Hashim Ansari, oldest litigant in Babri Masjid case dies at 95

The Himachal Pradesh police have confirmed the arrested a man for injuring a pregnant cow by feeding her wheat flour ball laced with firecrackers. 

The cow’s jaw was blown off-- reprising the tragic story of a pregnant elephant that lost its life after eating a pineapple stuffed with a firecracker in Kerala.

While the incident took place on May 26 in Jhandutta area of Himachal Pradesh’s Bilaspur district, it came to light only on Saturday, May 6, when the cow’s owner, Gurdayal Singh, uploaded a video of the injured animal on social media.

In the video, Gurdiyal Singh describes how the cow’s mouth had been injured after one Nandlal fed her explosives.

He confirmed that Nandlal works as a mechanic in Singh’s neighbourhood. Singh said that Nandlal has no remorse for his action. Nandlal has said that he is not scared of the repercussions and that he will continue to do whatever he deems fit. “Even the village sarpanch cannot harm me”, challenged Nandlal when confronted by Singh. 

The cow has given birth to a healthy calf since but Singh said the animal is still not able to eat because of an injured jaw and is being administered Glucose.

The video went viral with people demanding strict action against the person who fed firecrackers to the animal.

The practice of studding dough balls with firecrackers isn’t uncommon in Himachal, and farmers resort to this to keep wild animals, especially boards, off their fields. In the Kerala incident too, the explosive-filled-fruit was meant for wild boars. In many parts of the country, including Himachal, the method is also used to hunt for bush meat -- an illegal practice.

Bilaspur superintendent of oolice (SP) Devakar Sharma confirmed the incident and said the cow was fed a highly explosive firecracker popularly called “aalu bomb”. 

Aalu is Hindi for potato. He said a case under Section 286 of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act has been registered and the role of the neighbours named by Singh is being investigated.

Bengaluru, Jun 30: Former Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday demanded setting up of an all-party committee to monitor treatment-related issues in hospitals and said there are allegations of "corruption and nepotism" in the management of COVID-19 treatment.

Siddaramaiah said in a tweet that Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa should immediately form all-party monitoring committee.

"This is very much needed to increase public confidence in the backdrop of several complaints," he said.
"There are allegations of corruption and nepotism in the management of COVID-19 treatment. It is need of the hour to manage this unprecedented health crisis with public safety as the only objective," he said in another tweet.

He urged the Chief Minister to make the treatment protocol clear to the patients and instil hope. "Do not keep them in dark," he said.

The senior Congress leader also urged the Chief Minister to extend insurance and other benefits to private hospital doctors, nurses and support staff.
Karnataka has reported a total of 14,295 COVID-19 cases.

Mangaluru, May 13: Union Minister and former Karnataka chief minister D V Sadananda Gowda today assured that he will exert pressure on the authorities concerned to operate more repatriate flights to bring back Kannadigas from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka. 

Speaking in a video conference organised by coastaldigest.com with Kannadiga delegates in Saudi Arabia, Mr Gowda said: “Today itself I will contact the external affairs ministry and Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to convince them the need to add operate flights to bring back stranded Kannaidgas from the Kingdom.

After paying heed to the advices, requests and concerns of Kannadiga delegates that participated in the video conference, Mr Gowda said: “Two things need to be done. First thing is number of flights from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka should be increased. Second thing is to ensure that most of these flights land in the Mangaluru Airport as most of the Kannadiga expats in Saudi Arabia are from the coastal region.

“There should be at least two to three flights from Saudi Arabia to Karnataka (Bengaluru Airport or Mangaluru Airport) every week. That is my intention,” he added.