'We want to demystify editorial cartooning': Satish Acharya ahead of Cartoon Habba

Media

Cartoon Habba (Cartoon Festival) held annually in Kundapur, celebrates the world of caricatures and cartoons, and will be held from November 23 to 26.

Prajwal Bhat

The sixth edition of Cartoon Habba, a festival celebrating the world of caricatures and cartoons, is set to begin on Saturday in Kundapur in Udupi district of Karnataka.  The event, which is coordinated by popular cartoonist Satish Acharya, will focus on demystifying the art of editorial cartoons in addition to exhibiting works of cartoonists. "We have a lot of artists but not many of them take up editorial cartooning since it requires a different skill set. We want to demystify the art of editorial cartoons," says Satish, who is a cartoonist based in Kundapur.  "Every year, we focus on the art aspect of cartoons but this year we will have discussions and workshops focusing on news, opinion making, dealing with fake news, and humour," Satish says. The workshop is aimed at students, particularly those studying journalism, and interested members of the public. This year's Cartoon Habba will be held at the Kalamandira at the Board High School in Kundapur between November 23 and 26.  The theme of the event this year is Gandhi 150 - Ishwar Allah Tero Naam - and cartoons on Mahatma Gandhi will be displayed at the festival. "We conducted a contest with the same theme because we felt that it would make students and parents take interest and discuss Gandhi," adds Satish. Kannada actor and director Rishabh Shetty will inaugurate the event while former police officer Annamalai K will deliver the keynote address speaking on the theme - Gandhi 150 - Ishwar Allah Tero Naam. Veteran artists and cartoonists including Chandranath Acharya, MN Dattatri, Surendra and VG Narendra, and Badal Nanjundaswamy, professor and researcher Varadesh Hiregange, journalists Shashidhar Hemmady, Krishna Prasad and SR Ramakrishna will be speaking at the festival. Since 2014, the event is held annually in Kundapur and includes workshops to draw cartoons, contests to encourage the art and also discussions on practicing cartooning in an increasingly digital age. In 2018, Satish expressed his frustration about the suppression of a cartoonist's voice especially after his cartoon column in Mail Today came to an end after differences with the editor of the newspaper. Read: Spreading the message through cartoons: Cartoon Habba set to begin in K’taka

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Where is Nithyananda? Whistleblowers say he may be in Ecuador or hiding in India

Crime

This is not the first time that Nithyananda ashram has been accused of abusing children. TNM spoke to a mother who complained in 2008.

