Massive rally in Bengaluru by Kuruba community members seeking ST tag

Politics

Former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah, who is also from the Kuruba community, did not attend the rally.

TNM Staff

 A massive rally was held by members of the Kuruba community in Bengaluru on Sunday highlighting their demand for a Scheduled Tribe (ST) tag. The rally began at the Bengaluru International Exhibition Centre in the outskirts of the city on Tumakuru Road and it was attended by thousands of people. The rally was led by a number of seers including Niranjanandapuri Swami of Kaginele Gurupeetha, Eshwarananda Swami and it was also attended by political leaders cutting across party lines like R Shankar, MTB Nagaraju, KS Eshwarappa, AH Vishwanath, Bandeppa Kashempur. Kuruba ST Horata Samiti president K Virupakshappa was also present at the rally. But former Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Siddaramaiah did not attend the rally. The absence of the senior leader raised questions about his stance on the protest. The seers and political leaders urged the Union government to include Kurubas in the ST list. Before this, religious leaders had held a padayatra from Kaginele to Bengaluru, a distance of 340 km from January 15 to February 4. The crowd disrupted the traffic on the Mumbai-Chennai national highway and traffic police stated that many people who took part in the rally had parked their vehicles on the road, adding to the problems of commuters.  The rally comes at a time when members of the Vokkaliga community and the Panchamasali community are also seeking reservation from the state government. The Karnataka government on Friday referred the demands of the Panchamasali community to the Karnataka Backward Class commission in a bid to contain their anger.   

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/3p1acro
via IFTTT

Bengaluru riots case: Prime accused former Corporator Zakir granted bail

Bengaluru riots case

Abdul Rakeeb Zakir is named one of the accused in the DJ Halli violence case, in the interim report by the CCB.

TNM Staff

Facebook

The Karnataka High Court granted bail to former Pulaleshinagar Corporator Abdul Rakeeb Zakir on Friday, February 6, in the Bengaluru riots case that took place in August 2020. The former Congress leader was named as an accused in the interim chargesheet by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on October 12, 2020.  Zakir had approached the High Court after the trial court denied him bail. In his bail application, Zakir had argued that he was not involved in an arson attack on Pulakeshinagar MLA Akhanda Srinivas Murthy's house. Justice John Micheal Cunha, who was hearing his case, granted him conditional bail. Zakir was ordered to not only co-operate with the investigation but also was barred from leaving the court’s jurisdiction without prior permission. Zakir, who was absconding since October, was arrested by the Central Crime Branch of Bengaluru Police on December 2, 2020. He was the one of the prime accused in the DJ Halli and KJ Halli violence case that took place on August 11, 2020, over a controversial social media post put up by Naveen P, the nephew of Srinivas Murthy. Zakir was produced before a Magistrate and the CCB sought police custody for interrogation. A crowd of at least 2,000 people, reportedly enraged over a post derogatory to the Muslim community, had set the MLA and his sister’s house ablaze. The incident left four people dead and over 60 police personnel injured. the state’s Revenue Minister R Ashoka had claimed that the mob had all the materials to incite violence and had reportedly planned to move to Shivajinagar. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) started investigating the case following orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs. NIA reportedly found airguns, pellets, sharp weapons and many Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI)-related incriminating documents from their Bengaluru base. The NIA also arrested members of the SDPI and PFI in connection with the case. Along with Zakir, former Mayor Sampath Raj is also a prime accused in the case and was arrested by the CCB. His arrest had led to Zakir’s arrest. The two of them were in hiding at Nagarhole.

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/3aMFWM3
via IFTTT

Pro-Kannada outfits damage Tamil posters for Sasikala outside Bengaluru resort

Protest

The posters in Tamil were vandalised on Sunday night, just hours ahead of VK Sasikala’s departure to Chennai.

