State officials are weighing more aggressive tactics to deal with the escalating crisis.
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Friday, December 6, 2019
Big jump in teen e-cigarette use despite public outcry over vaping perils
More that 27 percent of high schoolers and 10.5 percent of middle schoolers reported vaping in the last 30 days.
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Thursday, December 5, 2019
House to vote on Pelosi drug pricing bill next week
But the bill has virtually no chance of being taken up in the Republican-controlled Senate.
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Karnataka byepolls: Exit polls predict BJP will continue in power
Four exit polls predict that the BJP will win at least nine seats or more.
If the exit polls predictions in Karnataka bye-elections are anything to go by, then Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa will comfortably hold onto his chair, post-December 9. The BJP needs to win at least six of the 15 seats that went for the polls on Thursday. The results will be declared on December 9. Four prominent exit polls predicted that the BJP will win at nine seats or more. C-Voter exit polls have predicted the BJP will win 12 out of the 15 seats and Congress will win only three seats. The JD(S) is pegged to win no seats, according to C-Voter. According to Public TV, BJP is expected to win 8-10 seats while the Congress and JD(S) who fought the elections separately will win 3-5 seats and 1-2 seats respectively. Meanwhile, independent candidatess are pegged to win 0-1 seats. Even BTV has forecasted a favourable result for the BJP. This exit poll also predicts BJP is poised to win nine seats while the Congress and JD(S) will manage just three and two seats each. And one independent candidate is expected to emerge victorious. Similarly, Power TV has said the BJP’l will secure 8-12 sets, while the Congress will win 3-6 seats. The JD(S) and independents will win only 0-2 and 0-1 seats respectively. These exit polls are based on data collected till 4 pm. Meanwhile, the Election Commission said an estimated 60% of the total 37.78 lakh electors have cast their vote until 5:24 pm on Thursday in 15 assembly constituencies. The two constituencies in Bengaluru have recorded comparatively lower turnout. While Mahalakshi layout recorded 40.47 %, it was 41.13% in Shivajinagar. Turnout in other constituencies are: Athani- 70.73 %, Kagwad- 69.76%, Gokak- 66.64%, Yellapur- 72.23%, Hirekerur- 72.42%, Ranebennur- 67.92%, Vijayanagara- 58.93%, Yeshwanthpura 48.34%, Hoskote- 76.19%, K R Pete- 75.87%, and Hunsur- 74.47%, they said.
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Ex-Congress MP from Karnataka gets re-elected to Rajya Sabha on BJP ticket
KC Ramamurthy, a former IPS officer, was elected unopposed.
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Former IPS officer from Karnataka, KC Ramamurthy was re-elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha on Thursday as a BJP MP, on the same day 15 Assembly constituencies in the state went to polls. Neither the Congress nor the JD(S) fielded any candidate against him, resulting in Ramamurthy walkover. While there were two independent nominations, they were rejected on technical grounds. Thursday was the last day of filing nominations and he was adjudged the winner due to lack of any competition. Ramamurthy had filed his nomination for the post on November 29 amidst much fanfare in the presence of fellow Rajya Sabha MP from Bengaluru— Rajeev Chandrasekhar. Union Minister DV Sadananda Gowda, party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel and senior party MLAs like R Ashoka. Ramamurthy who was with the Congress until recently had joined the BJP ahead of the Assembly bye-polls. A Rajya Sabha MP for the Congress from June 2009, he resigned on October 16. At that time, it was speculated, Ramamurthy might contest the bye-polls on a BJP ticket. He had also been a member of the Standing Committee of Personnel, Public Grievances, and Law and Justice. He had retired from the IPS voluntarily in 2007 when he was serving as the Additional Commissioner of Police (Traffic & Security). Other than politics, he is also the Chairman of the CMR Jnanadhara Trust and has been previously associated with the Bangalore University as its registrar. The CMR Jnanadhara Trust runs a University that has engineering and degree colleges, schools and also a Montessori school. Ramamurthy was an aspirant for Lok Sabha Elections during the 2014 polls and was also rumoured to be joining the JD(S) after he failed to secure a Congress ticket.
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Two weeks into launch, bus priority lane in Bengaluru shows signs of success
At present, the plan is only restricted to the 18.5 km stretch on the Outer Ring Road stretch between KR Puram Tin Factory to Silk Board junction.
