Even lockdown didn’t save Bengaluru from traffic woes: Sixth most congested in world

Transport

Only Mumbai in India fared worse according to the TomTom Traffic Index 2020 released on Wednesday.

TNM Staff

Representational image/PTI

Bengaluru has yet again made it to the not-so-enviable list of the world's most congested cities, despite days of continuous stringent lockdown. The TomTom Traffic Index 2020 released on Wednesday said that Bengaluru has the world’s the sixth-worst and India’s second-worst city in terms of traffic. Mumbai is the second-worst in the world, according to this list preceded by Moscow and followed by Bogota, Manila and Istanbul.  Among the 416 cities spread across 57 countries, India capital New Delhi fares slightly better at the eighth position in the pandemic year. However, thanks to the COVID-19 induced lockdown, there has been an improvement of 20% from 2019. In 2019, the same index had found Bengaluru to be the worst among 416 cities. Following the global trend of decreasing congestion, Bengaluru too saw a dip of traffic jams by 20%. Incidentally, the report said that while the dip was 35% in the morning, it was slightly lower at 32% in the evening. There were 147 days of low traffic with April being the least congested and January being the most congested month. While congestion levels in Bengaluru were 70% for January and February, it dropped to 50% in March as the city was put under lockdown. The monthly congestion level saw a major dip in April and saw a steady increase since July as lockdown regulations were eased. The data for the index is generated through 600 million connected devices which the company says is an authoritative indicator of people movement, economic activity levels, among other activities. Ralf-Peter Schäfer, TomTom’s Vice President of Traffic and Travel, said, “Last year, we announced that global congestion levels in 2019 had increased for the ninth consecutive Traffic Index. In 2020, we saw a vastly different picture. From lockdowns to closed borders, people movement changed – and it changed very fast.” You can check the interactive index here.  

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Karnataka to increase property tax in urban areas, excluding Bengaluru

Tax

Recently, a 2% transport cess was levied on property tax for Bengalureans.

TNM Staff

Representational image

The Karnataka Cabinet on Wednesday decided that property taxes across all municipalities except Bengaluru will be hiked. This was done with the Cabinet, led by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, deciding to tweak the  Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976. It may be recalled that Bengaluru, which was earlier under the purview of  Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act, 1976, is now governed by the recently passed Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike Bill, 2020. Reports said that currently, all residential and commercial property in the state are being taxed between 0.3% and 1% of the guidance value and the Cabinet has decided to hike it up to 0.5% and 1.5 %. While 50% of the guidance value of the property is considered capital value for tax calculation now, reports suggested that now it will be changed to 25% of guidance value. Further, vacant sites which are now exempt from property tax will be subjected to property tax with these new changes.  Speaking on this, Law and Parliamentary Minister JC Madhuswamy, said that these changes in the state’s tax structure have been done according to the Union government’s guidelines. By making this change, he said the state government will be able to borrow another 0.25% of the state’s gross domestic product. He also added that union government guidelines have also suggested that the user fee of the properties be also hiked. But the state government is not going to change that for the time being. This decision by the state government comes after it had recently approved a 2% ‘road transport cess’ on their property tax in Bengaluru.  In other decisions taken in the cabinet meeting, Rs 5 crore will be spent to deal with a severe shortage of police quarters. A 325-ft bronze statue of Basaveshwara will also come up in Chitradurga district in n Murugharajendra Mutt.

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Biden’s Covid board in the dark on final vaccine plan

On the eve of Biden's vaccine rollout, board members of his Covid-19 response team are largely in the dark about the plan’s details, according to three people familiar.

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Officials: Trump's promised $200 drug-discount cards won't happen

"It would take days to get all the sign-offs we still need, plus the time to print the letters and make the cards," said one official, who noted Inauguration Day is only three business days away.

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Johnson & Johnson vaccine hits production snags

The company could seek emergency authorization from FDA this month, but supplies may be thin at first.

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Rebellion within Karnataka BJP: Why Yediyurappa cannot please everyone

Politics

Several BJP leaders have openly expressed their disillusionment in not being given ministerial berths, giving rise to speculation of a rebellion within the party.

