Bengaluru Dec 31 PTI Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Friday urged Deputy Commissioners of districts to bring in change instead of just thinking about it He asked DCs to work with team spirit and face the challenges unitedly to make the district administrations dynamic Promptly implement the governments bold decisions taken to make the administration more responsive to peoples plight work proactively in the districts to give good administration instead of just thinking about change take the lead to bring the change yourself Bommai said He was addressing the Deputy Commissioners conference at Vidhana Soudha here Stating that the government has proved to be alive and responsive by reaching out to the people to redress their grievances the Chief Minister said Crop compensation has been paid within 48 hours of uploading the report in Parihara App It has been made possible to provide relief to 83 per cent of affected farmers due to the efficiency of Deputy Commissioners he said appreciating their performance According to a CMO statement Bommai instructed DCs to ensure speedy disposal of land disputes and cases which are pending for more than 5 years at the level of Tahsildars Assistant Commissioners and DCs and said that the government is ready to recruit additional Tahsildars and Assistant Commissioners to accomplish the task Bommai stressed the need for making the administration more responsive to take the welfare programmes to peoples doors Revenue minister R Ashoka who also addressed the conference said periodic progress review of development works should be held compulsorily and the DCs should reserve at least one day in a month for encroachment clearance drive A programme to take government services to peoples doors in rural areas is being launched on January 26 which includes issuing documents at the doors of the people DCs should make this programme a grand success he said PTI KSU BN BN

Bengaluru Dec 30 PTI Witnessing a spike for the second consecutive day Karnataka on Thursday reported 707 new COVID-19 cases and three deaths taking the total number of infections to 3006505 and the toll to 38327 In a sudden spike in daily COVID cases the state on Wednesday had reported 566 fresh infections compared to 356 on Tuesday There were 252 discharges today taking the total number of recoveries in the state so far to 2959926 a health department bulletin said Out of 707 new cases reported on Thursday 565 were from Bengaluru Urban as the city saw 104 discharges and 3 deaths The total number of active cases in the state is now 8223 While the positivity rate for the day stood at 061 per cent the Case Fatality Rate CFR was 042 per cent All the three deaths reported on Thursday were from Bengaluru Urban Among the districts where the new cases were reported Bengaluru Urban accounted for 565 Udupi 19 Mysuru 53 Hassan 17 Mysuru 16 Kodagu 12 Dakshina Kannada 11 followed by others the bulletin said Bengaluru Urban district topped the list of positive cases with a total of 1262962 followed by Mysuru 180266 and Tumakuru 121338 Among discharges too Bengaluru Urban was on top with 1239720 followed by Mysuru 177741 and Tumakuru 120127 Cumulatively a total of 56350280 samples have been tested in the state so far out of which 114686 were done on Thursday alone PTI KSU APR APR

Bengaluru Dec 30 PTI Divide among the pro-Kannada organisations is likely to make the state wide band called by them on Friday demanding a complete ban on the activities of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi MES impactless Also business establishments and transport organisations have decided not participate in the bandh Several organisations under the leadership of Vatal Nagaraj the leader of the Kannada Okkuta had last week called for a day-long state wide bandh on December 31 demanding a complete ban on the activities of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi in the state over its repeated involvement in anti-Karnataka and anti-Kannada activities The demand follows the recent incidents of burning of the Kannada flag in Maharashtras Kolhapur and defacement of the statue of historical icon Sangolli Rayanna in Belagavi allegedly by MES activists The MES a Marathi outfit has been campaigning for long to merge Marathi speaking regions in Belagavi with Maharashtra However several organisations like the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce KFCC Karnataka Rakshana Vedike KRV Bruhat Bangalore Hotels Association Auto schools and college associations shopping malls association and several other commercial establishments have offered only moral support and said they will not participate in the bandh and will function as usual Business establishments have cited New Year brisk business for not physically supporting the bandh call Now even those who were supporting Vatal Nagaraj in his call for bandh like Karnataka Rakshana Vedike Praveen Shetty faction among others have made a u-turn and have requested him to call off the bandh and efforts are on to convince him Nagaraj earlier in the day campaigned in different parts of the city urging people to support the bandh Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi has to be banneddemanding this Kannada Okkuta has called for a complete Karnataka bandh from 6AM to 6PM tomorrow several pro-Kannada organisations have supported the bandh call it is a matter of Kanndigas pride I appeal to everyone to participate he said Praveen Shetty who met Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said he has requested the CM to ensure the safety of Kannadigas in Maharashtra and to ban MES Stating that the CM listed actions taken by his government by booking sedition cases against miscreants involved in the incidents and sought withdrawal of the bandh he said we will discuss with Vatal Nagaraj and take a decision Chief Minister Bommai also appealed to Vatal Nagaraj to call off the bandh in the interest of the people and the economy that is recovering from COVID He said the government has already acted on most of the demands and will stand for Kannada cause Bommai had yesterday said the government had already taken action against anti-Kannada forces and was examining the demand for banning MES legally PTI KSU BN BN

