"I have tested positive for Covid-19," K Sudhakar tweeted. (Twitter)Karnataka Bengaluru Highlights: Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Friday announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19. “I have tested positive for Covid-19, after being uninfected through 3 waves of the pandemic. I have moderate symptoms and will home-isolate myself and follow all protocols,” he tweeted. “Grateful that I am fully vaccinated. Request anyone who has come in contact with me over the last few days, to get themselves tested.”
The hijab row has resurfaced in yet another college in the coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, forcing the authorities to suspend six students for wearing the headscarf, despite repeated warnings, PTI reported. The Government First Grade College at Uppinangady on Wednesday suspended six students for a week, after the Principal held a meeting with faculty members in this connection. The six students who have been suspended allegedly wore the hijab in the class room, despite repeated attempts by the college authorities to inform them that their conduct was in violation of state government and High Court’s orders.
Meanwhile, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Thursday assured that his government will go the extra mile to support startups, and is not worried about the competition. He was speaking after inaugurating the ‘India Global Innovation Connect’ which the organisers claim to be India’s first global conference on startups. The event is organised by Smadja & Smadja, a Switzerland-based strategic advisory firm, in partnership with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission (KDEM), Catamaran Ventures and Tata Digital.
He was the Karnataka Congress’s face on both regional and national television for close to a decade, and now he is holding discussions with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
On Tuesday, Supreme Court advocate Brijesh Kalappa sprang a surprise by announcing that he had resigned from the party’s primary membership the day before, bringing down the curtains on an association of almost 25 years. Kalappa claimed in a Facebook post that he took the decision as he was “lacking in passion” for some time. Though party insiders said the veteran spokesperson was unhappy with the party for not giving him a ticket for either the Rajya Sabha polls or the Legislative Council elections, he dismissed such claims.
“Kalappa has been unhappy with the party leadership since the 2018 elections for not being given poll tickets despite being one of the senior leaders. He was one of the aspirants for the Rajya Sabha or state Legislative Council polls but was not given a ticket this time also,” a senior Congress functionary told The Indian Express. (Read More)
Six candidates are in the fray for the June 10 Rajya Sabha poll to four seats from Karnataka, necessitating a heated contest for the fourth seat.
Despite not having an adequate number of votes to win the fourth seat from the state Assembly, all the three political parties in the state -- BJP, Congress and JD(S) -- have fielded candidates for the seat, forcing an election.
The six candidates in the fray for Rajya Sabha polls from the state are -- Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, actor-politician Jaggesh and outgoing MLC Lehar Singh Siroya from the BJP, former Union Minister Jairam Ramesh and state general secretary Mansoor Ali Khan from the Congress, and former MP D Kupendra Reddy from the JD(S).
Among the candidates, Sitharaman and Jairam Ramesh are seeking re-election from the state. (PTI)
Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao on Friday expressed grief over the death of Hyderabad residents in a ghastly road accident in Karnataka and announced ex-gratia payment to the victims' next of kin.
Rao asked state Health Minister T Harish Rao and Animal Husbandry Minister T Srinivas Yadav to supervise steps to provide medical treatment to those injured in the accident and to transport the bodies to Hyderabad, an official release said.
The Chief Minister announced ex-gratia of Rs 3 lakh to the next of kin of those from Telangana who died in the accident and Rs 50,000 to the injured.
Rao directed state Chief Secretary Somesh Kumar to take steps in this regard.
Seven people were charred to death after a private bus collided with a goods vehicle near Kamalapura town in Kalaburagi district of Karnataka during the early hours on Friday, police said. (PTI)
The Telangana government on Friday announced an ex gratia payment of Rs 3 lakh each to the kin of those who died in an accident in Karnataka’s Kalaburagi district in the morning. A financial assistance of Rs 50,000 to all those who suffered injuries in the accident was also announced.
Seven people were charred to death and many others suffered injuries after the bus they were travelling in collided with a goods vehicle at Kamlapura town of Kalaburagi district on Friday morning.
Hyderabad-based Arjun Kumar along with family and friends had gone to Goa to celebrate his daughter’s birthday. All the passengers on the bus were returning to their homes in Hyderabad from Goa. (Read More)
Aftermath of two separate non-departmental fatal accidents in the city recently due to unattended OFC cables and illegal power supply drawn to the advertisement hoarding, the BESCOM has taken up the special drive to clear unauthorized and unattended OFC, dish and data cables which are laid on the distribution network.
