In Bengaluru's KR Puram, friends-turned-foes fight each other to win the bye-polls

Politics

The fight for the seat is personal for former Chief Minister Siddarmaiah as Byrathi Basavaraj the BJP candidate was once his close associate.

Theja Ram

It’s a fight between old friends-turned-enemies, mentor versus mentee in Bengaluru’s KR Puram Assembly constituency. Congress MLC A Narayanaswamy is up against his former mentor, one of the 17 rebel legislators – Byrathi Basavaraj. The fight in KR Puram is a personal one not just for Narayanaswamy, but for former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah too. Once considered as one of Siddaramaiah’s close confidantes, Byrathi Basavaraj’s resignation as an MLA and subsequent defection to BJP has been a bitter pill for Siddaramaiah to swallow. Defeating Basavaraj, Congress leaders say, is on the former Chief Minister’s personal agenda. Basavaraj, a Kuruba leader, MTB Nagaraj former Hoskote MLA and Yeshwantpur MLA ST Somashekar – were three former associates of Siddaramaiah, who defected to the BJP. The trio, who once shouted praises for Siddaramaiah and offered their ‘eternal gratitude’ to Siddaramaiah in political rallies, were known as “Siddaramaiah’s personal cabinet”. After the defection, the Congress decided to field Vokkaliga leader A Narayanaswamy, Byrathis’ former mentee, as the party candidate. Although not a rookie to electoral politics, Narayanaswamy’s clout in KR Puram is significantly less compared to Byrathi. Moreover, Basavaraj has the suooier of four out of six Congress corporators from the KR Puram segment. Congress insiders say that corporators BN Jayaprakash (Basavanapura), MN Srikanth (Devasandra), V Suresh (Narayanapura)and SG Nagaraj (Vignananagar) are offering their support for Basavaraj behind the scenes. This has resulted in a tough fight for A Narayanaswamy and the Congress has brought out the big guns to help him win the elections. Former Water Resource Minister DK Shivakumar and Siddaramaiah are actively campaigning for Narayanaswamy and hoping that the caste equation in KR Puram will help them win the bye-polls. KR Puram has around 71,000 Vokkaligas, 47,000 from the Muslim community, 38,000 Christians and around 62,000 from the Kuruba community. While Basavaraj’s followers say that he is sure to bag most of the Kuruba votes, BJP insiders say that Siddaramaiah’s involvement in the campaign may create a dent in Basavaraj’s voter base. “The BJP does not have Vokkaliga votes. That will be split between Congress and the JD(S) candidate C Krishnamurthy. KR Puram has been the turf of the Congress because the Kuruba, Vokkaliga and minority voters shy away from electing a BJP leader. Siddaramaiah had fought with senior Congress leader A Krishnappa and given Byrathi a ticket to contest elections for the first time in 2013. Siddaramaiah had campaigned for Byrathi and ensured his victory. Byrathi Basavaraj may be a Kuruba leader but he is not in Siddaramaah’s league,” a senior Congress leader said.  

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Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala's health stable, discharged after heart surgery

Health

The governor was admitted to a private hospital in Bengaluru on Monday for a bypass surgery.

TNM Staff

After making a stable recovery following a bypass surgery, Karnataka Governor Vajubhai Vala was discharged from Fortis Hospital in Bengaluru on Saturday. “Bangalore, November 30, 2019: His Excellency, Shri Vajubhai Vala was admitted at Fortis hospital, Bannerghatta road for a bypass surgery on November 24, 2019. He underwent a successful surgery under Dr Vivek Jawali, Chairman, Department of Cardio Vascular Sciences, Fortis Hospital, Bangalore on November 25 and was monitored for 5 days. He is recovering well and is walking around. After thorough consultation from his treating doctor and the team, he was discharged today morning,” reads the press statement issued by Fortis Hospital. Vajubhai Vala had visited the hospital in the first week of November for an angiogram when doctors at the hospital recommended that he undergo a coronary bypass surgery. He was subsequently admitted to the hospital on Monday for surgery following which he was monitored closely. An angiogram is a diagnostic procedure wherein dye is inserted into the arteries of an individual through the bloodstream. This dye, a contrasting agent, then is visible when an x-ray is conducted, thereby allowing doctors to assess the condition of the arteries. A coronary bypass surgery is a surgery done to divert the flow of blood away from a blocked or partially blocked artery and towards the heart. On Wednesday, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa visited Vajubhai Vala at the hospital, “I met the respected governor Vajubhai Vala who was hospitalised due to illness and enquired about his health. I pray to god that he recovers quickly,” he later tweeted. ಅನಾರೋಗ್ಯದ ಕಾರಣ ಖಾಸಗಿ ಆಸ್ಪತ್ರೆಗೆ ದಾಖಲಾಗಿರುವ ಮಾನ್ಯ ರಾಜ್ಯಪಾಲರಾದ ಶ್ರೀ ವಜುಭಾಯಿ ವಾಲಾರವರನ್ನು ಭೇಟಿ ಮಾಡಿ ಆರೋಗ್ಯ ವಿಚಾರಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಅವರು ಶೀಘ್ರ ಗುಣಮುಖರಾಗಲೆಂದು ದೇವರಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಾರ್ಥಿಸುವೆನು. pic.twitter.com/ZmH0Y3PKCc — B.S. Yediyurappa (@BSYBJP) November 27, 2019 As he was in recovery at the time, the Governor could not attend the Conference of Governors held in New Delhi on November 23 and 24. He was also unable to take part in the Jalaram Jayanti celebrations by the Gujarati Association in Bengaluru, which he attends each year.