Bengaluru Dec 28 PTI The Karnataka governments e-Governance department has partnered with the National Payments Corporation of India NPCI and State Bank of India SBI for enabling and implementing e-RUPI a cashless and contactless payment solution to students under its scholarship programme e-RUPI will be used to ensure a leak-proof delivery of education fees of eligible students by paying digitally to the college or institute by the Karnataka government The Karnataka government will get e-vouchers delivered to the mobiles of eligible students The voucher code can be received on the feature phone also The students will be able to redeem e-RUPI at the identified colleges or institutes for the intended purpose of fees payment NCPI said in a release For redeeming e-RUPI the identified institutes will scan the QR code or SMS string displayed by the students using an Application or POS machine and this process will remove the requirement of any physical token delivery for the students to avail of the scholarship it said e-RUPI is indeed a very powerful tool for governments to use as it allows direct transfer of the benefits to the targeted beneficiary with safety and security The instrument ensures that the beneficiary gets the benefit as per the guidelines of the scheme Under this initiative each transaction is mapped with the beneficiary and the institution ensuring that the e-Voucher can be redeemed by the college where the student has enrolled Additional Chief Secretary DPAR e-governance Rajiv Chawla said The Karnataka government has on-boarded around 176 schemes of 35 departments of the state government on the Direct Benefit Transfer Platform Following the successful implementation of this pilot project the state is examining the use of e-RUPI Voucher in other schemes such as seed distribution fertiliser distribution micro irrigation schemes issue of laptops to students and Imparting skilled training the release said We believe e-RUPI is a revolutionary initiative in the direction of ensuring a convenient and leak-proof delivery of schemes This is a win-win for both students and colleges While students receive the voucher they can redeem it only for payment of fees to collegesInstitutes NPCI Chief of Products Kunal Kalawatia said PTI KSU APR APR

Bengaluru Dec 27 PTI V Ajith Kumars heroics with raids was not good enough for former champions U Mumba as they settled for a 30-30 tie against Tamil Thaliavas in their Pro Kabaddi League match here on Monday The raider scored 15 points in the match to help U Mumba take a lead after trailing for long periods but a last-minute blunder by the season 2 champions helped Thalaivas escape with a tie their second of the season The first half began with Tamil Thaliavas defenders paying no respect for U Mumba Captain Surjeet Singh ably supported by Sahil Singh in the left corner thwarted Mumbai raiders Abhishek Singh and V Ajith Kumar in successive attempts With Manjeet and Bhavani Rajput both lanky raiders with massive reach impressing with their raids the Thaliavas clinched their first ALL OUT in the seventh minute to open up an 8-point lead The Thalaivas had six successful tackles as opposed to none by U Mumba in the first 15-minutes but they lost their course in the final minutes of the first half Mumbai scored nine points in the last five minutes of the half though Ajith Kumar produced a stunning four-point Super Raid and an additional two points for ALL OUT to reduce the Tamil Thaliavas lead to just two points in the last minute The first half ended 17-14 in favour of Thaliavas but the momentum was with Mumbai Tamil Thaliavas continued with their aggressive approach in the early minutes of the second half with Bhavani Rajput looking their best raider But the Thalaivas continued to struggle against their former raider Ajith Kumar who clinched his Super 10 and helped Mumbai keep pace which proved to be the difference as his raid points fetched U Mumba an ALL OUT with six minutes remaining in the match For the third match in a row Thalaivas had allowed a team to make a comeback and take the lead But the team from Chennai calculated the last raids effectively to ensure Mumbai had to make a do-or-die attempt in the last move of the match Ajith Kumar went for the touch instead of sacrificing himself for a bonus point and the Thaliavas defence rounded him off to clinch a tie In another game Jaipur Pink Panthers beat UP Yoddhas 32-29 with young raider Arjun Deshwal scoring 11 points Skipper Deepak Hooda scored 9 points PTI KHS BS BS