Standing instructions have been given to all Chief Executive Engineers (CEEs) of 8 districts of BESCOM to clear and remove the OFC cables, dish, data and unwanted electrical items dumped at Transformers units. It may be recalled that non-departmental fatal accident has taken place near Sanjayanagara, person died after he accidentally touched OFC, which was laid on the distribution network of BESCOM.
After a gap of two years, Madiwala lake resumes boating. The boating is resumed by the Karnataka Forest Department keeping in the eye of revenue generation. The revenue will be utilised to maintain the lake and adjacent bio diversity park.
Seven passengers of a private bus were charred to death in an accident in the Kamalapura town of Kalaburagi district in north Karnataka on Friday morning.
Police said that around 29 passengers were travelling on the bus from Goa to Hyderabad. “According to the preliminary investigation, the fire followed an accident involving the bus and a goods vehicle. All the injured have been admitted to various hospitals in Kalaburagi,” a police officer said.
Superintendent of police Isha Pant visited the accident spot and the hospitals and inquired about the condition of the injured passengers. Speaking to The Indian Express, Pant said, “We are conducting a detailed inquiry into the accident. All the injured passengers are being treated in hospitals. The bus from Goa was heading to Hyderabad when it collided with a goods vehicle in Kamalapur. Just after the collision, the bus moved a distance, overturned and caught fire, according to the preliminary investigation.” (Read More)
Datair Technology Pvt Ltd (Ambee), a global platform for hyperlocal and geospatial datasets on air quality, weather, pollen, soil, water vapour and fire, announced on Thursday that it will be joining US-based space agency Nasa’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) Mission as an early adopter.
According to the National Aeronautics Space Administration (Nasa), PACE is currently in the design phase of mission development. It is scheduled to launch in 2024, extending and improving Nasa’s over 20-year record of satellite observations of global ocean biology, aerosols and clouds. The data collected will be utilised by the scientific community, including universities and government agencies, to forecast weather and carry out research that can aid in mitigating climate change.
Madhusudhan Anand, CTO and co-founder of Ambee, said, “We are excited to be a part of Nasa’s PACE mission. At Ambee, our mission is to help people breathe cleaner air by making accurate, real-time, actionable air quality data easily accessible to governments, businesses, and people to improve everyone’s lives. This collaboration with Nasa and PACE scientists will allow us to develop in-depth solutions that can mitigate the impact of climate change and strengthen our vision of creating a healthier, cleaner and better planet.” (Read More)
In a breakthrough, researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and their collaborators have discovered how next-generation solid-state batteries fail and devised a novel strategy to make these batteries last longer and charge faster.
They say that solid-state batteries are poised to replace lithium-ion batteries that are found in almost every portable electronic device. The researchers state that on repeated or excessive use, they develop thin filaments called ‘dendrites’ which can short-circuit the batteries and render them useless.
In a new study published in ‘Nature Materials’ journal, they have identified the root cause of this dendrite formation – the appearance of microscopic voids in one of the electrodes early on. They also show that adding a thin layer of certain metals to the electrolyte surface significantly delays dendrite formation, extending the battery’s life and enabling it to be charged faster. (Read More)
Following the suspension of six students at Government First Grade PU college in Uppinangady for wearing headscarves, students on Friday boycotted classes, demanding strict action against girls wearing hijab to classes despite several warnings.
Researchers at the IISc Bangalore and their collaborators have discovered how next-generation solid-state batteries fail and devised a novel strategy to make these batteries last longer and charge faster.The study has been published in Nature Materials.
Beginning Friday, the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) will be issuing the Sahaya Hastha passes which were stopped on 1 June.
“As per the instruction of the competent authority, the same has started to be issued from 3 June, at all TTMC and bus stations as earlier,” BMTC said in a statement.
The BMTC in collaboration with the Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board, is issuing Sahaya Hastha bus passes to construction workers registered with the board.
Prohibitory orders (Section 144 of the CrPC) were clamped in Srirangapatna town in Karnataka’s Mandya district from June 3 evening till June 5 morning after some right wing Hindu organisations gave a call to perform pooja at Jamia mosque on June 4.
