The FDA is expected to authorize additional over-the-counter Covid-19 tests in the coming weeks that could bolster supply.
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Tuesday, December 15, 2020
Nigerian national and alleged kingpin of cocaine trade in Bengaluru arrested
The CCB officials said that Chidiebere Ambrose alias Chief was arrested in the early hours of Tuesday.
Bengaluru Police
After months-long investigation, police officials with the Central Crime Branch’s Anti-Narcotics Wing arrested a Nigerian national, believed to be the kingpin, who allegedly supplied cocaine to various drug peddlers in the city. He has been remanded to police custody for five days and has been booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act. In the early hours of Tuesday, a team of CCB sleuths arrested Chidiebere Ambrose alias Chief, from his rented house in Bengaluru’s Banaswadi after conclusive information regarding his whereabouts. The investigation into the cocaine suppliers in Bengaluru began several months ago and the CCB made a series of arrests of Nigerian nationals in different drug-related cases. “The kingpin of cocaine supply in Bengaluru Chidiebere Ambrose aka Chief was in touch with all Nigerian drug peddlers arrested earlier. They bought cocaine from the Chief,” Joint Commissioner of Police (Crime) Sandeep Patil said. Investigators said that Chidiebere Ambrose allegedly procured drugs either from the dark net or through suppliers in Mumbai. “In some cases, the drugs were brought from African countries to Mumbai. These were dispersed via road to Bengaluru. Other times, Chidiebere Ambrose bought the drugs from the dark net. They were delivered in Mumbai and then brought Bengaluru via road,” a CCB official said. The probe into the drug suppliers, CCB sources said, began after the arrest of Loum Pepper Simon, in connection with the Sandalwood drug case. Loum Pepper allegedly supplied cocaine and other synthetic drugs to people who attended high-profile parties including actors and businessmen in Bengaluru. In September this year, the CCB arrested Nigerian drug peddler Chakvu Godwin from Suddaguntepalya in Bengaluru. They had recovered 25 gm of cocaine from his residence in Medahalli. In October this year, the West division police arrested three Nigerian nationals and sized 123 gm of cocaine worth Rs 11 lakh. CCB sources said that the sleuths were trying to find out the peddlers’ primary supplier. After interrogating suspects arrested in several drug busts since September this year, the CCB officers allegedly learned that several of them were procuring drugs from a man they called ‘Chief’. Subsequently, the police began surveilling Ambrose and followed his movements. After gathering intelligence on his whereabouts for over a month, the CCB officials raided his residence in Banaswadi and arrested him in the early hours of Tuesday. He has been remanded to police custody for five days and has been booked under various sections of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Act.
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FDA clears path for second coronavirus vaccine, from Moderna
An independent FDA advisory panel will meet Thursday to vote on the Moderna vaccine.
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When a strike for state transport employees was led by farmers in Karnataka
The attempt was slammed by the state government and they were not made part of the negotiations.
