Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who held a high-level meeting to review the precautionary measures following India’s first COVID-19 death reported in Kalaburgi, announced the decision. 

BENGALURU: The state government has ordered the closure of all universities, malls, cinema halls, pubs, nightclubs and places of entertainment which encourage huge gatherings across the state from Saturday for the next one week to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who held a high-level meeting to review the precautionary measures following India’s first COVID-19 death reported in Kalaburgi, announced the decision. 

The CM said the decision has been taken in the public interest after consulting experts. The CM said universities too will be closed and people have been advised against traveling.

Schools are already declared closed except for students of class 7 to 9 who will attend school only for examinations. The CM on Friday said colleges too will be closed for a week. 

SSLC examinations will be conducted as scheduled. However, government offices will remain open and there will be no change in the ongoing legislative session. “The situation will be reviewed after one week,” the CM said.

Karnataka government has asked the IT and biotechnology companies to give a list of employees who travelled to COVID-19 affected countries after February 21.

BENGALURU: The Karnataka Health Department has traced a trail of 2,678 people who came in contact with the four positive coronavirus (COVID-19) people in the state, an official said on Tuesday.

“Four positive coronavirus cases identified in Bengaluru have left a trail of 2,678 people who came in contact with them,” the department’s Information, Education and Communication (IEC) special officer Suresh Shastri told IANS.

The four positive cases – a family of three and another man – have been quarantined.

A 46-year-old male with travel history to US via Dubai is the first positive coronavirus case in Karnataka, followed by a 47-year-old female, a contact of the first case and a 13-year-old girl, also a contact of the first case.

According to sources, the three are a family and the Health Department does not have the travel history of the woman and the girl.

Though the Health Department has traced 2,666 people who came in touch with the family, until now only two of the contacts of case one have displayed the virus symptoms, the woman and the girl.

The fourth positive case is a 50-year-old male with travel history to USA via London. The Health Department traced 12 people who came in touch with him but none of them have displayed coronavirus symptoms yet.

All the four positive coronavirus cases being monitored at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases in the city are Indian citizens.

As of Tuesday, the number of persons admitted to the institute for selected isolated observation are six, followed by one each at hospitals in Hassan, Dakshina Kannada and Bagalkote.

“As of Monday, 446 samples of symptomatic persons have been sent for testing, of which 389 have returned negative,” said a statement issued by the Health Department said.

As many as 760 people are going through home quarantine across the state while 1,048 people have enrolled for observation.

Across the state, 95,151 passengers have been thermal-screened for the virus till now at the Kempegowda International Airport in the city and the Mangaluru International Airport.

Another 5,368 passengers were also checked for the virus at Karwar and Mangaluru seaports.

Aimed at reinforcing coronavirus prevention measures, the state government added three more Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) laboratories to receive and test coronavirus samples.

A medical college each in Mysuru, Hassan and Shivamogga are also testing the samples.

The state government also sent a bulk text message to all ASHA workers to create awareness about coronavirus among the masses and communities.

Karnataka government also asked the IT and biotechnology companies to give a list of employees who travelled to COVID-19 affected countries after February 21.

Masks, gloves, caps, hand-wash sanitisers and aprons have been stocked in sufficient quantity.

BENGALURU: Following a directive from the Railway Board to all zones, asking for quarantine wards to be put in place for treating patients with incidence of COVID-19, the South Western Railway Zone has decided to earmark 216 beds for the treatment of patients in Hubballi, Bengaluru and Mysuru Railway Divisions. This is an emergency precautionary measure being taken by the zonal officials.

According to an official release, seven locations — three of them under Bengaluru Division — have been identified to be converted as quarantine wards. These are the wards created: Multi Discipline Training Centre at Ashokapuram in Mysuru, Diesel Training Centre at Hubballi, Women Barrakcs of Railway Protection Force in Hubballi, Supervisors Training Centre in Bengaluru, Divisional PWay Training Centre near Bengaluru Cantonment and Indian Railway Institute for Disaster Management, Hejjala, at Ramanagara.

“The facility can be used for general public and in case of necessity, the state government can also use them,” the release said.These beds have been selected out of the 706 across 229 rooms in its training facilities. The remaining beds can be made use of in case of any emergency by rescheduling training programmes.  

