A health worker conducts Covid-19 testing of commuters. (Representational image/PTI)Bengaluru Live News: Karnataka on Monday reported 46,426 new Covid-19 cases, and 32 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state’s active cases is at 3,62,487 along with 41,703 recoveries for the day. The positivity rate of the state stood at 32.95 per cent. Bengaluru alone logged over 21,000 cases
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said Monday the decision to further ease Covid-19 restrictions will be taken after analysing the pandemic situation in the state. The state government had recently lifted the weekend curfew but kept the restriction from 10 pm to 5 am in place.
This comes as the state on Sunday reported 50,210 new Covid-19 cases, its highest single-day spike since the beginning of the pandemic. Of this, Bengaluru accounted for 26,299 infections. The positivity rate in the last 24 hours was 22.77 per cent. Meanwhile, the state has achieved 100 per cent coverage of first Covid-19 vaccine dose among its eligible population, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said. He also said that Karnataka became the first state in the country to achieve this feat.
On the weather front, Bengaluru recorded its lowest minimum temperature of 13.2 degrees on Sunday. Today, mainly clear skies with fog in the morning is predicted. Maximum and Minimum temperatures are likely to be around 31 and 16 degree respectively.
The administration of a government school at Mulbagal town in the district is incurring the ire of parents, alumni and Hindu outfits for allegedly allowing Muslim students to offer Friday Namaaz on the school premises.
The Hindu organisations led the parents of other students and alumni of the school in staging a protest inside the Balechangappa Government Karnataka Model Secondary School at Someshwarapalya for setting a 'new precedence' of allowing Friday prayers. According to a video that has gone viral on social media, the Muslim students, a few of them wearing skull caps, offered Friday prayer inside a classroom in the afternoon. (PTI)
Remona Evette Pereira, a first PUC student at Padua PU college in Nanthoor here has received the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar for her outstanding achievements in the field of art and culture.
Remona is the only child to win the national award from Karnataka this year. A total of 21 children from across the country were awarded in six fields--innovation, scholastic achievement, sports, arts and culture, social service and bravery.
The award was presented at a virtual interaction with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday. The certificate was awarded digitally using blockchain technology.
The function was held virtually at the zilla panchayat meeting hall here. Remona was accompanied by her mother Gladis Celine and brother Ronaldo Rockson. Zilla panchayat CEO Dr Kumar was also present.
Two days before republic day celebration, Bengaluru city police dog squad team at work near majestic on Monday.
Despite having over 50,000 active cases across the state in the middle of a surging Omicron wave, daily hospitalisation in Karnataka remains low.
According to the state health department on Sunday, 5164 people sought admission to health care facilities of which 3386 were in government and 1,778 in private. Admissions for oxygen beds, ICU beds and ventilators were 1048, 421 and 129 respectively. Hospitalisations showed a drop from January 20 when 5,344 people were admitted as against 5529 on Jan 21 and 5237 on Jan 22. (Read Aksheev Thakur's full report here)
Karnataka on Monday reported 46,426 new Covid-19 cases, and 32 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state's active cases talli is at 3,62,487 along with 41,703 recoveries for the day. The positivity rate of the state stood at 32.95 per cent.Capital Bengaluru recording majority of the infections logged 21,569 new Covid-19 cases.
For more LIVE updates on Coronavirus follow: Coronavirus Omicron India Live
Pushing for a cabinet rejig soon, senior Karnataka BJP legislator Basanagouda Patil Yatnal on Monday claimed that some MLAs and Ministers, especially those who joined the saffron party from other parties, are in touch with the Congress leadership, and will jump ship, once the 2023 assembly poll schedule is announced.
Meanwhile, giving credence to these claims, Congress leaders DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah said, several leaders from the BJP and JD(S) were in touch with them and that they would not divulge details.
