"The dictatorship of 4 people is leaving no stone unturned to ruin the country," Gandhi said.(Express File Photo)Karnataka Bengaluru Highlights: Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will attend the party’s Karnataka unit’s political affairs committee meeting on Tuesday evening, amid rumblings within ahead of 2023 Assembly polls. He will also take part in former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s 75th birthday bash in the district headquarters town of Davanagere on Wednesday. The political affairs committee will be meeting for the first time after its constitution, at Hubballi in North Karnataka around 8 pm on Tuesday.
In other news, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has hinted that he might visit the homes of two Muslim men murdered last month in Dakshina Kannada region. Bommai’s remarks came after Opposition Congress and JD(S) targetted him for not visiting the homes of Masood B and Mohammed Fazil, even though he met the family of murdered BJYM leader Praveen Nettaru last week.
Meanwhile, the state health department on Monday issued a circular asking the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and district administrations to increase surveillance in order to check the spread of monkeypox disease. “Mandatory contact tracing of all the suspected cases should be carried out. Contacts should be monitored at least daily for the onset of signs/symptoms for a period of 21 days,” said the circular.
The Karnataka health department Monday issued a circular asking the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and district administrations to increase surveillance in order to check the spread of monkeypox disease.
The circular signed by health commissioner Randeep D said, “All the districts and BBMP are hereby instructed to enhance the preparedness regarding monkeypox surveillance. Designated institutional isolation facilities at district level for the suspected and confirmed cases should be ensured. Mandatory contact tracing of all the suspected cases should be carried out. Contacts should be monitored at least daily for the onset of signs/symptoms for a period of 21 days. If visible signs/symptoms of Monkeypox are seen, then they shall be tested and samples sent for testing.” (Read more)
The High Court of Karnataka has reserved its judgement on a bail petition of IAS officer and former Bengaluru Urban Deputy Commissioner J Manjunath. The judgement is expected within two days.
He was arrested by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) police for allegedly accepting Rs 5 lakh as bribe in his office. The case turned sensational after a High Court judge, hearing the bail plea of a deputy tahsildar, an accused in the case, summoned the service records of the ACB chief and the IAS officer.
Manjunath was arrested days after the judge Justice H P Sandesh, in the deputy tahsildar's bail petition, asked why senior officers were not charged in the case. Manjunath was arrested on July 4 and his bail plea before the Special Court, hearing the case, was rejected on July 11. He approached the High Court where Justice K Natarajan heard the petition. (PTI)
Following the death of a man due to monkeypox in neighbouring Kerala, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has called an "important meeting" of the Health Minister and department officials on Tuesday regarding control measures and treatment facility to be put in place.
Samples of a 22-year old man who, who died in Kerala last week, have come out positive for monkeypox on Monday, official sources in New Delhi said. The Karnataka Chief Minister also indicated that the government is likely to issue certain directions following the meeting.
"We have taken monkeypox seriously, tomorrow I have called an important meeting with the Health Minister and Health department officials, to discuss how to check the travellers, setting up labs and other measures that need to be taken," Bommai said on Monday. Speaking to reporters here, he said, the meeting will decide on the measures that need to be taken and directions need to be issued to control the spread of monkeypox, also regarding the required treatment and arrangement for medicines. (PTI)
Karnataka Director General of Police Praveen Sood on Monday assured that those involved and behind three murders in Dakshina Kannada district in the last ten days would be arrested and punished soon irrespective of their organisational or ideological background.
The DGP, who reviewed the developments and investigation with top officials, also called on people to cooperate with the police by coming forward and sharing information, if any, regarding the murders.
"Three murders have taken place in ten days: The first is the Masood case in which eight people were arrested and sent to judicial custody. Second, the Praveen murder case in which two were arrested and further inquiry is on. We will nab the killers and strictly punish them. Third is the Fazil case wherein there has been definite progress, a car used for the crime and its owner have been found," Sood said. (PTI)
Police in the Mangaluru region of Karnataka are investigating the possible role of a man with a history of crimes, including communally motivated attacks, in the murder of Mohammed Fazil on the night of July 28 in Surathkal.
