Mallikarjun Kharge: The man who has held several posts, but could not be Karnataka CM

Politics

Mallikarjun M Kharge will take over from outgoing MP Ghulam Nabi Azad as Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.

Naheed Ataulla

File photo

At the age of seven, he had to flee from his village Varavatti in Bhalki taluk of Bidar district in Karnataka with his father, as a result of the atrocities committed by the private army of the Nizam of Hyderabad. As a little boy, he was returning home from the field where his father was an agricultural labourer, when he saw his house on fire. He lost his mother and sister in the tragic accident. Newly-appointed Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Mallikarjun M Kharge's life has been one of struggle, and his climb in politics was on the foundation of “loyalty and sincerity” to the Gandhi family and Congress, from former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi to AICC president Sonia Gandhi. The go-to-man of the Congress party during crises, Kharge comes across as one who can stonewall information, has a wry sense of humour and one known to not breach confidences. Sharing the political limelight with late former Chief Minister N Dharam Singh as the two Congress giants or “political twins” from Hyderabad-Karnataka district, Kharge has been a Chief Minister in-waiting every time a Congress government came to power in Karnataka after the mid-80s, but only ended up holding key portfolios in all Congress ruled regimes from D Devaraj's tenure instead. In 2004, he missed the post and Singh bagged it under the Congress-JD(S) alliance as the latter was considered appropriate for a coalition government. But Kharge's biggest disappointment in missing the post was in 2013, when the party decided to have an election for the Congress Legislature Party leader as there were too many heavyweights vying for it and Siddaramaiah emerged the winner. According to political observers, Kharge's political growth in Karnataka as a Congressman representing the Scheduled Castes was not smooth as politics in the state is dominated by the Lingayats and Vokkaligas. But the spirit to take on his rivals was evident when he was the legal advisor to MSK mills in Kalaburagi and trade union leader of Samyukta Mazdoor Sangh in 1969, also the year he joined the Congress and headed the party's Kalaburagi city unit. Gurmitkal, a reserved constituency in Kalaburagi district, gave Kharge his entry into electoral politics in 1972, which he represented successively till 2008, when Karnataka went in for delimitation of constituencies and many political stalwarts lost their Assembly segments. A teary Kharge bid farewell to Gurmitkal which became unreserved and opted for Chitapur, a constituency now represented by his son and former minister Priyank Kharge. In 2009, the Congress high command was looking for “winnable” candidates for the Lok Sabha polls as the BJP was consolidating its position in Karnataka and both Kharge and Singh were given tickets from Kalaburagi and Bidar respectively. His title of “Solillada Saradara (leader without a defeat) having won nine Assembly elections and two Lok Sabha polls slipped, when he lost the Kalaburagi Parliamentary seat in 2019. Dissidence among local Congress leaders who were upset over Kharge promoting his son and inducting him into the Siddaramaiah cabinet was said to be the reason with his close confidantes like Mallikaiah V Guttedar, Baburao Chinchansur and present BJP MP from Kalaburagi Umesh V Jadhav deserting him. But his role as floor leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2014 to 2019 brought him closer to the Gandhis and he was given the responsibility of Maharashtra in 2018. It surprised many as Kharge was then the floor leader and also heading the Public Accounts Committee. While some in the state Congress maintain that Kharge got the posts and postions due to his seniority and being a Dalit, the other view is that his loyalty to the party and the Gandhi family, who are sticklers for the two traits, earned him the rewards. His son Priyank attributed his father's “quest for equity, no compromise on ideology and always punching above his weight” for getting him where he is today.

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Why is the Karnataka govt strengthening the caste system through its Brahmin board?

Culture

The Brahmin board’s incentivising of marriage within caste is in direct contradiction to the state’s policy to promote inter-caste marriages.