Bengaluru Dec 26 PTI A last-second blunder from experienced defender Ravinder Pahal allowed Dabang Delhis Naveen Kumar to secure a raid point and hold Gujarat Lions to 24-24 tie in the Pro Kabaddi League here on Sunday Delhis star raider once again secured a Super 10 11 points his third in three matches of Season 8 - but the team was lucky to escape with a tie after another match filled with mistakes from its defenceGujarat will only have themselves to blame after Rakesh Sanrogya and Rakesh Narwal had opened up a chance for them to win the encounter against Season 7 runners-upDespite the focus on Gujarats defence it was the raiders who secured most points for the Giants in a closely fought first half Rakesh Narwal and Rakesh Sanrogya picked easy points of the Delhi defence who once again gave starts to seniors Ajay Thakur and Manjeet Chhillar despite very little contributions from them in the previous matchesDelhis Naveen Kumar ensured the Gujarat Giants didnt open up any lead picking three points from his first three raids while sending the covers Girish Ernak and Ravinder Pahal to the dugout The first 15 minutes only saw 1 successful tackle each from both sides There were no ALL OUTS in the first half as it ended 12-11 in favour of Dabang Delhi KCThe teams continued to trade blows in the early minutes of the second half Gujarat had no answers to Naveen Kumars raids but Delhis defence kept imploding thanks to unsuccessful tackles from Manjeet Chhillar and Jeeva Kumar Naveen clinched his Super 10 three in three matches of Season 8 in the 5th minute of the halfThe Gujarat defence finally managed to get Naveen Kumar out with less than 10 minutes in the clock Brilliant raiding by Rakesh Sanrogya and Rakesh Narwal kept the Giants in pace with Delhi But Vijay quickly managed to revive Naveen Kumar with a touch point and followed it up with an effective charge on Rakesh to give Delhi a slender lead in the 14th minute of the second halfRakeshs effective kick had given Gujarat a one-point lead going into the last raid but a blunder from Ravinder Pahal who went in for an early thigh hold on Naveen Kumar handed Delhi a tieIn the second match of the night Pawan Sehrawat and the Bengaluru Bulls produced an all-round performance to beat defending champions Bengal Warriors 36-35Pawan scored 15 points for the Bulls who won the match due to a last-minute two-point raid by South KoreanDong-Geon Lee Bengal will only have themselves to blame after being given a good start by captain Maninder Singh who scored 17 points PTI BS PDS BS

Bengaluru Dec 25 PTI Indian culture from the time of its civilisational journey had always been pluralistic and cherished diversity Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan said on SaturdayIn a speech dotted with the verses from Vedas and Bhagwad Geeta Khan said India is a successful democracy not because it was written in the Constitution but it always practiced spiritual democracy by accepting diversity as the natural lawIndian culture right from the start of our civilisational journey had always been pluralistic cherished diversity Khan said during the fourth Atal Bihari Vajpayee Memorial Lecture which was organised by the India FoundationSpeaking about diversity he said India was pluralistic because the ancient noblemen who practiced austerity and devoted themselves to the pursuit of knowledge came to the conclusion that diversity is the natural lawExplaining that India did not become diverse after the arrival of semitic religions Khan cited example that Jews came to the country in the year when the temple of Solomon was destroyed and Christianity in India was older than the European Christianity because Christians came in the first century itselfAccording to Khan there is a mosque in Kerala which people believe was built two years before the death of Prophet Mohammed PBUHThe Kerala Governor also took objection to the word tolerance to define Indian pluralismTo buttress his point he quoted Vivekananda who said when someone talks of tolerance he felt as if the person tried to patronise him To Vivekananda tolerance was blasphemy he addedWe do not tolerate We respect and accept all traditions Vivekananda said in his famous speech in World Religion Parliament that the people of India with a population of 35 crore start their prayer - O Lord the way various rivers rivulets springs and water bodies they originate from their source they course in the crooked ways and finally merge into the seaO Lord we human beings depending on the natural disposition on which you have created us we take different paths but ultimately we merge into you This has been the Indian thinking Khan saidSeeking to explain why democracy succeeded in India with a continuous civilisation of more than 5000 years Khan asked Shall our genius accept this idea that we are running our government our Constitution on the basis of a borrowed idea Will that succeed No Khan averred that democracy succeeded in India because Indians if not a political democracy always had a continuous spiritual democracyLike the continuous civilisation we had continuous spiritual democracy -- Aham Brahmasmi and Tatvamasi These Mahavakyas great sentences from Vedas we have never abandoned them the seasoned statesman saidTaking a dig at those who believed that Mutts monastery established by Adiguru Shankaracharya united the country he said unity of India cannot be created by making buildings but unity was created by the four Mahavakyas assigned to each of these MuttsThese Mahavakyas are from four different sources but they had the same meaning about the divinity of mankind he clarifiedDrawing a parallel between Shankaracharya and Swami Vivekananda Khan said in his letter to his disciple Sister Nivedita Vivekananda said his mission was to teach unto mankind their divinityKhan said the modern west gave the concept of dignity to mankind through its Union Charter of Human Rights which spoke about the rights of the human being rights of the minorities and the rights of the marginalised right to culture and right to religious faith and worshipExplaining why these rights were emphasised Khan said when the Western world embraced democracy they needed to become pluralistic because they realised that diversity should not be suppressedPluralism came to the western society only after clash between judge and the state Now they try to become inclusive but earlier exclusivity was their hallmark the Kerala governor notedThe Kerala governor observed that with the sole exception of India the world cultures were either defined by race language or by religious faithKhan also said that the minorities whether cultural religious lingual diversity were suppressed all over the world with the sole exception of IndiaHe asked the audience not to try to comprehend Indian ideas and concepts with the foreign paradigm as that will lead to wrong conclusionsIf the Indian ideas and concepts are to be understood properly then we must use Indian paradigmAccording to Khan the word secularism was meant to give respectability to the pluralism and diversity and make it acceptable On the other hand India accepted diversity since time immemorial he addedSecularism doesnt mean to be religious Secularism doesnt mean lack of faith in Supreme TruthSecularism means each individual has the right to approach to pursue the spiritual path in a manner which suits her or his own genea Everybody does according to the natural disposition on which he has been created Khan saidHe also shared some anecdotes about time spent with the former Prime Minister Late Atal Bihari VajpayeeUnion Minister for Civil Aviation Railways and Commerce Suresh Prabhu too addressed the gathering and recalled his time with Vajpayee PTI GMS ROH ROH

