CBSE Class 12 Science Board Exam Date Sheet 2025: Complete Schedule Inside

Science and Health

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has released the Class 12 Senior School Certificate Examination 2025 date sheet, providing students with a roadmap to plan their preparations effectively. The exams begin on Saturday, February 15, 2025, with Entrepreneurship and conclude on Friday, April 4, 2025, with Psychology.Key Dates for Science Students:
Exam Timings and Durations:

Exams will start at 10:30 AM.
Core subjects like Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics will have a 3-hour duration.Vocational and specialized subjects, such as Tourism and Dance, will be 2 hours long. Students are encouraged to use this schedule to optimize their preparation and manage their time efficiently. CBSE will release the final admit cards for each student in due course of time. Exam dates for specific subjects relevant to the candidate will be mentioned in their respective admit cards.For detailed Class 10 and 12 timetables, visit the official CBSE website.

Denmark and Sweden launch ambitious new life science strategies

Science and Health

New life science strategies in Denmark and Sweden share the aim of boosting the sector, increasing European competitiveness and benefiting patients, but they also differ in approach.
The Danish and Swedish governments have recently presented new or updated life science strategies. Denmark launched its strategy first, aiming to become a leading life science nation in Europe for the benefit of patients. The Swedes followed with an updated life science strategy for the sector.
According to Jeanette Edblad, head of the Swedish government’s Office for Life Sciences, the Swedish strategy is intended to be broad. Its content will be complemented by the government’s other strategies and a Research and Innovation Bill.
“There are many excellent objectives in the strategy to build on, and this work starts now. We want the whole chain to come together: excellence, increased competitiveness and then increased patient benefit. These are our keywords in this strategy, and our message is that you have to look at the whole picture,” she told Euractiv.

Denmark’s aims for growth
A vital goal of the Danish strategy is to expand the sector’s economic growth and double Danish life science exports from €23 billion in 2023 to €46 billion in 2030 (DKK 174 billion in 2023 to DKK 350 billion.)
Even so, Morten Bødskov, Denmark’s Social Democratic Minister for Economic and Business Affairs, also describes international competition to be “fierce”.
“That’s why it’s crucial that we give the life science industry the best conditions to realise its huge billion-dollar potential,” he stated at the launch of the strategy.
The Danish government wants to set aside €53 million (DKK 400 million) for 2024-2027 “to future-proof” the Danish life science sector.
Its strategy has five priority areas and still needs to be approved by the country’s parliament, the Folketinget.
The five areas range from supporting “viable” life science companies and increasing the use of health data, AI, and innovation to conduct “ground-breaking” research into better treatments to also promoting the use of innovative and effective healthcare solutions and medicines, attracting foreign investment and thereby being a strong player in the EU.

Sweden targets eight areas
The Swedish government has decided upon an updated life science strategy for the sector, which export of goods amounted to approximately €16 billion in 2022.
The goal is to achieve a “concerted effort for excellence, long-term competitiveness and increased patient benefit.” At the launch, Ebba Busch, Minister for Energy and Enterprise, said the government is now gearing up in a number of areas that are crucial to securing Sweden as “a leading life science nation”.
“The investment in clinical trials initiated by the government is crucial for Swedish competitiveness and one of the most critical components of the investment in life science,” she continued.
The strategy sets out 30 new work targets in eight areas. It includes expanding collaboration and partnerships locally, in the North, but also in the EU, and globally, increasing the number of clinical trials, improving the use of health data, and establishing a national digital health data infrastructure.
It also looks into supporting research and better integrating R&D with the healthcare system, working to prevent public health challenges such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, mental illness, and antimicrobial resistance.

