BENGALURU  SUNDAY  MAY 8, 2022  `12.00  PAGES 26  LATE CITY EDITION NEET-PG TO BE HELD AS PER SCHEDULE ON MAY 21: CENTRE The government said the notice being circulated claiming that the examination has been postponed to July 9 is ‘fake’ VISIT NBEMS’ WEBSITE FOR CORRECT DETAILS JUNIOR DOCS PUSH FOR DELAYING EXAM The National Board of Examination in Medical Sciences (NBEMS) issued a notice saying, “some unscrupulous elements are circulating false and bogus information”. The NBEMS advised the public to visit its website: https://natboard.edu.in for authentic information on NEET-PG. The NBEMS conducts postgraduate and postdoctoral medical examinations ■ The Centre’s advisory comes a day after 15,000 NEET-PG aspirants submitted a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, urging that the upcoming postgraduate examination be postponed ■ Junior doctors say since the counselling for last year’s exam is still going on, there is not enough time to prepare for this year’s exam 1.5 lakh MEDICAL STUDENTS ARE SET TO APPEAR FOR THIS YEAR’S NEET-PG CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI 6L HECTARES DEEMED KARNATAKA FOREST LAND ‘DECLASSIFIED’ GO issued, papers for farmers, dwellers soon E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Bengaluru, Udupi THE state government has ‘declassified’ over six lakh hectares of deemed forest land, leaving only 3.30 lakh hectares of such land in the state. Following a cabinet decision in 2014, the government on May 5 this year issued a government order, declassifying the forest land. Forest Minister Umesh Katti told reporters in Udupi that there was a long-pending demand from many dwellers and farmers to declassify the land which was classified as deemed forest as per a 1996 Supreme Court order. “Farmers and dwellers from across the state will now get title deeds of their land,” he said. “The discussion about classification of deemed forest land has been happening since the time SM Krishna was the chief minister. Now, finally the declassification has happened and 6,64,000 hectares will go to the revenue department. Farmers who have developed areca- nut, coconut or cashew plantations and dwellers who built their houses can get title deeds now,” he added. Katti said forest department officials had submitted an erroneous affidavit to the Supreme Court earlier. But the classified forest area had included farming land and dwelling areas. Proper classification has been done now, he said. As per the GO, a copy of which was given to the media by the minister’s of fice, 3,30,186.93 hectares of land is deemed forest land of the total 46,32,615 hectares of forest land. It was listed in the affidavit by the forest department, comprising protected and deemed forest. Explaining the GO and ground reality a forest depart, ment official said, “The cabinet in 2014 had accepted and approved 3.30 lakh ha as deemed forest land. This means that as per the initial affidavit of 1997, of the 10.11 lakh ha, after correcting all anomalies, 3.30 lakh ha P7 is deemed forest.” ULFA faction ‘executes’ 2 members for spying E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Guwahati THE Paresh Baruah faction of the United Liberation Front of Asom-Independent (ULFA-I), which operates from Myanmar, on Saturday claimed it has ‘executed’ two of its young cadres for spying for the police. In a statement issued to media, the banned outfit alleged the duo– Dhanjit Das alias Roopak Asom and Sanjib Sarma alias Rishav Asom – were planted by the Assam police to collect information about the group. Dhanjit, who hails from Barpeta district of Assam, tried to flee the camp on April 24 but was caught the next day “Dur. ing interrogation, he confessed to have coaxed other members to surrender. He was also in contact with some police officers,” the statement read. As for Sanjib who hails from Assam’s Kamrup district, the Message for sympathisers: Himanta Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said the alleged execution of two youths would be a message for those wanting to join the outfit YOUR SHOT 181 139 1 171 121 0 ‘We have given up on essential idea of God’ A FLEET FOR VET HELP A priest performs puja on cows on the Vidhana Soudha premises as Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, along with Union Minister P Rupala and Minister Prabhu Chauhan, unveils 70 mobile veterinary vehicles in Bengaluru | ASHISHKRISHNA HP D O N N A E VA @ Bengaluru DESPITE the growing concern over high inflation driven by rising fuel prices, State-owned oil marketing companies (OMCs) on Saturday increased the price of 14.2 kg domestic LPG cylinder by another `50, pushing the prices above `1,000 in many cities. While a cylinder now costs `999.50 each in Delhi and Mumbai — just 50 paise short of the `1,000-mark — the prices have crossed that milestone in Chennai and Kolkata at `1,015.50 and `1,026, respectively This is the . second such hike in 2022. On March 22, LPG price was raised by `50. In 2021, the cost of a cylinder went up by `205.50. The latest move also comes barely a week after the 19-kg commercial LPG cylinder price was hiked by `102.50 to `2,355.50. As if to distribute the pain, the price of a 5-kg LPG commercial cylinder was also increased to `655. Domestic cooking gas prices vary from one state to another due to variation in local taxes. NRUPATHUNGA University, which was inaugurated last week by Union Home Minister Amit Shah, has been upgraded despite not meeting the land requirements specified by the University Grants Commission, students alleged. The