Latest Gujarat Breaking News & Headlines

Times of India

RAJKOT/SURAT/VADODARA: A 72-year-old man from Jamnagar, who recently returned from Zimbabwe, has tested positive of Covid-19, Jamnagar health officials said on Thursday. He is currently being treated at the state-run GG Hospital. According to Jamnagar municipal commissioner, Vijay Kharadi, three people of Indian origin had returned to Jamnagar from Zimbabwe last week. Of them, one showed symptoms like fever and coughing after which he tested positive. The test reports of the other two persons are pending. Samples for genome sequencing have been sent to verify the variant. Recently, eight members of a Jamnagar family had tested positive of Covid after two of their family members returned from a marriage function from Junagadh in a state transport vehicle. The Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) is monitoring the health of 147 travellers from ‘at risk’ countries, who are at present in home quarantine for a week. In all, 924 travellers had come to Vadodara city from abroad. The test results available till Thursday had not revealed any positive cases. VMC's medical officer (health) Dr Devesh Patel said that the travellers from the list of ‘at risk’ countries will have to undergo the test after the seven-day isolation gets over. On Thursday seven new cases of Covid-19 were reported in the city. Meanwhile, in Surat, as many as 138 passengers, who have returned from foreign countries, have been put under home quarantine according to the guidelines issued by the state government. None of the international returnees have so far tested positive for Covid-19, officials said. “Those who have returned from abroad are being monitored by our teams,” said a health official in Surat Municipal Corporation (SMC). On Thursday, six new Covid-19 cases were reported in Surat city while one person tested positive in Kamrej of the district. One new case was also reported from Valsad while eight are under home quarantine. “At present, we are not taking any special measures at the entry point of the state. We receive a list of individuals who have returned from abroad and currently eight persons are under home quarantine in the district,” said a health official in Valsad.

The Indian Express

Following the Central government advisory Thursday recommending mandatory testing of all international passengers arriving from countries that have reported Omicron (B.1.1.59), the new Covid-19 variant, the Gujarat health department has released an ‘at risk’ list of 12 countries and regions.The samples of Covid-19 positive passengers arriving from the countries/regions on the list would be sent for whole-genome sequencing.The list includes the UK, South Africa, Brazil, Bangladesh, Botswana, China, Mauritius, New Zealand, Zimbabwe, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel. While most of these countries were part of the ‘at risk’ list of the Central health ministry even on October 20, Singapore, Hong Kong and Israel were added by the state government-issued circulars dated November 26 and 27.Both the circulars, issued by Additional Director of Health Department Nilam Patel, mandates RTPCR testing of passengers from the 12 countries/regions upon their arrival in Gujarat.On Saturday, the UK Health Security Agency reported two cases of the Omicron variant, while one was reported in Israel. According to an Ahmedabad airport official, while there are no direct flights from South Africa to the city, the new state government guidelines do not change much as international travellers are required to furnish a negative RTPCR report upon arrival.The WHO, in its statement Friday, had noted that “several labs have indicated that for one widely used PCR test, one of the three target genes is not detected (called S gene dropout or S gene target failure) and this test can, therefore, be used as a marker for this variant, pending sequencing confirmation.”However, a health official of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) added they would not be using S gene target failure as a marker and will only be relying on whole-genome sequencing results to determine whether a positive case involves the Omicron variant or not, with sequencing results taking anywhere between one week to 15 days.The new rule also becomes significant in light of the upcoming Vibrant Gujarat programme, scheduled for January 2022.Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC) director Chaitanya Joshi said the lab has not seen any increase in the number of samples being sent for whole-genome sequencing, which otherwise ranges between five to 20 a day. Samples from the state are sent to GBRC and NIV Pune for whole-genome sequencing.Gujarat reported 28 new cases of Covid-19, including 10 from the AMC jurisdiction, Saturday.

The Indian Express

The 64-year-old Jagdish Thakor, a former Member of Parliament and senior Congress leader was appointed as the president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) on Friday, by Congress president Sonia Gandhi.The post of GPCC president has been lying vacant since March this year after Amit Chavda resigned from the post in the wake of Congress’ poor performance in the Gujarat local body polls in 2021.Congress Working president Hardik Patel welcoming the decision, told The Indian Express, “the appointment is 10 years late. The party should have used his potential long back”.Thakor is a native of Kankrej taluka in Banaskantha and resides in Naroda of Ahmedabad with his family. A Class 10 pass, Thakor began his political career as a student leader in 1973, and won his first Assembly election in 2002, a difficult year for the Congress when BJP, under the leadership of then Chief Minister Narendra Modi won its highest number of seats on account of the Hindutva wave in the elections held in the aftermath of the Godhra train burning and the riots that followed.

