From commoners to MLAs: ‘Sextortion’ continues to haunt people in Karnataka
On October 31, senior BJP legislator from Karnataka’s Chitradurga G H Thippareddy received a video call on WhatsApp from an unknown number. In the short while that the call lasted, the caller displayed the private parts of a woman to the MLA, screen-recorded the call, and sent the video to Thippareddy’s number.
This incident, which grabbed headlines in Karnataka, was among the several cases of ‘sextortion’ being reported in the state. Extorting money or other valuables is the least of concerns in such cases, as victims have even chosen to end their lives after falling prey to such traps.
The 108 feet statue of Nadaprabhu Kempegowda, which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil on Friday is the "first and tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city," as per 'World Book of Records'.
Called the "Statue of Prosperity," it has been built to commemorate the contribution of Kempegowda, the founder of the city, towards the growth of Bengaluru. "A matter of pride for us that the Statue of Prosperity is the first and tallest bronze statue of a founder of a city as per World Book of Records. An apt tribute to Bengaluru's founder Kempegowda. Standing at 108 ft, it symbolises his vision of a Global City," Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai tweeted along with a certificate from 'World Book of Records' on Wednesday. (PTI)
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Under fire for failing to distribute textbooks even in the second half of the academic year, the Karnataka Textbook Society has clarified that the delay has affected only private schools and that all government and aided schools have got the books.
In a statement on Wednesday, the society said that all schools were given time in December 2021 to upload their demand for textbooks for the 2022-23 academic year. Private schools were asked to pay at least 10 per cent in advance. Around 1.3 crore textbooks were supplied to private schools that paid the advance, the statement said.
Fifty per cent of textbooks meant for private schools that had not paid the advance were printed, and those schools that paid the fixed amount all received the textbooks, according to the society. Read More
A passenger traveling from Gadag to Hubballi Monday was in for a shock after the driver-cum-conductor of a North Western Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC) bus asked him to pay an additional Rs 10 for carrying a laptop along with him.
Speaking to indianexpress.com, the passenger, a working professional, who did not wish to be named, explained that he had turned on his laptop to work during his journey towards Hubballi. When the driver noticed the device, he walked up to him and asked him to pay Rs 10 extra for carrying the laptop but the passenger refused to pay.
He added, “The driver-cum-conductor came up to me and cited an order issued by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and said it applies for NWKRTC too. The order does not mention laptops in the list of luggage that can be carried free of cost unless they cross the 30 kg threshold.” Read More
According to the National Health Authority’s Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) dashboard, four of the seven hospitals across the country which have digitally linked patients’ health records to the Ayushman Bharat Health Accounts (ABHA) are from Karnataka. The three others are SNM Hospital in Ladakh, G B Pant Hospital in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and GMSH in Chandigarh.
In Karnataka, 378,069 patient health records have been linked to ABHA, the website shows.
“KC General Hospital in Bengaluru tops the country in linking over 20,600 health records. Dharwad district hospital, Jayanagar General Hospital in Bengaluru and the District Hospital in Udupi stand at the third, fifth place and seventh places, respectively,” said Randeep D, state health commissioner and Karnataka ABDM mission director. Read More
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Bengaluru on Friday to inaugurate an airport terminal, flag off two trains and unveil a 108m bronze statue.
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is busy filling up potholes ahead of the visit of the prime minister, who will be in the Karnataka capital between 10am and 2pm. Traffic is likely to be hit as police are expected to impose restrictions. Read More
As COP27 spotlights discussions around climate change, experts expect the conference in Egypt to come up with a roadmap to combat climate change and achieve net-zero emissions targets.
Ramya Natarajan, group head of climate change mitigation at the Center for study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), said, “Climate change impacts have been felt across sectors–record high temperatures and extreme heat costing lives and livelihoods, floods and other extreme weather events destroying crops and livestock… Such climate change induced impacts could impede the achievement of even basic development goals such as food security, housing for all, thermal comfort etc, thereby deteriorating quality of life.” Read More
Members of Karnataka State Wildlife Board Tuesday appealed to Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai to declare Hesaraghatta grasslands as a conservation reserve. The development comes after the wildlife board on November 3, under the chairmanship Bommi, directed the forest department to conduct a public consultation on the issue.
“The area around Hesaraghatta lake is already housing cattle and poultry research institutes. Many of them hold the technology and genes of our native breeds of cattle and poultry. Declaring the area as a conservation reserve will accord protection to these animals and enable research in naturalistic settings,” the letter to CM Bommai read.
“Opportunity for research and education The conservation reserve could be used by research institutes and the forest department to teach their staff trainees and college students or even laymen to be able to appreciate nature. They could facilitate eco-tourism and generate revenue while setting up a world-class nature interpretation center,” it added. Read More
The Karnataka Police have arrested a 32-year-old woman for allegedly honey-trapping a 79-year-old man and attempting to extort Rs 15 lakh from him in the Davangere district.