They claimed that the mosque was built after demolishing a Hanuman temple. Srirangapatna tehsildar Shwetha Ravindra enforced the ban order. The Jamia mosque in Srirangapatna, 120km from Bengaluru, came up around 1782 during the rule of Tipu Sultan. It is a heritage site being maintained by Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). Read more.
Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Friday announced that he had tested positive for Covid-19. “I have tested positive for Covid-19, after being uninfected through 3 waves of the pandemic. I have moderate symptoms and will home-isolate myself and follow all protocols,” he tweeted. “Grateful that I am fully vaccinated. Request anyone who has come in contact with me over the last few days, to get themselves tested.”
It has been decided to expedite the implementation of ongoing infrastructure projects in Bengaluru, Chief Minister Basavavarj Bommai said.
Speaking to media reporters after participating in a meeting in the BJP head office he said, many civic works have been taken up in Bengaluru under the Nagarothana Yojane. The works have been affected due to recent rains. Now, works are being speeded up. Tendering process has been completed for the Suburban Rail project and work would start soon. Action is being taken to complete the Metro Phase 2 one year ahead of the earlier schedule. Work on major drains is being taken up. Orders have been issued to take up works on development of 75 parks and lakes. Administrative approvals have been given for many civic works in Bengaluru, Bommai said.
Six female students of Government First Grade College in Uppinangady in Dakshin Kannada district of Karnataka were on Thursday suspended for wearing headscarves to class.
The action against the students of the college affiliated to Mangalore University was taken after repeated warnings, according to the college authorities. The principal decided to suspend the Muslim girls after holding a meeting with lecturers of the college. Read More
High alert has been issued in Karnataka’s Mandya district after members of Hindutva organisations said they would perform pooja inside the Jamia Masjid in Srirangapatna, which they claim was built over a demolished Hanuman temple, on Saturday.
Tahasildar Shwetha Ravindra has clamped prohibitory orders in Srirangapatna, a town 120 km from Bengaluru, from Friday evening to Sunday morning, during which period no procession or protest will be allowed. Read More
A 19-year-old bed-ridden specially-abled girl was allegedly gangraped by two men at Karnataka’s Tiluvalli village in Haveri district on Tuesday evening. The police said one of the accused has been arrested while the other is absconding. Haveri is the home district of Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.
The police identified the arrested as Parashumaram Madiwalar (38) and said the other accused, Yashwanth (38), is absconding. The accused hail from Soraba taluk of Shivamogga district.
The Aam Aadmi Party has sought the removal of Karnataka Handicrafts Development Corporation chairperson Beloor Raghavendra Shetty from the post and demanded his arrest as serious corruption allegations have been levelled against him.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, AAP state spokesperson K Mathai said, “Raghavendra Shetty is accused of manipulating the information stored in the digital video recorder that had the CCTV camera footage of the headquarters of the handicrafts corporation. He had unsuccessfully tried to reappoint to the post of general manager Kishor Kumar, who had earlier been suspended in a Rs 25-crore scam. We have information that there has been a negotiation of Rs 5 crore for this appointment.”
The former bureaucrat further alleged that salaries and other monthly expenses of up to Rs 5 lakh were being paid without providing attendance details of the office staff. Shetty had forced corporation officers to get him meals, demanded a female personal assistant for himself, and was also accused of misbehaving with women, Mathai said.
With the land already allocated for setting up of modern cocoon markets in Kalaburagi and Haveri, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has instructed the officials to prepare the Detailed Project Report(DPR) within a month.
Bommai, who chaired a meeting to review the implementation of budget programmes in the Agriculture department also asked the officials to submit the proposal for upgrading the Sidlaghatta Cocoon market.
Payment of Rs10,000 per ton subsidy for Bivoltine cocoons has been approved, Bommai said and asked the officials to release it through the DBT system for the beneficiaries.
The meeting discussed setting up of cold storages at Devanahalli, Maddur and Ranebennur.
The meeting was attended by Sericulture and Sports minister Narayana Gowda, Chief Secretary Vandita Sharma and other senior officials.
On World Environment Day, BBMP will be distributing plant saplings for free. Citizens can contact zonal offices for details.
Days after the personal secretary of the chairman of Karnataka State Handicrafts Development Corporation was arrested in a Police Sub-Inspector (PSI) recruitment scam, allegations of CCTV tampering have surfaced against the chairman. Managing Director of the corporation, D Roopa, has written to the state Chief Secretary, asking him to look into the matter.