No economic targets, but budget increase
Meanwhile, unlike Denmark, the Swedish approach does not include specific economic targets. The bulk of the governmental investments in the sector will be announced in a Research and Innovation bill later this year.
However, earlier this autumn, the government proposed increasing the budget for the country’s entire research sector by €565 million (SEK 6.5 billion) from 2025 to 2028.
What is known is that it plans to invest nearly €4,5 million (SEK 50 million) in precision medicine and €2,6 billion (SEK 30 million) to set up a national partnership to promote clinical trials next year.
Kathrine Bengaard Poulsen, the Danish CEO of Novo Nordisk in Sweden, told Euractiv that she views the recent updates to the national life science strategies in both Denmark and Sweden very positively.
“The Danish strategy is very action-oriented with clear objectives on how the sector can further develop and grow, including doubling exports by 2030. At Novo Nordisk, we continue to make significant investments in both research and production in Denmark, and we naturally view the strong political commitment to the pharmaceutical sector positively,” she said.
“Similarly, the Swedish strategy shows a strong interest in measures that strengthen the pharmaceutical industry’s opportunities for growth, such as enhanced R&D tax credits and more attractive tax regulations. One thing I miss in the Swedish strategy is a commitment to ensuring that new medicines are put into use more quickly within healthcare. Early use provides an opportunity for new research investments, for example, in clinical drug trials,” Bengaard Poulsen added.
However, Jessica Martinsson, CEO of SwedenBIO, a national trade organisation for the life science industry in Sweden, who has participated in the government’s advisory group on the new strategy, said to Euractiv that Sweden needs a more ambitious strategy for exporting life science products.
She also called for stronger measures to facilitate production and support investments in Sweden.
“My view is that the Swedish government representatives have listened to us in the room, but the resulting strategy should have a sharper focus on industrial needs.”
[Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire]

Denmark and Sweden launch ambitious new life science strategies

Science and Health

New life science strategies in Denmark and Sweden share the aim of boosting the sector, increasing European competitiveness and benefiting patients, but they also differ in approach.
The Danish and Swedish governments have recently presented new or updated life science strategies. Denmark launched its strategy first, aiming to become a leading life science nation in Europe for the benefit of patients. The Swedes followed with an updated life science strategy for the sector.
According to Jeanette Edblad, head of the Swedish government’s Office for Life Sciences, the Swedish strategy is intended to be broad. Its content will be complemented by the government’s other strategies and a Research and Innovation Bill.
“There are many excellent objectives in the strategy to build on, and this work starts now. We want the whole chain to come together: excellence, increased competitiveness and then increased patient benefit. These are our keywords in this strategy, and our message is that you have to look at the whole picture,” she told Euractiv.

Denmark’s aims for growth
A vital goal of the Danish strategy is to expand the sector’s economic growth and double Danish life science exports from €23 billion in 2023 to €46 billion in 2030 (DKK 174 billion in 2023 to DKK 350 billion.)
Even so, Morten Bødskov, Denmark’s Social Democratic Minister for Economic and Business Affairs, also describes international competition to be “fierce”.
“That’s why it’s crucial that we give the life science industry the best conditions to realise its huge billion-dollar potential,” he stated at the launch of the strategy.
The Danish government wants to set aside €53 million (DKK 400 million) for 2024-2027 “to future-proof” the Danish life science sector.
Its strategy has five priority areas and still needs to be approved by the country’s parliament, the Folketinget.
The five areas range from supporting “viable” life science companies and increasing the use of health data, AI, and innovation to conduct “ground-breaking” research into better treatments to also promoting the use of innovative and effective healthcare solutions and medicines, attracting foreign investment and thereby being a strong player in the EU.

Sweden targets eight areas
The Swedish government has decided upon an updated life science strategy for the sector, which export of goods amounted to approximately €16 billion in 2022.
The goal is to achieve a “concerted effort for excellence, long-term competitiveness and increased patient benefit.” At the launch, Ebba Busch, Minister for Energy and Enterprise, said the government is now gearing up in a number of areas that are crucial to securing Sweden as “a leading life science nation”.
“The investment in clinical trials initiated by the government is crucial for Swedish competitiveness and one of the most critical components of the investment in life science,” she continued.
The strategy sets out 30 new work targets in eight areas. It includes expanding collaboration and partnerships locally, in the North, but also in the EU, and globally, increasing the number of clinical trials, improving the use of health data, and establishing a national digital health data infrastructure.
It also looks into supporting research and better integrating R&D with the healthcare system, working to prevent public health challenges such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, mental illness, and antimicrobial resistance.

