Puttur techie Hafiz KA appointed sub-lieutenant of Indian Navy

New Delhi, Feb 1: An extremist today fired shots at anti-CAA protesters at Shaheen Bagh in Delhi, just three days after another extremist fired at protesters at nearby Jamia Millia University. This is the second daylight shooting in which the police caught the man only after the shots were fired.

The man, apparently a fan of BJP leaders including Narendra Modi and Amit Shah, shouted "Jai Sri Ram" as he fired shots standing near police barricades put up at the south Delhi locality where hundreds of women and children have sat on the road in protest for more than a month. He was caught by the police. No one was injured. 

The shooter was also heard saying: "Humare desh mein sirf Hinduon ki chalegi aur kisi ki nahi (in our country only Hindus will prevail)." He had allegedly come to the area in an auto.

A witness said the man fired two-three times, standing right next to the police, not at the spot of the protest but close enough to a large crowd of unarmed men, women and children. 

"We suddenly heard gunshots. This person was shouting Jai Shri Ram. He had a semi-automatic pistol and he fired two rounds. The police were standing just behind him," said the witness, a volunteer at the protest.

"When his gun jammed, he ran. He tried to fire again, then tossed the gun into the bushes and tried to escape. Some of us and the police caught him, the police dragged him away," he added. Protesters questioned whether the police were more focused on keeping an eye on them rather than tackling crimes like this.

Police officer Chinmay Biswal said the man had fired shots in the air. "The man had resorted to aerial firing. Police immediately overpowered and caught him," he said.

This incident - the second shooting in Delhi at an anti-CAA protest -- has chilling similarities to the one that took place just two km away at Jamia university on Thursday, when a 17-year-old Class 12 boy from Uttar Pradesh fired a crude pistol at unarmed protesters with dozens of policemen behind him, watching. The teen, who left home claiming he was going to school, took a bus to Delhi intending to target Shaheen Bagh but landed at Jamia next-door after an auto-driver dropped him off there to avoid the traffic chaos.

The shootings have taken place in quick succession after controversial slogans of "Goli Maaro Sa***n Ko (shoot the traitors)" were chanted on Monday at a Delhi campaign rally of Anurag Thakur, the Union Minister of State for Finance, who was part of the team involved in Budget 2020 announced today.

Mr Thakur was banned from campaigning in Delhi for three days for egging on BJP workers to shout the "Goli Maaro" slogan.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal slammed Home Minister Amit Shah, to whose ministry the Delhi Police reports to, over the two shooting incidents. "What have you done to our Delhi, Amit Shah ji? Bullets are being fired in broad daylight... Law and order is being criticised constantly. Elections will come and go, politics will keep happening, but for the sake of the people of Delhi, please focus on fixing law and order," he tweeted.

The Shaheen Bagh protest has attracted attention from across the country in the protests against the CAA or the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, which makes religion a criterion for citizenship. Critics say the law discriminates against Muslims as only non-Muslims from neighbouring Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh can become Indian citizens if they fled religious persecution and entered India before 2015.

Of late, critics of the Shaheen Bagh protests, mainly pro-CAA activists, have attacked the month-long sit-in on a key road in Delhi connecting to Noida. They say the protest has become a traffic nightmare for commuters.

Bengaluru, Mar 4: With details of the Bengaluru links of the Covid-19-positive patient from Hyderabad emerging, state health authorities on Tuesday got down to tracking any infection trail he may have left behind before heading home.

Schools from southeast Bengaluru asked parents to send students with masks and hand sanitizers or keep them at home if they had fever. Medical shops in Bengaluru reported panic buying of masks and hand sanitizers.

Two persons with no symptoms — the Hyderabad man’s flatmate in city, and a colleague — reported at Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases and put under watch at the isolation ward. Their test results are expected on Wednesday.

The authorities tracked down 71 people who had come in contact with the Hyderabad man and put them under surveillance. The 24-year-old techie had travelled to Dubai for work on February 15 and returned to Bengaluru on February 20. He attended work on February 20 and 21 before taking a bus to Hyderabad. His flat has been sealed for sanitizing.

According to Telangana officials, at least 36 of the 88 people who came in contact with the techie are showing some symptoms of Covid-19.

Contrary to reports, the infected person was not tested at the KIA since guidelines don’t say flyers from Dubai must be screened. WHO guidelines say identification of the infected person should not be revealed. However, WhatsApp groups were flooded with messages on where the infected person lived and details of his flatmate.

Manipal, Mar 12: Team WGSHA is proud to announce that the culinary museum in WGSHA has been listed in Limca Book of Records as India's First Living Culinary Arts Museum.

Limca Book of Records (LBR) is a catalogue of achievements made by Indians, at home and abroad in diverse fields of human endeavour. LBR is a celebration of exemplary exploits and recognizes accomplishments such as firsts, inventions, discoveries, honours, awards and the truly extraordinary.

Chef Thirugnanasambantham, Principal of WGSHA, while thanking MAHE and ITC Leadership for extending all support towards instituting this museum in Manipal and WGSHA, also appreciated and thanked all those who have directly or indirectly helped towards setting up this museum in Manipal.

"The process for WGSHA's culinary museum to make an entry into the popular Limca Book of Records started almost six months back and after validation by LBR recently, has been listed in the book of records. We are glad that we could be the first of its kind in such endeavour and we also hope to be in Guinness World Records soon", said Chef Thiru.

"We are indeed grateful to Michelin-starred Indian celebrity Chef Vikas Khanna, the founder and curator of this museum, who had this idea of establishing a culinary museum and donated thousands of kitchen tools and equipment worth millions of dollars to this museum for preserving the history of India's rich tradition of culinary arts and to educate the future generations. Chef Vikas Khanna, 'Distinguished Alumnus' of WGSHA, being very desirous of making such a museum in India, what better place it would be than in his own Alma Mater!", he said on the background of having the museum.

Chef Thiru mentioned that Udupi, popular for the famous 'Udupi Cuisine', and being a temple town, is adjacent to International University Town of Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE).

MAHE is home to thousands of international students and visitors. With a great heritage of Udupi, combined with the large number of Indian and International students residing in and around Manipal, it was very apt for the college to create a museum for today's Indian youth and the International visitors to understand the rich culinary heritage of India, through the priceless kitchen tools and equipment donated by Chef Vikas Khanna.

"Has placed WGSHA in the global culinary map and we are proud to have joined all such efforts to preserve the history of cuisines and cultures across the world", said Chef Thiru.

The culinary art academic block housing the museum was opened in April 2018, spread approximately over 25,000 sq ft and is shaped in the form of a giant pot very similar to the ones found in Harappa.

There are historical as well as regular household items such as plates made by the Portuguese in India, a 100-year-old ladle used to dole out food at temples and bowls dating to the Harappan era, an old seed sprinkler, an ancient Kashmiri tea brewer known as 'samovar', vessels from the Konkan, Udupi and Chettinad regions, apart from a large collection of rolling pins, utensils of all shapes and sizes, tea strainers of different types etc.