This platform aims to bridge the last-mile connectivity gap from Metro stations.Bengaluru News Highlights (September 7): The general secretary of the Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union (ARDU) in Bengaluru, Rudramurthy, said on Wednesday that he is all set to establish a Professional Drivers Association as a new section 8 company, which will operate Metro Mitra. This platform aims to bridge the last-mile connectivity gap from Metro stations. This comes after the internal bickering among auto rickshaw drivers’ unions in Bengaluru as the Metro Mitra service, which was scheduled to start on Thursday, was postponed due to a “lack of auto drivers”.
In other news, a woman and her minor son have died under mysterious circumstances at their residence in Bengaluru. The suspected murders came to light Tuesday afternoon, after which the police detained the estranged husband of the woman for questioning. The deceased have been identified as Navaneetha, 35, and her son Srujan, 8 and the police said the couple and their son are natives of Anantapur in Andhra Pradesh.
Here’s a weather update for today 🌦️: The sky is expected to be mostly cloudy today. There may be one or two periods of light to moderate rain later in the day or at night. Surface winds may be strong at times, but maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 27 and 20 degrees Celsius, respectively.
Forest staffer Girish was trampled to death during an operation to tranquilise an elephant in the state’s Alur. (Express photo)
Express photo by Jithendra M
Senior BJP leader B S Yediyurappa on Thursday said his party would hold state-wide protests in Karnataka against the 'anti-people' policies of the ruling Congress.
The agitations will take place in Bengaluru and all the taluk headquarters, Yediyurappa told reporters.
"Tomorrow, our MLAs, MPs and more than 15,000 to 20,000 people will take part in the demonstration." "The administration has collapsed as anti-people policies are being adopted by this government. Drought is affecting people, there are power cuts and development works have stopped. So, we are staging demonstrations and rallies across the state including Bengaluru and Taluk headquarters," the former CM said.
The BJP has given enough time to the Congress government, which has ignored all the development works and indulged in 'transfer business,' which compelled his party to hit the streets and stage protests, he said. (PTI)
A 34-year-old woman stabbed her 29-year-old live-in partner to death for suspecting her of infidelity and subsequently surrendered before the police in Bengaluru on September 2.
The murder took place at a service apartment in Akshayanagar in Hulimavu, off Bannerghatta Road.
The deceased was identified as Javed, a native of Kerala who worked as a mobile service technician in Bengaluru, and the accused was identified as Renuka Basavaraju Bandiwaddar alias Rekha Gowda, who hails from Belagavi district. Read more
Karnataka government grants administrative approval to complete the the elevated corridor under construction along Koramangala Inner Ring Road. Karnataka Cabinet approved a revised estimate of Rs 307.96 cr for the project, says Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister H K Patil.
Would like to remind Prime Minister Narendra Modi of 'raja dharma' says Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, calling Modi's remarks against Udayanidhi Stalin 'provocative' and 'anti-constitutional'. Asking people to 'give a suitable response to Stalin for his statement against Sanatana Dharma, amounts to provocation and asking people to take law into their own hands. "It is an offence even if the PM gives such a call," he said on X.
The High Court of Karnataka has granted an interim stay on the August 31 corrigendum order of the State government ending the tenure of Shanth A Thimmaiah as the Chairperson of the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB).
The stay will remain in force till the next date of hearing of a petition filed by Thimmaiah challenging the Government order.
The Court specified that the stay does not endorse the continuation of Thimmaiah, and said he will continue as the chairperson but will not undertake any policy measure.
The Division Bench of Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale and Justice Krishna S Dixit also directed the petitioner and the State to file their written statements by the next date of hearing.
Thimmaiah was appointed chairman by an order dated November 15, 2021. The corrigendum order issued on August 31 states that his tenure ended on March 4, 2022 and the Additional Chief Secretary of the Department of Forest, Environment and Ecology was put in charge of the KSPCB till the appointment of a new chairperson. (PTI)
The High Court of Karnataka has pulled up the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for not issuing the death certificate of an excavator operator who was washed away during heavy rains in 2017, and ordered the municipal corporation to hand over the document within 30 days to the kin of the victim.
The victim's body was never found, and though the BBMP paid compensation to his wife, it refused to issue a death certificate, stating that the procedure did not permit it without a doctor certifying the cause of death.
