JD(S) offers Sumalatha chance to contest from Mysuru-Kodagu in 2019 polls

Politics

The offer comes after Nikhil Kumaraswamy stated that he will be contesting as the JD(S) candidate from Mandya.

Theja Ram

Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy and JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda invited Sumalatha Ambareesh on Thursday to contest as a JD(S) candidate from the Mysuru-Kodagu Lok Sabha constituency. The offer was made in a meeting held with Sumalatha at the Taj Vivanta Hotel in Bengaluru and came after Nikhil Kumaraswamy, son of CM Kumaraswamy stated that he will be contesting as the JD(S) candidate from the Mandya seat “Deve Gowda and Kumaraswamy met with Sumalatha on Thursday and offered her the ticket to contest from Mysuru-Kodagu as a JD(S) candidate. Siddaramaiah is blocking her candidacy due to his rivalry with Ambareesh. If the Congress agrees, she will contest from Mysuru-Kodagu,” a JD(S) source told TNM. Former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has had disagreements with Sumalatha’s late husband, actor and Congress leader Ambareesh, in the past. During Siddaramaiah’s tenure as Chief Minister, he had demoted Ambareesh from his cabinet. Siddaramaiah is not keen on JD(S) fielding Sumalatha as its candidate from the Mysuru-Kodagu seat. Sumalatha now has more options to weigh before making her decision. Sumalatha had begun a tour of Mandya district, hoping to contest from the constituency as a Congress candidate or as an independent. The Congress has since ruled out fielding her as the party's candidate from Mandya. The Congress and JD(S) have entered into a seat-sharing arrangement in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections and the Mysuru-Kodagu seat is one of the 10 seats the JD(S) asked during its negotiations with the Congress. The party has also asked for eight other seats in southern Karnataka and one more in Bidar, sources said. Currently, the Mysuru-Kodagu MP is the BJP's Pratap Simha. Sources in the BJP told TNM that the party is considering its options, and could change the candidate they are fielding from the constituency.

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Bengaluru airport bags intl award for best service quality in arrivals, departures

Airports

: This comes after Bengaluru was adjudged the ‘Best Regional Airport in India & Central Asia’ by Skytrax in 2017.

TNM Staff

In another major accolade for the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, it has become the first airport in the world to clinch the Airports Council International’s Airport Service Quality Awards for both Arrivals and Departures. This comes after Bengaluru was adjudged the ‘Best Regional Airport in India & Central Asia’ by Skytrax in 2017. “The ACI ASQ Awards reaffirm our commitment to provide an excellent passenger experience at the BLR Airport. BIAL is proud of the fact that ACI has recognised our effort in both segments - Departures and Arrivals,” said Hari Marar, MD & CEO, Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL). Our airport is on the cusp of tremendous development and we will continue to ensure our passengers have a superlative experience,” he added. Other than Bengaluru, Biju Patnaik International Airport in Bhubaneshwar topped the charts for 2-5 million passenger category while Cochin International Airport came second in the 5-15 million passenger category for ASQ Departure awards. The Airport Service Quality (ASQ) programme is an airport passenger service and benchmarking programme for airports across the globe. The ASQ Departures programme measures passengers’ satisfaction across 34 key performance indicators. These includes five key areas viz. disembarkation, immigration (only for international passengers), baggage reclaim, customs and airport infrastructure.  In a statement, ACI World Director General Angela Gittens said, “The Airport Service Quality Awards celebrate the achievements of airports in delivering the best customer experience and they represent the highest possible accolade for airport operators around the world.” In July 2018, the Bengaluru Airport had scored the highest rating amongst all participating airports across the world, in the quarterly ACI-ASQ Arrival Survey. The international airport in Bengaluru was built as a private-public partnership. Private promoters hold 74% (Fairfax 48% and Siemens Projects Ventures 26%) stake in BIAL, while the government holds the remaining 26%-- through Karnataka State Industrial & Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited – 13%, Airport Authority of India – 13%. Kempegowda International Airport is currently the busiest airport in south India and the third largest in the country.      

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‘Make parties give 50% tickets to women’ demands political collective in B’luru

Representation

Political parties often say they aren't able to find women candidates, but activists say it's an "insult" to scores of women party workers who support them.

