Bengaluru News: Further relaxing COVID-19 curbs, the Karnataka government on Friday decided to allow theatres, gyms, yoga centres and swimming pools in the state to operate at full capacity. The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with the Health Minister, senior officials and technical advisory committee representatives.
Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Health Minister K Sudhakar said the decision has been taken after considering the current COVID situation and the rate of hospitalisation which was 5-6 per cent in January, coming down to 2 per cent.
The state recorded 14,95 fresh Covid cases, 40,599 recoveries and 53 deaths in last 24 hours and the positivity rate stood at 10.93 percent. Meanwhile, Bengaluru reported 6,039 new cases on Friday.
Meanwhile, the Karnataka High Court posted the writ petition over the hijab row at the Kundapur Pre-University College in Udupi to Tuesday. Two days ago, a student ha moved a petition at Karnataka High Court seeking the right to wear headscarves inside the classroom. The hijab row at the college continued on Thursday as the college principal, in person, stopped hijab-wearing students from entering the premises. Principal Ramakrishna stopped the students near the college gates, following which the students demanded to know why wearing a hijab is being banned all of a sudden as there were no such rules before.
Karnataka recorded 14,95 fresh Covid cases, 40,599 recoveries and 53 deaths in last 24 hours. The state’s positivity rate stood at 10.93 percent. Meanwhile, Bengaluru reported 6,039 new cases on Friday.
Further relaxing COVID-19 curbs, the Karnataka government on Friday decided to allow theatres, gyms, yoga centres and swimming pools in the state to operate at full capacity.
The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai with the Health Minister, senior officials and technical advisory committee representatives.
“Certain curbs like- theatres, gyms, yoga centres, swimming pools among others to operate with 50 per cent capacity had continued. At today’s meeting, it has been decided to relax these curbs by following certain precautionary measures,” Health Minister K Sudhakar said.
Speaking to reporters here after the meeting, he said the decision has been taken after considering the current COVID situation and the rate of hospitalisation which was 5-6 per cent in January, coming down to 2 per cent. (PTI)
The move to prevent Muslim students wearing head scarves or hijabs from attending pre-university colleges in the Udupi region of Karnataka is an effort to rob the girls of their fundamental right to education, said former CM and Congress leader Siddaramaiah.
“This is an effort to prevent the Muslim girl students from being educated. The head scarf is part of the religion. This is very bad. Uniforms are not compulsory. The principals are doing this and this is inhuman,” the Congress leader said in the first remarks on the issue from the opposition in Karnataka.
“The government has not said anywhere that there should be uniforms for pre-university students. Now there is a problem being created at a college in Kundapur. A principal in a college has locked the gates and prevented the girl students from entering. It is a government college. It is a violation of the fundamental rights of the students,” the former chief minister said. Read more
The latest report by Greenpeace India, which is based on a series of Right to Information (RTI) queries, reveals the lack of significant information that could validate the need for a rice fortification policy in India.
To tackle the problem of nutritional deficiency, the government of India plans to introduce fortified rice through the Public Distribution Systems (PDS), Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and Mid-Day Meals (MDMs). The fortification is expected to be implemented nationwide by 2024.
However, the Greenpeace report titled ‘Adding Diversity to Plate’ states that the government does not have enough research-based scientific evidence to substantiate that this move can really help overcome widespread malnutrition and anaemia among women and children. Read more
The Central Crime Branch (CCB) team conducted a raid on a hi-tech team in Bengaluru on Friday. The team used to book rooms in 5-star hotels and engage in gambling, according to the police.
Six people have been arrested and Rs 20.71 lakh seized. Additionally, cards and card countring machines were seized in the raid, and a case has been filed in High Grounds Police Station limits.
The hijab row at the Udupi college continues as the students were denied entry to the college again on Friday. Meanwhile, State Education Minister BC Nagesh alleged that the students were not wearing the hijab earlier and that this problem started only 20 days ago.
