India's Anshu Malik grabs silver at Wrestling World Cup
Belgrade, Dec 17: Young Anshu Malik was the lone Indian woman wrestler to win a medal at the individual World Cup, grabbing a silver in the 57kg category, here.
Anshu, who is coming up from the junior ranks, clinched her third medal at the senior level from as many tournaments. She lost the gold medal bout 1-5 to Moldova's Anastasia Nichita on Wednesday night.
She had won a bronze at the Asian Championship early this year in New Delhi and a silver at Mattio Pellicone event in Rome in January.
She is gradually making the 57kg category her own despite presence of World championship medallist Pooja Dhanda and experienced Sarita Mor in the same weight class.
Anshu began with a 4-2 win over Azerbaijan's Alyona Kolesnik and followed it up with 3-1 victory over Germany's Laura Mertens in the quarterfinals.
In the semi-final, she outplayed Russia's Veronika Chumikova, recording a victory by fall.
Another Indian grappler Pinki also did well to reach the 55kg semi-finals, where she lost to Belarusian Iryna Kurachkina.
She later lost the bout for bronze to Russia's Olga Khoroshavtseva by technical superiority.
Sarita (59kg), Sonam Malik (62kg) and Sakshi Malik (65kg) could not go beyond quarterfinals in their respective categories.
Veteran Gursharanpreet got a repechage round in the 72kg but lost that by technical superiority to Evgeniia Zakharchenko.
Nirmala Devi (50kg) and Kiran (76kg) fizzed in the Qualification round, losing 6-9 to Poland's Anna Lukasiak and Canada's Erica Elizabeth Wiebe respectively.
From among the Greco Roman grapplers, only Arjun Halakurki could reach the quarterfinals in the 55kg while all other could not go beyond qualification rounds.
Arjun lost 5-10 to Kyrgyzstan's Balbai Dordokov.
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Only teachers can transform individuals into extraordinary citizens: CM Siddaramaiah
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said that only teachers have the power to transform ordinary individuals into extraordinary citizens and urged them to focus on building a better society.
Inaugurating the State-level Educational Mega Conference and Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Karnataka State Primary School Teachers' Association at Tripura Vasini, Palace Grounds, he said teachers are the architects of the nation's future.
"At the time of Independence, the literacy rate was only 12 to 15 per cent. Today it has risen to 74 per cent. We must ask whether we are providing quality education that responds to social issues. This is not the fault of teachers. Because of the deeply rooted caste system, we have not been able to bring about the expected transformation in education," he said.
Emphasising the need for scientific and rational education, he said the Constitution envisages responsible development of individuals through such learning.
"Society is still bound by caste, superstition and regressive practices. Education must help eliminate these," he said, adding that inequality must end for all sections to join the mainstream.
"Only teachers can impart rational and scientific education. Only teachers have the power to transform ordinary people into extraordinary individuals," he said, recalling Mahatma Gandhi's view that development is possible only when intellect, compassion and skill come together.
He urged teachers to discharge their constitutional duties. "Accept ideas only after questioning and reasoning. Teach children to do the same," he said.
Assuring that teachers' demands would be addressed in phases, he said one lakh teachers were recruited when he was the finance minister in the past and that the Sixth and Seventh Pay Commissions had been implemented.
"We will discuss the Old Pension Scheme (OPS) in the Cabinet and arrive at a decision," he said.
Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, speaking at the conference, called upon teachers to prepare students not just to learn history but to create it.
"You are not just nurturing children; you are nurturing society itself. The joy you feel when your students rise to great heights cannot be matched," he said.
He urged teachers to ensure that the quality of education available in Bengaluru reaches every school.
"To realise dreams, children need hard work, commitment and discipline. The foundation laid at the primary level lasts a lifetime," he said.
Announcing measures to strengthen rural education, he said Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 10,000 crore of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds would be utilised to improve infrastructure in government schools in villages.
"Migration of children to cities for education must stop. Private schools have been advised to adopt government schools. Through this, we aim to fill 90,000 teaching posts," he said.
Noting that over one lakh teaching posts were vacant, he said approval had recently been given to fill 56,000 posts out of 2.5 lakh vacancies after detailed Cabinet discussions.
He also assured that land would be allotted for the teachers' association building subject to availability and sought teachers' cooperation in booth-level electoral work, stating that their role in ensuring fairness was crucial.
