'Diluted' anti-superstition bill gets State Cabinet nod

Bengaluru, Feb 4: A 33-year old woman techie allegedly stabbed her mother to death and made a murderous assault on her younger brother before fleeing their home here, police said on Tuesday.

According to police, the woman fatally stabbed her mother using a knife and attacked the brother early on Monday.

The injured brother has been hospitalised here.

A search was on for the techie and the motive for her action under investigation, police said.

The woman, employed as a software engineer with a company here, earlier had told her mother and 30-year old brother that she has been transferred to Hyderabad and she may have to relocate.

The brother told police that in the early morning on Monday he saw his sister searching something desperately and offered to assist, which she refused.

However, minutes later she made a murderous assault on him, he told police, adding when he screamed for help and called his mother, his sister said she has killed their mother.

She stabbed him and attacked with an iron rod before fleeing, her brother told police.

The body of the mother was found in another room in the house.

"We are still investigating the matter. We are not clear about the motive behind the murder," a police officer told media adding the woman was yet to be arrested.

Mangaluru, Feb 11: Renowned journalist and winner of Magsaysay award, P Sainath will be in Mangaluru on February 14 & 15 at St. Aloysius College (Autonomous). He will speak on the topic ‘Indian democracy in post liberalisation and post truth era’.

P Sainath’s two-day visit to St. Aloysius College will also feature a workshop by the veteran journalist on his rural development project PARI (People’s Archives of Rural India). It is a part of the tenth edition of Media Manthan, a National level media fest organised by the post-graduate department of Journalism and Mass Communication of St. Aloysius College.

P. Sainath is a veteran journalist and media activist who has an avid interest in rural reporting. People’s Archives of Rural India (PARI), a digital journalism platform is an initiative put forward by him which aims to document rural Indian lives and livelihood. Sainath is also a teacher who has trained over 1000 media persons across 27 years.

Media Manthan is a media festival by the PG Department of Mass Communication of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous). Besides endowment lecture and workshop by P. Sainath, the fest holds various media-related competitions for the students of various colleges from across the state.

Bengaluru, Mar 7: As a precautionary measure to control the spread of coronavirus in Karnataka, the state government has planned to suspend biometric attendance for the time-being at its offices, also in corporate and IT companies, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Saturday.

He said the government has taken all precautionary measures to control the spread of the virus in the state.

"Our Additional Chief Secretary has already spoken to IT companies yesterday on behalf of the government regarding guidelines that need to be followed, it is part of it...we will do it in the government also in the days to come," Sudhakar told reporters here.

He was responding to a question about suspending biometric attendance at offices in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Asked about suspending biometric attendanceat government offices, he said, "we have planned to do it yesterday."

Sudhakar said so far in Karnataka not even one case has been identified, to that extent we have been taking precautionary measures effectively.

He said from villages to state capital Bengaluru at all levels the health department officials have been activated as part of the precautionary measures.

Also, committees headed by Deputy Commissioners have been formed in all district, he added.

"We have given certain guidelines to people. We have also included private hospitals. We have taken all precautionary measures to stop the virus from entering the state," he added.

In response to a question regarding masks, the Minister clarified that those who have the symptoms of the disease only should use them.

He said, "N95 masks are required only for those who have tested positive, there is not even a single positive case in the state so far...surgical masks that will have three layers can be used by those who have symptoms like cough, cold, fever."

In the state as a precautionary measure 2,500 beds have been kept ready if the situation arises, despite not having a single case.