Siddalinga Mahaswami to take over as new pontiff of the Siddaganga mutt

News Network
January 22, 2019

Bengaluru, Jan 22: For close to a decade, Siddalinga Mahaswami, 55, has been the ‘de-facto’ pontiff of the Siddaganga muttin Tumakuru, one of the richest mutts in the state. Following the demise of Shivakumara Swami, Siddalinga swami will officially take over the reins of the prominent Lingayat mutt in the next few days.

A ‘home grown’ seer, Siddalinga swami is an ardent follower of Shivakumar swamiji and even completed his studies at institutions owned by the mutt. Born on July 22, 1963, to Sadasivaiah and Sivarudramma in Magadi, Bengaluru Rural district, Siddalinga swamiji was called by his maiden name Vishwanatha. His holy name was derived from Yediyuru Siddalingeshwara, the deity of a temple in Kunigal.

While studying in high school, Mahalinga swami, the local seer of Kanakapura, asked his parents to send him to Sree Siddaganga Gurukula. That was how he came under the care of Shivakumar swamiji. He stayed on the old mutt premises. Siddalinga swami completed his bachelors and later his masters in arts, specialising in Economics.

He simultaneously joined the spiritual education system of the mutt and after his studies entered full time in the services of Shivakumara Swami.

Initiation to mutt

On January 26, 1988, he entered the virakthashrama. It was turbulent times at the mutt as the then junior pontiff, Gowrishankara swami, was entangled in controversies over misappropriation and pilferage of resources. He was even accused of sodomy of a 12th standard student, a charge that was eventually dismissed by the Supreme Court in 2008.

Gowrishankara swami was thrown out of the mutt and Siddalinga swamiji installed as the junior pontiff on March 31, 1988. Over the past six to seven years, due to the ill health of Shivakumar swamiji, Siddalinga swami has been discharging duties as president of the mutt and its educational institutions.

During the height of the Veerashaiva-Lingayat controversy, Siddalinga Mahaswami stayed equidistant from both sides and ensured that the mutt was not embroiled in any controversy.

The mutt, which runs 125 educational institutions under the Sri Siddaganga Education Society, is considered one of the richest in Karnataka with assets worth thousands of crores of rupees. It wields considerable influence in the Veerashaiva-Lingayat community. However, one swami associated with the Siddaganga mutt said there is no actual monetary calculation of assets as it continues to be run on the concept of dasoha (serving people by providing food, education and shelter).

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News Network
June 10,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 10: The Karnataka government on Wednesday said coronavirus tests conducted in the state has crossed the four lakh mark, while the recovery rate remained at 44 per cent.

Sharing the daily COVID-19 bulletin on his Twitter handle, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said till Tuesday 4,00,257 samples were tested in 71 COVID-19 testing labs across the state.

"Karnataka crossed 4 lakh tests mark on Tuesday. So far, we tested 4,00,257 samples in 71 #COVID19 testing labs across the state with a positivity rate of 1.4 per cent," he said.

He tweeted that the state's recovery rate remained healthy at 44 per cent with 2,605 discharges and 5,921 cumulative cases.

The minister said Karnataka was home to nearly a tenth of the total testing labs in India.

According to the Karnataka Health department, out of the four lakh odd samples tested, 3,87,027 samples were reported negative.

The total active cases in the state as on Tuesday evening were 3,248 whereas 66 people lost their lives to coronavirus so far.

Major contributors to the spike in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka are those who returned from Maharashtra recently.

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News Network
March 7,2020

Bengaluru, Mar 7: As a precautionary measure to control the spread of coronavirus in Karnataka, the state government has planned to suspend biometric attendance for the time-being at its offices, also in corporate and IT companies, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said on Saturday.

He said the government has taken all precautionary measures to control the spread of the virus in the state.

"Our Additional Chief Secretary has already spoken to IT companies yesterday on behalf of the government regarding guidelines that need to be followed, it is part of it...we will do it in the government also in the days to come," Sudhakar told reporters here.

He was responding to a question about suspending biometric attendance at offices in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.

Asked about suspending biometric attendanceat government offices, he said, "we have planned to do it yesterday."

Sudhakar said so far in Karnataka not even one case has been identified, to that extent we have been taking precautionary measures effectively.

He said from villages to state capital Bengaluru at all levels the health department officials have been activated as part of the precautionary measures.

Also, committees headed by Deputy Commissioners have been formed in all district, he added.

"We have given certain guidelines to people. We have also included private hospitals. We have taken all precautionary measures to stop the virus from entering the state," he added.

In response to a question regarding masks, the Minister clarified that those who have the symptoms of the disease only should use them.

He said, "N95 masks are required only for those who have tested positive, there is not even a single positive case in the state so far...surgical masks that will have three layers can be used by those who have symptoms like cough, cold, fever."

In the state as a precautionary measure 2,500 beds have been kept ready if the situation arises, despite not having a single case.

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Agencies
January 16,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 16: Amping up the online payment experience for consumers, Razorpay, the leading full-stack financial services company, today launched a new product, Instant Refunds for businesses.

This new feature activates refunds and credits the customer's source account across payment methods such as credit card, net banking, and UPI within a minute of initiation.

India is one of the fastest-growing online retail markets today. About 71 per cent of internet users in the country purchase products online. Today, the refund process has two major pain points for both the end customer and the business.

First, a delay of five-seven business days for the customer in receiving the money because of multiple intermediaries like the acquiring bank, issuing bank and the networks (VISA/MasterCard/Rupay).

Second, the lack of transparency during the entire refund process for both the customer and the business. This long cycle of processing refunds is a significant problem with every popular payment method in the industry.

By issuing refunds instantly, Razorpay will help businesses retain their customers, build trust through an improved hassle-free payment experience and provide complete transparency on refunds to both the business and the end-user.

This new feature will also reduce the dependence on manpower as every refund issue on an average leads to ten service emails or calls from customer support teams.

"Instant Refunds are the new normal and central to great customer experience. A lot of consumers fail to use online payment methods as they feel getting refunds through an online platform is a very time-consuming task; hence they prefer CoD as the best alternative. Given the technological advancements being made in the fin-tech ecosystem, its fair for customers to expect refunds as fast as possible. A solution like Instant Refunds will not only help build consumer confidence in digital payments but also reduce losses for e-commerce companies where CoD has become an expensive option with more than 50 per cent online transactions made through cash", said Shashank Kumar, CTO & Co-founder of Razorpay.

"Our Instant Refunds feature ensures that the refund is processed at a 3600x faster pace than the normal expected time of five-seven business days. The team is focused on creating new technologies designed to make the entire payment lifecycle hassle-free. We believe this new feature will make customers experience a notch higher, help brands create a competitive advantage, and even make them more profitable", he added.

Razorpay's growth has been uphill, particularly in the last two years. With a 500 per cent growth in 2019, the company has been witnessing a healthy growth rate of 35 per cent month-on-month.

The company also recently launched its corporate credit cards for its partner businesses, RazorpayX current accounts, support for freelancers and homepreneurs, and acquired Opfin, a payroll and HR management software company.

Currently powering payments for over 800,000 businesses including the likes of Indigo, BSE, Thomas Cook, Reliance, SpiceJet, Aditya Birla, Sony, and Oyo, the team plans to increase this count to 1,400,000 by this year. The full-stack financial solutions company expects a 4x growth in its revenue by the end of the next fiscal year.

This story is provided by NewsVoir. ANI will not be responsible in any way for the content of this article.

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