Airport-bound Mangaluru woman molested, forced to strip, pose for pictures by Ola driver

Bengaluru, Jan 10: The National Commission for Scheduled Tribes (NCST), which met with officials of the Social Welfare Department Thursday, has urged the state government to increase the reservation provided to the ST community.

The Commission's suggestion comes even as a committee headed by Justice Nagamohan Das is currently studying a demand for increase of reservation for the community from the existing 3% to 7.5%.

Addressing mediapersons on Thursday, Commission Chairperson Nand Kumar Sai, said the Commission had discussed the issue with the Social Welfare Department, Karnataka, asking officials to expedite the process.

In response to this suggestion, Social Welfare Department Principal Secretary G Kumar Naik said the government would take a call based on the Nagamohan Das Committee's report.

A meeting was held between members of the National ST Commission and the Social Welfare Department Thursday with regard to various projects taken up by the department.

In June last year, the then Kumaraswamy-led coalition government constituted the Justice Nagamohan Das Committee, after protests from members of the Valmiki community for an increase in reservation to 7.5%. At present, Karnataka provides 15% reservation for SCs, 3% for STs and 32% for other backward classes (OBC).

The national commission also urged the state government to ensure permanent faculty in all the 824 residential institutions run by the department. At present, as much as 50% of the faculty in these institutions have been hired on a contractual basis. "We have assured that the recruitment will be done in a short time," Naik told mediapersons.

Bengaluru, Jan 5: B S Yediyurappa-led Karnataka cabinet has finally decided to resume supply of subsidised rice and wheat to students of welfare institutions and hostels including those run by religious mutts under the Dasoha Scheme’s welfare programme. The supply was stopped over two months ago.

“Cabinet has decided to continue supply of subsidised foodgrains (rice and wheat) for the benefit of 37,700 children under the Dasoha scheme in 351 welfare institutions for the next one year at the cost of Rs 18 crore,” said J C Madhuswamy, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister. Under this scheme, institutions that provide free accommodation and food for students are entitled to avail 10 kg rice and 5 kg wheat per student every month at subsidised rates. But following a central government directive in November, the state government had stopped supply to private institutions since December.

Hours before the cabinet meeting, Khader addressed a press conference and said, “This government is snatching away food from children by stalling the supply of foodgrains. Institutions like Suttur Mutt, Siddaganga Mutt that have worldwide fame for their service are being inconvenienced by this,” Khader said.

Finding itself in a fix, especially in a matter that involves mutts, the cabinet was quick to restore the supply. “Foodgrains were being supplied to 183 government-run institutions and 281 institutions run by private entities. As per a central government directive, supply to private institutions was stopped but the decision was made by the previous government,” Shashikala Jolle, Women and Child Development Minister, said.

Bengaluru, Jan 6: Cab aggregators are once again in news for the wrong reasons after an Ola cab driver misbehaved with a 34-year-old woman passenger and even threatened to kill her when she raised an alarm.

But what followed was worse. The woman, a software engineer, immediately called the Ola emergency number following which they asked her to check if the driver was drunk. She later pressed the emergency button on the Ola app but received a message asking her to dial 100. After the aggregator failed to help her, she said she was lucky to be saved by the public.

Reacting to the incident, an Ola spokesperson said, “We regret the unfortunate incident and have immediately terminated the driver-partner from the platform upon receiving the complaint.”

Shruthi G (name changed), an employee at a software company at Bagmane Tech Park in Mahadevapura, booked an Ola cab after her work in the evening of January 3. She booked pick-up stops at two locations as she had to pick her four-year-old daughter from the day-care centre, which is 2 km away from her house.

However, around 6.22 pm, when the cab reached Malleshpalya near Kids Castle, the driver did not stop the vehicle. He asked her to get down at the last drop location. She told him to stop and tried to open the doors but he locked the doors, insisting that she sit in the car. When she resisted, he held her hands and abused her; he even threatened to kill her if she raised an alarm.

The victim said she pressed the emergency button on the app twice but only got a message advising her to call the police.

When she called the Ola emergency number, the person at the other end asked about her condition and to check whether the driver was drunk. They called back after one-and-a-half hours when she was filing a complaint at the police station.

“Ola did not make any efforts to reach out to the police or do anything to track my location and help me in that situation,” she said.

The victim called 100 and the staffer at the control room asked her which area she was in. Since she was familiar with the area, Shruthi was able to give her location.

“First they told me that the area comes under Baiyappanahalli. Later, they said it comes under HAL. Finally, they figured out the location. It took 20 minutes for the police to reach the spot,” she said.

What saved Shruti was her sheer instinct and luck. Alone in the cab, she started raising an alarm. Luckily, commuters in the other vehicles next to the cab noticed her screaming for help and stopped the driver.

“If this is the kind of security Ola provides its customer, it is very questionable,” she said. “If we have to really call the police during an emergency then why they put out the number and emergency button, it’s a waste of time during that crucial situation. If they directly told us to dial 100 during an emergency, it will save time. Lakhs of commuters take Ola cabs thinking it is safe but they have no mechanism to check their drivers and track their customers in danger.”

Baiyappanahalli police said the accused Bhimashankar Malged was arrested and remanded in judicial custody following the complaint.