Times of India

GANDHINAGAR: Jagdish Thakor, the former Lok Sabha MP and MLA, who is presently vice-president of the Gujarat Congress, has reportedly been choasen by the party leadership to be the next Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president. The party leadership has also reportedly finalised the name of five-time Pavi Jetpur MLA Sukhram Rathwa as the next leader of opposition (LOP) in the Gujarat assembly. He will replace Paresh Dhanani. Both Chavda and Dhanani resigned after the Congress’drubbing in the local elections held earlier this year, where the BJP won an overwhelming majority of district panchayats, taluka panchayats and municipalities. The BJP also won all the municipal corporations for which elections were held. While Thakor belongs to the OBC Thakor community, Rathwa is from the tribal community. Jagdish Thakor earlier served as the MP from Patan and MLA from Dehgam. He had won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 from the Patan Lok Sabha seat, but was not given the ticket by the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Thakor is a good orator. Despite being a very senior MLA, Rathwa is a lowprofile tribal leader. It appears that the Congress has finalized Rathwa’s name in a bid to attract the tribal community as the state goes to a crucial assembly elections next year. Earlier, it was expected that Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel would be considered for the top party post in the state. However, the Congress has reportedly decided to choose senior and experienced leaders to lead the party into next year’s assembly election. After the buzz began of the Congress choosing Thakor and Rathwa as the new leaders to lead the party in 2022, a discussion began within political circles that the Congress is shifting its focus from wooing Patidars to concentrating on its traditional votebank of OBC, SC and ST voters. A senior BJP leader commented, “Congress is going back to its old KHAM — Kshatriya, Harijan (SC), Adivasi and Muslim — formula. This will help the BJP in once again attracting our traditional Patidar voters, a section of which had shifted to the Congress after the 2015 Patidar reservation agitation.”

Times of India

Gandhinagar: Jagdish Thakor, the former Lok Sabha MP and MLA, who is presently vice-president of the Gujarat Congress, has reportedly been choasen by the party leadership to be the next Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) president. The party leadership has also reportedly finalised the name of five-time Pavi Jetpur MLA Sukhram Rathwa as the next leader of opposition (LOP) in the Gujarat assembly. He will replace Paresh Dhanani. Both Chavda and Dhanani resigned after the Congress’drubbing in the local elections held earlier this year, where the BJP won an overwhelming majority of district panchayats, taluka panchayats and municipalities. The BJP also won all the municipal corporations for which elections were held. While Thakor belongs to the OBC Thakor community, Rathwa is from the tribal community. Thakor earlier served as the MP from Patan and MLA from Dehgam. He had won the Lok Sabha elections in 2014 from the Patan Lok Sabha seat, but was not given the ticket by the party in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Thakor is a good orator. Despite being a very senior MLA, Rathwa is a low-profile tribal leader. It appears that the Congress has finalized Rathwa’s name in a bid to attract the tribal community as the state goes to a crucial assembly elections next year. Earlier, it was expected that Gujarat Congress working president Hardik Patel would be considered for the top party post in the state. However, the Congress has reportedly decided to choose senior and experienced leaders to lead the party into next year’s assembly election. After the buzz began of the Congress choosing Thakor and Rathwa as the new leaders to lead the party in 2022, a discussion began within political circles that the Congress is shifting its focus from wooing Patidars to concentrating on its traditional votebank of OBC, SC and ST voters. A senior BJP leader commented, “Congress is going back to its old KHAM — Kshatriya, Harijan (SC), Adivasi and Muslim — formula. This will help the BJP in once again attracting our traditional Patidar voters, a section of which had shifted to the Congress after the 2015 Patidar reservation agitation.”

