Activists fume at Bengaluru civic body’s misplaced priorities of lake beautification

Enviornment

Activists say BBMP can utilise these funds for more pressing needs which will ensure the lakes are full of fresh water.

Soumya Chatterjee

రవిచంద్ర via Wikimedia Commons

Activists working to revive lakes in Bengaluru are dismayed at the misplaced priority of the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) as it wants to take up landscaping and other ornamental works in the name of lake restoration. In a newspaper ad published on Monday, the BBMP had said that they are looking for contractors for works involving landscaping and median development for Devarabisanahalli and Kaikondrahalli lakes in Bellandur ward. The total sum of money quoted for seven such projects will cost Rs 20 lakh each. Activists point out that major death knell for the city’s lakes are the unchecked flow of untreated or undertreated sewage into the lakes. They say instead of other beautification works, BBMP can utilise this funds for more pressing needs which will ensure the lakes are full of fresh water. A trustee at Mapsas (the Kannada acronym for Mahadevapura Environment Protection and Development Trust) which looks after these two lakes along with other water bodies of the area said this is a major wastage of public money by the BBMP.   He said both lakes have adequate trees planted in its periphery and putting exotic species in the name of horticulture will do more harm than good. He alleged when they approached the concerned lake officials they denied knowledge about this development until the tenders appeared in the newspapers. “This means that the authorities do not want to engage their own staff, leave alone the local communities involved in the regular upkeep of the lake. We can make better use of the money for desilting, deweeding, and sewage management which needs to be done regularly and involves costs. So this amount of huge money can be spent to revive other lakes as well,” he added.  Alleging mismanagement and corruption on part of the authorities, a Bengaluru-based sustainability campaigner, Sandeep Anirudhan, alleged, “The issue points to the foundational problems of lake management due to lack of a scientific, ecological outlook and zero scope of public consultation. With the system flawed, you get such situations, where expenditure is done for the benefit of corruption and contractors, and not for the health of the lake.”   He suggested a decentralised approach to managing water bodies and usage of water, and a Water Law which looks at all sources of water holistically with a localised approach; where local bodies are in charge of all water bodies falling under them, and have financial implications too.  He said, “The subsidies given for Cauvery water should be invested instead on reviving local water sources and groundwater.  Then each ward or area sabha or panchayat will be worried about the health of its lakes and groundwater, and take measures to manage them well such as planting urban forests, and local watershed management. This is how the lakes were created centuries ago and this is what will revive them now.” 

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/307jRDO
via IFTTT

Bengaluru introduces OTP system to tackle complaints of ‘missing’ COVID-19 patients

Coronavirus

The civic body’s chief had earlier said that over 3,000 patients who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bengaluru could not be traced.

TNM Staff

Representational image/PTI

The Karnataka Health Department, along with authorities in Bengaluru, have begun enforcing a one time password (OTP) authentication system to ensure that there is no error in recording phone numbers of patients undergoing COVID-19 testing.This method has been implemented to ensure that there is no room for data entry errors or patients themselves giving bogus contact details at the time of giving their samples for testing.  The OTP system will work in the same way as it does for one booking a cab service or doing an online bank transaction, for the purpose of authentication.The system which is already in place in Bengaluru is expected to begin in other districts shortly.  It may be recalled that earlier in the week, Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad said that over 3,000 patients who have tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Bengaluru could not be traced. He said that these persons could not be reached on the mobile phone number or the address they had provided. The BBMP Commissioner had also said that to ensure such lapses do not reoccur, they will verify the details given by the patients with the help of government-issued identification cards. BBMP and police officials involved in contact tracing work said that while at times, patients themselves give wrong address and contact details, sometimes there are genuine errors on part of the data entry operators. Officials said that with the OTP system in place, the condition of the patient can be assessed correctly and it can be ensured that they get adequate care. It would also ensure that they do not infect others due to lack of information. Speaking to TNM, Mysuru Deputy Commissioner G Abhiram Sekhar had said that the issue was not unique to Bengaluru but was also observed in Mysuru and the rest of the state as well in varying degrees. Speaking to TNM, a Deputy Commissioner of Police posted in Bengaluru city said that police personnel could help trace 90% of such ‘missing’ patients if their mobile number was correct, with the help of call data records.

