Blast triggers war of words ahead of Karnataka polls

[email protected] (Imran Khan, Tehelka)
April 21, 2013

Blast_triggersJUST A day after the Boston Marathon terror attack and less than a month after twin blasts rocked Hyderabad, 17 people were injured in a low-intensity blast near the Karnataka BJP's office in Bengaluru. Among the injured were 11 policemen who had been deployed there as it was the last day of filing nominations for the upcoming Assembly election on 5 May.

While the police are yet to ascertain who is behind the blast, suspicions are now being raised about the timing of the blast and who might possibly benefit from it.

“I was in my kitchen cooking, when I heard a deafening noise,” says Nanjamma, 43, who lives near the blast site. The explosion shattered the window panes of her house. “When I rushed outside, I saw cars engulfed in flames and bits of broken glass everywhere.”

Nine vehicles were damaged in the blast and the fire that followed. Police officials informed the media that the blast was caused by an IED (Improvised Explosive Device) mounted on a 100cc Yamaha motorcycle (chassis number: 1108F001-568/ registration number: TN-22R- 3769). The police, however, are yet to fathom whether the blast was triggered by a timer mounted on the vehicle or through a remote device.

A police van parked close to the blast site too was damaged. The explosion occurred in the Malleswaram residential area of north Bengaluru, about 100 metres from the newly inaugurated state BJP office, christened Jagannath Bhavan. “There were 20 of us on duty when the blast happened. Eight of us were in the van, but the rest were outside,” says Vishweshwaraiyya, 50, a head constable with the Karnataka State Reserve Police Force who was admitted at the KC General Hospital along with 10 of his colleagues.

Among the injured was Assistant Sub-Inspector BC Kunyappa, who received several cuts from shards of glass on the left side of the body, from neck to ankle. “I was reading the newspaper inside a police jeep when I heard a sound, like the bursting of crackers, followed by thick smoke,” he says. “I jumped out from the vehicle, otherwise I would have been dead.” Asked whether he saw anybody parking the bike, he says he has no idea.

Besides the policemen, six others, including three women, were also injured.

An unseemly blame game has broken out between the BJP and the Congress over the blast with both sides politicising the issue. Karnataka Home Minister R Ashok, who reached the spot immediately after the blast, declared it an act of terror intended to hurt the state BJP leaders. He even speculated that it might have been intended to “celebrate” the third anniversary of the Chinnaswamy Stadium blasts of 2010 as both of the incidents occurred on 17 April while the Indian Premier League season was on.

BJP state spokesperson S Prakash too said the bomb was definitely intended to hurt party workers and state BJP leaders as it was nomination day and activists of the party would be milling around the party office.

Opposition leaders, however, slammed the BJP for the remarks. Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah called the blasts a political gimmick and held the state government responsible for it. Raising suspicion about the timing of the blast, Congress MP H Vishwanath said the role of the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh could not be ruled out and demanded an inquiry that should submit its findings before the Assembly election.

So was it an act of terror? “Though no shrapnel or splinters were found in the bodies of the injured, nothing conclusive has come out so far,” says Joint Commissioner of Police (Law & Order) Pranab Mohanty. The only fact that seems to support the Congress' view is that the bike was parked 100 metres away from the BJP office and seemed designed for minimum damage.

While all interpretations of the blast are premature, it's interesting to note that past experiences have shown that similar acts were used for a political purpose. In the thick of elections in May 2008, a low-intensity bomb exploded in the district court of Dharward, 429 km west of Bengaluru. Initially, the Students Islamic Movement of India was deemed to be behind the blasts but later investigations showed the hand of extremist Hindutva groups. However, given that there have been blasts elsewhere in the country that have involved Muslim extremists, the sanest course might be to rush to no conclusions.

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Agencies
May 30,2020

The GST Council is unlikely to make major changes in the indirect tax structure at its next meeting slated mid June.

A top government source said that the Centre is not in favour of increasing tax rates on any goods or service as it could further impact consumption and demand that is already suppressed due the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

It was widely expected that the GST Council could consider raising tax rates and cess on certain non-essential items to boost revenue for states and the Centre. Several states have reportedly taken an over 80-90 per cent hit in GST collections in April, the official data for which has not yet been released by the Centre.

"The need of the hour is to boost consumption and improve demand. By categorising items into essential and non-essential and then raising taxes on non-essential is not what Centre favours. But, the issue on rates and relief will be decided by the GST Council that is meeting next month," the finance ministry official source quoted above said.

