Karnataka Ministerial Delegation in Australia, meets PM Anthony Albanese
Melbourne/Sydney: A ministerial delegation from Karnataka, led by Medical Education Minister Dr. Sharan Prakash Patil and Dr. UT Ifthikhar Fareed, Chairman of the Karnataka State Allied & Healthcare Council, has arrived in Australia on an official visit. The delegation, which is visiting Melbourne and Sydney, aims to explore collaborations in medical education, healthcare, and allied health sectors.
Soon after landing in Melbourne on 31st January 2025, the delegation met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
As part of their Melbourne itinerary, the delegation participated in key engagements, including a morning tea at the Victorian Parliament, an executive luncheon at RMIT University, and visits to Epworth Richmond Healthcare Simulation & Education Centre and Monash Health, where they interacted with the executive teams.
On 1st February, the team will embark on a full-day tour of the Great Ocean Road, a well-known scenic route in Victoria.
The delegation will head to Sydney on 2nd February, where their schedule includes a visit to the Consul General's office, university meetings, and a tour of Blue Mountains. Their engagements in Sydney focus on strengthening Karnataka’s healthcare education sector by exploring advanced training programs, research collaborations, and allied healthcare skill development with institutions such as the University of Sydney, UNSW Health, Macquarie University, and Western Sydney University.
The visit also includes a Healthcare Education Roundtable at the NSW Parliament, discussions with Study NSW Government representatives, and tours of leading healthcare innovation centres like Westmead Healthcare and Liverpool Ingham Institute.
The delegation is set to return to India on 6th February 2025.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
