Move to withdraw cases against INNOCENT minorities is ‘anti-democratic’: Shobha

coastaldigest.com news network
January 27, 2018

The Karnataka BJP on Saturday described the government's attempts to withdraw cases filed against innocent minorities in communal incidents as "anti-democratic" and against "secular norms" and sought that the proposal be dropped immediately.

Addressing a press conference in Bengaluru, BJP state general secretary Shobha Karandlaje termed the proposal as "unacceptable" and "dangerous". "Never before in the political history of the state has any government set such a dangerous precedent, which is grossly communal and has the potential to disturb law, order, peace and tranquillity," she said.

Shobha accused the government of practising politics of minority appeasement. She said every government in the past had withdrawn cases filed against Kannada activists and farmers and it was the prerogative of the state cabinet. "But, it was not on the basis of majority or minority. In the present case, the circular by the Director General and Inspector General of Police (DG&IGP) clearly states that the cases filed against minorities need to be withdrawn. This is deplorable," Shobha said.

She said the circular by the DG&IGP made it clear that the government was misusing police machinery to further its political and electoral ends.

"The attempt to project only minorities as innocent is unfortunate. This goes against the oath taken by the chief minister that he will do justice and provide equality to all sections of society without bias or discrimination," she said.

The Siddaramaiah government, however, rejected the BJP charge and said the circular was applicable to innocents belonging to various minority communities and also involves those arrested during agitations over inter-state water disputes.

The circular by Assistant Inspector General of Police Shivaprakash Devaraju and addressed to police commissioners of Mangaluru, Belagavi and superintendents of police of various districts asked them to withdraw cases against the innocent minorities booked on charges of rioting and other offences.

Rubbishing the BJP’s claim of "Muslim appeasement" by Congress party ahead of coming assembly polls in the state, Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy clarified that the communique, dated January 25, referred to all minorities including Muslims, Christians, Jains, Buddhists and Sikhs.

Comments

Hasan
 - 
Sunday, 28 Jan 2018

Ms Shoba if you feel this step is anti democrtic then why dont you go to courts instead having press conference. you dont have problem when Mr Yogi plan to withdraw 20,000 criminal cases belongs to your party. You have problem only with Minority. Shame on you. jai hind

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News Network
May 18,2020

Bengaluru, May 18: A large number of people in India are planning inter-city bus travel within a month of the lifting of travel restrictions, according to a randomised online survey of over 10,300 customers of redBus, India's largest online bus ticketing platform.

Nearly 57 per cent of the respondents are planning to travel within a month post the lockdown. However, there is a high standard of expectation on the implementation of measures to make buses safe for travel with over 79 per cent wanting deep cleaning and sanitisation of buses after every trip.

Hand sanitisers, mandatory masks and temperature screening for all passengers are next in expectations for bus travel. Over 78 per cent of the respondents want the implementation of hygienic conditions at boarding points and 70 per cent want social distancing protocols to be implemented at boarding points.

"The survey does underscore the fact that given the adherence to safety protocols, bus travel is possibly one of the safest options for travel since the number of travellers are fewer, checks can be done individually and the whole factor of pick up and drop as close to home as possible minimises the number of contacts throughout the journey," said redBus Chief Executive Officer Prakash Sangam.

In addition, online booking further reduces the number of contact points as people can book bus tickets directly from their home. Further, there is a heightened awareness of personal hygiene and safety measures which is important for the travel to be safe.

"The large number of people waiting to travel not only points to the need but also the importance it has for the revival of economic activity as very few of them would be travelling for leisure," said Sangam.

The survey also showed that passengers put a very high consideration on hygiene, sanitation and disinfection -- over 73 per cent -- and social distancing (63 per cent) and much lower consideration to traditional factors such as travel cost (22 per cent), comfort (21 per cent) and punctuality (18 per cent).

The survey was conducted among redBus customers across India. Only 5 per cent of the respondents were willing to postpone their travel to over six months while the rest had plans to travel within that period.

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News Network
June 29,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 29: Bengaluru continued to see a sharp spike in covid- 19 cases as 738 more people tested positive on Monday that took the city's tally to 4052 of which 3427 is active.

The surge in Bengaluru pushed up the number of positive cases to 1105 across Karnataka. The total number of cases in Karnataka now stands at 14,295 of which 6382 are active.

The death toll stood at 230 as 19 more people died in the 24 hours till 5 pm on Monday.

Karnataka, particularly Bengaluru, has seen a sharp rise in cases over the last two weeks indicating the possibility of community transmission and further rise in cases.

Estimates by government authorities project that Karnataka will have around 25,000 cases by mid-August.

R.Ashok, the revenue minister incharge of covid- 19 in Bengaluru on Monday told doctors that they would have to dedicate another six months to contain the virus indicating that authorities were expecting the case count to rise in subsequent days and months.

The city reported over 3,200 cases since 19 June as against 844 cases between 8 March and 18 June.

There are around 500 containment zones in Bengaluru that is likely to have an impact of business and activities in the state's growth capital and its efforts to revive the economy.

The state government on Monday held meetings with private hospitals to increase the number of beds available for treatment of covid- 19.

The number of people in intensive careunits (ICU) jumped to 268.

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News Network
July 30,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 30: As the protest by Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) workers entered the 20th day, Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu on Wednesday assured them that he would take up their demands with Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa.

The ASHA workers are sitting in protests with a number of demands that include a minimum salary of Rs 12,000 per month.

Assuring that their matter will be taken up, Karnataka Health Minister B Sriramulu said while speaking to reporters, "We know how hard ASHA workers have been working as frontline warriors in the fight against COVID-19. I will discuss with CM about their demand for a minimum wage of Rs 12,000 per month and the final decision will be taken soon."

"We went to the police to allow us to protest. Officials then took us to the CM. During the meeting, he demanded some time to sort out our issues. 

We told him we are protesting for the past 20 days and that it was he who needs to call a meeting with us. Only then will he know the problems being faced by ASHA workers," an ASHA worker said clad in her signature pink sari.

"When asked as to why salaries of ASHA workers were not hiked, while it was done for doctors and other healthcare officials, the CM requested for time to look into the matter. 

We are not much happy now, but will if he comes in front of the media and promises to sort out our issues, then we will listen to him", she added.

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