Prajwal Bhat

Image for representation

In January 2021, the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board, set up by the BS Yediyurappa-led Karnataka government, announced two schemes to provide monetary benefits to poor Brahmin women marrying within their community. The first scheme Arundathi, will provide Rs 25,000 to Brahmin brides, and the second scheme Maitreyi, will assure a bond of Rs 3 lakh to Brahmin women who marry priests in the state. With these schemes, the state is officially promoting the caste system and controlling women’s sexuality, say activists and legal experts. Neither is desirable for a society that has widespread caste and gender discrimination, they add. Plus, the Brahmin board’s actions are in direct contradiction to the state’s other policies to promote inter-caste marriages and widow re-marriage.  The Brahmin board is similar to boards of around 20 other castes in Karnataka formed to appease particular communities. It was set up after the Union government introduced reservations for economically weaker upper castes in 2019. These boards have a variety of schemes to give financial assistance to the economically weaker sections in their community. For example, one scheme under the Thanda Development Board set up for the Banjara community provides financial aid to women self-help groups. There are other schemes to aid people to purchase land, gain employment and set up businesses.  But unlike other boards, the Brahmin board announced two schemes that encourage marriage within the community. Even the Arya Vysya board, another one set up for an upper caste, does not have a scheme incentivising marriage. “It is only the Brahmin board that incentivises marrying within the community. If you look at the schemes under other boards, they do not discuss marriage,” says R Siddaraju, a Dalit rights activist working with National Dalit Movement for Justice. TNM contacted officials in at least five boards including the Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation; D Devaraj Urs Backward Classes Development Corporation; and the Dr BR Ambedkar Development Corporation. The officials stated that there are no schemes under their purview that give financial aid for couples of the same caste. In most cases, the officials pointed to the Karnataka government’s own Social Welfare Department which incentivises inter-caste marriage. Couples who marry outside their caste bracket and earn less than Rs 5 lakh annually will be able to apply for the inter-caste marriage scheme. “Inter-caste marriage incentive is given to SC individuals residing in the state to reduce casteism and promote a more accepting society,” reads a statement on the Social Welfare Department’s official website. It also has a scheme for intra-caste marriage among couples belonging to different sub castes and whose annual family income is below Rs 2 lakh. Those who wish to apply can go to the taluk office or even apply online.  However, the Brahmin development board’s scheme to incentivise marriage within the same caste has come under criticism. “If the caste system is a virus we are trying to get rid of, then how is it fair that there are schemes by the Brahmin development board that incentivise marrying within the same caste?” asks Dalit rights activist Siddaraju.  His words are echoed by Priyank Kharge, a Congress leader and former Social Welfare Minister in Karnataka. “If you read the Basava philosophy or Dr Ambedkar’s philosophy, you will see that if you really want to do away with the caste system, the one way to do that is inter-caste marriages. This in turn leads to social empowerment,” Priyank Kharge tells TNM. “Is the idea behind the schemes by the Brahmin board tied to self preservation? This question should be posed to the Brahmin board. This is tied to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) ideology,” he added.  Ambedkar in his book Castes in India: Their Mechanism, Genesis and Development establishes endogamy or enforcing marriages within one’s caste as the chief characteristic of caste and traces the origin of endogamy to the origin of caste. He saw inter-caste marriages as one of the means for annihilation of caste.  But among the boards set up in Karnataka, the Brahmin development board seems to be the only one that encourages women in particular to marry within their own caste. The scheme also has conditions stating that it should be the bride’s first marriage and stipulates an undertaking that the couple will remain married for a specific period of time — in essence, batting for caste and patriarchy, say critics. According to HS Sachidananda Murthy, chairman of the board, around 550 women have been identified for the Arundhati scheme. "We will be making calls for applications from February 15. Even among priests, we want to ensure priests who are performing rituals and from economically weaker sections benefit from this," Sachidananda Murthy tells TNM. The conditions were met with criticism from a section of lawyers. “What we're seeing is the efforts of the state to control the sexuality of women and to strengthen the caste system. The biggest threats to the caste-system and the Hindutva agenda is love as the premise for marriage and the choices articulated by women over their own sexualities, and this is what they are aiming to control and curb,” explains advocate Maitreyi Krishnan based in Bengaluru.  She argues that the scheme is trying to attack the idea of love as the premise for marriage. “The scheme does not even recognise love as the premise for marriage, and in fact mandates that the couple has to mandatorily be married for a specific period of time. How can the state determine how long people should stay in a relationship for and when they can separate? We need to see this scheme, along with other efforts being made by the state to curtail love,“ says advocate Maitreyi Krishnan. Read: 'Brahmin brides fund', state enforced endogamy and the criminalisation of love A few boards in Karnataka including the D Devaraj Urs Backward Class Development Corporation,  the Dr B R Ambedkar Development Corporation and the Minority Development Corporation were created decades ago for implementing welfare schemes, but in the last decade, dozens of boards and corporations have come up specifically catering to small communities.  For instance, the BJP notified the creation of the Kadu Golla Development Board just before the bye-elections to the Sira constituency in Tumakuru in November 2020. The Kadu Golla community is the second largest vote bank in the constituency after the dominant Vokkaliga community and according to poll observers, it contributed to BJP’s surprise win in this constituency. Previously, the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had deployed similar tactics, creating the Bhovi Development Corporation and the Thanda Development Corporation for the tribal Banjara group among others.  It was another former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal (Secular) who mooted the creation of the Brahmin Development Board during his tenure before the BJP finally established it when they came to power. But the politics of creating caste based boards has given rise to new power centres — the respective boards for each caste — that influence the daily lives of people, whether it is on matters of finance or on social matters like marriage.  

