Karnataka bandh: Normal life unaffected in Bengaluru, rest of state

Protests

In one incident, a Tirupati-Mangaluru bus in Farangipet in Mangaluru city was pelted with stones.

TNM Staff

The 12-hour Karnataka bandh called by a coalition of pro-Kannada organisations demanding the implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report on job reservations for Kannadigas in the state did not majorly impact life in the state on Thursday. Normal life in Bengaluru and other cities, towns went uninterrupted with isolated incidents of minor violence. There was increased police preparedness near major rail and bus stations to prevent untowards incidents. In one incident, a Tirupati-Mangaluru bus in Farangipet in Mangaluru city was pelted with stones. Schools, other educational institutions, shops, offices and other establishments opened as usual in most parts of Bengaluru. However, exams were postponed by the Bangalore University to avoid inconvenience to students. All public bus services within Bengaluru and the rest of the state ran as per normal schedule. As expected, train services and metro rail also ran uninterrupted. According to the Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) spokesperson, all morning schedules ran as planned. Similarly, the Karnataka State Transport Corporation said more than 90% of their scheduled operations ran as per normal.  Even app-hailed cab services ran as per normal despite multiple auto and taxi associations claiming their support to the strike. A protest rally is set to be held in the city's Maurya Circle and Freedom Park area on Thursday. The protesters demanded implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report which guarantees reservation of jobs in the state for Kannadigas in the state in both the private and government sectors. Police also kept a close watch on some leaders of the movement. However, not all pro-Kannada outfits came in support of the bandh.  “Some people are doing this bandh for publicity. The Karnataka Rakshana Vedike is committed to implementation of recommendations in the Sarojini Mahishi report but we don't support any bandh today. There will be no protests or bandh by the Vedike,” Praveen Shetty, chief of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, a major outfit told TNM. Earlier Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa appealed to the organisations not to cause any inconvenience to the general public as he asserted his government was always pro-Kannada. The Karnataka government under Chief Minister Ramakrishna Hegde had in 1983 appointed a committee led by four-time MP Sarojini Mahishi to look into reservation for Kannadigas in the state. The Sarojini Mahishi report was prepared in 1986 and it recommended job reservations for Kannadigas in government jobs, public sector units and even in the private sector. Many of the 58 recommendations made in the report have been implemented by successive state governments in power in the state. Many pro-Kannada organisations have pointed to the recommendations made in the report asking for a greater share of jobs in Karnataka for Kannadigas.

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Bidar sedition case: Single judge bench of K’taka HC to hear PIL on quashing of FIR

Controversy

The mother of a 11-year-old student, Nazbunissa and the head-teacher Fareeda Begum, were arrested on January 30 and continue to remain in jail.

TNM Staff

Representational image

A single judge bench of the Karnataka High Court will hear a public interest litigation (PIL) which seeks quashing of the FIR in the contentious sedition case in Bidar.  The Times of India reported that the HC division bench led by Chief Justice AS Oka declined to hear the petition stating it can only be heard by a single-judge bench of the HC.  The mother of a 11-year-old student, Nazbunissa and the head-teacher Fareeda Begum had courted arrest and will continue to remain in jail till February 14, which is when the district court will pronounce the order on their bail plea. The two women were arrested on January 30 over charges of sedition after a school play held on January 21 allegedly voiced dissent against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The arrests were made  after a police complaint by Nilesh Rakshala, an activist from the Akhila Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), seeking an investigation into the school play.  In his complaint, Nilesh accused the school management of sedition and 'insulting' the Prime Minister through the play. Nazbunissa's daughter Ayesha* (name changed) is alleged to have delivered the dialogues which 'insulted' Prime Minister Modi. Basaveshwara Hira, the Deputy Superintendent of Police of Bidar district, led the investigation into the play. He visited the school five times including once when he was accompanied by police officers in uniform. The police's actions at the school were heavily criticised after a photograph of the police questioning students in uniform was shared widely. Bidar police defended the repeated questioning of students in the school stating that they were interviewing students in batches and that they were "collecting information about the play".  Students in the school, however, had earlier told TNM that they were intimidated by the police's repeated questioning. Incidentally, the public prosecutor opposed bail to the two women despite the fact that Pravin Sood, Karnataka Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP), had reportedly promised a delegation of lawyers recently that the state will not oppose the bail.

