No-show: 28 staff wait for lone student

Hubballi, Mar 12: It was an unusual scene at GE PU College, the only centre for the ongoing PU examination in Kalghatagi taluk in Dharwad district, on Saturday.

Around 10 am, ahead of the scheduled start of the annual Pre-University Course (PUC) examination, as many as 28 officials were eagerly waiting for just one candidate to turn up for the optional Education subject. Nagappa Lamani was the only student registered to take the Education exam, while there were no candidates registered at this centre for two other optional subjects scheduled for the day — Logic and Basic Mathematics.

Nagappa Lamani, according to sources in the PU department, is, in fact, a student of GE PU college.

The exam officials waited for long, but there was no sight of Lamani. Rules permit a candidate to walk in to the exam hall up to half an hour late. However, Lamani did not turn up even within this grace period. But, 18 of the officials had to remain at the centre till the exam hours were over at 1.30 pm. They were the static staff deployed at the GE PU College.

For quite a while, even the other officials — the tahsildar, a block education officer, a medical officer, two vigilance squad members, five mobile squad staff and a constable — waited for the candidate. Usually, the tahsildar, vigilance squad members and the BEO pay surprise visit to the exam centre whereas the static staff, medical officer and security staff stay at the centre till the day’s exams are over.

Ganesh Pujar, deputy director of the state Board of the Pre-University Education, told DH that an exam centre with a single registered candidate appearing for the exam was very rare.

As arrangements were made in view of the question paper leak last year, many officials had to spend time in GE PU College centre for the entire duration of the exam, though nobody appeared for the exam.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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