Farmers, labours, Dalit and other organisations organised a massive protest in Bengaluru as the eight-day Karnataka legislature session begins in the Vidhana Soudha on Monday.
Thousands of protesters from various organisations protested against amendments to THe Land Reforms Act, Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act, Electricity Act and various labour laws by both Centre and State governments.
The legislature session started in the Vidhana Soudha, on Monday 11 am amid of COVID-19 pandemic by taking all the safety measures.
The massive protest rally by the farmers and also by various other organisations started from Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna Railway Station in the city to Vidhana Soudha, but the protesters were stopped near Freedom Park by the police.
The farmers were joined by Swaraj India chief Yogendra Yadav, Justice (retired) HN Nagamohan Das, and centeraninan freedom fighter HS Doreswamy and other activists. The protest was led by Karnataka Rajya Raita Sangha State President Kodihalli Chandrashekhar.
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Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Govind M Karjol Tuesday tested positive for coronavirus. The BJP leader had attended the ongoing legislative session at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.
"Even though I am asymptomatic, I have been admitted to a hospital on the advice of doctors. I urge all those who have come in contact with me to get tested for #coronavirus and to take necessary precautions," Karjol confirmed in a tweet.
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Several leaders including CM B S Yediyurappa wished him a speedy recovery.
Leader of Opposition in Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiag and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President DK Shivakumar Tuesday demanded a judicial probe against the alleged "misappropriation of funds" by the BJP-led state government.
Siddaramaiah said the government procured items including personal protection kits, masks, surgical gloves, oxygen cylinders, ventilators, hand sanitisers and other essentials spending Rs 4,147 crore when the same could have been procured for Rs 2,100. He cited information provided by the Health Secretary to subtsantiate his claim.
"Three lakh PPE kits were imported as the government paid Rs 2,117 for each of these kits. That is almost seven times more than a Maharashtra-based company's bid for Rs 330 per kit. When there are companies selling it within the country at cheaper rates, why didn't the government buy those," he questioned.
Meanwhile, Shivakumar said, "From distributing food kits to compensation to families of the dead, there are scams everywhere. Why is the government not launching a judicial probe into the misappropriation of funds."
The Bengaluru City police on Monday night arrested one person from Kerala in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru serial blast case.
According to the police, the arrested man has been identified as Shohib a native of Kerala absconding since 2008. Two officers from the Anti-Terrorist Cell (ATC) of Bengaluru City police went to Kerala to arrest him.
Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police, Crime, said “Bengaluru city ATC with the assistance of central agencies have detained one accused Shohib, absconding since 2008 in connection with the 2008 Bengaluru Serial blast case. A Red Corner Notice was issued against him and he has been detained in Kerala and being brought to the city.”
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In a bid to meet the rising demand among users for a parcel van, the South Western Railway Tuesday announced that the Mumbai-Bengaluru-Mumbai train will be equipped with a High Capacity Parcel Van (LVPH).
According to SWR officials, the train with the parcel van will operate once in three days with effect from Sept 24 from Mumbai CSMT and from the next day from KSR Bengaluru.
Though the Karnataka government stopped a nutrition supplement programme in two backward locations of the state almost two years ago despite its promising results, it now appears the state has not yet taken a final call on shutting down the project. The Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Project had been launched in 2015 on a pilot basis in Chincholi, Kalaburagi district and Devadurga in Raichur district, and has been paused since late 2018.
The project, funded by the World Bank and Japan Social Development Fund (JSDF), aimed at reducing malnutrition among pregnant women, children, and adolescents and break the vicious cycle of malnutrition. The government provided Shakti Vita, a fortified mix consisting of locally grown Raggi, corn, soya, wheat, green gram, and groundnut to pregnant women.
An official who was closely involved with the project told indianexpress.com the pilot had shown positive results. “The pilot project was discontinued in September 2018. There were discussions to take the programme to other parts of the state, but later that idea was dropped too,” he added.
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Kempegowda International Airport, Bengaluru (KIAB/ BLR Airport) processed 1,80,745 kgs of pomegranates from April to August 2020, to emerge as the leading airport for pomegranate exports from India.
In a release, BIAL claimed that BLR Airport also accounted for 99% of the total pomegranate exports from Karnataka, according to the data available from the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and the Directorate General of Commercial Intelligence and Statistics (DGCIS).
The fruit was exported to 12 international destinations, by nine global freight carriers – Air France, British Airways, Cathay Pacific, Emirates Airlines, Etihad Airways, KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, Qatar Airways, Singapore Airlines and Turkish Airlines.
