Bengaluru News Highlights, July 31: Deputy CM Shivakumar gets relief from Supreme Court in disproportionate assets case

112 Helicopter Unit, a distinguished unit of the Indian Air Force, proudly commemorated its 60th anniversary, marking a remarkable journey from 1963 to 2023, today in Bengaluru.

As part of the momentous Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the unit organised various adventure activities like cycling expedition, trekking, para gliding, and more. They also hosted an exhilarating air show at Air Force Station in Yelahanka.

The events were filled with joy and nostalgia as 100 veterans of 112 HU also joined the festivities.

Air Chief Marshal FH Major, the former Chief of the Air Staff, also participated in some of the events.

(Express Photo by Jitendra M)

The Karnataka government’s Kannada and Culture ministry has sought the details of annual usage of funds allocated to the Kannada Sahitya Parishat over the last three years as a pre-condition to allot fresh funds for the autonomous body.

Click here to know more about what CM Siddaramaiah has said about the body, and what they do.

Today, Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar met with farmers and landowners during a meeting regarding Peripheral Ring Road work under Brand Bengaluru Project at Jnana Jyothi Auditorium, in Bengaluru.

Peripheral ring road is necessary for Bangalore traffic control. There is no question of abandoning it. But the government is committed to provide justice to farmers who lose their land,' he said. During the interaction program, he listened the problems of those who lost their land in the project, and sought their advice and opinion.

Read more on the matter here.

(Express Photo by Jitendra M)

Preparations for a Flower Show at Lalbagh Botanical Gardens ahead of Independence Day have begun in Bengaluru today.

Cottonpet police in Bengaluru arrested three members of an inter-state gang that circulated counterfeit currency notes of Rs 500 denomination in the city after obtaining them through an Instagram acquaintance. The police have seized 1,307 fake notes, with a face value of Rs 6.5 lakh, from the accused.

If you want to find out more on the criminals and the crime, click here!

A Jaipur-bound truckload of tomatoes, a precious commodity across the country now, went missing in what is suspected to be another “heist” linked to Karnataka.

A trader has claimed that he lost touch with the driver and cleaner of his truck, which was carrying 11 tonnes of tomatoes from the district headquarters town of Kolar, en route to the Rajasthan capital.

A complaint has been filed with Kolar police, in which the trader has alleged that the truck was carrying tomatoes worth Rs 21 lakh.

Read more on yet another of Karnataka's tomato heists here.

Slow-moving traffic due to a BMTC Bus offroad on Muthyalamma road towards BEL. It will be removed shortly. Kindly co-operate.

— ???????? ????? ?????? BengaluruTrafficPolice (@blrcitytraffic) July 31, 2023

Today, at the Jnanajyoti Hall, Central College in Bangalore, DK Shivakumar attended a meeting which was organised by the BDA Peripheral Ring Road project.

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— DK Shivakumar (@DKShivakumar) July 31, 2023

Agniveer Recruitment Rally is scheduled to be held at Chamundi Vihar Stadium, Mysuru on August 1 by Recruiting Office (HQ) Bangalore for shortlisted candidates from Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Ballari, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagara, Kodagu, Kolar, Chikkaballapura, Hassan, Chitradurga and Vijayanagara districts of Karnataka State.

Civil administration has provided all necessary assistance for the smooth conduct of the rally. A rest house for all outstation candidates has been arranged at Nunjaraja Bahadur Choultry, Mysuru by the civil administration.

Scattered very light to light rains are likely to prevail over the BBMP area. Maximum and minimum temperatures are expected to be around degree Celsius respectively.

The Supreme Court Monday refused to intervene with the Karnataka High Court order granting an interim stay on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar in a corruption case.

A three-judge bench of Justices B R Gavai, C T Ravikumar, and Sanjay Kumar dismissed the appeal filed by the CBI against the February 10 order of the HC. Additional Solicitor General SV Raju said that the division bench of the high court granted an interim stay on the proceedings despite there being an order in favor of the agency. Read more

Days after the stormy Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting held in Bengaluru, party leaders in Karnataka are scheduled to meet the party high command in New Delhi on August 2, Wednesday.

According to Congress leaders, two meetings are scheduled to be held on the day. “While the first meeting will chalk out strategies for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, the second meeting will be between the new ministers of the state Cabinet and party leaders such as All India Congress Committee (AICC) president Mallikarjun Kharge, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi, AICC general secretary K C Venugopal and others,” Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) working president Saleem Ahmed said. Read more

The omission of Karnataka BJP leader C T Ravi from the list of new BJP general secretaries has fuelled speculation that Ravi could be in line to be the president of the Karnataka unit of the BJP when the term of the incumbent Nalin Kumar Kateel ends in August.

Kateel is currently on a one-year extension of his term.

