to 29.

Some of the prominent speakers included Sri Sri Ravi Shankar who spoke on ‘Secrets of Living a Stress-Free Life’, M.K. Sridhar who spoke on National Education Policy, Dr. Soumya Swaminathan who elaborated on ‘India Public Health Towards Viksit Bharat’, B.K. Shivani, Kris Gopalakrishnan, David Frawley, Raghava Krishna and Amritanshu Pandey, among others.

With themes centred around citizen-centric governance, digital fluency, and the Indic Knowledge System, the Karmayogi Saptah engaged employees in over 250 Samuhik Charcha and webinars with thought leaders and experts. Through lively discussions, participants gained new insights and tools, preparing them for the future of governance in a rapidly evolving world.

Some of the courses that saw maximum completions were ‘Overview of Vikshit Bharat 2047’ with more than 3.8 lakh completions, ‘Swachata Hi Seva 2024’ with 1.5 lakh completions and ‘Jan Bhagidari’ with more than 44,000 completions.

The week-long event featured the Indic Day Webinar Series where speakers from diverse domains shared their insights on Indian knowledge systems, civilisational development, offering a rich understanding of how traditional wisdom and modern innovations intersect.

Amid continued protests by the BJP opposing the alleged classification of agricultural land as waqf board properties in land records in some districts, the Revenue Department on Saturday issued an order directing officials to stop any mutation process initiated in RTCs (Records of Rights, Tenancy and Crops) related to lands being tilled by farmers. It also said that any notices issued to farmers should be withdrawn immediately, and no action should be initiated against farmers.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had on November 2 announced that the government would withdraw notices served to farmers. The order also said that action would be taken against an official who had sent a reminder notice on November 7 despite instructions from the Chief Minister.

A two-year-old boy died after he fell into a water tank in his house at Kathiramangalam village near Tirupattur on Saturday.

The police said the victim, G. Rishivanth, was reportedly playing near the water tank of his house which was under construction.

His mother Asin, 27, had gone to drop her first son at school while Gnanasekar, a mason, was busy with work at his house when the incident took place. On returning from school, Asin found Rishivanth missing.

The couple, along with their neighbours, searched for the toddler and finally found him in the six-foot-deep water tank which was built to store water for construction purposes.

On being alerted, the Tirupattur Taluk police inspected the spot and registered a case. The body was sent to the Government Taluk Hospital for a post-mortem.

Nursing students from Jammu and Kashmir, studying at the Government Nursing College at Holenarasipur in Hassan district, have complained of restrictions on growing beards being imposed at the institution.

The J&K students, enrolled in the institute under the Prime Minister’s Special Scholarship Scheme (PMSSS), were forced to shave their beards, according to a letter written to the Chief Minister, by the Jammu and Kashmir Students’ Association.

Association national convener Nasir Khuehami, in his letter to the CM on Saturday, said two dozen students from Jammu and Kashmir had been studying in the college. “The college administration has mandated that students either trim their beards to a ‘01’ trimmer length or be clean-shaven as a condition for participating in college activities and entering the premises, particularly for clinical duties,” he said.

Mr. Khuehami, who resides in Delhi, said that he received letters from students in Holenarasipur. “The students are facing undue restrictions regarding their personal appearance, specifically the growing of beards in accordance with their cultural and religious practices,” he said.

When The Hindu contacted B. Rajanna, Director of Hassan Institute of Medical Sciences, he said the issue had been resolved. “The staff had given general instructions with regard to maintaining cleanliness while on clinical duties. The instructions had been misconstrued by the students,” he said.

He spoke to the students and addressed their grievances. “They have come all the way from J&K. We are taking good care of them. We listened to them. They have expressed happiness with the institute’s response. They are all happy now,” he added.

The director has also sent a notice to the principal of the college seeking a report on the incident.

The vice-president of VIT, G.V. Selvam, inaugurated the salon near the Old Fish Market on Saturday.

The vice-president of Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), G.V. Selvam, inaugurated a free salon, exclusively meant for persons with disabilities, near the Old Fish Market here.