Why did the three-day strike by the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC) bus employees — which in the last 30 decades was led by “comrades'” — turn into one backed by green shawl-draped farmers? There was no change of guard, but just that the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (Hasiru Sene), a farmers group, led by Kodihalli Chandrashekar, chose to test waters in the trade union arena by taking up the cause of the KSRTC and BMTC employees, where discontent was brewing on the working conditions, particularly the demand for treating them as state government employees. However, Chandrashekar's attempts were slammed by the state government and he was not made part of the negotiations between the striking employees representatives and the government. According to KSRTC Staff and Workers' Federation president H V Anantha Subbarao, whose union has been recognised by the Supreme Court for all negotiations, it was a hasty move by the young blood in the organisation, who were unhappy with the poor working conditions and enamoured by getting the government employee tag. “They approached the farmers association, which hurriedly registered itself under the Karnataka Societies Registration Act and gave a call for the flash bus strike. We just allowed Chandrashekar to take the lead and did not want to break the strike,'' he added. Kodihalli Chandrashekar, the 62-year-old farmer leader hails from Kodihalli, a village in Arsikere in Hassan district, but is based in Bengaluru. Incidentally, Subbarao is from neighbouring Arkalgud taluk also in Hassan district. Chandrashekar tried his hand in politics by contesting from Hassan Assembly constituency in 2013 but polled just 900-odd votes. He has done three movies in Kannada. He played the role of a judge in T N Seetharam's Muktha, as a superintendent of police in Kolar and played himself in Shivrajkumar-starrer Mylaari. With the state-wide buses strike paralysing the movement of people, Chandrashekar's plan of being the main negotiator with the state government was a cropper. Even as the KRRS representatives staged dharna with the striking employees at the Freedom Park in Bengaluru, the state government held discussions with the Federation and other splinter unions of the KSRTC, keeping the KRRS out. “We were approached by the KSRTC employees to lead the strike. After all, the employees are also farmers. Our association was founded by late M D Nanjundaswamy and has 41 years of credibility,'' Bhaktarahalli Byregowda, general secretary, KRRS said. Subbarao said the KRRS had no locus standi for the government to hold negotiations with them as it was only a Ookuta (organisation) registered under the Societies Act. Besides, a 22-day notice has to be given by any trade union for going on strike, he maintained. The federation, Subbarao said, is also not in favour of the 1.25 lakh staff, including those from BMTC, being treated as government employees. “Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy kept up his promise of treating the AP KSRTC employees on par with the government staff from January 2020. This does not work out for us because following a merger, one cannot be part of any trade union.” “Presently, we can have pay negotiations once in five years but as government employees, we have to wait for the Pay Commission's Recommendations,'' Subbarao added. Chandrashekar's foray into the trade union sector also did not seem to find acceptance by other farmers groups. Kurubur Shanthakumar of Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha Ookuta said Chandrashekar should not have not ventured into taking the lead in the employees strike. “The strike inconvenienced the farmers who could not bring their produce from various places. Trade union activities are not our domain and we should be supporting the farmers who are agitating in New Delhi against the farms reforms bills,'' he added.
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Activists urge Karnataka to restart Vidyagama scheme for government students
Unlike their private school counterparts, government school students have not had regular online classes in the current academic year.
Vidyagama scheme in Karnataka
Activists in Karnataka have urged the state government to restart the Vidyagama scheme to continue the education of government school students in the state. Unlike their private school counterparts, government school students have not had regular online classes in the current academic year. The Vidyagama scheme, a continuous learning plan devised by the Karnataka government is one in which teachers teach students in community halls and other open areas including religious places or under the shade of big trees. The classes were held twice a week from August to October before it was suspended after an outbreak of COVID-19 cases among students in Ramdurg in Belagavi district. "The Vidyagama scheme should be restarted for government school children in the school premises after sanitisation of the area. It can be an open area within the school itself," Sripad Bhat, an activist However, it is not only COVID-19, but in addition to the worries of the pandemic, teachers and students faced a myriad of problems while trying to continue classes in community spaces. In a few districts of Karnataka where classes were to be held in temples, they were quickly halted after pressure from upper caste groups over allowing Dalit children to enter temples. "In few places in Raichur, there were issues raised when the Vidyagama scheme continued in a temple and Dalit teachers were barred from having classes there," says a Dalit leader from Raichur who did not want to be named. Similar stories were reported from Ballari, Koppal, and Belagavi districts where teachers were forced to continue the education of Dalit students in colonies where Dalit residents lived. "There were also cases of menstruating girls disallowed from studying in temples," said Sripad Bhat. Elsewhere in remote areas of Uttara Kannada and other districts, government school students are struggling to access notes sent by teachers over WhatsApp. In the absence of normal classes, notes and instructions from teachers now come via WhatsApp and in Uttara Kannada, some students are travelling long distances to access the internet. Read: Searching for a mobile signal in Uttara Kannada with schooling shifting to WhatsApp Considering these issues, a state government official said that it will consider not having classes in temple complexes. "The state government should consider reopening schools at least for the morning session in an open area in school. They can do this in batches and ensure there is physical distancing," said Sripad Bhat. The Karnataka High Court has now asked the state government to submit a report about restarting the Vidyagama scheme on Thursday and a decision will be taken based on the High Court's decision.
