NLSIU to conduct its own entrance test even as consortium asks it to reconsider

Education

NLSIU has said it will not accept Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) scores for admission to the BA LLB (Hons) course for the academic year 2020-21.

Prajwal Bhat

The National Law School of India University (NLSIU) in Bengaluru is set to go ahead with its plan of conducting its own online entrance test for admissions to the University this year. This is despite a letter from the consortium of National Law Universities asking NLSIU to reconsider its decision.  NLSIU announced on Thursday that it has decided it will not accept the Common Law Admission Test (CLAT) scores for admission to the BA LLB (Hons) course for the academic year 2020-21. NLSIU has chalked out a plan to conduct its own online entrance test on September 12 after inviting applications between September 3 and 10.  University officials in NLSIU told TNM that the primary reason for conducting their own test is the fact that the CLAT exam is yet to be held this year and has been postponed to September 28.  "Our primary concern is the lack of time this year. We want to finish our admission process. It is not a question of not using CLAT scores because if the exam was conducted, we would be using the scores for admissions. But since it has not been conducted yet, we will be going ahead with our own entrance test," a source at the University said.  An emergency meeting of the governing body of the consortium of national law universities was held on Friday and the body unanimously resolved to request NLSIU to reconsider its decision.  "After detailed deliberations, the Governing Body unanimously resolved to request the NLSIU, Bangalore to reconsider its decision of holding its own independent test for this year's admission to BA LLB and LLM. The Governing Body resolved that the decision is in violation of Rule 15.33. of Consortium Bye-laws as all members of the Consortium are duty-bound to admit students only through CLAT," the consortium said in a statement. The details of the consortium's decision were confirmed by Balraj Chauhan, First Vice-Chancellor of Dharmashastra National Law University, Jabalpur, and Convenor of CLAT 2020.  "The Governing Body further resolved that in case NLSIU sticks to its decision, NLSIU cannot remain associated with the CLAT-2020 in any manner and all financial and administrative decisions will have to be taken by Prof. Balraj Chauhan, CLAT-2020 Convener, and the Secretariat of Consortium may be shifted out of NLSIU," the statement added. A plea was filed in the Jharkhand High Court by five CLAT aspirants questioning NLSIU's decision to hold its own exams and not accept CLAT scores.  The plea said the move is unlawful and arbitrary since NLSIU is a 'permanent member of the National Law Universities consortium'. However, NLSIU officials told TNM that it had responded to the consortium's reservations and planned to hold its entrance examination called National Law Aptitude Test (NLAT) 2020 on September 12. 120 students will gain admission to NLSIU based on the results of the examination. "We can say affirmatively that we will go ahead. Students have come forward and signed up to write the examinations. The response has been overwhelming," says an official at NLSIU.  The CLAT examination was originally slated to be held in May but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown. The examination is now scheduled to be held on September 28.   

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Bengaluru drug case: Ragini Dwivedi, Viren Khanna charged for helping drug trade

Crime

However, other accused Ravi Shankar and Rahul Shetty have not been named in the FIR.