As a precautionary measure, separate clinics have also been formed for patients having cough and fever, at Central Hospital in Hubballi, Railway Hospital in Mysuru and Railway Hospital in Bengaluru, it said. Medical help is also being extended at railway stations, to passengers who aren’t feeling well. Railways has also suspended biometric attendance for all its employees. Masks, gloves, caps, hand-wash sanitisers and aprons have been stocked in sufficient quantity.

Elaborating the steps being taken by the SWR zone, the release said the COVID-19 campaign for health education and awareness programme commenced three days ago by distributing handouts and educative materials with the aim of spreading awareness among passengers.

Video clips issued by Health department are being shown on CCTV for the benefit of the public. Educative messages on prevention of the virus are issued via social media by SWR using #cautionyespanickno.

Health department sources confirmed that the wife and daughter of the techie, who returned from USA to Bangalore on March 1, are the other two confirmed cases along with him.

Four patients tested positive for coronavirus in Bengaluru, tweeted Health Minister B Sriramulu on Tuesday morning. One of these cases is the techie who returned from USA to Bengaluru on March 1 and has been admitted in the isolation unit of Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases.

Health department sources confirmed that the wife and daughter of the techie are the other two confirmed cases. The fourth case is another techie who returned from US and landed in Bengaluru International Airport.

“The family members of the patients are being kept in isolation and their health is being monitored. I urge citizens to take precautions and cooperate in preventing the spread of infection,” Sriramulu said in the tweet.

In a press release, the Indian Council for Medical Research said that in the past 24 hours, there has been one positive case from Kerala, two from Pune and three from Bengaluru. The state health department officials and RGICD doctors are either not responding to calls or are refusing to comment on the matter until 6 pm on Tuesday.

Meanwhile the man, who was under coronavirus quarantine at a district hospital in Mangaluru following his arrival from Dubai, and later left the premises, has been re-admitted to the facility after health department officials convinced him of the Centre’s instructions.

After a day of high drama, the passenger, who arrived at the International Airport here on Sunday night with a high fever, was admitted to the isolation ward of Wenlock hospital but left after arguing with the staff that he would take treatment at a private facility.

However, he was later traced to his home on Monday night after health department officials informed the police. After the district administration’s intervention, he agreed to co-operate with the treatment.
Dakshina Kannada Deputy Commissioner Sindhu B Rupesh said that the patient’s samples have been collected and sent to a testing centre in Bengaluru.

She said that if passengers were not willing to be screened, they would be counselled first and then shifted to an isolation ward. “If they refuse to cooperate, they would have to be taken forcefully,” she said.

Swachh Device, a first of its kind workshop exclusively designed for the Journalist, News Editors and working professionals in the media industry was held on 7 March 2020 at the Chancery Pavilion.

Cyber-surveil lance is a bigger threat than ever. New forms of censorship are emerging, implemented by troll armies paid by authoritarian regimes. They include double switch, in which a journalist’s online account is taken over in order to disseminate fake news, smear the journalist, and censor
independently reported news and information. Journalists should protect themselves and their sources by keeping up-to-date on the latest digital security news and threats such as hacking, phishing, and
surveillance. Journalists should think about the information they are responsible for and what could happen if it falls into the wrong hands, and take measures to defend their accounts, devices,
communications, and online activity.

Swachh Device conference will offer a valuable platform to transfer knowledge from experts and educate the attendees on the techniques, skills and principles necessary to secure their devices.

Era3Q— the organizing team acknowledged their sincere thanks and appreciation to Shri Sanjay Sahay, IPS – Additional Director General of Police, Police Computer Wing, Govt. of Karnataka and Dr. Ananth Prabhu G for their valuable contribution and support for the conference.

Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa reassured farmers of his government’s commitment on the farm loan waiver, announced by the JDS-Congress coalition government last year.

BENGALURU: Chief Minister BS Yeddyurappa reassured farmers of his government’s commitment on the farm loan waiver, announced by the JDS-Congress coalition government last year.

The CM said the government will ensure that no farmer faces any injustice. He asked farmers not to pay heed to misleading statements on the scheme. “All farmers submitting proper documents will get the benefit of loan waiver scheme. There is no doubt,” he stated.

The CM’s response came after JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy accused the government of leaving out over one lakh farmers from the scheme for not submitting proper documents. “I will stand with farmers and take up the loan waiver issue in the assembly,” said Kumaraswamy.

In Shivamogga, Agriculture Minister BC Patil accused Kumaraswamy of misleading farmers. “The CM has made it clear that the government is committed to protecting farmers’ interests.”

