Minister of State for Primary and Secondary Education Kimmane Ratnakar, who was facing the Opposition onslaught over the increasing incidents of sexual assaults in schools, is now facing wrath of educationists for wrong questions appearing in three subjects — English, Mathematics, and Physics — in the class 12 examination. As part of damage control, the Education Department announced 15 grace marks for students, who attempted the wrong questions (five in English, nine in Mathematics and one in Physics). These grace marks are said to be the highest awarded in recent times. One of the lecturers, who boycotted the evaluation seeking hike in pay scale for PU lecturers, said there was no clarity on how to grant grace marks. Another lecturer said 2015 can be aptly termed as “a year of grace marks”, considering CBSE too offered grace marks for its faulty Math paper. The grace mark concept is likely to adversely affect meritorious students, who are planning to join professional courses. Congress legislators themselves have questioned Mr. Ratnakar’s performance in handling issues, including making Kannada the medium of instruction in primary education. Will the Minister pull up officials concerned to ensure such mistakes are not repeated next year? Or will the Chief Minister drop the Minister during the next Ministry reshuffle? Only time will tell.
A Catch-22 situation
A proposal to build a solid waste management plant at Sajipanadu village in Dakshina Kannada has become a bone of contention between two Ministers in the Congress government. Forest Minister B. Ramanath Rai proposed to build the plant in the village to process garbage from Bantwal town. Health Minister U.T. Khader opposed it because Sajipanadu is under his Mangaluru Assembly constituency, while Bantwal is in the Assembly constituency of Mr. Rai. The officials concerned gave up the proposal under the guise that residents adjoining the plant site were not ready to shift to the nearby Ira village. Though Mr. Khader was not present in the recent meeting, Mr. Rai maintained that Rs. 1.5 crore had been spent on levelling and building the compound wall of the site. The officials, who were stuck in a dilemma, could not reveal to Mr. Rai that it was Mr. Khader who had opposed the project. While the officials started beating around the bush, BJP members enjoyed the situation. The fate of the project is yet to be known.
Jarkiholi’s fight against superstition
Even as the Karnataka Prevention of Superstitious Practices Bill got a quiet burial, Minister for Small Scale Industries Satish Jarkiholi is perhaps the only Congress leader leading a campaign against superstitions. The Minister’s latest programme was on the occasion of total lunar eclipse (April 4) when he and his supporters spent some good time and had lunch at the Sadashiv Nagar crematorium in Belagavi. This was to convey a message to all those who observe fast during the duration of eclipse believing that consuming food causes ill. On December 6, 2014, the Minister and his supporters had dinner at the same crematorium and spent a night there.
by surprise
Congress Minister Kimmane Ratnakar took everyone by surprise by revealing that he had supported Legislative Council Chairman D.H. Shankaramurthy of the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections in 1980. Addressing a programme organised to mark the birth anniversary of Babu Jagjivan Ram in Shivamogga, Mr. Ratnakar defended his decision to support the BJP leader saying that, back then, being a Janata Party worker, his dream was to make Jagjivan Ram, who was leading the Janata Party alliance in the election, the Prime Minister.
Mr. Ratnakar, who hails from the Janata Parivar, joined the Congress in 2004. Mr. Shankaramurthy, who was a Jan Sangh leader, contested the elections as the Janata Party candidate from Shivamogga constituency. But he lost to the Congress party candidate, S.T. Khadri. Mr. Ratnakar said many political developments took place during the last 30 years and he and Mr. Shankaramurthy had to identify themselves with different parties.
Nagesh Prabhu, Raviprasad Kamila, Vijaykumar Patil, and Veerendra P.M.
