Bantwal: Thousands through funeral of slain SDPI activist

Bengaluru, Apr 14: Karnataka Labour Department has issued an order instructing public and private establishments not to cut salaries or lay off employees during the lockdown imposed to counter Coronavirus.

In view of Covid-19, there may be incidents where services of employees or workers may be dispensed with on the pretext of the disease or employees may be forced to go on leave without pay, the Ministry of Labour and Employment said.

Legal action will be initiated if any establishment violates this advisory, Labour Department Secretary P Manivannan said in a statement issued here on Tuesday.

Mysuru, Feb 29: More than 7,000 industrialists and entrepreneurs have left the country due to a deficit of trust, and incidents like the violence that rocked northeast Delhi will only affect the economy further, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of Art of Living Foundation, said on Friday.

Sri Sri was speaking at a corporate wellness conference on the theme, 'Wellness and Wellbeing for a Progressive Nation', hosted by CII in Mysuru. He said an atmosphere of fear and mistrust pervades the country and does not augur well for the economy.

"Bankers, too, are suspicious of everyone and not extending loans to industrialists. This has posed lots of problems," he said. "This attitude among bank officials should go as life depends on trust. When there is a deficiency of trust, there is a possibility of the economy slowing down," Sri Sri added

He said society is now facing two important issues - aggression and depression. "Some people stage protests and pelt stones which happened recently in Delhi. This is really unfortunate," he said, adding, "Fear lurks in the nation's capital, which is being used by many to create terror. This will affect the economy. No country will prosper without peace."

Wellness is the need of the hour, he said, adding, "Corporates used to spend half their health to gain wealth and spend half their wealth to regain their health. This isn't good economics. We have to talk and convince people to invest in wellness."

Bengaluru, Apr 18: Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu drew flak from his own party the BJP as well as the Congress for allegedly letting hundreds of people throng the Rupangudi Road in Ballari to collect food packets from him.

Visuals showed that the people came in hordes and fell on each other to collect the packets Sriramulu was distributing to the poor and needy as relief measure in the wake of lockdown.

The videos showed the minister standing with his team by the roadside and spreading out tables all along to distribute the food kit to the poor people.

Those in the queue had elderly people too.

A majority of people who rushed to grab the food packets did not bother to protect themselves with a mask.

"Whoever has done he has committed a blunder whether it is Sriramulu in Ballari or Anand Singh in Hospet.

All these elected representatives want to show that they are serviing the people in their constitutuency," said Karnataka BJP spokesperson Go Madhusudana.

Flaying the leaders of all political parties for defying norms, Madhusudana sad this has become fashionable for the leaders to perform 'cheap shows'.

He advised Sriramulu that it should have been done with door-to-door delivery of food packets instead of arranging it at the public place.

Congress spokesperson K E Radhakrishna said a case should be registered for defying regulations.

"I am all appreciation for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Karnataka chief minister B S Yediyurappa who were the first to wake up and do something good for the people.

Now I feel sorry for them.

I wonder why they cannot control their own partymen.

People should file FIR against him (Sriramulu)," Congress spokesperson Prof K E Radhakrishna said

Slamming the alleged VVIP culture in the country, Radhakrishna said when the nation is facing a crisis, lavish marriages and grand birthday parties were organised. In the midst of all this health minister organises a food distribution mela, he added.

Attempts to reach the minister went in vain.

However, speaking to reporters at Ballari, Sriramulu admitted that the cases suddenly shot up in the state because of disregard to social distancing.

"People's support to lockdown is essential.

People have to maintain social distancing, without which we cannot control it," the minister said.