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Ground report: 37 days in, why Toyota Kirloskar workers in Bidadi continue to protest
Nearly 3,500 workers have been protesting at the Toyota Kirloskar Motors Bidadi plant for the past 37 days.
“Kaarmikarannu gulaamaragi noduva Toyota management ge dikkaaara, dikkaaara!” (Down down to Toyota management which sees its workers as slaves) echoes through the streets outside Toyota Kirloskar Motors (TKM) manufacturing unit in Bidadi, Karnataka as a sea of employees are gathered, all holding up umbrellas, sloganeering against the company. It is day 33 since a lockout was declared by the administration of the plant, with 60 employees being suspended so far. The pandals installed by the protesting workers because of the harsh afternoon sun were suddenly removed on a day they decided to visit Bengaluru to support the farmer protest. But the workers, part of the Toyota Kirloskar Motor Employees Union (TKMEU), have no intentions of backing down. They are now sitting in protest with umbrellas. Of Toyota Kirloskar’s total staff at Bidadi of nearly 6,000, around 3,500 are part of the union and a majority of them are still protesting. As of writing, the protests entered day 37. Locked out The lockout was first declared on November 9, after a group of employees gathered to talk to the management about issues they have been facing at work. “We gathered during lunch to try and talk to the management. But they stopped the second shift and announced a holiday because we gathered in front of the office. We were asking for the management to come out and discuss with us, but they didn’t come. Around 2,000 of us sat in the company overnight in protest. On November 10, they announced the lockout,” says Chandan, one of the office members of the union. The trigger for the protest, according to him, was that one union member approached the management to voice issues, but false allegations were purportedly foisted on him and he was suspended. The lockout was briefly lifted after the state’s labour department intervened, and the government instructed the management not to ask employees to sign an undertaking. However, according to Chandan, employees were asked to sign an undertaking that stated that they will do whatever the management says in order to maintain peace. Some employees returned to work, but the lockout was reimposed in a few days. TKMEU workers protesting at Bidadi before their pandals were taken down 'Excess workload, no bathroom breaks' Workers allege that while there have been issues of harassment at the workplace for a while now, the company is using the COVID-19 pandemic to increase their workload significantly. TKM’s Bidadi plant produces Innova, Camry, Fortuner and Yaris. Until November, the plant was churning out 300 cars a day in two shifts of 150 each. TKM allegedly wanted to raise the number to 360. TKMEU says that earlier if it took 3 minutes to assemble an Innova, they now had to do it within 2.5 minutes. This increase in workload came with no additional manpower, pay, and had to be done within regular working hours. This increase in workload, the union alleges, was unscientific and illegal and was put in place without enough technical study. “If any defects happen because of this, workers will be impacted. They will issue a notice and then cut our salary. This puts a lot of pressure on us, and will eventually make us leave,” Prasanna Kumar, the president of TKMEU, says. Workers allege that they are made to work without even being allowed bathroom breaks or time to drink water. If a worker has stepped away from the assembly line for even a minute, their salary was cut. They are also subject to disciplinary action, according to the union. Making matters worse, workers were paid a limited amount for their work between November 1-9 and have not been paid since. According to Chandan, the company called the strike unlawful and cut the salary for eight days, putting employees in financial difficulty with bills to pay and households to run. Another allegation made by employees and workers is that the company has been pushing for those in the company to opt for a voluntary separation scheme (VSS), in order to be replaced with contract workers. This way, employees allege, all the company has to give is the severance amount. According to TKMEU, over 1,000 employees have left in the last two-and-a-half years, and in the last month, 150 people have left the company by way of VSS. A history of dissent Lockouts are hardly new to the auto world, and it’s not new to TKM either. In fact, for this very plant, there have been multiple protests and lockouts since it came up in 1997, one of which led to the formation of