Karnataka varsities asked to digitise degrees, stop printing

Karnataka Higher Education Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said Monday that degree certificates and marks sheets issued by universities are being digitised under the National Academic Depository (NAD).

The Bangalore University, for instance, has digitised documents pertaining to the last 43 years, Narayan told the Legislative Council while replying to a question by Congress' BK Hariprasad. Karnataka occupies the top position in the NAD project, Narayan claimed.

Documents are made digitally secure to prevent incidents of fake mark sheets and academic credentials can be verified through DigiLocker, as they are stored in the Karnataka State Data Centre (KSDC). "All universities coming under the Higher Education Department have been instructed to strictly implement this project, and not to print marks sheets and certificates," he said.

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Hariprasad observed that the alleged fake marks sheets scam related to Bangalore University was not an isolated issue. He said a section of media reported that it was bigger than the Vypam scam in Madhya Pradesh. "Will a comprehensive probe be conducted?" he asked.

He also went on to say that some elected representatives in the country also had fake marks cards.

Narayan said three cases are registered regarding fake marks sheets that were not issued by the university or government officials. They were issued by private persons. The university found that the marks sheets were fake when they were sent for verification for government recruitments, he said.

When Hariprasad said a case was filed against a principal and eight students of a college at Banashankari in Bengaluru, affiliated to Bangalore University, the minister said the university was not involved. "Investigation is on and action would be taken against the guilty," he said.

On grant-in-aid for ITI

In reply to a question by K Pratap Simha Nayak, Narayan clarified that the government has no proposal to bring unaided industrial training institutes (ITIs) under grant-in-aid as all seats in government and aided categories are not getting filled.

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