Body 2: 

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

Meet Shantaram Budna Karnataka's first MLC from Siddi community of African descent

Politics

The Siddi community, an African-origin tribe, is recognised as a Scheduled Tribe in Karnataka and have lived in relative seclusion in forested areas for over five centuries.

Prajwal Bhat

Shantaram Siddi

Shantaram Budna Siddi was waiting in a garage when he received a call from Bengaluru telling him he had been made a Member of Legislative Council (MLC) by the  BJP but he did not believe the news immediately. Shantaram, a member of the African-origin Siddi tribe, had experienced this before. "Two years ago, there were WhatsApp messages that I received a doctorate from Belagavi's Rani Chenmamma University but I never received the doctorate! It was a hoax", Shantaram says speaking to TNM. But the leader who hails from a modest home in Hitlalli village in Yellapur in Uttara Kannada district soon realised that the news was true after he received a slew of calls congratulating him. He had become the first member of the African-origin Siddi tribe to be made a political representative in Karnataka.  "Siddi community members have become Gram Panchayat secretaries and even Taluk Panchayat secretaries but there were no other political representatives in our community," Shantaram says. The Siddi community is recognised as a Scheduled Tribe in Karnataka. There are around 40,000 community members living in the forested areas of Yellapur and Haliyal in Uttara Kannada district while around 10,000 others live in neighboring areas including in Dharwad and Belagavi.  The community has lived in relative seclusion in India for over five centuries and historians say that the Siddis docked in India in the 16th century as domestic slaves of Portuguese traders from Mozambique, which was also a Portuguese colony at the time. Some suggest their arrival in India predates that.  When slavery was outlawed in Portuguese colonies in 1869, the Siddis migrated from Goa to forest areas in Karnataka, Gujarat and Maharashtra, where they are found today. Members of the community live in poverty, mostly doing coolie work for plantation owners. They also face racial discrimination on a day-to-day basis, something Shantaram says he is familiar with. "Siddis are made fun of especially in coastal areas like Karwar and Ankola in Uttara Kannada. People refer to us as Africans and they assume we are all Christians. But that is not the case. We speak fluent Kannada and sometimes even Kundapur Kannada," says Shantaram. (Kundapur Kannada is a dialect of the Kannada language spoken in Kundapur and its surrounding areas in coastal Karnataka) Santhan Juje Siddi (81), one of the oldest members of the community in Uttara Kannada Shantaram was one of the first graduates from his community to pass out of Karnataka University in 1988. "Ever since then, I have been involved in social service. I have toured the state and represented my community proudly. But today, I also want to say that I will stand for other communities in Uttara Kannada like the Gawlis and Halakki Vokkaligas and not just for the Siddi community," Shantaram says. Shantaram also worked as state secretary of the Vanavasi Kalyan Prakalpa, a tribal welfare initiative of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).  He hopes to initiate changes that would help forest dwellers from existing government schemes under the Forest Rights Act (FRA). Forest dwellers are asked to produce documents dating back 75 years to qualify as an Other Traditional Forest Dweller (OTFD) and claim rightsunder FRA. "They have to prove that they primarily lived in forests for three generations and this also involves getting an old member of the community to say this person's ancestor was living in the forest 75 years ago. On top of that, they have to produce a certificate ascertaining the mental health of the 80 year old is stable," explains Shantaram.  He says this process is often laborious and requires forest dwellers to search for documents dating back to India's independence. "I want to change this laborious process and I will be doing this starting with the Vidhana Parishad," he says.  Shantaram is an environmentalist who served as a member of the Western Ghats task force in 2008-09. He is also involved with the Vruksha-Laksha NGO working for afforestation and environment awareness.  Uttara Kannada district is situated in the central Western Ghats region and it is one of the eight biodiversity hotspots in India which is home to many species of plants and animals. Siddi community members live in forested areas in this region. Siddi community members live in forested areas in Uttara Kannada district of Karnataka. Speaking about the controversial Hubbballi-Ankola railway line, Shantaram says that the state government should adopt sustainable development models. "We need railway lines and there are not many forest areas from Hubballi to Yellapur but from Yellapur to Ankola, there are green forests which should not be disrupted. TV Ramachandra from (Indian Institute of Science) has published a report and the state government should heed his advice since he is a sound scientific voice," Shantaram says. A study by researchers from IISc showed that forest cover in Uttara Kannada reduced from 74.19 % in 1973 to 48.04 % in 2018. If the railway project goes ahead, the forest cover is expected to reduce further by 16%. Another project, the Sharavathi hydropower project, is also planned in this region and environmentalists have opposed it on the grounds that the project falls inside the limits of the Sharavathi Valley Lion Tailed Macaque (LTM) Sanctuary. "The Sharavathi valley has evergreen forest areas that protect biodiversity and medicinal plants and they should be preserved. The project needs to be reconsidered if it displaces forest dwellers in the region," says Shantaram.  He says he is overwhelmed and surprised that he was made an MLC but vowed to help marginalised communities gain representation through his position.  Read: Racing for a better future: The African-origin tribe in K’taka that’s turning to sports

