Young journalist shot dead in Bihar

The Bharatiya Janata Party workers belonging to Muslim community are bewildered over the contentious Citizenship Amendment Act. A considerable number of BJP’s Muslim workers have distanced themselves from the pro-CAA meetings being organised by the party in different parts of India.

There is a deep divide within members of the BJP minority wing, with many upset and angry with the party. During its membership drive in 2018 for the minority wing, BJP had enrolled lakhs of Muslims across India.

A senior Muslim member of the saffron party in Hyderabad explained, “We are very upset. There is no one listening to us within the party. Majority of the members are introspecting on their future role in the party. Few are vocal about it. Those, who believe they still have a future in the party, have decided to keep quiet on this issue.”

This is the reason why they are not attending the pro-CAA rallies or interacting with people. If anybody approaches and questions them about CAA, they maintain they have no idea, just like the common man. A member of the BJP belonging to the minority community says they have been hurt by the decision of the government on CAA.

“Shia Muslims in Pakistan are suffering. They have been targeted in that country from time to time. The BJP patronised a large number of Shia Muslims. The Shia community in Uttar Pradesh even sided with the BJP. But what has the community got in the end? The persecuted Shia minorities in Pakistan have not got justice,” the party member from minority community lamented.

There are 400 families belonging to the Shia community in Hyderabad, who have relatives in Karachi and Quetta in Pakistan. These Shias had migrated to Pakistan from the Nizam state after its accession to India. These families were hopeful that after aligning with BJP, there would be a reprieve for them. But the stand taken by BJP has left them in lurch. The CAA provides for granting Indian citizenship only to non-Muslim minorities from Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.

“We have been left with nothing. Shias have not been politically active in all the three countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh and have suffered due to this reason. There was some hope in India, but even that has been lost now,” the minority wing leader remarked.

National vice president of BJP minority cell Farid Sheikh Liaquat Ali says, “Party workers and common people are asking the same question.”

I have told them what union home minister Amit Shah has said in Parliament, that CAA is not against Indian Muslims. But people are not convinced. Every meeting or social function that I attend, I find that people are angry and upset. I have been with the BJP for 33 years and whatever I hear from the people is being conveyed to the party.”

The incident that occurred at the madarasa in Uttar Pradesh has led to a pointed question: “If this can happen to Muslims in UP, will it not repeat elsewhere?”

Bengaluru, Jul 11: Karnataka on Saturday reported the biggest single-day spurt of 2,798 cases and a record 70 related fatalities, taking the total number of infections in the state to 36,216, the health department said.

The day also saw a record 880 patients getting discharged after recovery.

Out of 2,798 fresh cases, a whopping 1,533 cases were from Bengaluru urban alone.

The previous biggest single-day spike was recorded on July 10 with 2,313 cases.

As of July 11 evening, cumulatively 36,216 COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 613 deaths and 14,716 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin.

It said out of 20,883 active cases, 20,379 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 504 are in ICU.

Out of 70 deaths reported, 23 are from Bengaluru urban, 8 from Mysuru, five from Dakshina Kannada, among others.

Most of the dead are either with a history of Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) or Influenza-like illness (ILI).

Out of 2,798 cases tested positive today, contacts of the majority of the cases are still under tracing.

Among the districts where the new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounts for 1533 cases, followed by Dakshina Kannada 186, Udupi 90, Mysuru 83, Tumakuru 78, Dharwad 77 and Yadgir 74.

Bengaluru urban district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 16,862 infections, followed by DakshinaKannada 2,026 and Kalaburagi 2,024.

A total of 7.99 lakh samples were tested so far, out of which 20,587 were tested on Saturday alone.

So far 7.46 lakh samples have been reported as negative, and out of them 17,488 were reported negative today.

Bengaluru, May 17: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi on Sunday wrote to Union Minister Nitin Gadkari requesting to issue new lockdown guidelines including permission to operate public transport and said the lockdown has caused a financial loss of Rs 16,00 crore to all four Karnataka Transport Undertakings.

In view of these problems, the state Transport Minister requested Gadkari to permit the deployment of Non-AC buses on scheduled routes to ensure the adequacy of services.

The four State Transport Undertakings (STUs) in Karnataka which are providing bus-based public transport services within the state and to the neighbouring states are Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), North West Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NWKRTC), North Eastern Karnataka Road Transport Corporation (NEKRTC) and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC).

"KSRTC, NWKRTC and NEKRTC operate buses for mofussil services i.e. Interdistrict, intradistrict and interstate, whereas BMTC operates only in urban and suburban areas in the city of Bengaluru. The four STUs put together hold a fleet of about 24,900 buses including 1,520 air-conditioned buses and operate about 71.00 lakh km. per day and carries about 98.00 lakh passengers every single day," Savadi outlined in the letter.

The Minister said due to the COVID-19 outbreak and the lockdown that ensued have brought regular bus operations and functioning to a grinding halt.

"This has caused a devastating impact on the operations of all the four STUs due to the combination of lack of revenue and continuing fixed costs such as salaries and pensions to staff, payables against existing loans etc. It has been estimated that the lockdown has caused a financial loss of INR 1,600/- crore to these four STUs," he added.

Savadi said even after post-COVID lockdown, operations and revenues won't reach its previous demand& supply patterns in the next six to eight months due to reduced economic activity and users' perceived risk of contacting COVID in public transport.

In addition to that, "occupancy should be allowed up to seating capacity (without standees). This is essential to meet minimal demand," he said in the letter.

"The crew should wear facemask and hand gloves. The crew with health issues should not be deployed. The face masks should be made mandatory for all the passengers. Only asymptomatic persons should be allowed to travel in public transport. The Government of India may consider staggering working hours for various sectors to reduce peak hour traffic demand," the minister listed out these recommendations in the letter.

Savadi said that with social distancing norm of reduced seating capacity in public transport, it will not be possible to provide transport facility to all the daily passengers. This will create demand for more buses, which cannot be met.

"Restrictions on public transport will lead to passenger commute by overcrowding in smaller vehicles like cars, maxi cabs, goods tempos etc. which will adversely affect preventive measures," he added.

Therefore, Savadi requested Union Minister to look into the above matter and issue fresh guidelines to all the states / UT's.