Theja Ram

PTI

Yet another cabinet expansion in Karnataka and yet again, legislators who missed the bus crying foul, making accusatory statements against the Chief Minister. This routine has been almost normalised in Karnataka over many years, particularly since Yediyurappa came back to power for the second time. But Yediyurappa has the impossible task of pleasing all in his party, something most Chief Ministers face but he in particular has been plagued with.  First among several leaders to criticise Yediyurappa was Bommanahalli BJP MLA Satish Reddy. In a tweet, he said, “What is the criteria for selecting candidates who are eligible for ministerial berths? Did you (referring to Yediyurappa) not find any young leaders from our party and the state to induct into the cabinet? We are experiencing the loss of Ananth Kumar (late Bengaluru South MP), more so now, as he used to take our concerns into account.”  Speaking to TNM, Satish Reddy said, “Our concern was that young people should have been given an opportunity to become ministers. This is the first time five MLCs have been made ministers. These people did not win elections like many young leaders did,” he said. Soon after Satish Reddy’s statement caused a stir, several other leaders openly criticised Yediyurappa for his decision to keep them out of the cabinet.  Satish Reddy opens can of worms BJP MLC AH Vishwanath said he was “extremely hurt” by Yediyurappa’s decision to keep him out of the cabinet. He also openly questioned why CP Yogeeshwar was given a ministerial berth. “They said Munirathna (Rajarajeshwari Nagar MLA) had criminal cases against him. Does CP Yogeeshwar not have criminal cases against him? He is a cheater. He has cheated so many people in real estate. Were you stuck because of blackmail?” AH Vishwanath said while adding that the cabinet is imbalanced and heavily in favour of the Lingayat community. He noted that the cabinet has 13 leaders from the Verashaiva-Lingayat community and accused Yediyurappa of “forgetting” leaders from the Dalit, Adivasi, OBC and Minority communities. Bijapur City MLA Basangouda Patil Yatnal said that the decision to keep party loyalists out of the cabinet marked “the end” to Yediyurappa’s political career. “Mark my words now. This will be the end of Yediyurappa and his son Vijayendra. They have been going around saying they have the support of the Lingayat community. This is a state where there is no opposition. We all know what agreements have been made. Yediyurappa’s friends are Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar and KJ George. The opposition has collapsed,” Basangouda Patil Yatnal said.  He criticised Yediyurappa’s decision to recommend Bilgi MLA Murgesh Nirani’s name to the list of candidates eligible for the cabinet expansion. Basangouda Yatnal recalled the incident in 2020, where Murugesh Nirani had forwarded a meme that criticised Hindu gods and said that an “anti-Hindu leader” was prioritised. It is to be noted that Murugesh Nirani had issued an apology, stating that he had forwarded the picture without seeing its content, by “assuming” it was a devotional message.  “What was the need to give a ministerial berth to a person who criticised Hindu gods? If such people are being given ministerial berths, then it is clear that it is the beginning of the downfall for Yediyurappa,” he said.  Among the other disgruntled leaders are Yediyurappa’s political advisor and Honnali legislator Renukacharya, Ballari MLA G Somashekara Reddy and Harappanahalli MLA Karunakar Reddy, while the leaders did not express their concerns openly, they said that they were unhappy about not being inducted into the cabinet.  Catch 22 for Yediyurappa Disillusionment is not new to political leaders who have missed opportunities to become ministers but in Karnataka’s case, such open rebellions have more often than not resulted in resort politics and coups that have dislodged governments. While the rift between the newly-inducted leaders, who were previously with the Congress and JD(S), and the party old-timers is not new, the new spurt of rebellion has brought back one crucial observation: That Yediyurappa cannot please everyone.  The Karnataka cabinet has 33 seats including that of the Chief Minister. Legislators compete for these berths and while there may be several experienced politicians in the BJP, who were aspirants, one crucial element, to the party coming to power, became a deterrent to the decisions taken in appointing ministers to the cabinet.  In August 2019, when Yediyurappa announced a list of cabinet ministers, there seemed to be a perceived consensus within the party that the 17 rebels would be given ministerial berths as they were responsible for bringing down the Congress-JD(S) coalition. While 15 of the 17 rebels have been giving ministerial berths, this limited the opportunities for indigenous BJP leaders. The rift within the party began developing when Yediyurappa chose to keep his promises, which angered the party loyalists, who felt they were not rewarded for their hard work. With the number of berths being limited, Yediyurappa faced pushback from his own coterie including Umesh Katti and Murugesh Nirani.  When the internal rift began growing in 2020, several leaders including Basangouda Patil Yatnal had stated that Yediyurappa’s son Vijayendra is the “Super CM”, and that the Chief Minister was only interested in safeguarding the political careers of his family members. A faction of BJP leaders had turned against Yediyurappa, who was pushed into a situation of safeguarding his own interests. In order to quell the rebellion, Yediyurappa had to ensure that the 17 former Congress and JD(S) leaders were loyal to him alone. And thereby he began lobbying for ministerial berths to favour his interests. Yediyurappa had to compromise by letting go of his promises to RR Nagar MLA Munirathna Naidu and MLC AH Vishwanath and make way for leaders like CP Yogeeshwar and S Anagara, as party loyalists too had to find a place in the cabinet. With BJP leaders looking for a replacement for the 77-year-old Yediyurappa, he also had the task of ensuring that he had the full support of the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community and thereby appointed 13 leaders from the community into his cabinet.  The issue of cabinet expansion has put Yediyurappa in a catch 22 situation. If Yediyurappa had not kept his promises to the 17 newly-inducted leaders, sources said that they could have rebelled again and Yediyurappa would have lost the loyalty he tried to gain from a huge chunk of MLAs in the party. On the other hand, not prioritising the party loyalists has now roused an open rebellion. The larger question is: Will the party quell it or are resort politics on the cards once again?

