'Can you issue notice clarifying state not involved in 'Cauvery Calling?': HC asks Karnataka

Court

The bench further directed the state government to specify if it has allowed Isha Foundation to participate in any government project and to submit the orders issued to give permission

Prajwal Bhat

Jaggi Vasudev and Yediyurappa

The Karnataka High Court has directed the state government to clarify if it would be willing to issue a public notice stating that the 'Cauvery Calling' project, started by Jaggi Vasudev's Isha Foundation and Isha Outreach, has nothing to do with it. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Sreeniwas Oka and Justice Vishwajith Shetty asked the state government to clarify if it will issue a public notice clarifying its position that it is not involved in the 'Cauvery Calling' project. Earlier in June, the High Court had asked the Karnataka government to explain who is implementing the agroforestry campaign and the state government subsequently replied that it is not a state government project.  The bench further directed the state government to specify if it has allowed Isha Foundation to participate in any government project and to submit the orders issued to give permission. "Show an order of the government which permits participation of respondent 2 and 3 in any of the government projects as mentioned in the statement of objection.  Show us a single order which states that responsibility of respondent 2 (Isha Foundation) is to mobilize farmers and enrol the farmers. If you can't show that, then say that they are doing their own project," the bench said as per Livelaw.  The state government has time till Wednesday to clarify its position.  'Cauvery Calling' is an agroforestry project flagged off in 2019 by Jaggi Vasudev's Isha Foundation. The project focused on planting trees along the Cauvery River and the foundation, which enjoys the patronage of celebrities, industrialists and politicians, collected enough money through donations from the public to plant more than 5 crore trees. But even though large sums of money was collected, the High Court questioned the state government about who is implementing the project since there were conflicting statements in and outside court.  Read: HC asks Karnataka govt to clarify whose project is 'Cauvery Calling' In an affidavit submitted in the High Court, the state government said Cauvery Calling was contributing to a government scheme in Karnataka - – Krishi Aranya Protsaha Yojane (KAPY) - implemented by the forest department. However, while speaking at an event organised by Isha Foundation in September 2019, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that the forest department in the state would set aside two crore saplings for Cauvery Calling. But the same was not mentioned in an affidavit submitted in court.  Isha Foundation submitted to the High Court in March that its social development branch Isha Outreach was dealing with Cauvery Calling. The state government in August told the High Court that 'Cauvery Calling' is not a government project.  The High Court is hearing a petition filed by advocate AV Amarnathan questioning the collection of funds from the public for 'Cauvery Calling'. Last month, the High Court subsequently removed the petitioner from the case after he sent a legal notice to Discovery Channel asking it to refrain from telecasting a program about the project. The case is now being heard as a suo motu petition.  Read: What is Karnataka govt’s role in Cauvery Calling? Conflicting stands in and outside court

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Meet the Karnataka newlyweds who cleared hundreds of kilos of waste from a beach

Environment

With hardly any fanfare and two pairs of gloves, Anudeep and Minusha worked every day to clean the Someshwara beach in Baindur right after their wedding.

