Replacing of 'India' in textbooks: Kerala Govt sends letter to the Centre
Thiruvananthapuram (PTI): The Left government in Kerala has sought the intervention of the Central government to reconsider a recent recommendation made by an NCERT panel to replace the term 'India' with 'Bharat' in school textbooks.
State General Education Minister V Sivankutty has sent letters via email to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan, seeking their intervention into the matter.
A high-level committee for social sciences, constituted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) to revise the school curriculum, has recommended that the name of the country 'India' be replaced with 'Bharat' in the school textbooks for all classes in the country.
In his letters, Minister Sivankutty underscored the importance of upholding the existing practice in the best interest of the educational system and the nation's unity, which thrives on its diverse cultural heritage.
For generations, students have learnt about the country's rich past, history and heritage with the name 'India', he said, adding that any change in this would create confusion and disrupt the continuity in the educational system.
Sivankutty said allegations have cropped up that the NCERT's present stance would only support certain ideologies.
This has raised concerns about the distortion of history and bias in the educational system, he said in the letter.
It is essential to scrutinise such recommendations to ensure that they do not follow any particular political or ideological agenda, the minister added.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had on Thursday categorically made it clear that the NCERT panel's recommendation to replace 'India' with 'Bharat' in school textbooks cannot be accepted.
He also urged all citizens to unite and safeguard the essence of India.
He had said that the present recommendation could be seen only as a continuation of the recent arbitrary exclusion of portions including Mughal history and the banning of the RSS following Gandhi's assassination from textbooks.
The politics behind the move are as clear as day, the CM had said.
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Karnataka HC restrains media from publishing chargesheet details in Renukaswamy murder case
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday issued an ex-parte interim order barring media outlets from broadcasting, printing, or publishing any information from the chargesheet against Kannada actor Darshan Thoogudeepa, who is accused along with 16 others in the Renukaswamy murder case.
`The restriction will remain in place until the next hearing.
Justice Hemant Chandangoudar, presiding over a single-judge bench, passed the order following a plea by the 47-year-old actor, who requested the court to restrain media organisations from disseminating confidential details contained in the chargesheet and other materials gathered during the investigation.
The case is pending before a Magistrate court.
The High Court noted that despite an injunction issued by a lower court on August 27 in a suit filed by Darshan’s wife Vijayalakshmi, media outlets continued to share confidential information. Finding merit in the petitioner’s arguments, the court ordered media outlets, identified as respondents 3 to 40, to refrain from publishing any details from the chargesheet until the next hearing.
In its decision, the HC referred to the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in "Sidhartha Vashisht @ Manu Sharma vs State (NCT of Delhi)", and Clause 5 of the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995. It also cited a prior judgment from a coordinate bench of the Karnataka High Court.
The court instructed the Union of India to notify the media houses of this ruling.
Darshan was arrested on June 11, 2024, in connection with the Renukaswamy murder case and has been in judicial custody since June 22. Currently he is lodged in Ballari prison.
According to police sources, 33-year-old Renukaswamy, a fan of the actor, had sent obscene messages to Pavithra Gowda (Darshan's friend and co-accused), which enraged Darshan, allegedly leading to his murder. His body was found near a stormwater drain next to an apartment in Sumanahalli here on June nine.
Raghavendra, one of the accused who is part of Darshan's fan club in Chitradurga, had brought Renukaswamy to a shed in R R Nagar here, on the pretext that the actor wanted to meet him. It was in this shed that he was allegedly tortured and murdered.
According to the post-mortem report, Renukaswamy, a native of Chitradurga, died due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of multiple blunt injuries.
Police sources said Pavithra, who is accused number one, was the "major cause" for Renukaswamy’s murder, claiming that it has been proved from the probe that she instigated other accused, conspired with them, and took part in the crime.