Calling the BBMP's act of sticking to procedure illogical, the HC said that when the body is not available, the question of the respondent insisting on a certificate in terms of Form 4A would be completely illogical, and the same can never be satisfied. Insistence on the certificate knowing fully well that it can never be satisfied has caused grave injustice to the petitioner, the court said. (PTI)
The general secretary of the Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union (ARDU) in Bengaluru, Rudramurthy, said on Wednesday that he is all set to establish a Professional Drivers Association as a new section 8 company, which will operate Metro Mitra. This platform aims to bridge the last-mile connectivity gap from Metro stations.
Though Metro Mitra was launched on Wednesday, the service, which was scheduled to start on Thursday, was postponed due to a “lack of auto drivers”.
The auto drivers’ community headed by Rudramurthy, who is also responsible for the launch of the auto-booking app Namma Yatri, will form the Professional Drivers Association as a non-profit organisation and start operating Metro Mitra after September 11, he said. Rudramurthy will also serve as the founder and director of the organisation. Read more
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Thursday asked the BJP leaders of the state to put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to get the clearances and permission for the Mekedatu balancing reservoir across Cauvery river in Ramanagara district.
He said he had heard that the BJP leaders were visiting the Krishnaraja Sagar Dam in Mysuru.
“I am happy that the BJP friends are going to the KRS. Let them go. They should go to Delhi to implement the Mekedatu balancing reservoir project. They should put pressure on the Prime Minister saying that they had earmarked Rs 1,000 crore (during BJP government in Karnataka). 'Give all the clearances and permissions.' Then only BJP's fight for Cauvery water will get some value,” Shivakumar told reporters. (PTI)
Metro Mitra to be launched under Professional Auto Drivers Association, a section 8 company (not for profit) after internal bickering among auto drivers union disrupted the launch of Metro Mitra services today.
Rudramurthy, generary secretary of Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union will dissolve the said union and establish Professional Auto Drivers Union which will operate Metro Mitra from next week.
The Metro Mitra services by the auto drivers community, which aims to offer last mile connectivity to Metro passengers, was temporarily postponed even before it began, amid internal conflicts among auto drivers’ unions and other operational issues today.
A 50 year old teacher in Bengaluru has lost Rs 32 lakh after people claiming to be Mumbai crime branch police threatened to initiate action stating that there were five passports in her name. Believing it, the woman transferred money whenever they asked, eventually realising that she had fallen prey to cybercrime.
Rajeshwari Rao (name changed), a resident of Bengaluru on 2 August received a phone call from an individual claiming to represent FedEx Courier Company. Rao was informed that a courier parcel addressed to her contained highly sensitive personal information including her mobile number, Aadhaar number, five passports, five credit cards and a laptop, and the matter had escalated to the Mumbai Crime Branch. Read more
Accusing the Centre of being anti-poor and pro-capitalists, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday asked people to ensure that not a single vote goes to the BJP in the Lok Sabha elections next year.
Calling the BJP ‘neech' (despicable), he said the ruling party at the Centre is also anti-humanity, as it denied supply of rice to Karnataka to supply additional five kg rice to each beneficiary under the Anna Bhagya scheme of the state government.
“When I was the CM during my previous tenure, I was giving seven kg rice free but the previous BJP government reduced it to four kg and five kg. During the assembly election, I promised that we will give an additional five kg more,” Siddaramaiah said during a ceremony to celebrate the completion of 10 years of Ksheera Bhagya scheme (under which students of government and aided schools are given milk five days a week) at Madhugiri in Tumakuru district.
The chief minister said that when the Congress government came to power, it wrote to the Food Corporation of India (FCI) to supply rice for the Anna Bhagya scheme. The FCI too assured the state government that it provide the rice, he said. (PTI)
Shivanand Patil, Karnataka’s minister for sugarcane development and APMC (agricultural produce market committees), has found himself embroiled in a controversy after he said that farmer suicides had risen after the state government increased compensation for the families of the deceased.
After his statement elicited sharp reactions from farmer organisations, Patil said he did not suggest that farmers were resorting to suicide for compensation. “I did not make any statement to hurt the sentiments of farmers,” he said, adding that he was merely advising the media to wait for forensic science laboratory reports before reporting on farmer suicides. Read more
Getting a proper glimpse of Bengaluru’s colonial legacy is hard these days given the hustle, bustle and traffic jams that are now trademarks of the erstwhile pensioners’ paradise.