As joint protests by farmers, labourers, and members of Dalit organisations continued in Bengaluru on Tuesday, leaders from the opposition parties visited Freedom Park announcing solidarity to the cause. Among senior politicians who visited the venue was Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, and Janata Dal (Secular) leader H D Revanna.
Meanwhile, parallel to the legislative session underway in Vidhana Soudha, the protesters organised a "people's assembly" session scheduled to be continued in the upcoming days. "The session will focus on the problems faced by Landless families and those families without housing. The Land Reforms ordinance will only make the problem worse," Aikya Horata, the group of organisations leading the protests said in a statement.
"The sessions will involve experts leading the discussion, and affected communities sharing their experiences and thoughts on the way ahead and also a final resolution to be passed," a member of the group said.
Taking over the probe in the Bengaluru violence case, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) Tuesday named SDPI leader Muzamil Pasha for “instigating the mob” that triggered violence in areas of east Bengaluru and an attack on Devarajeevanahalli (DJ Halli) police station.
“The state secretary of SDPI, Muzamil Pasha, had earlier called a meeting and directed the members of PFI/SDPI to instigate the mob and incite violence. The mob went on a rampage in DJ Halli, KG Halli, and Pulakeshi Nagar areas under Bengaluru City,” the NIA statement issued on Tuesday read.
Earlier, an investigating team set up by the Bengaluru City Police was probing the role of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI), a political outfit that is attempting to gain ground in Muslim-dominated areas of Karnataka, in the violence.
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The proceedings of the second day in the Vidhana Soudha, Karnataka's legislative assembly are underway after CM Yediyurappa arrived for the session. The seventh session of the 15th Assembly which began on Monday was curtailed to six days, different from the initial schedule spanning across eight days.
While the BJP government had initially expressed interest in passing 32 Bills in the session (including the Finance Bill, an amendment to the state fiscal responsibility Act, changes to labour and agricultural land ownership laws, and the APMC Act), the opposition has insisted only important Bills be discussed in a curtailed session and others be taken up in a longer session.
Bengaluru Metro has extended the validity of the Namma Metro ‘Varshika’ smart card from one year to ten years.
In a release, the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) said: “On the account of nearly five-and-a-half months of suspension of metro operations due to the pandemic, some of the commuters who could not top-up their cards are experiencing problems due to expiry of the validity of smart cards.”
“To avoid inconvenience to the travelling public, BMRCL has extended the validity period of all the issued smart cards, which was for a one-year period from the last top-up, to 10 years, i.e. September 19, 2030,” it added.
The BMRCL also removed the existing stipulation for the convenience of commuters who needed to reactivate the card after one year paying Rs 20. BMRCL also enabled card recharge option through net banking on the website and Namma Metro app.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have issued a lookout notice against Aditya Alva, son of late minister Jeevaraj Alva and the brother-in-law of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi, and film producer Shiva Prakash in connection with the drug scandal in the Kannada film industry.
Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandip Patil told indianexpress.com that “from concerned agencies, we found that Aditya Alva and Shivprakash have not left India, hence lookout notice issued against them.”
The CCB recently raided Aditya Alva’s residence in Hebbal, North Bengaluru. He is among the 12 accused in the Sandalwood drug scandal which is being investigated by the CCB police. According to CCB police, Aditya is accused number 6 and has been absconding ever since the police started probing the drug case. While film producer Shiva Prakash is accused number 1 in the case.
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Hundreds of farmers, labourers and members of Dalit organisations Monday took part in a demonstration at Bengaluru’s Anand Rao Circle against the new farm Bills passed by the Centre and land legislations proposed by the Karnataka government.
The protesters then moved to Freedom Park, where a conference was held on these issues.
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Heavy rains and flash floods reported in coastal, southern and parts of south interior Karnataka for the third consecutive day. Heavy rain, with gusty winds have been lashing Kodagu district from the last two days, throwing life out of gear.
Talacauvery, Bhagamandala, Madikeri, Virajpet, Sampaje and Napoklu regions in the district received heavy rain on Monday night. Farmers, who had just finished paddy sowing and transplantation are worried after the crop is underwater and due to the rain and gusty wind, coffee berries have started withering in coffee plantations across the district.