TKMEU in 2001. The last lockout was in 2014 when workers demanded a hike in pay. What is unusual this time, however, is the lockout being prolonged for as long as it has, and there being no dialogue between the union and the company. While the suspension of the employee is what precipitated the current strike, the underlying issue did not start now, and at its core lies the Toyota Production System, followed globally by the company. In 2016, TKM and TKMEU signed an agreement for working hours and working days for the years going up to 2019, and the same continues into 2020. The union, however, says that this does not prescribe work norms or workload. According to Toyota, Toyota Production System is a "lean manufacturing system," or a "Just-in-Time (JIT) system". The idea is to make vehicles in the quickest and most efficient way, in order to deliver the vehicles as swiftly as possible. Toyota describes the process as follows: “The Toyota Production System (TPS) was established based on two concepts: ‘jidoka’ (which can be loosely translated as "automation with a human touch"), as when a problem occurs, the equipment stops immediately, preventing defective products from being produced; and the ‘Just-in-Time’ concept, in which each process produces only what is needed for the next process in a continuous flow.” Sobin George, assistant professor at the Centre for Study of Social Change and Development (CSSCD), pointed out in the Economic and Political Weekly back in 2014 that an important aspect of the system is the element of labour control, which takes every single movement of workers into account. This system, he wrote, also disciplines labour, subverts the agency of workers and intensifies work. “These ‘value-added/subtracted movements’ of workers also constitute an indicator in their performance appraisal by their supervisor. The lower performance points could lead to punitive actions like reduction of a salary and even to termination of jobs on the grounds of “non-performance”,” the article reads. This is also similar to what workers are now accusing TKM of. The work culture, they allege, will become worse with the new system. “The company is trying to fix work in milliseconds. It’s almost impossible. It’s inhuman. They don’t even allow us to drink water,” employees union president, Prasanna Kumar adds. The union says that several employees are now suffering from leg pain, back pain, neck pain, varicose veins, and other health issues because of their job at TKM. In addition, they allege that they are often denied leave even when it's a serious health issue or a death in the family and are made to go on unpaid leave. Managing production At present, the assembly lines at the Bidadi plant have been manufacturing a fraction of the cars they used to — around 80 cars per day as opposed to the usual 300. TKM resumed production earlier in December with supervisory and other staff and workers who signed the undertaking. This, Toyota said was “in keeping with the larger goal of maintaining business continuity and catering to the market demand”. The strike is now on day 36, but the blow to TKM may not be as hard, allowing it to drag out this lockout. TKM has an alliance with Maruti Suzuki India, as part of which TKM sells Maruti Suzuki’s Baleno and Brezza models under its Glanza and Urban Cruiser brands. These two brands alone reportedly account for around 50% of TKM’s sales and are produced at Suzuki Motor Corp’s and Maruti Suzuki India’s plants in Gujarat and Haryana. Even with a protracted lockout, 50% of the auto company’s volumes continue to remain safe at these units. The production of Innova Crysta, which reportedly accounts for 36% of the company’s sales and is its largest selling model, is limited. In the numbers reported this month, Toyota posted numbers of dispatching 8,508 units in November to dealers. 9,072 of its cars were registered, with the company having a 3.12% market share. Stalemate TKM maintains that the protest is illegal and unlawful, while workers continue to question their right to dissent. “We wanted to tell them that they shouldn't take our freedom and rights away, but the company decided to go for a lockout and remove the workers without any government permission. We protested against the lockout decision and asked for it to be lifted. We were told protesting in front of the company factory is wrong. We have written to everyone — ministers, labour department, etc and yet, we are still outside in the streets and we are facing charges that are non-existent,” Pradeep N, VP of TKMEU says. When TNM visited the protest site, workers said they were willing to get back to work but wanted a tripartite meeting — with TKM’s management and the