BENGALURU: Home Minister Araga Jnanendra on Wednesday assured citizens of Afghanistan staying in Karnataka that the State Government will ensure their safety and take up the issue of their visa extension with the Centre as the visas of many of them will expire in the coming days.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event on Wednesday, Jnanendra said there are 339 Afghan nationals in Karnataka, of which 192 are students. “It has come to my notice that they are all worried about their future after the Taliban took over their country. On humanitarian grounds, the state will extend all possible support and protection to them,” he said.

Some of the Afghan nationals had expressed concerns over their visas expiring soon. “As the Union Government decides on extension of visas, I will take up the matter with the Chief Minister and the Centre,” he said.

Meanwhile, the State Government has appointed a senior IPS officer of the rank of Additional Director General of Police to coordinate with the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) for the evacuation of Karnataka residents stranded in Afghanistan. 

In a notification issued on Wednesday, the government stated that ADGP-CID Umesh Kumar, has been appointed nodal officer to coordinate with the Centre for the safe evacuation of people from Karnataka stranded in Afghanistan, as there is turmoil in that country.

“The Centre has already set up a helpline to bring back Indians stranded in Afghanistan. To coordinate with the Centre on bringing back Kannadigas safely from Afghanistan, ADGP Umesh Kumar has been appointed nodal officer,” the notification stated, adding that a control room has been established in this regard. Information may be sent to the following numbers and email – 080-22094498, 080- 22942628,9480800187, afghan_kar@ksp.gov.in, and also be furnished directly to the MEA.

Details of informant name, contact number, address, relationship, name of persons staying in Af ghani s t an, their present location, occupation/ purpose of visit, passport details, and date of arrival in Afghanistan will have to be furnished.

Media Hanger India 

Bengaluru : Fashion Guru Prasad Bidappa today inaugurated the International Institute of Gemology, Bengaluru.

Jewellery is an intrinsic part of Indian Life and we wear them religiously. Every aspiring fashion designer should learn about Gems, Diamonds and Jewellery Design.

The institute in Richmond Town offers courses in Gems, Diamonds & Jewellery Design.. Mr Chetan Kumar Mehta, CEO, Laxmi Diamonds has taken the initiative to start this institute along with Mr Rahul Desai, MD, IIG, Mumbai.  Mr. Ravi Kumar, President, Jewellers Association of Bangalore was also present.

Kindly find the Press Release and Photos attached.

We request you to kindly publish the same in your esteemed publication.

Bengaluru: Karnataka registered 1,431 fresh coronavirus cases taking its overall tally to 29,29,464 while 21 deaths took the toll to 36,979, the health department said on Sunday.

Also, Karnataka completed 4 crore COVID tests in the state on Sunday since the outbreak of the pandemic.

There were 22,497 active cases in the state while the recovery of 1,611 patients took the total recovery to 28,69,962.

Dakshina Kannada district, which borders Kerala, remained the number one COVID-19 hotspot. The district reported 311 infections and four fatalities, the highest among all the districts on Sunday.

Bengaluru urban district was the second major COVID hotspot with 305 fresh infections and three deaths.

The Karnataka capital has so far reported 12,32,902 infections and 15,937 deaths. There were 8,166 active cases.

Other districts too reported COVID-19 cases including 177 Udupi, 87 in Hassan, 83 in Mysuru, 82 in Kodagu, 64 in Uttara Kannada and 51 in Tumakuru.

According to the media bulletin, there were fatalities in 11 districts including Bengaluru, Dakshina Kannada, Chitradurga, Kolar, Mandya and Mysuru.

Yadgir district recorded zero infections and zero fatalities. There were zero fatalities in 20 districts in Karnataka.

The department said in its bulletin that 1,52,767 COVID tests were conducted on Sunday including 1,23,150 RT-PCR tests and other methods.

With this, Karnataka has so far performed 4.09 crore COVID-19 tests in the state, it said.

There were 1,12,199 inoculations done on Sunday taking the total vaccination to 3.46 crore.

The positivity rate for the day was 0.93 per cent and case fatality rate was 1.46 per cent, the department added.

BENGALURU: By September 10, India’s Covid cases are expected to touch 32.8 crore (3,28,42,435) and deaths 4.40 lakh (4,40,220), as per an analysis by Jeevan Raksha. Karnataka’s Covid figures are expected to touch 29.50 lakh (29,50,000) and deaths 37,470. 

Some districts are worse off than others. The problem areas in terms of caseload are Bengaluru Urban, which added 24 per cent of the new cases in the state over the last four weeks, Dakshina Kannada, which added 18.4 per cent of the cases, then comes Mysuru, Udupi and Hassan.

 “Karnataka has to be ultra-careful and should not allow complacencies to seep in. Today, Karnataka has around 22,000 active cases. This is exactly at the same influx we saw right before the second wave swooped in the state in mid-March. In a matter of about just five to six weeks, Karnataka piled up 6 lakh active cases. The state government needs to have a separate strategy for Bengaluru Urban,” said Mysore Sanjeev, convener, Jeevan Raksha. 

As per their analysis, Karnataka’s 28-day Moving Growth Rate (MGR) stands at 1.5 per cent and the MGR of all districts must be brought under this figure to avert the third wave. Districts with MGR higher than that of Karnataka, between July 12 and August 12, are Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Udupi, Hassan, Uttara Kannada, Chikkamagaluru, Chamarajanagara, and Shivamogga. 