#WATCH | Students wearing hijab denied entry to Govt PU College in Kundapur area of Udupi, Karnataka amid a row on wearing the headscarf in classrooms
“They were not wearing the hijab earlier & this problem started only 20 days ago,” State Education Minister BC Nagesh has said. pic.twitter.com/3pT418rb0y
Around a hundred people attended the funeral of Lara, a street dog who was allegedly deliberately run over by a luxury car driven by 23-year-old in Bengaluru’s Jayanagar. Among the attendees was Kannada actor and politician Divya Spandana, who also goes by the name Ramya. Lara was cremated at the Sumanahalli animal crematorium in the city on Tuesday.
Spandana had taken to Twitter to ask animal lovers to attend the cremation. She later thanked everyone who had “loved and cared” for Lara, saying she was inspired by them. “To Badri, Sudha, Advaith, Priya, Gayatri aunty, Sanjana and everyone who loved and cared for Lara- you inspire me. The fight goes on,” she wrote on Twitter. (Read more)
Three Mauritius-based investors in the Bengaluru-headquartered satellite services start-up Devas Multimedia, which is being liquidated for fraud on the orders of the National Company Law Tribunal, have issued a fresh arbitration notice to the Indian government for alleged use of “unlawful and abusive measures” to prevent Devas from collecting compensation for a failed 2005 satellite deal between the start-up and ISRO’s Antrix Corporation.
The notice of a fresh arbitration under the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) dated February 2 has been issued by a legal firm in the US on behalf of three investors in Devas Multimedia – CC/Devas Mauritius, Telcom Devas Mauritius and Devas Employees Mauritius Private Limited. (Read more)
Belagavi police in Karnataka on Thursday busted a gang that provided fake Covid-negative certificates to interstate travellers.
According to the police, Nippani police booked a case regarding a fake RT-PCR Report. The police said, “We sent our police to Kolhapur to board a bus without RTPCR to Bengaluru. The travelling agency gave a fake RT-PCR along with ticket for higher rates. We stopped the bus at Kuganolli checkpost and booked a case.”
The police arrested three accused, seized the bus and registered a case.
“We have registered 4 cases in the last one week. Few buses come via village routes to bypass checkpoints. Travelling agencies too ask for more money from passengers who travel without RT-PCR tests,” said the police
The Karnataka High Court has accepted the unconditional apology of a man who appeared inappropriately dressed for a virtual hearing of the court on November 30, 2021.
Earlier the high court had ordered collection of data of video proceedings in a court hall where a man allegedly appeared on camera without proper clothes and was reported to the court by a senior woman advocate. The high court also ordered issuance of a notice to the person seen partially dressed after ascertaining his identity in order to initiate contempt of court proceedings.
On Thursday, however, the court decided to drop proceedings against the person, identified as an official of a private college in coastal Karnataka, by accepting his apology. The high court observed that the college reader “has tendered an unconditional apology on an affidavit” and stated that the incident was unintentional. (Read more)
Parts of Bengaluru will face power cuts Friday (Feb 4) due to maintenance work by Bengaluru Electricity Supply Company Limited (BESCOM).
The north zone of the city will face power cuts from 9.30 am till 5.30 pm, said BESCOM in a statement. The west zone of the city will face power interruptions starting from 9.30 am till 5.30 pm and the east zone of the city will face power cuts from 10 am to 5 pm. The south zone of the city will face power cuts from 10 am to 5 pm. Click here for the list of specific areas affected.
Bengaluru city is likely to see a maximum temperature of 29.6 degree Celsius and a minimum temperature of 18.2 degree Celsius, according to an 8.30 am update from the Meteorological Centre in Bengaluru. The humidity is set to be 79%. No rainfall has been predicted.
Here’s the local forecast:
For 24 hrs: Partly cloudy sky. Mist very likely during early morning hours in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures very likely to be around 29 and 18 degrees Celsius respectively
For 48 hrs: Partly cloudy sky. Mist very likely during early morning hours in some areas. Maximum and minimum temperatures very likely to be around 29 and 18 degrees Celsius respectively.
On World Cancer Day, Health Minister K Sudhakar took to Twitter to share the 2022 theme of ‘Close the Care Gap’. He said that 61,000 new cancer cases are reported in Karnataka every year, and early detection and treatment plays a key role in curing the disease.
Cancer is curable. EARLY detection and treatment are key to our fight against against this disease, which kills over a million people in India every year.#WorldCancerDay #CANCER pic.twitter.com/9Ry5lSsLXT
Former Jammu and Kashmir chief ministers Mehbooba Mufti and Omar Abdullah on Thursday hit out at a college administration in Karnataka for denying entry to Muslim girls who were wearing hijab.
