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Bengaluru railway station to be named after Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna

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(Photo: IANS)

(Photo: IANS)

Bengaluru: The Bengaluru railway station will soon be named after Karnataka’s prominent 19th century freedom fighter and warrior Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna, an official said on Thursday.

“On the state government’s recommendation, the Indian Railways and the union home ministry has approved naming the city’s main railway station after Sangolli Rayanna,” South Western Railway (SWR) general manager P.K. Saxena told reporters here.

“The naming ceremony will be held soon after completing formalities and in consultation with the state government,” he said.

Born on August 15, 1798, Rayanna, the ruler of Kittur, now in what is the state’s northern district of Belagavi, fought against the British East India company till his death in 1832. According to history, Rayanna participated in the 1824 rebellion and was captured and executed.

There will be a plaque at the station’s main entrance with a picture and a brief biographical account of Rayanna, who was hanged to death by the British at the age of 33 from a banyan tree at Nandagad in Belagavi district on January 26, 1832.

Bengaluru’s international airport at Devanahalli is named after the city’s founder Kempe Gowda, who made the city capital of his kingdom in 1537.

(IANS)

Bihar battle ends, exit polls split on outcome

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bihar-votes

New Delhi: Bihar’s bitterly-contested staggered elections ended on Thursday evening, with exit polls sharply split on who would get to rule the state: the BJP-led alliance led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi or Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Grand Alliance.

While three of the nine surveys at the end of five rounds of polling predicted a clear win for the Bharatiya Janata Party and another gave an upper hand to it, five exit polls forecast a narrow or clear majority in the 243-member house to the Grand Alliance.

Despite the exit poll suspense, leaders of both the BJP and the Grand Alliance — the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) of Nitish Kumar and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) of Lalu Prasad — claimed they were sure of victory.

“We are hopeful of getting a clear majority,” said BJP spokesman Nalin Kohli. “Although the (exit polls) ranges are close, I won’t arrive at any hasty assessment,” he said, indicating cautious optimism in the BJP.

Former chief minister Lalu Prasad, however, insisted that the Grand Alliance, which also includes the Congress, was poised to win 190 seats.

“The entire backward community of Bihar has voted for us,” he told the media in Patna. “We salute them for this.”

None of the exit polls, however, gave either alliance such a huge victory as claimed by Lalu Prasad.

While Today’s Chanakya gave 155 of the 243 seats to the BJP and its three allies, NewsX-CNX said the JD-U and its allies would get 135 seats. It forecast a mere 83 seats to the JD-U, the RJD and the Congress.

In contrast, NewsX said the BJP and its allies — the Lok Janshakti Party (LJP), the Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM) and the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party (RLSP) — would win only 95 seats.

Other exit polls predicted a close outcome.

Any party or combine would need 122 seats to secure a wafer thin majority in the 243-member assembly. The millions of votes polled in the five rounds of polling from October 12 — about 60 percent of the 66.8 million electorate voted — will be counted on Sunday.

An India Today-Cicero exit poll predicted a hung assembly, with the BJP-led alliance winning 120 seats to 117 by the Grand Alliance. It gave the BJP alliance 113-127 seats and the Grand Alliance 111-123 seats. Four to eight seats could go to other parties.

A Dainik Jagran exit poll said the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) would get a majority with 130 seats as compared to 97 for the Grand Alliance.

The Times Now-CVoter survey gave 122 seats to the Grand Alliance and 111 to the NDA.

The ABP News gave the BJP and its allies 130 seats compared to 108 to the JD-U-RJD-Congress alliance.

News Nation also gave the JD-U and its allies an edge, with 120-124 seats, while the BJP and its allies could get 115-119 seats.

India TV-C Voter also predicted 111 seats to the BJP combine and 122 to the Grand Alliance.

Even before the exit polls were telecast, JD-U spokesman K.C. Tyagi told IANS in Patna that the Grand Alliance was confident of winning a “stupendous mandate”.