Geetika Mantri

It had been just over a week after their wedding. Anudeep Hegde and Minusha Kanchan were in Baindur, Karnataka – Anudeep’s hometown – and after six years of dating, had gotten married on November 18. They had made it a habit to go to the Someshwara beach, which is around three kilometres from his house, in the evenings, to chat and pass time as there isn’t much else to do there. The topic of the conversation was to decide where they should go for their honeymoon. “We were considering Lakshadweep or Himachal Pradesh… but the pandemic and risks of long-distance travel at this time had made us wary. All this while, we had also been noticing that the beach where I often came while growing up had transformed for the worse. There was so much waste – mostly chappals, alcohol bottles and medicine bottles – littering the shore. I just spontaneously suggested to Minusha that we do a clean up till we are here. And she agreed without hesitation,” Anudeep tells TNM. The 31-year-old digital marketing professional has taken part in beach cleanups before, and comes across as an individual passionate about marine conservation. So when Minusha was on board, the duo went and bought two pairs of gloves, large garbage bags, and simply, without fanfare, got to work. Between November 27 and December 5, the couple says they have removed over 600 kilos of waste from the shore. “Initially it was just the two of us. Some people would come and enquire who we were, what we were doing when they saw us, but that was all. It wasn’t until December 4, by when I think word got out, and a group of 15-16 young people came and joined us. We had cleaned up about 70-80% of the shore by then. The leftover wooden stakes, leaves and other waste should be cleaned in another week or so,” Anudeep says. The fact that other people got interested surprised the couple. They had meant to keep it low key, and didn’t even take any photos till December 4, when they were joined by other people. The waste they collected in the large garbage bags had been getting collected by the local panchayat officials who would come to empty the trash from the two dustbins kept near a temple – so it wasn’t even as though they had spoken to any other parties. However, now that this has gained traction, Anudeep says that they plan to keep the momentum alive. “This happens every monsoon actually,” he explains. “A lot of the drainage connects to the river, which connects with the ocean. And when it rains, the ocean flushes out the trash onto the shores. Now that people have gotten interested, we want to raise further awareness about cleanliness and marine conservation. While this is a small shore and the cleanup will be done in another week, we will perhaps collaborate and participate in other ones happening around us.” When it’s safe, the couple also wants to organise movie nights at the beach for the local fishermen and screen documentaries about marine life and conservation. “Maybe that will happen next year.” As for their honeymoon, Anudeep and Minusha did finally decide to take one – they will be going to Kodaikanal and the date is set tentatively for the 16th of this month. Once they come back, Anudeep expects they will be in Baindur till March-April at least, and then decide on where to move depending on the work situation.  “We will continue keeping the beach clean and perhaps to awareness drives in Baindur till we are here. We are also excited for the future, and though we always planned to travel, now we want to also do something socially productive along with it, like tying up with local schools where we can stop and do environment awareness drives en route road trips. A lot of it will depend on the pandemic situation too,” Anudeep says.   

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Less than half of projects to develop Bellandur executed in last 5 yrs, BNP reveals

Civic

Only 120 out of 260 approved projects were executed in Bengaluru's Bellandur area were executed and only one project was related to solid waste management.

Prajwal Bhat

Bellandur Lake, Bengaluru/ Wikimedia/ Ashwin Kumar/ CC 2.0

After the Bengaluru NavaNirmana Party (BNP) unveiled a website with details of ward-level projects in Bengaluru, residents in the Bellandur area of the city highlighted that only 120 out of 260 projects approved have been executed by the city's civic body. The website (https://ift.tt/3o1pqxj) has the details of all the projects across wards and the provision for citizens to download the details of projects in their respective wards or sort the projects by year, by ward and other such categories.  Rupal Ralph, BNP leader and a resident of Bellandur said, “We downloaded information from the BNP Citizen Portal and noticed that a total of 260 projects with a total value of ₹111 crores were approved for Bellanduru ward in the last 5 years but only 120 have been executed. It is ridiculous that for a ward that is the sixth largest in the city, the budget allocation for roads is a measly 3.2 crores,”.  Another BNP member Senthil Indiran said that the residents were surprised to find out that Rs 2.3 crore was sanctioned for maintanence of facilities like parks and street lights in Bellandur.  “We were not given any information by the Corporator over the last 5 years despite repeated efforts and now to our disbelief we learn, from the BNP Citizen Portal that an amount of Rs. 2.3 crores has been sanctioned for maintenance of  facilities like parks and street lights in Bellanduru. However, there are many dark spots in the ward making it dangerous for pedestrians and drivers,” Senthil said.  BNP raised another issue highlighting a lack of fund allocation for solid waste management in Bellandur. The citizen portal showed that Rs 7.5 lakh was allocated in the year 2018-19 for solid waste management in Bellandur and only one of the 260 projects approved in Bellandur in the last five years belongs to the solid waste management category. "When compared with other wards, the average number of projects executed under SWM is 4.6. This amounts to an average expense of Rs 1.08 crores per ward till date. At Rs 7.5 lakhs for itself, Bellandur lags far behind," a statement by BNP said.  The party also said that the brunt of sanitation woes in Bellandur is faced by migrant workers who live in temporary shanties without toilet facilities. While Rs 2.5 lakh was allocated for building community toilets by the Karnataka Rural Infrastructure Development Limited (KRIDL), an additional Rs 15 lakh for the construction of public toilets was not spent, BNP said in its statement. It also highlighted cases of H1N1 in the office of SAP, a German software company located at RMZ Ecoworld at the Sarjapur-Marathahalli Outer Ring Road in February this year. Read: Did Rs 50 crore spent to rejuvenate Bellandur go down the drain? NGO writes to NGT    

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Karnataka farmer organisations extend support to Bharath Bandh on December 8

Protest

The protest in Bengaluru will be held on Wednesday for logistical reasons, Karnataka Rajya Riatha Sangha president K Chandreshekar said.