The inflow into the Krishna Raja Sagar (KRS) dam across Cauvery river in Mandya district continued to rise since Sunday after heavy rains lashing Kodagu and Malnad districts. The water level in the dam reached the maximum level (124 feet) and the Cauvery Neeravari Nigam Ltd released 37,000 cusecs of water from the dam.
Kodagu, Shivamogga, Hassan, and Chikkamagaluru received 74 mm of rainfall from September 14 to 20.
The flood situation receded in Udupi district, but the water level in Krishna Mutt and surrounding areas had come down. Several houses have been partially damaged at various villages in the district. In North Karnataka, heavy rains have caused destruction in Vijayapura, Raichur, Kalaburagi and Bidar districts. While, Bengaluru, Mysuru and Tumakuru districts are also receiving heavy rains in the past few days.
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) police have issued a lookout notice against Aditya Alva, son of the late minister Jeevaraj Alva and who is also the brother-in-law of Bollywood actor Vivek Oberoi and film producer Shiva Prakash in connection with the drug scandal in the Kannada film industry.
Speaking to Indianexpress.com, Sandeep Patil, Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime), said, “From concerned agencies, we found that Aditya Alva and Shivprakash have not left India, hence lookout notice issued against them.”
Recently, the Central Crime Branch (CCB) team raided the residence of Aditya Alva in Hebbal, North Bengaluru. Aditya Alva is among the 12 accused in the Sandalwood drug scandal which is being investigated by the CCB police. According to CCB police, Aditya is accused number 6 and has been absconding ever since the police started probing the drug case.
Shiva Prakash, a film producer is accused number 1 in the case. The CCB intensified its investigation into a drug haul in Bengaluru after the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) arrested three persons from the city, who were allegedly supplying drugs to singers and actors in the Kannada film industry, also known as “Sandalwood”.
Karnataka on Monday reported 7,339 new cases of Covid-19 and 122 deaths, taking the total tally to 5,26,876 and the death toll to 8,145.
According to the health department, 9,925 patients discharged after recovery on Monday across the state. As of September 21 evening, cumulatively 5,26,876 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 8,145 deaths and 4,23,377 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.
Bengaluru Urban reported 2,886 cases, Mysuru 524, Shivamogga 348, Chitradurga 326, Tumakuru 300, Hassan 268, Dakshina Kannada 233, Udupi 231, followed by others.
According to the health department, 32 out of total 122 deaths reported on Monday are from Bengaluru urban, followed by Mysru (15), Ballari (9), Dakshina Kannada (8), Dharwad and Shivamogga (7), Chamarajanagar, Gadag, Hassan and Udupi (4); Belagavi, Chikkamagaluru, Davangere, Haveri and Tumakuru (3), Bagalkote, Chikkaballapura, Mandya, Raichur and Vijayapura (2), and Bengaluru Rural, Kalaburagi and Koppal (1).
In 95,335 active cases, 94,526 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and stable, while 809 are in ICU.
Ruling that the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) “is both in the national interest as well as in the interest of education”, the Supreme Court on Monday quashed the notification of the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru, on holding a separate entrance exam and directed it to admit students on the basis of CLAT-2020 results.
The NLSIU held an online National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT) on September 12 for admission to its BA LLB (Hons) Programme.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah also asked the consortium of National Law Universities (NLUs) to conduct CLAT-2020 on September 28, while “taking all precautions and care for health of the students after following the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) of the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and Ministry of Human Resource Development”.
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Karnataka Congress MLA B K Sangamesh and his wife have tested positive for coronavirus and been admitted to a private hospital in Bengaluru.
According to sources, Sangamesh is asymptomatic and admitted to the Manipal Hospital in the city. Sangamesh, representing Bhadravathi constituency tested positive for the virus on Sunday.
The monsoon session of the Karnataka legislature began on Monday under the shadow of growing Covid-19 cases in the state, with as many as 60 MLAs, including seven ministers in quarantine.
A decision was taken soon after the session commenced to restrict proceedings to six days instead of the originally planned eight days on account of large absenteeism in the 224-member Assembly.
The BJP government in Karnataka had initially expressed interest in passing 32 Bills in the session including the finance Bill, an amendment to the state fiscal responsibility Act, changes to labour and agricultural land ownership laws and the APMC Act.
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Welcome to the live blog from Bengaluru where we bring to you the latest updates on COVID-19, lockdown 5.0, unlock phase 4, Karnataka rains, Sandalwood drug case, 2008 Bengaluru blasts and more across Bengaluru and Karnataka. Follow the blog to stay up to date with the state in real time.