Haripriya Suresh

Scores of people from all walks of life gathered in Bengaluru’s Freedom Park on Thursday, demanding that the Election Commission make political parties give 50% of their tickets to women in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. This was organised by non-partisan political collective Shakti, which was formed to enable more women to join politics. Posters and slogans of ‘Man 2 Man to Manliament’, ‘A better democracy is where women do not have only the right to vote but get elected’ and ‘EC neither free or fair, tickets to women are so rare,’ among others were raised at the venue. The event was held in eight cities across the country. Tara Krishnaswamy, the co-convener of Shakti, said, “Our parliament has a dismal 11% of women, and [almost] 90% are men. These men are sitting and passing laws on what should be the tax on sanitary napkins etc. They don’t have the experiences that we do. As a result, parliament is coming out with laws and policies that are heavily skewed. In fact, we sat on one knee to show that the parliament is imbalanced, we don't have 50% in parliament.” The collective had recently met with DMK Working President MK Stalin in Chennai and asked him to field more women candidates from the party. “We've written to BJP president Amit Shah, Congress president Rahul Gandhi and others asking them to give 50% tickets to women. When we meet and talk to them, in principle they're very supportive of it. But the typical question that comes up is -- you know, we are not able to find women candidates. We find it hypocritical that they say that,” Tara added. “The BJP said that they have 3 crore women party workers, the All India Democratic Women’s Association of the Communist Party says on their webpage that they have one crore women. But suddenly when it comes to giving tickets they don’t find any women at all? That’s an insult,” she said. The event also emboldened people who wish to get into politics, but are afraid to do so. 20-year-old Shalom Gauri, who will be voting for the first time in the upcoming election, says that an event like this gives her the confidence to speak. “I’ve always been interested in politics, and Shakti has given me the confidence to speak about it openly because it was always a bit scary before. The scary part is not going out and changing the world, it’s sitting in a room full of uncles who are throwing shoes at each other and trying to speak,” she said.

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Another case of manual scavenging in Bengaluru: Police probe BWSSB involvement

Crime

A group of three men were spotted doing manual scavenging work at JC Nagar in the heart of the city.

Prajwal Bhat

Just days after a manual scavenging worker engaged to clean a sewage pit in a school asphyxiated to death, another case of manual scavenging has been reported in Bengaluru. This time, a police complaint has been registered after three men were engaged in cleaning raw sewage in JC Nagar in the central area of the city allegedly on behalf of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB). The incident was reported by MC Srinivas, Vice-President of Madiga Dandora — an organisation working for the cause of Dalits, who spotted a group of three men doing manual scavenging work on March 2 near the BBMP Dumping Yard in Chinnappa Garden in JC Nagar.  "On March 2, I was travelling on this road when I spotted two men standing outside a manhole. When I went closer, I realised that there was a third person inside the manhole cleaning raw sewage. I was shocked to see him inside the manhole and when I enquired who had asked them to do this, they claimed that they were asked by BWSSB officials because the manhole was blocked. I took photographs and approached the police this week highlighting the incident," said MC Srinivas, speaking to TNM.  Srinivas further stated that the three men were being paid Rs. 500 and had been engaged in this work for the past 20 years.  An FIR was registered in connection with the case on Thursday at the JC Nagar Police Station. "We are investigating whether the BWSSB was involved in making these men clean sewage,” said a police official at JC Nagar Police Station. No arrests have been made in the case so far.\ The incident comes less than a week after a man engaged in manual scavenging work died while cleaning a sewage pit at the JaiHind International School in Begur in the city.  Read: Manual scavenging worker asphyxiated to death in Bengaluru school sewer pit Employing a manual scavenging worker is a cognisable offence since 1993, punishable with imprisonment and fine. The Prohibition of Employment as Manual Scavengers and their Rehabilitation Act, in 2013, and a Supreme Court ruling have reiterated that the practice is illegal. But according to a study, more than 80 persons engaged in manual scavenging work have been killed in Bengaluru in the last 10 years. Due to a lack of proper law enforcement and dearth of alternatives provided by civic officials to ensure that humans are not tasked with cleaning sewers, this illegal and inhuman practice continues unabated in the city, taking the lives of people engaged in it. 

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Increase in number of billionaires, high net worth individuals in Bengaluru

Money

Bengaluru has 33 billionaires in 2018, an increase from 30 in 2017 and 26 in 2013, according to the report by a London-based consultancy.

