District administration launches first-of-its-kind ‘Blindness-free Shivamogga’ initiative
Shivamogga: In a pioneering move aimed at eliminating preventable blindness, the Shivamogga district administration has launched “Blindness-free Shivamogga”, the first initiative of its kind in Karnataka.
“This is a holistic approach to treating people with eye disorders, irrespective of their financial status. The programme begins this month,” Deccan Herald quoted Kiran, District Leprosy Control Officer and programme in-charge, as saying.
Unlike the national blindness control programme where patients must visit clinics on their own, Blindness-Free Shivamogga reverses the model. Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs) workers will conduct door-to-door screenings using a mobile app developed specifically for the initiative. The app contains questions on visual health. Based on responses, ASHA workers identify potential patients and refer them to nearby sub-health centres for primary screening.
“Medical services are free for people from all sections of society, not just for BPL families. This has not been done anywhere in the country,” added Kiran.
The scheme is the brainchild of Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) N. Hemanth. He emphasised the critical need for early intervention. “Many people are not aware of this and they consult ophthalmologists when the problem reaches the final stage. Blindness-free Shivamogga is designed to overcome exactly this,” DH quoted as Hemanth as saying.
To widen the programme’s footprint, expert doctors will visit villages through coordination with gram panchayats and Primary Health Centres (PHCs). Over 250 sub-health centres will be involved in the eye screening process across the district’s population of 18 lakh. Hemanth estimates that more than half of the population may suffer from some form of eye disorder.
“Till now, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy were not being addressed in general hospitals. Only private hospitals were attending to such patients and people had to spend a lot of money. We are providing free treatment,” DH quoted Hemanth as saying.
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NEET-UG: 2 more held, role of several NTA officers under scanner; CBI focussing on source of leak
New Delhi (PTI): The CBI has arrested two more persons in connection with the NEET (UG) paper-leak case, with the role of several officers of the National Testing Agency (NTA) and other organisations, who had access to the printing press where the papers were printed, coming under the scanner, officials said on Thursday.
The agency has arrested Dhananjay Lokhanda from Ahilyanagar and Manisha Waghmare from Pune and conducted searches at 14 locations across the country in the last 24 hours, they said.
The CBI is focussing on identifying the source of the leak that has caused massive disappointment to lakhs of aspirants eyeing a seat in undergraduate medical courses, which are allotted after the highly-competitive examination, the officials said.
According to the CBI probe so far, the involvement of public servants in the leak cannot be ruled out.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested three individuals from Jaipur -- Mangilal Biwal, Vikas Biwal and Dinesh Biwal -- along with Yash Yadav from Gurugram and Shubham Khairnar from Nashik.
Khairnar was in touch with Yadav and informed him in April that Mangilal Biwal was ready to pay Rs 10-12 lakh for arranging leaked NEET (UG) 2026 questions for his younger son.
Khairnar allegedly provided 500 to 600 questions from the leaked paper to Yadav, the officials said, adding that the questions could have helped score enough marks to get a seat in a reputed medical college.
Mangilal Biwal allegedly procured the paper from Yadav, who was known to his elder son Vikas Biwal from an NEET coaching in Rajasthan's Sikar. The deal between Mangilal Biwal and Yadav was for Rs 10 lakh, if 150 questions from the question bank matched with those in the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) paper, the officials said.
Mangilal Biwal shared the paper with his son and further distributed it among relatives.
Yadav also told Vikas Biwal to find additional candidates for the questions to recover some of the money that he had spent on getting those, the officials said.
An analysis of digital devices has given the agency incriminating chats, leaked question papers and other digital evidence. The CBI will subject the devices to a forensic examination to get the deleted data, the officials said.
The federal agency has registered an FIR and formed teams to probe the alleged NEET (UG) paper leak that resulted in the cancellation of the exam held on May 3.
The NEET (UG) 2026 was conducted across 551 Indian cities and at 14 overseas centres. Nearly 23 lakh candidates had registered for the test, which was administered by the NTA at centres across the country.
According to the NTA, information regarding alleged malpractice was received on the evening of May 7, four days after the examination was held. The NTA said the inputs were escalated to central agencies the following morning for "independent verification and necessary action".
The Rajasthan Police's Special Operations Group (SOG) has claimed that a "guess paper" for chemistry, allegedly circulated among students ahead of the examination, had approximately 410 questions, including roughly 120 that appeared in the test.