Nevertheless, one of the parts of the city that can still transport people back in time to the colonial period to some extent is Richards Town in east Bengaluru, across the railway line from the quaint Bangalore East Railway Station.
Laid out like a European town
A smattering of old colonial-era buildings that have survived redevelopments and the onslaught of high-rise apartments and still dot the broad tree-lined avenues of Richards Town lend the residential locality an old-world charm, much more than other places like Frazer Town, Cooke Town, Cox Town, Langford Town in the city. The fact that Richards Town – set up in the late 1800s and early 1900s as a part of housing colonies for the British military – is laid out in the manner of a European town is largely responsible for this. Read more
Karnataka IT Minister, Priyank Kharge, addressed the Global Fintech Fest in Mumbai and spoke about Karnataka’s journey in the finance and technology sector. Calling Karnataka, the powerhouse of financial technology, and epicenter of innovation, the Minister stated that Karnataka aims to serve 50% of the projected $1 trillion fintech market by 2030 and highlighted on initiatives like the Karnataka Fintech Policy, Innovation Corpus Fund, mentorship programs, and the Karnataka Centre for Fintech Excellence drive this growth.
Kharge spoke about Karnataka's journey, marked by innovation and resilience, from the early 1900s to setting up iconic institutions like the Indian Institute of Science. He also discussed Karnataka’s leadership position in the industrial ecosystem and how presently it is home to 400 Fortune 500 companies and over 20,000 startups. He detailed Karnataka’s fintech landscape and how it is drawing 73% of India's capital inflow in 2020, with over $6.5 billion raised in 254 deals. He also spoke on Karnataka’s fintech task force that has been set up to identify and boost the sector’s next steps.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a petition seeking a direction to the Centre to take steps to curb fraudulent religious conversions in the country.
“Why should the court enter into this thicket? How can the court issue a writ of mandamus to the government,” said a bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra.
The lawyer, appearing for Karnataka-based PIL petitioner Jerome Anto, said Hindus and minorities are being targeted and they are being converted "fraudulently".
“If there is a live challenge and someone is persecuted then we can entertain,” the bench said while dismissing the PIL.
“What kind of PIL is this? PIL has become a tool and everyone is coming up with petitions like these,” it said.
On being argued where the petitioner should go with this kind of grievance, the bench said, “We are not in advisory jurisdiction. (The plea is) Dismissed”. (PTI)
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday said changing the name of the country from 'India' to 'Bharat' will not serve any purpose unless it benefits people.
Amid the India-Bharat naming row, he took a swipe at the BJP-led government at the Centre questioning them as to which of their promises were fulfilled.
“Changing the country, and not changing the name, is important. There should be change in India. What they are calling a ‘Bharat', there should be some change in that Bharat,” Shivakumar told reporters here.
“What will you get by changing the name? Has there been any change in your living condition? Has your income doubled? Is there any development in your life? Did you get a job? Has Rs 15 lakh credited in your bank accounts?” he sought to know.
Noting that promises have to be fulfilled first, Shivakumar claimed that none of them such as providing jobs, controlling inflation and depositing Rs 15 lakh in the bank accounts were fulfilled. (PTI)
The operations of metro mitra have been tentatively postponed amid ruckus among auto driver unions. The auto driver community had launched the Metro Mitra at Jayanagar metro station in Bengaluru on Wednesday.
Farmers' bodies reporting deaths of ryots as suicides for more compensation, says Karnataka Minister Haveri (KTK), Sep 6 (PTI) Karnataka Minister Shivanand Patil has said some farmers' leaders and associations are reporting deaths of peasants as suicide in order to claim more compensation.
According to him, ever since the compensation given to next to the kin of the farmers dying by suicide has been increased to Rs five lakh, reporting of such incidents has increased.
Talking to reporters after a review meeting here, Patil, who holds agricultural marketing, textiles, and sugarcane development portfolios, claimed in that in one instance it was proved that a youth who died due to liquor consumption was shown to have ended his life by suicide.