IANS

Image for representation | Prateek Karandikar | CC 4.0 | Wikimedia Commons

Bengaluru, March 7 (IANS) As India's tech hub, Bengaluru has more billionaires and ultra-high net worth individuals (UHNWIs) than 5 years ago, said global property consultancy Knight Frank in its Wealth Report 2019 on Thursday. "Bengaluru has 33 billionaires in 2018 as against 30 in 2017 and 26 in 2013, registering 10 per cent annual growth and 27 per cent over the last 5 years," said the London-based consultancy in the 13th edition of its annual wealth report. Similarly, the number of UHNWIs grew 8 per cent to 98 in 2018 from 91 in 2017 and 72 in 2013, registering 36 per cent cumulative growth point average (CGPA). Over the next 5 years, Bengaluru will have 40 billionaires and 137 UHNWIs, projecting 22 per cent increase among the former and 40 per cent CGPA among the latter. "Bengaluru to witness fastest growth of the rich globally by 2023 when it will have 40 billionaires and 137 UHNWIs, projecting 22 per cent CGPA among the former and 40 per cent among the latter since 2018," said the report. Though as a whole, India will also see 39 per cent growth of UHNWIs by 2023, Mumbai and Delhi are likely to see 38 per cent CGPA growth over the next 5 years. "Bengaluru is the first amongst the top 5 'cities of the future' along with Hangzhou in China, Stockholm in Sweden, Cambridge in Britain and Boston in the US," said the report. The report also identifies the world's top cities that support wealth creation, including innovation indicators, wealth forecasts and economic growth that improve a city's growth prospects, such as infrastructure. "Bengaluru is the first amongst five eye-catching 'cities of the future' based on their economic potential. This growth, backed by its intrinsic potential arising from strong economic fundamentals, will attract investments both from domestic as well as institutional sources," said Knight Frank Chairman Shishir Baijal in a statement. Termed 'Future Cities' of the world, these cities demonstrate characteristics that will propel wealth creation as well as future property investment. "Bengaluru is home to global firms such as Infosys, Wipro and Flipkart and over 400 multinationals, including Microsoft, Hitachi and Samsung," said the report. Bengaluru has made a commitment to create a knowledge economy by investing in education centres, including the Indian Institute of Management (IIM-B), the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) and the National Aerospace Laboratories (NAL).  "The garden city's broad ecosystem of innovation offers multiple opportunities for growth, reflected in the rise of new age technology firms across sectors, including artificial intelligence, food technology, financial technology and robotics," said the report. According to Knight Frank Research Head Nicholas Holt, despite a softening momentum in the region's economies, growth prospects in Asia remain favourable in the medium term.  "While China's economy is expected to slow, emerging markets such as India and the Philippines will deliver some of the strongest growth over the coming years," said Holt.

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Disgruntled MLAs Ramesh Jarkiholi, Ramalinga Reddy in Cong shortlist for polls

Lok Sabha 2019

The Congress high command will take a call on which constituencies to give the JD(S).

Theja Ram

The Congress on Thursday held a legislative party meeting and prepared a list of eligible candidates, who are likely to get the party's ticket to contest in the Lok Sabha elections. According to Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee President Dinesh Gundu Rao, the leaders of the Congress and JD(S) will put together a consolidated list of potential candidates to be sent to the high command for approval. "A meeting will be held on March 11, where the final candidates would be selected," Dinesh Gundu Rao said. Congress insiders say that the party's leaders are not willing to give up the seats which they had won in 2014. "If we give up the seats which we had won against the JD(S), we would essentially be handing over our voter bases to them and this is not in the interest of the party," a Congress source said. TNM has accessed the list which was prepared and below are the details of the shortlisted candidates Bidar: Eshwar Khandre, CM Ibrahim and Vijay Singh Bagalkot: Bayakka Meti, Veena Kashappanavar, Ajay Kumat Sarnaik Vijayapura: Raju Alagooru, Prakash Rathod Belagavi: Anjali Nimbalkar, Channaraj Hebbalkar, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Vivekrao Patil Dharwad: Vinay Kulkarni (INC), Shekar Sanadi (INC, son of IG Sanadi), Veeranna Mattikatti Haveri: Basavaraj Shivannavar, Saleem Ahmed, DR Patil Davangere: SS Mallikarjun, HM Revanna Uttara Kannada: Prashant Deshpande, Nivedit Alva (Margaret Alva's son), Bheemanna Naik Udupi-Chikkamagaluru: Arati Krishna, Vijakumar, Pramod Madhwaraj, BK Hariprakash Mangaluru: Ramanath Rai, Ivan D'Souza, Moinuddin Bava, Vinay Kumar Soorake Bengaluru Central: Rizwan Arshad, BK Hariprakash, Roshan Baig, HT Sangliana, Saleem Ahmed Bengaluru South: Priya Krishna, Ramalinga Reddy Bengaluru North: C Narayanaswamy, MR Seetaram, BL Shankar Mysuru: CH Vijayshankar, Suraj Hegde  

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What we know about Medicare for All

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