The Indian Express

Around nine months since the party’s two top positions in the state went vacant, the Congress High Command on Thursday decided to appoint former MP and OBC community leader from North Gujarat, Jagdish Thakor, as the president of Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) and MLA Sukhram Rathva as the Leader of Opposition (LOP) in the state Assembly, party sources told The Indian Express. The decision — official announcement of which is likely to be made Friday — comes ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections in Gujarat. Thakor will succeed Amit Chavda, who is an MLA from OBC strongman JagdishThakor is new GPCC chief, MLA Rathva LOP Anklav in central Gujarat, while Rathva, a tribal leader who is an MLA from Chhota Udepur, will occupy the position held by Paresh Dhanani. The posts of GPCC president and Leader of Opposition in the state had been lying vacant since March after Chavda and Dhanani resigned following the party’s dismal performance in the local body elections in February. According to party sources, Thakor and Rathva met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and party’s state incharge Raghu Sharma in New Delhi on Thursday for a discussion after which their nomination for the top posts was confirmed.Thakor, 64, is a native of Kankrej in Banaskantha and lives in Ahmedabad. He won from Patan constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections by securing over 2.8 lakh votes. He had also served as a two-term MLA from Dahegam constituency. Thakor resigned from all posts in the Gujarat Congress in 2016, stating that he will continue to be a “worker” in the party. Rathva, 66, had won from the Jetpur constituency in the 2017 Assembly polls by securing over 60,000 votes. As reported by The Indian Express, Thakor was among the three Gujarat Congress leaders whose names were discussed for the post of GPCC president when Rahul had invited 23 senior party leaders from the state to New Delhi for an open discussion amid reports of factionalism within the party.“Those attending the meeting with Rahul Gandhi had pushed for experienced leaders in Gujarat in which Thakor’s name came up. Even after defeating a BJP candidate in 2009 polls, he sacrificed his seat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls for another Congress candidate,” said a senior Congress leader.

Times of India

AHMEDABAD: After the daily new Covid case count reached 54 on November 17, Gujarat on Thursday, a fortnight later, again hit 50 new cases registered in 24 hours. With 24 patients discharged, the number of active cases rose by 26, to reach 318. The increase in cases coincided with an increase in daily testing. On Wednesday, the state found 45 cases from 70,048 tests, whereas on Thursday, 50 cases were found from 70,045 cases, for a test positivity rate of 0.07%, or seven cases per 10,000 tests conducted. The new cases included 15 from Ahmedabad city, six each from Surat city and Vadodara, four each from Vadodara city and Rajkot, three from Kutch, two from Bhavnagar city, and one each from Gandhinagar city, Jamnagar city, Rajkot city, Gir Somnath, Navsari, Surat, Tapi and Valsad districts. Cities accounted for 30 or 60% of the day's new cases. In several major districts, city areas reported fewer cases than rural areas. Ahmedabad accounted for 107 active cases, followed by 55 in Vadodara, 25 in Surat, and 20 in Jamnagar. Gujarat in 24 hours vaccinated 4.21 lakh persons, taking the total number of doses administered to 8.19 crore. With the first Omicron cases reported in Gujarat, the state administration has upped the ante. "We are following the standard operating procedure (SOP) set by the Government of India (GOI) for screening and genome sequencing of cases. In the days to come, there will certainly be stringent checking of all incoming passengers at airports, railway stations, bus depots and state check points. We also appeal to citizens to please approach doctors if symptoms associated with Covid-19 are noticed," said a senior health department official.

Times of India

AHMEDABAD: The district collector office has so far disbursed the Covid death aid of Rs 50,000 to 1,438 families in the past five days. The similar number of applications are already under process, said authorities. In all, Ahmedabad city has 3,319 recorded deaths and district 93. Sandip Sagale, Ahmedabad collector, said that the process is expedited, and they are working on the details collected by teams.

Times of India

AHMEDABAD: With 27 new Covid-19 positive cases and discharge of 49 patients in 24 hours, Gujarat reduced active cases by 22 in a day, bringing the number down to 262. The number has got reduced by 69 from November 19 to 29, reveals the analysis. Ahmedabad recorded the highest reduction in 10 days from 136 active cases to 91 during the period. The new cases included 6 from Vadodara city, 5 each from Ahmedabad city and Bharuch, 4 from Surat city, 3 from Kutch, and 1 each from Jamnagar and Bhavnagar cities, Panchmahal and Surat districts. Ahmedabad, Surat and Vadodara cities each recorded discharge of 10 patients. The three districts account for 62% of the state’s total active cases.