Sanyukta Dharmadhikari

Theja Ram

There is no clear indication where rape accused self-styled godman Nithyananda is, with reports suggesting that he may currently not be in the country and may have left India via Nepal. Nithyananda has been booked for child abuse and kidnapping by the Gujarat police after three minor children (a boy and two girls) were rescued from his ashram in the outskirts of Ahmedabad. This is the second case filed against him, in addition to the rape case that was filed against him in 2010. Nithyananda’s passport was impounded in 2011 when the rape case was filed against him. However, in 2011, he had asked for his passport to travel to Mansarovar and other places to hold meditation and yoga camps and at the time, bail conditions were diluted and he was handed over his passport. According to reports, he has not been spotted at any of his ashrams since 2018 and there is speculation that he may have escaped from Nepal to a country abroad. A copy of Nithyananda’s passport accessed by TNM shows it was due to expire in September 2018 and was not renewed due to the rape charges. According to whistleblowers, it is believed that from Nepal, he may have left for Ecuador, a country which does not have an extradition treaty with India. Although he has been making appearances on his YouTube channel, his current location is not clear. Sources in the Karnataka CID had earlier told TNM that Nithyananda had not left the country using any airport or sea port in India. In 2010, when the sex tape featuring Nithyananda was released, then too, he had gone absconding but was later traced to Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, leading to speculation that he may even still be in India now.  When the Karnataka Criminal Investigation Department began probing the alleged criminal activities at the Bidadi ashram in 2010, the former head of Nithyananda’s ashram in Malaysia had given a statement alleging that her son had tried to kill himself due to torture he suffered at the hands of Nithyananda. The attempted suicide of a youth in Nithyanada’s Bidadi ashram This is not the first time that Nithyananda ashram has been accused of abusing children.  In 2008, a minor boy was rushed to BGS Hospital in Kengeri by Nithyananda’s followers after he began vomiting. The doctors informed them that the boy had tried to kill himself. In her statement to the CID, Ma Nirantara, the boy’s mother, had said that Nithyananda and his followers Sadananada, Gyananada, Pranananda and Amta Prabha had allegedly tried to mislead the police about the attempted suicide. Nithyananda’s followers, who were at the Bidadi ashram allegedly told Ma Nirantara that her son was admitted to the hospital due to “wheezing problems”. However, when her husband spoke to the doctors, they learnt that her son had tried to kill himself. Ma Niranata told TNM that Nithyananda and his followers allegedly tried to coerce her into giving a false statement to the police. She says that Nithyananda used to beat her son with a stick and humiliate him in front of other people in the ashram, which led her son to take the drastic step. “They wanted me to tell the police that he took the step because he was stressed about his studies. I did not give a separate complaint back then because it requires resources to fight the case and I didn't have that in me back then. But I did give my statement to the police when the scandal broke out in 2010,” she says. Nirantara says that the ordeal has taken a toll on her personal life and that she struggled to get back to a normal life. “It was after fighting with our family that I joined the ashram. My family did tell me to pursue religion on the side, but it was my adamant nature and faith that made me join. When I finally came out of the ashram, the repercussions were bad. Today we are alone without friends or family to even lean back on. There are still a lot of children there in the ashram, undergoing difficulties. If the current issues help to rescue those kids, I would be really happy,” she said. The case is currently under trial and Ma Nirantara has not been summoned by the court to give her testimony yet. MEA denies knowledge of Nithyananda’s whereabouts On Thursday, the Ministry of External Affairs stated that it is not aware of where Nithyananda currently is. The Ministry added that it had not received any information from the Gujarat police or from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding him. Nithyananda has been booked by the Gujarat police after three minor children (a boy and two girls) were rescued from Nithyananda's Hirapur Ashram in the outskirts of Ahmedabad and united them with their parents. “We have not received any formal information, neither from the Gujarat police nor from the MHA. Also, for extradition request, we need to know the location and the nationality details of the person. We do not have such information about him yet,” the MEA said.      

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Kalaburagi airport set to be inaugurated by Karnataka CM Yediyurappa

The runway at the airport is 3.25 km long, which is the second longest in Karnataka after the Bengaluru International Airport.

TNM Staff

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa is set to inaugurate the newly built airport in Kalaburagi on Friday.  The airport is located 5 km from Kalaburagi city and will be a new addition to India's aviation map.  BJP MP Umesh Jadhav visited the airport for an inspection on Thursday. He confirmed that Yediyurappa will reach the airport in a Star Air flight for the inauguration on Friday afternoon. HS Suresh, Executive Director (Engineering), Airport Authority of India said that the runway at the airport was sufficiently wide for operating bigger aircraft like the Airbus 320. He also noted that 742 acres of land was available at the airport which will aid future expansion including operation of exclusive chartered flights for Haj pilgrims, The Hindu reported. The runway is 3.25 km long and is the second longest in Karnataka after the Bengaluru International Airport.  Following the formal inauguration ceremony, commercial flights will begin flying out of the airport on the same day. Star Air will operate flights between Kalaburagi and Bengaluru on three days a week - Monday, Friday and Sunday. The flights will depart Bengaluru at 12:20 pm and arrive Kalaburagi at 1:25 pm and return from Kalaburagi at 1:55 pm and land in Bengaluru at 3 pm. Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Higher Education Ashwath Narayan, Deputy Chief Minister Govind Karjol, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister for Transport Lakshman Savadi, Minister for Large and Medium Industries Jagadish Shettar, and Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai will participate in the event. BJP MP Umesh Jadhav attempted to downplay concerns over the lack of invitation extended to former MP Mallikarjun Kharge of the Congress for the inauguration ceremony. Kharge is considered to have had an influential role in ensuring that funds were released from the Centre for the completion of the airport. Umesh Jadhav however said that other political leaders from opposition parties were invited for the ceremony, Deccan Herald reported. Yediyurappa had laid the foundation stone for the airport in 2008. 

