Shiv Sena leader Sushil Kumar Jain relinquishes Hindutva, embraces Islam

Bengaluru, Jun 6: Karnataka registered 378 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, breaching the 5,000-mark to settle at 5,213, said an official, here on Saturday. "New cases reported from Friday 5 p.m. to Saturday 6 p.m. is 378," said a health official.

Of the new cases, 333 are local returnees, comprising 88 per cent of the new infections. Returnees from Maharashtra accounted for 99 per cent new cases at 329.

Majority infections in Karnataka nowadays are returnees, mostly from the state''s northern neighbour. Only 27 new infections were contacts of earlier cases.

On Saturday, cases spiked in Udupi, Kalaburagi, Yadgir, Bengaluru Urban, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Davangere and Dakshina Kannada.

Udupi witnessed the highest number of cases (121), followed by Yadgir (103), Kalaburagi (69), Dakshina Kannada (24), Bengaluru Urban (18), Vijayapura and Davangere (6 each), Belagavi (5), Gadag (4), Mandya, Hassan, Dharwad and Haveri (3 each), Raichur, Chikkaballapura and Uttara Kannada (2 each) and Bidar, Tumkur, Kolar and Koppal (1 each).

Among the new cases, three patients from Bengaluru Urban are suffering from Influenza Like Illness (ILI) and another from Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI).

There were seven cases with international travel history to United Arab Emirates (UAE) and one to Turkey.

Meanwhile, 280 people were discharged in the past 24 hours and two persons succumbed to the virus, one from Bidar and another from Vijayapura. Of all the cases, 3,184 are active, 1,968 discharged, 59 dead and 11 in the ICU.

In the past 24 hours, Karnataka tested 11,862 people, of which 11,431 reports returned negative. In total, 3.72 lakh samples have been tested so far, of which 3.61 lakh have returned negative.

Currently, Udupi is leading the state''s Covid-19 burden with 785 active cases, followed by Kalaburagi (448), Yadgir (407), Raichur (320) and Mandya (163) among others.

Bengaluru Urban has accounted for 13 deaths, followed by Kalaburagi (7), Bidar, Vijayapura, Davangere and Dakshina Kannada (6 each) and Chikkaballapura (3 each), among others.

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 11: In a unique form of protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), a bridegroom in Kerala, Haja Hussain, came for his wedding ceremony riding on a camel holding an anti-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) poster in his hands, on the outskirts of the capital city on Monday.

Accompanied by a large crowd mostly comprising his friends and relatives, Hussain carried a placard which read "Reject CAA, Boycott NRC and NPR" as he arrived at the wedding hall in Vazhimukku, about 20 km from Thiruvananthapuram, on a camel back.

Haja Hussain said that he chose to do this to express his protest against the CAA.

"Along with the ' mahr' (the custom where the groom hands over gold or money to the bride), I also gave a copy of the Constitution. CAA should be rejected," said Haja Hussain, who is a local businessman.

Bengaluru, July 17: The government of Karnataka has decided to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins in the state to reduce the socio-economic inequality faced by the community.

“A notification has been issued to tehsildars in all 30 districts to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins so that they can also benefit from the government schemes and scholarships,” a Revenue Department official told said.

The notification comes a month after the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board on June 10 appealed to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to issue the certificates to the traditionally dominant community, which accounts for 3 per cent of the 7 crore state population.

“Though Brahmins are in ‘minority’ in terms of their population across the state, they need caste and income certificates to benefit from the welfare schemes meant for the economic weaker sections such as SC, ST and OBC groups,” the official said.

The board was set up in March 2019 as a state-run company with Rs 5 crore authorised capital and Rs 5 crore equity and is registered with the Registrar of Companies.

The notification was issued to the local bodies and taluk offices after several members of the community complained to state Revenue Minister R. Ashoka that they were unable to benefit from the welfare schemes in the absence of the certificates.

The certificates will also help students from the community to avail scholarships for higher studies from the state-funded board if their gross annual family income is less than Rs 8 lakh per year.

The board has also urged the state government to implement the 10 per cent quota for its community members under the economically weaker sections, as applicable for Central government jobs and admissions to central institutions.

Noting that every community has people who are forward and backward economically for various reasons, including historical, the official said the board would be empowered to serve the Brahmins.

“The board will provide interest-free loans to the financially weaker sections of the community,” said its Chairman H.S. Sachidananda Murthy.