BJP national president J P Nadda announced a new list of BJP national office-bearers Saturday, including vice-presidents and general secretaries. The list did not feature Ravi, who was a national general secretary. Read more

Transport Minister Ramalinga Reddy is scheduled to hold marathon meetings with private transport operators on Monday to hear their grievances on a host of issues. The autorickshaw union will be meeting the minister between 11 am and 12 pm, followed by taxi and maxi cab operators between 12 pm and 1 pm, and finally with private bus operators between 1 pm and 2 pm. The issues that are expected to be discussed include a ban on Rapido services, reimbursement to private bus operators similar to the Shakti scheme, and withdrawal of new tax charges on vehicles worth above Rs 10 lakh, among others.

The Think20 Summit will be organised in Mysuru, Karnataka from July 31 to August 2, with Observer Research Foundation as the Think20 Secretariat. Think20 is the G20's official engagement group that serves as an ideas bank for the multilateral grouping by bringing together think tanks and high-level experts to discuss policy issues relevant to the G20.

The Think20 Summit is the milestone event of Think20 India. The three-day conference will be a gathering of distinguished members of the seven Think20 Task Forces and policy experts from around the world. (ANI)

In January 2020, human rights activists approached Bengaluru lawyer Bubberjung Trisuli Venkatesh or B T Venkatesh to free a school teacher and a student’s mother who were arrested in a sedition case over a play staged by children at Shaheen Primary School in Bidar. What struck Venkatesh, now 60, about the case was the fact that the student’s mother worked as a domestic help to eke out a living.

“It was a Kafkaesque situation. A woman who worked as a maidservant, who had to borrow a pair of slippers from a neighbour for a scene to be enacted by her child in the school play, had been arrested for sedition. To me, this was a more serious issue than the implication of the teacher. I told the school management that we have to get her out,” Venkatesh recalls. Read more

Learning among high school students is not as good as compared to when they were in primary classes four years ago, according to the Census-based State Achievement Survey (CSAS) conducted for students of classes 3, 5, 8, 9 and 10 from select government schools for 2022-23.

A total of 2,11,843 students were covered under the survey conducted by the Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board under the school education department. Read more

Castle Rock - Caranzol Section: landslide cleared and train services RESTORED. pic.twitter.com/cRgVXz7GIb

— Aneesh Hegde (@AneeshHegde1) July 30, 2023

The deceased are Mahadevamma and her relatives Sanjana, Maadevi and Rekha. Manoj, who drove the car, survived as he managed to swim to the bank of the canal. He has been admitted to hospital for treatment.

The incident took place near Gamanahalli in Srirangapatna taluk of the district. According to the police, the driver might have lost the control of the vehicle at a turning which has led to the incident.

A crowd of around 1000 people wearing black in protest against the atrocities to women in Manipur along with the renowned Women Leaders, Activists and Speakers stood together in Bangalore's St. Francis Xavier’s Cathedral, today.

Targeting the Congress government in Karnataka over its handling of rain and flood situation in the state and in providing relief to those affected, senior BJP leader Basavaraj Bommai on Sunday alleged that those in power are busy in politics to save their position. Immediate relief of Rs 10,000 has not reached those whose houses have been damaged, he said.

Initial assessment has not yet been done regarding crop damage, also no one is paying attention towards loss of lives, and ministers have not visited rain or flood affected areas, he added.

Noting that preparations are on in the state BJP for Lok Sabha polls, the former Chief Minister said general secretary in-charge (Arun Singh) has reviewed and district level preparations are also on.

Responding to a question, Bommai said there is expectation that the announcement of the new state BJP president will be made soon.

The rescue personnel and volunteers today retrieved the dead body of Sharath Kumar who was swept away in Arishinagundi waterfalls on 23 July. Sharath Kumar, a self-employed B.Com graduate was swept away after he fell into Arishinagundi waterfalls in Udupi district while recording an Instagram video. His dead body was found 200 meters away from where he fell and was stuck between rocks.

Today is the last day of the three-day Nature inFocus Festival & Awards 2023 organised by the leading media and production house dedicated to narrating stories that are central to nature. This is for the first time since the pandemic that the house is organising the festival.

The festival ends today at Jayamahal Palace in Bengaluru and is an amalgamation of activities such as film screenings, talks, photography exhibitions, book releases, workshops and a live concert by pioneers of fusion rock — Indian Ocean rock band.

The Lower Ambalipura lake in Bengaluru’s HSR Layout is proof that joint efforts by the public can lead to a thriving and sustainable ecosystem around a waterbody. But the deaths of thousands of fish last week have raised suspicions that untreated sewage is entering the lake. READ ON

Two students of a private college in Karnataka’s Davanagere reportedly died by suicide after an alleged video of their intimate moments went viral on social media. According to a police officer, the deceased students were in a relationship.

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