Neither Modi or BJP president Amit Shah — who micro-managed the Bihar election — nor Nitish Kumar spoke to the media.

Earlier on Thursday, nearly 60 percent of the 1.55 crore electorate turned out to vote in the last of the 57 constituencies spread across seven districts: Kishangaj, Purnea, Araria, Katihar, Saharasa, Madhepura and Supaul.

Despite widespread apprehensions, the staggered election passed off peacefully, even in areas considered to be strongholds of Maoists who had called for an election boycott.

The voter enthusiasm was evident on Thursday too, with tens of thousands queuing up at polling booths even before they opened at 7 a.m. A total of 827 candidates were in the fray.

Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi’s Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (MIM) contested from six constituencies, making its foray into Bihar.

Earlier on Thursday, the stock market dipped over a possible lack of clear mandate in Bihar.

The Bihar election is a big test for the BJP, whose winning streak since the 2014 Lok Sabha polls was halted by the Aam Aadmi Party in Delhi in February this year.

(IANS)

Chhota Rajan brought to India

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Chhota Rajan

New Delhi: After being on the run for the past 27 years, underworld don Chhota Rajan was brought here early this morning from Indonesia by a joint team headed by CBI officials for facing trial in various criminal cases registered against him in Delhi and Mumbai.

The 55-year-old gangster, whose real name is Rajendra Sadashiv Nikalje, will be kept in the national capital where he will be questioned by sleuths of various investigating agencies as he has been making claims of having further evidence to nail India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim and his links with Pakistan’s snooping agency ISI.

Immediately after his arrival here in an Indian Air Force Gulfstream-III aircraft from Indonesia’s Bali, Rajan, who is considered as a ‘friendly don’ as he reportedly tipped Indian security agencies about the movement of Dawood and his aides, was whisked away to an undisclosed location under tight security.

Official cars with flashing lights accompanied by heavy- armed escort vans were seen leaving the Palam Technical Area at around 5:30 AM, as anxious camerapersons and photographers made unsuccessful attempts to get a glimpse of the underworld don, who was in one of those vehicles with tinted glasses.

Rajan had told media in Bali that he was happy to return to his motherland and had rubbished reports that his arrest was orchestrated as he was facing threat from Dawood’s men.

Ahead of his arrival in India, Maharashtra government made a surprise announcement of handing over all the cases related to the underworld don to the CBI as the agency had expertise in handling such cases. This move comes barely a few days after the state Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had been making claims that Rajan will be brought only to Mumbai.

The Maharashtra government’s sudden U-turn raised many eyebrows within the police establishment in the megalopolis as the Chief Minister himself had ordered for creation of a special cell inside Aurthur Road prison with medial arrangement of dialysis being made. Rajan is on dialysis as his both kidneys are not working.

Rajan, after his arrest, had expressed reservation over plans to lodge him in a Mumbai jail, fearing that his arch- rival and India’s most wanted terrorist Dawood Ibrahim may target him there.

Till the formalities of CBI to take over the Maharashtra cases are completed, Rajan will be in the custody of Special Cell of Delhi Police which has six cases registered against him.

Interestingly, CBI had told the Bombay High Court, while hearing petitions filed by the family members of murdered rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, that it was severely understaffed and required officers from the Maharashtra Police to assist it in the probe.

Rajan was arrested on the basis of an Interpol Red Corner notice at Bali airport on October 25 after he had arrived in the island city of Indonesia from Australia.

India was keen that the deportation takes place at the earliest and had put in a request to Indonesian authorities immediately after his arrest, sources said.

However, his deportation was deferred by a day as the international airport in Bali was shut down due to spewing of volcanic ash from a nearby mountain.

Immediately after his flight took off, Indian Ambassador to Indonesia Gurjit Singh tweeted: “#ChotaRajan deported successfully to India. Delay due to Bali airport closure ends. Thanks Indonesia for support.”

Rajan is wanted in over 75 crimes ranging from murder, extortion to smuggling and drug trafficking.