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Three school boys including one from Bengaluru drown in Tumakuru lake

Accident

Police said that all the three boys had bunked school on Wednesday and gone for a swim.

TNM Staff

In a tragic incident on Wednesday afternoon, three school boys drowned to death after they went for a swim in a lake in Gubbi, Tumakuru district, less than 100 km away from Bengaluru. The deceased have been identified as Nandan A, a native of Kallenahalli village, Srinivasa A who hailed from Bengaluru, and Darshan B from N Ramapura area. While Darshan and Srinivasa were studying in the ninth standard, Nandan was studying in the eighth standard. The Times of India reported that while Nandan and Srinivas were students of Seva Sadan School, Darshan was studying in GJC School in Gubbi. All the three boys were residing in the state run SC/ST hostel in Gubbi. According to reports, all three were children of daily wage labourers. Police said that the three had bunked school on Wednesday and gone to a nearby temple with two of their other friends. While the other boys— Ashok and Megharaj stayed back in the temple, the three deceased went for a swim. The three boys apparently got caught in the current which led them to drown as they went deep inside the lake, police said. The bodies were recovered by police from the tank and sent for post-mortem. A case has been registered by police for further investigation. This tragedy involving school students coes after on December 31, a school trip in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district to the Belkota dam for a Vijayapura district-based school saw three students drowning. That time, three students of the Satyasai Premniketan Residential School of Vijayapura district went for a dip in the Gandori Nala waters in the vicinity of the dam. Prior to this, in October 2018, three students drowned when they were taking a selfie, as they slipped and fell into a lake. The incident happened in a lake in Nijagallu near Dobbspet, rural Bengaluru. The three boys, along with 51 other students and seven teachers were from Tumakuru and were part of the National Service Scheme (NSS) team who were visiting the area.

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Bids invited for route design on Mysuru-Bengaluru-Chennai high speed rail corridor

Railways

This, even though Bengaluru awaits the central cabinet approval of having a full fledged suburban rail system.

TNM Staff

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The National High Speed Rail Corporation of India (NHSRCL) has invited bids for carrying out stage-1 preliminary route development (alignment and aerial design) for new high speed rail corridors for Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route.  Trains can run at a maximum speed of over 300 km/hr on a high-speed corridor. This, even though Bengaluru awaits the central cabinet approval of having a full fledged suburban rail system like what is present in other big cities in the country despite decades of delay. In fact, the Cabinet Committee of Economic Affairs (CCEA) which met on Wednesday did not take up the issue even though it was again mentioned in the Union Budget presented on February 1, and has suffered inordinate delays in the past. The omission of the Bengaluru suburban rail issue in Wednesday’s CCEA meeting has prompted unhappy responses among activists in Bengaluru on social media. Srinivas Alavilli, co-founder of Citizens for Bangalore, said, “Are we on the CCEA agenda today? If not, why not? Similarly, Rajkumar Dugar, convenor of the NGO Citizens 4 Citizens and another suburban rail activist tweeted, “another opportunity lost-union budget "approved" bluru's subrly project.however,real work cannot start without ccea approval.finministry sent file2cab a week ago.this subject was not taken up in today's cab mtg. extremely painful wait4entire bengaluru&surroundings. 19 feb 2020 ?” Meanwhile, the Chennai-Bengaluru-Mysuru route is among five routes for which the tenders for route development have been called.   Earlier, a German expert delegation had carried out a technical feasibility study for running trains at high speeds of 300 km/hr. Recently in June, 2019, Rail Minister Piyush Goyal had told the parliament that although the feasibility study was done, there was no cabinet note done at that point. The other routes are Delhi-Jaipur-Udaipur-Ahmedabad (886 km), Mumbai-Nasik-Nagpur (753 km), Delhi-Chandigarh-Ludhiana-Jalandhar-Amritsar (459 km), and Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad (711 km). The Mumbai-Pune-Hyderabad (711 km) route will also feature Kalaburagi as an intermediate station. This announcement by the NHSRCL comes just after in January-end, the Railway Board Chairman VK Yadav said the detailed project report (DPR) on the six lines will be ready within a year’s time. However, the already approved Mumbai-Ahmedabad rail corridor has been progressing at a slow pace with the Maharashtra government not keen on the project and the Supreme Court set to hear disputes related to land acquisition. Even experts have opined that rather than spending on high speed rail corridor infrastructure, the Railways should utilise existing resources far more efficiently. “Bengaluru-Chennai already is on a semi-high speed route. But the Mysuru-Bengaluru route does not match the semi-high speed standards. But it also does not make sense to invest in high speed infrastructure in a suburban setup as you have to provide stoppages in between,” said Chitresh Srivastava, a railway policy columnist.  “High speed rail is not a viable idea compared to Train18 or Tejas Express as they can run on the existing tracks,” he added.

