NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday urged MPs retiring from the Rajya Sabha to share their experiences gained in the House with people across the country and inspire coming generations.

Bidding farewell to 72 Rajya Sabha members retiring till July, the prime minister said experience has its own importance, and the MPs should take it forward in the service of the nation.

“When experienced people go, the responsibility of those remaining increases and they have to take the House foward,” Modi said.

“In the 75th year of India’s independence, our great men have given us a lot, and now it our responsibility to make our contribution to the nation,” the prime minister added. “I urge the retiring members to inspire our coming generations,” he said.

Of the 72, 65 retiring members represent 19 states while seven are nominated members.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi Police has arrested eight people in connection with alleged vandalism at Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s residence here, officials said on Thursday.

According to sources, the eight people were arrested from Delhi and the numbers could go up as teams have been sent to make more arrests.

On Wednesday, members of the BJP youth wing allegedly vandalised property outside the residence of Kejriwal against his remarks on ‘The Kashmir Files’ film.

Police had on Wednesday registered a case in connection with the incident against unidentified people.

“The case was registered under sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) and 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and section 3 of the Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (North) Sagar Singh Kalsi had said.

Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia had alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wanted to “kill” Kejriwal after its debacle in the Punjab polls.

He also alleged that activists of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the saffron party, damaged CCTV cameras and security barriers at the chief minister’s residence during a protest.

BENGALURU: Tipu Sultan is likely to get less significance in coming school textbooks as a report submitted by the review committee has reportedly suggested omitting the more ‘glorified’ aspects of the ruler’s history.

If the Education Department takes the report into consideration, the changes will be implemented in textbooks from classes 1 to 10 in the coming academic year.

Rumours were also doing the rounds that the committee had recommended omitting chapters on Tipu Sultan altogether, but Education Minister BC Nagesh dismissed them on Friday. He clarified that the chapters will not be dropped.

“There are certain historical issues which need to be told to future generations. There are many untold history pieces which need to be narrated. Now the time has come to correct these mistakes made in the past. We are not mixing politics here,” he said.

The review committee was formed in September last year by the Department of Primary and Secondary Education and is headed by Rohith Chakrathirtha, a member of the Karnataka Development Authority, which had led to much opposition from the Congress and other groups. 

BENGALURU: In the backdrop of Muslim shopkeepers being prevented from setting up shops in and around temples during jatras, street vendors of Bengaluru have strongly condemned the communalisation attempts by right-wing organisations.  

The Bangalore Pragatipara Beedhi Vyaparigala Sangha and other allied organisations deplored the intense communal assault on the livelihood of street vendors in Karnataka. 

“The Vishwa Hindu Parishat is putting pressure on temple management committees and urging the State Government to ban non-Hindu traders from setting up shops during temple fairs, annual festivals and religious festivities. The various statements made by ministers clearly shows that the BJP government is complicit in this demand of the Sangh Parivar,” they said and reminded the government that street vendors face daily harassment at the hands of the civil authorities and the police. 

They alleged that communal polarisation has been brewing for some time and now it has become a full-blown attack.

“A muslim ice-cream vendor was thrashed in Uppinangady in Mangaluru by a mob of communal goons at an annual temple fair. Recently, Hindu religious flags were hoisted on shops of Muslims in Vijayanagar, Bengaluru. But, the vendors remained united and the flags were removed.”     

NEW DELHI: The government on Friday said it is in the process of analysing the impact of sanctions on Moscow for India-Russia bilateral trade and economic cooperation.

The US and several Western countries have imposed crippling economic sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

“Many countries have imposed sanctions on Russia due to the conflict. These are expected to have an impact on the global economy, including through disruption of supply chains. Its impact on energy and commodity prices is already visible,” Minister of State for External Affairs Meenakashi Lekhi said.

She was replying to a question in Lok Sabha. “We are in the process of analysing its impact on India-Russia bilateral trade and economic cooperation, in consultation with all stakeholders. India’s relations with Russia stand on their own merit,” Lekhi said.

She also referred to discussions on the conflict at the United Nations and said India has called for an immediate cessation of violence and an end to all hostilities.

“We have expressed deep concern at the worsening situation and called for an immediate cessation of violence and end to all hostilities,” she said.

Lekhi said India has reiterated that there is no other choice but the path of diplomacy and dialogue to resolve the crisis.

“We have emphasised to all member states of the UN that the global order is anchored on international law, UN Charter and respect for territorial integrity and sovereignty of states,” she added.

Parmesh S Jain

The Rajgopal Nagar police on Wednesday arrested a private bus cleaner who killed a 64-year-old daily wage labourer to rob Rs 500 from him while he was sleeping on the footpath on March 15.

The accused has been identified as, Prashanth aged about 35.

Senior officer told reporters,a murder case was reported in Rajagopalnagar police station limits as the murder took place senior officer rushed to the spot.

Special team was formed by DCP North Vinayak Patil the team headed by PI, Rajagopalnagar swung into action and the team verified nearly 50 cctv footage to identify the accused and arrested him.

The accused Prashanth,working as a cleaner at a private bus used to move around in the night time to identify people living on footpath and rob their valuables.

On March 15, he found Krishnappa,64, was sleeping on the footpath near Peenya II stage bus stop at around 1. 30 am and tried to search his pockets to take away valuables .

Krishnappa woke up and resisted but Prashanth overpowered and attacked him with a brick found near-by and escaped after robbing Rs 500 from him.