Sanjeev also pointed to the massive under-reporting of cases. In July, Karnataka reported 61,314 new Covid cases and 1,522 deaths. Astonishingly, 28,060 new insurance claims have been registered for Covid treatment in Karnataka, which means 46 per cent of them had health insurance coverage. 

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Bengaluru: Bommanahalli MLA Satish Reddy’s two cars which were parked outside his residence in Bengaluru were lit on fire by criminals late at night on Wednesday.

Reportedly, four of the accused arrived around 1 am and poured petrol on the MLA’s cars parked outside his residence and lit them on fire, completely burning them in the process. The CCTV camera near the premises has captured the criminals in the act, it is learned. 

A case has been registered at the Bommanahalli police station in this regard, and an investigation is underway.

Bengaluru, Aug 11: The fortnight-old Basavaraj Bommai government seems to have sailed through its first major challenge by mollifying a sulking Karnataka Minister Anand Singh who had dropped a hint that he would resign his position only to change his mind later.

Sources close to the Minister said he was keen on getting the forest department which he held in the previous B S Yediyurappa government, along with the energy portfolio. “Against his wish, he was given a tourism, ecology and environment portfolio,” they added.

As he expressed his displeasure, he also shut down his MLA office at Hospet in the newly carved Vijayanagar district.

Before meeting the Chief Minister in Bengaluru, Singh said in Hospet, “My political life started from this Venu Gopalakrishna Temple. I would like to tell you that I don’t know whether my political life may also end here.”

“If I have the blessings of Gopalakrishna, there may be a new beginning as well,” he added.

Singh had a meeting with the Chief Minister who was accompanied by Revenue Minister R Ashoka and BJP MLA Narasimha Naik alias Raju Gouda.

After the meeting, the Chief Minister said there were no differences of opinion between him and Singh and that both were “united”.

Conceding that Singh had wanted a “better” portfolio, Bommai said he explained to him the “prevailing situation” and assured him that he will speak to the party’s central leadership.

“His point was that he can take one more portfolio according to his capacity,” Bommai said.

Singh said he had a detailed discussion with Bommai and he has been asked to “go together”.

“It’s true that I had asked for a change in portfolio but I never said I am going to resign. The question of resigning does not arise at all,” Singh said.

He added that Bommai has assured him that the issue will be resolved by “sitting together”.

To drive home the point that the differences have been resolved and Singh was not going to resign, Ashoka said the minister would be hoisting the tricolour in Vijayanagar district on August 15.

Prior to meeting Bommai, Singh and Gouda had called on former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa at his residence and had a discussion for about 25 minutes.

After the meeting, Gouda told reporters that Singh explained his point to Yediyurappa. In reply, the Lingayat strongman asked both of them to be “calm and content”.

After Yediyurappa resigned on July 26, coinciding with his two years in office, Bommai succeeded him as Chief Minister on July 28 and on August 4, he expanded his cabinet with 29 ministers.

He retained most of the ministers in the Yediyurappa government barring a few who were dropped including senior BJP MLA S Suresh Kumar. Barely a fortnight after Bommai took over as CM, dissidence seems to be growing among a section of BJP MLAs and ministers over the cabinet expansion.

Sources in the BJP said MLAs S A Ramadas, Abhay Patil, Ramesh Jarkiholi, M P Renukacharya, Arvind Bellad, Basanagouda Patil Yatnal and Umesh Kumathalli are among those sulking over denial of ministerial berth to them.

Another sulking minister N Nagaraj (MTB), who had accepted the decision of the Chief Minister, told reporters on Wednesday that Bommai had promised him his portfolio would be changed and he has faith in him.

Nagaraj and Singh were among the 17 Congress and JD (S) MLAs, who were disqualified in 2019.

Later, 16 of them joined the BJP and became legislators again after winning byelections. A majority of them became Ministers.

Bengaluru: The Karnataka State Election Commission on Wednesday said polls for the city corporations of Belagavi, Hubballi-Dharwad and Kalaburagi, along with bypolls to a few other urban local bodies, will be held on September 3.

Counting of votes will take place on September 6 and the model code of conduct will come into effect from August 16, it said.

Elections will be held for a total of 252 wards across seven urban local bodies. They includecity corporations of Belagavi (58 wards), Hubballi-Dharwad (82), Kalaburagi (55), along with the Doddaballapur City Municipal Council (31), Tarikere Town Municipal Council (23), Bidar City Municipal Council (2) and Bhadravathi City Municipal Council (1).

While the last date for candidates to file their nominations is August 23, the last date to withdraw papers is August 26.

According to the commission, there are a total of 14.01 lakh eligible voters, with the highest being in Hubballi-Dharwad – 8.11 lakh.

Elections are being held as the term of some of these local bodies has ended and due to orders of the High Court, the Commission has said.

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday appointed MPs Syed Naseer Hussain and Chhaya Verma as its whips in the Rajya Sabha, a party statement said.

“Chairperson Sonia Gandhi has appointed MPs Syed Naseer Hussain and Chhaya Verma as whips of Congress Parliamentary Party in Rajya Sabha,” the party statement by Congress chief whip in the Upper House Jairam Ramesh said.

The Congress has appointed Mallikarjun Kharge as leader of the Opposition and Anand Sharma as deputy leader of the Congress in the upper house and the move is seen as a measure to strengthen its floor management in the Rajya Sabha.

The party now has the same number of whips and chief whips in the upper house as in the Lok Sabha.