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A Bengaluru doctor wants to transform diabetes treatment as we know it with his tech

Health

Bengaluru-based endocrinologist Dr Abhijit Bhograj uses an IoT sensor and app to make diabetes treatment more effective.

BS Manu Rao

Treatment with a deeper understanding of elevated blood sugar levels is set to make a huge difference to diabetics with breakthrough technology. Bengaluru-based endocrinologist Dr Abhijit Bhograj uses this technology, comprising a cloud-connected sensor and app that generates data on a patient’s condition and response to triggers, and enables more accurate treatment. India is a ticking time bomb with nearly half of the world’s diabetics. A shocking 72 million Indians are diabetic and the number is expected to touch 100 million by 2030. At epidemic proportions, and with just around 600 endocrinologists in the country, diabetes will be a major stumbling block disrupting lives and hampering productivity, if left unchecked.  “The fact that we did not have enough understanding of our patients bothered me. Often, we treated patients based on one blood test. This is just not enough data to base a treatment plan on. There are many factors that lead to high blood sugar levels. Sleep, food, stress, lifestyle, obesity, hereditary and medications are some of them. Ideally, a doctor needs a deep understanding on how a person has fared on these parameters in terms of their impact on the blood sugar levels over a period of time. It is impractical to conduct multiple tests every day for a fortnight to arrive at this conclusion. So often, doctors treat diabetics with insufficient data, merely on guesswork. The treatment therefore does not result in optimum benefit to the patients,” says Dr Abhijit Bhograj. This led him to embark on a quest to harness digital technology to research and gather data that will help in efficient treatment of the disease. Dr Abhijit uses a sensor with a filament that is impaled on a patient’s arm. The sensor’s subcutaneous filament takes a reading of the patient’s blood sugar level every 15 minutes over two weeks. During this time, the app, to be downloaded on the patient’s phone, analyses data generated by the sensor. This internet-based system that connects the sensor and the app yields valuable data on the patient’s blood sugar levels and the different triggers that cause spikes. “For a detailed profile, a doctor should interact with a patient for at least an hour at every consultation. Also, the patient should get their blood sugar levels checked many times through the day at strategic times, such as after a meal or some physical activity that have a bearing. Now, this is impossible. This tech involvement gives me all the data I need to understand the patient’s condition. It tells me the causes of high blood sugar levels such as particular food groups or specific conditions such as stress. I tailor the treatment plan accordingly. In many cases, I have brought down the blood sugar levels by up to 30 per cent through diet modifications only, and no medication. The medication administered with this knowledge is efficient too,” explains Dr Abhijit. Given the lack of time and historic data, diabetes is treated merely by fasting and post-prandial tests or HbA1c condition. With many factors causing elevated levels, this technology arms the doctor with insight into the causes, enabling a customized treatment plan that yields optimum results.  How it works A sensor with a filament is taped to the patient’s arm above the elbow. The filament is subcutaneously-impaled. The sensor analyses the blood sugar level from the interstitial fluid every 15 minutes ie 96 readings in a day. It has a chip that stores the data. The sensor is connected to an app that the patient has to download onto their smart phone. The sensor and app are connected through the internet. The app analyses data generated by the sensor.   The data is stored on the cloud. The doctor retrieves this and gets a detailed picture on what causes spikes in the patient’s blood sugar levels. The advice, thus given, covers activity, diet and medication, specific to the patient’s condition. This leads to better outcome. Sometimes, just lifestyle modifications will bring the sugar levels within normal range, making medication unnecessary. What impact does this have? Improves glucose control. Reduces medication when not needed. Around 30% reduction in blood sugar levels seen with no medication in many cases. Treatment of diabetes will be based on patterns and not one test. This enables customized and more intelligent care. Effect of all categories of food consumed is known. Advice is based on this intelligence, not guesswork. With this data, more variants of diabetes are being discovered, beyond Type I and II. Medication based on diagnosis aided by this accurate data is more effective. It is possible to predict the onset of diabetes. Pre-diabetes risk factors emerge, are analysed and with just lifestyle management onset of diabetes is prevented.  Over time, the voluminous data generated will be useful. It can be analysed to identify patterns for more effective treatment. The way forward “Even today, we treat diabetes with just one test. All this will change with this technology. Diabetes care in the world will change. We will learn more about diabetes, its triggers, and ways to manage it better,” says Dr Abhijit Bhograj.  Given the endless possibilities of big data analysis, Artificial Intelligence and digital healthcare, it is breakthrough tech applications such as this that can make a huge difference to people’s lives. An enormous amount of time and productivity is lost due to ill health caused by elevated sugar levels across the world. This technology will create a healthier and more productive society.

