Karnataka Government to resubmit proposal on increasing NREGA duration to 150 days
Belagavi: Karnataka Rural Development Minister Priyank Kharge on Thursday, responding to a question raised during the question hour in the assembly session, announced that amid drought situation in the state Government will resubmit a proposal to the union government on increasing the days of wage provided for agricultural laborers under the NREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) to 150 days.
The Minister responding to a question raised by the Congress MLA K. M. Shivalinge Gowda during the question hour, stated that several requests had already been made to the Center(Union Government) to increase the wage days. However, it was not considered. In this background, action will be taken to submit a new proposal from the government.”
He explained, “The Commissioner of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Department, Principal Secretary, and myself have written to the Union Minister to increase the man-days provided under NREGA to 150 from September 14 to August 19, even before the drought situation was declared.”
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However, Kharge highlighted that despite a response from the central government on the 31st, the Union Rural Development Minister provided wrong information in the Parliament session, claiming that no proposal for increasing man-days under the NREGA scheme had been received.
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Karnataka SSLC question papers to have new format for academic year 2024-25
Bengaluru: In a significant shift, the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) has reportedly announced changes to the format of the SSLC annual exam question papers for the academic year 2024-25 and released a blueprint outlining these revisions. This overhaul, the first major revision since 2019-20, is aimed at enhancing the quality of learning and reducing students' dependence on rote memorisation.
Marks will now be allocated based on themes rather than individual chapters, with a focus on key concepts, according to a report published by The Hindu on Monday. For instance, language papers can be organised around themes such as prose, poetry, and grammar, while core subjects will feature units that combine multiple lessons.
A significant component of this change is the reintroduction of a weightage system based on learning objectives, which includes: remembering (20%), understanding (40%), and application (20%). In addition, 15% of the marks will be allocated to skills such as diagram drawing, while 5% will focus on higher-order thinking questions that encourage critical analysis and problem-solving.
“This method ensures equal importance is given to all chapters during teaching and learning. Teachers and students can move away from the practice of preparing for exams solely based on chapter-wise marks allocation. While specific marks are not assigned to individual chapters, clear weightage is given to relevant themes. This approach guarantees comprehensive practice for each chapter and allows for diverse question types in the exams,” the blueprint stated, as cited by the news outlet.
Key changes also include a reduction in the number of one-mark and two-mark questions, in favour of more three-mark and four-mark questions and the introduction of one five-mark question.
The blueprint mentioned that one-mark questions, which often lead to guesswork, would be replaced with more descriptive questions that challenge students to think critically, write extensively, and refine their expression skills.
The updated question paper format will include 45 questions for the first language, and 38 questions for other subject papers. Some of the three-mark, four-mark, and five-mark questions may contain sub-questions. Additionally, internal choice questions, worth a total of 20 marks, will continue to be part of the exam and will be based on the same themes and chapters as the primary questions.
Despite these revisions, KSEAB has clarified that the overall difficulty level of the exams will remain unchanged. The distribution of marks will continue to follow the same pattern as in previous years, with 30% of questions considered easy or very easy, 50% of average difficulty, and 20% deemed difficult.