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Karnataka HC asks state govt to spell out plan for detaining illegal immigrants

Law and order

The High Court has directed the state government to file an affidavit by November 26 with details of detention centres in the state.

Prajwal Bhat

Detention centre for illegal immigrants on outskirts of Bengaluru

The High Court has directed the state government to file an affidavit by November 26 with details of detention centres in the state. The Karnataka High Court on Thursday directed the state government to reveal details of the number of detention centres for detaining illegal immigrants. It also directed the state government to spell out the plan to detain immigrants without documents currently in the state. Justice KN Phaneendra directed the state government to file an affidavit by November 26 with details of detention centres in the state while hearing a bail plea filed by Babul Khan in September 2019 for 14 Bangladeshi immigrants and one Burmese immigrant arrested in August 2018 in the Sarjapur police station limits in Bengaluru.  "The court has asked for a permanent solution to the detention of foreigners without documents. It is not just about these 15 petitioners but about all foreigners without documents in the state", explains Sirajuddin Ahmed, a lawyer representing one of the petitioners.  In the absence of a state-run detention centre, the Karnataka government has detained Bangladeshi nationals arrested in 2018 in Parappana Agrahara prison in the city. The counsel representing the state government informed the High Court on Thursday that a temporary detention centre will be arranged in Sarjapur in the city to detain the 15 immigrants. The state government also informed the High Court that it had identified 35 spaces to temporarily detain foreigners without documents in the state. These spaces will be used to detain illegal immigrants including immigrants after they are either released on bail or after they have completed their prison term in criminal cases. In addition, the state government has repurposed a hostel built for SC/ST students in Nelamangala, around 40 km outside Bengaluru, into a detention centre for illegal immigrants. While the construction of the building is completed, it is only expected to be opened for use in January 2020.  The Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO) under the Bureau of Immigration in Bengaluru has compiled a list of 866 foreigners without documents in the state.  Read: NRC in Karnataka? Inside the detention centre for illegal immigrants 40 km from Bengaluru The affidavit to be submitted in the High Court next week will be prepared by the Principal Secretary of the Home Department and will include details of the plans laid out by the state government to detain illegal immigrants. This also includes foreigners convicted in criminal cases and have either been released on bail or have completed their punishment term. Those illegal immigrants convicted in criminal cases will not be held in detention centres but instead will be held in prisons.  The counsel representing the Ministry of Home Affairs told the High Court that if the detained foreign nationals are not accepted by the home country, the state will have to take care of them at the expense of tax payers' money.  Read: After flak, K'taka govt says detention centre for illegal immigrants different from NRC The developments in the case also come at a time Union Home Minister Amit Shah declared that the National Register of Citizens (NRC), first implemented in Assam, will be carried out across the country. The NRC asks residents to prove their citizenship, the citizenship of their ancestors and their relationship to their ancestors. In Assam, residents were asked to produce documents proving that they or their families lived in India before March 24, 1971, and in the final list published, more than 19 lakh residents were excluded. Last month, Bengaluru police detained 60 suspected illegal immigrants from Bangladesh residing in Ramamurthynagar, Bellandur and Marathahalli police station limits in the city. They were housed in government homes for men, women and children and will be deported to their home country on Friday. The respondents in the case are the Ministry of Home Affairs, Bengaluru Police Commissioner, Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG/IGP), and the Karnataka Chief Secretary. Read: The harassment of Bengaluru's Bengali-speaking workers in the name of 'security'

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K'taka govt bans flash strikes by Bengaluru Metro workers, declares it a public utility

Civic

Namma Metro employees cannot go on strike without giving prior notice of at least six weeks.