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Anxiety among medical fraternity after attack on another doctor for not knowing Kannada

Crime

A 28-year-old doctor as attacked in Bengaluru by three unknown men for not knowing Kannada.

Dr Nimeshika Jayachandran

Image for representation

Bengaluru has always been a melting pot of different cultures and languages which have found a way to coexist. However, language activism rears its head every now and then. A 28-year-old man from Kengeri was assaulted while sitting with his friend near Shell petrol pump in Kengeri by three men for allegedly saying that he didn’t know how to speak Kannada. The incident took place at 3am on November 22. Following the attack, a complaint was filed by the victim, a doctor and a resident of Kengeri, and his friend. In his complaint, Vivek* has stated that he and his friend had been sitting at the petrol bunk eating snacks when three men approached them and upon overhearing their conversation said, “You’ve come to our state and eat our food, you can’t speak Kannada?” This led to a quarrel between them at which point one of the men grabbed Vivek by the collar and began to hit him. Vivek’s friend began to record the incident on his phone but the other two men caught him after which one man began beating him and the other took his phone and deleted the video. Onlookers called the police to the petrol bunk, but by the time the police reached the spot, the three attackers had fled. It was then that Vivek approached the Kengeri police station to give a complaint. An FIR was registered against “three unknown persons” under sections 506 (criminal intimidation), 341 (wrongful restraint), 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). As per reports, the accused were caught and apprehended, but were let go on bail within a day. Once it came to light that Vivek is a doctor, several members from the medical fraternity have spoken out condemning the incident which comes in the aftermath of protests at Victoria Hospital. Doctors across the city have expressed their anger at the situation, drawing attention to how closely it resembled an earlier attack on a postgraduate student from Minto Eye Hospital in Bengaluru for not speaking in Kannada. “Assault on language issue is not new in the public sector. It has happened to bank employees in the past. However assault on doctors is something that has been increasing in the past few years and that to with regards to the language issue is something that’s being seen more only in recent days,” says Dr Dayanandan Sagar, PG Resident at Victoria Hospital, who is also a part of the Resident Doctors’ Association (RDA) which protested against the earlier attack on a doctor, “Doctors serve beyond language, in the Minto incident, the doctor could speak Kannada fluently, however even then she was attacked under this pretext of language.” On November 1, on the day of Kannada Rajyotsava Day a postgraduate student doctor who was in the outpatient clinic at Minto Eye Hospital was attacked by members of a pro-Kannada outfit, the Kannada Rakshana Vedika (KRV). It later emerged that she was assaulted for not speaking to the KRV members in Kannada. Following this, several doctors, medical students and staff from Bangalore Medical College (BMC) and its affiliated Victoria Hospital (on the premises of which Minto Eye Hospital is located) took to protesting. They announced an indefinite strike on non-emergency services in the hospitals. Their protest was supported by the Indian Medical Association (IMA). However, soon after Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Ashwath Narayan met and assured the doctors that increased security measures would be given, the protest was called off. Accordingly, around 50 home guards have been stationed at the hospital to provide security to the hospital staff. “While it certainly helps to establish a more personal connection with the patient when a doctor knows the local language, it ultimately is not a necessity. We have other means of communication and can get a translator to ensure that the patient is made comfortable and understands what the doctor is relaying. Using this pretext of language is absurd to attack us doctors,” adds a senior consultant from Victoria Hospital.