“The leaders of some farmers' associations give false report in order to get some relief,” the Minister said. (PTI)
The Karnataka High Court has permitted Kannada actor Ganesh to continue construction on his property in the eco-sensitive zone of Bandipur in the state’s Chamarajanagar district, subject to the final outcome of the case. A single-judge bench of Justice Krishna Dixit passed the order on September 1.
Read more here.
The Karnataka High Court has directed the state government to restrain an activist from making defamatory statements against the judiciary and members of the family of the dharmadhikari (administrator) of the Sri Kshetra Dharmasthala Manjunatha Swamy Temple in the state’s Dakshina Kannada district while campaigning for justice in a 2012 schoolgirl rape-murder case.
Read more.
IBM today renewed its research collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay and Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore to transform and drive breakthrough innovations in the field of hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI). IIT Bombay joined the IBM AI Horizon Network in 2018 to advance AI research in India, and in 2021, IBM and IISc Bangalore launched the IBM-IISc Hybrid Cloud lab to advance research in hybrid cloud technologies and drive breakthrough innovations in this area.
On the account of Krishna Janmashtami, the movement of KSRTC and BMTC buses has been diverted as devotees in large numbers are expected to visit the ISKCON temple on West of Chord Road.
The traffic diversion for KSRTC, BMTC buses and other vehicles will be applicable on Wednesday and Thursday.
KSRTC buses that take Yeshwanthpura-Orain Mall- Dr Raj Kumar road towards Majestic Marappanapalya-Yeshwanthpura fly over- BHEL(K-08) underpass- right turn on circle Maramma - Margosa road via Malleswaram- Left turn in KC General hospital junction- Malleswaram bridge underpass- Link road- Seshadripuram to reach Majestic.
BMTC buses and other vehicles travelling from Yeshwanthpura -West of Chord road- ISKCON temple- Mahalakshmi Layout entrance- Magadi road- Vijayanagar.
Motorists taking Yeshwanthpura have to take JSF circle-Orain mall - Dr Rajkumar road- right turn at 10th cross in Rajkumar road junction-Diacon junction- take left in Rajajinagar 1st block- West of Chord road to reach Vijayanagar.
Kempegowda International Airport Bengaluru (KIAB/BLR Airport) has recorded a remarkable surge in mango exports setting a new benchmark when compared to the previous year. In 2023, BLR Airport processed an export of 6,84,648 kgs of mangoes, showcasing a significant rise from the 3,05,521 kgs exported in the previous year. Furthermore, this season's exports saw an impressive 86% increase in the number of pieces, with approximately 17 lakh pieces of mangoes being exported.
Satyaki Raghunath, Chief Strategy and Development Officer at Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) said, "BLR Airport has emerged as a driving force in facilitating perishable exports from India."
The female sambar is seen accompanying another adult female sambar. it’s speculated that this may be a sub-adult individual with its mother. This is the first recorded photographic record of a white form of sambar from this landscape. However a white form of sambar deer was previously recorded in Bandipur Tiger Reserve in 2014.
Leucism is a condition in which the pigmentation of an animal’s skin is missing, causing white or pale skin. This condition can occur naturally from birth due to a phenotype (a trait of any living being) that may have formed from a defect in the animal’s development. It is different from albinism which is a condition that arises due to a lack of melatonin in the animal’s skin, but the animal has pink or reddish eyes. But in leucism, the animal lacks the pink eyes. Sambar are also listed as a vulnerable species as per the IUCN Red List.
Express Photo
GR Construction Rotary Comedy Night supported by Akash (BYJU) is going to host a comedy night with a radical mime comedy from The Comedy Brigade and Stand up comedy by Rajesh Hinduja presented to you by Rotary Bangalore Prime and Rotary Bangalore Socials. The event is scheduled on September 9, 20223 at 6:30 pm.
All proceeds from the event will go towards financing women empowerment initiatives that Rotary Bangalore Prime and Rotary Bangalore Socials have diligently planned to implement.
Book your seats on: https://forms.gle/5P9SUQZhpSAP4bFA9
Education is the key to an equal society and it is the Constitution that has facilitated education for all, so it is imperative to protect the Constitution to facilitate the creation of an equal society, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said in his Teachers’ Day address Tuesday.
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The ideology responsible for the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi was behind the killing of personalities such as journalist Gauri Lankesh, scholar M M Kalburgi, and activists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said on Tuesday.
Read more here.