The Legislators Home, known as LH, is located right next to Vidhana Soudha. It has five buildings and around 600 rooms, along with a food court and other facilities.

BENGALURU: After restricting the media from covering the ongoing session at Vidhana Soudha, Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri has put more curbs on the Fourth Estate. Now, he has curbed the media from entering the Legislators Home, a move that has been slammed by opposition leaders.

The Legislators Home, known as LH, is located right next to Vidhana Soudha. It has five buildings and around 600 rooms, along with a food court and other facilities.

On Friday, a letter was sent to the LH police inspector from the Karnataka Legislative Assembly secretary, stating that legislators should be given privacy post their working hours. The letter reads that if the media wants to interact with MLAs, they must do it outside the gate, and therefore, journalists from print and electronic media are not allowed inside the LH.

Opposition leaders came down hard on the Speaker’s decision. Former minister and senior MLC Basavaraj Horatti told TNIE that though there are more than 600 rooms for legislators, hardly 10 to 15 MLAs from outside Bengaluru stay there. Most rooms are occupied by MLAs’ personal assistants, gunmen and outsiders. “Because these non-legislators are staying at LH, water and electricity bills are running high. Legislators have taken two rooms each, though they don’t stay there. The rooms are used by others. When this is the case, what is wrong in the media coming inside, especially for work,” he asked.

Former Speaker K B Koliwad said, “In a democracy, why should we hide these things? First it was Vidhana Soudha, now LH. Why only restrict the media? What about others who are misusing it? I am going to talk to our party leaders and urge them to bring this up during the session.”

Senior Congress leader Ramalinga Reddy also slammed the move. “If a particular media person has done something wrong, let them take action against him or her. Why ban the entire media,’’ he asked.

Some leaders, however, welcomed the move. Former Chairman of the Legislative Council D H Shankaramurthy said, “It’s a home for leaders, a lodging area, so media should not be allowed,’’ he said, adding that non-MLAs residing there should be asked to vacate.

Parmesh jain

Two anti-India incidents have come to light in Bengaluru within two days.On Thursday, the girl who raised a slogan in support of Pakistan at a rally against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) has been sent to 14 days judicial custody.

However,another girl who waved the posters of Kashmir’s independence has been also remanded to judicial custody for 14days till 5th March.

Amulya Leona was arrested on Thursday by upparpet police for raising Pro-Pakistan slogans on the stage in the presence of Assaudin Owaisi and other organisers at a ANTI-CAA NRC rally in Freedom park which was held on 20th February.

Another girl accused identified as Aradra@Arudra@Anapoorna a resident of Malleswaram was arrested on Friday by SJ park police personnel for displaying a placard “Free Kashmir”at Hindu Jagaran Vedike who has organised a protest against Amulya for her Anti-National activity at Townhall in Bengaluru.

Amulya Leona, who is accused of raising pro-Pakistan slogans at an anti-CAA event at Bengaluru’s Freedom Park,was seen flashing victory sign while being taken to magistrate’s house.

The 20-year-old girl, who was holding a ‘Kashmir Mukti’,’Dalit Mukti’poster,has been detained during an event on Friday in Bengaluru.City Police Commissioner, Bhaskar Rao said that a day earlier,during a protest against the CAA in Bengaluru, a woman had raised slogans of Pakistan Zindabad, against which a protest was organized by Hindu Jagran Vedike on Friday.During this time, a girl sitting in the hand holding posters with slogans of ‘Kashmir Mukti’, ‘Dalit Mukti’, appeared.

Rao said that members of Vedike asked the girl to leave, after which she was removed from there.Rao told the media that the girl has been taken into custody keeping in mind her safety.We will gather information about her, where she lives and who is behind her and we will not tolerate any such activities which is against the country against the national flag at strict action will be taken against them he added.

Let us tell you that Amulya Leona raised three times slogans in support of Pakistan on Thursday from the stage of anti-CAA rally in the presence of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief Asaduddin Owaisi.He was immediately removed from the stage.

DCP,West,Ramesh said that Amulya was arrested and produced before the magistrate,from where she has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.A case has been filed against 19-year-old Amulya under Section 124A (sedition) of IPC and other sections.

“Action will be taken against the organizers”

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa said that Amulya had earlier links with Naxalites.He said that if such action is not taken against organizations that promote people like Amulya, then such incidents will happen.It is clear from this incident that a large-scale conspiracy is going on to spoil the law and order situation.He also said that the entire matter will be investigated and strict action will be taken against the organizers of the rally.The rally was organized by the Hindu-Muslim-Sikh-Christian-Federation.

