The petitioner’s counsel also argued that this was a display of negligence towards Bengaluru citizens (Express File Photo by Subiksha Ramakrishnan)Bengaluru News Live Updates (October 5): The Karnataka High Court has imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh on the state government on account of lack of compliance with a direction it had issued on a PIL on the construction of public toilets in Bengaluru. The PIL had been filed in 2020, arguing that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was legally bound to set up public toilets and had not been carrying out this responsibility. It also ordered the presence of the secretary of the urban development department in court for the next hearing on November 2.
Emphasising on their demand not to release Cauvery river water to neighbouring state Tamil Nadu, pro Kannada activists led by Vatal Nagaraj carried out a protests rally in Bengaluru Thursday. They initially planned to planning to lay siege around Krishna Raja Sagar dam in Mysuru. The Cauvery Water Management Authority has ordered Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu from September 29 to October 15. Karnataka had argued that existing storage in the Cauvery reservoir was insufficient to meet its needs.
Here’s the weather forecast for today🌦️: Generally cloudy sky. Light rain likely in some areas towards evening/night. Maximum and minimum temperatures are likely to be around 30 and 21 degree Celsius respectively.
Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao Friday said elimination of cervical cancer is a priority of the state government. He said that the steps which the state government would adopt to eliminate cervical cancer will be a model for the country.
“Effective screening, vaccination and early treatment will be critical in helping us achieve this goal. We are committed to building a roadmap to end the disease in Karnataka and are evaluating innovative strategies to ensure expanded access to screening for all women over 30 (years of age) and universal vaccination for girls aged 9-14 years of age,” Rao said.
Read on.
Chip-making tools supplier Lam Research has expressed interest in setting up a new lab in Karnataka, the office of Karnataka Minister for Large and Medium Industries M B Patil has said.
Patil, currently leading a delegation to the US to attract investment into the state, held a discussion with the company's management representatives in this regard in San Francisco on Thursday, according to a statement released by the minister's office.
Lam Research has already established a presence in Karnataka since the year 2000 and its campus here is focusing on hardware engineering, global operations management, and software development support, the statement said. (PTI)
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah took to X (formerly Twitter) to declare that the state government will not permit any new liquor shops to be opened.
The restoration of Bengaluru’s Varthur and Bellandur lakes has taken a backseat, even after Environment Minister Eshwar Khandre announced that both lakes would be restored by 2024. Khandre and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar visited the Varthur lake in June.
This is what activists have planned...
There is now no hope of waking up the Chandrayaan-3's moon lander and rover, an eminent space scientist said on Friday, signalling a possible end to India's third lunar mission.
Space Commission member and former ISRO Chairman A S Kiran Kumar, who was actively associated with the mission, told PTI: "No, no, there won't be any more hope of reviving. Now, if it should have happened, it should have happened by now. There is (now) no chance at all." The ISRO said on September 22 -- after a new lunar day began -- efforts have been made to establish communication with solar-powered Vikram lander and Pragyan rover to ascertain their wake-up condition. As of now, no signals have been received from them. Efforts to establish contact will continue, it had said then. (PTI)
The Karnataka High Court Wednesday admitted X’s (formerly Twitter) appeal against an earlier order by a single judge. The previous judge had dismissed X Corp’s appeal against the blocking orders issued by the Central Government and imposed a fine of Rs 50 lakh.
X Corp has since paid a partial sum of Rs 25 lakh, as ordered by the bench hearing the appeal, to indicate their bonafides. The appeal is being heard by a division bench of Justices G Narendar and Vijaykumar Patil.
What happened in the previous proceedings?
Activists working for the restoration of Varthur and Bellandur lakes said they would knock the doors of National Green Tribunal once again as the restoration activities at these two lakes have stopped.
The marshals deputed to look after the lake's integrity and the works related to drainage have stopped. Karnataka environment minister Eshwar Khandre and Bengaluru development minister DK Shivakumar had in June assured the people that the restoration of the lakes would be expedited.
The PIL had been filed in 2020, arguing that the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) was legally bound to set up public toilets and had not been carrying out this responsibility. In a previous hearing on August 8, the court had issued a directive to the state government to file a response in this case within three weeks.
A division bench of Chief Justice Prasanna Varale and Justice Krishna Dixit on October 4 took exception to the non-response by the state government, pointing out that the BBMP had been replying until now from the inception of the case. The petitioner’s counsel also argued that this was a display of negligence towards Bengaluru citizens.
The bench subsequently imposed costs of Rs 5 lakh, to be deposited within two weeks with the Karnataka State Legal Services Authority.
In its first arrest, a special investigation team of the Karnataka police probing alleged illegal Bitcoin payments made to officials by hacker Srikrishna Ramesh alias Sriki has taken into custody Harwinder Singh, who allegedly received illegal funds from the hacker. (Know more)
A 20-year-old woman in Bengaluru has lodged a complaint of sexual harassment against a Rapido bike-taxi rider after the man allegedly engaged in inappropriate behaviour on September 30. A manhunt is on to arrest the accused.
