Haj pilgrim from Mangaluru dies in Makkah

Karwar, Mar 19: Four drug peddlers were arrested on Thursday and 2.68 Kg of brown sugar worth Rs 2 Crore was seized from them while they were smuggling the banned drug by road from Yellapura to Ankola.

Police identified the arrested persons as Narayan (35), Chandrahas Gunaga (29), Veerabhadra Hegade (43) and Praveen Bhat (30).

Police have registered a case and investigations are ongoing.

Bengaluru, Jul 23: The Siddi community in Karnataka got its first lawmaker as Governor Vajubhai Vala nominated five persons, including Shantharama Budna Siddi, to the Karnataka Legislative Council on Wednesday.

Shantharama Siddi had been working as a social worker and was a post holder at the Vanavasi Kalyan Prakalpa, a tribal welfare initiative of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

The Siddis, an ethnic group in India, are said to have descended from the people of the East African region. They are included in the list of Scheduled Tribes (ST) in Karnataka.

Apart from the Shantharama, the inclusion of CP Yogishwar, who had left Congress to join BJP in 2017 but failed to retain his seat in the 2018 Assembly polls, is also considered as a big decision.

Adagur H Vishwanath, another former JDS leader, who had quit his party and joined BJP but failed to retain his seat has also caught the attention of the people.

Further, Governor Vala has nominated Talwar Sabanna and Bharathi Shetty to the Upper House in the state.

Bengaluru, Jan 5: B S Yediyurappa-led Karnataka cabinet has finally decided to resume supply of subsidised rice and wheat to students of welfare institutions and hostels including those run by religious mutts under the Dasoha Scheme’s welfare programme. The supply was stopped over two months ago.

“Cabinet has decided to continue supply of subsidised foodgrains (rice and wheat) for the benefit of 37,700 children under the Dasoha scheme in 351 welfare institutions for the next one year at the cost of Rs 18 crore,” said J C Madhuswamy, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister. Under this scheme, institutions that provide free accommodation and food for students are entitled to avail 10 kg rice and 5 kg wheat per student every month at subsidised rates. But following a central government directive in November, the state government had stopped supply to private institutions since December.

Hours before the cabinet meeting, Khader addressed a press conference and said, “This government is snatching away food from children by stalling the supply of foodgrains. Institutions like Suttur Mutt, Siddaganga Mutt that have worldwide fame for their service are being inconvenienced by this,” Khader said.

Finding itself in a fix, especially in a matter that involves mutts, the cabinet was quick to restore the supply. “Foodgrains were being supplied to 183 government-run institutions and 281 institutions run by private entities. As per a central government directive, supply to private institutions was stopped but the decision was made by the previous government,” Shashikala Jolle, Women and Child Development Minister, said.