Srikanth Dundappa Chouri, personal secretary of Beloor Raghavendra Shetty, was arrested on May 17 by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID). The arrest came three days after his marriage. The CID then claimed that the CCTV display and DVR of the corporation office had been tampered with. Read More
Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai released the state's installment of Rs 2000 each for the beneficiary farmers under the PM-KISAN-Karnataka scheme on Thursday.
The Chief Minister released a total amount of Rs 956.71 cr to the accounts of 47.86 lakh farmers through the Direct Benefit Transfer system.
So far the State government has paid out Rs 3861.66 cr for the farmers under the PM-KISAN-Karnataka scheme.
The phase II project of the coastal surveillance system developed by the public-sector undertaking Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) will be operational along India’s coastline by 2023 with the installation of 38 radar stations and four mobile stations.
The Coast Guard project aims to cover the entire Indian coastline in two phases.
“Under phase 1 of the project, BEL had established 46 stations, of which 10 are on islands that include Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and 36 are on the mainland. Phase II will cover the gaps and strengthen the system with 38 more radar stations. Under phase II, we are coming up with four mobile stations as well. After the completion of phase II, the coastline of 7,516.6 km will be completely ‘leak-proof’. The components for this project have been supplied,” a BEL official told indianexpress.com. Read More
The two-day Nav Sankalp Shivir organised by the state congress began today in Bengaluru. The party, in a tweet, said that it aims to "lay down a new vision and path for Karnataka" in the event. The meet will also formulate the party's roadmap for the upcoming polls.
The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) has said that the WhatsApp helpline numbers it released last week to resolve issues related to power had received a good response from consumers. In a statement on Wednesday, BESCOM claimed that within a week the helpline numbers had received 736 complaints from consumers of which 628 complaints had been resolved.
“The consumers have been sending photos and videos of power related issues, transformer failures and photos regarding power lines touching trees and residential buildings. This helps the officials to resolve the power issues on a priority basis. The helpline staff forward the photos and videos to the concerned officers for rectification. So with this, the efficiency can be expected from ground level staff. Once the photos and videos are received the staff go to the spot and resolve the issue,” said S R Nagaraj, General Manager, Consumer Relations, BESCOM. Read more
Officials from the United States’ space agency National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), on a visit to Bengaluru to meet Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) officials on Wednesday, said the payload integration of NISAR has been completed at its Jet Propulsion Laboratory and will be shipped to ISRO by 2023.
The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), or the NISAR mission, is a joint partnership between the two agencies. It is designed to observe and take measurements of some of the planet’s most complex processes which include natural hazards such as earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes and landslides. It will help scientists better understand the structural changes on the surface of the Earth. Read more
The BJP high command’s decision to pick film actor and BJP leader Jaggesh as one of its Rajya Sabha candidates from Karnataka took its state unit – and the actor himself – by surprise but party functionaries in the state say it is a tactical move to woo Vokkaliga votes in the upcoming assembly elections.
Jaggesh, a well-known comic actor in the Kannada film industry, is a member of the Vokkaliga community, dominant in South Karnataka, especially the old Mysuru region. The saffron party has very little presence in the area as the JDS and Congress have dominated politics there over the last few decades. Read more
Retired IPS officer Bhaskar Rao Thursday was appointed as the vice-president of the Karnataka unit of the Aam Aadmi Party.
The South-East division police in Bengaluru Wednesday arrested a 40-year-old food delivery boy, who allegedly shared child pornographic videos to women on Facebook.
The accused, identified as Purushotham, was arrested after a report was shared by the National Crime Records Bureau. Purushotham sent friend requests to women across India and the world. Once they accepted the request, he sent them obscene photos and videos of children on Facebook, a police officer said.
After the announcement of the Karnataka SSLC results, close to 6,843 papers have applied for revaluation. As many as 1,583 students in the science group have applied for revaluation followed by English (801), Hindi (983), Mathematics (812), and Social Science (772).
According to Gopalkrishna HN, Director of exams at Karnataka Secondary Education Examination Board, the revaluation count for this year was comparatively lower than previous years which fared somewhere between 10,000- 15,000. Meanwhile, around 89,299 students have registered for the supplementary examination that is scheduled between June 27 and July 4. According to Gopalkrishna, most of the students registered for supplementary examination are from Bengaluru South district. In fact, Bangalore South also recorded a performance grade of B in the district wise performance category.