"....several people have booked tickets to go to D K Shivakumar's house, Siddaramaiah's house, if you continue with them (as Ministers), where will the BJP survive? For BJP to survive, cabinet reshuffle has to take place at the earliest, good and effective people should be inducted," Yatnal said.
Speaking to reporters here, he said the government has to function effectively to give a befitting reply to the Congress in the days to come. (PTI)
Former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi seeking his intervention to drop the proposed amendment to Section 5(2) of Notaries Act 1995.
A seven-month-old baby from Bengaluru has been diagnosed with 'BENTA' disease, an extremely rare primary immunodeficiency disorder, that is said to have affected only 13 others in the world.
This case of genetic mutation has affected only 14 people in the world, including Vijayendra and his only hope for survival is a blood stem cell transplant, according to DKMS BMST Foundation India, a Bengaluru-based blood stem cell registry, that is coordinating the search for a matching donor for him.
Sharing her thoughts, Vijayendra's mother Rekha said: “Being a mother, I feel devastated to see my son going through so much pain and the only way he can survive is a stem cell transplant from a matching donor". (PTI)
Leader of Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly Siddaramaiah and JD(S) leader HD Kumaraswamy got into an acrimonious war of words on Twitter over the weekend with the Congress leader alleging that the JD(S) lacked an ideology and the latter pointing out that the constant barrage of criticism only revealed that Siddaramaiah was afraid of the regional party’s strength.
In a series of tweets, Kumaraswamy lashed out at the Congress leader for questioning the ideological stance of his party after the Congress veteran slammed the JD(S) on Friday saying it adhered to no ideology. “The party has no ideology. They will one day be with BJP and swing the other way later,” he alleged while referring to JD(S) as BJP’s B-team. Siddaramaiah also asked the people of Tumakuru to oust the party from the district. (Read more)
The Karnataka High Court has cited technical grounds to quash two drugs cases registered against a Bengaluru socialite and party organiser but allowed the city police’s crime branch to correct the “procedural lapse” and prosecute him afresh.
A single bench of Justice Sreenivas Harish Kumar quashed the investigations against Virendra Khanna, who was among several high-profile persons booked in 2020 for allegedly supplying and using drugs on the party circuit in Bengaluru. In the first case, the 35-year-old was accused of procuring drugs from two Nigerian nationals and an Indian, who were arrested on November 2, 2018 for allegedly possessing 1.5 kg of cocaine and 940 grams of ecstasy. (Read more)
Allegedly humiliated by a sales executive at a showroom for his looks, a farmer in Tumakuru district, who had gone to buy a new pick-up truck, threw up a challenge and returned with the cash in quick time, but claimed that the promise to deliver the vehicle immediately was not honoured.
The video of the purported incident has been widely circulated in the social media and has drawn criticism with some users accusing the sales team at the showroom of being "classist".
The incident is said to have taken place on Friday, when the farmer named Kempegowda from Ramanapalya in Chikkasandra hobli, along with seven of his associates, had gone to buy the Bolero pick-up truck at a showroom. (PTI)
Passenger traffic at Bengaluru international airport surged by 18.9 per cent year-on-year to 16.07 million in calendar year 2021 backed by a double-digit growth in the domestic passenger volume in the wake of an increased pace of vaccination and easing of travel restrictions by various states post the second wave, among others, its operator said.
The Kempegowda International Airport, run by Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), had handled a total of 13.51 million passengers in 2020, the year that witnessed suspension of domestic air passengers services for almost two months till May 25 besides scheduled international passenger flights, which have still not been resumed, owing to the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The private airport operator also said that it has been able to recover to 48 per cent of the pre-Covid level traffic of 33.65 million passengers handled in CY 2019.
Almost six months into his government coming to office, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday allocated districts among the Ministers of his Cabinet, of which they will be in-charge, while keeping the key Bengaluru urban district with himself.