Despite some teething problems, the bus priority lanes which have been introduced in Bengaluru jointly by the BBMP, BMTC and Directorate of Urban Land Transport (DULT) in mid-November are showing early signs of success. The idea behind bus lanes is to ensure priority access over private transport especially two-wheelers and in the process motivate people to ditch their own vehicles. This, in turn, is expected to reduce overall congestion in the city. The Bangalore Traffic Police is expected to enforce the rule of only allowing BMTC (Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation) buses in the left-most lanes of the roads chosen for this initiative. Violators are punished with a fine of Rs 500 for the first offence and Rs 1,000 for subsequent violations since December 1. Traffic police said that for the first 15 days, they tried to communicate the message to motorists and create awareness about the initiative. Since November 15, the plan is only restricted to the 18.5 km stretch on the Outer Ring Road stretch between KR Puram Tin Factory to Silk Board. And a similar protocol is expected to be put in place for 12 other major roads in the city including the Hosur Road and Old Madras Road. Car vs bus Yogeesh Prabhuswamy, an activist with Citizens for Bengaluru, who works at Global Technology Park and a friend Ghanshyam who works at Prestige Tech Park compared the travel times of a bus and a car between KR Puram Tin Factory to the Kadubessanahalli Bus Stop for JP Morgan office on the Outer Ring Road over three days in peak hour traffic. What they realised was that it roughly took the same time in a bus or in a private car –around 30 minutes. The two started from the same place and the same time between December 2 and 4, with Yogeesh taking the bus and Ghanshyam taking the car. Yogeesh said, “In fact, on the first day, the bus was faster than the car despite the bus having to wait at bus stops and give time for passengers to board and deboard. Moreover, the bus conductor often stops the bus to collect fares which can be avoided.” Day 1 Starting time: 8:45 am 29m to Kadubesanahalli :) By clock Bus might have one but let's attribute it to error margin and call it 'Same time' - 30m :) Because we also synced with call and we were there almost at same time ;) #BusPriorityLane with full force can be a clear winner :) @BMTC_Bangalore pic.twitter.com/azsWhzqSTc — Yogeesh Prabhuswamy (@yogeeshgp) December 2, 2019 Day 2 Starting time: 9:00 am #BusPriorityLane #RaceDay 2 #BusVsCar Verdict - Tie again! ~27m from KR puram rly-Kadubesanahalli(JPMorgan stop)@BMTC_BENGALURU @BBMPCOMM @blrcitytraffic @DULTBangalore @citizensforblr @BBPVedike @WFRising @BellandurJothge @srinualavilli @NammaBengaluroo @ghanshyam_in pic.twitter.com/a7ROyfpokU — Yogeesh Prabhuswamy (@yogeeshgp) December 3, 2019 Day 3 Starting time: 8:10 am So its a tie again today, 3 in a row - #BusVsCar #RaceDay3 on #BusPriorityLane! *Bus would've won if it had not stopped 3m for issuing ticket - @BMTC_Bangalore Nodrappa olle chance missu :( PS: We didn't time sync today. #Nimbus https://t.co/MGOfqU0axd pic.twitter.com/IT1AJhUu8G — Yogeesh Prabhuswamy (@yogeeshgp) December 4, 2019 Yogeesh added, “While there is a lot of improvement expected with the authorities creating barricades restricting vehicles entering the lanes midway, a lot can be done by the traffic police.” There have been multiple instances of road users complaining of an unabated violation of the rule due to the lack of effective enforcement. On this, Yogeesh insisted just by manning only places near bus stops or where there is flyover down ramps, the system can be made more efficient in the short term. Another issue that Yogeesh pointed was the lack of awareness and signage created by the authorities to inform the road users. BMTC staff also conceded that the system is yet to be finetuned to perfection. Nagaraj Murthy BS, Division Controller for Central Division, said, “So far we are only seeing 10 minutes of average travel time reduction in the entire stretch. This is due to other vehicles entering the bus lanes as there are no physical barricades. But soon with greater awareness and enforcement, we are confident of bringing down the travel time by more than 30 minutes and more. We plan to run more than 450 Volvo buses in this stretch alone.” He added, “Once we establish a consistent pattern of travel times, we will form a timetable. This coupled with the upcoming real-time bus tracking app will make BMTC much more reliable and user-friendly.” G M T Y Detect languageAfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchFrisianGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanKurdishKyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPashtoPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSamoanScots GaelicSerbianSesothoShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu AfrikaansAlbanianAmharicArabicArmenianAzerbaijaniBasqueBelarusianBengaliBosnianBulgarianCatalanCebuanoChichewaChinese (Simplified)Chinese (Traditional)CorsicanCroatianCzechDanishDutchEnglishEsperantoEstonianFilipinoFinnishFrenchFrisianGalicianGeorgianGermanGreekGujaratiHaitian CreoleHausaHawaiianHebrewHindiHmongHungarianIcelandicIgboIndonesianIrishItalianJapaneseJavaneseKannadaKazakhKhmerKoreanKurdishKyrgyzLaoLatinLatvianLithuanianLuxembourgishMacedonianMalagasyMalayMalayalamMalteseMaoriMarathiMongolianMyanmar (Burmese)NepaliNorwegianPashtoPersianPolishPortuguesePunjabiRomanianRussianSamoanScots GaelicSerbianSesothoShonaSindhiSinhalaSlovakSlovenianSomaliSpanishSundaneseSwahiliSwedishTajikTamilTeluguThaiTurkishUkrainianUrduUzbekVietnameseWelshXhosaYiddishYorubaZulu Text-to-speech function is limited to 200 characters Options : History : Feedback : Donate Close
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While we were laughing at his videos, how Nithyananda's dangerous cult kept growing
Despite the multiple controversies dogging him and his activities over half a decade, the self-styled godman continues to hog the limelight.