Government Science College, Bengaluru, which was bifurcated alongside the Government Arts College, was upgraded to a state university, and named Nrupathunga University, after the the approval of Governor Vajubhai Vala in 2020. The college was upgraded to a unitary university as part of an ordinance amending the Karnataka State Universities Act, 2000. Karnataka State Higher Education Council Vice-Chairman B Thimmegowda told The New Sunday Express that the college has been upgraded because of its excellence in teaching. However, students alleged TO provide jobs to locals, who stay outside Bengaluru, the Karnataka Skill Development Corporation (KSDC) is conducting mega job fairs in each district. Many big companies, including IT firms, have hired recruits for their c e n t re s l o c at e d i n Mysuru and Mangaluru during these jobs fairs. Over the last few months, the Corporation conducted job fairs in Belagavi, Kalaburagi, Mangaluru, Mysuru and Hassan districts, where 402 companies participated. As per the KSDC data, 30,000 people, including students, took part in these jobs fairs and 10,085 were given offer letters. 3,545 3,805 Fresh cases 3,549 3,168 Recoveries 27 22 Deaths INTERVIEW E N S E CO N O M I C B U R E AU @ New Delhi It is holding the sixth job fair in Ramanagara on May 10 which is expected to be attended by 5,000 job aspirants. An online registration system has been developed where candidates can upload their details along with their resumes. A senior official said the job fairs are also an attempt to reduce the burden on Beng alur u, where a large number of people land in search of jobs. “Though many companies prefer to hire candidates for their offices in Bengaluru, it is challenging for us to spread the opportunity uniformly across the state. Many candidates from Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities got jobs at their places during these fairs,” CONTINUED ON : P4 he added. TOTAL: 1,90,07,40,500 NATIONWIDE MAY 6 MAY 7 KARNATAKA MAY 6 MAY 7 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths Nrupathunga varsity flouting UGC land rule, allege students A S H W I N I M S R I PA D @ Bengaluru is still going on. However, those supporting Baruah chose to continue the fight. They rechristened the group as ULFA-Independent. According to police sources, the outfit is now left with 100200 members. Poverty and hyper-nationalism are the main reasons why youngsters are drawn to the outfit. Baruah has been nonflexible on the demand of Assam’s sovereignty He has stub. bornly maintained he would sit across the table only if sovereignty of Assam is on the agenda. JAB-O-METER May 6 15,44,728 doses TAKE May 7 17,14,800 doses Cooking gas on fire as prices go past `1,000 Vocal for local: State govt holds job fairs in districts terror outfit claimed he was offered `1 crore by some police officers. “He confessed he joined the organisation to get our members murdered by sharing inputs with the enemies after identifying our internal communication system and planting modern equipment,” ULFA-I said. Founded in 1979, the ULFA was banned in 1990. Its top leaders were arrested in Bangladesh in 2009 and handed over to India. After spending months in jail, they were all released. Later, they joined the peace process with the Centre, which Govt Science College, Bengaluru upgraded to state university that the university which was , a college earlier, has not adhered to the land requirements of the University Grants Commission (UGC) as well as the state Acts. “The university has only around 10 acres and most of it is shared with the Government Arts College,” students told TNSE. Following the upgradation, the fee for some of the courses have nearly doubled. “Also, there is no subsidised fees for SC/STs or girl students. We had complained to the registrar and vice-chancellor, but nothing happened,” P7 another student said. Consensus elusive According to UGC guidelines, universities must possess at least 25 acres of land at its own campus and not across campuses. A UGC official told TNSE that oral complaints had been received on land irregularities by the university. Trio dupes man of `40L promising VA job E X P R E SS N E WS S E R V I C E @ Mangaluru AS the PSI recruitment scam is raging, a man from Hassan has lodged a complaint with the CEN police station here, accusing three people of taking Rs 40 lakh from him with the promise of getting a job of village accountant for his son. He complained that one of the accused claimed himself to be a CBI officer with high contacts with politicians and bureaucrats. The complainant, Krishna Gowda, father of Darshan, stated that Nagabhushan from Bengaluru, Narayana Swamy from Vamanjoor in Mangaluru, Mahesh Bhat from Mulki near Mangaluru and Dinesh from Moodbidre took Rs 40 lakh from him. Darshan and three others -- Hemavathi from Hassan, Lohith from Chikkamagauru and Mohammad Sharif from Bengaluru -- had met at a coaching centre in Bengaluru. They had applied for the post of village accountant in Bengaluru, Mysuru, Chikkamagaluru and Hassan respectively Mahesh Bhat used . to visit the house of Nirmala Venkataswamy, who is Sharif ’s neighbour. CONTINUED ON : P4 In an interview with The New Sunday Express, noted theatre director and Gandhian activist Prasanna says building a civil society based on simple living, civility and decency can help to maintain communal harmony in the society. Politics has lost its significance at least for the time being. P4 A QUEEN’S BATTLE ON FILM P2 W I T H T H I S I SS U E SRI LANKA ON THE EDGE PLUS 12 PAGES