6,000 chickens buried alive in Belagavi as prices drop

Kasaragod, Apr 30: The Kasaragod District Collector Sajith Babu, his gun man and driver has entered in quarantine on Wednesday.

According to sources, the Collector had been asked to go on quarantine after the reports of a journalist, who interviewed him, was tested positive for the virus.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at his routine evening press conference revealed the positivity of the journalist.

Bengaluru, Jul 7: There seems no impact of Covid-19 on kharif crop sowing in Karnataka with the current year actually being ahead of previous years, according to an official here on Monday.

"In agriculture, as far as sowing is concerned, there is no impact of COVID-19," Agriculture Commissioner Brijesh Kumar Dikshit told IANS. One of the reasons, according to Dikshit, is that people in rural areas are aware, but not scared of the pandemic.

"In rural India, coronavirus is there. People are aware, not scared. They are taking precautions, but don't have any phobia," he said.

Another reason was that by June the number of infections in Karnataka was not as high as other states, when a lot of sowing was done, he said.

By the end of June, Karnataka saw 15,242 Covid-19 cases. Of that, 7,074 were active.

The sowing is ahead of previous year as it's mostly dependent on weather. "It's ahead of previous years. Agriculture is directed by weather and rains had been slightly earlier this year," he said.

According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, at 185 mm the state received 14 mm less rain in June against the normal 199 mm. "It's like a normal year, or slightly a good year," he said.

Some crops will be sown in the last fortnight of July and few more will extend up to August 15. "The last two weeks will be critical and on July 31 we should be able to tell whether we are short or ahead," he said.

According to preliminary indications, the Commissioner said the area under agriculture is increasing this year, which could also be because that labourers might have come back.

Kalaburagi, Mar 25: Three coronavirus suspect persons who did not stay home during their mandatory 14-day quarantine period had first information report (FIRs) booked against them in police stations in Kalaburagi town in Karnataka.   

The district administration took this action after it came to know that the three pesons were mingling in the public despite being told to stay home to avoid passing on the coronavirus.

Cases have been booked against them under IPC sections 188 and 271, deputy commissioner B Sharath said.

Stringent action would be taken against them, he said, for not only threatening the health of their family members but society at large.

“The administration will stop at nothing to safeguard public health in this time of emergency,” Sharath said.

People moving around on motorbikes without a proper reason will have their bikes seized. Prohibitory order under Section 144 of CrPC will remain in force until further orders, he said.