TNM Staff

PTI : Image for representation

Thousands of farmers in Karnataka are set to join the 'Bharat bandh' on December 8 to protest against the three controversial farm laws and in support of their repeal, Karnataka Rajya Riatha Sangha president K Chandreshekar said on Sunday. "Members of around 300 farmers' organisations will participate in the day-long bandh on Tuesday in cities and towns across the state except in Bengaluru, where it (shutdown) will be observed on Wednesday for logistic reasons," Chandrashekhar told reporters in Bengaluru. "As all our members will observe Bharat bandh in towns and villages across the state on Tuesday, they will come to Bengaluru on Wednesday to hold a day-long shutdown in protest against the laws and demand their withdrawal," he said. Extending support to hundreds of farmers in northern states staging protests in Delhi or over 10 days against the laws, Chandrashekar said the ryots (tenant farmers) in the state were also opposed to the APMC bill and the land reforms bill the BJP government had moved in the state Assembly in September, as these were against farmers' welfare. A dozen members of the Sangha led by Chandrashekar participated for 3 days last week in the farmers' agitation on the Delhi border with Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. Scores of trade associations and labour organisations, along with opposition Congress and Janata Dal(S) are extending support to the two-day shutdown on December 8 and 9 by the farmers in Karnataka. Chandrashekar said: "About 50,000 farmers and workers will descend on Bengaluru from across the state on Wednesday in buses, trucks and tractors to lay siege on Vidhana Soudha, as it will be in session for passing the bills." The farmers plan to court arrest if police prevent them from going to Vidhan Soudha due to prohibitory orders in view of the week-long winter session of the legislature from December 7-15. "The farmers will hold processions, rallies and public meetings at Freedom Park in the city centre against the anti-farmer laws and bills of the central and state governments," said Karnataka farmer organisations union president K Shanthakumar. Accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ruining the agriculture sector in the country, he said the NDA government had failed to fulfil its assurance of implementing the Swaminathan Committee report. In a related development, the Karnataka Sugarcane Growers' Associations will stage demonstrations in the city on Monday to express solidarity with farmers in northern states and support their demand to scrap the anti-farmer laws. Association' state organising secretary A Devaraj condemned the Delhi Police for using water cannons and tear gas on farmers who were protesting peacefully at the inter-state border over a week ago.

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Security guard at Bengaluru theatre falls to death while putting up film poster

Death

The theatre owner and manager have been booked for causing death by negligence.

TNM Staff

Triveni theatre, Bengaluru

A 65-year-old security guard slipped off a scaffolding and fell to death while pasta a film poster at a movie theatre in Bengaluru, the police said on Sunday. "Chandrappa slipped from a height while fixing a film poster at the Triveni theatre building in the city centre. He was rushed to the nearby state-run Victoria Hospital but doctors declared him dead on admission," Upparpet police station sub-inspector Shivaswamy said. The incident took place at 8.15 am on Sunday morning, the Times of India reported. Chandrappa was standing on scaffolding when he slipped. "According to Chandrappa's colleague, the incident took place when the victim took down the poster of a previous film and was fixing the flex board of the new film that was released on Friday," add Shivaswamy.  The police said that it was not the security guard's job to change the poster and an investigation is underway probing the role of the owner and manager of the theatre. The Upparpet police filed a case of negligence against the owner and manager of the theatre building under section 304A (causing death by rash, negligent act) of the Indian Penal Code. According to the preliminary investigations, the theatre manager allegedly offered Rs 600 to the security guard to replace the poster at the theatre, The Hindu reported.  Movie theatres across the city reopened on October 15 after remaining shut for over seven months since March due to COVID-19-induced lockdown and restrictions, but are operating with only 50% capacity. Among the southern Indian states, Karnataka was among the first to take the plunge and open theatres in October. New Kannada films like Act 1978 and Arishadvarga have been released by the Kannada film industry while films like Christopher Nolan's Tenet are also playing in theatres currently. 

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Doctors assn urge govt to re-start non-COVID facilities at Bengaluru’s Victoria Hospital

Health

The hospital has functioned as a COVID-19 hospital since the start of the pandemic in March this year.

