No Bharat Ratna for Shivakumara Swami: Congress, JD(S) express disappointment

News Network
January 26, 2019

Bengaluru, Jan 26: The leaders of Karnataka’s coalition government partners – Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) – have expressed disappointment over the omission of late Dr Shivakumara Swami, the seer who headed the Sree Siddaganga Mutt in Karnataka's Tumakuru, from the list of those awarded Bharat Ratna last evening.

The Lingayat spiritual leader revered by millions, died on Monday at the age of 111 after an illness. Before his death, political leaders from both ends of the political spectrum had said he should receive the Bharat Ratna. Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy of the Janata Dal Secular had said this at Tumakuru, where the Sree Siddaganga Mutt is located, and that view was echoed by BJP state party chief and former chief minister, BS Yeddyurappa. The demand was made again after the seer's death.

When the list of three awardees of the country's highest civilian award was announced and did not include Dr Shivakumara Swami, the Congress in Karnataka said in a series of tweets, "It is really unfortunate that Dr. Shri. Shivakumara Swamiji was not honoured with Bharat Ratna inspite of repeated recommendations by Shri. @siddaramaiah during his tenure & now by the coalition government... Even though @BJP4Karnataka leaders supported our voice, Central Government has completely ignored the selfless contribution of Swamiji towards creating a harmonious society. We strongly urge Central Government to reconsider."

Karnataka Congress Chief, Dinesh Gundu Rao tweeted: "While we are proud that senior Congressman Dr Pranab Mukherjee is conferred the Bharat Ratna, we are extremely disappointed that @PMOIndia @narendramodi has ignored our very own walking God Sri Shivakumara Swamigalu who rightly deserved the award."

Chief Minister Kumaraswamy too agreed with the Congress views. He tweeted, "Congratulations to all #BharatRatna and #PadmaAwards winners. We are proud of the five Padma awardees from Karnataka. I am glad that a few achievers were awarded at least posthumously. Yet, it's disappointing that Siddaganga Seer late Sri #ShivakumaraSwamiji was not conferred BharatRatna."

His party's Danish Ali though criticised the selection of former President Pranab Mukherjee for the award, and said the Tumakuru seer should have been awarded the Bharat Ratna.

"Pranab Mukherjee is being awarded the Bharat Ratna because he visited the RSS headquarters and described the founding Sarsanghchalak Hedgewar, as 'the son of the soil'. there were more deserving candidates like Biju Patnaik and Kanshi," he tweeted.

Shivakumara Swami was one of the most respected religious and social practitioners of the Lingayat-Veerashaiva faith of Lingayatism.

As the founder of the Sri Siddaganga Education Society, he helped thousands access education. He also had an honorary doctorate in literature. The seer was a philanthropist and touched the lives of many, from different religions and castes.

Former president Pranab Mukherjee, social activist Nanaji Deshmukh and music maestro Bhupen Hazarika were awarded the Bharat Ratna on Friday evening by President Ram Nath Kovind.

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News Network
January 16,2020

Mangalore, Jan 16: Medical fraternity of the state are racing and thrilled to be participating in the upcoming Karnataka Medical Council election to be held on 23 Jan 2020 polling will be held at IMA House Mangalore by direct ballot.

The results will be announced on Jan 25, 2020.

This Election is a historic one since the inception of KMC, It is being conducted across the state by direct voting by all the registered MBBS doctors of the state for 12 seats numbering more than 65,000.

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News Network
April 12,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 12: Dakshina Kannada district in-charge minister Kota Srinivas Poojary on Saturday, April 11, welcomed the State government’s decision to permit fishing during the lockdown that’s now extended till April 30.

“We welcome the Centre’s decision to permit fishing during the lockdown. This directive comes as a huge relief for the fishing community,” Poojary told newsmen here.

Poojary informed that 14,000 boats will be deployed for fishing. Keeping the need for social distancing in mind only five crew members will be allowed on a boat. The boats can set sail in the morning and should return by evening.

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Charan Kumar | coastaldigest.com
June 24,2020

Bengaluru, June 24: City-based I Monetary Advisory (IMA), which duped thousands of families, mostly Muslims, in the name of halal investment, has become a bitter reality of "we were robbed by our own people". All the accused except its CEO Mohammad Mansoor Khan have been released on bail in this ponzi scam worth thousands of crores of rupees.

The scam has not only been investigated by SIT and CBI, but it has reverberated many times in the Assembly, corridors of power, and in the courts.

Around 80,000 investors are in trouble after the Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam came to light. Many investors have left this world, many families have split, many marriages have broken down and many have become unemployed, homeless, helpless and hapless. One of the senior IAS office, who had faced arrest in the scam, reportedly killed himself just a day ago.

It has been more than a year since this multi-billion scam came to light. But the affected families still do not see any ray of hope. The government, led by senior IAS officer Harsh Gupta, has set up a special competent authority to address investor grievances in the matter.

According to information provided by Harsh Gupta, investors have to be paid Rs 2,900 crore. But the value of the company's assets seized so far could be around Rs 450 crore. The process of auctioning the assets has not started yet. The authority has developed an online portal for submission of claim forms from investors. But the process of taking applications has not started yet. Syed Gulab, a social worker overseeing the case, says that after all the claim forms have been submitted, we will get a clear picture about the exact number of investors and the total amount of arrears. But this process may take a few more months to complete.

Senior journalist Maqbool Ahmed Siraj says that IMA has systematically deceived people in the name of halal investment through capital scheme. In 2006, Muhammad Mansoor Khan, a one-time small businessman, set up a company. He began to attract large number of investors by creating the greed for more profit among middle class and poor people.

By 2015, the company had received money from more than 12,000 investors and continued to pay monthly profits. By the time the company closed in 2019, 80,000 people had invested their hard-earned money here. In Bengaluru, the company expanded its reach by investing in two major gold showrooms, hospitals, schools, several medical stores, a publishing center, a supermarket, and real estate firm.

Mr Siraj says that Mansoor Khan and his team not only lured the poor and middle class to pursue their own interests but also created a favourable atmosphere for their so called business by winning the hearts of politicians, government officials, clerics, religious institutions and media.

Unsuspecting people invested their money in a bid to make more profit in less time. When the company stopped making profits and Mansoor Khan suddenly fled on June 9, 2019, the investors woke up the to the reality.

Apart from residents of Bengaluru and other parts of Karnataka, people from Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Maharashtra other states also have invested their money.

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