Times of India

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat on the second consecutive day recorded 40 or more Covid cases. From 27 on Monday, the state recorded 67% spike in cases in just two days as 45 new positive cases were recorded in past 24 hours. Out of the total, only 62% cases were recorded from municipal corporation areas, indicating an increase in spread in non-urban areas of the state. In the past few days, over 70% daily cases were reported from urban areas. The new positive cases include 11 from Ahmedabad city, 7 from Bharuch, 5 from Vadodara city, 4 each from Surat and Gandhinagar cities, 3 from Kutch, 2 each from Rajkot city, Navsari, Valsad, as well as 1 each from Bhavnagar and Jamnagar cities, Anand, Bhavnagar and Kheda. Anand district recorded the death of an active patient, taking the state’s Covid death toll to 10,093. Ahmedabad city recorded the second consecutive day of 10 or more cases. A total of 8.14 crore people have been vaccinated so far.

Times of India

Ahmedabad: Since start of the Covid-19 in the beginning of 2020, the virus has mutated multiple times periodically. While the dominant variants got changed from Alpha to Delta globally, the new variant B.1.1.529 named Omicron from the Greek alphabet is now the variant of concern (VOC) by the World Health Organization (WHO). If one looks at the history of variants in Gujarat, the second wave of the pandemic coincided with the rise of Delta variant (B.617.2). According to analysis by the Gujarat Biotechnology Research Centre (GBRC), April and May witnessed complete dominance of the variant with over 80% of cases testing positive for Delta variant and its sub-categories. “After the end of the second wave, Delta remained dominant strain for the state with other variants accounting for about 10-15% of the cases. Out of the total samples sequenced completely, Delta accounts for 48% or nearly half of the total variants during the entire pandemic even when it was first reported in end of March this year,” said an expert. Dr Urvesh Shah, professor and head of microbiology at GCS, said that mutation of Covid-19 depends on several factors including local conditions and host. “It’s widely believed that the Omicron variant is result of low vaccination in African countries as the virus got a chance to spread for a longer time,” he said. According to GBRC data, after 1,407 sequencing of Delta, B.1.36 is reported 311 times, B.1 236 times, B.1.113 123 times and B.617.1 95 times. The alpha variant (B.1.1.7) is found in 81 sequencing from out of 2,932 sequences.

Times of India

AHMEDABAD: Gujarat on Tuesday reported a major increase in new Covid-19 cases – from 27 on Monday to 40 on Tuesday, the highest increase in over a fortnight. At 10 cases, Ahmedabad city accounted for 25% of the state’s daily cases, whereas 31 or 77.5% of cases were from the six municipal corporations. The new cases included 10 from Ahmedabad city, seven each from Vadodara and Jamnagar cities, four from Surat city, three from Navsari, two each from Bhavnagar city and Kutch, and one each from Gandhinagar city, Anand, Gir Somnath, Vadodara and Valsad. With the discharge of 27 patients, active cases rose by 13 to 275.