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Pro-Kannada outfits call for bandh in Karnataka on Feb 13 demanding more jobs

Protests

They are demanding implementation of a three decades-old report of a committee on providing more jobs for Kannadiga youths in the government and private sectors.

PTI

Representational image

Normal life in Karnataka may be disrupted partially on Thursday by a 'bandh' called by some Kannada outfits demanding implementation of a over three decades-old report of a committee on providing more jobs for Kannadiga youths in the government and the private sectors. Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa appealed to the organisations not to cause any inconvenience to the general public as he asserted his government was always pro-Kannada. "Those agitating, if they are willing to talk to me, I'm always ready to talk to them. We have already done several that are possible (to implement the Sarojini Mahishi report), what other things can be done, I'm ready to talk to them," Yediyurappa said. The committee, headed by former union minister Sarojini Mahishi, was constituted in 1984 to recommend job opportunities for Kannadigas in Karnataka. It submitted the report two years later. The bandh is likely to affect cab and autorickshaw services as unions of drivers, including those in app-based aggregators, are supporting it. The government said bus services will be operated as usual and schools and colleges would also function while the police said no permission had been given for any rally and warned of action against those forcing closure of businesses and shops. The protest call by the "Karnataka Sanghatanegala Okkoota", comprising a few factions of "Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV)", has the backing of Ola-Uber cab drivers' association, a few auto unions, associations of farmers, street vendors, trade unions and transporters. Praveen Shetty, leader of one of the factions of KRV, said a mega rally will be taken out from Anekal Toll Gate to the Chief Minister's residence. Later, representatives of various protesting organisations will submit a memorandum to Yediyurappa demanding implementation of the report. "We have decided to join the sit-in demonstration because it is about the job guarantee to the children born in Karnataka. It is about employment to those who are born in this soil," Shetty told reporters. Ola-Uber Drivers' Association president Tanveer Pasha said the bandh has his organisation's support. The All India Trade Union Congress and the Centre of Indian Trade Unions have extended their "moral support" to the bandh call. KRVs another important faction led by T A Narayana Gowda and former MLA Vatal Nagarajs organisation Kannada Chalavali Vatal Paksha have not supported the bandh. Primary and Secondary Education Minister Suresh Kumar said there will be no holiday for educational institutions on Thursday. There will be no holiday tomorrow. I believe that the organisations which have given call for Bandh will hold it peacefully, Kumar told reporters. Transport minister Laxman Savadi said buses in the city and elsewhere will operate as usual and appealed to the bandh supporters not to cause any trouble to the passengers. Minister for Kannada and Culture C T Ravi said the BJP government has shown 'commitment' towards implementation of the Sarojini Mahishi report. We have already implemented the report in the government sector. "In the private sector, we are trying to implement it step by step. A cabinet decision has been taken to implement it step by step," he said. Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao said permission has not been given to the protest and none can forcibly shut shops or businesses.  

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Karnataka's new Urban Development minister announces Rs 200 crore flyover in Bengaluru

Politics

Someone must tell him that flyovers don’t always solve traffic problems, activists said.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