No economic targets, but budget increase
Meanwhile, unlike Denmark, the Swedish approach does not include specific economic targets. The bulk of the governmental investments in the sector will be announced in a Research and Innovation bill later this year.
However, earlier this autumn, the government proposed increasing the budget for the country’s entire research sector by €565 million (SEK 6.5 billion) from 2025 to 2028.
What is known is that it plans to invest nearly €4,5 million (SEK 50 million) in precision medicine and €2,6 billion (SEK 30 million) to set up a national partnership to promote clinical trials next year.
Kathrine Bengaard Poulsen, the Danish CEO of Novo Nordisk in Sweden, told Euractiv that she views the recent updates to the national life science strategies in both Denmark and Sweden very positively.
“The Danish strategy is very action-oriented with clear objectives on how the sector can further develop and grow, including doubling exports by 2030. At Novo Nordisk, we continue to make significant investments in both research and production in Denmark, and we naturally view the strong political commitment to the pharmaceutical sector positively,” she said.
“Similarly, the Swedish strategy shows a strong interest in measures that strengthen the pharmaceutical industry’s opportunities for growth, such as enhanced R&D tax credits and more attractive tax regulations. One thing I miss in the Swedish strategy is a commitment to ensuring that new medicines are put into use more quickly within healthcare. Early use provides an opportunity for new research investments, for example, in clinical drug trials,” Bengaard Poulsen added.
However, Jessica Martinsson, CEO of SwedenBIO, a national trade organisation for the life science industry in Sweden, who has participated in the government’s advisory group on the new strategy, said to Euractiv that Sweden needs a more ambitious strategy for exporting life science products.
She also called for stronger measures to facilitate production and support investments in Sweden.
“My view is that the Swedish government representatives have listened to us in the room, but the resulting strategy should have a sharper focus on industrial needs.”
[Edited by Vasiliki Angouridi, Brian Maguire]

Liberal backbencher denies Catherine King’s parliamentary claim he filmed conversation between them on GoPro

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, has alleged in a speech to parliament that Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin filmed a conversation between them on a GoPro, asking that her claims be referred to the parliament’s powerful privileges committee for investigation.On Thursday afternoon, a spokesperson for Pasin denied the allegations.Making the claims in the House of Representatives on Wednesday night, King said Pasin – the member for the South Australian seat of Barker – had attended her ministerial office earlier in the afternoon for a “drop-in session” that the minister regularly holds to allow politicians to speak to her about infrastructure issues.King said Pasin and a staff member visited her office on Wednesday afternoon, where the politician gave her a letter. King said Pasin, also the shadow assistant minister for infrastructure and transport, had “wanted me to know about a project in his electorate”.“I started an interaction with him, but he left very quickly,” King told the chamber.“As he was leaving the office, my staff observed that he had been filming the interaction on a GoPro in my ministerial office, and I asked one of my staff to go around to the member for Barker’s office to confirm this was the case.”

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King said her staff member followed Pasin and his staffer back to his office, where her staffer “saw that they were downloading a film on to a laptop”.“My member of staff said, ‘Have you been filming, did you film that interaction with the minister?’ The member of staff confirmed that it had been filmed and that filming had been undertaken in the ministerial corridor,” King alleged.Guardian Australia contacted Pasin’s office for a response to King’s claims. A spokesperson responded that Pasin “denies the accusations levelled against him by minister King and intends to respond to them in parliament when he returns from leave”, but did not address specific questions about the alleged incident.“Mr Pasin is on pre-arranged leave from parliament today owing to the declining health of a family member,” his spokesperson said.Pasin has not yet addressed the claims in parliament or on social media. On Thursday afternoon, he posted on his Facebook page about a road safety forum in his local electorate.King’s office also declined to comment further on her claims or the alleged incident.skip past newsletter promotionafter newsletter promotionKing went on to claim in her speech that Pasin’s alleged behaviour was “a significant breach of the rules”, asking that the speaker of the house, Milton Dick, consider a referral to the privileges committee.King complained in her speech about “the discourtesy that’s been shown to me and my staff by the member for Barker, and the seriousness of the breach”.Dick said he would consider King’s statement and claims, and report back to the chamber.“I reserve the matter for further consideration, and, once considered, I’ll report back to the house as soon as possible,” he said.The matter is expected to be discussed in parliament again next week. If the speaker is satisfied that an issue of privilege exists, the issue and whether it should be referred to the privileges committee can be put to a vote of the House of Representatives.The committee itself cannot impose penalties, but can compel witnesses and information to be produced to aid in its inquiries.