The GST Council is chaired by the Union finance minister and thus the views of the Centre play out strongly in the council meetings.

However, the Council will also have to balance the expectations of the states whose revenues have nosedived after the coronavirus outbreak and wide scale disruption to businesses while they have still not been paid GST compensation since the December-January period.

To the question of wider scale job losses in the period of lockdown as businesses get widely impacted, the official said that the Finance Ministry has asked the labour ministry to collect data on job losses during Covid-19 and is constantly engaging with the ministry to oversee job losses and salary cuts.

On restrictions put on Chinese investment in India, the official clarified that no decision had yet been taken to restrict China through the Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) route.

Asked about monetising government debt, the official said that the issue would be looked at when we reach a stage. It has not come to that stage yet.

In the government's over Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, the official defended its structure while suggesting that comparisons with the economic packages of other countries should not be drawn as India's needs were different from others.

"We have gone in more reforms that is needed to give strength to the economy. This is required more in our country," the official source said.

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Agencies
June 5,2020

With the scrapping of Mitron and Remove China Apps from its Play Store gaining a lot of attention in India, Google on Thursday said that it removed a video app "for a number of technical policy violations", while adding that it also does not allow an app that "encourages or incentivizes users into removing or disabling third-party apps".

Both the apps became immensely popular in India within a short span of time due to the prevailing anti-China sentiment amid border tensions between India and China in Ladakh and calls by Indian activists to boycott Chinese products.

Reports suggested that the Mitron app is a repackaged version of TicTic, which is a TikTok clone.

The Remove China Apps was designed to help users identify applications of Chinese origin.

Without naming the apps, Google hinted that the Mitron app may make a comeback on the Play Store once it fixes some technical issues, but the chances of the Remove China Apps are thin.

"We have an established process of working with developers to help them fix issues and resubmit their apps. We've given this developer (of the video app) some guidance and once they've addressed the issue the app can go back up on Play," Sameer Samat, Vice President, Android and Google Play, said in a statement.

Google said that its Android app store was designed to provide a safe and secure experience for the consumers while also giving developers the platform and tools they need to build sustainable businesses.

Samat said that Google Play recently suspended a number of apps for violating the policy that it does not allow an app that "encourages or incentivizes users into removing or disabling third-party apps or modifying device settings or features unless it is part of a verifiable security service".

"This is a longstanding rule designed to ensure a healthy, competitive environment where developers can succeed based upon design and innovation. When apps are allowed to specifically target other apps, it can lead to behaviour that we believe is not in the best interest of our community of developers and consumers," Samat said.

"We've enforced this policy against other apps in many countries consistently in the past - just as we did here," he added.

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Agencies
May 10,2020

In the wake of the gas leak at a factory in Visakhapatnam, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has issued detailed guidelines for restarting industries after the lockdown and the precautions to be taken for the safety of the plants as well as the workers.

In a communication to all states and union territories, the NDMA said due to several weeks of lockdown and the closure of industrial units, it is possible that some of the operators might not have followed the established standard operating procedures.

As a result, some of the manufacturing facilities, pipelines, valves may have residual chemicals, which may pose risk. The same is true for the storage facilities with hazardous chemicals and flammable materials, it said.

The NDMA guidelines said while restarting a unit, the first week should be considered as the trial or test run period after ensuring all safety protocols.

Companies should not try to achieve high production targets. There should be 24-hour sanitisation of the factory premises, it said.

The factories need to maintain a sanitisation routine every two-three hours especially in the common areas that include lunch rooms and common tables which will have to be wiped clean with disinfectants after every single use, it added.

For accommodation, the NDMA said, sanitisation needs to be performed regularly to ensure worker safety and reduce the spread of contamination.

To minimise the risk, it is important that employees who work on specific equipment are sensitised and made aware of the need to identify abnormalities like strange sounds or smell, exposed wires, vibrations, leaks, smoke, abnormal wobbling, irregular grinding or other potentially hazardous signs which indicate the need for immediate maintenance or if required shutdown, it said.

At least 11 people lost their lives and about 1,000 others were exposed to a gas leak at a factory in Andhra Pradesh''s Visakhapatnam on May 7.

The incident took place after it restarted operations when the government allowed industrial activities in certain sectors following several weeks of lockdown.

The lockdown was first announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on March 24 for 21 days in a bid to combat the coronavirus threat. The lockdown was then extended till May 3 and again till May 17.

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