thrissur l tuesday l march 28, 2023 l `9.00 l PAGES 12 l city EDITION REVISED NCERT textbooks LIKELY FROM 2024-25 academic session The textbooks will be developed in accordance with the National Curriculum Framework, a key component of the new National Education Policy Books to be available in 22 languages New 5+3+3+4 structure to replace 10+2 On Monday, Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan held a high-level meeting on faster rollout of textbooks based on NEP 2020. During the meeting, he suggested that the textbooks be developed in 22 languages included in 8th Schedule of the Constitution. The new NCERT textbooks will also be available in digital format, education ministry officials said | P7 ■ NEP 2020 envisages a 5+3+3+4 academic structure, which will replace the traditional 10+2 model. Under this, children will spend five years in the foundation stage, which covers pre-primary till grade 2; three years each in the preparatory (grades 3 to 5) and middle (grades 6 to 8) stages; and four years in the secondary stage (grades 9 to 12) 2020 When the Central Government started the process to revise school textbooks 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 TMC, 17 other parties unanimously urge Cong to unite Oppn Parliament and later marched from Parliament to Vijay Chowk, reiteratSignalling a realignment of the ing their demand for a JPC to probe Opposition bloc, 18 Opposition par- the Adani issue. ties, including the Trinamool ConSpeaking to this newspaper, Rajya gress and the Aam Aadmi Party Sabha MP and CPI (M) leader Elama(AAP), came together and ram Kareem said that all asked the Congress to take Opposition parties at the the initiative to coordinate dinner meeting, including with various Opposition the Trinamool, asked the parties outside Parliament Congress to take the lead to challenge the governin co-ordinating the fight ment on critical issues, acto ‘save democracy’. “Concording to sources. gress being the largest At a dinner meeting party among the Opposicalled by Congress presition, all the parties agreed To be homeless that it should take the lead dent Mallikarjun Kharge by April 22 on Monday, the parties in talking to other parties unanimously decided to Rahul on Monday was and fine-tuning strategies asked by the LS work together to fight the to challenge the governSecretariat to vacate ment on issues, such as BJP government ahead of his governmentthe 2024 general elections. corruption and Rahul’s The meeting had represen- allotted bungalow at disqualification. 12, Tughlaq Lane by tation from the DMK, NCP , “There was a consensus JD(U), BRS, CPM, CPI April 22 following his that the Congress should and AAP among others. disqualification as MP initiate a meeting with top Rahul Gandhi and Sonia leaders of all parties and Gandhi also attended the meeting. take the discussion forward.” The meeting was called to protest Sources said speaking in the meetRahul’s disqualification from the Lok ing, Rahul said “it’s a collective fight Sabha after his conviction in a defa- to save democracy”. Kareem said that mation case. Earlier in the day, all 18 parties have decided to hold more Opposition parties joined the Con- meetings in the coming days to plan gress-led ‘save democracy’ protest in strategies. P r eet h a Na i r @ New Delhi One last glimpse Actor Mammootty paying his last respects to Innocent at the Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium in Kochi on Monday. The funeral rites of the late actor will be held at the St Thomas Cathedral, Irinjalakuda, at 9.30am on Tuesday | A Sanesh Bilkis case: SC poser on Guj remission norms S h r u t i K akka r @ New Delhi Terming the gang-rape of Bilkis Bano and the murder of her family members during the 2002 Gujarat riots as horrendous, the Supreme Court on Monday sought response from the Centre, the Gujarat government and the 11 convicts whose remission of life imprisonment was challenged by the victim and social activists. The convicts were released on August 15 last year by the Gu- jarat government. A bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna asked if the state had applied the remission policy uniformly for all convicts languishing in jail. “We have before us many murder cases where convicts are languishing in jails seeking remission. Is this a case where standards have been applied uniformly as in other cases too?” Justice Joseph Cops claim Manoharan did not possess driver’s licence, vehicle papers T o b y A n t o n y @Kochi A day after the death of an Irumpanam native who was slapped by a police officer during vehicle inspection, the Tripunithura Hill Palace police claimed that the 53-year-old was taken into custody for not possessing vehicle documents and a driver’s licence. The explanation has drawn flak from several quarters with many questioning the motive behind taking a person into custody for such a petty offence. Meanwhile, the Kochi city police district crime branch (DCB) on Monday recorded the statement of the Hill Palace police station personnel as part of its probe into the death of Manoharan. State Police Complaints Authority (SPCA) member Aravind Babu, who visited the station on Sunday night, told TNIE that he enquired about the reasons for taking Manoharan into custody “The officials who took . Manoharan into custody were not present at the station when I arrived. Those who were there