Vijayanagara to become Karnataka’s 31st district, cabinet approves proposal

Politics

The decision is a major boost for Forest Minister Anand Singh who has championed the campaign for a new Vijayanagara district.

TNM Staff

The Karnataka cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal to form the state’s 31st district - Vijayanagara, which will be carved out of Ballari district in the northern part of the state. The decision is a major boost for Forest Minister Anand Singh who has championed the campaign for a new Vijayanagara district.  Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa had agreed to the request of carving out Vijayanagara district in 2019 leading to a divide in the BJP in Ballari. In September 2019, there was heated opposition to the plan to form the new districts from senior BJP leaders in Ballari. BJP MLA representing Ballari city G Somashekhar Reddy, brother of former legislator G Janardhana Reddy, called the proposal "selfish" and described it as one that Yediyurappa should not have agreed to. The opposition to the new district was highest in Ballari City where farmer associations, lawyer groups and pro-Kannada groups led by BJP leaders Somashekara Reddy and Karunakara Reddy, both brothers of the former Minister and mining baron Janardhana Reddy, holding  protests against the move. Even Congress leaders in the district did not come forward to support the move. It was earlier reported that of the 11 taluks in Ballari, five taluks — Ballari, Kurugodu, Siraguppa, Sandur and Kudligi — will be part of Ballari while six taluks — Hosapete, Kampli, Hagaribommanahalli, Kottur, Hadagali and Harappanahalli — will constitute Vijayanagara district.  The cabinet is likely to form boundary maps and confirm the new taluks in the next meeting. Anand Singh contended that the creation of a new Vijayanagara district will help promote tourism especially in the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Hampi. It was once the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire.

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Maratha board row: Pro-Kannada groups call for state-wide bandh on Dec 5

Protest

Pro-Kannada groups have expressed their disapproval of the government’s decision to allocate Rs 50 crore to set up a Maratha Development Board.

TNM Staff

PTI/Representation Photo

Several pro-Kannada organisations have called for a state-wide bandh on December 5 in the wake of the Karnataka government establishing the Maratha Development Board earlier this week. On Monday, the BS Yediyurappa-led BJP government announced the establishment of the Maratha Development Board and allocated Rs 50 crore in funds for the same. Pro-Kannada groups expressed their backlash and called it an ‘anti-Kannada’ move by the Chief Minister. Thse groups stated that the government’s move was simply to win the vote of the Marathi-speaking population in Basavakalyan and Maski, where bye-elections are slated to take place soon.  The bandh on December 5 is being led by Vatal Nagaraj and his party — Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha. Organisations including Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Yuva Sene, Shivarame Gowda’s faction of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, Karnataka Janapada Vedike and Jai Karnataka are a part of the bandh. T Narayanagowda’s Karnataka rakshana Vedike is not taking part in the bandh.  Speaking to TNM, T Narayanagowda said that members of his organisation believe that bandhs are ineffective and said that they have begun protesting in all districts of the state. “We have been protesting since yesterday (Tuesday) and will continue to stage protests in every district until the government rolls back this order,” Narayanagowda said.  Harish, president of KRV Yuva Sene said that the pro-Kannada groups in support of the bandh are in talks with members of the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), and autorickshaw drivers’ unions to gain their support for the bandh. KRV Yuva Sene is also holding talks with the cab drivers’ unions to gain their support.  “We are confident that any Kannadiga will support our cause. In the interim, starting next week, we will hold protests in Bengaluru and demand that the government set up such boards for every caste in the state, especially the Dalit, OBC and Adivasi communities. These communities have been disadvantaged for a long time but the government is not paying attention to their upliftment,” Harish said.  Speaking to TNM, Vatal Nagaraj said that the establishment of the Maratha Development Board, is a “political gimmick”. The Basavakalyan constituency has a sizeable population of Marathi-speaking people. He said that the government had taken this decision simply to win votes for the upcoming bye-elections. “During the Sira polls (bye-polls) too, the government had set up the Kadugolla Development Board. This is because Sira has a considerable population of people from the Golla community. Instead of prioritising Kannada development, why should Marathi-speaking people be given preference?” Vatal Nagaraj questioned.  The opposition to the Maratha Development Board also comes in the backdrop of the long-standing border dispute between Karnataka and Belagavi. Pro-Marathi groups in Maharashtra claim that Belagavi should be a part of its state as the district has a large population of Marathi-speaking people.  “Will the government establish such boards for Tamil and Telugu-speaking people too? The BJP is playing political games as they want to gain control of Maharashtra. This is to appease vote banks in both states,” Vatal Nagaraj alleged. 