The gangster under investigation, Lokesh Suvarna Kodikere alias Loku, 38, has over 15 cases against him, including those of murder, and the services of his gang are known to have been hired to execute crimes in the Dakshina Kannada region of Karnataka, as per official crime records for the region. (Read more)
Academicians in Karnataka have flagged an order by the Directorate of Urdu and Other Minority Language Schools that mandate students to chant verses only from the Gita or the Quran for the religious chanting competition, Pratibha Kanji. They have alleged that the instruction is an insult to Kannada and the state and discriminates against the scriptures of other religions.
The directorate had recently issued an order stating that during Pratibha Kanji, students in classes 1 to 4 should recite shlokas 1-5 from chapter 12 of the Bhagavad Gita, those in classes 5 to 7 should recite shlokas 1 to 10, and students in classes 8 to 10 should recite shlokas 1-15. The order makes it compulsory to recite the verses in Sanskrit. Besides, it states that verses from the Quran should be recited in Arabic. (Read more)
The High Court of Karnataka has held that an insurer cannot escape the liability of paying compensation even when the fitness certificate (FC) and permit of a vehicle is not renewed but the insurance policy is in force.
The HC overruled the judgement of a lower court which had ordered the owner of the school bus to pay compensation to the family of an accident victim because the school bus did not have fitness certificate and permit on the day of accident. The HC has directed the insurance company to indemnify the school bus owner by paying the entire compensation amount.
"In this case though the insurance policy was in force on the date of accident, the permit and the validity of the fitness certificate had expired," the court noted. The fitness certificate was obtained after the accident. The HC said that the insurance company "would not have issued the policy unless fitness certificate was in force and it appears that the fitness certificate expired after the issuance of the policy." As for the permit, the court pointed out that when the permit is applied for after the existing one has expired, "temporary permit is issued for the interregnum period, and it has nothing to do with renewal. (PTI)
What was once a godown at Kamaraj Road that used to supply bread, salt biscuits, buns, and rusks in 1902, now stands as a major cultural landmark in central Bengaluru. Even after 120 years, the hot cross buns during Christmas or the mutton brain puff during Ramadan at Albert Bakery still tingles the taste buds of dessert and snack lovers in Bengaluru. Read more here...
C B Ananthakrishnan, Director (Finance) of HAL has taken over the additional charge of the post of Chairman and Managing Director today following the superannuation of R Madhavan as CMD HAL on July 31, 2022.
Mr Ananthakrishnan will hold this post for a period of three months from today or till the post of CMD, HAL is vacant, whichever is earlier
Former Karnataka CM and JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy visited the family of BJP youth leader Praveen Nettaru who was murdered at Bellare in Dakshina Kannada on July 26.
A 46-year-old farmer who was grazing his cattle near Nanjedevarabetta outside the boundary of the Bandipur National Park in Karnataka was killed by a tiger, forest officials said. The farmer, Puttaswamy Gowda, tried to scare away the tiger in a bid to save his cattle, but was mauled to death, they said.
“The victim received injuries in his neck and head and died on the spot. Eyewitnesses said the tiger retreated to the jungle and we have also found pug marks around the site of the incident. The victim’s family will be compensated since the incident happened outside the boundary of the forest,” a forest official said. Read more.
Climate change due to “long-term unsustainable patterns” of urbanisation has influenced the spread of coronavirus and its variants globally, a new study has found.
Published in the international journal Environmental Microbiology on July 20, the study by an international research group consisting of scientists from Brazil, India, and the USA found that the Betacoronavirus genera to which SARS-CoV-2, responsible for Covid-19, belongs to are distributed globally, and more occurrence are found in places with high population density, human development index (HDI), emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), pollution, annual rainfall, and more seasonal variations. Read more.
A man in Chikkaballapur town attacked several people in a street on Sunday evening, injuring three women and four men. According to the police, the man was carrying a machete and wearing a helmet. He is yet to be arrested.
Several southern states that have successfully implemented family planning measures will object to population-based changes in the number of seats in Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha following the 2031 census and this would pose a big political challenge for the country, senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh has said.
Speaking at an orientation programme for the newly-elected Rajya Sabha MPs, Ramesh talked about the role of the Upper House and its contribution to Indian democracy. Underlining the population-based representation of Rajya Sabha, Ramesh said America's Senate is often compared with the Rajya Sabha, but there is a vast difference between the two as all states have two representatives in the Senate irrespective of population.