Mumbai Police has nearly 70 cases registered against Rajan, including 20 of murder, four cases under the Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act, one under Prevention of Terrorism Act and over 20 cases under the stringent Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act.

Delhi Police has six cases registered against Rajan, who was a close aide of fugitive underworld don Dawood at one point but split before the 1993 Mumbai blasts were conspired.

In 2000, there was an attempt on Rajan’s life when Dawood’s men tracked him down to a hotel in Bangkok but he managed a dramatic escape by jumping from the first floor of the hotel.

Rajan had fled India in 1988 for Dubai.

(PTI)

‘More minors being recruited into RSS, trend to go up in future’

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rss-children

Mumbai: Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh (RSS) has claimed that its popularity among the minors was on the rise, as 65 per cent of its shakhas in Maharashtra were composed of members between the age group of 12 and 18 years.

Shakha is a place where RSS volunteers gather every day and currently, there were 50,432 shakhas across the country.

As per the RSS data, out of the 3,429 shakhas spread over four regions of Maharashtra– Konkan, Western Maharashtra, Devgiri and Vidarbha– 2,229 are ‘Bal and Tarun Samyukta Shakha’ (Children and Youth Joint Shakhas) for the members between the age group of 12 and 18.

120 of the total shakhas in the state have members between the age of 18 and 40, which together with Children and Youth Joint Shakhas comprise 68 per cent (2,349 out of 3,429 Shakhas) of the total shakhas.

The shakhas with members over 40 years of age comprise around 32 per cent (1,080 out of total 3,429 shakhas) of the total number in Maharashtra, the data said. These figures have helped the RSS to dispel the “allegation” that the organisation was not present among the youth.

Satish Modh, Sanghchalak of Konkan region of RSS told PTI, “Only nine per cent of our shakhas (4,551 out of the total 50,432 at the national level) comprise members over 60 years of age. These figures themselves prove that we are fast becoming popular among the youth and this trend is more likely to go up in the near future.”

He said that as per the figures till September this year, there were 50,432 RSS shakhas at 31,840 locations across the country. “The number would considerably go up by March next year,” he added.

(Agencies)

19-year-old nurse raped in moving bus near Bengaluru, two arrested

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rape

Bengaluru: A 19-year-old nurse was allegedly raped in a moving bus by its driver at Hoskote on the city’s eastern outskirts, police said on Friday.

“We have arrested accused Ravi, 26, with bus cleaner Manjunath, 23, on a complaint by the victim that she was raped by the driver when she was alone in the bus on Thursday night,” Bengaluru Rural Additional Superintendent of Police S.R. Ramesh told IANS here.

The attack took place when the young woman boarded the bus at Sulibele to go to work at a nursing home in Hoskote, 30 km from the city centre.

“The accused asked the cleaner to drive the bus while he raped her and dumped her later on the roadside at Nagagondanahalli. When she narrated the incident to doctors at a private hospital, police were called to take her complaint,” Ramesh said.

After recording her version of the incident in Kannada, police swung into action and arrested the two people and seized the bus. The bus was registered in the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh.

On October 3, a 23-year-old woman was gang raped by a driver and a cleaner in a moving van in the city’s southeast suburb.

(IANS)

Kumaraswamy threatens to withdraw support after corruption charges surface in BBMP

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Kumaraswamy

Bengaluru: The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) that was formed after the alliance between the Congress and Janata Dal (Secular) is now in a critical position as former Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy has threatened to withdraw support after corruption charges were leveled against the new set up.

Addressing the media, Kumaraswamy said that he was fed up with the corruption in the BBMP. The Mayor should have taken initiative and seen that the BBMP was corruption-free; due to this the people suffer. However, if the trend continues, we may have to rethink our alliance with the Congress, he added.

Siddaramaiah reacting on the issue said that he had not received any official intimation about withdrawing support from the alliance; however he assured that he would speak to Kumaraswamy regarding the matter.

