Would love to see half the Lok Sabha comprised of women: Sumalatha Ambareesh

Agencies
June 24, 2019

Mandya, Jun 24: Actor-turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, who made history by becoming the first independent woman candidate to enter the Lok Sabha from Karnataka, envisions a House that comprises 50 per cent female members.

"We have debated a lot about providing 33 per cent reservation to women in Lok Sabha. But why not 50 per cent? I would love to see half of the members in the House to be women," the MP from Mandya seat of Karnataka said.

Equating her first day in the lower house to that of first day at school or college, she mused that she was learning to get acquainted with the formalities of the House.

"My first time at Parliament was like the first day at school or college. It was a mix of nervousness and excitement. The learning curve however is exciting," she said.

Even though she says that there were various challenges being an independent candidate, the MP asserted that it freed her from the burden of towing the line of a particular party and could raise the issues of her constituency independently.

Talking about raising the issues prevalent in the parliamentary constituency she represents, she said revival of the lakes is on her priority.

"During my campaign, I saw that many lakes have dried up. Women have to walk several miles to fill water to meet their daily requirement. I have already met the Jal Shakti Minister and have submitted a memorandum in this regard.

"Mandya is a sugarcane growing belt. The farmers are not getting proper price for their produce; I want to raise this issue on priority. Connectivity and road infrastructure is another area of concern, which I would like to bring the government's attention to," she said.

The 55-year-old, who lost her husband, Kannada actor-politician Ambareesh, last year reminisces that her plunge into politics was "purely accidental".

"It was my husband who had nurtured this constituency. His supporters turned up in large numbers at his funeral, which touched me and I decided to contest. I did not care if I won or lost, I had to respect my husband's memory."

Since her husband was a Congress leader, Sumalatha had sought the party ticket. However, the Congress decided to field Nikhil Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy's son due to the coalition with the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).

"It was a long battle to victory, as I was contesting against the Chief Minister's son. The eight legislators in the parliamentary constituency were also from the ruling party of the state. A vitriolic campaign was launched against me and I was called an outsider, entering the political fray just months before the elections," she said.

The MP however, said that she received support from unexpected quarters as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not field a candidate against her.

"I received immense support from my people and I am grateful for that. I defeated my rival by 1.2 lakh votes in my debut election. I was disillusioned after my husband's death, but this win has given me

immense hope to carry my husband's legacy forward."

Though an independent candidate, Sumalatha expects support from the BJP government in the Centre in resolving the issues of her constituency.

She said that she would give her support to the parties based on the issues. "I will support the decisions that benefit the people of my constituency as well as Karnataka."]

An actor by profession, she has worked in over 200 films in all four South Indian languages as well as Hindi. "Going back to the film industry would depend upon the kind of projects I receive. But serving my people comes first and I want to concentrate on that right now," Sumalatha concluded.

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News Network
May 5,2020

Bengaluru, May 5: Life is limping back to a new normalcy in most parts of Karnataka with easing of Covid-19 induced restrictions yesterday as the State headed into the third phase of lockdown started since March 24.

According to the guidelines issued by the Centre, industrial activities, construction works, essential, non-essential shops, delivery of essential goods through e- commerce, courier and postal services, banking and agriculture activities, plying of four-wheelers and two-wheelers and inter-state movement of goods vehicles is permitted in all the zones, whereas buses are allowed to ply only in green and orange zone districts.

This apart, sale of liquor was also allowed at the designated shops. Police said vehicular movement is allowed only from 7am to 7pm for ordinary citizens.

Clarifying about the movement of people, Bengaluru police commissioner Bhaskar Rao tweeted, "From Monday you don't need a pass to move in Bengaluru between 7am and 7pm. After 7 pm and up to 7am the following morning, even if you have a pass you are not allowed to move except medical and essential service. Checkpoints will remain and your ID may be asked. Please be responsible." After the restrictions were lifted, heavy vehicular movement was witnessed in parts of Bengaluru leading to traffic jam in some areas.

Chikpet, which is the main trade area in Bengaluru, saw some activities.