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Bengaluru reports 729 new COVID-19 cases, less than 1000 for third consecutive day

Coronavirus

The city's COVID-19 tally is at 3.58 lakh, of which 17,707 are active cases.

TNM Staff

Image for representation: PTI

Maintaining a positive trend, Bengaluru, which is at the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic in Karnataka, continued to report less than 1,000 cases for the third consecutive day with 729 fresh infections coming to light. The latest cases take the city's COVID-19 tally to 3.58 lakh, of which 17,707 are active cases, while recoveries rose to 3.36 lakh with 942 discharged in the last 24 hours. With nine people succumbing to the infection, the city's death toll rose to 4,018 since the pandemic broke on March 8. The number of active containment zones in the city as per a bulletin by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) remained unchanged at two in Mahadevapura zone, as it has been for several days now. Meanwhile, 2,100 recoveries were reported across Karnataka, higher than the 1,336 new COVID-19 cases that the state witnessed in a 24-hour period. "With 2,100 discharged on Monday, recoveries shot up to 8.27 lakh so far, while 1,336 fresh cases increased the state's COVID-19 tally to 8.64 lakh including 25,323 active cases," said the state health bulletin on Tuesday. The infection claimed 16 lives in 24 hours, taking the state's death toll to 11,557 till date. As many as nine of the 16 deaths reported on Tuesday are from Bengaluru Urban, followed by Dakshina Kannada (2), Ballari, Dharwad, Raichur, Tumakuru and Uttara Kannada (1). Most of the dead were either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI). Among the districts where new cases were reported, Bengaluru Urban accounted for 729, followed by Tumakuru (89), Mysuru (52), Bengaluru Rural (40), Mandya (38), Hassan and Dakshina Kannada at 30 each, Chikkamagaluru (29), Davangere and Bagalkote at 24 each and Chikkaballapura at 21, among others. Of the 693 patients in intensive care units (ICUs) across the state, 338 are in Bengaluru hospitals, 37 are in Mysuru, 36 in Kalaburagi and 30 in Tumakuru. Out of 75,384 tests conducted on Monday, 13,392 were through rapid antigen detection and 61,992 through RT-PCR method. "Positivity rate for the day was 1.77% and case fatality rate 1.79%," added the bulletin. With IANS and PTI inputs

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DK Shivakumar's daughter Aisshwarya to get engaged to VG Siddartha's son Amartya

Wedding

The official engagement will be held in a private ceremony at a reputed private hotel in Bengaluru. The event will be attended only close family members.

TNM Staff

Aisshwarya, the daughter of Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) President DK Shivakumar, is set to officially get engaged to Amartya Hegde, eldest son of Coffee Day founder VG Siddartha. An official source confirmed the development to TNM, adding that the ceremony will be held on Thursday, November 19.  Amartya has been handling the Coffee Day business since his father's demise in July last year. Aishwarya manages Global Academy of Technology, an engineering college founded by DK Shivakumar. The official engagement will be held in a private ceremony at a reputed private hotel in Bengaluru on Thursday. The event will be attended only close family members, sources close to the family said. The rumoured alliance of Aisshwarya and Amartya was confirmed in early June. The proposal was discussed before Siddartha's death last year as well but at the time, Amartya wanted to wait. Photographs from an earlier event in June 2020 VG Siddartha took his life last year in July 2019 in Mangaluru. A letter purportedly written by him had said that he had  “failed as an entrepreneur” and that he is “solely responsible for all mistakes." In that letter, he said that it was “never his intention to cheat or mislead anybody." Siddartha is the son-in-law of BJP leader and former Karnataka Chief Minister SM Krishna and the alliance cements the longstanding relationship between Shivakumar and SM Krishna, who is considered to be Shivakumar's mentor. The duo also has business connections and though SM Krishna left the Congress and joined the BJP in 2017, the two leaders are said to have remained close. Aisshwarya was earlier in the news during the probe by the Enforcement Directorate against DK Shivakumar in which she was also summoned. 

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Bengaluru riots: Cong MLA Akhanda Murthy wants ex-Mayor Sampath Raj expelled from party

Crime

The MLA also demanded action against Congress corporator Abdul Rakeeb Zakir, who is accused along with Sampath Raj of instigating the mob violence.