It should be noted that though the BJP emerged as the single largest party in the BBMP polls, an alliance was struck between the Congress and the JD(S) and they have been sharing power from the past two months.

(Agencies)

Anupam Kher to lead march against ‘intolerance’ protesters

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Bollywood actor Anupam Kher. (Photo by Waseem Gashroo/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

Bollywood actor Anupam Kher. (Photo by Waseem Gashroo/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

New Delhi: Veteran actor and BJP supporter Anupam Kher has invited all Indians to march with him to Rashtrapati Bhavan here on Friday to protest the voices being raised over “intolerance” in the country.

“#MarchForIndia will start from India Gate, New Delhi at 10 a.m. on November 7. All INDIANS are invited. Jai Ho. 🙂 #IndiaIsTolerant,” Anupam shared on his Twitter page.

The actor will be joined by a string of artistes, writers and painters for the march.

This follows the decision of a host of filmmakers, including the likes of Dibakar Banerjee and Anand Patwardhan, as well as writers and historians to raise voice against the rising intolerance under the BJP-led government, and to return various government awards and honours.

Anupam earlier shared on Twitter: “This #AwardWapsiGang has not insulted the government, but the jury, the chairman of the jury and the audience who watched their films.”

(Agencies)

Arundhati Roy returns National Award, says proud to be a part of ‘Award Wapsi’

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Indian writer and political activist Arundhati Roy

New Delhi: Author and activist Arundhati Roy has joined the league of writers and filmmakers who have returned their awards as a protest against the growing intolerance in the country.

The 55-year-old author won the national award in 1989 for the film “In Which Annie Gives it Those Ones”. She also a Booker Prize winner for her book “The God of Small Things”.

“Although I do not believe that awards are a measure of the work we do, I would like to add the National Award for Best Screenplay that I won in 1989 to the growing pile of returned awards,” wrote Arundhati Roy in an article in Indian Express on Thursday.

“I believe what artists and intellectuals are doing right now is unprecedented, and does not have a historical parallel. It is politics by other means. I am so proud to be part of it. And so ashamed of what is going on in this country today,” added Roy.

(Agencies)

Greenwood High students stand first in the country in the Cambridge IGCSE exams

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Guru Sarjith Senthil

Guru Sarjith Senthil

Bengaluru: Greenwood High students Pavan Kumar Chitta and Guru Sarjith Senthil have done their school and state proud, by topping the country in two IGCSE categories. Pavan was awarded the first place for any student with eight IGCSE subjects, and Guru was declared top in the country in Computer Science. These two students, who continue to study with Greenwood High, are elated, as are their teachers.

Pavan Kumar Chitta

Pavan Kumar Chitta

Though the results were announced in August 2015, final rankings are declared only after re valuation process gets over by Cambridge, which closes by the end of September.

Cambridge International Examinations has taken note of these high achievements: “We congratulate our students from India for another year of remarkable performance and high achievement. Such accomplishments are the result of their hard work and the support of their teachers, schools and parents. At Cambridge we are committed to helping prepare students for life, and we wish all of our students success in their future endeavours,” said Ruchira Ghosh, Regional Director South Asia, Cambridge International Examinations.

Commenting on this achievement, Niru Agarwal, Trustee, Greenwood High International School said “The members of the board are extremely proud of these two students and of the talented and hardworking faculty, for showing that the IGCSE programme at Greenwood High, Bangalore is one of the best in the country. It really feels great to know that the effort we have put in has paid off. We are proud of our students, who have constantly worked hard to meet everyone’s expectations and we wish them success in all their future endeavors. I wish to thank our teachers too for providing guidance and support to these children, adds Niru Agarwal.

The principal of the school Mr. Aloysius D’Mello said that it was heartening to see Greenwood High rise to the top of the country in so short a span of time, and that this could only have been achieved with the dedication and hard work of the entire school community.

These two students are now enrolled in the challenging International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme at Greenwood High and have aspirations of attending the best universities in the world.

