Exempt handmade products from GST, urges CM's letter to Jaitley

Bengaluru, Apr 1: The state government has identified five districts, including Dakshina Kannada, as 'cluster zones' or 'Red zones,' to prevent the spread of Novel Coronavirus.

The other four districts include Mysuru, Uttara Kannada, Bengaluru and Chikkaballapur.

Mangaluru has been under strict lockdown, as it is close to Kasargod in Kerala, which reported many positive cases and is also one of the 'hotspots' in the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) list.

Bengaluru, Mar 14: Amid coronavirus threat, Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa has ordered shutting down for a week of all places/activities where people gather in large number including swimming pools, shopping malls, schools, colleges, cinema halls etc, state Health Minister B Sriramulu said.

This comes after Yediyurappa chaired an emergency meeting with ministers and senior officials on Friday to discuss the situation.

Earlier, schools in the state had announced early summer vacation for their students this academic year as a precautionary measure. Other public places have been shut down in the state amid the Covid-19 scare.

The shut down in Karnataka comes after various other state governments ordered similar steps. Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu and Kashmir etc. are some of the states where governments have ordered shut down as a precautionary measure to contain the spread of the deadly coronavirus.

The central government has also taken several steps to contain the virus, including suspension of all visas to India till April 15. Till date, India has reported two deaths and 82 confirmed cases of the deadly coronavirus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic. The virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan last year has spread to more than 100 countries worldwide, infecting over 1,30,000 people.

Kannur, Jan 23: A member of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh has been arrested for attempting to create unrest in Kerala by hurling crude bombs at RSS office and police picket. The miscreants had reportedly planned to pass the blame on others.

The bomb attack took place of January 16 in Kerala’s Kannur. The accused Prabesh, an RSS hardliner, was arrested from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu.

According to the Kerala police Prabesh hurled steel bombs towards the police picket in front of Kathirur Manoj Smrithi Kendram, an RSS office.

"He threw bombs during the wee hours of January 16 morning. Following the arrest he has confessed that his aim was RSS office. Kannur, being politically sensitive region, any attack on political party offices will be regarded as an act by the opponent," Kathirur SI Nijeesh said.

"We had a police picket in the region for a few months now. We are assuming he wanted to create unrest in the area by removing the police from the spot. We could contain the situation because of the CCTV visuals. He was identified immediately after the incident. Following the attack he went to Coimbatore and was hiding there. Our team nabbed him from Coimbatore," he said.

The police have also said that the accused Prabesh had many criminal cases pending against him including those under Explosive Substances Act, 1883. He was nabbed by a team lead by Kathirur SI Nijeesh, CPO Rohith and Vijeesh.

The RSS office in the region is named after Kathirur Manoj a senior karyakarta (worker) who was allegedly killed by the CPI(M) activists in 2014. Kathirur Manoj was the prime accused in the attempt to murder of senior CPI(M) leader P Jayarajan in 1999.