Krishnappa was found lying unconcious the next morning and taken to victoria hospital where he succumbed later.

Krishnappa had visited his relative and wanted to return home. Since it was late he tired and drunk he slept near the bus stop thinking of going home the net morning.

Parmesh S Jain

Mohammed Azeez,a 63-year-old bakery owner who sustained severe burn injuries due to LPG cylinder leakage on Saturday morning succumbed on Tuesday.

The deceased Azeez, owned a bakery in Gangondanahalli switched on the gas stove to make tea early in the morning and lit a cigarette which led to the explosion.

Due to the impact the bakery was damaged and Azeez sustained severe burn injuries.

He was taken to Victoria hospital from there shifted to a hospital in Kerala where he succumbed.The Chandra Layout police have taken up a case and are investigating.

parmesh S JAIN

The all party meeting held today unanimously decided to hold elections for local bodies after providing reservation for Backward Classes, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai said.

Speaking to media persons after chairing the all party meeting to discuss making provision for reservation for Backward Classes in elections for urban and rural local bodies,Bommai said, political backwardness of backward classes should be identified.

A Commission would have to be constituted for the purpose.Appropriate measures would be taken in the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court order,Bommai said.

The Supreme Court in its recent order has quashed the 27% quota for OBCs in local body elections.

A meeting would again be convened by the end of this month and a final decision would be taken in this regard in the presence of leaders of the opposition,Bommai said.

“At today’s meeting we discussed in detail possible measures to provide reservation for Backward Classes and how to conduct the elections in the backdrop of the SC order.The Advocate General explained the legal aspects, Bommai said.

We have the options of conducting elections after constituting a Commission and getting its report or to file a review petition in the Supreme Court.

But it is impossible to hold elections without reservation for Backward Classes, Bommai said.

Quota hike for STs

The meeting also discussed increasing the reservation for STs to 7.5% in accordance with the demand of the community.

Their population too has increased.The previous government had constituted the Justice Nagamohan Das Commission in this regard.

The Commission has submitted its report to the previous BS Yediyurappa’s government.The Commission has recommended increasing the SC,ST reservation quota. We have to make a decision accordingly,Bommai said.

“We have decided to deliver social justice for these communities by increasing their reservation quota in the backdrop of Justice Nagamohan Das report, judgements in Maharashtra’s Jayashree Patil case, Indira Sahney case and also getting an interim report from Justice Subash Adi,” Bommai said.

If reservation has to be provided,it has to be in accordance with the Constitutional provisions and Supreme Court order.

The Advocate General has been asked to submit a report in this regard.The report would be placed before the next all party meeting and their consent would be obtained,Bommai said.

There is demand from the Kuruba community which belongs to Category 2A for inclusion into the ST list, some of the 3B Category communities want to be included into 2A Category.

In this regard we have to move step by step. There is also the issue of a 50% ceiling on quota, whether we should cross it and how to go about it legally, Bommai said.

A consensus emerged at Today’s meeting on rendering justice for Scheduled Tribes, Bommai said.

Parmesh S Jain

Anti Corruption Bureau sleuths on Tuesday conducted search operation at 9 different places in the city pertaining to nine middlemen,who are operating in the BDA and influencing officials by corrupt means to involving in malpractices and other irregularities in Banglore Development Authority .

At least 100 officers of the Anti-Corruption Bureau, in separate teams went to the properties of the alleged middlemen who used influence to access officers of the Bengaluru Development Authority, under the Supervision of Uma Prashant, Superentident of Police,Headquarters .

The raids were conducted at the homes of these nine accused: Raghu BN in Chamrajpet, Mohan at RT Nagar, Manoj at Domlur, Munirathna at Malthalli, Teju at RR Nagara, Aswath at KG Circle, Rama at BDA Layout, Laxmana also at BDA Layout and Chikkahanummaiah at Muddinapalya. All these locations are in Bengaluru.

It may be recalled that one of the middlemen filed a complaint with the city police accusing BDA officials of cheating.

The complaint claimed to have paid huge sum of money even to officials even paid money for the transfer of a senior officer.

The Main door of a palatial house operated through remote in Kenagunte in Mallathahalli belonging to broker Muniratna ,a private garden in front of the house belonging to Yogesh maintained by a group of gardeners,fleet of high end cars and valuables including 4.9 kg of gold valuables 15.2 kgs of silver articles,61.9 grams of diamonds,expensive watches and goggles recovered from the house of Mohan,another BDA broker among the nine middlemen who have been raided by the ACB sleuths on Tuesday.

These seized valuables are some one the highlights of the search and seizure made by the officials along with a heap of files pertaining to properties in and around Bengaluru .

High drama prevailed some time when the accused broker Munirathna refused to hand over the keys of the SUV parked in front of his palatial house .

The ACB contemplated to get a locksmith to open the car,but finally Munirathna handed over the keys.

The officials recovered heap of property documents belonging to several people,which have been seized .

The search and verification of valuables continue ascertain the value of the property and their known source of income.

Some of the middlemen who are shop keepers and real estate agents a decade ago amassed wealth worth several crores which needed a detailed probe,a senior officer,said.

The ACB officials suspect that the accused having close nexus with the BDA officials suspected to have involved in alternate site, compensation scams and also preparing fake documents to claim compensation.

The officials are verifying the documents of properties, household articles and others.

Recently, the ACB officials had arrested four private persons involved in extorting money from BDA officials on the promise of getting away from their respective cases in ACB.