Two senior women bureaucrats indulge in public spat in K'taka, Govt warns action
Bengaluru, Feb 20: With two senior women bureaucrats indulging in a public spat, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Monday expressed displeasure against their conduct, and warned action, citing service rule violation.
The Minister was referring to the exchanges between Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation Managing Director D Roopa, an IPS officer, and IAS officer Rohini Sindhuri, Muzrai Department Commissioner.
''We are not sitting quiet, action will be taken against them. They both are behaving in such a bad way that not even normal people speak on the streets. Let them do whatever on their personal issues, but coming before the media and behaving in a way they are doing is not right,'' Jnanendra said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said, people see IAS and IPS officers with high respect, but looking at their behaviour and conduct, they are causing disrespect and humiliation to civil services officers.
''We have good officials of high ranking, they are the ones who run the state and the country, but a few such people are bringing a bad name to the whole of the official class, they have to be punished. I have spoken to DG (Director General of Police) and will be speaking to the CS (Chief Secretary); the Chief Minister is also aware of it,'' he added.
Roopa has taken to social media alleging several ''wrongdoings'' of Sindhuri. She also made personal remarks, accusing Sindhuri of misconduct and released personal pictures of her alleging that it was shared by her with a few male officers. Terming the allegations as baseless, Sindhuri alleged that Roopa, who holds a responsible position, is making such comments against her out of personal hatred, and was behaving as if she had lost her mental balance.
The two have accused each other of violating the Civil Services Conduct rules, and that they had brought it to the notice of the appropriate authorities.
Sindhuri has said that she will take legal and other actions with appropriate authorities for Roopa's actions amounting to misconduct and criminal offences under various sections of the Indian Penal Code.
Noting that the officers are bound by conduct rules, Jnanendra said, ''already they were warned in the past and as they are not stopping, the government will consider taking strict measures.'' ''They have taken names of certain Ministers and the government, the Chief Minister is aware of all this, and he will take a strict decision'', he added.
Earlier too, both officials had indulged in a public spat, and had been involved in controversies separately too in their official capacities.
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FM Sitharaman launches 'VijAIpatha' labs in govt schools in Karnataka
Hampi (PTI): Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday launched Cyient AI Labs (CyAILS) -- 'VijAIpatha', aimed at democratising access to Artificial Intelligence, STEM and Robotics education in government schools here.
In a series of posts on 'X', the minister's office shared pictures of the initiative launched at a girl's government school in Hosapete taluk and said that under the pilot phase, five world-class AI, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) and Robotics laboratories are being established in government schools.
Each lab will be equipped with high-performance computers, AI-ready software, robotics kits, IoT devices, sensors and secure broadband connectivity.
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"Aligned with NEP 2020, Digital India and Hon'ble Prime Minister @narendramodi's mission of Viksit Bharat 2047, the programme integrates CBSE's AI curriculum and strengthens technology-enabled learning in public education," it said.
Focusing on rural and semi-urban India, the initiative introduces future technologies at the school level, helping build early digital fluency, computational thinking and innovation capacity among students, the minister's office said.
"Benefiting over 2,000 students and training more than 200 teachers, 'VijAIpatha' is a scalable CSR model fostering innovation, career readiness and grassroots digital empowerment," it added.
According to the office, the initiative has been designed as a scalable, replicable and sustainable model that can be adopted across districts and states in collaboration with government education departments, positioning it as a benchmark CSR model for a national AI education rollout.