One of the accused who attacked farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on May 30 was a murder convict released from jail for good conduct, a police officer said on Wednesday. The attack on the farmer leader at an event in Bengaluru drew widespread condemnation from various quarters.
"Shivakumar Atri (52) is a murder convict, who was released from the Hassan jail in 2015 for his good conduct," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sharanappa S D told PTI. He added that investigation is on to ascertain the accused persons' antecedents and their connections to find out those who might have instigated them to attack Tikait. (PTI)
Writer and chairman of the Karnataka textbook review committee Rohith Chakrathirtha (38) termed the ongoing controversy over the revision of textbooks a “political witch-hunt”. “The controversy has now gone out of control and has got nothing to do with textbooks. It is a political witch-hunt by a certain section of society,” Chakrathirtha told indianexpress.com.
Notably, some Kannada writers have sought withdrawal of their works from school textbooks reportedly in protest against the inclusion of a speech by RSS founder KB Hedgewar and exclusion of works referring to social reformers like Narayan Guru, among others, in the revised textbooks. Several academics and writers have also called on the state BJP government to dismiss the textbook committee headed by Chakrathirtha. Read more
A real estate businessman fielded by the Janata Dal (Secular) for the Rajya Sabha polls has emerged as the wealthiest candidate among six nominees who are in the fray for four available Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka. The JD(S) candidate D Kupendra Reddy, a land and IT park developer who was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2014 as an Independent candidate with the backing of the JD(S), has declared a total wealth of Rs 815 crore between him and his spouse. Ahead of the 2014 Rajya Sabha polls, Reddy had declared wealth to the tune of Rs 462 crore. Read more
Karnataka Wednesday reported 178 new Covid-19 cases, as per the bulletin released by the state health department. The active cases in the state stand at 2,001, while the positivity rate was at 0.89 per cent. Bengaluru Urban’s single-day tally stood at 158. As many as 206 people were discharged from hospitals, taking the total number of discharges to 39,10,172.
Hello and welcome to today's live blog. we bring to you the latest updates from across Bengaluru and Karnataka. Stay tuned!
Dr S Somanath, the chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Wednesday inaugurated ANANTH Technologies’ spacecraft manufacturing unit at Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) Aerospace Park.
The new state-of-the-art spacecraft manufacturing facility can conduct assembly integration and testing of four large spacecraft simultaneously.
Somanath said, “At ISRO, our objective is not just to pursue space science research and planetary exploration, it is also to harness space technology for the nation’s development. India has earned worldwide recognition for its space programmes and we feel that collaboration between government and private players can further boost the growth of this sector. (Also read)
The airport authorities have deployed 13 robot assistants called ‘Temi’ on a pilot basis to assist passengers at the terminal-I of the Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) in Bengaluru.
The robots will assist commuters in finding their boarding gate, shopping areas, baggage claim area, drinking water facilities and wash rooms, among others. (Read more)
One of the accused who attacked farmer leader Rakesh Tikait on May 30 was a murder convict released from jail for good conduct, a police officer said on Wednesday. The attack on the farmer leader at an event in Bengaluru drew widespread condemnation from various quarters.
"Shivakumar Atri (52) is a murder convict, who was released from the Hassan jail in 2015 for his good conduct," Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sharanappa S D told PTI. He added that investigation is on to ascertain the accused persons' antecedents and their connections to find out those who might have instigated them to attack Tikait.
The three accused in the ink attack case have been taken into police custody for further investigation in the case. On May 30, three accused posing as journalists entered Gandhi Bhavan where Tikait was holding a press conference. On the pretext of adjusting a microphone, one of them got on the stage and attacked Tikait with the mic while another one rushed there and threw ink on him.
Later, the accused raised 'Modi, Modi' slogan before being arrested by the police. (PTI)
The Congress in Karnataka fielding Mansoor Ali Khan as its second candidate to contest the biennial Rajya Sabha election in the state has not gone down well with the JD(S). The Rajya Sabha election for four seats will take place on June 10. Given their strength in the Karnataka Assembly, the ruling BJP is expected to win two seats and Congress one.
Accordingly, the BJP fielded Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Kannada actor-turned-politician Jaggesh as their main candidates. The Congress has chosen Jairam Ramesh as its preferred candidate.