government. The state government too has tried to resolve the stalemate. Soon after the lockout was reimposed, a delegation of TKM, led by Vikram Kirloskar said that it met with Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa and other government officials. In a statement, it had said that it had the full and 'unrelenting' support of the government. On Tuesday, Karnataka Labour Commissioner Akram Pasha met with the workers and had the management of the company individually. He told Moneycontrol that the strike and lockout were illegal, but no resolution was reached. TKMEU president Prasanna told TNM that there was no resolution yet, and that the protest will continue till the workers are able to talk with the management. Toyota Kirloskar’s stand Meanwhile, TKM has said that it initiated disciplinary action against one member, followed by 39 others who it claims were involved in a series of disruptions that violated the company rules, and had decided to place them under ‘Suspension Pending Enquiry’ (SPE) on November 6 and 12 respectively. It then initiated similar action against 30 more members on December 3. TKM maintained that it had to declare a lockout as the sit-in strike was “illegal” and was called to protest one of the employees suspended pending enquiry. “As a part of the ‘sit-in strike’, the team members had unlawfully stayed in the company premises and had compromised COVID-19 guidelines, thereby leading to a potentially volatile situation at the factory. This led TKM authorities to declare a lock-out for unionised employees at its plant in Bidadi, bearing in mind the safety & well-being of its employees,” it said. In its statement, TKM said that employees being suspended pending enquiry was “neither a punishment nor a loss of job but a standard legal measure to ensure free and fair enquiry of the misconduct of an employee by a third party enquiry officer.” It maintained that it was working to sustain plant operations and protect the interest of employees. Watch: Toyota workers’ strike in Bidadi enters 36th day, no resolution in sight Toyota workers’ strike in Bidadi enters 36th day, no resolution in sight Posted by TheNewsMinute on Monday, December 14, 2020
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Video: Massive ruckus in Karnataka Legislative Council, Deputy Speaker manhandled
The drama began over a no-confidence motion against Chairman of Legislative Council, Prathap Chandra Shetty.
Karnataka Legislative Council
Just minutes after the Karnataka Legislative Council reconvened on Tuesday morning, ruckus broke out with Congress legislators objecting to Deputy Speaker SL Dharmegowda taking the Chair. When Congress legislators manhandled Dharmegowda of the JD(S), the marshals were summoned to intervene. However, BJP MLCs then tried to pull the Deputy Speaker back into his chair amidst the commotion. The Council has now been adjourned sine die. The drama began over a no-confidence motion against Chairman of the Legislative Council Prathap Chandra Shetty, who belongs to the Congress. Congress MLCs alleged that the Deputy Chairman forcibly occupied the chair after locking Prathap Chandra Shetty out. In the visuals, Congress MLCs Naseer Ahmed and Narayana Swamy are seen pulling the Deputy Speaker out of his chair. While Dharmegowda is seen resisting, BJP MLCs are seen pulling him back into the chair. Over a dozen marshals are visible, attempting to restore order and protect the Deputy Speaker. The Council was reconvened on December 15 after the Yediyurappa government petitioned the Governor that important Bills needed to be passed in the Council. The contentious Karnataka Prevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Bill, 2020, that was passed in the Assembly was among those which were to be tabled. The Council was also expected to take up the no-confidence motion the BJP has moved against Chairman Shetty as the ruling party commands a majority in the 75-member Upper House. BJP's leader in the Council Kota Srinivas Poojary requested Shetty to move the motion against him on December 11. Instead, Shetty adjourned the House on December 10 after declining to allow the motion, as it required a 14-day prior notice. "In our view, as the Council chairman (Shetty) does not enjoy the confidence of the House. He cannot adjourn the session abruptly when a motion against him and important Bills have to be passed," Poojary had told IANS. K Prathap Chandra Shetty was elected Chairman of the Legislative Council in November 2018 during the tenure of the 14-month JD(S)-Congress coalition government. Deputy Chairman SL Dharmegowda, who was with the JD(S), was elected in December 2018.
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