The police identified the accused as Yashoda, who was working as a conductor with a private bus service. She has been separated from her husband and has a child, the police said.
According to the police, Yashoda developed a friendship with the victim a few years ago and took a hand loan of Rs 86,000 from him. She did not return the money despite the man asking for it several times. Around a month ago, she invited him to her house and offered him a juice laced with sedatives. He fell unconscious and when he woke up, he was naked, according to the complaint. Read More
The Bengaluru-based start-up, Behavioural Foresight, has recently partnered with Trident Automobiles and MVP Rocket, to create a first-of-its-kind mental health experience in India using cutting-edge gamified biofeedback technology. The focus is on enhancing the mental well-being of the workforce through real-time assessment, programming and personal training. BF caters to a wide roster of clients from Olympians, racers, cricketers, and golfers to CEOs, high-level executives, and company owners. They are currently working with athlete HS Prannoy.
Karnataka government announces that the seventh pay commission will be set up. Retired Chief Secretary Sudhakar Rao to chair the commission, says Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The Karnataka High Court has given the state transport department and cab aggregator services like Uber, Ola, and Rapido four weeks’ time “to arrive at an amicable solution” on the issue of fares for auto-rickshaws under taxi aggregation services in Bengaluru.
A single-judge bench of the high court earlier on October 14 had stayed a ban imposed by the Karnataka transport authorities on the use of auto-rickshaws as taxi services by app-based aggregators. The state had promulgated the ban on aggregators for allegedly charging exorbitant amounts beyond the minimum charges. The high court had also given the state 15 days’ time to resolve the fare controversy with aggregators. Read more
Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) chief commissioner Tushar Giri Nath has set November 15 as the deadline to fill the potholes within the municipal limits. Earlier the deadline was November 10.
“I have discussed the issue with the engineers and the potholes will be filled by November 15. Around 800-1,000 potholes are filled every day,” Nath told media persons Tuesday. (PTI)
A 16-year-old boy in Bengaluru died after he allegedly jumped from the 14th floor of an apartment building Tuesday, hours after he was caught cheating during a class test. According to the police, the Class 10 student was sent out of the class after his teacher allegedly caught him cheating at around 11 am.
He managed to sneak out of the class and walked to the apartment where his friend lives. He climbed to the 14th floor of the apartment and got into the parapet to jump. Meanwhile, some residents noticed the boy and tried to dissuade him from jumping off. One of them also went to the terrace to save him. Read more
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and French President Emmanuel Macron, will address the 25th edition of Asia's largest Tech Event 'Bengaluru Tech Summit' (BTS), during its inaugural here on November 16.
The flagship event organised by the Department of Electronics, IT, Bt, S&T, Government of Karnataka along with Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) will be held physically from November 16 to 18 at the iconic Bangalore Palace here. According to E V Ramana Reddy, Additional Chief Secretary, Department of Electronics, IT, Bt and S&T, Government of Karnataka, it will be a recorded address by both Modi and Macron.(PTI)
Health commissioner Randeep D said, "Karnataka continues to lead in maximum ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) linked health records created on ehospital HMIS portal. KC General Hospital tops the country in linking over 20,600 records. Dharwad district hospital and Jayanagar General Hospital stand at 3rd and 5th place respectively."
After drawing Opposition flak, Karnataka’s pre-university education department has withdrawn its directive that college students be ferried to a government programme to be attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi near Bengaluru.
In the now-withdrawn circular, the deputy director of pre-university (PU) education in Bengaluru Rural district on Tuesday warned of action against principals of colleges that fail to meet the number of students stipulated for each of them.
Modi is scheduled to inaugurate Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport and a 108-foot bronze statue of Kempegowda, who was a chieftain under the Vijayanagara empire, at Devanahalli on November 11. (Read more)
Amid the controversy over Karnataka Congress working president Satish Jarkiholi’s remarks on the word Hindu, an old video went viral of BJP former MP Ramesh Katti purportedly saying that Hinduism was “not a religion”, but a way of life and nationality.
“There is a discussion about the Hindu religion these days. The Hindu religion, in my opinion, is not a religion. It is a heritage, a way of life,” he is heard saying in the video.
Explaining the origin of the word Hindu, he said it was used to refer to people living in the landmass surrounded by Himalayas, the Sindhu (Indus) river and the Indian Ocean. “It is not a religion. It is a nationality,” Ramesh is heard saying in the video. (Read more)
Karnataka Police on Tuesday claimed to have solved the November 4 murder of retired Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer R N Kulkarni, 82, in Mysuru with the arrest of two men. Police said the crime was committed out of revenge as the victim had gone to court against the building bylaws’ violations by the father of one of the arrested men.