The tussle is now about the fourth candidate. The JD(S) with 32 seats wants to have a bigger say for the fourth candidate and accordingly fielded Kupendra Reddy. However, the Congress with its balance 25 votes with the support of an independent candidate has fielded Mansoor Ali Khan. Amidst this, the BJP too fielded its third candidate Lahar Singh Siroya. (PTI)
Congress' known face on news channel debates and Supreme Court Advocate Brijesh Kalappa has resigned from the primary membership of the party, ending his 25-years long association. In a letter to Congress President Sonia Gandhi, he said, in the recent past he has been finding himself "lacking in passion", while his own performance has been "listless and perfunctory".
He is likely join the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) soon, sources close to him said.
In a letter dated May 30, thanking Sonia Gandhi for opportunities given to him, including his appointment as Legal Advisor to Government of Karnataka with rank of Minister during the party's rule in the state, Kalappa thanked her for "patronage". Pointing out that he has been representing the party on Hindi, English and Kannada channels since the UPA years in 2013- for almost a decade and has clocked 6,497 debates, he said, besides, the party has been regularly assigning political work to him which he has performed to the best of his satisfaction. (PTI)
Some more writers in Karnataka have withdrawn their consent to use their works in school textbooks in the wake of the revised Kannada and social science textbook controversy.
Roopa Hassan revoked the permission to use her poem, “Ammanaguvudhu Endhre”, in the Class IX Kannada textbook. Expressing her disappointment with the new textbook committee headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha, Hassan shot off a letter to Primary and Secondary Education Minister BC Nagesh. (Read more)
Considering that unlike cases under the Code of Civil Procedure, there is no provision under the CrPC or the Negotiable Instruments Act to try cases ex parte, the Karnataka High Court has suggested amendments to the latter.
"The legislature must think of bringing suitable amendments to Code of Criminal Procedure or to the special law to enable the court to conduct the proceedings in the absence of the accused. The amendment, perhaps, may deter unscrupulous elements who would resort to avoiding service of summons or execution of warrant against them," the HC said in a recent judgement.
One G H Abdul Kadri was sentenced by the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Udupi, in 2018 under six criminal cases under the Negotiable Instruments Act as cheques issued by him in connection with a loan were dishonoured for want of sufficient funds in his account. A sessions court in Udupi upheld the sentence. (PTI)
An international conference for startups -- the India Global Innovation Summit (IGIC) -- will be held here from Thursday. The inaugural edition of IGIC is organised by strategic advisory firm Smadja & Smadja in a partnership with Karnataka Digital Economy Mission and the support of founding sponsors Catamaran Ventures and Tata Digital.
The inaugural meeting will host more than 80 speakers from India and countries like Singapore, Israel, Switzerland, the US, Japan, Korea, and Germany, the organisers said in a statement. The two-day conference will have 22 sessions with more than 40 international speakers deliberating over themes relevant to entrepreneurs, innovators, and top venture capitalists, it said. (PTI)
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday appointed Union minister G Kishan Reddy as the in-charge for the Rajya Sabha polls in Karnataka. Narendra Singh Tomar and Gajendra Singh Shekhawat were made in-charge in Rajasthan and Haryana respectively, two states which are headed for a keen contest with the entry of party-backed independents.
The party also appointed Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw in-charge for Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra, another state headed for a contest. (PTI)
A special court in Delhi has summoned Karnataka Congress president and former minister D K Shivakumar and four others to appear before it on July 1 after taking cognisance of a money laundering complaint filed against them by the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
“From the material which has come on record, statements under Section 50 of the PMLA (Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002), there is sufficient material on record to take cognisance of the offence under Section 3 read with Section 4 of the PMLA as all the accused persons knowingly assisted pursuant to criminal conspiracy in the concealment possession of proceeds of crime i.e. unaccounted cash or in projecting it as their lawful business income,” the special court ruled on Tuesday. Read more
The BJP high command’s decision to pick film actor and BJP leader Jaggesh as one of its Rajya Sabha candidates from Karnataka took its state unit – and the actor himself – by surprise but party functionaries in the state say it is a tactical move to woo Vokkaliga votes in the upcoming assembly elections.
Jaggesh, a well-known comic actor in the Kannada film industry, is a member of the Vokkaliga community, dominant in South Karnataka, especially the old Mysuru region. The saffron party has very little presence in the area as the JDS and Congress have dominated politics there over the last few decades. Darshan Devaiah writes
IKEA’s Bengaluru store in Nagasandra will open on June 22, the company announced Tuesday. The store will be IKEA’s third in India, after Mumbai and Hyderabad.
