Mangaluru: 3-year-old girl accidentally falls into well, dies

Mangaluru, Feb 17: Kambala superstar Shrinivas Gowda, who is drawing comparisons to ace sprinter Usain Bolt, has reportedly refused to take part in athletics trials with the Sports Authority of India.

28-year-old Gowda, who hails from Moodbidri in Dakshina Kannada, was celebrated as a potential Olympian after a clip of his race went viral, amid claims that he had done 100m in 9.55 seconds, against Bolt's record of 9.58. He has so far won 32 medals in 11 kambala events this season.

Union sports minister Kiren Rijiju and SAI said Gowda would appear for trials at SAI's Bengaluru centre on Monday. The government "will do everything to identify sporting talents", Rijiju had tweeted.

"I will meet the Chief Minister. I am keen on continuing in kambala," Gowda said. Asked about the clamour for a crossover into athletics, he said, "For the time being I have no plans to appear for SAI trials. I am busy with the Kambala season and will consider meeting them following that and after consulting my well-wishers."

Kalaburagi, Mar 16: A family member of the 76-year-old man from Kalaburgai who died of COVID-19 on March 10 has been tested positive for the virus.

Kalaburagi Deputy Commissioner B Sharat said, "One member of the family of the 76-year-old man from Kalaburgai, who died due to coronavirus has tested positive for the virus."

The disease which originated in China's Wuhan city in December last year has so far spread to more than 100 countries, infecting over 1,30,000 people.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared coronavirus a pandemic.

Bengaluru, May 9: The Karnataka government may not extend the daily working hours from 8 to 12, with Labour Minister A Shivaram Hebbar saying on Saturday that the move would neither benefit the industries nor workers.

Hebbar said that the proposal has not been discussed and it may come for final deliberations next week. He also noted that some States have already extended the working hours. More than extending working hours, there should be employment to be given. If there are no jobs what can be done by extending working hours? If it is done (working hours extended to 12 hours), it would neither benefit workers nor industries. Let's see what happens, he said.

Asked if the government was in favour of the extension, he said, "I don't think it will be ready for the (12 hour) proposal." Meanwhile, the Minister also said that their top priority now was to see that all MSMEs start operating again, salaries are paid to employees and there are no job losses for any reason. If industries don't reopen, how can workers get their employment? We should think in parallel, Hebbar said adding, the government was keeping the interests of both MSMEs and workers in mind.

He urged the Centre to offer a relief package to the MSME sector, saying it is facing very difficult times due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19-induced lockdown, and also noting its role in generating large-scale employment and feeding large industries.

The BJP-led government has done whatever within its limitations to help the MSMEs, he said. Earlier this week, the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced that the monthly fixed charges of electricity bills of MSMEs would be waived for two months. MSMEs have suffered huge production losses due to the lockdown. It takes some time for them to revive, Yediyurappa had said. The Chief Minister had also said payment of fixed charges in the electricity bills of the large industries will be deferred without penalty and interest for a period of two months.