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Battleground Hunsur: Why MLA GT Devegowda's support is crucial for the bye-poll

Politics

Chamundeshwari MLA GT Devegowda has chosen to stay away from campaigning in Hunsur, where former JD(S) state President AH Vishwanath is contesting on a BJP ticket.

Theja Ram

The poll battle in Karnataka’s Hunsur in Mysuru district is a crucial one, especially for the BJP, which has fielded rebel leader and former JD(S) state President AH Vishwanath as its candidate. The Congress has fielded HP Manjunath, a former MLA from the region. Vishwanath, who is a veteran in state politics, is facing anti-incumbency in the region. The JD(S) on the other hand has fielded C Somasekhar, a local contractor, who has bagged many road projects in the state. The JD(S) fielded a new face who has not been affiliated to state politics, sources say, in a bid to curb the power of Chamundeshwari MLA GT Devegowda. A consequential figure in Mysuru district’s politics, GT Devegowda’s support is important for the JD(S) candidate due his strong reach in the region. However, GT Devegowda has off late, openly expressed his disappointment with the JD(S) and has refused to step outside and campaign for the party’s own candidate. “I have nothing to do with this election. I am not for or against anyone,” GT Devegowda had told the media last week. GT Devegowda has also been seen with BJP MP of Chamarajagnagar – V Srinivas Prasad and speculation is rife that he is offering his support, indirectly, to AH Vishwanath instead. His reluctance to support his own party has raised several questions and the most important one is – what made him turn against his own party? Highly placed sources in the JD(S) say that GT Devegowda has been unhappy with his party ever since the coalition government, in 2018, offered him the Primary and Secondary Education portfolio. Devegowda, who had repeatedly told the media that he was unhappy with the portfolio allocation, is said to have been rendered unhappy when the JD(S) announced its list of candidates for the bye-elections. GT Devegowda had hoped to bargain with the JD(S) leadership for a ticket for his son Harish Gowda in return for his support, say sources. However, the party fielded C Somashekar in a bid to curb GT Devegowda’s powers, as he was openly holding talks with Srinivas Prasad. GT Devegowda, Ah Vishwanath and Srinivas Prasad are close, JD(S) insiders say, as they share a common bond – their rivalry with former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah. Both Vishwanath and Srinivas Prasad left the Congress as they blamed Siddaramaiah for trying to sabotage their political careers. GT Devegowda’s rivalry with Siddaramaiah stems from what he calls betrayal. GT Devegowda, a staunch supporter of the JD(S) says he was betrayed by Siddaramaiah when the latter joined the Congress. JD(S) insiders allege that GT Devegowda has decided to offer his support to his close friend – AH Vishwanath. “Both Srinivas Prasad and Vishwanath are now in the BJP. The two leaders have been trying to get GT Devegowda onto their team as well. But he has been reluctant to let go of the Dal. In order to get back at the JD(S) for refusing to give his son a ticket for the Hunsur bye-polls and to undercut Siddaramaiah, GTD is supporting the BJP,” the JD(S) source alleges. BJP insiders say that GT Devegowda’s support has given the party a good chance to win the elections as Vishwanath is facing anti-incumbency. “Srinivas Prasad and Devegowda know the old Mysuru region and its politics very well. He has huge following even outside of Chamundeshwari. When the disgruntled leaders resigned, GT Devegowda too wanted to. But he did not want to join the BJP,” the source adds. The BJP needs to win seven seats in order to continue as the ruling party in the Karnataka Assembly. The party currently has 105 MLAs and the support of one independent. It requires the seven seats to form a simple majority of 113 in an Assembly of 224 legislators.     

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International drug racket busted in Bengaluru, Amazon packaging used to ship drugs

Crime

Police have recovered marijuana, e-cigarettes, hash oil and chocolates laced with ganja worth over Rs 1 crore.

