1. Karnataka Cabinet scraps anti-conversion law, recalls chapters on RSS founder from textbooks
The Karnataka Cabinet on June 15 decided to roll back the controversial Karnataka Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2022, (popularly called the anti-conversion Bill) introduced by the previous BJP government. Amid vociferous protests, the Basavaraj Bommai-led government had passed the Bill in September 2022 with an aim “to prohibit conversion by misrepresentation, force, allurement, fraudulent means, or marriage.”
In the same meeting, the Cabinet also approved the revision of Kannada and Social Science textbooks of Class 6 to Class 10 for the current academic year, doing away with the changes brought in by the Rohith Chakrathirtha-led committee. It has given its consent to remove chapters on RSS founder K.B. Hedgewar and Hindutva ideologue V.D. Savarkar, while adding chapters on Savitribai Phule, Nehru’s letters to Indira Gandhi and poetry on B.R. Ambedkar.
The Congress had in its poll manifesto promised to “repeal all unjust laws and other anti-people laws” passed by the BJP government, including reversal of school textbook revisions, within one year of coming to power.
2. CET 2023 results announced in Karnataka
The results for Karnataka CET 2023 — a gateway to professional courses in Karnataka — were announced on June 15 by Higher and Technical Education Minister Dr. M.C. Sudhakar. A total of 2,44,345 students attempted the entrance test, held between May 20 and May 23 across the State.
Vignesh Nataraj Kumar from Sri Kumaran Children’s Home in Bengaluru topped the engineering stream with 97.889%. Meanwhile, S. H. Byresh, a student of Expert Pre-University College in Mangaluru, secured first rank in Agricuture stream, while bagging top ranks in six other streams.
3. Karnataka yet to fix fee for 50% of private medical college seats on a par with government seats
Despite multiple recommendations by the Fee Regulatory Committee for Professional Colleges, headed by Justice Subash Adi, Karnataka is yet to implement the directive of the National Medical Commission (NMC) to fix the fee for 50% of seats in private medical colleges and deemed-to-be-universities on par with government seats
To curb the capitation fee mafia and provide affordable medical education to all students, NMC released guidelines on February 3, 2022, for determination of fees in all medical colleges, based on the National Medical Commission Act, 2019.
4. ‘Daredevil Musthafa’ declared tax-free in Karnataka
The Karnataka government has declared Daredevil Musthafa, a film based on Kannada writer Poornachandra Tejaswi’s short story, tax free in the State. The Kannada college drama is directed by debutant director Shashank Soghal.
Mr. Soghal had written to Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, requesting him to watch the film and declare it tax free to widen its reach. Responding to the letter, the CM approved the film team’s request. “Poornachandra Tejaswi has influenced an entire generation through his writing. We need a mind to build a society with the foundation of love, harmony and trust,” Siddaramaiah posted on Twitter.
