Furore in Rajya Sabha over AK Hegde’s remarks against constitution, secularism

Agencies
December 27, 2017

New Delhi, Dec 27: A united Opposition on Wednesday disrupted proceedings in the Rajya Sabha protesting against controversial comments reportedly made by Union Minister Anant kumar Hegde on changing the Constitution and secularism.

Congress, SP and BSP members trooped into the Well of the House shouting slogans seeking Hegde's removal and forcing Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu to adjourn the proceedings till 12 pm.

The trouble started during the laying of the official papers on the table of the House as opposition members shouted "shame, shame" when Hegde, who is Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, rose to lay the papers listed against his name.

Leader of the Opposition and senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad sought a clarification from the mnister as he could leave the House soon after laying papers.

True to this, Hegde sat in the House for a while listening to Opposition protests against his controversial statement that the BJP would change the Constitution by excluding secularism from the preamble. Soon thereafter, he left the House.

Azad asked if a minister does not believe in the Constitution, does he has a right to remain as a minister.

"A minister who has no faith in the Constitution has no right to be a minister. He has no right to be a Member of Parliament," he said.

Sukhendu Sekhar Roy of the TMC said secularism is inscribed in the preamble of the Constitution and asked if a minister is allowed to denounce the same preamble in public.

Naresh Agarwal of the SP said the Constitution is the Ramayana and Gita of democracy and any minister who abuses it and its founder Baba Saheb Ambedkar should be removed.

At this, Naidu interjected to ask members to refrain from bringing Babasaheb Ambedkar into the controversy.

But the Opposition members remained unrelenting and trooped into the Well raising slogans.

Naidu asked members not to raise slogans and ordered that nothing they were saying would go on record.

He then allowed Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment and Republican Party of India founder Ramdas Athawale to speak.

Athawale praised the prime minister for honouring the memory of Ambedkar with a fitting memorial and said it was Congress which had insulted Ambedkar.

"Don't create a ruckus. You are going to be defeated in general elections in 2019 and 2024," Athawale told the Opposition.

BJP leader Subramanian Swamy claimed Ambedkar did not include the word secularism in the Constitution.

Naidu tried to restore order but all his efforts went in vain. "How much should I tolerate. This is not acceptable. This is not done," he said as slogan shouting continued unabated.

As Opposition members continued their noisy protest and demanded a discussion on the issue, Naidu said no discussion can take place without a proper notice.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 10: The Karnataka government on Wednesday said coronavirus tests conducted in the state has crossed the four lakh mark, while the recovery rate remained at 44 per cent.

Sharing the daily COVID-19 bulletin on his Twitter handle, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said till Tuesday 4,00,257 samples were tested in 71 COVID-19 testing labs across the state.

"Karnataka crossed 4 lakh tests mark on Tuesday. So far, we tested 4,00,257 samples in 71 #COVID19 testing labs across the state with a positivity rate of 1.4 per cent," he said.

He tweeted that the state's recovery rate remained healthy at 44 per cent with 2,605 discharges and 5,921 cumulative cases.

The minister said Karnataka was home to nearly a tenth of the total testing labs in India.

According to the Karnataka Health department, out of the four lakh odd samples tested, 3,87,027 samples were reported negative.

The total active cases in the state as on Tuesday evening were 3,248 whereas 66 people lost their lives to coronavirus so far.

Major contributors to the spike in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka are those who returned from Maharashtra recently.

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News Network
March 25,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 25 : Karnataka recorded its highest single-day tally to date, as 10 people tested positive, taking the total number of cases to 51 in the state.

“Till date 51 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state which includes one death and three discharged," the health department said in a statement on Wednesday.

The rise in cases adding to the growing national tally of people who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The daughter of a former union minister from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) from Karnataka has also tested positive.

Bengaluru accounts for 32 of the total 51 cases recorded in the state so far,including three who have fully recovered and released.

Dakshina Kannada has five confirmed cases, Chikkaballapura and Kalaburagi has three cases each, Mysuru has and Uttara Kannada has two cases each and four other districts have one case each.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a 21-day lockdown of the country to keep people indoors and contain the spread of the virus in the community.

The government has also been trying to scale up testing.

Medical education minister K.Sudhakar on Wednesday told Mint that Karnataka will scale up testing by 10-fold with the help of government and private labs approved by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

A total of 2,438 people have been tested in Karnataka and 2242 have tested negative, according to state health department. 214 people are lodged in medical hospitals.

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News Network
May 1,2020

Bengaluru, May 1: Karnataka government has assigned State Nodal Officers after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) order regarding the inter-state movement of stranded migrant workers, tourists, pilgrims and students during the lockdown period.

The Nodal officers have also been appointed for coordination with 11 different states.

In an order issued on Thursday, Karnataka Government wrote, "To facilitate smooth and orderly movement of persons across State borders as per SOPs, the undersigned, in the exercise of powers conferred under the Disaster Management Act, 2005, and in the capacity as Chairman, State Executive Committee, hereby appoint the following officers as Nodal officers to coordinate with Nodal Officers of States/Union Territories (UTs) mentioned against their names."

Dr Rajkumar Khatri, IAS and Arun Jeji Chakravarthy, IPS will be overall in charge of the movement of stranded people from outside States/UTs to Karnataka.

N Manjunatha Prasad, IAS and P S Sandhu, IPS will be overall in charge of the movement of stranded people from Karnataka to other States/UTs.

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