Bengaluru Dec 25 PTI Karnataka on Saturday logged 270 fresh COVID-19 cases and four deaths taking the caseload to 3004239 and the toll to 38309 Recoveries numbered 246 taking the total to 2958630 leaving 7271 active cases a health department bulletin said Bengaluru Urban remained the major contributor of cases reporting 152 infections and two deaths Kodagu logged 25 cases Tumakuru and Udupi 14 each Mysuru 13 and Dakshina Kannada 11 it said Other than Bengaluru one death each occurred in Dharwad and Udupi The positivity rate for the day was 027 per cent and the Case Fatality Rate was 148 per cent A total of 97782 samples were tested in the state on Saturday taking the cumulative number of specimens examined so far to 559 crore the bulletin said The day also saw 91707 people being vaccinated taking the total number of those given the jabs so far to 845 crore PTI GMS APR APR

Bengaluru Dec 23 PTI Karnataka on Thursday reported 12 new cases of Omicron variant of the novel coronavirus taking its tally in the state to 31 Karnataka Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said Seven of them are female including two girls aged nine and 11 years old 12 new cases of Omicron have been confirmed in Karnataka today taking the tally to 31 Sudhakar said adding ten are from Bengaluru while one each is from Mysuru and Mangaluru Among the Bengaluru cases five had a travel history to the United Kingdom and one each had come from Denmark and Nigeria The three others from Bengaluru did not have a travel history A 27-year-old man from Mangaluru had come from Ghana while the nine-year-old girl from Mysuru had returned from Switzerland According to health department officials they have been isolated and were undergoing treatment They added that their health condition is being monitored PTI GMS SA RS GMS SA SA

Bengaluru Dec 19 PTI Seven people who allegedly defaced the statue of Maratha ruler Chhatrapati Shivaji here with black ink have been arrested police said on SundayBased on a complaint lodged on Friday the police launched a manhunt and nabbed the prime accused along with six othersThe miscreants were apparently upset with the demand of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti a regional outfit fighting for the merger of Belagavi into the western stateThe accused have been charged with creating enmity between communities and conspiracyThe alleged desecration of Shivaji Maharajs statue caused a snowball effect with vandals targeting the statue of freedom fighter Sangolli Rayanna in Belagavi following which Karnataka and Maharashtra locked horns yet again on SaturdayWhile Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai condemned the untoward incidents and ordered action against culprits his Maharashtra counterpart Uddhav Thackeray had demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modis intervention to stop Kannada atrocities and the pervert mindset PTI GMS ROH ROH