Body 2: 

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

Bengaluru has 12,781 active containment zones, most in Bengaluru South

Coronavirus

1,898 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Bengaluru on Tuesday.

TNM Staff

There are 12,781 active zones in Bengaluru, as per the data released by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike. On Monday, there were 12,325 active containment zones in the city. Bengaluru South continued to report the most number of containment zones.  According to the BBMP bulletin, Bengaluru South has 3,935 active containment zones, followed by Bengaluru East at 2,256, Bengaluru West at 1,770 and Bommanahalli at 1,548. RR Nagar has 1,124 active containment zones, followed by Mahadevapura at 937, Yelahanka at 437 and Dasarahalli at 318. These numbers have remained unchanged from July 27, as per the BBMP bulletins. The number of containment zones that have returned to normal is highest in Bengaluru East at 1,373, followed by Bengaluru West at 751 and South Bengaluru at 435. This number, too, has remained unchanged. 1,898 new COVID-19 cases were reported in Bengaluru on Tuesday. People between the ages of 30-39 were the most affected, with 273 men and 145 women testing positive. However, the age groups of 20-29 and 40-49 also saw more cases. 246 men and 126 women between 40-49 tested positive, and 207 men and 137 women between 20-29 also tested positive.  Out of the 198 wards in BBMP limits, 175 have over 100 COVID-19 cases.  The COVID-19 death toll in Karnataka breached the 2,000 mark on Tuesday while the state reported its biggest single-day spike of 5,536 new cases, taking the total infection count to 1,07,001. This is the fifth consecutive day that the state is reporting over 5,000 fresh cases. The day also saw a record 2,819 patients getting discharged after recovery, the health department said. As many as 102 people succumbed to the disease, taking the toll to 2,055. 40 of these were from Bengaluru Urban. Of the fresh cases, marginally higher than the previous biggest daily spike of 5,324 on Monday, a total of 1,898 cases were from Bengaluru Urban district. Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 48,821 infections. It also tops the list in the number of recoveries with total 12,761 discharges. Karnataka Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Tuesday.that a centralised system would be put in place to classify asymptomatic, symptomatic and mild symptomatic persons and recommend treatment based on the severity of the infection.  A statement issued by Sudhakar's office said that he explained the new system to a team of experts from government and Infosys, which will coordinate with authorities to provide technical support for it, through video conference. Sudhakar told the team that various existing mobile applications related to COVID-19 will be brought under one platform to get the real-time information which will assist in strategising allocation of hospitals and beds to the needy. With PTI inputs

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/2DeB0m4
via IFTTT

We saw two extremes of Bengaluru police, say lockdown relief volunteers

Lockdown

While some found the police going out of their way to help those in need, others had less pleasant experiences.