TNM Staff

The Central Crime Branch of the Bengaluru police have filed a First Information Report (FIR) against 12 accused including actor Ragini Dwivedi and high-profile party planner Viren Khanna in the drug bust case. The Central Crime Branch’s officers registered a suo motu FIR at the Cottonpet Police Station and have named Shivaprakash alias Chippi as the prime accused. Ragini Dwivedi and Viren Khanna are the second and third accused persons in the case. The other people named in the FIR include Prashant Ranka, Vaibhav Jain, Aditya Alva, Loum Pepper Ssamba, Prashant Raju, Ashwin alias Boogie, Abhiswamy, Rahul Tonse, Vinay and others.  The CCB on Saturday arrested Loum Pepper Samba, who was allegedly distributing drugs to the celebrities and their associates.  Loum Pepper Samba Ragini Dwivedi and the other accused have been booked under section 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code, and sections 21 (possession, purchase or uses any manufactured drug or any preparation containing any manufactured drug shall be punishable), 21(c) (rigorous imprisonment not less than 10 years), 27a (punishment for financing illicit traffic and harbouring offenders), 27b (consumption of any narcotic drug or psychotropic substance) and 29 (Whoever abets, or is a party to a criminal conspiracy to commit an offence is punishable) of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act, 1985.   Ragini, an actor who has been a part of many Kannada movies is friends with Ravi Shankar, a man who according to the police was procuring and supplying drugs in parties. Viren Khanna is an event manager who organises high end parties in Bengaluru, especially for expats. He runs the Bangalore Expat Club that has thousands of members and organises parties.  However, Ragini Dwivedi’s friend Ravi Shankar and another arrested person Rahul Shetty have not been named in this FIR. CCB sources said that the investigators are still questioning Rahul Shetty and that they are gathering more information and evidence based on his interrogation. However, Ravi Shankar has allegedly been booked in connection with another case in 2018. The CCB, at the time, had busted a drug distribution racket in the city, where Rs 1.5 crore worth of cocaine, MDMA and hashish were seized. Three Nigerian nationals and one resident of Bengaluru named Prateek Shetty were arrested in the case.  CCB sources say that Ravi Shankar allegedly procured drugs from Prateek Shetty. “He has been booked in another case. He will be questioned in connection with the recent drug case soon and he too will be produced before the magistrate,” a senior official with the CCB said.  Another bust Meanwhile, the CCB’s Anti-Narcotics wing also arrested other drug peddlers, who were selling hash oil and weed oil. The police have arrested A Subramani, Vidush and Jashin in connection with the case. 2.1 kg of hash oil and 2 kg of weed oil were seized along with a weighing scale. Police said that Vidush, who was studying information technology from a college in Bedfordshire in the UK, was a resident of Bengaluru, allegedly procured the oil from Visakhapatnam.  Police said that the hash and weed oil was packed in empty Parachute Oil bottles and brought to the city. The two other accused allegedly packed and sold the contraband.   

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‘We were moral policed, abused, assaulted in a Bengaluru park’: Actor Samyuktha Hegde

Moral Policing

Samyuktha Hegde was moral policed by an AICC member for wearing a sports bra, the latter however says the altercation started over loud music.

TNM Staff

Actor Samyuktha Hegde and two friends had gone to a park next to the Agara Lake in HSR Layout in Bengaluru on Friday evening to exercise and practice with their hula hoops. But the outing soon turned into a nightmare, and the actor has alleged that she was heckled by a group of people led by AICC member Kavitha Reddy for wearing a sports bra in a public place.  Samyuktha Hedge recorded the altercation on Instagram live, and said that the crowd that gathered accused her of consuming drugs just because she is an actor. In another video of the incident, a man can be clearly seen threatening her that he will tell the media that she was doing drugs. Kavitha Reddy also called the police to the spot, and in the video she and other members of the crowd can be heard saying that Samyuktha and her friends must be booked for public indecency. “This is so wrong. I had my pullover on. We came here and I removed it and did my warmup. We were just exercising with hoops and this woman (referring to Kavitha Reddy) came up to us and started saying that we were being indecent for wearing a sports bra in a public place. We were just exercising by ourselves. Now the people here are saying that we consume drugs. Just because the drug case is being talked about, they are accusing us of consuming drugs,” Samyuktha Hedge said in her Instagram live as she broke down in tears. She also removed her pullover again for the camera and for the police to show them what she was wearing inside. Samyuktha alleged that Kavitha Reddy likened them to cabaret dancers and questioned the clothes they were wearing. The actor also said that she was threatened by Kavitha. “A******s, if you wear such clothes the next time and something happens to you, don’t come crying to anyone. This is what she told us,” Samyuktha Hegde alleged in her Instagram live.  According to Samyuktha, the police arrived at the spot and told her and her friends to leave. However, the crowd locked the gate to the park surrounding the lake and did not let them leave. A person in the crown also hit Samyuktha on her hand when she tried to open the gate.  “This is so, so wrong. This was done in broad daylight and in a public park. And the woman (Kavitha reddy) hurled abuses at us for simply wearing workout clothes. What was it that we did wrong that my friends and I were attacked and verbally abused. This is moral policing and it has to stop,” Samyuktha said in the video.  However, one of the police officers asked Samyuktha and her friends to leave as a crowd was gathering. “People are gathering here. Please leave,” the police officer can be heard saying to Samyuktha. However, Kavitha Reddy and the crowd locked the gate to the park and demanded that the actor be taken to the police station. She said that she wanted to file a complaint against Samyuktha for “public indecency”. However, the police personnel, who came to diffuse the situation, agreed with Samyuktha that she and her friends did nothing wrong and let them off.  The actor also uploaded a short video on Twitter and Instagram, where Kavitha Reddy can be seen charging at one of the women. The incident drew a crowd in the park surrounding the lake, where passers-by, mostly men, began shouting slogans, “Down Down Samyuktha”.  The future of our country reflects on what we do today. We were abused and ridiculed by Kavitha Reddy at Agara Lake@BlrCityPolice @CPBlr There are witnesses and more video evidence I request you to look into this#thisisWRONG Our side of the storyhttps://t.co/xZik1HDYSs pic.twitter.com/MZ8F6CKqjw — Samyuktha Hegde (@SamyukthaHegde) September 4, 2020 In her long Instagram live, at least three people who had come to the park, could be heard supporting the actor and her friends. One young man told the police that if the trio were to be thrown out on the basis of their clothes, then all men wearing shorts should also be asked to leave. Another man who identified himself as a doctor can be seen saying that the women did nothing wrong and they were just working out.  Kavitha Reddy however maintains that the altercation started as the women were playing music loudly. “Since the last three to four days, these women have been playing music and dancing, which is not allowed. Several regulars have told them not to do that. Yesterday, the guard told me that he was being yelled at by the public and asked me to come. I told them to not play music and dance. If I have to allow them then other people will be emboldened to come with speakers and play loud music,” she said. “The minute I took a picture of her, one of the girls called a bloody old b**** and that's when I got angry and went to confront her. I was instigated. Why should I be called names? We saved the lake and have been protecting it since the last 10 years,” she claimed. The park that Kavitha Reddy is talking about is open to all sections of the public. Moreover, throughout the 16 minute video that Samyuktha uploaded, Kavitha Reddy or the others cannot be heard talking about loud music, they were only complaining that the women were dressed ‘indecently’.         View this post on Instagram                       A post shared by Samyuktha Hegde (@samyuktha_hegde) on Sep 4, 2020 at 5:38am PDT