Spread over 250 square feet, the new salon can accommodate at least three persons at a time.

Hairstylist R. Raja has been roped in for the service. He has been catering to the needs of persons with disabilities at their homes for nearly a decade.

Thalaimurai Peravai, a local non-profit association led by PDK Maran, launched the initiative.

“In India, Sikkim has 2.91% of persons with disabilities, followed by Tamil Nadu (1.6%). They [persons with disabilities] too need better hair care, especially protection from dandruff. Such an initiative for them is laudable,” Mr. Selvam said.

District Differently Abled Welfare Officer S. Saravanan said persons with disabilities, especially those who are wheelchair-bound, have to pay exorbitant rates for a haircut since they need to call hairstylists to their homes to do the job. Now, such services are delivered free of cost.

Of 37,000 persons with disabilities in the district, around 14,000 of them are within the Vellore taluk including Corporation limits, he said.

“The battery-run wheelchair provided by the State government for persons with disabilities allows them to move around freely, including inside a small facility like a salon. Such an initiative should be encouraged,” Mr. Saravanan said.

The new salon will function from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on all days, including Sundays.

In special cases, the services will be extended to persons with disabilities at their houses.

P. Gnanavel, president, Vellore All Traders’ Association, and S. Ramamurthy, vice-president, Tamil Nadu All Hairstylists’ Association, were present on the occasion.

Priests performing  ‘Pushpa Yagam’ at Tirumala temple on Saturday.

Fervour marked the annual ‘Pushpa Yagam’ festival observed at the temple of Lord Venkateswara at Tirumala on Saturday. Around nine tonnes of aromatic flowers of varied hues donated by devotees from within the State and neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka were utilised in the festival.

The festivities took off to a religious start, with ‘Snapana Thirumanjanam’ to the deities of Lord Malayappa and his two consorts, followed by the ‘Pushpa Yagam’ in the afternoon. The deities were seated atop a high golden altar as the priests showered flowers on them amid chanting of verses from the scriptures. As soon as the floral mounds touched the chin of the deities, the priests cleared them and repeated the spiritual exercise for about 18 times.

Earlier, a team of around 300 Srivari seva volunteers and employees led by the TTD Additional Executive Officer Ch. Venkaiah Chowdary carried the flowers in a grand procession from the garden office and handed them over to the priests inside the temple.

Civil society groups and individuals called for more transparency in the ongoing caste survey in Telangana, urging the government to release the survey forms in English and Urdu to enhance accessibility and avoid confusion among the public.

They underscored that Urdu is the State’s second official language, and English is widely understood.

ASEEM, a non-governmental organisation, stated that they had submitted a representation to the Chief Secretary A. Santhi Kumari, asking for the immediate release of the survey forms in these two languages.

“We also request that the government conduct a publicity campaign in Urdu and Telugu newspapers and collaborate with community organisations to stress the significance of the survey. A large section of Telangana’s population cannot read or write in Telugu, making the current format of the survey form a barrier to participation. Releasing the forms in Urdu and English would alleviate this issue,” ASEEM stated in its communication.

The group also recommended that the government provide a detailed list of the information respondents would need to ready, ensuring smoother interactions with surveyors.

Mufti Omar Abedeen from the All India Milli Council, too, echoed similar views. He demanded that forms in English and Urdu be made available quickly. “This will enable members of the public to understand the information required for the survey. There are some people who are still unaware of what information should be shared with the enumerators. If a the form is released both in Urdu and English, even as pdf, it would be of great help,” he said.

On Friday, residents of Banjara Hills said enumerators had come to their homes and affixed stickers, which is a part of the survey process. They said that there was confusion of what information the enumerators should be given. “While they did not ask questions or fill the survey form, there should be more clarity on what sort of questions we will be asked. I cannot read or write Telugu. So, it would be good if forms in English are made available. Privacy and data protection are also important,” said Zaindul Abedeen, an IT professional.

