HD Kumaraswamy warns K'taka govt against ordinance to amend labour laws, APMC Act

Labour Laws

The former CM questioned the urgency to bring forward such ordinances on important subjects and asked the government to have a public debate on it.

PTI

Warning against any move by the government to amend labour laws and APMC Act through ordinance, JD(S) leader H D Kumaraswamy on Tuesday asked Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa to work in the interests of the people and not budge under any pressure from the Centre or to please party bosses. The former Chief Minister questioned the urgency to bring forward such ordinances on important subjects and asked the government to have a public debate on it and also discuss it in the assembly. "I'm warning the government... I have been watching everything silently till now, I have not caused any embarrassment to the government. I want to tell government, don't push us to do it," Kumaraswamy said. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, he said the party has supported the government in it's fight against COVID-19 and not criticised it, despite mistakes. "Please don't take our silence as weakness, I'm warning the government," he said, as he told Yediyurappa that he has become Chief Minister to protect the people's interests and asked him not to budge under pressure from the central government or to please the Prime Minister or someone else. His warning came amidst reports that the state government was mulling relaxing some key labour laws in line with those brought in other BJP ruled states like Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Also, that it planned to amend the agricultural marketing laws to remove restrictions on sale of farm produce and allow farmers to sell their produce anywhere. Alleging that the government planned to bring in modifications in the APMC Act, Kumaraswamy said the Cooperative Minister himself had said that the decision to dilute APMC’s powers will result in losses of no less than Rs 600 crore to the exchequer and that the state will have to abide by it as it was the decision taken by the Centre. "This amendment will end Agricultural Produce Market Committees and help big private companies. There will be no protection to farmers," he said. Further alleging that there are plans to modify labour laws that include extending work hours, Kumaraswamy accused the government of bringing such "anti people" amendment through ordinance during lockdown as none can come out on the streets and protest against it. "Bring those amendments to the assembly, explain the need for them to the house, have a public debate about it... don't bring such ordinance under the directives of the Centre, to please someone," he said. The former Chief Minister said he would write to the Governor to use his discretionary powers before approving such ordinances, after a thorough scrutiny.

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Mass testing for COVID-19 to take place at Bengaluru’s Padarayanapura ward

Coronavirus

The ward has the worst-affected containment zone in the city, accounting for more than 25% of Bengaluru’s cases.

Soumya Chatterjee

Authorities in Bengaluru will be undertaking mass testing in Padarayanapura ward of the city, as random tests are returning positive and the ward already reporting a high number of COVID-19 cases. The mass testing is scheduled to start from Wednesday, May 13. The ward is among 19 wards in Bengaluru which have a containment zone. It is the worst affected containment zone with 49 cumulative cases to date from the cluster. This is more than 25% of the total cases in Bengaluru, which stood at 186 as of Tuesday evening. “We are not planning to take samples from every household in the ward. That is not possible. The Health Commissioner and senior BBMP officials will take a decision on the detailed method on the basis of which we will approach this mass testing program. At first, we will go for every 10th or 12th house and see how the results are coming,” Dr Vijayendra, BBMP Chief Health Officer, told TNM.  However, authorities did not give a number of approximate tests they want to carry out on a daily basis from the area. Initially, the whole ward was sealed along with Bapuji Nagar ward. Till date, at least six patients in the ward outside the present containment zone have tested positive.  So far, a total of 216 patients have been tested as part of the random testing program in the ward, confirmed Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Commissioner Anil Kumar. It may be recalled that the ward, which had some people who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat meeting testing positive saw incidents of violence over a disagreement of quarantining procedure. Among the 120-odd persons who were arrested for the violence had also tested positive for COVID-19.. The BBMP Commissioner explained that the civic body has geo-located all the patients who have tested positive from the ward.  “Based on areas which have a high concentration of these patients, we will do prioritised testing,” he told TNM. While the initial 70 such tests came back negative, subsequent tests of people who are neither contacts of persons or have relevant travel history have started testing positive starting from April 28. The random testing was carried out as part of the state health’s department initiative to check for community transmission in areas with a high density of patients. In the beginning, only persons who were identified as primary and secondary contacts of the COVID-19 patients were being tested, based on their symptoms after they were put in quarantine. TNM has earlier reported how testing of these samples will be done at the Kidwai Memorial Institute of Oncology.

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Testing czar predicts U.S. will conduct more than 25M coronavirus tests per month by fall

Giroir skirted questions from Sen. Patty Murray about whether the administration would include hard numbers and targets in a strategic testing plan.

