Hijab not allowed, reiterates education minister as board exams to begin from Mar 28

News Network

March 27, 2022

Bengaluru, Mar 27: Amid the hijab controversy, Karnataka state board examinations for 10th standard will begin on Monday. The state government has made it clear that hijab would not be allowed in classrooms during exams even as several Muslim girls had said they would boycott the exams if they were not allowed to wear the head scarf.

More than 8.76 lakh students are appearing for the exam in over 40,000 halls in 3,440 centres across the state.

"After the high court order, we've not allowed that (hijab). We've given clarification that they (students with hijab) can come into the campus wearing the hijab but they cannot put it on in the classroom. The same condition will apply during the exams," Primary and Secondary Education Minister B.C. Nagesh said.

The minister had earlier warned the students against skipping the exams, saying there would not be any re-examination.

"According to the Karnataka Education Act and the Rules, religious sentiments should not be part of the uniform dress rule. The same notification, the HC has upheld. Tomorrow, there is no scope of violation of the dress code," Nagesh said.

Several Muslim girls at a college in Udupi had boycotted classes and skipped practical exams after they were denied permission to wear hijab.

On March 15, the Karnataka High Court dismissed a batch of petitions filed by students and maintained that wearing hijab is not an essential religious practice in Islam.

The high court order has been challenged in the Supreme Court while a section of Muslim girls continues to boycott classes and has indicated about skipping the board exams.

Arguing that hijab is as important as education, the students said they would not return to colleges until they get permission to wear the headscarf.

The high court, while ruling out the students’ petitions, maintained that there was no material placed on record to prima facie show that wearing the headscarf was an essential religious practice.

Underlining that no reasonable mind can imagine a school without uniform, the court also observed that the concept of school uniform is not of a nascent origin.

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Chaos continues as IndiGo cancels more flights including 73 from Bengaluru airport

News Network

December 4,2025

Domestic carrier IndiGo has cancelled over 180 flights from three major airports — Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru — on Thursday, December 4, as the airline struggles to secure the required crew to operate its flights in the wake of new flight-duty and rest-period norms for pilots.

While the number of cancellations at Mumbai airport stands at 86 (41 arrivals and 45 departures) for the day, at Bengaluru, 73 flights have been cancelled, including 41 arrivals, according to a PTI report that quoted sources.

"IndiGo cancelled over 180 flights on Thursday at three airports-Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru," the source told the news agency.

Besides, it had cancelled as many as 33 flights at Delhi airport for Thursday, the source said, adding, "The number of cancellations is expected to be higher by the end of the day."

The Gurugram-based airline's On-Time Performance (OTP) nosedived to 19.7 per cent at six key airports — Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Hyderabad — on December 3, as it struggled to get the required crew to operate its services, down from almost half of December 2, when it was 35 per cent.

"IndiGo has been facing acute crew shortage since the implementation of the second phase of the FDTL (Flight Duty Time Limitations) norms, leading to cancellations and huge delays in its operations across the airports," a source had told PTI on Wednesday.

Chaos continued at several major airports for the third day on Thursday because of the cancellations.

A spokesperson for the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru said that 73 IndiGo flights had been cancelled on Thursday.

At least 150 flights were cancelled and dozens of others delayed on Wednesday, airport sources said, leaving thousands of travellers stranded, according to news agency Reuters.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has said it is investigating IndiGo flight disruptions and has asked the airline to submit the reasons for the current situation, as well as its plans to reduce flight cancellations and delays.

It may be mentioned here that the pilots' body, Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP), has alleged that IndiGo, despite getting a two-year preparatory window before the full implementation of new flight duty and rest period norms for cockpit crew, "inexplicably" adopted a "hiring freeze".

The FIP said it has urged the safety regulator, the DGCA, not to approve airlines' seasonal flight schedules unless they have adequate staff to operate their services "safely and reliably" in accordance with the New Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) norms.

In a letter to the DGCA late on Wednesday, the FIP urged the DGCA to consider re-evaluating and reallocating slots to other airlines, which have the capacity to operate them without disruption during the peak holiday and fog season if IndiGo continues to "fail in delivering on its commitments to passengers due to its own avoidable staffing shortages."

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