Besides Germany, there is no country where representation to states is given according to population, Ramesh said. Population-based representation in Rajya Sabha is a great innovation made by the makers of the Constitution, the former Union minister said during the orientation programme on Saturday. (PTI)
The Mangaluru City police have arrested a person in connection with the murder of Mohammed Fazil, 23, in Surathkal on July 28.
The arrested individual has been identified as Ajith Crasta, owner of the car that was purportedly used by suspects. City police commissioner N Shashi Kumar has confirmed the arrest.
Shashi Kumar said a Hyundai Eon car was used by the suspects. He added that around 51 persons have been questioned in the case till now. “We seized eight Hyundai cars and after questioning the owners, it was revealed that Ajith’s car was used to kill Mohammed Fazil. He had given the car to one of the suspects with whom he shared a good relationship,” a police officer said. (Read more)
Karnataka Congress President D K Shivakumar on Sunday said party's national leader Rahul Gandhi will attend its political affairs committee meeting on August 2, amid rumblings within ahead of 2023 assembly polls, as he will be in the state to take part in senior leader Siddaramaiah's 75th birthday bash.
He will also be visiting the Murugarajendra Mutt, a prominent Lingayat seminary in the region, during the visit. "On August 3, Rahul Gandhi has desired to meet Chitradurga's Muruga mutt seer (Sri Shivamurthy Murugha Sharanaru) and other seers. Before that he will be attending the party's state political affairs committee meeting of about 35 state leaders on August 2 evening in Hubballi," Shivakumar said.
Speaking to reporters here after meeting the seer at mutt, he said, on August 3, Rahul Gandhi will be attending the 75th birthday celebrations of Siddaramaiah at Davangere, following which he will be leaving to New Delhi via Hubballi. Gandhi's visit to other prominent mutts in Davangere and surrounding areas is still being worked out, as he will be once again travelling in the region during Congress' 'Bharat Jodo Yatra' in September and thinking on whether visits to other mutts can be planned then, he added. (PTI)
A madrassa student, hailing from Karnataka, was held by a team of the National Investigation Agency on Sunday for suspected terror links. The student, Farukh, was staying at a madrassa in Deoband of Saharanpur, police sources said. Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Vipin Tada confirmed Farukh's detention.
According to the sources, Farukh is adept in many languages and was in touch with a module of the Pakistani intelligence unit ISI via a social media app. He was being questioned by officials of NIA, they said. On June 23, a Rohingya student, Mujibullah, was arrested from Deoband. (PTI)
Three back-to-back murders that have occurred in the communal cauldron of the Dakshina Kannada district of coastal Karnataka has changed the course of the lives of three innocent men caught in the crossfire between radical Hindutva and Islamic groups on account of their faith and associations.
The three killings in the span of 10 days - between July 19 to July 28 - seem to be symptomatic of the deep communal divisions in the society in coastal Karnataka, even as investigations are yet to reveal the full truth behind the three incidents.
While tit-for-tat communal murders are commonplace in Dakshina Kannada the human pain that the communal divide causes become most apparent in incidents of violence with families of innocent men burdened with grief by mindless killings. The Indian Express spoke to the families of three victims Masood B, 19, Praveen Nettaru, 32, and Mohammed Fazil who were killed in the latest cycle of violence in the region in the last 10 days. (Read more)
The effect of three murders within 10 days in the coastal Karnataka district of Dakshina Kannada is evident on the empty roads in the region. Among local residents, the sense is that these murders are evidence of the underlying religious animosity that has been brewing in the region, especially in the aftermath of controversies triggered by right-wing Hindutva groups allied with the ruling BJP over the wearing of the hijab by Muslim girls in state-run educational institutions, attempts to force a boycott of halal meat and the banning of Muslim traders from temple fairs.
When the Karnataka High Court pronounced its judgment on the hijab issue in March this year, Muslim traders shut down their shops to mark their protest against the verdict that went against them. Hindutva activists saw the verdict as their victory. Though tensions remained below the surface, activists on both sides of the communal divide pushed for the boycott of the other community in business activities. Continuous propaganda has been carried out to ensure that the divide between the communities is never bridged. (Read more)
Climate change due to “long-term unsustainable patterns” of urbanisation has influenced the spread of coronavirus and its variants globally, a new study has found.
