Murugesh Nirani gifts Yeddy Rs 1-crore SUV to tour drought-hit areas

Bengaluru, Jun 10: Internet connectivity, provided under the central government's BharatNet initiative, will be improved in rural areas of Karnataka in the next two to three months, said Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan.

After video conferencing with heads of different agencies and officials, on improving the quality of internet in rural areas, Ashwath Narayan said, "I reviewed the progress of the BharatNet implementation and the steps to be taken to improve the quality of internet connectivity in the next two to three months."

"We also discussed the possibility of giving the implementation of BharatNet to a different agency. We will seek permission from the central government and continue the project. We will ease communication with rural people by ensuring quality and high-speed internet to all Gram Panchayats," he added.

When BSNL officials and other agency representatives who attended the video conference shared their problems, the Deputy Chief Minister assured to solve them through proper coordination.

"Through BharatNet, several government schemes are being implemented in rural areas. Civic service centres are issuing birth and death certificates, Aadhaar cards and social security pensions among others. Of the total 6,000 Gram Panchayats in the state, 4,000 have high-speed internet connectivity, and the remaining will be provided with better internet connectivity through a new agency,'' said Ashwath Narayan.

Additional Secretary (e-governance) Rajeev Chawla, Additional Chief Secretary (IT-BT) EV Ramana Reddy, Principal Secretary (RDPR) Uma Mahadevan, Director (IT) Meena Nagaraj, Collegiate Education Director Pradeep and other senior officials were present in the meeting.

Tumakuru, Feb 5: Former Lokayukta Justice N Santhosh Hegde has questioned the integrity of the B S Yediyurappa led BJP government as it has not taken an action to abolish the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) to re-establish the Lokayukta in Karnataka.

Speaking after felicitating the retired scientist of NASA Gopal Iyengar at the Karnataka Public School at Kadaba in Gubbi taluk he reminded that the BJP had promised to establish the Lokayukta.

"No party will like to strengthen the Lokayukta and now BSY is also tightlipped and even put an end by appreciating that ACB has been doing a good job", he regretted.

In fact, the Lokayakuta had the power to prosecute even the top brass of officials and now the ACB cannot without the government's permission, he clarified.

He denied any remarks on the CAA and NRC but observed that the youths of the country have been misguided by the politicians as they lost their focus on education by involving in protest rallies.

"I suggest they to straight away take a political plunge instead of getting misused at the hands of the politicians with selfish motives", he said.

Benglauru, May 25: Nearly one thousand people in the capital city of Karnataka have lost several crores of rupees to online fraudsters during the two months of covid-19 lockdown.

According to official sources, 962 cases of online frauds have been registered in various police stations across Bengaluru March 23 to May 19. 

On an average, 18 cases were reported every day. However, this number isn’t unusually high compared to normal times, according to police. The highest number of cases was registered in west division (227). 

What baffles the cops is the brazenness with which fraudsters attacked. Many fraudsters duped people in the name of providing jobs, insurance money, Employees’ Provident Fund, renewal of credit/debit cards. 
Many people lost money while procuring groceries, alcohol, masks and hand sanitisers delivered at the doorstep. Olx and Facebook scams thrived during the prolonged lockdown. 

Police said malicious links were shared on mobile phones asking recipients to download the Aarogya Setu app and seeking banking information, all targeted at stealing phone data. 

An officer said many were glued to their phones, and cybercriminals took advantage of this, sometimes pretending to be bank representatives wanting to issue/ renew credit/debit cards.