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Karnataka: First arrest made in Sringeri under new anti-cattle slaughter law

Law and order

Abhidali, the driver of the vehicle with 12-15 cattle on-board was reportedly assaulted and sustained a fracture on his arm.

Prajwal Bhat

The first arrest under the new anti-cattle slaughter law in Karnataka was made by police officials in Sringeri in Chikkamagaluru district of Karnataka. The police arrested Abhidali, the driver of a Tata Eicher vehicle going from Davangere to Mangaluru via Sringeri. A first information report was registered against Abhidali after he was found by a police official on the morning of January 8 transporting 12-15 cattle in his vehicle.  A police official who was posted at the Begar check post for night duty was travelling back to Sringeri after finishing his shift at 7:00 am. Around 7:15 am, he reportedly saw Abhidali and his vehicle stopped on the road and checked on him. Abhidali told the police that four unknown persons in a Maruti car had stopped his vehicle and attacked him. The complaint copy also states that another truck with around 15 cows was accompanying the one driven by Abhidali. When they were stopped on the side of the road by a group of four people, the driver and cleaner in the other truck ran away. Soon after, the vigilantes who stopped the trucks assaulted Abhidali and injured him. Abhidali was taken to the Sringeri government hospital in an ambulance. The police official who stopped him found that there were 12-15 cattle in the vehicle and informed the inspector of the Sringeri police station about this. A case was registered against Abhidali under the new anti-cattle slaughter law passed in Karnataka and he was arrested. The driver and the cleaner in the other vehicle is still absconding.  Even though the FIR against Abhidali uploaded online showed that he was charged under the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964, Chikkamagaluru SP Hakay Akshay Machindra confirmed to TNM that he was charged under the new act promulgated earlier this month. Abhidali and the absconding driver and cleaner duo were charged under the new anti-cow slaughter law in two separate cases.  A third FIR was registered against the unknown persons who stopped the vehicles transporting cows and attacked the drivers. They were charged with assaulting the drivers. One of the aspects of the new anti-cattle slaughter law is that it protects “persons acting in good faith” to prevent cow slaughter from legal action however Sringeri police told TNM that in this case, an FIR was registered against the persons who stopped the vehicles with cows in it. They also confirmed that Abhidali was assaulted and sustained a fracture on his arm. Under the recently promulgated anti-cattle slaughter law in Karnataka, slaughtering of nearly all cattle - cow, calf of cow, bull, bullock - is illegal. According to the law, only male or female buffalo above the age of 13 can be slaughtered, but cows, calf of a cow, bull, bullock are prohibited from slaughter. This has also meant that beef meat will be unavailable in the state and only buffalo meat from buffaloes above 13 years of age can be sold.  The previous 1964 act had banned the slaughter of cows and calf of she-buffalo. However, the older law had permitted bull, bullock, buffalo (male or female) to be slaughtered if the animal was above 12 years of age, or if it was incapacitated for breeding, draught or not giving milk due to injury, deformity or any other cause. The new law states that the penalty for any other slaughter will range from Rs 50,000 to Rs 10 lakh per animal and three to seven years’ imprisonment. It also gives the police power to search and seize on the basis of “reason to believe” that cattle is being sold, purchased or disposed of for the purpose of slaughter.

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