Published in the international journal Environmental Microbiology on July 20, the study by an international research group consisting of scientists from Brazil, India, and the USA found that the Betacoronavirus genera to which SARS-CoV-2, responsible for Covid-19, belongs to are distributed globally, and more occurrence are found in places with high population density, human development index (HDI), emission of carbon dioxide (CO2), pollution, annual rainfall, and more seasonal variations. (Read more)
The Karnataka High Court has directed the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife to once again consider the proposal to declare the 5,010 acre grasslands in Hesaraghatta as a Conservation Reserve.
The Board had rejected the proposal in January 2021. Environmentalists had challenged this. On July 29, the court quashed the order of the Board and directed it to consider the matter again.
The division bench of Acting Chief justice Alok Aradhe and Justice S Vishwajith Shetty was hearing a batch of petitions by environmentalists who sought the quashing of the decision taken by the Karnataka State Board for Wildlife on January 19, 2021. The Board, which had MLA of Yelahanka constituency S R Vishwanath as a special invitee had rejected the proposal to declare the Hesaraghatta Grasslands comprising 5,010 acres as a Conservation Reserve. (PTI)
A middle aged Ethiopian citizen suspected to have Monkeypox symptoms, is a confimed case of Chickenpox, Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Sunday. The results came after testing and screening the patient for Monkeypox. All symptomatic travellers arriving from the affected countries to Bengaluru and Mangaluru international airports are being screened, isolated and tested for fever, chills and sweats, lymph node swelling, headache, muscle ache, exhaustion, sore throat and cough, skin rashes, Sudhakar added.
Following heavy rains in Bengaluru's Kumaraswamy Layout, waterlogging was reported in the area. Several trees were also uprooted.
Mangaluru city police have registered five cyber crime cases after they found out fake and hate messages are being circulated on social media.
Following to the murder of three youth in Dakshina Kannada district, the police have found that hate and fake messages are being spread across social media platforms.
Mangaluru city police commissioner N Shashi Kumar said that they are monitoring the messages that are being circulated on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger and other platforms where fake and hate messages are being spread."
NIA on Sunday conducted searches in Bhatkal and Tumakuru cities of Karnataka in connecting with an ISIS module case that was registered in June.
According to NIA officials, the searches were conducted at 13 premises of suspects in 6 states- hopal and Raisen districts in Madhya Pradesh; Bharuch, Surat, Navsari and Ahmedabad districts in Gujarat, Arariya district in Bihar, Bhatkal and Tumakur City in Karnataka, Kolhapur and Nanded districts in Maharashtra and Deoband districts in Uttar Pradesh in the case pertaining to activities of ISIS.
The case was registered suo-moto by NIA on 25 June under sections 153A, and 153B of IPC and sections 18, 18B, 38, 39 & 40 of UA (P) Act.
Cubbon Park Walkers Association has written a letter to the chief minister demanding to shift out Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association from Cubbon Park alleging that the club is misusing the premises.
In a letter, S Umesh, president of Cubbon Park Walkers Association said, "keeping Cubbon Park gate open exclusively for Tennis Club members inside a public park is highly objectionable as there is one rule for common man and another rule for club members. "KSLTA is violating rules and regulations and there have been anti-social activities inside the tennis club. We don't want the rules of the park to be twisted to suit club members as it will pose security risks and also lead to other anti-social activities inside the park. The place allotted for sports should be utilised for sports purposes and not for other recreational, bar and commercial purposes. It will be good in the larger interest of the environment and park if the tennis club is shifted out from Cubbon Park by cancelling their lease agreement. We want Cubbon Park to be a park and not a late night entertainment hub for the tennis club members."
The Congress in Karnataka seems to be in a conundrum, as many within the party fear about it imploding ahead of the 2023 Assembly polls, amid a game of one-upmanship between its two top leaders in the race to occupy the Chief Minister's chair in the event of the party capturing power.
There is palpable worry within the party about a virtual division getting created between the camps of state President D K Shivakumar and Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah, also a former chief minister.
Senior leaders and Congressmen who understand the consequences of this groupism, have sounded a cautious note, saying, "first, winning the election is more important, then comes the CM post. Let's cross the bridge first." Though both Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar overtly express the same opinion or feeling, their loyalists and camps are hellbent to project their respective leader, making things messy. (PTI)
A 56-year-old man has been compensated with Rs 5 lakh for having been wrongfully arrested in a criminal case, due to a confusion over his name.