With restrictions on public transport continuing, this unusually crowded place had very less footfall. "Movement of public is limited due to ban on public transport, such as city buses and Metro Rail.

"The trade activities are taking place between retailers," trade activist and joint secretary of Jain International Trade Organisation Sajjanraj Mehta said .

Select liquor shops in the city and other parts of the state pulled up shutters after being closed for about six weeks due to the lockdown with tipplers thronging them in huge numbers at many places.

Some traders in the city complained that they received notices regarding the Tax Deduction at Source for the month of April "thought here were no trading activities."

Meanwhile, Chief minister B S Yediyurappa announced on Monday that free bus service for migrant labourers, which is operating smoothly, has been extended till Thursday.

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News Network
January 10,2020

Mangaluru, Jan 10: Two members of a notorious honey-trap gang that used to lure rich men using women and then extort money from them by staging fake police raid have been arrested by the Dakshina Kannada district police.

Lohith, a resident of Kushalnagara, and Sharif from Vittal, were arrested in connection with a honey-trap case registered in Uppinangady police station. Jamal, Jeevan and Naushad, who were also involved in the case, are absconding.

Police said they received information that a few people under the guise of being Kerala police, were planning to raid a resort near Uppinangady where two couples were staying.

They were informed that they would threaten and try to extort money from them. The police were tipped off about the same by their counterparts in Kerala.

Police said the accused are experts in setting honeytraps, and were involved in similar crimes since a long time. Their modus operandi was to use two women from Mangaluru to lure their intended targets.

Once they trap their target, the woman and victim are sent to resorts. They then raid the resort posing as police officials, and click pictures in compromising positions of the victim with the woman.

They threaten to release the pictures on social media or TV channels, if they fail to pay up.

Police said the accused demanded Rs 10 lakh from each victim, but they denied to pay up. Irked by this, the accused took away the victims’ belongings such as phone, money and car.

The victims who believed that the accused were police personnel, asked them to take them to the police station. Instead of taking them to the police, the accused took them to a secluded place, where they claimed that they were putting the victims under house arrest. Police have seized an SUV from the accused.

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News Network
January 12,2020

Bengaluru, Jan 12: Chief Justice of India, Sharad Arvind Bobde on Saturday hinted at the possibility of Artificial Intelligence being developed for the court system while making it clear that it will never replace human discretion.

Speaking at an event here, Bobde said, "We have a possibility of developing Artificial Intelligence for the court system. Only for the purpose of ensuring that the undue delay in justice is prevented."

"I must make it clear at the outset as there are times when even judges have asked this. AI is not going to replace human judges or human discretion", he added.

Sharing more details of his vision, he stated, "It is only the repetitive, mathematical and mechanical parts of the judgments for which help can be taken from the system...we are exploring the possibility of implementing it."

Bobde stressed on the requirement of developing AI for judiciary while outlining the number of pending cases in different courts.

"Some people are in jail for 10-15 years and we are not in position to deal with their appeals. The high court's and Supreme Court take so long and ultimately the courts feel that it is just to release them on bail", he said.

Bobde also endorsed employing every talent and skill to ensure delivery of justice in a reasonable time.

"We must employ every talent, every skill we possess to ensure that justice is received within reasonable time. Delay in justice can't be a reason for anybody to take law into their hands. But it's very important for us as courts to ensure there's no undue delay in justice", he said.

CJI Bobde also highlighted the need for pre-litigation mediation and said, "Pre-litigation mediation is the need of the hour especially in the backdrop of a significant pendency that the courts are tackling with. There are innumerable areas where pre-litigation mediation could solve the problem."

He also stressed that the position of a judge is very unique under the constitution and they have to deal with a variety of problems.

"The foundation of civilisation rests on the law. Judicial officers have to deal with a variety of problems...Judges without adequate knowledge, skills and experience may cause distortion, delay and miscarriage of justice", he said.

Earlier in the day, Chief Justice of India Bobde inaugurated the phase-1 of the new building of the Karnataka Judicial Academy on Crescent Road in Bengaluru.

The new building has three floors, besides, the ground floor and two basement floors.

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