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Transferred IAS officer Capt Manivannan appointed Secretary of Animal Husbandry Dept

Bureaucracy

The Karnataka government is yet to explain the sudden decision taken to transfer Manivannan during the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

TNM Staff

Karnataka IAS officer Capt Manivannan P, who was shunted out of his roles on Monday was appointed the Secretary of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department by the Karnataka government on Tuesday.  Manivannan P was unceremoniously transferred out of both his roles on Monday night as  Principal Secretary of the Labour Department and Information and Public Relations Department. He now replaces AB Ibrahim who held the post of Secretary in the Animal Husbandry and Fisheries Department previously. M Maheshwar Rao, Principal Secretary, Commerce and Industries Department (Mines and MSME), has replaced him in both of his previous roles "Yesterday at 9 PM, I handed over charge of both depts (Labour & DIPR). Thank YOU for the guidance and support! Please extend the same to my successor. I look forward to new challenges," Manivannan said in a social media post. Yesterday at 9 PM, I have handed over charge of both depts (Labour & DIPR). Thank YOU for the guidance and support! Please extend the same to my successor. I look forward to new challenges. I can be contacted thru the Telegram messenger https://t.co/oLbpn3Q6jb   — Captain Manivannan (@mani1972ias) May 12, 2020 Manivannan had garnered a swell of support on social media following his transfer. #BringbackCaptain was trending on Twitter on Tuesday.  A letter written by the Karnataka Employers’ Association (KEA) to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa demanding the bureaucrat's transfer surfaced after Manivannan's departure.  Though the letter by KEA is public knowledge, Congress leader DK Shivakumar believes that the reason for the transfer was due to issues within the Labour Department regarding the distribution of ration kits for the poor during lockdown.  The Karnataka government is yet to explain the sudden decision taken to transfer Manivannan during the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

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63 new COVID-19 cases in Karnataka as state reports highest single-day spike

Coronavirus

Three districts — Kolar, Yadgir and Hassan — which had not seen any cases till now, have registered their first set of cases.

Soumya Chatterjee

Karnataka saw a big surge of 63 new cases of COVID-19 on Tuesday, marking the highest ever daily addition of cases in the state since the onset of the pandemic. Three districts, Kolar, Yadgir and Hassan, which had not seen any cases till now have registered their first set of cases. Among the 63 new cases, 4 cases are from Bengaluru city, the district worst-affected in the state. Three of them, all middle-aged women, are contacts of a 23-year-old man who tested positive on April 24.   With this, the total cases in the state rose to 925, including 433 patients who have been discharged following their recovery, and 31 patients who have died. 15 new cases were reported from Bagalkote, 12 from Davanagere, 9 from Dharwad, 3 from Gadag, 5 each from Hassan and Kolar districts, and 2 each from Bidar and Yadgir. Ballari, Mandya, Chikkaballapura, Kalaburagi all reported one case each. READ| First COVID-19 relapse in Karnataka: 50-yr-old man tests positive after recovery While the contacts of all cases have been traced, a 30-year-old man from Ballari, a 35-year-old who tested positive in Bengaluru and two cases from Kolar have no relevant travel or contact history as of now.  The process to trace their contacts is going on. All other patients who tested positive on Tuesday were either in contact with an already infected person, have a relevant travel history, or have Influenza-like illness. While 32 cases reported from Yadgir, Gadag, Bagalkote, Dharwad  and Davanagere (7) districts have a travel history to Ahmedabad, six patients from Mandya and Hassan have a travel history to Mumbai. Five other patients from Davanagere are contacts of an 80-year-old woman who tested positive on April 27 in Dakshina Kannada district.   All the patients from Bidar are residents of a containment zone. With this, Bengaluru Urban still remains the most affected district with a total of 182 cases. However, the district has seen more than 50% recovery rate, with 91 patients discharged following their recovery. Belagavi is the second most-affected district having 113 cases after the recent spurt of cases.

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First COVID-19 relapse in Karnataka: 50-yr-old man tests positive after recovery

Coronavirus

The patient with cardiac ailments was discharged on May 4 and tested positive again the next day.

Soumya Chatterjee

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A COVID-19 patient has tested positive after recovering from the disease, leaving the Karnataka Health Department officials worried. This is the first such case in the state. A 50-year-old Belagavi man, who is identified as patient 298 (P-298), had tested positive for SARS-Cov-2 on April 16. He is suspected to have contracted the virus from a Raibag-based man in the district, who was, in turn, infected via a man who had attended the Tablighi Jamaat gathering.  While he was declared recovered on May 1 after his two successive tests returned negative. The man was not showing any symptoms, too, and was discharged from the hospital on May 4 as he was being treated for cardiac ailments. However, his symptoms resurfaced the next day, on May 5. Following this, he was retested, the result of which came back positive. He has been re-admitted to the Belagavi Institute of Medical Sciences for treatment. While this is the first ever case of relapse in Karnataka for COVID-19, the phenomenon is not new. Countries like South Korea, China and Japan have seen hordes of cases of relapse since the onset of the pandemic. As part of a brief issued on April 24, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said, “There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.”  Dr Girdhar Gyani, founder of the Association of Healthcare Providers and a member of the National Task Force for COVID-19, said that although it is not a novel phenomenon, cases of relapse in India have been rare. “Once a patient recovers, it does not mean that he is immune to the disease. He was not given any vaccine as well. Until a time comes when we have access to a vaccine, the person who has recovered has to follow the same safety protocols as anybody else,” he told TNM. “We have to understand that we have to adapt to a new way of life by which the population of 60 years and above have to be protected and the rest have to maintain hand hygiene and social distancing,” he added. However, Belagavi DIstrict Health Officer Dr SV Munal denied the case of reinfection. “Since the man is a high-risk patient and had other medical complications, he was not allowed to go home. After he was discharged from the Belgaum Institute of Medical Sciences, he was kept under observation at a Taluk level hospital, where his cardiac conditions exacerbated. So he was taken back to BIMS, where he tested positive again,” he said.  “This is not a case of reinfection. Positivity and negativity will depend on the viral load. Sometimes, during recovery, the viral load goes down and it resurfaces. He is currently being closely monitored as earlier as he is a high-risk patient due to his comorbidities.” According to the new discharge protocol, a patient with severe symptoms will be discharged after clinical recovery and only after he/she tests negative once. Read: Explained: India’s new discharge policy for hospitalised COVID-19 patients