Leading restaurant reservation site EazyDiner comes to Bengaluru

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easydiner

  • EazyDiner is currently the only platform in India to offer real-time guaranteed reservations 24X7
  • Instant bookings at over 180 restaurants, bars and pubs in Bengaluru with exceptional deals & discounts and at over 1000 restaurants in Delhi NCR and Mumbai
  • curated content including critic reviews and insider tips
  • India’s only and most rewarding Food and Beverage Dining Loyalty Program “EazyRupees” with even quicker redemptions

Bengaluru: In collaboration with India’s top hoteliers and restaurateurs, EazyDiner announces its entry into Bengaluru. EazyDiner launched its service in Delhi earlier this year in January and has grown close to 40X in the last 10 months. This online reservation platform has booked 15,000+ diners in October alone, up from the 400 diners in January. EazyDiner is the only service in India offering real time guaranteed restaurant reservations supported by a round the clock – 24 hours dining concierge.

EazyDiner now features over 27,000 restaurants and bars in Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru with menus and photographs. EazyDiner has more than 1,000  expert critic reviews and insider tips for the best restaurants. EazyDiner is a platform for restaurants and diners; a one-stop-shop for researching and booking close to 1,000 restaurants instantly. 40 % of the bookings made to date have been made via the EazyDiner iOS & Android apps reflecting the smart phone penetration and usage patterns in India. The EazyDiner iOS and Android apps have been rated as the highest scoring apps as they enable users to book a table in under 20 seconds.

The platform also provides a customized experience to its diners through its expert concierge service, which allows diners to call a trained dining concierge team @ 786 100 4444, who not only provide recommendations but also assist with bookings at even hard-to-get-into restaurants. The EazyDiner platform helps a diner get bookings at their favorite restaurants with great deals and earn EazyRupees with every reservation. Partner restaurants include some of India’s best restaurants and range from award winning stand-alone restaurants to top five star hotels. EazyTrends is a celebration of food and beverage trends and how things are evolving in this dynamic space and fresh content is produced daily.

Sue Reitz, Managing Director of EazyDiner commented, “We are very excited with the growth that we have seen in the last ten months in Delhi NCR & Mumbai. The response to EazyDiner has been phenomenal and we are pleasantly surprised as to how people have embraced a new way to make restaurant reservations. Not only are we bringing in a dining revolution but we are also filling up restaurants like never before as diners continue to save substantial money and time, every time they dine through us.”.

Mr. Deepak Shahdadpuri, Managing Director, DSG Consumer Partners said, more than ever, diners are choosing where to dine and making bookings based on information accessed on their mobile devices. Eazydiner is now bringing their successful product to Bengaluru after testing the market in Delhi since January and launching in Mumbai in July. EazyDiner has significantly enhanced its product and services since its initial launch incorporating the learnings from each market, diners and restaurants. EazyDiner works very hard everyday for its diners and restaurants to make the dining out experience easier and more fun.”

Mr. Ash Lilani, Managing Partner & Co-founder of Saama Capital said, “EazyDiner is perfect for Bengaluru which is a city with a strong culture of food and dining out.  The city has a high concentration of restaurants per capita as well as a strong understanding of leveraging  technology for efficiency. I expect the adoption rate for the app in the city to have a lot of momentum very quickly.”

About EazyDiner:

Founded in late 2014, EazyDiner is India’s first online restaurant reservation platform curated by India’s leading food critic Vir Sanghvi amongst others and passionate hoteliers with more than 80 years of collective experience in the hospitality industry. EazyDiner helps a user read concise reviews and recommendations by top critics, find great restaurants and bars, make online reservations within 30 seconds and every reservation comes with a deal which enhances the dining experience, whether it is a substantial discount or a glass of wine for every diner.  Diners also have access to an experienced food concierge for personalized recommendations. EazyDiner is committed to leading the Indian dining revolution with advanced database management of active diners and recommendations by top food critics. EazyDiner will launch in Chennai later this year followed by Pune.

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