According to the complaint, the rider touched the woman inappropriately during the ride which began from a college and ended near the woman’s apartment. (Read here)
The capital city witnessed Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha and Karnataka Rajya Kabbu Belegarara Sangh, along with other farmers protest against the release of cauvery water to Tamil Nadu, on Thursday.
Indicating frequent recurrence of climate extremities in Karnataka, according to a government data, the state has faced drought in 16 of the 23 years since 2001. Between 2001 and 2023, Karnataka did not face drought in 2005, 2007, 2010, 2017, 2020, 2021 and 2022. (Must read)
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against unidentified officials of Karnataka State Open University (KSOU) in an alleged misappropriation of funds of around Rs 250 crore collected as fees from students between 2009-10 and 2015-16.
During an audit of accounts for the financial year 2013-14 and 2014-15, it emerged that the credits to the tune of Rs 50 crore from various collaborative institutions were missing. Further, the auditor found another Rs 250 crore missing credits pertaining to the financial year 2009-10 to 2012-13 based on the students admission and the amount received by the KSOU. (Know more)
ISRO plans to undertake an inflight abort test of the crew escape system by this month-end using a test vehicle developed as part of the country's ambitious maiden human spaceflight venture Gaganyaan.
"Preparations are going on. All vehicle systems have reached Sriharikota (for the launch). Final assembly is progressing. We are getting ready for launch by the end of October," Director of Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) S Unnikrishnan Nair told PTI on Thursday. "(With) this crew escape system, we will demonstrate (validate) in different conditions like high dynamic pressure and for transonic conditions," Nair added Thiruvananthapuram-based VSSC is the lead centre of ISRO under the Department of Space. (PTI reports)
The Karnataka government will be ready to float tenders for the proposed tunnel roads in Bengaluru by December 15, Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D K Shivakumar said Thursday. The government was considering tunnel roads in stretches along Bellary Road, Old Madras Road, Old Airport Road, Sarjapur Road to Hosur and Mysuru Road. (Read further)
Several civic groups including All India Lawyers Association for Justice, All India Student Association, Bahutva Karnataka Digipub and Network for Women in Media gathered at Freedom Park on Thursday to protest against the arrest of Newsclick editor Prabir Purkayastha and journalist Amit Chakravarthy by Delhi police on October 3, over alleged funding by the Chinese government. The protestors condemned the 'attack on press freedom' and demanded that the UAPA be revoked and the journalists be released.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided several properties linked to Karnataka Congress leader R M Manjunath Gowda as part of its investigation into an alleged scam at the Shivamogga District Cooperative Central (DCC) Bank. The raids come within a week of Gowda being elected as chairman of the bank for the sixth time.
According to ED sources, the raids were conducted at Gowda’s residence in Thirthahalli in Shivamogga district, his relative H C Usha’s house in Shivamogga town, and in Bengaluru., among other properties. (Read more)
Brijesh Kumar Dixit took the charge as the new Principal Chief Conservator of Forest and Head of Forest Force today.
The People’s Alliance for Fundamental Right to Education (PAFRE) has condemned the crackdown on media outlet NewsClick.
In a statement, the group said, "This is a clear onslaught on the freedom of the press and freedom of speech provided in the constitution of India. This raid along with others in different parts and locations of the country against journalists, human rights, political and cultural activists is an indication of frustration gripped the ruling central government in the context of colossal failure to fulfil the aspirations of the people."
The group urged citizens to oppose the "delibrate and politically motivated actions", unite and mobilize against the Central government's actions.
Pushing forward its initiative to tackle fake news and ‘fake news syndicates’, the Karnataka Government has floated an Expression of Interest (EoI) to empanel agencies for its Information Disorder Tackling Unit.
The EoI for the Unit, which will have a Fact Check Team, Analytics Team, and Capacity Building Team, was floated by the Karnataka Innovation and Technology Society of the Department of IT, BT, and Science and Technology.
Karnataka IT and BT minister Priyank Kharge said the move showed the state government was serious about “tackling misinformation, disinformation, malinformation and fake news.”
Posting on X late Wednesday evening, he said the Fact Verification Team “will consist of impartial fact-checking organizations chosen by the state government to detect and address false information”. Read more
A brand new Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus shelter, fortified with a robust, stainless-steel structure worth Rs 10 lakh, has mysteriously vanished in Bengaluru within a week of being installed on the bustling Cunningham Road. The bus shelter was located behind the Bengaluru city police commissioner’s office, barely 1 km away from Vidhana Soudha.
The bus shelter was installed on August 21 and was discovered missing on August 28. The theft was reported a month after the incident occurred, on September 30, when N Ravi Reddy, the associate vice-president of a company responsible for constructing BMTC bus shelters, lodged a complaint with the High Grounds police.
According to Reddy’s complaint, after noticing that the shelter had gone missing, Reddy and his team inquired with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) officials, who denied any involvement or knowledge regarding its disappearance. Read more
A protest will be held against the raids on journalists by the Delhi police in Freedom Park at 4 pm today. The protest will be organised by PUCL, Bahutva Karnataka, AISA and other groups.
Hello and welcome to today's live blog! Follow this space as we bring you the latest updates from Bengaluru and parts of Karnataka