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Housejoy partners with Portea, SRL, others to set up COVID Testing Camps in Bengaluru

Coronavirus

The initiative has been launched in association with the Karnataka government and Action Covid Team (ACT) Grants and was inaugurated by CM Yediyurappa on Monday.

TNM Staff

In a first of its kind partnership, leading private players including tech-driven Construction, Renovation, Interiors, and Home Maintenance company Housejoy, home healthcare brand Portea Medical, diagnostics provider SRL Diagnostics, apartment management, and security solutions provider ApnaComplex, Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) and ICMR accredited national clinical reference lab Biognosys Technologies have come together to set up COVID-19 Testing Camps across Bengaluru. The initiative has been launched in association with the Government of Karnataka and Action Covid Team (ACT) Grants and was inaugurated by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday. ACT Grants is a first-of-its-kind Rs 100 crore grant set up by top fund managers from blue-chip venture capital firms including Sequoia Capital, Accel, and Lightspeed Venture Partners. Prominent startup CEOs have also joined hands to back fledgling firms working on products and services to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. The pilot project will be implemented in 30 societies for 15 days and the partners in the initiative aim to undertake about 18,000 tests within the stipulated timeframe. Depending on the success rate, the initiative will be rolled out across other cities with support from the respective governments.  Speaking about this, Sanchit Gaurav, Founder & CEO, Housejoy, said, “Housejoy is committed to helping its customers and the government in this time of crisis and is a part of the government’s coronavirus rapid action task force. We have been undertaking fumigation services as well as ensuring that people get access to essential items during the pandemic through our initiative Housejoy Mart. Through the COVID Testing Camps, we are supporting the government in tracing people with the condition and ensuring that they are referred for further treatment appropriately. Given that extensive testing is one of the best strategies to combat and prevent this outbreak, I believe our contribution will be a step ahead in the larger efforts. We thank our partners in the initiative and are happy to receive support from ACT towards the same.” Meena Ganesh, MD, and CEO, Portea Medical said it is a fact that we will need to learn to live with the virus, build our life and livelihood, and move ahead with activities by ensuring strong healthcare support systems around us. This would entail robust testing and taking care of vulnerable sections of society including the elderly, chronic patients, and expectant mothers. “We at Portea Medical are uniquely positioned to provide these, given our years of experience in delivering high quality, technology-enabled home care services. At this time of crisis, it becomes our collective responsibility as organisations to complement the government in its efforts and ensure that we combat the pandemic in the best way possible,” he said. Meena Ganesh, MD & CEO, Portea Medical with Sanchit Gaurav, Founder & CEO, Housejoy Prashanth Prakash, Partner Accel, and Member, ACT Grants said the COVID 19 pandemic has brought with it, unforeseen challenges for society, and severe health and socio-economic crises never seen before in our lifetime. One of the most important steps towards combating this pandemic is testing and taking the precautionary steps. “ACT Grants is happy to support Housejoy and other private players in their mission of assisting the government in tracking and testing. We will continue to support innovators with ideas that could act as a force multiplier in the battle against COVID -19,” he added.  Commenting on the initiative, Raja Sekhar Kommu, Co-Founder & CEO, ApnaComplex, said, "ApnaComplex is very glad to do our part in helping the government in testing more citizens. Testing in societies within red zones will help ease the anxiety of residents and help them return to their normal life with confidence. ApnaComplex is proud to be a part of such a noble initiative." Arindam Haldar, CEO, SRL Diagnostics said as the country continues to grapple with COVID-19 (coronavirus) and its far-reaching implications, it is important to adopt innovative methods that ensure regular healthcare service remains unaffected. “Our association with Housejoy is an effort towards offering the basic testing facility to the citizens residing in Bengaluru via Mobile-vans. The city has already been divided into zones basis the number of active coronavirus cases present in the area which has further limited the access of people & hence it’s important to ensure that healthcare facility is available at the doorstep.”

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