Chikkajala traffic police/Twitter

By Deeksha Sudhindra/CitizenMatters.in The COVID-19 crisis has forced many institutions to up their game and work round the clock. Their resilience and efficiency in crisis management has been thoroughly tested over the past few months. The police is one such institution that has been in the forefront. Pushed as it was, into the frontlines of an unfamiliar task – policing a contagion – the institution received as much flak as praise, in varying degree. Relief volunteers who plunged into food and ration distribution, fund-raising and working with migrant labourers, were possibly at a vantage point to assess the role of the police at the height of the lockdown. This article is based on the experiences of a few volunteers, from the period between the last week of March till the end of May. A broken system Lalitha Mondreti, a relief volunteer worked closely with the police in South Bengaluru. She was coordinating travel arrangements for migrant labourers who were trying to return to their homes in the Shramik trains. Lalitha and a friend saw migrants queueing up in large numbers in nearby police stations, waiting for information about the availability of trains. They decided to help them out by providing them with food while they stood in a queue. “People were happy to receive the food, but they wanted information”, said Lalitha, noticing the anger and frustration of the migrants. At that time, Lalitha did not have any rapport with the local police and hence could not directly approach them. Along with her team, Lalitha took some time to talk to the migrants and understand their issues so that they could better present it to police authorities. Then they approached the police and asked how they could help as citizen volunteers. After this meeting, some citizen groups started helping out the police with registration of migrant workers on the Seva Sindhu platform, and some with distribution of ration.  This still did not solve the problem of the dearth of information regarding the Shramik trains. The police were supposed to call up registered migrants and inform them about departures. However, the police themselves received information regarding the next day’s trains only on the previous night. And, they were too overworked to call 300 people and relay the information. As a result, the migrant workers ended up walking 10 km to the police station everyday, just to receive information about the train availability. Lalitha took up the responsibility of informing the migrants when she received information about the trains and assured the migrants that they would not have to walk such long distances every day. Soon, as a rapport developed between her team and the police, the latter updated Lalitha about the train situation and her team would call up the migrant workers every night. Stepping into many roles Breaking the ice and establishing a rapport made the law-keepers go beyond the call of duty and turn into sympathetic volunteers themselves in many instances. “At first, they (the police) were sceptical of volunteers who were helping, but soon they genuinely began helping us out,” said Sharoon Sunny, another citizen volunteer. Migrants wait in line for information about Shramik trains in South Bengaluru. Photo: Lalitha Mondreti Sharoon praised the police for their cooperation. She runs an after-school programme called ‘The Real School’, which caters to the children of migrant labourers. In her experience, the police came as a blessing during distributions in densely populated areas. The police went out of their way to identify families who were in dire need of food and reported the number so that Sharoon could be better prepared. Sharoon described distribution time as chaotic and charged with emotions – anger, grief, helplessness. The police, she said, were quick to provide emotional support during such times too. “They even stepped into the shoes of a counsellor.”. If elderly women got distressed while waiting in lines, the police offered to console them.  Mohammed Ibrahim Akram, a co-director of restaurant chain Beijing Bites and a citizen volunteer, approached deputy commissioner of police Chetan Singh Rathore on the very first day of the lockdown and obtained permission to move around. As a result, he faced no problem from the police during distribution and his commutes. The sorry side Malarvizhi, a volunteer working with ActionAid, described her experience on the first day of food distribution. They were prepared with 500 packets of food but a thousand families turned up. Her team had sought prior police protection, but on that day the police turned up very late. As soon as they arrived, the police asked her team to stop the distribution since people were crowding. Malarvizhi said that the whole purpose of seeking police protection was for crowd regulation. But they were helpless in the crowded area. “I still remember the faces of people who had to go back empty-handed”, she said.  Khizer Alam, a volunteer with Swaraj Abhiyan, also did not have a pleasant story. Khizer was working mainly in the Padarayanapura area. Given that the area witnessed incidents of violence from the people as they resisted quarantine measures, the police were extra wary. Khizer Alam (in black shirt) and fellow volunteers with food they packed for distribution in Padarayanapura. Pic Credit: Khizer Alam Khizer said that the police would not allow volunteers to distribute food even though they had an NGO pass that allowed them to do so. He related an incident when he was prevented from distributing the meals even after he told them that he had painstakingly arranged for the food and that it would all get spoiled. “I left the packets of food there and asked him to throw it away” Khizer said, adding “because I did not have the heart to do it.”  The Bengaluru police force has been instrumental in maintaining order and facilitating processes throughout the crisis. But they have had their shortcomings. Intense workload during this unprecedented crisis could be a reason. But that cannot absolve the lack of empathy and sensitivity exhibited by a few members of this institution. This article was first published in Citizen Matters, a civic media website and is republished here with permission. (c) Oorvani Foundation/Open Media Initiative. 