Mehbooba also hit out at the Centre saying its slogan for educating girl child was ‘hollow’ as Muslim girls were denied education for wearing hijab.
Beti bachao beti parhao is yet another hollow slogan. Muslims girls are being denied the right to education simply because of their attire. Legitimising the marginalisation of muslims is one more step towards converting Gandhi’s India into Godhse’s India. https://t.co/yxrm4NqKGc
Taking a dig at the dress code diktat against Muslim girl students, Abdullah posted pictures of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, veteran BJP leader Uma Bharti and Lok Sabha member from Bhopal Pragya Thakur wearing saffron robes alongside the picture of Muslim students wearing hijab.
Individuals are free to choose what to wear. You may or may not like their choice but that’s a right we all have. If these public representatives can wear saffron robes, then these girls can use hijab. Muslims are not second class citizens. https://t.co/NfC9MeNOLO pic.twitter.com/U72PRVPRIk
Karnataka Minister for Muzrai(Hindu religious endowment) Shashikala Jolle on Thursday said the government is still studying the proposal to free Hindu temples from state control.
A delegation of priests met the Minister today and gave her a memorandum urging the government to drop the idea of freeing Hindu temples.
“We are still studying on freeing temples, we are trying to understand about the situation in other states and how they are doing. I have also discussed with the Chief Minister,” Jolle said. (PTI)
Fortis Cancer Institute announced the installation of Karnataka’s first Intraoperative radiotherapy (IORT) system for the treatment of breast cancer.
IORT is a single dose of radiation given to selected cancer patients, mostly at an early stage of cancer or low-risk cancer. This reduces a 30–40-day radiation therapy into 30 – 40 minutes. The team of doctors led by Dr Sandeep Nayak, Director-Surgical Oncology, Dr Nisha Vishnu, Consultant – Radiation Oncology at the Institute have already performed four IORT procedure on patients with early stage breast cancers from December 2021 to January 2022. Read More
Daily Covid-19 cases continued to fall in Karnataka as the state on Thursday logged 16,436 fresh infections of which, Bengaluru reported 6,640 cases. The total active cases in the state now stood at 1,48,800 with 71,525 in Bengaluru. Sixty new Covid deaths were also reported in the state, the health department bulletin said. The positivity rate for the day stood at 11.31 per cent.
On the positive front, 44,819 discharges outnumbered the daily cases. The Union Ministry of Health said that 34 states including Karnataka recorded a decline in cases and positivity rate. Read More
Of the 97,074 claims received under the Scheduled Tribe and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006, in Shivamogga, the Karnataka tribal welfare department rejected 44,016, according to officials. This means 53,058 claims are still pending with the department.
“We have received 97,074 applications of which 44,016 were rejected. This is the status as of January 31. However, those whose applications were rejected can again appeal within 90 days or else the forest department will evict them,” deputy director of tribal welfare Ajjappa told The Indian Express. Aksheev Thakur reports
Karnataka on Thursday registered a dip in daily infections, with the state seeing 16,436 new cases of Covid-19 as compared to 20,505 infections on Wednesday . Of the new cases, Bengaluru Urban reported 6,640 new cases. As many as 60 deaths were also registered today. The positivity rate for the day stood at 11.31 per cent.
Daily cases continue to fall in Bengaluru and Karnataka:
◾New cases in State: 16,436
◾New cases in B’lore: 6,640
◾Positivity rate in State: 11.31%
◾Discharges: 44,819
◾Active cases State: 1,48,800 (B’lore- 71k)
◾Deaths:60 (B’lore- 14)
◾Tests: 1,45,204#Covid_19
Here are a few contacts that might come in handy for you in emergency situations:
COVID-19 related queries / emergencies / clarifications: 104 (toll free); +91-80-4684-8600/6669-2000 | Home Quarantine-related queries: Telegram messenger/WhatsApp – +91 97777 77684, Voice call – 080 45451111 | BBMP control room: 080-22221188 | In case of power disruptions, contact BESCOM: 1912. If the water supply is hit in your area, contact BWSSB: 1916