Karnataka Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai said on Friday that protesters opposing the CAA are using students to spread hatred in the country.The Amulya coming from the Naxalite stronghold has also been used by the protesters.This matter will be investigated.

Meanwhile in the evening a high value meeting was held at his house in RT Nagar in which Director General and Inspector General of Police Karnataka state,Praveen Sood,ADGP,Intelligence,Kamal Pant and Bengaluru city police commissioner, Bhaskar Rao,was too present and he said I have collected all the information about the probe in the case.

And a special team will be formed by Commissioner of Police to investigate the case in all the angles to ascertain who is behind this biggest conspiracy who are trying to disturb communal harmony in the country the case will be investigated further by CCB Police personnel he added.

Who is Amulya?

Amulya is 19 years old.She is studying in a women’s college in Bangalore.She has studied at St.Norbet CBSE School and Christ School in Manipal.Amulya Leona remains active on social media.Bommai also said that she has shared a lot of posts on the social media platform Facebook.  The case will also be investigated from this angle.

MP,Asaduddin Owaisi and other organisers seemed to be caught in an awkward position. Owaisi quickly clarified, “We do not agree with the sentiments shared by this student. We neither stand by her or what she said. I do not know why the organisers entertained someone like her. Our fight is directed to save the country. I would not participate in a protest where such sentiments are voiced,” he said.

BBMP corporator Imran Pasha said that he does not stand by Amulya’s views. He claimed she came uninvited and was planted deliberately by someone who had an agenda of ruining the event. “We will ask the police to take action against her,” he said.

Amulya, who hails from Koppa and studied in Manipal and Bengaluru, has addressed several anti-CAA rallies in Bengaluru earlier.

The SJ park police have booked a suo motu case against the Arudra under Sections 153A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code for disturbing peace and harmony and we have produced her the Magistrate Krishnamurthy at his house and the Hon’ble judge has ordered and remanded for 14 days judicial custody to the accused till March 5th.

Meanwhile recently three Kashmiri engineering students from the KLE Institute of Technology, who were arrested,Identified as Talib Majeed, Basit Asif Sofi and Amir Mohiuddin Wahi and were booked under sedition charges in Karnataka’s Hubli, were produced before the court on Monday.The students,who were arrested for chanting pro-Pakistan slogans,were sent to judicial custody by the court till March 2.Earlier on Sunday, the three Kashmiri students were released by the police after they executed a bond under 169 CrPC.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka assembly proceedings on Tuesday saw the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress sparring over ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ and ‘Bharat Mata’.

While hitting out at ruling party legislators, Leader of the Opposition in the assembly Siddaramaiah said that “Bharat Mata is not the property of BJP”.

Home Minister Basavaraj Bommai, slamming the Congress, called them the “owners” of the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’.

Siddaramaiah, while making a preliminary submission seeking to move an adjournment motion on the law and order situation in the state, attacked ruling BJP both in the state and Centre for an “undeclared emergency” in the country.

He also accused the BJP of undermining the Constitution and democracy,to which Minister K S Eshwarappa referred to the Emergency declared by the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and reminded the former Chief Minister that he had opposed it while in the Janata Dal.

“We (BJP/RSS workers then) were put behind bars for hailing Bharat Mata and calling ourselves as her sons”, Eshwarappa said.

Reacting to this Siddaramaiah said, “Bharat Mata is not your property. You have not taken on lease. All 135 crore Indians are her children.”

Intervening, Minister C T Ravi hit out at Congress for supporting the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’, resulting in heated arguments between the treasury and opposition benches.

Taking strong exception to the remark, Congress MLA Priyank Kharge questioned who were the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’ and why the BJP governments, both at the centre and state, were not arresting them.

Referring to the Home Ministry’s written reply in the Lok Sabha recently that it had no information on any group called the ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’, Kharge asked BJP to question Union Home Minister Amit Shah about them.

“…who and where are they? Ask Shah.”

Retorting to it state, Bommai said: “you people- Congress are owners of ‘Tukde Tukde Gang’.

To which Kharge said, “Arrest us then, slap sedition charges against us. I challenge you.”

A war of words broke out between the two sides, and Speaker Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri intervened to carry forward the proceedings.