Byrathi Basavaraj on FB

Byrathi Basavaraj, the MLA from the KR Puram constituency in Bengaluru has a big announcement for his constituents stuck in traffic jams, he plans to build a new flyover at a cost of Rs 200 crore. The announcement was made at a meeting in Palace grounds, following the portfolio allocations on February 8. The flyover will be between Indiranagar BDA complex to Medahalli, which is a village that comes after KR Puram, according to Asianet News. The distance between these two points is more than 12 kilometers, and is consistently choked with traffic at all hours of the day. Byrathi Basavaraj was initially given the Urban Development Department excluding Bangalore and Town Planning department, BBMP, BDA, BWSSB, BMRDA, BMRCL, KUWSDB and KUIDFC. These departments would be held by the Chief Minister himself. Read: Does Bengaluru need a minister – and if yes, should the CM even hold the post? However, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa reshuffled the portfolio on Tuesday, and the changes included that Byrathi Basavaraj would get the Karnataka Urban Water Supply and Drainage Board (KUWSDB), and the Karnataka Urban Infrastructure Development and Finance Corporation (KUIDFC). After the announcement of the new portfolio, Byrathi Basavaraj immediately made the announcement regarding the flyover. Read: BS Yediyurappa reshuffles portfolios just a day after allocating them People have been voicing their concerns against the increasing concretization of the city, and have been vocally against new flyovers. Srinivas Alavilli, from Citizens for Bengaluru, says, “Sounds like the minister loves lot of concrete. Someone must tell him that flyovers don’t solve traffic problems but make them worse through induced demand. Use the ₹200 crore to get storm water drains cleared. The upcoming Metro and suburban rail project will solve the traffic problem much sooner than he can build half the flyover.” Urban Development expert from IISc, Ashish Verma underlined the fact the money would be wasted in building a flyover. “Why is the minister jumping to prescribing solutions when there is already a draft CMP (Comprehensive Mobility Plan) being prepared, and is under review? Such point-based road infrastructure measures have little short-term impact, but at a much higher investment cost. In simple words, high investment with low return. No sensible person will make such a huge investment,” he said.

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Despite police pressure, women at Bengaluru's Bilal Bagh continue protest against CAA

CAA

The protesters were contacted by the police and told to not continue their protest.

Alithea Stephanie Mounika

“We have been here for five days and nights, and nobody can make us get up and leave from here unless our demands are met,” Syed Imran, one of the leaders of the protest at Bilal mosque, near Tannery road in Bengaluru proclaims, to shouts and applause.  The protest at Bilal Bagh against NRC and CAA started on February 8, and is a complete set up with carpets, shamiana, sound systems and lights. It has been ongoing non-stop for the past four days, organised by local Muslim leaders, and has seen people from the community, students and others participating.   The police had previously taken down the protesters’ numbers, and contacted them or their families to stop the protest, according to the Deccan Herald. The organisers say they were even called to the police station, and urged to stop the protest. But the protest goes on unabated. Imran says, “This protest movement is the longest that I can remember,” while addressing the group of women and men, who were gathered under a shamiana. “The only time people across the country mobilized like this in protest, was probably only during independence!”    Women and men sat in a semi-circle around the stage, dominated by a large tricolour flag. A woman holds the mic and urges the protesters, sitting on blue plastic chairs, to respond after her. They shout in great enthusiasm, even though it is almost lunchtime. Some of the slogans which were called out include: "Gundagardhi nahi chalegi" "CAA down down" "Inquilab Zindabad" “The mosque has issued in writing that they are not the ones who are supporting this protest. Local leaders are supporting it financially, including Ismail Shariff. There are people here cooking and serving each other, and even students who stay up all night to protest and then sleep here. This is a real 24-hour protest.” Imran adds.            View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by teresa a. braggs (@teresaabraggs) on Feb 11, 2020 at 1:58pm PST   The shamiana has been set up on the middle of the road, and though no traffic can pass through, surrounding businesses continue as usual. A construction steel business close-by unloaded some iron from a lorry even as protesters were shouting slogans against the government. Protest organisers say that rather than winding up, they are going to try make the protest even more interactive and educational. “We are planning to have a workshop on how to document these protests on February 13 evening. We are also starting a library of pertinent material to read, and have been asking for donations", said Ahmed, a doctor who said that he quit from one of the two hospitals where he was working at, in order to be more active in the protests.  The students who joined the protest have also made a “resistance wall”, a wall complete with posters, with slogans written all over them denouncing Modi, NRC, CAA, Fascism and Communalism. one of the students present there said she was taking a semester break from college to join in the protests. “The people become more active in the evening, and more even people join us for raising slogans after work,” one of the organisers said. 

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