NCP president and Maharashtra Deputy CM Ajit Pawar during an interview with The Hindu at his residence in Pune on November 9, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Emmanual Yogini

Fighting the toughest battle of his political career, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar will field candidates on 56 of the 288 seats in the Maharashtra Assembly election. Pitted against his uncle and NCP(SP) president Sharad Pawar, whose party contests on 87 seats, the fight on the home turf of Baramati and in other constituencies will decide whom the people of Maharashtra trust. This is the first State Assembly election after the vertical split in the NCP and the Shiv Sena, the two strong regional parties, making the entire process an unprecedented one for the State. In an interview at his bungalow in Pune, Ajit Pawar, known to never mince his words, says that he wants the people of Maharashtra to trust him and to give him a chance on the basis of his work experience as a good administrator.

“I did not leave him. All the MLAs wrote to him and he gave his permission,” Mr. Ajit Pawar said, when asked if he thought he had made a mistake by parting ways with Mr. Sharad Pawar.

When asked if there was any possibility of reconciliation, he said he did not want to answer hypothetical questions at this juncture.

“Everything is at stake for us in this election, but so it is for them [the Opposition]. We have corrected mistakes we committed during the Lok Sabha election. The atmosphere is different now,” he said. On the recent controversy over Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s “batoge toh katoge” (If we don’t stay united, we will be destroyed) remark, he said his party had not left its secular moorings despite being in an alliance with the BJP and Shiv Sena.

On his chief ministerial aspirations and whether he thinks Maharashtra would once again see the CM candidate being chosen from the smaller party in the alliance, much like Bihar, he said: “I am not the kind of person who hides his aspirations. But am not thinking of it right now. If I say anything, it disturbs the alliance partners.”

Dressed in a white kurta-pyjama, with the NCP’s clock symbol pinned close to its centre button, Mr. Ajit Pawar looked relaxed. He laughed while fielding questions and attended to waiting party workers, amid a packed campaigning schedule.

In the Lok Sabha election, Mr. Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP) had won eight of the 10 seats it fought, and Mr. Ajit Pawar’s faction could win only one seat.

Full interview:

Kaushik Reddy
| Photo Credit:

Mild commotion prevailed in Huzurabad town on Saturday when police dispersed a group of BRS cadres, who, led by the party MLA P. Kaushik Reddy staged a dharna demanding release of funds for Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries under the second phase of the scheme.

The demonstrators including Mr. Kaushik Reddy staged a dharna at Ambedkar Chowrasta in protest against what they alleged inordinate delay on the part of the Congress government in the release of financial assistance to the beneficiaries of Dalit Bandhu, a scheme launched by the previous BRS government for economic empowerment of Dalits. Several Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries took part in the protest, sources said.

The situation turned tense when the police tried to disperse the protesters as the vehicular traffic on the busy Karimnagar-Hanamkonda highway was disrupted. This led to jostling and one of the protesters reportedly fainted in the melee, sources added. The police shifted the protesters to the local police station. They were let off later in the day.

Mr Reddy was admitted to the Government Area Hospital in the town after he complained of dizziness. Speaking to the media, Mr Reddy alleged that the local police resorted to lathi-charge on the demonstrators. Meanwhile, BRS working president K T Rama Rao condemned the alleged attack on Kaushik Reddy and warned the police that they would be made to pay when the BRS comes back to power.

Three workers were charred to death and three others injured in a fire caused by a chemical leak at a godown in Navsari district of Gujarat on Saturday (November 9, 2024), police said.

The blaze broke out around 9 a.m. when workers were unloading barrels containing chemicals from a truck at a godown in Devsar village of Billimoria taluka, Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) B.V. Gohil said.

“Three workers died, and three others sustained injuries and were shifted to a hospital,” he said.

Mr. Gohil said five fire tenders were pressed into service from nearby talukas, and the blaze was brought under control.

Mamlatdar Jagdish Chaudhary said chemicals leaked from one of the barrels in the truck, causing the fire.

The truck first caught fire, and the flames spread in the godown, killing three persons. Three workers sustained severe burns, while one is still missing, he said. The cooling operation is underway at the godown, the official added.