Those arrested were identified as Manu, 30, an MBA graduate and his friend Varun. On November 4, Kulkarni was out for a walk around 5.30pm on the Mysore University campus when an unidentified vehicle hit him from behind, leading to his death. Initially, the traffic police took it as a hit-and-run case, but the CCTV camera footage showed that it was intentional. (Read more)
After initially defending Shivamurthy Sharanaru, the Murugha mutt pontiff arrested for the alleged sexual assault of two minor girls in Karnataka’s Chitradurga, BJP leader and former chief minister B S Yediyurappa has now said that the influential Lingayat seer committed an “unforgivable offence”.
Speaking to reporters, Yediyurappa said, “The whole world today knows that he has committed an unforgivable offence. Nobody had expected that he would stoop this low. Everyone should condemn this and he should be punished.”
Earlier when Shivamurthy Sharanaru was first accused of sexually abusing minor girls at the mutt, the former chief minister had defended him in August this year, saying the case was a “conspiracy” against the seer. “People within the mutt have conspired against the seer. Investigation is on and the truth will come out,” he had said, adding that the seer would emerge innocent once the probe was complete. (Read more)
The Karnataka High Court Tuesday set aside a court order blocking Congress party and Bharat Jodo Yatra Twitter accounts, over the alleged copyright violation of music from the hit film KGF-2. A civil court in Bengaluru Monday issued a temporary injunction on the Twitter accounts of the Congress and the Bharat Jodo Yatra. The court of the 85th additional city civil judge issued the temporary injunction on the official Congress Twitter accounts in the course of a commercial dispute case brought to the court by MRT Music over the alleged violation of copyrights held by the firm for music from KGF.
The court in its ex parte order ruled that the prima facie material produced before the court by MRT Music indicated that the firm could undergo “irreparable injury”. The court said Congress “is directed to remove and take down the links from its platform till further orders”. It further ordered the blocking of two Twitter accounts.
Raising environmental concerns, Belagavi zilla panchayat last month put forward a plan to build a new road between Chikhale-Parwad in Khanapur taluk that passes through the proposed Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ) of Bhimgad Wildlife Sanctuary using laterite stones. The district administration has not filed any application to obtain the mandatory forest clearance under Forest Conservation Act, 1980.
The forest clearance is accorded by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change.
The officials from the forest department pointed out that in the village map, the 5.9-km stretch between Chikhale and Parwad is identified as a footpath. According to a circular from Karnataka forest department issued on March 15, 2021, the proposal to convert any footpath to a road in the forest area will require forest clearance. (Read more)
On the 11th November, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will unveil the 108 feet tall statue of Nada Prabhu Kempe Gowda in the premises of Bangalore International Airport and dedicate the second terminal of the airport to the country.
In this context, Karnataka Home Minister Araga Jnanendra
Made a site inspection visit.
Senior officers including City Police Commissioner Pratap Reddy were also present.
The Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) on Tuesday said that the testing of metro route from Byappanahalli to Hoodi Metro station was completed on Monday.
The Baiyapanahalli to Whitefield stretch of the Purple Line runs over 15 km and will have two reaches – R1A, an 8.67 km stretch from Baiyappanahalli to Seetharama Palya, and R1B, a 7.14 km stretch from Seetharama Palya to Whitefield. The much-awaited Purple Line is expected to be opened in February-March 2023.
After completing the process of appointing 180 doctors in its Namma Clinics last month, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) on Sunday invited applications to hire the remaining 63 doctors. The clinics are scheduled to open on December 15, officials said. Out of 438 Namma Clinics across urban local bodies in Karnataka, 243 will be operational in Bengaluru.
“Each of these clinics will have one MBBS doctor, a nurse and a lab technician. We hope to complete the hiring process this month. Each ward will have one Namma Clinic. These clinics will function like primary health centres (PHC). They will cater to those who fall below the poverty line. The doctors working at these clinics should have a working knowledge of Kannada,” an official from the BBMP’s health wing said. Read more
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Monday filed a chargesheet against AGS Infotech Private Limited and its director G Dhananjaya Reddy before the Court of the Principal City Civil and Session Judge Special Court, Bangalore, under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) pertaining to a bank fraud to the tune of Rs 23.73 crore. The court has taken cognizance of the prosecution complaint filed by the ED. Read more
Mayor Iresh Anchatgeri has ordered Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) Commissioner Gopal Krishna to rename the Idgah ground (Commonly called) after freedom fighter Rani Chennamma.
Express Photo
The High Court of Karnataka on Monday gave the government four more weeks to come to a consensus on an issue related to app-based autorickshaw-hailing service.
The government sought more time by citing that the earlier meetings with stakeholders have been inconclusive and more meetings been scheduled for November 14 and 15.
In the meantime, the court directed, the authorities should file their objections to the interim relief sought by aggregators seeking enhancement of rates.
The Bharat Motor Transport Drivers Association also sought to implead in the case. (PTI)