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Indian woman from Karnataka elected Oxford Student Union President

Education

Rashmi Samant is the first Indian woman to occupy the position of president of the Oxford Student Union.

TNM Staff

LinkedIn

Rashmi Samant won the prestigious position of Oxford Student Union Presidency on Thursday. An alumna of Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE is the first Indian woman to occupy the position of Oxford Student Union President after she received more than the combined votes of the other three candidates for the post. According to the official data present on the web portal of Oxford Student Union, the election saw 4,881 students cast 36,405 votes. Samant received 1966 of the 3708 casts for the position of President, more than all the other candidates combined. Samant contested the election with four main goals that include decolonization and inclusivity, COVID-19 interventions for all, access to quality mental health resources and decarbonizing the university. She further stated that she will also will lobby the removal of statues of those proven to be imperialist, including that of Christopher Codrington, a known slave owner who inherited one of the largest sugar plantations in Barbados in the 17th century, in the University and Conference of colleges. “My major goal is just that I want to make sure that every student, no matter their background and their identity, feels like they belong here,” said Rashmi Samant during her interview before becoming the President-elect. “Reform Oxford is my tagline”, she added.   The graduate student of MSc in energy systems at Linacre College, Oxford University hopes to push for waivers of residency requirements until the World Health Organisation declares the end of the pandemic, urge to increase funding for the mental health strategy at the university and ensure that the Conference of Colleges divest from fossil fuels at the earliest. Hailing from Manipal, Samant completed her schooling and graduation there. “She was known for her leadership skills and spirited nature at the institute. She was the Technical Secretary of the Student Council at MIT, Manipal and helped initiate a number of constructive activities at the institute. Manipal Hackathon, an event to incubate modern digital solutions to the societal challenges were conceived and introduced at MIT primarily because of her efforts,” said a statement issued by Manipal Institute of Technology, MAHE about Samant who studied Mechanical Engineering (2016-2020 batch). 

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Bengaluru riots case: Former Mayor Sampath gets conditional bail

Bengaluru Riots Case

Sampath Raj was arrested in November, and named as the prime accused in the preliminary chargesheet filed by the Central Crime Branch.

TNM Staff

Wikimedia Commons/Mvittal

The Karnataka High Court on Friday granted former Bengaluru Mayor and Congress Leader R Sampath Raj conditional bail. He was arrested for his alleged role in the Bengaluru riots case and was labelled as the prime accused in the preliminary chargesheet filed by the Central Crime Branch (CCB). Justice John Michael Cunha granted bail with conditions that he will have to cooperate in the trial, not tamper with evidence and not leave the city without obtaining prior permission from the trial court.  The Karnataka High Court had earlier issued a non-bailable warrant against him and directed the investigating officer handling the case to take all possible steps to arrest him. He had gone missing on October 30 from a private hospital in Bengaluru where he was undergoing treatment for COVID-19; and was arrested later in November. His arrest had led to the arrest of Zakir, another prime accused. The two of them were hiding in Nagarhole. The Bengaluru police booked Sampath Raj in connection with the Bengaluru riots case in which the house of Pulikeshi Nagar MLA R Akhanda Srinivas Murthy was set on fire on August 11, 2020 which was started after a controversial social media post put up by the MLA’s nephew Naveen. Three persons were killed in police firing and over 50 people were injured in the violence. This followed by riots which also saw arson, vandalism and stone-pelting targeting the politician's house and police stations at DJ. Halli and KG Halli. More than 300 people were arrested in connection with the violence and the preliminary charge sheet filed in October said that intra-party rivalry within Congress was at the root of the violence. Raj and Abdul Zakir, former Congress corporator, were arrested in the case, the police said. The Karnataka High Court granted conditional bail to former Pulikeshi Nagar Corporator Abdul Rakeeb Zakir on February 6. The former Congress leader was also named as an accused in the interim chargesheet by the Central Crime Branch (CCB) on October 12, 2020.  The National Investigation Agency (NIA) started investigating the case following orders from the Ministry of Home Affairs. The NIA also arrested members of the Social Democratic Party of India (SDPI) and Popular Front of India (PFI) in connection with the case.