Effecting a complete change to the previous B S Yediyurappa-led BJP government, the Chief Minister has not assigned any minister their home districts under which their Assembly constituency comes. While at least two senior ministers- Revenue Minister R Ashoka and Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister J C Madhuswamy have not been assigned any districts; three Ministers- B C Patil, K Gopalaiah and Shankar B Patil Munenakoppa have been allocated two districts each.
This is the first time after the Bommai government coming to power, each district has got an in-charge Minister as earlier Ministers were assigned districts only for COVID-19 management and for flag-hoisting at headquarters on Independence Day. As indicated recently, the Chief Minister, who will complete six months in office on January 28, will continue to remain Minister in-charge for Bengaluru development.
This even as senior Minister V Somanna, currently holding the Housing portfolio, had openly expressed his desire to be made in-charge of Bengaluru amid reports that some city legislators and Ministers were expressing their reservation internally about a move to give the post to Revenue Minister R Ashoka, considered close to Bommai. (PTI)
City police on Monday have arrested a 34-year-old man from Maharashtra's Pune for allegedly cheating job seekers by publishing fake advertisements on several websites.
The arrested is identified as Sanjeev Gangaram Ghurka, a resident of Chinchwad, Pune in Maharashtra. The police said that Sanjeev published fake advertisements on websites offering jobs in renowned IT companies, conducted interviews and eventually demanded security deposits. He had eight bank accounts and introduced himself as Pradeep. The victims discovered he was cheated only when they approached IBM India Private Limited that there was no one working in the name of Pradeep. (ENS)
Karnataka Lokayukta Justice P Vishwanatha Shetty held a press conference at his office in Bengaluru on Monday. After five years of service, Justice P Vishwanath Shetty will step down as the head of Karnataka Lokayukta on January 27.
Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday appointed 28 cabinet ministers responsible for handling Covid-19 management in each district in the state.
Bengaluru-based startup ReadyAssist on Monday said it plans to invest USD 8 million (around Rs 60 crore) in one year to augment electric vehicles infrastructure in the country.
As part of the initiative, the company plans to set up phygital stores (physical stores augmented by digital capabilities) under brand name GRID in 200 prime locations across top ten cities in the country.
The company noted that GRID will have in-house quick service kiosk, battery swap facilities, EV charging infrastructure for both two and four-wheelers. The company already has thousands of mechanics upskilled on EV capabilities to service its road-side assistance (RSA) and annual maintenance contract (AMC) customers across India. (PTI)
Appointments to various Boards and Corporations depends on the discussions in the party over the issue, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Monday.
Reacting to BJP State President Nalin Kumar Kateel's statement that the appointments would happen in the next week, Bommai said, "it depends on the party. There is no proposal before the Chief Minister on the issue of appointments to Boards and Corporations. The party leadership would examine the issue and submit a report. Action would be taken based on that," Bommai said speaking to media persons here on Monday. (ENS)
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai played down the circumstances of a meeting held on the weekend by BJP ministers and legislators from the Belagavi region under the leadership of forest minister Umesh Katti and his brother, a former MP, Ramesh Katti.
The dinner meeting was held amid speculation that some of the BJP leaders from the Belagavi region who are in the Bommai cabinet may be eased out to make way for one of the Jarkiholi brothers who are seeking to return to the cabinet after Ramesh Jarkiholi’s exit in 2021 over sexual assault allegations.
The meeting of Belagavi leaders of the BJP held by the Katti brothers – who are recent entrants to the BJP like the Jarkiholis – did not feature three Jarkiholi brothers who are BJP legislators from Belagavi. It also did not feature the BJP MP from Belagavi Mangala Suresh Angadi. (Read more)
Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda on Monday welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to install the statue of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose at India Gate in New Delhi.
The JD(S) patriarch also recalled that he was Prime Minister during Bose's birth centenary year.
"I welcome @PMOIndia decision to install the statue of #SubhasChandraBose at India Gate. To rename Ross Island after him in 2018 was a fine decision too," Gowda said in a tweet.