Prajwal Bhat

PTI Photograph

The Karnataka government has declared the Namma Metro in Bengaluru as a public utility service under the Industrial Disputes Act.  A notification was issued by the Labour Department stating that the Namma Metro operated in the city will be a public utility service under the Act for six months with immediate effect.  This means that metro employees cannot go on strike without giving prior notice of at least six weeks and a further two weeks after giving notice. Previously, metro employees could go on a flash strike even though the usual practice was to give notice of two weeks before the strike to Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL), which maintains the Namma Metro in Bengaluru.  The new notification comes after the Madras High Court clarified last month that the Tamil Nadu government's Labour Department is the authority to handle industrial disputes between the Chennai Metro Rail Limited and its employees. According to an official in the Labour Department of the Karnataka government, the Madras High Court order is the basis for the newly issued notification. According to the official, it resolved a long-standing dispute over the "appropriate authority" to resolve disputes between employees and management when the metro comes under the Industrial Disputes Act. "Both the central government and the state government have a 50% stake in the metro. Earlier, the metro was considered under 'Railways' but BMRCL requested a change because the metro is not a railway company under The Metro Railway (Operations and Maintenance) Act," explained an official in the Labour Department. In 2018, faced with strikes and conciliatory meetings with its employees‘ union, BMRCL pushed for metro services to be brought under the Essential Services Maintenance Act (ESMA). ESMA mandates that certain essential services cannot be disrupted and legally prohibits employees from going on flash strikes. But in spite of reports of the Centre’s willingness to bring all metro rail services under ESMA, it is yet to be officially notified.  Responding to the new notification, the Bengaluru Metro Rail Employees Union (BMREU) is set to approach the Karnataka High Court disputing the notification on the grounds that the state government does not have the power to issue such an order.  "We will challenge the new order in the Karnataka High Court. The High Court has already issued a stay on a notification bringing the metro under ESMA. The case is still pending," Suryanarayana Murthy of the BMREU told TNM. He added that the BMREU had given notice before conducting strikes in the past but with the new notification in effect, BMREU will have to give notice at least six weeks prior to a strike.  In the last two years, BMREU and BMRCL have clashed on multiple occassions over non-payment of wages. In July 2017, commuters of the Namma Metro were inconvenienced when employees of the metro staged a strike on the Baiyappanahalli-Nayandahalli line. In June 2018, a section of Namma Metro employees threatened to go on strike but after several concillary meetings, the strike was eventually deferred following the intervention of the Karnataka High Court.   

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CBSE seeks probe into DPS school premises leased out to Nithyananda ashram

Crime

Meanwhile, the MEA stated that it has not received any formal request for the extradition of Nithyananda and is currently unaware of his whereabouts.

Prajwal Bhat

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) on Thursday stated that it is not aware of the current location of self-styled godman and rape-accused Nithyananda. The Ministry added that it had not received any information from the Gujarat police or from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) regarding him. Nithyananda has been booked by the Gujarat police after three minor children (a boy and two girls) were rescued from Nithyananda's Hirapur Ashram in the outskirts of Ahmedabad and united them with their parents.  “We do not received any formal information, neither from the Gujarat police nor from the MHA. Also, for extradition request, we need to know the location and the nationality details of the person. We do not have such information about him yet,” the MEA has said.  It is not clear where Nithyananda currently is. Sources say that he could either be in Ecuador or the West Indies. He has also been evading appearance in a rape case filed against him in Karnataka. He has not appeared in court for almost a year.  On Wednesday, two women managers, Pranapriya and Priyatattva, were arrested by the Gujarat police based on the statement by the minors rescued from the Nithyananda ashram in Gujarat. On Thursday, police reportedly searched the premises for  Read: Nithyananda ashram raided, managers arrested on allegations of child abuse, kidnap The ashram in Ahmedabad is situated inside the premises of the Delhi Public School. On Thursday, after the case details were revealed, the Secretary of the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) wrote to the Directorate of Schools, State Education Department, to conduct an inquiry into the leasing of the land to the ashram without due permission. The State Education Department has been asked to conduct the inquiry expeditiously and convey the outcome of the report and status of the No Objection Certificate (NOC) issued by the state department to the school for seeking CBSE affiliation. Read: Sexual crimes committed in the name of God: A look back at 'Swami' Nithyananda's 'sex contract'

