Udupi: Udupi district stands first in the State in the SSLC results announced on Friday with 86 per cent of students who appeared for the examinations in the district having passed this year.

Expressing happiness over the achievement of the district, Deputy Director of Public Instruction K. Ananda told The Hindu that in 2006-07 the district stood second in the State.

In 2007-08 the district dropped to third position. However, the department adopted a systematic approach by targeting both students and teachers to ensure better results this year, he said.

He said that at the beginning of this year, a meeting of high school headmasters was convened.

Teachers were asked to make a detailed study on the subjects in which students were lagging behind. “Remedial teaching was provided to students so that they picked up in subjects in which they were weak. Importance was given to classroom activities of students,” he said.

Teachers took special classes for students, concentrating on those students who were weak in certain subjects. The department also studied if the teachers were able to teach the subjects properly to the students, especially those subjects where the performance of students was found wanting.

“To see to it that the teachers taught those subjects properly, we held refresher courses for teachers. Both teachers and students put in hard work to achieve this result,” he said.

The department was yet to receive the list of schools which had secured 100 per cent results, Mr. Ananda said.

Udupi: Dean of Kasturba Medical College P. Sripati Rao said on Wednesday that yoga and asanas along with relaxation exercises and meditation helped in maintaining good health. He was presiding over the inaugural function of a two-day State-level workshop on “Importance and relevance of yoga, asanas, pranayama in present-day life” at MGM College here. Former Vice-Chancellor of the Manipal University B.M. Hegde, administrative officer of the Academy of General Education H. Shantharam, principal of MGM College Jayaprakash Mavinakuli, and president of the Mangalore University and College Physical Education Teachers’ Association Balabhaskar were present.

Kundapur, Mar 23: Renowned orthopaedic surgeon and Indian Orthopaedic Association chairman Dr Shantaram Shetty has made it a tradition to hold a free medical camp in his native village Molahalli, bi-annually.

This time, the popular free medical camp will be held at Molahalli on Sunday March 29 at the government higher primary school there. An announcement in this respect was made by Jayasheela Shetty, chairman, Shiva- Shanthi Lions Club Molahalli, at a press conference recently held in the Press Club here.

As K S Hegde Charitable Trust Hospital Derlakatte is also joining hands in organizing the said camp, thousands of people are expected to benefit from it. At the camp, free food will also be served to the people. Whenever required, the patients will also be taken to Mangalore for advanced check up and suitable medical assistance will be made available to them.

Ratnakar Shetty, secretary of Lions club, Sanjeev Shetty and Subbanna Shetty, ex-presidents, were present at the press conference.  

Udupi: The District Administration has set up helplines at five places in Udupi district to attend to questions by the voters.

In a press release issued here, Deputy Commissioner P. Hemalatha said that voters could call these helplines to get information about their polling booths and other voting-related questions.

The helplines are: Deputy Commissioner’s office - 0820- 2524925 for Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency and Byndoor Assembly segment; Kundapur Assistant Commissioner’s office – 958254 231984 for Kundapur Assembly segment; Udupi Taluk Office - 0820-2525282 for Udupi and Kaup Assembly segments; Karkala Taluk Office – 958258 2331134 for Karkala Assembly segment; and Kundapur Taluk Office – 958254 231227 for Kundapur and Byndoor Assembly segments.

Radha Sundaresh is also the Third Front’s common candidate

CPI says the BJP and the Congress following similar policies

Radha Sundaresh

Udupi: The Communist Party of India (CPI) will be fielding Radha Sundaresh as the candidate of the Third Front in Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha Constituency, said State Associate Secretary of the party P.V. Lokesh here on Friday.

Mr. Lokesh said that it had been decided that the constituents of the Third Front such as the Janata Dal (Secular), CPI and CPI (Marxist) that CPI would field its candidate in Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha Constituency. The CPI had a following in the constituency as a large number of plantation workers were associated with All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), which is affiliated to it.

He said the Janata Dal (Secular) would be fighting 26 Lok Sabha seats out of 28. One seat would be given to the CPI (M). It could be either Dakshina Kannada or Chickaballapur. The CPI and CPI(M) would support the Janata Dal (Secular) in 26 seats.

He said the strength of the so-called national parties such as the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was confined to a few States. In other States, they were junior partners of regional parties. The two parties were following the same policies of liberalisation, privatisation, and globalisation. Their foreign policies favoured the U.S.

“If either of these parties were to come to power, there will be no change in the economic or foreign policy. Hence the Third Front,” he said.

The Congress and the BJP were catering to the interests of the corporates.

They only paid lip service to needs of the common man. “Only a Third Front can provide a genuine national alternative to these parties and cater to the needs of the weaker sections,” he said.

Senior Communist leader and former MLA B.V. Kakkilaya would inaugurate the office of the CPI here on March 23, Mr. Lokesh said.

Ms. Radha Sundaresh is a member of the Chikmagalur Zilla Panchayat. She had thrice served as the member of the Chikmagalur City Municipal Council (CMC). She had served as the Labour Representative Member of the Coffee Board (2000-03). She is State General Secretary of Anganwadi Workers’ Association and a member of CPI State Executive Committee. Ms. Sundaresh had contested the Lok Sabha elections from Chikmagalur in 1996, but was defeated.

She had secured 80,000 votes.

Ms. Radha Sundaresh said that if elected she would work to provide basic facilities for the common man.

“Our party will also strive to bring the naxalites to the mainstream by addressing their problems,” she said.

Udupi: Ganeshraj Sarlebettu, joint secretary of Udupi Block Congress, has urged the Udupi City Municipal Council (CMC) to keep the Nayarkere tank open to the people.

Mr. Sarlebettu told presspersons here on Thursday that some people were blocking the entrance of the tank. Many people in the city had been using this tank to learn swimming. There was a small “Children’s corner” near the tank, where the children used to play.

Following the drowning of a man sometime ago, people had stopped coming to the tank.

The tank was renovated about two years ago. The CMC should ensure that that the tank remained a public property, he said.