Cabinet clears pay hike for 1 cr govt employees, pensioners

Bengaluru, Mar 25 : Karnataka recorded its highest single-day tally to date, as 10 people tested positive, taking the total number of cases to 51 in the state.

“Till date 51 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death and three discharged," the health department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The rise in cases adding to the growing national tally of people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The daughter of a former union minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Karnataka has also tested positive.

Bengaluru accounts for 32 of the total 51 cases recorded in the state so far,including three who have fully recovered and released.

Dakshina Kannada has five confirmed cases, Chikkaballapura and Kalaburagi has three cases each, Mysuru has and Uttara Kannada has two cases each and four other districts have one case each.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a 21-day lockdown of the country to keep people indoors and contain the spread of the virus in the community.

The government has also been trying to scale up testing.

Medical education minister K.Sudhakar on Wednesday told Mint that Karnataka will scale up testing by 10-fold with the help of government and private labs approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

A total of 2,438 people have been tested in Karnataka and 2242 have tested negative, according to state health department. 214 people are lodged in medical hospitals.

Bengaluru, Jun 18: Real estate continues to be a preferred asset class for investors amid the uncertainty emerging out of the pandemic, according to a report by National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO) and Housing.com.

Titled 'Concerned yet positive - The Indian Real Estate Consumer (April-May 2020)', the report showed that the real estate consumer remains positive with regard to the economic scenario and income stability for the coming six months.

"Real estate (35 per cent) is still perceived as the preferred mode of investment, followed by gold (28 per cent), fixed deposits (22 per cent), stocks (16 per cent) and homebuyers are likely to slowly return to the market in the coming six months," it said.

Price-points of residential realty have remained muted for the past few years, but are still a key deterrent, with the perception of being still unaffordable, according to nearly half of the potential homebuyers surveyed, who are currently staying in rented accommodation.

A majority of respondents surveyed (73%) comprise 'first time homebuyers', who are looking to buy a 'ready-to-move-in-house' for end-use and are from the age group of 25-45 years. While 60% of respondents opined that for the next six months, they would prefer a ready-to-move-in property, 21% said they were okay with a property with a delivery timeline of maximum one year.

The survey was conducted in April and May 2020, through a random sampling technique for a fair representation across regions. The insights presented in the survey represent the view of more than 3,000 potential homebuyers.

Bengaluru, Jan 29: The high court has granted bail to a 37-year-old Bangladeshi woman from the Christian community on the strength of Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019.

The court cited Section 2 of the amended Citizenship Act 1955, according to which minorities from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Afghanistan who entered India on or before December 31, 2014 should not be treated as illegal immigrants, while granting her bail.

Allowing the petition filed by Archana Purnima Pramanik, an illegal immigrant from Bangladesh, who claims to be staying in India since 2003, justice John Michael Cunha on Monday directed her to furnish a bail bond for Rs 2 lakh to the satisfaction of the investigating officer and cooperate with the probe.

The judge observed the allegations made against her must be proved in a full-dressed trial. Archana was booked for obtaining documents such as PAN and Aadhaar cards and also fraudulently obtaining an Indian passport on March 28 last year. Based on a complaint filed by the assistant passport officer, Archana was arrested on November 7, 2019 and her bail petition was dismissed by a sessions court on December 4, 2019.

Born on March 23, 1983 at Tanore, Rajshahi district of Bangladesh, Archana came to India in 2003 to pursue a career in nursing. After obtaining a diploma in general nursing and midwifery at Ranchi in 2006, she worked in many reputed hospitals.

In 2010, she got married to Rajashekaran Krishnamurthy and the marriage was registered at Ranchi. After the wedding, she moved to Bengaluru and obtained PAN, Aadhaar and voter ID cards.

On April 1, 2019, Archana applied for a visa to Bangladesh for herself and her son. During her journey on May 20, 2019, they were detained at Kolkata airport and released later. However, the regional passport office issued a notice revoking Archana’s passport and she was arrested by RT Nagar police on November 7, 2019.