TNM Staff

DJ Halli Police Station, Bengaluru

Pulikeshinagar Congress MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy, whose house was attacked in the August 11 Bengaluru riots, reiterated his demand that his party should take immediate steps to expel former Congress Mayor R Sampath Raj and Congress corporator Abdul Rakeeb Zakir, who are accused in the riot case. Speaking to reporters in Bengaluru, Akhanda Murthy remarked that the Congress state unit president, DK Shivakumar is not interested in taking action on these two leaders. The chargesheet by the Central Crime Branch suggested that the duo instigated the mob violence which saw attacks launched at DJ Halli and KG Halli police station apart from the MLA's residence. Sampath Raj, who has been arrested by the police in connection with the violence, absconded on October 30 from a hospital in Bengaluru after recovering from COVID-19. MLA Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy charged that Sampath Raj would not have run away from the hospital if he was not guilty. "He is guilty. I know for sure," he said. Akhanda Murthy took exception to DK Shivakumar's silence on the issue so far and sought Shivakumar to support his case. Responding to a question, he contended that he had met Shivakumar twice at the latter's house in this regard but nothing came of it. He, however, did not forget to thank leader of the opposition, Siddaramaiah and MLA Zameer Ahmed for supporting his case. "I am not indulging in vengeance. All I want is justice and it can be done by expelling those who instigated people against me," Murthy said. Emotionally choked, Akhanda Murthy claimed that he and his family are in dire need of support as they are the worst victims of vengeance as his family lost his ancestral home. Meanwhile, on his part, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president, Shivakumar strongly maintained that Sampath Raj's arrest was nothing but a political conspiracy hatched by the ruling BJP. Responding to a question, angrily countering Akhanda Murthy's claims, Shivakumar questioned who said he was not with Murthy? "Murthy is free to speak with me any day and any time. But this being the party's internal matter he cannot publicly comment on it. The party has given a forum, let him discuss there, going to the media will not help his cause," he retorted. The incident took place on August 11, when Akhanda Srinivasa Murthy's nephew Naveen P had posted an insidious post on Facebook, which led to a mob gathering and indulging in arson in DJ  Halli and KG Halli police limits. In a bid to control the mob, the police opened fire in which four persons were killed.  

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Detention centre for illegal immigrants opened near B'luru, Sudanese man first inmate

Law and order

The detention centre is located in Nelamangala, 40 km from Bengaluru.

