Jaffer Sharief, the man behind golden era in Railways sector

Vijesh Kamath for Deccan Herald
November 26, 2018

Bengaluru, Nov 26: Former union minister and senior Congress leader C K Jaffer Sharief, best known for ushering in a golden era in the railways sector in Karnataka, passed away in Bengaluru on Sunday. He was 85.

Sharief suffered a major cardiac arrest at home and was rushed to a private hospital. He breathed his last at 12.30 pm. He will be laid to rest at Jayamahal burial grounds on Millers Road following namaz at Khadria mosque on Monday afternoon.

Born on November 3, 1933, in Chitradurga, Sharief started his political career driving the car of his political mentor and former chief minister S Nijalingappa in the late 1960s.

He was loyal to the Congress, but at times caused embarrassment to the party by making caustic remarks against the leadership.

Sharief was best known for his tenure as railway minister (1991-95) in the P V Narasimha Rao Cabinet. He brought several railway projects to Bengaluru and is credited with the task of broad gauge conversion across the country.

Sharief’s tenure at the helm of the Railways is known as the golden period for the state. He sanctioned 1,000 km of gauge conversion works out of the 6,000 km sanctioned to the entire country. This included conversion of section like Bengaluru-Guntakal, Bengaluru-Mysuru.

He also secured several new lines including Chitradurga- Rayadurga and Mangaluru-Roha. He was instrumental in getting the Wheel and Axle plant to Bengaluru. He played a pivotal role in the establishment of the South Western Railways and securing the Inland Container Depot and Railway Recruitment Board to the state.

It was during Sharief’s time that services like Shatabdi and Rajdhani were introduced from Karnataka and several rail over bridge and rail under bridges built. A seven-term Lok Sabha member, he represented Bengaluru North constituency without a break between 1977-96. He was denied a ticket in 1996 following his initials figuring in the infamous Jain diaries. However, he came back with a bang, winning the seat in 1998.

In 1969, Sharief took sides and joined the Indira Gandhi faction when the Congress split. It is said it was Sharief who sounded Indira Gandhi that senior Congress leaders were planning to expel her from the party for indiscipline.

This earned a reward for Sharief who was inducted into the cabinet as minister of state for railways by Indira Gandhi in 1980. He also served as the minister of state for coal in the Rajiv Gandhi government.

Popularly called “Jaffer bhai” in political circles, Sharief many a time wanted to enter state politics and even cherished the dream of becoming chief minister. However, that was not to be. The last time he contested elections was in 2009 from Bengaluru North constituency and was defeated by D B Chandre Gowda of the BJP.

In the last few years, Sharief fell out with the Congress leadership as he felt he was being sidelined. On several occasions, he threatened to quit the party, sulking for being denied a ticket to him or his family members. Sharief lost two of his sons in 1996 and 2008. He is survived by two daughters.

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Sruti Kotian
 - 
Monday, 26 Nov 2018

True.. such a good man

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News Network
July 15,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 15: With the state capital along with a few districts under lockdown to control the spread of Covid-19, Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the measure was important to break the chain and people seem to have understood its importance.

Appealing for cooperation from the people, he asked them not to make it inevitable for police to use force in implementing the lockdown. "Traffic movement is less, there is a lockdown atmosphere everywhere, I feel that people have understood the importance... cooperation is required. I appeal to the people, if this lockdown has to be effective it has to be voluntary, only then we can control the rapid spread of coronavirus," Bommai said.

Speaking to reporters here, he said this lockdown is important, last time the infection was not up to this level. "This time areas that have a high number of infections- about five districts and Bengaluru city are going for lockdown. People have understood that this lockdown is to break the chain," he said. "Please don't make it inevitable for police to use force," he added.

Bengaluru urban and rural areas are under "complete lockdown" since last night at 8 pm and it will be effective till 5 am on July 22.

Following Bengaluru urban and rural, administrations in several districts like Dharwad, Dakshina Kannada, Kalaburagi (only in Urban areas), Bidar, Raichur (in Raichur city and Sindhanur) and Yadgir too have announced lockdown.

Noting that Police have taken all necessary strict measures to enforce lockdown in Bengaluru urban and rural districts by restricting the movement of vehicles and people, Bommai said barricades have been erected at various places and flyovers have been shut. People have been allowed to purchase vegetables and groceries till 12 noon, he said.

The government has warned of action in case of any violation of the lockdown rules. As of July 14 evening, cumulatively 44,077 Covid-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 842 deaths and 17,390 discharges. Bengaluru Urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 20,969 infections.

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News Network
January 11,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 11: India’s second-biggest IT company, Infosys Ltd, said it found no evidence of financial misconduct by its executives following a investigation into whistleblower complaints.

Bengaluru-headquartered Infosys, which earlier on Friday raised its revenue forecasts due to upbeat demand from Western clients, said an audit committee report exonerated Chief Executive Officer Salil Parekh and Chief Financial Officer Nilanjan Roy of all allegations, including accusations that the duo prevented employees from presenting data on large deals.

“I’m very happy that CEO Salil Parekh and CFO Nilanjan Roy have emerged from this stronger,” Infosys Chairman Nandan Nilekani told reporters. “The last two years since Salil has been here the company has changed dramatically for the better.”

Parekh took over as Infosys CEO in January 2018, after his predecessor Vishal Sikka quit following a public row with the company’s founder executives amid whistleblower allegations of wrongdoing.

The company earlier said it expected revenue to grow between 10 per cent and 10.5 per cent on a constant currency basis in the year ending March 2020, compared with its previous forecast of between 9 per cent and 10 per cent.

“We continue to see momentum in the market and we have an extremely robust pipeline driven by segment leaders,” CEO Parekh told a news conference.

“With the strength of large deal wins and digital momentum, we were able to clearly see that we have support to raise our guidance.”

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News Network
February 11,2020

Udupi, Feb 11: In a tragic incident, a 62-year-old man from Chennai died of drowning in Sri Krishna Mutt’s Madhwa Sarovar (pond) during the wee hours of Tuesday.

Police said the deceased has been identified as Capt G Sridharan.

It is suspected that Sridharan accidentally fell into the holy pond while taking a bath. The incident is said to have occurred around 4 a.m.

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