Pathankot NSG officer's last rites to be held in Kerala

Bengaluru, Jul 11: Amidst the mounting number of covid-19 cases, Karnataka is witnessing another disturbing trend of increasing number of people ending their life. After the lockdown was relaxed, the state saw a worrying jump in the number of suicides.

According to statistics, as many as 2,211 suicide cases have been registered in just two months. The number of suicides rose by 23% in May to 1,127, and by another 18% in June to 1,084, from an average of 912 suicides in the first three months of the year. 

In April, however, the number nearly halved to 477. But April was also the month during which the lockdown (announced on March 24) was complete, and everyone was at home -- which, experts say, could have prevented people with suicidal tendencies from taking their own lives.

Shockingly, number of teenagers including school children committing suicide also increased in the state in past couple of months.

With the pandemic still accelerating and impacting people in multiple ways, the World Health Organisation has urged people to pay greater attention to mental health and suicide prevention. 

Dr Poonam Khetrapal Singh, Regional Director, World Health Organisation (WHO), South-East Asia Region, said stigma related to Covid-19 infection may lead to feelings of isolation and depression. Another precipitating factor impacting mental health amidst Covid-19 could be domestic violence, which is reported to have increased globally as several countries imposed lockdowns, she said.

“Hitting lives and livelihoods, the pandemic is causing fear, anxiety, depression and stress among people. Social distancing, isolation and coping with perpetually evolving and changing information about the virus has both triggered and aggravated existing and pre-existing mental health conditions, which need urgent attention,” she said.

Dr H Chandrashekar, professor and head of the department of psychiatry at Victoria Hospital, said reasons for suicide are always multi-factored, combined, cumulative, unresolving and interrelated.

“There is grief everywhere now due to deaths related to Covid-19, and it may have an adverse effect on some. But people should be watchful of their family members, especially those who are in depression and have a history of suicide attempts. One should never ignore signs, like when someone says they feel like ending their life. They should not be left alone, and unconditional support needs to be given. Also, objects that could be used to commit suicide must be kept away from them,” Dr Chandrashekar said.

Bengaluru, June 5: Under the leadership of trouble-shooter D K Shivakumar, the Karnataka Congress is planning a political ‘ghar wapsi’ to bring back leaders who quit the party and also rope in those from other parties.

Shivakumar, the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president, has constituted a 12-member committee headed by former minister Allum Veerabhadrappa to liaise to anchor this effort to bring back people into the party fold. 

The committee comprises of former legislators B A Hasanabba, Ajaykumar Sarnaik, Abhaychandra Jain, Satish Sail, Prafulla Madhukar, former MPs R Dhruvanarayan and BN Chandrappa, MLA V Muniyappa, former mayor Sampath Raj, Mahila Congress leader Kripa Alva and former KPCC general secretary V Y Ghorpade. 

This move comes more than a year after over a dozen Congress MLAs defected and joined the BJP, leading to the collapse of the Congress-JD(S) coalition government. Also, several influential leaders quit the party ahead of the Lok Sabha elections last year.

The constitution of this committee also coincides with disgruntlement brewing within the ruling BJP. 

“Many people who left the party and others have applied (to join Congress). Many have met me also. I felt it wouldn't be right for me to make a decision. So, this committee has been constituted,” Shivakumar said. “They will process all applications and send it to the KPCC.” 

According to Shivakumar, any person wanting to join the Congress should accept the party’s leadership and its ideology. “Importantly, they should be first accepted by the cadre. If there's no acceptance from the cadre, then what's the point?” he said.

Mangaluru, Apr 24: The last rites of the elderly woman who died of covid-19 yesterday was finally held in the wee hours of Friday amidst tight security at Kaikunje Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near BC Road bus stand in spite of severe opposition from the members of the own community.

The funeral was held as per the protocol for COVID-19 deaths, police said.

Prior to this hundreds of Hindus had staged a protest  last night in front of Pachanady Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near Vamanjoor following reports that the the 77-year-old coronavirus positive woman's mortal remains will be cremated there.

Mangaluru North MLA Bharat Shetty rushed to the spot and convinced the protesters that he will not allow the authorities to cremate the body at Pachanady. Hence, the authorities shifted the cremation venue, it is learnt. 

Meanwhile, many local residents staged protest at Pachanady against the cremation of the dead body of a coronavirus positive woman. Hence, additional police force was sent from Mangaluru to disperse the crowd and facilitate the last rite.

According to sources, initially the authorities had  planned to cremate body at Baddakatte Hindu Rudra Bhoomi near here native place in Bantwal. However, the locals and the community elders had forced the authorities to change the plan.

Such protests due to misconception about the spread of coronavirus had been witnessed in some other parts of the country, including in Chennai, and the governments have warned of action against those opposing cremation or burial of COVID-19 patients.

So far as many as 17 covid-19 postive cases have been reported in Dakshina Kannada including two deaths from same family from Bantwal's Kasba village.