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VTU makes Kannada learning compulsory for all engg students in affiliated colleges

Education

Earlier in August, VTU had announced that only government colleges under it will have the mandatory Kannada lessons.

TNM Staff

The Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU) on Friday issued a circular making it mandatory for all autonomous engineering colleges affiliated to VTU to compulsorily teach a Kannada language course for B.E, B.Tech, B.Planning and B.Arch students. The revised circular was issued on the direction of the Kannada Development Authority. Earlier in August, VTU had announced that only government colleges under VTU will have the mandatory Kannada lessons.  According to the circular, Kannada will be made a compulsory credit course for first year B.Arch students, 3rd semester students in the B.Planning and B.E/B.Tech programmes starting from 2020-21 academic year. The Kannada course will also be mandatory for lateral entry third year students of B.Planning, B.E and B.Tech. This means that third year students in the 2020-21 academic year will also have to study the course.  “Kannada Language shall be a head of passing and shall be considered for the vertical progression of students from an even semester to the subsequent odd semester,”’ the circular states.  The Karnataka Government’s Textbook Committee has prepared textbooks titled ‘Samskruthika Kannada’ and ‘Balake Kannada’. Samskrutika Kannada will be the textbook prescribed for students who can speak, read and write Kannada. Balake Kannada will be the textbook for students who do not understand the Kannada language.  “Only these books are to be prescribed as textbooks. The soft copy of the books shall be made available in the first week of September 2020 and the hard copies published by Prasaraanga of VTU Belagavi will be distributed later,” the circular added.  VTU has requested all autonomous colleges to make necessary changes in their course structure starting from the 2020-21 academic year. “All the autonomous colleges are requested to upload the scheme of teaching and examinations with the Kannada course incorporated for all the 4 years of Engineering and B.Plan programmes, and 5 years of architecture programme,” the circular states.  VTU Vice Chancellor D Karidasappa said that engineering students must obtain 175 credits to successfully complete their course and Kannada language would also carry credit points. “This course aims at teaching Kannada for students who do not know the language well. There are two textbooks. For those who have already learned Kannada in school, an advanced level book has been prepared. For those who don’t know Kannada, we will teach them from the beginning starting from the alphabet,” he added. 

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Karnataka police arrest gang of hunters for shooting tiger, stealing claws and teeth

Crime

The tiger was killed in Nagarahole Tiger Reserve in August this year.