The Indian Express

The Central government affidavit before the Supreme Court, filed through joint secretary in the Ministry of Home Affairs Sanjeev Kumar Jindal, on Covid-19 ex gratia by states shows that Andhra Pradesh is the only state that has received double the number of claims at 28,468 forms, than the number of dead officially recorded at 14,431.During the hearing on Monday, the Supreme Court expressed concern at the low number of claims across most states and Union Territories (UTs).In Gujarat, where the state government said that 10,092 Covid-19 deaths were recorded, 1,250 claims were received and Rs 1.74 crore was disbursed in 347 cases and another 925 was sanctioned. The Congress has been alleging that three lakh people died of Covid19 in Gujarat. The state government submitted that the official death figure “may change” as per the September 3 guideline of MOHFW “definition of death is broadened”. Rajasthan, too, put out a similar disclaimer of its official deaths (8,955) changing owing to “broadened” definition of death.States such as Tripura have disbursed ex gratia of Rs 3 lakh each to the kin of 128 victims till December 31, 2020, amounting to Rs 3.84 crore, while Haryana said it had disbursed Rs 15.58 crore.Tripura, like Gujarat, had earlier said that henceforth it would pay Rs 50,000 in each death case “after inquiry” (which now stands revised, doing away with scrutiny). The state reported 817 Covid-19 deaths as on November 25. Telangana and Tamil Nadu, too, had a checks mechanism for new claims. Telangana stated that it would process the claim after examination by a district level authority, while Tamil Nadu entrusted its district level committee to scrutinise the petitions.Taking note of the high number of claimants in AP, the Supreme Court recorded in its order on Monday, “It may be because of our earlier order that a claimant can make application for compensation in case the RT-PCR report of the deceased was positive and he died within a period of 30 days, irrespective of the cause mentioned in the death certificate. The number of claimants may increase in other states as well.”Delhi was the only jurisdiction to admit that while it had officially recorded 25,095 deaths as Covid deaths as of November 23, another 5,922 deaths would qualify as COvid deaths under the expanded definition as per Ministry of Health and Welfare issued guidelines and Supreme Court’s order on ex gratia.The UTs of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, where four Covid deaths were recorded officially, has disbursed the ex gratia to the kin of all four. The UTs submitted that they have a grievance redressal committee at the district level.Haryana’s scheme has an assistance of Rs 2 lakh provided to BPL families where the deceased was aged between 18 and 50 years and under the different ex gratia schemes, Haryana government has disbursed more than Rs 15.58 crore to the kin of Covid-deceased so far. Assam, too, submitted that it has three schemes existing as relief to next of kin of Covid-19 deceased, including one-time financial assistance of Rs 2.5 lakh to each widow of Covid-19 deceased.West Bengal was the only state that stated that of 19,407 official Covid deaths, three were inhabitants of other states, although it was not specified if their kin would be eligible for claiming the ex gratia amount from West Bengal.Even as the Supreme Court directed the Gujarat government to establish an online portal for filing of claims for ease of the claimant, states such as Haryana submitted that an online portal saralharyana.gov.in has been established for filing claims as well as a set-up of a helpline number for assistance in submitting a claim online.Maharashtra submitted that it has initiated the development of a web-based application for filing of claims through its relief and rehabilitation department. Odisha too has a similar mechanism in place where a claimant can file for ex gratia at caps.odisha.gov.in.Kerala, where an online portal has been established, has also made “arrangements” for issuing Covid death certificate as stipulated by ICMR “to facilitate the disbursement of ex gratia through another portal” and the Kerala government states that “both these portals are integrated for speedy verification of the claim.” Kerala has recorded 38,737 Covid deaths officially as of November 26.

Times of India

GANDHINAGAR: After the Supreme Court reprimanded the Gujarat chief minister and state administration over dilly-dallying in paying compensation to families of Covid-19 victims, the state government decided to release ex gratia financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to more than 10,000 families who have lost a family member to Covid-19. A key source in the state health and family welfare department said, “Due to a misunderstanding, the Supreme Court got the wrong impression about the compensation process for families of Covid-19 victims. However, after the Supreme Court directions, the state government has decided release compensation to the families of over 10,000 victims whose medical records are available with the government.” Officials said the government will also provide financial assistance to those who died within a month of their RT-PCR report showing Covid-19 positive. “There might be cases where such persons got themselves treated at private hospitals and records of such deaths may not be available with the government. “The state government will provide compensation to all those who died within a month of being found to have Covid-19 through an RT-PCR test or even if a registered doctor certified the death as being due to Covid-19,” said a source. The Supreme Court raised serious concerns and commented that the chief minister and state administration may not be taking its directions seriously. A bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna had on November 18 observed that the constitution of the scrutiny committee appeared to be an attempt to overreach directions passed by the apex court to give compensation to the families of the Covid-19 victims in the state. The apex court also reprimanded top officials of the state health and family welfare department for their poorly drafted submission to the court.

