Bengaluru, Jan 20: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah recently bought a water-proof silk saree as a special gift for his wife Parvathi.
As per a report in India Today, the orange-coloured saree costed Rs 1.08 lakhs.
The Chief Minister bought the saree during the inauguration of the Karnataka silk industries corporation in Davanagere.
Interestingly, the CM poured a litre of water on the saree to convince himself that it was water-proof before he bought it.
Bengaluru, Jul 27: Former Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said that when COVID-19 has made life and livelihoods difficult, it is unfortunate that charges have been levelled of irregularities in the procurement of COVID-19 equipment.
"The Congress which has levelled charges against the ruling BJP has not so far filed a complaint with any investigating agency. Instead, the Congress has limited itself to getting publicity. On the other hand, the ruling BJP instead of coming clean by ordering a probe into the main charges is indirectly admitting the scam," Kumaraswamy said on Sunday.
"By washing dirty linen in public, both the Congress and the BJP are playing a cruel joke on people instead of protecting their lives," he said.
Hitting out at the BJP, he asked, "Why is it that the BJP is not ordering an investigation into the Rs 2,000 crore Covid 19 corruption charges levelled against the government by the Congress? Why is the government keeping quiet on the corruption charges?"
He said, "Is this the leadership provided by Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa? There could be political pressure on seeking resignation of his Ministers. But why has no action been initiated against any officers? Is there any effort to destroy the evidence by retaining officers in their existing postings?"
"Hunger for publicity is evident when we look at the press conference by five Ministers at a time," he said.
The government has countered the charges of the Congress but backtracked on ordering an investigation, he said.
"Would this not give rise to suspicion that the government is involved in the scam?" he asked.
He also asked why Congress leaders have not filed a complaint before any investigating agency despite "possessing documents to prove the charges".
"Are the Congress leaders trying to get publicity or are they concerned about the welfare of the people? The Congress Legislative Party leader is seeking an account (Lekka Kodi) while the BJP president is seeking answers (Uttara Kodi). Is it enough to give such questions and answers?"
Is there a concrete legal plan to deal with the irregularities? he asked.
"Looking at the way the Congress leaders have addressed media conferences and taken to social media campaigns, it appears that they are trying to get publicity," he said.
Jan 2: A year after 12,000 acres of forests in Bandipur went up in smoke, the Karnataka Forest Department is gearing up for the summer even as the Forest Survey of India (FSI) has cautioned that 22.78 lakh acres (9,222 sq km) or about 20% of the green cover spread across three districts in the central part of the state is fire-prone.
The FSI studied forest fire incidents across the country between 2004-05 and 2017 before coming up with state-specific inputs.
According to the 13-year observation, Karnataka has 7,352 “fire points” or areas measuring 5 km X 5 km with frequent fire incidents.
Though the number is lower compared to states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Odisha with over 20,000 points, the sheer spread of the fire-prone area itself is a challenge for the Karnataka Forest Department.
According to data, about three lakh acres (1,199.9 sq km) of forest area is very highly fire prone with 26 to 52 fire incidents in 13 years. This is followed by 7.6 lakh acres (3,067 sq km) of “highly fire prone” areas with an average of one to two incidents every year.
Almost all of the “red alert” areas are concentrated in Uttara Kannada, Chikkmagaluru, Shivamogga and Chamarajanagar districts. As temperature rises at the end of January, so does the risk of forest fires, requiring officials to be on vigil till the end of summer.
After an investigation into the Bandipur blaze revealed that faulty fire lines and poor supervision were the reason for the spread of the fire, the department has come up with a multi-pronged approach to prevent similar incidents this year.
“After the Bandipur incident, we have created a fire cell and a standard operating procedure (SOP) which everyone has to follow. Firstly, a fire management plan is prepared and approved by a competent authority.
The SOP has well defined firelines which have to be executed by December-end and burning must be completed by January 15,” Principal Chief Conservator of Forests (Head of Forest Force) Punati Sridhar told DH.
He said that to ensure its strict implementation, GPS readings of firelines are to be submitted for random verification.
“All the required equipment from fire jackets to shoes, gloves, backpack sprayers and tractors mounted with 2,000-5,000 litre tanks with high pressure pumps will be deployed at vantage points,” he said.
In addition, the department’s fire cell works in collaboration with the Karnataka State Remote Sensing Applications Centre (KSRSAC) to give fire alerts within half and hour of an area catching fire and detected by satellites.
“Earlier, the gap used to be four hours by when the fire would have spread beyond control. Now, with reduced time gap, it would be easier to control fire early,” he added.
New Delhi, Jul 27: A month after banning 59 Chinese applications, the government of Indian has now reportedly banned 47 more apps of Chinese origin in the country. According to sources, the 47 banned Chinese apps were operating as clones of the earlier banned apps.
The list of the 47 Chinese applications banned by the Indian government will be released soon.
India has also prepared a list of over 250 Chinese apps, including apps linked to Alibaba, that it will examine for any user privacy or national security violations, government sources said. The list also includes Tencent-backed gaming app PUBG.
Some top gaming Chinese applications are also expected to be banned in the new list that is being drawn up, sources said. The Chinese applications, that are being reviewed, have allegedly been sharing data with the Chinese agencies.
Today's decision follows after a high-profile ban of 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, as border tensions continued in Ladakh after a violent, fatal face-off between the Indian and Chinese armies. The government said these apps were engaged in activities that were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of India.
A government press release announcing the ban stated: "The Ministry of Information Technology, invoking it's power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 59 apps since in view of information available they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order".
A day later, Google said it has removed all the banned applications from the Play Store. Following the ban, TikTok refuted the claims that suggest it will pursue legal action against the Indian government for banning the app in India.
Reacting to the 59 apps banned by India, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said the country is "strongly concerned regarding the decision of the Indian government".
“China is strongly concerned, verifying the situation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
"We want to stress that the Chinese government always asks Chinese businesses to abide by international and local laws-regulations. The Indian government has a responsibility to uphold the legal rights of international investors including Chinese ones," Zhao Lijian said.
Comments
She was planning to buy a Rain-Coat, finally she got a waterproof sari.
How to wash this saree with water if its waterproof?
How to wash this saree? If it waterproof?
@ Ramesh Mangalore,
Well said...Even Modi ji deserve the same.....\SHAME\" ..... for his 15 Crore Suit Made in Golden Thread."
Did he really pay for this saree????????? I doubt!
Marketing!
There is no value for Gift, everyone should give and accept gift, This is love of Humanity.
Cheers!!!
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