In a statement, the company said the 4.6 lakh square feet store will feature “over 7,000 affordable, good quality, sustainable and well-designed home furnishing IKEA products along with inspiring home sets to instill creative ideas to decorate your home”. Connected to the Nagasandra metro station, the store will “support a faster and more comfortable commute, making the store accessible” for many people, the company added.
It was in 2011 when Sunil Nataraj encountered the thought of exploring Mt Everest. He decided to explore Mt Everest by traveling on a flight to catch an aerial glimpse of the tallest mountain in the world. But time had different plans for him. Cut to May 14, 2022, Nataraj was on the Mt Everest summit, displaying the Indian flag, along with his guide Tsering Pemba.
“The moment I reached the summit, I felt a great sense of gratitude towards my guide Tsering Pempa and my family who have been very supportive. I had tears in my eyes and then it occurred to me that I am on top of the world. The climatic conditions were very favourable with moderate wind speed and good visibility,” says Nataraj. Sanath Prasad writes
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai told media persons at Mangaluru airport Tuesday that further action on the textbook review controversy would be taken based on the report of the education minister.
Reacting to the controversy, the chief minister said: “The education minister has been asked to submit a report. The minister has stated that he would submit a report after considering all aspects of the issue. The minister had also met with the seer of Adichunchanagiri Mutt and said that he would present the facts. Appropriate action would be taken after getting the report.” Read more
Bangalore University (BU) students decided to call off their agitation Tuesday after the university administration agreed to withdraw funds allocated for developing the mechanical engineering branch of the University Visvesvaraya College of Engineering (UVCE), among other demands. The students had earlier claimed that finance officer Vijayalakshmi and vice-chancellor KR Venugopal violated norms in allocating funds for the UVCE, which is an autonomous institute, by not convening a meeting of the syndicate or consulting the finance committee.
Vijayalakshmi had also registered a complaint at Jnanabharathi police station against a few students, including two research scholars, when they reportedly sought an explanation from her over the allocation. “At BU, we lack proper hostel facilities, digital and physical infrastructure. The students presented a memorandum before the university to address these problems. Instead, the administration is providing funds amounting to Rs 29 crore for an autonomous college. It is the duty of the state government to fund such initiatives and not snatch funds from the BU. When we sought an explanation from the finance officer on this, she retaliated by filing a police complaint,” said Lokesh Ram, a research scholar at the university. Sanath Prasad reports
In pre-Covid times, the ‘tobacco quitline’ at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru used to receive 5,27,287 calls yearly, which came down to 3.6 lakh last year.
Dr Pratima Murthy, director of NIMHANS told The Indian Express that though the number of calls has come down, there has been a gradual increase in the number of people who want to quit smoking. “We have a centre for addiction medicine and a quitline helpline to which people can call and get online counselling and telephonic counselling to quit tobacco. The government is aware that we need a public health approach to help people quit tobacco,” she said. Read more
The Covid-positivity rate in Karnataka increased to 1.52 per cent on May 28, while it was 0.93 per cent a day earlier on May 27. Similarly, the weekly positivity rate last week was 0.95 per cent but the rate this week climbed to 1.01 per cent, said the state health department. The officials, however, allayed fears of a sudden surge in cases.
Karnataka health commissioner D Randeep told indianexpress.com, “The number of hospitalisations is low. I have checked with Bengaluru. Usually, the situation becomes alarming if there are many clusters and that is not the case now… We have asked the schools to maintain social distancing and accelerate the inoculation drive.” Read more
The southwest monsoon reached Karnataka Tuesday, said the India Meteorological Department (IMD). Speaking to indianexpress.com, Geeta Agnihotri, the director-in-charge of IMD, Bengaluru, said: “Monsoon has hit Karnataka today. We are keeping a watch on its progress. The southwest monsoon has advanced into some more parts of central Arabian Sea, some parts of Karnataka, entire Kerala, some more parts of Tamil Nadu, entire southeast Bay of Bengal, some more parts of southwest Bay of Bengal, most parts of east-central Bay of Bengal, some parts of west-central and northeast Bay of Bengal.”
Hello and welcome to today's live blog. We bring to you the latest updates from across Bengaluru and Karnataka. Stay tuned!