IANS

Karnataka forest department officials have arrested a venison hunting gang of five people in Kodagu district for shooting at a tiger and decamping with its claws and canines from Nagarahole Tiger Reserve, an official said on Friday. "We have arrested five people for shooting at a tiger and decamping with its claws and canines," D. Mahesh Kumar, Deputy Conservator of Forests (DCF) and Director of Rajiv Gandhi National Park told IANS. The main accused is Santosh, followed by Sashi, Sharanu, Ranjit and Raju. All of them come from a village which abuts the national park. They used a licensed double barrel gun to shoot the wild animals. Santosh, Sashi and Ranjit are from wealthy families who own coffee estates while Raju is a labourer. All the accused have been arrested under multiple acts such as the Wildlife Protection Act, hunting, collection of animal parts, illegally entering a national park, using a firearm and others. The accused have been produced in the court and are currently in judicial custody. Incidentally, forest officials noticed the unnatural death of a 4-5 year old male tiger on August 25 with its paws and canines missing, they were chopped off. "We had no clue about the unnatural death because the tiger's nails and canines were removed though its skin was intact. Next day, on August 26 we conducted a post mortem on the animal to find a gunshot," said Kumar. Guided by some leads on the same day, officials arrested one person but could not recover any of the stolen tiger parts. "Subsequently, from August 28, a series of arrests have happened because we got a lead that some tiger nails were hidden in one of the coffee estates and succeeded in recovering seven nails," he said. Following this development, Kumar set multiple forest teams in motion to go after a chain of additional leads in search of the remaining tiger parts and the accused in places as far as Bengaluru and some other towns, leading to the arrest of another person in Ramanagara. Consequently, a total of five people have been arrested in the tiger death and mutilation case. "We have recovered 13 tiger nails. A tiger has 18 claws and four canines. Out of these, we recovered 13 claws and two canines," said the Indian Forest Service (IFoS) official. Every tiger has five toes on its fore paws with five nails each and four toes on its hind paws with four nails each, totalling 18 nails. All the nails are retractable and can stretch up to four inches forward for grip and preying. The first arrested person misled the forest officials that he did not have any tiger parts with him but on arresting four others from the gang, they had confessing that the first person had some parts with him. Officials are still searching for the reaming five nails as they continue their investigation. Of the four canines, the forest department managed to seize two of them. During post mortem, one canine got shattered even as the officials are on the lookout for the last canine. Tigers have two big canines on the upper jaw, measuring up to three inches and two more on the lower one, altogether four. "The accused used sharp knives to cut the tiger's canines as they are very strong. They used knives similar to the ones used in the meat shops," he said. To extract the nails, they chopped off the paws of the big cat and shared the tiger's spoils among themselves. The accused extracted some nails at the spot of the wildlife crime itself while others were taken to their homes to be extracted later. Curiously, the five accused spared the tiger's skin because they are not professionals and do not how to deskin a tiger. "If they were professionals, they would have deskinned the entire tiger," said Kumar, considering a tiger's skin is a sought after prize. Astonishingly, officials have corroborated that the five did not come hunting for a tiger but in search of venison, deer meat. "They had come looking for deer meat and also succeeded in killing a deer, taking its flesh and also managed to pull out the tigers claws and canines, resulting in a double hunting case," said the official. According to Kumar, Coorg or Kodagu district people are exempted from the Arms Act as they have a tradition of owning guns and showcasing them, it is a privilege enjoyed by them. They showcase their guns for functions like marriages and other events. Though people are allowed to keep guns, Kumar said they are not exempted from entering a national park illegally and with a gun. Explaining how the accused laid their hands on the big cat, they told the officials that the tiger was lying by a water body and did not move even after the five people were near it. "So they thought it was already injured or dead and shot it on the back. After approaching the tiger, they realized that the tiger was already smelling, indicating it could have died earlier from unknown reasons," he said. Officials are yet to determine the exact cause of the tiger's death which is still being probed whether it was poisoned or indulged in any territorial war with another tiger and so on. Other than the gunshot injury, there was no other injury on the animal. In addition to the tiger parts, two kg venison was also confiscated from one of the accused homes while the balance amount of the deer meat was already consumed. "We could not retrieve more than two kg meat nor acertain if the deer was male of female but managed to seize its hooves. We also confiscated the firearm," said Kumar. Some of them accused are from quite well to do families and had committed the crime in an inebriated condition near a place called Thattekere. On interrogation, the accused told that they wanted to use the nails to craft pendants for flaunting around the neck and also as ornaments for their children Officials are investigating whether they also had any intention to sell the tiger trophies. Nagarahole Tiger Reserve (NGT), which stretches between Kodagu and Mysuru districts and was a protected reserve from the time of the Wodeyar dynasty, rulers of the erstwhile kingdom of Mysuru. Nagarhole, which served as an exclusive hunting reserve of the Wodeyars, was made a wildlife sanctuary in 1955, covering an area of 284 square km - later stretched up to 643 square km. It was upgraded to a national park in 1988 and was brought into the fold of Project Tiger after being declared a tiger reserve in 1999. NGT has three sub-divisions, and eight ranges. Some of the animals which thrive in the reserve include tigers, panthers, wild dogs, elephants, bisons, sambar, spotted deer, barking deer, sloth bears, wild boars, common langurs, bonnet macaque and a variety of reptiles and birds.  