Prajwal Bhat

PTI : Image for representation

The Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors on Saturday issued a statement urging the Karnataka government to re-start non-COVID facilities at the state-run Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru. The hospital, located at the heart of the city, has functioned as a COVID-19 hospital since the start of the pandemic in March this year, for a period of nine months now. "Despite a sharp decline in cases there has been no signs of starting non-COVID services soon even after multiple requests to authorities. What will happen to thousands of non-COVID patients who are dependent on Victoria Hospital," a statement by the Karnataka Association of Resident Doctors (KARD) said. KARD is an organisation working for the rights of post graduate residents, super speciality residents and house surgeons in government colleges. The organisation is planning a symbolic protest over the issue on Monday. TNM earlier reported in May about how non-COVID-19 patients in Bengaluru were scrambling to avail treatment during the lockdown. With the government’s focus then firmly on containing the spread of coronavirus, people struggling with chronic illnesses faced difficulties to avail treatment in the city. At the time, KC General Hospital was one of two government hospitals along with Jayanagar General Hospital that was handling non-COVID emergencies in the city. Read: Non-COVID-19 patients in Bengaluru are scrambling to avail treatment amid lockdown While more hospitals have taken up non-COVID cases in the last few months, Victoria Hospital is still a dedicated COVID-19 hospital in Bengaluru.  The concern over this stems from students in medical colleges who say that they have been involved in COVID-19 work for nine months now. "For example, those who have signed to study surgery are losing out on our surgical exposure as we are not operating at all. This is a concern that needs to be addressed," a postgraduate student in a government medical college told TNM.  Students are now urging the state government to exempt their academic fees for the year 2020-21.  "Since the last 9 months the postgraduates, house surgeons and undergraduates have been involved in COVID-related activities. There has been no proper clinical academic activities happening statewide. Hence we urge exempt from academic fees for the year 2020-21," read the statement. The association also called for COVID-19 risk allowance to be given to residents, interns and under-graduate students who worked in COVID-19 hospitals. According to the state health bulletin published on December 5, there were 1325 COVID-19 cases in Karnataka including 31 deaths of which 19 were classified as "non-COVID causes". The association also stated that postgraduate students at the Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Orthopaedics and the Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health have not been paid their revised stipend in six months.   

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'If JD(S) offers, we are open to an alliance': Karnataka BJP leader Jagadish Shettar

Politics

Jagadish Shettar was referring to an alliance between the two parties for the upcoming Belagavi Lok Sabha bye-polls.

TNM Staff

Collage from Facebook pics

Karnataka Minister for Large Scale Industries and senior leader of the BJP, Jagadish Shettar, on Sunday said that the BJP would agree to an alliance with the JD(S) in the Belagavi Parliamentary bye-polls. Speaking to the media at Hubballi, he said, “BJP and JD(S) have a natural alliance. JD(S) helped us elect a Mayor for Bengaluru city. We welcome an alliance with the JD(S), if they offer to form one. If the JD(S) allies with us, it would be beneficial.”  The Belagavi Lok Sabha seat became vacant after former parliamentarian Suresh Angadi died of COVID-19 on September 23. He agreed with Kumaraswamy’s statement made on Saturday, where the former Chief Minister had said that allying with the Congress “destroyed” his reputation. “Kumaraswamy was right about being cheated by the Congress party. He is now regretting his decision. All opposition parties were formed in India as opposition to the Congress party. If Kumaraswamy had allied with the BJP, he would have been in power,” Jagadish Shettar said.  On November 22, former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had said that “contesting bye-elections is not strategically beneficial to the party”. “In my opinion, contesting the bye-elections is not beneficial for the party. Because we have seen the results so far," he said. Jagadish Shettar’s statement, indicating a possible alliance between the BJP and JD(S), comes in the wake of speculation that the BJP and the JD(S) were in talks of an alliance. Over the last six months, Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and HD Kumaraswamy have held several rounds of talks privately.  The BJP is yet to decide on a candidate for the vacant seat. Jagadish Shettar himself is reportedly an aspirant for the ticket. BJP sources said that there was talk within the party that if Shettar is offered the ticket, he would step down as a Minister. Meanwhile, recently Yediyurappa had met leaders in New Delhi in November, regarding the decision on whether there should be an expansion or a reshuffle.  The cabinet reshuffle has been delayed in Karnataka after a standoff between the newly inducted ministers and the BJP’s old guard. Several BJP MLAs from the party’s stronghold: coastal Karnataka, had been kept out of the cabinet to make way for the MLAs who had defected from the Congress and JD(S). The BJP’s old guard had demanded that there had to a reshuffle. 

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