‘Rust’ director says film’s premiere is ‘bittersweet’

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

More than three years after the fatal shooting on the set of “Rust,” the film made its debut Wednesday at the Camerimage Film Festival in Poland.“It’s bittersweet,” the film’s director, Joel Souza, said in an interview after the premiere. “I think we would all have preferred that the movie was finished a long time ago, that Halyna was there standing proudly talking about it.”On Oct. 21, 2021, “Rust” cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was killed when Alec Baldwin’s prop gun fired a live round of ammunition on set. The bullet also hit Souza in the shoulder.Baldwin was charged with one count of manslaughter, but the case was dismissed over the summer after the judge in his trial found that New Mexico prosecutors had suppressed evidence. “It’s been so long living with the movie and everything that happened and just all the sort of … insanity that kind of engulfed everything,” Souza said. “There is a sense of relief, I think, in this moment finally having happened.”Baldwin was noticeably absent from the premiere, but Souza urged observers not to read too much into it. “I doubt that [his attending] was ever even discussed. I mean, this is a cinematographers’ film festival,” he said. Also not attending were Hutchins’ mother, father and sister, who stayed in their native Ukraine. In a statement on the eve of the premiere, the family said through their attorney, Gloria Allred, that they were boycotting the event because Baldwin never formally apologized. They also asserted that the producers are profiting from the tragedy. Alec Baldwin in “Rust.”FlixPix / AlamyBaldwin’s representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. In a statement, Rust Movie Production pushed back against the family’s statement.“Gloria Allred’s misrepresentation of both the Camerimage festival and any profit motivation is disappointing,” it said. “The decision to complete ‘Rust’ was made with the full support of Halyna’s family.”The film’s new cinematographer, Bianca Cline, said the production team chose to finish the film in part to honor Hutchins’ work. “It’s also awful that that’s the only thing that the majority of the world knows Halyna for, and hopefully, via this film, people will know her as a cinematographer and how she sees the world, rather than just seeing what happened to her,” she said. Hutchins’ husband, Matthew Hutchins, received an undisclosed financial settlement from Baldwin and the film’s producers and was an executive producer for the completed project. Souza said the producers hope to announce soon where moviegoers can watch the film for themselves.

What happens when a film is declared tax-free”

Arts & Culture, Film & TV

Simplifying…
Inshort

When a film is declared tax-free, it’s usually because it carries a social message or features inspiring figures.

Before GST, states set their own entertainment tax on films, but GST standardized it to 28%, later introducing two slabs of 12% for tickets under ₹100 and 18% for pricier ones.

When a film is tax-free, the state forgoes its tax share, making tickets cheaper and the film more accessible.

Notable tax-free films include Taare Zameen Par, Mary Kom, and Dangal.

Was a long read? Making it simpler…

Next Article

What qualifies a film to be declared tax-free?

Nov 21, 2024

04:10 am

What’s the story

Vikrant Massey’s latest Hindi film, The Sabarmati Report (TSR) has become the latest movie to get the tax-free label from multiple states.

This trend is certainly not new as The Kerala Story ruled at the box office last year, boosted by entertainment tax exemption by a few state governments, and so did The Kashmir Files, in 2022.

But what is this exemption and who benefits from it? Let’s find out.

Tax exemption guidelines

Criteria for declaring a film tax-free

There are no specific guidelines to decide which films can be exempted from tax. Usually, state governments and the Centre tend to waive taxes for films with a social message or those featuring inspiring figures.

TSR is inspired by the real story of the 2002 Godhra train tragedy that led to the death of 59 passengers.

Tax structure

Entertainment tax calculation and GST’s role

Before the Goods and Services Tax (GST) was implemented in 2017, states had the freedom to decide the entertainment tax on films, resulting in different rates across states.

GST brought uniformity by putting movies under a 28% GST bracket.

Later, two slabs were introduced: a 12% GST on tickets priced below ₹100 and an 18% GST for pricier ones.

Ticket affordability

Impact of tax exemption on ticket prices

The GST levied on movie tickets is equally shared between states and the Centre.

When a state declares a film tax-free, it gives up its share of the tax, while the Centre still gets its share.

The main aim of this exemption is to lower ticket prices, making the film more accessible to a wider audience.

Past exemptions

Previous films that enjoyed tax-free status

Before TSR, a few Hindi films were declared tax-free in select states.

These are Taare Zameen Par (2007), Mary Kom (2014), Dangal (2016), Toilet: Ek Prem Katha (2017), and Chhapaak (2020).

Interestingly, the government of former PM Indira Gandhi had partially funded and exempted Richard Attenborough’s Gandhi from tax in 1982.