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Bengaluru civic body wants Namma Metro to rename Magadi Road station after Dr Rajkumar

Civic Issues

Mayor Goutham Kumar submitted a memorandum to the BMRCL on Friday.

TNM Staff

Bengaluru's Mayor Goutham Kumar on Friday submitted a memorandum to the Bengaluru Metro Rail Corporation Limited (BMRCL) to rename Magadi Road Metro Station to Dr Rajkumar Metro Station.  Speaking to TNM, Mayor Goutham Kumar said that the memorandum was submitted after the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) passed a resolution regarding the same.  "The resolution was passed on August 4 in the BBMP Council. Following this, the decision was communicated to the state government and permission was obtained to rename the Magadi metro Station as Dr Rajkumar Metro Station," Goutham Kumar said.  ಬೆಂಗಳೂರಿನ ಮಾಗಡಿ ರಸ್ತೆ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ರೈಲು ನಿಲ್ದಾಣಕ್ಕೆ ಡಾ.ರಾಜ್ ಕುಮಾರ್ ಮೆಟ್ರೋ ರೈಲು ನಿಲ್ದಾಣ ಎಂದು ನಾಮಕರಣ ಮಾಡುವಂತೆ ಬಿ.ಎಂ.ಆರ್.ಸಿ.ಎಲ್ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥಾಪಕ ನಿರ್ದೇಶಕರು ಶ್ರೀ ಅಜಯ್ ಸೇಠ್ ರವರಿಗೆ ಮನವಿಪತ್ರ ಸಲ್ಲಿಸಲಾಯಿತು. ಈ ವೇಳೆ ಬೆಂಗಳೂರು ದಕ್ಷಿಣ ಜಿಲ್ಲಾ ಬಿಜೆಪಿ ಘಟಕದ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರು ಶ್ರೀ ಎನ್.ಆರ್.ರಮೇಶ್ ಅವರು ಉಪಸ್ಥಿತರಿದ್ದರು. pic.twitter.com/WFsbPoOt3v — M Goutham Kumar (@BBMP_MAYOR) September 4, 2020 "He was the greatest artist in the Kannada film industry and in his memory, we wanted to rename the metro station,” he added. Dr Rajkumar is a legend in the Kannada film industry and is considered one of the greatest actors and singers of his time. He has acted in over 200 movies and has a fan base even after his demise in 2006. BMRCL MD Ajay Seth said that the memorandum was accepted and necessary steps would be taken to determine whether the changes must be made. “There is no deadline for it as such but we will take steps to see if a change in name is required. There is a lot of public demand for it,” Ajay Seth added.  This is not the first time the BBMP has decided to change the names of metro stations or flyovers. In June this year, the BBMP had passed a resolution to rename the Yelahanka Flyover after VD Savarkar. The decision taken unanimously by the BBMP Council was opposed by the Congress party, who opposed the decision of naming the flyover after a person accused in the murder of Mahatma Gandhi.  In December 2019, the BMRCL had decided to change the names of 42 metro stations along under-construction metro lines including the KR Puram to Silk Board line and the KR Puram to Bengaluru Airport lines.  BMRCL renamed the stations after a government order was passed regarding the same. The names were changed based on prominent landmarks, BBMP records, and as identified by the local community. The BMRCL also wanted to do away with naming stations after private institutions, however, it renamed 37 stations after private institutions in 2019. 

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Trump contradicts health officials, says 'probably' a Covid-19 vaccine in October

While three vaccine developers have entered the final stages of trials, phase III, the studies take months and enroll tens of thousands of people.

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