told me that he did not possess any vehicle documents or a driving licence, and was brought to the station for further verification,” Babu said. “CCTV camera footage showed Manoharan collapsing in the police station and being rushed to the hospital,” he said, adding that the SPCA will conduct a probe if a complaint is received. For mer SP George Joseph said since police could verify vehicle documents online, taking a person into custody for not possessing licence was unnecessary . “Police can’t beat and drag anyone to the station for non possession of driving licence or other vehicle papers. These are petty offences for which a fine is imposed. The officer who slapped the personshould charged under IPC 304-A (Causing death by negligence),” he ● More on P4 said. asked. While posting the case for April 18, the court said it would not be “overwhelmed by emotions” and would only go by law. Remarking that the pleas involved a gamut of issues, the bench asked as to whether the Gujarat government could exercise its power of granting remission and could the SC cloak an authority with the power to grant remission when the body could not do so legally . MHA’s approval Additional Solicitor General S V Raju, appearing for the Union home ministry, said the remission had the ministry’s approval K’taka quota stir takes violent turn, bsy’s house stoned E x p r ess News S e r v i ce @ Shivamogga / Bengaluru PROTESTS by Banjara community against the Karnataka government’s internal reservation for SCs turned violent on Monday, as some protesters threw stones at former CM B S Yediyurappa’s house in Shivamogga and vandalised a banner of the G20 meet, which had pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai. The agitators alleged that SC-touchables, to which the Banjara community belongs, would now get lesser reservation. Banjara community leader Raghavendra Naik told TNIE that the BJP grew in the state because of Yediyurappa, who had the backing of the Banjaras. “Despite our support, Yediyurappa cheated our community he alleged. He said previ,” ous governments did not implement the Sadashiva Commission recommendations because it is a sensitive issue. Bommai sought to clarify that the government implemented the cabinet sub-committee’s recommendations and not Sadashiva Commission’s, adding that SC-touchables’ quota has in fact been increased from 3% to 4.5%. Blaming the protests on ‘misunderstanding’, Yediyurappa said: “I will meet the senior leaders of the Banjara community and discuss with them the reason behind the confusion.” 50k fine, jail as govt gets tough on waste issue S h a i n u M o h a n @T’Puram Not having a decentralised waste management system at home or place of business will become a criminal offence, attracting hefty fine and even imprisonment. As per an order issued by the local self-government department (LSGD) to local bodies across the state, owners of houses having a floor area of above 100 sqm and businesses that lack decentralised waste management mechanisms and fail to comply with the rules will face one-year imprisonment and a fine of `50,000. The move, coming in the wake of the Kerala High Court’s observations over the fire at the Brahmapuram dumpsite, and the ever-rising garbage menace, has already come under fire from a number of local bodies who termed its implementation ‘impractical.’ The department asked the local bodies to invoke relevant sections under the Kerala Municipal Act and Panchayat Act for implementing the decentralised waste management rules. They have been asked to suspend the licences of hotels, clubs, marriage halls, malls, retail shops, theatres, vegetable and fruit shops, and fish and meat shops that lack facilities to treat waste at the source. “We need to reduce the quantity of waste being generated by disposing of it at source. The government has been forced to issue stringent orders because local bodies are not making waste management a key priority, which is the primary cause of public dumping of waste. It’s high time local bodies learn from their mistakes and take strict steps to ensure proper handling of waste,” said an LSGD of● More on P5 ficial. LSG dept order Owners of houses having a floor area of above 100 sqm and businesses that lack decentralised waste management mechanisms and fail to comply with the rules will face one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 50,000 e x p r e ss r e a d Amritpal Singh likely in Nepal Kathmandu: Nepal on Monday put fugitive radical preacher Amritpal Singh, who is believed to be hiding in the country, on its surveillance list. The move is after India requested it not to allow him to flee to a third country using an Indian passport or any other fake passport. Singh is said to be possessing multiple passports with different identities. Attack on Chandy: Three convicted Kannur: Kannur Assistant Sessions Court has acquitted 110 out of 113 accused in the case in which former CM Oommen Chandy was attacked, and has convicted three persons. According to the verdict, the persons found guilty are COT Nazeer, Biju Parambath and C Deepak. 6.5L likely to be out of pension scheme T’Puram: About 6.5 lakh social security pensioners have failed to submit income certificates that would lead to their removal from the scheme, it is learnt. This is a preliminary estimate as the processing of certificates is in the final stage.