Ningaraju N, a resident of Kalidasa Layout, had approached the High Court claiming that in the criminal case filed in 2011, the alleged accused Raju NGN was not him. Quashing the case against him, the HC said, “It is rather shocking that a person has been arrested without ascertaining whether he was the person who was required to be arrested and that the warrant had been issued against him.”
Justice Suraj Govindaraj in his judgment dated July 7 noted that, “his identification was not cross-checked and verified, resulting (in) an innocent person being arrested.” The HC said that the Right of Life and Liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution is paramount and there is a violation of the fundamental right in this case. (PTI)
Karnataka health authorities have sent blood samples of a suspected monkeypox patient in Bengaluru to the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune. The suspected monkeypox patient is said to be an African national who came to Bengaluru on July 4 for a kidney transplant.
A health official working with Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) said, “The African national had come to Bengaluru from Ethiopia for a kidney treatment at a private hospital. He did not show any symptoms of monkeypox then. We can confirm only after the results of the samples come in." Read more
What was once a godown at Kamaraj Road that used to supply bread, salt biscuits, buns, and rusks in 1902, now stands as a major cultural landmark in central Bengaluru. Even after 120 years, the hot cross buns during Christmas or the mutton brain puff during Ramadan at Albert Bakery still tingles the taste buds of dessert and snack lovers in Bengaluru.
Mohammad Sabir, who is the managing director of Albert Bakery and the fourth generation businessman, believes that ‘keeping it simple and affordable’ is the key factor behind the bakery becoming a culinary landmark known for its lip-smacking desserts. Read more
The Karnataka High Court Friday sent back the proposal to declare the more than 5,000 acre of the Hesaraghatta grasslands as a conservation reserve to the Karnataka State Wildlife Board. The court was hearing a petition by ecologist Vijay Nishanth.
A division bench of Acting Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice Vishwajit Shetty reverted the issue back to the state wildlife board for reconsideration setting aside the earlier decision of state wildlife board which rejected the proposal of declaring the Hesaraghatta grasslands as a conservation reserve. Read more
S Rathnamma, a woman from the Soliga tribe in Karnataka, scripted history when she became the first PhD holder from her community in 2020. More than two decades later, she is proud that a member of the scheduled tribe community, Droupadi Murmu, has become the President of India, but says the progress of scheduled tribes, especially the forest tribes, is a long and challenging journey.
The 50-year-old health worker and activist belongs to the Soliga tribe, a forest tribe in Karnataka that resides in the forested areas of Chamarajanagar and Mysore, and is predominantly found in Maleya Mahadeshwara Hills, Biligiri Rangana Hills and Bandipur. Read more
The Supreme Court has directed the Karnataka government in a July 28 order to declare the ward-wise reservations for the Bengaluru city council within a week to facilitate the long-delayed polls for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP).
The Supreme Court issued the order after the Karnataka government told the court that the process of delimitation of constituencies had been completed with a notification issued on July 14 and that a Commission to decide on quotas for Other Backward Classes (OBCs) in the council had provided its report on July 21. Read more
Participants at a peace committee meeting held on Saturday in the wake of three murders in Karnataka’s Dakshina Kannada district demanded that Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai announce equal compensation to the families of all three victims and said he should have visited their houses.
Elected representatives and Muslim organisations’ representatives were not part of the meeting convened at Mangaluru by deputy commissioner K V Rajendra and additional director-general of police (law and order) Alok Kumar. Read more
A Ugandan national, who had emerged as a prominent voice of African nationals living in Bengaluru during his more than 16 years of illegal stay in India, was deported to his home country on July 27 following a joint operation by the local police and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Bosco Kawesi, who would identify himself as the president of the pan-African federation in Bengaluru and facilitated African nationals in resolving legal and other issues, was himself staying illegally since 2005, Bengaluru Police Commissioner Prathap Reddy said. Read more
The hundred-year-old Kithaganur lake at KR Puram in Bengaluru, which was once a source of drinking water and a swimming spot for the local residents, has fallen on hard times.
Despite repeated requests to members of the gram panchayat and Mahadevapura MLA Aravind Limbavali, under whose constituency the lake falls, there has not been any attempt to revive the 25.7-acre waterbody, according to the residents.
The Karnataka revenue department has not surveyed the lake to estimate the extent of encroachment on it. There is no fencing covering the entire lake. Read more