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Karnataka govt looks towards Japanese businesses to boost economic activity in state

Business

The Japanese Industrial Township (JIT), announced in 2016 as an exclusive facility to host Japanese businesses in the southern state, is now ready for occupation.

Naheed Ataulla

Amidst the gloomy scenario of an economic slowdown across the country and pink slips being handed out by some of the IT majors in Bengaluru, the Karnataka industries and commerce department has not taken a pessimistic view of the situation and is looking at some sunrise projects As the department prepares for its ` Invest Karnataka--Hubballi' event to be held in Hubballi in early January 2020, the Japanese Industrial Township (JIT) announced in 2016 as an exclusive facility to host Japanese businesses in the southern state is ready for occupation. The 519.5-acre area in the Vasanthanarasapura village in Tumakuru district, 60 km from Bengaluru is anticipated to boost Japanese investments in Karnataka. It already boasts of 539 units in the hospitality, automobile, consumer engineering, seeds and agriculture sectors with Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India setting up its plant in Narsapur near Kolar, about 60 km from Bengaluru. “There is zero slowdown in aerospace or the global linkages sectors like the JIT. The slowdown is in the automobile and real estate sectors as they have endemic issues such as the transition from BS4 to BS6 (Bharat Stage norms where manufacturers have to configure their engines to meet emission control parameters) in the automobile industry. In the real estate sector where there was an oversupply with people not using it as an investment vehicle anymore,'' Karnataka industries and commerce department principal secretary Gaurav Gupta said. Under the industrial policy of Karnataka, the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) gave land to JIT with infrastructure such as power and other civil works. About 100 companies are expected come up in the area for which expression of interest by companies has to commence, Gupta said. JIT in Karnataka will be an integral part of the Chennai-Bengaluru Industrial Corridor, which is among the five industrial corridors being developed by the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry to boost economic activity and create jobs, Gupta said. Heavy engineering, machine tools, automotive and aerospace components will be among the key sectors of the industrial township. This is also expected to boost tourism between Karnataka and Japan. The proposed direct flight from Bengaluru to Tokyo is expected to cut down the travel time from 14 hours to nine, which is also being seen as another added advantage. JITs in India were agreed to be developed as one of the initiatives in the Japan-India Investment Promotion Partnership announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014. JITS were designed to offer business environments in which Japanese companies can smoothly establish production sites and operate businesses, according to information on the website of ministry of economy, trade and industry, Japan.   With infrastructure ready at the project site, promotional activities to get Japanese companies to set up business have started. In June, the Karnataka government made a presentation to 100 CEOs from Japan in New Delhi in association with Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro). “Once the threshold of 50% to 60% occupancy is crossed, the next concern will be setting up social infrastructure there,” Gupta said. After JIT, the department is now also fine tuning the proposal for a Pharma Park, which was conceived in 2017. Land for this has been identified in Nagamangala in Mandya district and the key objective of the government is to make Karnataka as the preferred destination for pharmaceuticals going by the presence of large number of pharmacy and engineering colleges.  However, according to industry and trade sources, the political stability of the government in the last 18 months does crop up during discussions with foreign investors but has not been a serious consideration for them. The only shortcoming is Karnataka's political presence at international business events, which is next to nil. “Presence of just officials at such events will not boost confidence of prospective investors as it should be backed by a political leadership, which former industries R V Deshpande did to some extent. The chief minister should include business travel in his itinerary as openness to trade with Karnataka is higher than other states in the country,” sources maintained.

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