TNM Staff

PTI

Members of various pro-Kannada organisations on Sunday removed the signboards of VK Sasikala, which were put up outside the resort in Bengaluru where she was quarantined after her release from the jail. The posters were in Tamil, which reportedly prompted the activists to vandalise it.  Sasikala, who was the close aide of former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, was released from the Parappana Agrahara jail in Bengaluru on January 27. She was convicted in the disproportionate asset case. She was receiving treatment in hospital for COVID-19 but deferred her return until she finished her quarantine in Bengaluru. She is on her way to Chennai. In a video posted on Twitter, the pro-Kannada activists can be seen chanting praises for Kannada, demanding that Kannada should be mandatorily spoken in the state. The activists vandalised and took down the posters while chanting, “Beku beku, Kannada beku (we want Kannada to be spoken).”   Pro Kannada organizations take down posters of Sasikala in front of the resort where she's put up in Bangalore. Posters were in Tamil. @IndiaToday pic.twitter.com/lmzLh9iEly — Nagarjun Dwarakanath (@nagarjund) February 7, 2021   Members of different pro-Kannada outfits, wearing yellow-red scarves, reportedly turned up outside the resort on Sunday night, just ahead of Sasikala’s departure to Chennai on Monday morning. Identities of the groups involved are not known. "She came out of jail after sentence and staying here. But putting Tamil boards here when she's about to go back today is wrong," a protester told ANI.    Karnataka: Pro-Kannada organisation members removed Tamil signboards near resort where AIADMK leader Sasikala is staying, in Bengaluru "She came out of jail after sentence & staying here. But putting Tamil boards here when she's about to go back today is wrong," says a protester pic.twitter.com/5pVqzQ5219 — ANI (@ANI) February 8, 2021   Recently, a pro-Kannada group had gathered outside the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce (KFCC) in Bengaluru, demanding that no other language films should release in Karnataka because Darshan’s film Roberrt was facing release issue in Andhra Pradesh. In another incident, a few pro-Kannada activists, including Vatal Nagaraj, had staged a protest at Mysore Bank Circle against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s tweet, where he said that his government will incorporate Marathi-speaking areas of Karnataka into Maharashtra. Pro-Marathi activists had entered Belagavi with their respective flags on Thursday. In retaliation, the pro-Kannada activists took off to Maharashtra’s Shinoli town at the border to hoist a Kannada flag. The activists, who were planning to plant Karnataka’s flag at Shinoli, were taken into custody by the Belagavi police.

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/39ZkS5L
via IFTTT

South Africa suspends AstraZeneca vaccine drive

“The AstraZeneca vaccine appeared effective against the original strain, but not against the variant,” an official said.

from Health Care https://ift.tt/3aCX3Qk
via IFTTT

Fauci looking ahead to more vaccines in March, April

The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases says the current supply shortage will be overcome.

from Health Care https://ift.tt/2MHn7BS
via IFTTT

Joe Biden’s ready to sell America on Covid vaccines. There’s just one problem.

Administration officials are wary of launching a promised campaign promoting vaccination while doses are still in limited supply.

from Health Care https://ift.tt/3tBYCXi
via IFTTT

Bengaluru citizens launch campaign to highlight shoddy state of footpaths

Civic

'Eega Footpath Nammade' (Now footpath is ours) campaigners walked in Sheshadripuram highlighting dug up roads, dumping of debris and indiscriminate parking of vehicles.

TNM Staff

Launching a campaign for better footpaths in Bengaluru, a group of residents in the city's Seshadripuram area held a 1.6 km loop walk negotiating the pits dug up and left open, dumping of debris and indiscriminate parking of vehicles on footpaths along the way. The walk was held from Seshadripuram Main Road to Mantri Mall and back on Saturday evening and it was attended by residents who called for measures to be taken for the safety of pedestrians. It was coordinated by Citizens for Bengaluru, a civic organisation working for citizen's rights.  One of the main assurances sought by these residents is the appointment of pedestrian safety commissioners at the zonal and city levels, who should be tasked with monthly coordination meetings with all parastatals and traffic police. The residents highlighted Bengaluru's dubious record of highest pedestrian fatalities (272) in 2019 as per National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data. "The public resource of  footpaths/roads have multiple stakeholders, all of whom are allowed to dig/dump simultaneously, without coordination but no owner whose responsibility the roads and footpaths are. Appointment of these Pedestrian Safety Special Commissioners signals that the government is serious about reducing road kills of Bengalureans and also proves a platform for local citizen input from Ward Committees to be rolled up," Tara Krishnaswamy, Co-founder, Citizens for Bengaluru said. "While coordination between agencies won’t solve all footpath problems overnight , we can be certain that lack of coordination is only costing our lives and limbs. It behooves agencies to synchronize their plans and implantation with each other at the zonal level so as to be effective," she added. Other residents also echoed Tara's calls for fresh measures to ensure civic bodies like BBMP, BESCOM and BWSSB, which are in charge of basic amenities in Bengaluru, are working in sync. "Safe, convenient, blockage free footpaths are a must for a city especially for a fast growing city like Bengaluru...all govt agencies like BBMP, BESCOM, BWSSB involved in civic activities on the roads and footpaths should coordinate with each other...After all lives and limbs of pedestrians matter," Chitra Venkatesh of Kumara Park Resident Welfare Association said.  Actor Sruthi Hariharan also took part in the event. She said, “I used to walk to school entirely on the footpath, now it is impossible. I joined this campaign with  citizens  to ask the government to take responsibility for pedestrian safety  and ensure coordination and ownership among agencies.”  Differently abled sports person Venkatesh Ethiraj also took part at the event.

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/3aWrfpV
via IFTTT