TNM Staff

The Bengaluru Police have busted an international drug trafficking ring allegedly operating from Canada via the dark web and arrested two peddlers on Friday. Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said that the drugs were being shipped using Amazon’s packaging cover. The Central Crime Branch, which busted the racket has recovered 2.75 kg of marijuana, 100 e-cigarettes, hash oil, chocolates and jelly laced with ganja worth over Rs 1 crore. The CCB sleuths arrested a graduate in computer application – Atif Salim (25), who allegedly began the drug trafficking operation seven months ago, along with his associate Rohith Das (26). Both are natives of Kolkata and had been living in the city for a few years. The arrest was made on Thursday after which details of the shipment were obtained by the police The CCB sleuths had received a tip a few months ago that shipments of drugs worth lakhs were coming in to Bengaluru through the Kempegowda International Airport. According to the police, Atif Salim had contacted a drug peddler on the dark web through a messaging app Wickr Me. The drug peddler, police say, is from Canada and the information was obtained after the police questioned Atif. “The drugs were packaged in milk powder cans and shipped. They were put inside a bag that conceals the items inside and the scanners pick up only the shape of the bag, which would look like folded clothes or some such thing. The police have recovered 14 milk powder cans from the which had the marijuana concealed in them,” Bhaskar Rao said. Three packets of ganja-laced chocolate and jelly have been recovered along with hashish oil canisters that were to be used in 100 e-cigarettes. 900 ml of hashish oil was seized. How the accused used Amazon for shipping drugs Atif used to deliver drugs to peddlers and clients in Mumbai and Delhi through courier that used packaging material that looked like it was from e-commerce site Amazon. “We are trying to find out how he got access to Amazon’s packaging material. He would use this packaging and this would not raise suspicion. The shipment that came in with Amazon packaging as well. The product they were selling is called hydro and each gram of it would sell for Rs 4,000,” CCB Chief Sandeep Patil said. How he bought drugs from Canadian supplier Atif allegedly did not know the identity of the supplier and paid for the shipment through bitcoin. The CCB sleuths are now combing through Atif’s chats on Wickr Me and are trying to identify the supplier. “We will seek the help of Interpol after we figure out who the supplier is,” CCB Chief Patil said. Police say that Atif was the primary distributor of ganja in the country. Once the supplier sent the shipment from Canada, Atif allegedly supplied it to other peddlers in the city. The police have passed on the information of the peddlers to Delhi and Mumbai police, who are currently tracking them down. He would get a 25% cut of the money made from selling the drugs in the total consignment. Sandeep Patil said that the parents of a youth in Bengaluru, who had procured ganja from Atif allegedly informed the police.    

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Chemical inside IED that was being tested caused Bengaluru Forensic Lab blast: Cops

Accident

The explosion on Friday left six members of the staff injured, with three of them sustaining grievous injuries.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

An improvised explosive device (IED), which was being tested as evidence at the Karnataka State Forensics Science Laboratory in Bengaluru’s Madiwala, exploded on Friday afternoon leaving six members of the staff, injured. Three of them sustained grievous injuries, including one of the victims who lost an eye and a ear. While the fire and emergency service vehicle was pressed into service, the Deputy Commissioner of Police South East, Isha Pant, and a bomb squad also rushed to the spot. The victims are currently undergoing treatment at St John’s Hospital in Koramangala. Within minutes of the explosion, the police cordoned off the area. According to doctors treating the victims at St John’s hospital, the blast occurred due to an undetonated IED, which contained triactone triperoxide, a combustible chemical. Sreenath, one of the victims of the explosion, lost a finger, while Navya, the forensics expert, lost an eye and hearing in one ear as her ear had been detached due to the blast. Both were shifted to Apollo Hospital for treatment. Another victim of the blast, Prabhu, sustained an injury to his skull, and underwent surgery on Friday night.  "They told me he's in the operation theatre now, with a wound to his head. We don't know what will happen to him. We are praying,” said Amit, a relative of Prabhu, to TNM. The other three victims, Basavaprabhu, Vishwanath, and Vishwanathan, sustained minor injures, and were discharged on Friday evening after medical treatment. According to a senior police official, the victims were all new recruits and trainees and had begun examining the IED that was seized from Raichur in a case that was registered in 2016. In December 2016, soon after demonetisation, the Raichur Police had stopped a KSRTC bus on suspicion that new Rs 2,000 notes were being transported. A couple of cartons were recovered and the police had found they had wires attached to it. A bomb squad was pressed into service and the Raichur Police had declared that the bomb was not live. “The police took two years to catch the suspects and now they wanted the FSL report due to which the IED was being tested. The Raichur Police had in their report stated that the IED was not live. The staff were operating with this knowledge. Generally, when IED evidence is sent to the FSL, it is first detonated. In this case, it was the chemical inside the device that caused the explosion,” a senior police official said. Read: Two improvised explosive devices found in KSRTC bus going from Hyderabad to Raichur Bengaluru Police Commissioner Bhaskar Rao said that the head of the department Dr Vani, was in Shivamogga to depose as a witness in a case and hence was not in the lab on Friday. “There are numerous backlogs in the FSL. Evidence from all over the country comes here and there are 10 people to do the job. There has been a longstanding demand from the police for better equipment and more staff at the Karnataka State Forensics Lab. There are backlogs going back years that delay the progress of important cases because of the lack of staff,” the senior police official said.    

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