Indian Express

The Gujarat government has dropped the scrutiny process for Covid-19 ex gratia compensation after the Supreme Court’s rap on the knuckle last week. It has also taken steps to include deaths by suicide within 30 days of testing positive for Covid as Covid deaths and provide compensation. Gujarat notified the changes after the apex court last week criticised the state’s constitution of the Covid-19 Death Ascertaining Committee (CDAC) via a government resolution dated October 29. The state government amended the resolution a day ahead of the hearing scheduled for Monday.A resolution was also passed by the state’s revenue department on November 20 stating the payment of the ex gratia amount would be made from the State Disaster Relief Fund. Annexed to the resolution was also a sample application form, revised on November 21, to incorporate the health department’s amended resolution conditions.The new resolution, issued by the Gujarat health department, mentions four circumstances under which the next of kin of those deceased need not approach CDAC for the compensation. Instead, they could “directly apply to the district disaster management authority/ district administration for access to Covid-19 death-related assistance”.Apart from considering Covid-19 deaths specified on Form 4 (filled for medical death certification in case of death at an institutional set-up) or Form 4A (filled for medical death certification in case of death at a non-institutional set-up), the amended resolution also expands the other scenarios that would be considered Covid deaths and would not require any scrutiny.These include cases of death that occured in the hospital or outside, while testing positive for the coronavirus, either through a positive RT-PCR test, rapid antigen test (RAT) or any other molecular test or clinically determined through investigations at a hospital or in-patient facility by a treating physician. A positive case, while admitted in the hospital/in-patient facility and who continues as the same admission beyond 30 days and dies subsequently, shall also be treated as a Covid death. If a Covid positive patient dies by “suicide within 30 days of being tested positive”, the next of kin of the deceased would be eligible for financial assistance, the notification says.It clarifies that in the above-mentioned three scenarios, if the specified provisions and conditions are being fulfilled, it would be considered “death by Covid-19” even if the cause is not written as Covid-19 in the medical certificate.In cases where the Medical Certification of Cause of Death (MCCD) form does not clearly state the cause of death as due to Covid-19 and fulfills the above-mentioned criteria, the Covid test report and the death certificate issued by the sub-registrar “shall have to be annexed while filing an application for assistance before the district disaster management authority/district administrative unit,” the amended resolution states.It is only in cases other than those mentioned, the next of kin of the deceased will have to apply to the committee (the concerned jurisdictional CDAC) appointed as per the October 29 resolution to get the Covid-19 death certificate. “In case, the family members of the deceased face any difficulty they may approach the committee (CDAC) constituted as per the resolution dated 29/10/2021. This committee shall also act as a grievance redressal committee,” the amended resolution states.The notification comes in the wake of the SC order, dated November 18, that took note of Gujarat’s constitution of CDACs. “It appears that an attempt has been made to overreach the directions issued by this court,” the apex court stated.The court clarified that it had directed to constitute a grievance redressal committee in case the compensation is not paid and the family members are aggrieved and/or they are aggrieved with respect to the death certificate issued. “There was no direction at all for the purpose of constituting a scrutiny committee for the purpose of issuing a certificate for getting the compensation. Our direction was very clear that the amount of compensation to be paid on production of RT-PCR certificate and the death certificate showing that the death has occurred within 30 days… It was made clear that even in a case where the cause is not shown as death due to Covid the death certificate but if found that the deceased was declared Covid-19 positive and he has died within 30 days, automatically, his/her family members are entitled to the compensation without any further conditions… Still, such a notification has been issued without the application of mind…,” the court said. Following the SC’s observations, the state government modified its earlier resolution, and in an affidavit dated November 21, submitted by Additional Chief Secretary of Gujarat health department, Manoj Aggarwal before the SC, it was stated that the state did not intend to “overreach” the court’s directions. It added that the eligibility criteria for compensation have been simplified in the modified GR. “There is no requirement of appearing before any scrutiny committee, in cases where a person has died within 30 days of being declared as Covid-positive or if the Covid patient has passed away during or within 30 days of receiving hospital treatment/facility,” it clarified.

The Indian Express

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has directed school heads and exam centre superintendents to ensure the question paper for classes 10 and 12 are printed only in one language — either English or Hindi.The board has stated that the question papers need not be printed in both languages for each student. Only one language, that is either English or Hindi, has to be prioritised as per what the students of a particular school or exam centre require.“It has come to the notice that some of the examination centres are printing both English and Hindi versions of question papers and thereafter these are being distributed to the students. This is not as per the directions supplied by the CBSE,” read the official CBSE statement.“It is desired that only the English version of question paper is to be printed first and supplied to the students. Hindi version question paper is printed only if any candidate is in need of Hindi version of the question paper,” it further stated. The same needs to be followed where the medium instruction is Hindi. “Where Hindi is the medium of instruction of the candidates, the examination centres should first print the Hindi version of the question paper and distribute the same to the students,” the CBSE added.