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/30ZDP2j
via IFTTT

Sanjay Dutt's 'Adheera' look from 'KGF 2' revealed

Sandalwood

The poster was released for Sanjay Dutt's birthday.

TNM Staff

Ahead of the release of the highly anticipated Kannada film KGF 2, the producers have released the first look of Adheera, the character that Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt will play in the film. Earlier, a poster titled “Unveiling the brutality” was put out, to increase the expectations among fans. 'KGF' stands for Kolar Gold Fields, and the first film was about the rise of Rocky, the character played by Yash, as he battles the gold mafia.  The official release date was previously announced as October 23, but due to the lockdown restrictions necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, theatres have been closed and several films have been delayed. However, it looks like the makers of KGF 2 are keeping the anticipation alive. The poster shows Adheera sporting dreadlocks and holding a sword while leaning on its hilt. The actor wears leather clothing and a diamond earring in his ear as well. Sanjay Dutt is expected to play the villain. The poster has sent fans of the franchise into a frenzy. The Bollywood star is widely known for his highly popular role in the film Lage Raho Munna Bhai, and is a successful actor in his own right. This is the first time that the actor will be starring in a Kannada film. The film is set to be a historical drama and action film, and has superstar Yash in the main role. It will release in Kannada, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu  and Tamil. This sequel too has also been directed by Prashanth Neel. Besides Yash and Sanjay Dutt, the film will also star actors Srinidhi Shetty and Raveena Tandon. The poster was released on Sanjay Dutt’s birthday, July 29. The actor is turning 60 this year. The film is a sequel to the highly successful KGF 1, which was released in 2018. This earlier film was a superhit not only in Kannada but several other languages in which it was released. The film was shot with a budget of Rs 50 crore, and made an estimated Rs 243-250 crores in the box office. The film has also won several awards Including the Karnataka State Film awards and Filmfare.

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/306dSPv
via IFTTT

K’taka man says govt used phone records to tell his friends of his COVID-19 results

Coronavirus

Ten days on, Prashanth* is still waiting for an official confirmation on his test results, but his home has already been barricaded.

