Sirsi limps back to normalcy after violent protests; security remains tight

Kasaragod, June 2: As Kerala commenced fresh academic year with online classes from Monday, a ninth-standard student at Malappuram district in North Kerala ended life allegedly owing to lack of online study facilities like television connection and a smartphone at her house.

Devika, daughter of Balakrishnan, hailing from a Dalit community at Valancherry, about 25 kilometres from Malappuram town, ended her life.

Balakrishnan told the media that he could not recharge the television connection owing to financial crunches. He was working as a daily wage worker and owing to COVID-19 and lockdown, he was not having much work these days. 

The family also did not have a smartphone or computer. The family members alleged that Devika was quite upset as she could not attend the virtual class that began on Monday. She was a student of a nearby government school.

Local police said that Devika, who was the eldest among four children of Balakrishnan, was suspected to have self-immolated using kerosene at a premise close to her house on Monday evening. The cause and provocations were still being probed only. No suicide notes were recovered yet.

Bengaluru, Jun 23: In an attempt to avoid exploitation of patients affected with coronavirus, the Karnataka government on Tuesday announced fixing charges that could be collected from patients by the private hospitals for treatment in the State.

There are now two sets of rates for patients--those who are referred by public health facilities and those who approach private hospitals directly.

According to the notification issued by State Chief Secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar on Tuesday, 50 per cent of the total beds in private hospitals having facilities to treat Covid-19 patients shall be reserved for the treatment of patients referred by public health authorities.

This will include the high-dependency unit and ICU (intensive care unit) beds both with and without ventilators. The hospitals may utilise the remaining Covid beds for admitting Covid-19 patients privately.

Bengaluru, Jan 13: RSS leader Kalladka Prabhakar Bhat on Monday held a protest march at Ramnagar district’s 
Kapalabetta under the aegis of Hindu Jagran Vedike’s ‘Kanakapura Chalo’ campaign against the construction of the world’s largest Jesus statue there.

Hundreds of protesters of the Vedike staged a protest march in the city starting from the Kanakapura Ayyappaswamy temple.

“We are not here to disturb the peace. We have met each other at the wedding of Sriramulu’s daughter. So you know who I am, DK Shivakumar. How long will you continue with these lies? Is the intention behind the statue of Jesus to solidify your vote bank? Build the statue in America or England, we will not allow it here,” said the RSS leader as the keynote speaker at the rally.