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Many Bengaluru areas to face power cut on Saturday: Full list

Power Cut

Many areas in Bengaluru will have no power between 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday.

TNM Staff

The Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM) has said that there will be a power outage in the city’s Kavipranini, Bewikanda and parts of the city’s central region for regular maintenance work from 10 am to 5 pm on Saturday, February 13. BESCOM said that the areas that will be affected will include Jig Industrial Area Phase-1 & Phase-II, Madapattana, Haragade, Sithanayakanahalli, Lingapur, Nayanahalli, Kumbaranahalli, Devasandra, Konasandra, Bommandahanalli, Vadoramanchavanahalli, Vadoramanchanavanna, Classic Area, Vatika Layout, Harappanahalli, Koppa, Koppa Gate and surrounding areas for Kavipranini, Bewikanda areas. Meanwhile, over 20 areas of the city’s central region will be affected by the same. Areas including Benson Town, Broadway Road, Queen's Road, Thimmisha road, Miller's Road, Slaughter House Road, Cunningham Road, Church Road, Promenade Road, Infantry Road, Indian Express, Visveswaraiha Tower. Police Commissioner’s Office, KSFC building, RBI Quarters, Nandidurga Road, Nandidurga Extension, Benson Cross Road and the vicinity of these areas will be affected by the power cut.   Apart from scheduled power outages, Bengalureans are facing many unscheduled power interruptions. Many parts of Bengaluru on Thursday faced unscheduled power interruption from 12 pm due to technical issues. The areas that were impacted were Jayanagar, SR Nagar, Shanthi Nagar, Wilson Garden, Austin Town, Koramangala, JP Nagar, Ulsoor, Indira Nagar, Chamarajpet, Marathahalli, HAL and surrounding areas according to BESCOM. This was owing to an interruption in KPTCL’s (Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Limited) power receiving station in Hoodi, which led to all areas that fall under the ambit of that station suffering power cuts. Similarly, the residents of the city had to face multiple scheduled power cuts during the month of January. Areas in HSR Layout faced power outages between January 11 and 16. Later, areas of Konankunte and Puttenahalli faced similar outages between January 18 and 22. 

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Moderna in talks with FDA to increase vaccine doses per vial

Doing so could alleviate limits on the final step of vaccine production.

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Karnataka mulls introducing law to monitor online games

LAW

The state home minister Basavaraj Bommai affirmed that the bill is in the draft stage.

PTI

The Karnataka government has been mulling over bringing in a law to monitor online games in the state. Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, while speaking to the media in Bengaluru on Friday, said that a draft bill was underway to keep a tab on online games. He also affirmed that the state government has initiated measures for the same. “The bill formulation is underway and is in the draft stage. The law department will present the bill in the cabinet after it is analysed,” said Bommai adding that the bill will be presented in near future. According to Bommai, various states have varied provisions under which they have classified the online games in categories like “game of skill” and “game of chance”. While some games received licences accordingly, others have been completely banned, he added. The minister said that the state government will first study the laws formulated by other states, before proposing the intended bill here. He was also answering questions pertaining to illicit activities happening within the prisons of Karnataka. He said that he had ordered a departmental inquiry and that the report on the same was ready. He further added that he has directed the Director General of Police to initiate against those who have been named in the report. In addition to that, he also spoke about the issues related to salaries of police officers. Bommai said the discrepancies in the basic pay mentioned in the sixth pay commission has been rectified at every stage. Those at the stage of promotion will get the benefits after their elevation. "We are taking measures to ensure that policemen do not face any difficulties," he added. Tamil Nadu on February 4 banned online gambling in the state amending their gaming laws. The Governor had promulgated the amendment in November of 2020. Any person caught betting in online games like rummy using any device will be fined up to Rs 10,000.

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