Soumya Chatterjee

Photo of fencing put outside the man's house in Davanagere

Thirty-year-old Prashanth*, a resident of Doddabanahalli in Davangere city in central Karnataka, got tested for the novel coronavirus at a designated government fever clinic on July 18, after he was found to be a primary contact. Since the time he got tested, he says he has remained asymptomatic. And till date, ten days on, he is yet to receive an official word whether he has tested positive or negative.  However, this is just the tip of the iceberg.  On July 23, he received calls from four of his friends, who said that they were called by the office of Deputy Commissioner who told them that Prashanth had contracted the infection.  “I was shocked to learn from them that they were called and they did not even bother to get in touch with me, even though my phone was available for calls all day. They could have come to my house to inform me too,” he told TNM. Prashanth says that strangely, his neighbours also came to know about the development and a barricade surrounding his house was put up, while he was kept in the dark. His neighbours, alarmed over the possibility that he might spread the infection, are not letting even his parents step outside the house.  “For the last five days, we have been held as prisoners inside the house and we are running out of food provisions. Nobody from our neighbourhood nor the authorities have asked us how we are going to manage our food. I don’t want any help, I just need permission so that I can buy some basic food from my family,” he told TNM. He added, “I called up the Deputy Commissioner's office to ask why they did not call me. There, one of the staff members told me that it was normal practice to do so, and they got my friend’s number from my call records. But I am yet to get clarity on why I have not received an official report or even an SMS yet.” When Prashanth reached out to the doctor at the fever clinic, the doctor said that he needs to stay at home and that there was a delay in tests in general in the district. “Still, he also could not tell me if I was indeed positive or negative,” he said. Other than the misery that Prashanth was subjected to, the incident raises question marks over the state’s usage of personal data and its potential indiscriminate usage in wake of the pandemic. Superintendent of Police Hanumantharaya confirmed that his office hands over data to the DC’s office on a case-to case-basis as and when required in wake of the pandemic. But he denied knowledge about this specific incident. Despite multiple efforts, TNM could not reach the concerned health official Dr Yetish, Deputy Commissioner Mahantesh Belagi, or DC office staff member Kaveri for a comment. Tracking not unique to Davangere The tracking of phone calls and usage of call data records is not unique to the district.  TNM spoke to police officials, including two Bengaluru-based Deputy Commissioners of Police (DCPs), who confirmed that call data records are being liberally used, as and when asked by the city civic body, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike.  One of the DCPs mentioned that with the Disaster Management Act already invoked, this is a ready “technological tool” to trace the missing patient. The officer said otherwise too, on a case-to-case basis, call records are accessed by the police to trace suspects.  All police stations have this system in place wherein authorised personnel get access to specific data on their official email ID from a time-to-time basis.  “We have a dedicated team in all divisions and as and when the BBMP approaches us, we can almost access call data records, the last known location on a real-time basis. So this makes it easy to track the patients who are not cooperating,” one of the divisional DCPs posted in the city said. The officer added, “We have a dedicated system to access this data currently at the DCP level and we do not share it strictly with any private persons. Once the BBMP passes us the numbers, we have been so far able to trace most of the patients.”  Another DCP confirmed that once the numbers are given by the BBMP we try to trace the patients based on their mobile data like the police would do in case of a missing person. The officer added that they have a success rate of 90% across divisions and the missing 10% is mostly due to wrong phone numbers. Legal and ethical concerns Legal experts well-versed with the issue at hand are of the opinion that in absence of a dedicated data protection law, it is of significance that under which specific legal provision this power is used by the authorities— be it the Disaster Management Act or the Criminal Procedure Code.  Call data records at present are personal information both under the license agreement between the government and the telecom companies and Section 43-A of the Information Technology Act, they argued. “There neeeds to be a clear established process, where every query made to the system is logged along with a reason outlined in a textual order and an independent authority can later scrutinize every particular query. This would ensure that the principle of accountability exists and there is a system to check this power in case of an oversight. Even in this case, where this power is used for good, there is a need for accountability for all the times it can be misused. In absence of a mechanism of this sort, this is clearly excessive power at the hands of the police,” Pranesh Prakash, an expert in technology law told TNM. (*name changed)

Body 2: 

from Karnataka https://ift.tt/3063RC2
via IFTTT