Mangaluru: Students protest after finding dead rats, cats in college well

Thiruvananthapuram, Jun 25: The government of Kerala under the leadership of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is all set to launch the 'Kerala Dialogue' -- a debate series on new concepts and development models during the COVID-19 pandemic.

A series of visionaries including noted political thinker Noam Chomsky and Nobel-laureate economist Amartya Sen will join this unique initiative that is to be rolled out from Friday.

The debate series to be inaugurated by the CM will feature prominent personalities from various walks of life including scientists, philosophers, diplomats, economists, writers, journalists, activists, technocrats and people's representatives.

The first episode will have Chomsky, Sen and WHO Chief Scientist Dr Soumya Swaminathan speaking on 'Kerala - Future Paths of Development'. 

State Planning Board vice chairman VK Ramachandran and senior journalist N Ram would be the moderators. The first episode would be telecast through the Chief Minister's official social media accounts.

The coming episodes in the series will also be telecast in the same manner. The government is of the view that the Kerala Dialogue series can ensure debates and dialogues on sustainable and inclusive development on the lines of the Kerala model.

Bengaluru, Mar 23: In the wake of the shutdown in several districts of the state to control the COVID-19 spread, Karnataka government on Monday said food would be provided free of cost through Indira Canteen for the poor who depend on daily wages for their livelihood.

The state-sponsored subsidised 'Indira Canteens' as of now serves breakfast at Rs 5 and lunch and dinner at a cost of Rs 10.

"In the interest of the poor, it has been decided to serve free food for poor. Through Indira Canteen, free food will be served for the entire day for the poor," Yediyurappa told reporters.

The Karnataka government has already announced shutdown of all commercial activities, barring essential services, in nine districts where COVID-19 cases have been reported till March 31.

They are: Bengaluru city, Bengaluru Rural, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi, Dharwad, Chikkaballapura, Kodagu and Belagavi.

Hubballi, Mar 25: The people living in rural areas of North-Karnataka region have become more aware about deadly Corona virus as they are leaving no stone unturned to prevent people of Bengaluru and other metropolitan cities from entering into their villages. People have put thorny plants on all roads at the outskirts connecting their villages and deployed youths to conduct patrolling round the clock till next 21 days.

Their motto is to prevent their own villagers getting infected from the outsiders especially from cities like Bengaluru and other two-tier cities where positive virus cases are on the rise. They have also take precautionary measures in the wake of Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa's call to the people to return to their native places.

Several people have also dug up the roads leading to their villages to block the entry of outside vehicles. They have put a condition to the outsiders to enter into their villages only after proper health check-up to confirm that they are not infected with Corona positive.

"We don't have access to the proper medical care if Corona virus is entered into our village. The Primary Health Centres are not functioning properly and these centers are facing lack of adequate staff and medical equipments unlike in big cities.Therefore, those who have deserted our village to employ in various jobs in Bengaluru and other cities should confirm that they are tested negative for the virus", said Mallikarjun Patil of Kudal village in Hangal taluk of Haveri district. The village has totally banned the outsiders into their village and warned their fellow villagers to return immediately if they have visited to their relatives' homes in neighboring villages to observe 21-day lockdown.

Hundreds of youths in Itanal village of Chikkodi taluk of Belagavi have also resorted to similar tactics and patrolling in all roads at the outskirts by holding sticks to prevent outsiders from entering into their village until April 14.

People of Hunagunti village in Ron taluk and Kotamuchagi village in Gadag taluk have also adopted similar plan by parking tractors at th outskirts to prohibit the entry of outsiders. They have also created awareness in their villages by beating drums urging the people not to venture outside village for next three weeks.

The police officials have resorted to lati-charge at various places in urban areas when people gathered in large numbers to buy essential commodities.