Demand mounts for an AIIMS model hospital in Kasaragod

Chikkamagaluru, Jan 19: A Chikkamagaluru court on Saturday were sentenced to death two persons convicted of rape and murder 18-year-old girl in 2016.

Pradeep M, 32, and Santhosh, 24, of Vykuntapura in Sringeri taluk raped a 18-year-old girl while she was returning home from college on Februrary 16, 2016.

The crime in which a first year B.Com student who was walking towards her home in a footway was stopped, raped and murdered by the duo. The killers then had dumped her body in a discarded well.

Shivamogga, Feb 4: Students of a government primary school which is built especially for the children of manual scavengers, have been facing tough times during classes as the filthy drainage passing through the school premises excrete human excreta and sludge.

The drainage passes through GSPL Scavenger's Colony School in Shivamogga city, located behind the state road transport corporation's bus stand (KSRTC).

According to the locals here, students studying in this school often fall sick due to the waste flowing from the drainage.

Penchelayya, the father of a child who studies in the same school said, "Human excreta floats in the drainage as it is connected to two toilets. The school stinks and students often fall sick due to the drainage."

The students studying here are unable to bear the foul smell emanating from the drainage which flows at the school's premises.

He added that waste from private bus stands is dumped in this drainage which ultimately flows here creating an extremely unhygienic environment for the people living here and students studying in this school.

He further claimed that the government is not ready to listen to their grievances.

Bengaluru, May 9: The Karnataka government may not extend the daily working hours from 8 to 12, with Labour Minister A Shivaram Hebbar saying on Saturday that the move would neither benefit the industries nor workers.

Hebbar said that the proposal has not been discussed and it may come for final deliberations next week. He also noted that some States have already extended the working hours. More than extending working hours, there should be employment to be given. If there are no jobs what can be done by extending working hours? If it is done (working hours extended to 12 hours), it would neither benefit workers nor industries. Let's see what happens, he said.

Asked if the government was in favour of the extension, he said, "I don't think it will be ready for the (12 hour) proposal." Meanwhile, the Minister also said that their top priority now was to see that all MSMEs start operating again, salaries are paid to employees and there are no job losses for any reason. If industries don't reopen, how can workers get their employment? We should think in parallel, Hebbar said adding, the government was keeping the interests of both MSMEs and workers in mind.

He urged the Centre to offer a relief package to the MSME sector, saying it is facing very difficult times due to the adverse impact of the COVID-19-induced lockdown, and also noting its role in generating large-scale employment and feeding large industries.

The BJP-led government has done whatever within its limitations to help the MSMEs, he said. Earlier this week, the Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa announced that the monthly fixed charges of electricity bills of MSMEs would be waived for two months. MSMEs have suffered huge production losses due to the lockdown. It takes some time for them to revive, Yediyurappa had said. The Chief Minister had also said payment of fixed charges in the electricity bills of the large industries will be deferred without penalty and interest for a period of two months.