Prajwal Bhat

The Karnataka government’s detention centre built 40 km outside Bengaluru to detain illegal immigrants is now open and a Sudanese national whose visa expired in 2016 has become the first person to be detained here. Located in Sondekoppa village near Nelamangala in Bengaluru Rural district, this is the first detention centre to be opened in the state. The facility has been operational since the last week of October, a year after its construction was completed. It has a capacity of detaining 30-40 people. TNM visited the detention centre in October and found that police officials were deputed there. The detention centre has six rooms where illegal immigrants will be housed, along with a common kitchen and a common bathroom while barbed wires run along the compound walls on all four sides. The centre also has two watchtowers constructed on two corners and a security room at the entrance. Read: NRC in Karnataka? Inside the detention centre for illegal immigrants 40 km from Bengaluru Detention centre in Nelamangala outside Bengaluru RTI documents accessed by TNM showed that the Social Welfare Department of the Karnataka government will manage the detention centre and security will be provided by Bengaluru Rural police. The L-shaped building was built in 1992 as a hostel for SC/ST and other backward classes (OBC) students of a nearby school, but after the strength of the students in the hostel continuously decreased, it was closed in 2008. The building was re-purposed to be used as a detention centre last year. ‘Not a prison’ Despite its appearance, authorities tasked with managing the detention centre deny that it is a prison. “There is no prison-like schedule and those detained here can move freely within the facility. They can contact friends and relatives with permission. There is a connectivity issue at the moment but it will be solved when resources like computers, internet access and telephone are added in due course of time,” an official connected to the detention centre told TNM on the condition of anonymity. The official insisted that it was simply a movement restriction centre where those detained will be able to stay until they are deported. “A detention centre helps instil fear in those illegally staying here (in India). It will partially affect their freedom since they cannot move out but they are free inside the centre,” he added. The official said that without such a facility, illegal immigrants often go underground and evade deportation. Who is an illegal immigrant? Illegal immigrants are foreigners convicted for entry without a passport/visa or those who have stayed in the country beyond the time period prescribed in the visa. The Foreigner Regional Registration Offices (FRRO), a body constituted by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), has powers under section 3 of the Foreigners Act to restrict illegal foreigners. It includes foreigners registered with FRRO and whose visa or passport has expired, those who are not registered with FRRO and have overstayed in Karnataka after arriving on a different visa like a tourist visa, and illegal foreigners involved in criminal cases and facing deportation after court proceedings are completed. A 2019 MHA manual states that illegal immigrants can be identified by state governments or law enforcement agencies. They can also be people declared foreigners by the Foreigners’ Tribunal, foreigners who arrived on fraudulent documents, foreigners restricted by FRRO, and foreigners violating visa norms or detained for suspicious behaviour. Sudanese is first person detained at the centre The first person detained at the centre is a Sudanese national who overstayed in Bengaluru after arriving on a student visa in 2016. “He was not registered at an educational institution or pursuing his studies. He was staying illegally in Bengaluru and was jailed. He didn’t get bail for nine months, after which he approached the Karnataka High Court, which ordered that after his release he should be placed in a detention centre near Bengaluru till the trial is completed,” the official said. Another person – Toichubek Uulu Bakytbek – a Kazakhstan national who violated the conditions of his tourist visa in Bidar district was also directed to the detention centre outside Bengaluru until his case is disposed of. It is not just courts that can direct illegal foreigners to detention centres. “The Union government can direct people here. Illegal foreigners can be booked under the Foreigners Act and sent to detention centres to motivate them to depart the country,” a source said. The official connected to the detention centre said that after an illegal foreigner is detected, the process of deporting them takes time as officials have to arrange travel documents and contact the embassy of the foreigner’s country. There are times when funds have to be arranged for illegal foreigners to be deported and a detention centre would be the place to house them during this period. According to the official, there are also cases of foreigners who go underground while waiting for proceedings in criminal cases against them to be completed. “Even though they are issued notices to leave, some may stay underground. At times, they indulge in criminal activities. Such illegal foreigners may now be placed in the detention centre till completion of deportation process,” the official added. Illegal Bangladeshi immigrants not shifted to detention centre In May 2020, while hearing the case of Babul Khan, who was arrested along with his daughter Taniya on suspicions of being an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, Justice Phaneendra of the Karnataka High Court passed an order stating that illegal immigrants should be detained in foreigner detention centres. Khan and his daughter were arrested in August 2018 from a migrant settlement in Bengaluru’s Sarjapur and their arrest report submitted in court stated that they were in possession of bullets. They were granted bail earlier this year after a marathon hearing which discussed questions of Indian identity and who is an illegal immigrant. The bail order stated that the father-daughter duo will be shifted to a detention centre near Bengaluru. But despite the order, the duo remained in judicial custody and completed their sentence three months ago after they were unable to furnish surety for the bail. They were not shifted to the detention centre even after they completed their prison sentence of two years. The lawyer representing them has now urged the police to shift them from judicial custody to the detention centre before they are deported back to Bangladesh. “The accused persons have completed the sentence and are waiting in judicial custody itself for the FRRO report and exit visa. Once the formalities are completed, they will be deported to Bangladesh. But despite the court order, they weren’t shifted to the detention centre,” their lawyer Sirajuddin Ahmed said.  The lawyer said that the duo was found with fraudulent Aadhaar cards and was unable to prove their Indian citizenship. He added that even though they were not found with Bangladeshi identity cards, they were booked under the Foreigners Act. Authorities deny link to NRC The case of the father-daughter duo raises questions over whether the detention centre could be used by the state government for detaining people identified through a citizenship exercise like the proposed National Register of Citizens (NRC). The NRC was first implemented in Assam and a year ago, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai discussed the possibility of implementing a similar exercise in the state. After a public outcry, he clarified that the detention centre outside Bengaluru was not connected to the NRC. “The NRC was not in existence when the detention centre was planned. The main focus is on illegal foreigners who are violating Indian laws and our enforcement is lagging behind in this regard. This centre is in line with other countries where detention centres are in place, it is not linked to the NRC,” the official connected to the centre said. The first set of instructions related to foreigner detention centres can be traced to July 1998 in a letter written by the MHA to states and union territories. This predates the NRC, which was introduced in the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2003. It has been a contentious topic and those left out of the NRC list could be rendered stateless if the country from which the ‘foreigners’ are originally said to be from does not accept them to be citizens. According to officials, there are currently 729 illegal foreigners in Karnataka, and say that this number keeps changing continually. The Karnataka government has told the High Court that it has identified 35 spaces in different districts in the state to convert them into detention centres. Officials said that the highest number of illegal immigrants are from African countries, usually found overstaying their visa limits. “Most of the illegal foreigners belong to countries such as Nigeria, Sudan, Yemen, etc,” the official added.

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Amazon opens online pharmacy, shaking up another industry

The potential impact of Amazon's arrival in the pharmaceutical space rippled through that sector immediately.

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