A scrawny man, all of 22, sits atop a deerskin mat in a nondescript hill somewhere in northern Tamil Nadu. Vibhuti (holy ash) is smeared across his forehead, as a photo is being taken of him in meditative posture. The image, one of seemingly harmless religiosity, is that of Nithyananda, the man who is in the news today for reportedly having 'bought' his own Hindu kingdom. But the photos one sees of the self-styled godman today – sitting on a large throne, adorned with gold jewellery and preaching to audiences with an outer-space backdrop – is a far cry from his days in Thiruvannamalai district as an aspiring ascetic. Over the years, Nithyananda has been embroiled in many controversies. In March 2010, news channels published an investigative sting of the godman in an intimate relationship with a Tamil film actor. Nithyananda, who was known to preach a life of celibacy and abstinence, was suddenly facing protests from disillusioned devotees and others. Two days after the tape was broadcast, a woman devotee filed a complaint of alleged rape against him and all hell broke loose. Nithyananda, whose ashrams were already under attack, fled. In April 2010, he was arrested from Himachal Pradesh and brought to Bengaluru. Yet today, he’s an influential 'godman', with a following across countries. His YouTube channel simply titled ‘Nithyananda’ has nearly 2 lakh subscribers. His devotees run two Facebook pages – one titled HDH Nithyananda Paramashivam, with the official ‘verified’ sign from Facebook; the other is called The Avatar Clicks. The second channel, which posts short clips of his speeches, is wildly popular, not just among his devotees but also his detractors, who share the videos ridiculing him. Not many are aware that his devotees ultimately benefit from the page views accruing to the page, even if it is to diss them. So what explains the steady growth and continuity of his cult despite serious crimes he is yet to answer for, and questionable, illegal practices reported at his ashrams? The rise of Nithyananda It was in the year 2000 that Nithyananda set up his first ashram in Tamil Nadu. After spreading to a few districts in the state, the Nityananda Peetham opened its first big ashram in Bidadi in the outskirts of Bengaluru in 2003. The arrest in 2010, made him go under the radar for a while, but Nithyananda made a powerful comeback. Positioning himself as a victim of religious persecution – a 'Hindu guru being targeted’ – he launched a multi-pronged attack against his detractors. While the case was delayed in courts using many tactics, various complaints ranging from fund misappropriation to assault were filed on other whistleblowers. In 2015, a woman devotee died inside the ashram leading to another controversy. The mother of a young man who had tried to kill himself in the ashram in 2008 also gave a statement to the Karnataka CID around this time. But nothing stopped the Nithyananda empire from growing. From ashrams in almost every district of Tamil Nadu and in Bidadi, he slowly started owning and operating properties across the country – in Telangana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi and Puducherry. While initially Nithyananda ran one gurukul out of the Bidadi ashram, another one was started in Ahmedabad a few years ago. He has adheenams, or major ashrams in Madurai, Chennai and Hyderabad too. Hyderabad has been one of the biggest emerging destinations for the cult, with many business families in the city becoming followers. His operations in the United States too has spread to many cities in the past few years with ashrams set up in Ohio, San Jose, Seattle, Phoenix and a few other places. Nithyananda has been popular amongst a section of young people in America and over the years, many of them have been given administrative positions in the dhyanapeetham. While controversies took a backseat, the last one-and-half years have seen Nithyananda becoming a social media sensation. Money power “There are two ways in which he manages to grow,” says a former member of the ashram who was with Nithyananda’s cult for seven years, “One is foreign funding from NRIs, and the second is domestic donations from large Hindu business families. His devotees come from middle and upper classes. The money keeps him afloat.” These donations are either money given upfront, or ‘gifts’ of acres of land to set up new ashrams. He was even touted to start an ashram next to the iconic Madurai Meenakshi Temple. Reports of Nithyananda fleeing the country have not stopped operations at his ashrams which continue to be thronged by devotees. These ashrams are also residences for many who are part of Nithyananda’s cult. They require significant amount of financial resources to feed and shelter his devotees, even though the labour may come from the volunteers. His notoriety for his alleged crimes including rape and child abuses charges, unscientific claims and calls for a Hindu theocracy have, shockingly, had little effect on his cult. The godman is currently on the run from the law but his devotees continue to ‘attend’ his ‘spiritual discourses’ with a cardboard cut-out of him placed on a plastic chair. However, groups that support him are already making noises about an innocent man being persecuted, and the cult hopes that this wave too will make Nithyananda grow further.
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