The former Mysuru Zilla Panchayat president was also previously the General Secretary of State Women Congress Committee.

Dr Pushpa Amarnath, the former general secretary of the Karnataka State Women’s Congress Committee, was appointed as president of the Karnataka Mahila Congress, replacing Dr Lakshmi Hebbalkar, the All India Congress Committee announced on Friday.

“Hon’ble Congress President Shri Rahul Gandhi has approved the name of Dr. B. Pushpa Amarnath as President of Karnataka Mahila Congress,” stated the press release issued by the AICC.

Pushpa Amarnath is known for being outspoken against the GST levied on sanitary napkins and had started an online campaign to revoke the GST charges placed on the same in 2017. Her petition also called for the provision of free sanitary pads and tampons to women and girls living in families below the poverty line. The petition garnered more than 2,000 signatures.

She hails from Mysuru and was the former president of the Mysuru Zilla Panchayat. She is a relative of Hunsur MLA HP Manjunath. Other members of the AICC from the same region include former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Minister of Public Works Department Dr HC Mahadevappa, and MP R. Dhruvanarayan.

Former president Lakshmi Hebbalkar told media, “When I became the MLA for Belagavi Rural, I wrote to the party’s national president asking him to relieve me of my duties as the president of the Congress Mahila Morcha. I had served as its president for a total of three years and nine months, and wanted to concentrate on carrying out works in my constituency. The high command had asked me to submit suggestions for my successor and I had compiled a list of 15 names. Out of the 15, five names had been shortlisted a while back and the final decision was announced today.”

It was reported that Dakshina Kannada (DK) District Women’s Congress President Shalet Pinto, Pushpa Amarnath, and dentist Dr Nagalakshmi were the top contenders for the position, with Pushpa finally being named the president of the Karnataka Mahila Congress.

TNM

Former Union Minister P. Chidambaram on Saturday said the Raghuram Rajan story is being repeated as Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to remove RBI Governor Urjit Patel from his post because the Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM) wants Patel to exit from the office.

“Swadeshi Jagran Manch wants Urjit Patel out. That means the Modi government wants him to go. It is a repeat of the Raghuram Rajan story,” Chidambaram tweeted.

In another tweet, he quoted US Federal Reserve former Chairman Janet Yellen as saying: “Whittling away the legitimacy and stature of institutions the public has traditionally some confidence in, ultimately undermines social and economic stability,” adding, “How true of India!”

SJM reportedly insisted that Reserve Bank of India (RBI) officials should exercise the discipline of restraint or resign.

IANS

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday exhorted people from all streams of the society to ensure their participation and contribution to education.

Speaking at an event at the Patanjali University after inaugurating the two-day ‘Gyan Kumbh’ here, the President urged the participants to find solutions to the challenges to quality education.

Lauding the efforts of Patanajali for organising the event in which higher education ministers of 18 states, higher education secretaries and vice-chancellors of 131 universities are taking part, Kovind said coming together of such a wide galaxy of people involved in education augured well for the education sector.

He said it is the responsibility of all to ensure that every child is educated and that the teachers inculcate in students not only the basics of education but also our rich heritage and culture.

He also remembered Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar, former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, and educationist and politician Madan Mohan Malaviya for their contribution to education.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat stressed on the need for more research and rued that only 39 per cent of the 903 varsities conducted research. He said of the 39,000 degree colleges, only 40 per cent had higher education facilities.

Yoga guru Baba Ramdev said through education India has to be transformed into a ‘Vishwa Guru’ (world leader).

IANS

 Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s brother-in-law Sanjay Singh Masani on Saturday joined the Congress ahead of the Assembly elections in the central state.

Brother of Chouhan’s wife Sadhana, Masani, was formally inducted into the party in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Kamal Nath here.

Masani, was said to be peeved at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) for denying him a ticket for the Assembly polls. Reportedly, he wanted to contest from Waraseoni in Balaghat district from where the BJP has fielded sitting MLA Yogendra Nirmal.

“BJP is now all about dynasty and nepotism. Most of the candidates fielded by BJP are sons and daughters of MLAs or MPs. Those who work for the party are being neglected for the sake of dynasty politics,” he said.

Masani, flayed the Chouhan-led BJP government in the state and said it was time for the Congress to come to power in Madhya Pradesh.

“Rising unemployment and lack of industry are two major problems in the state and the Chouhan government has done nothing all these years,” he added.

The 230-member Madhya Pradesh Assembly will have a single phase polling on November 28.

IANS

“Is that bird dropping?”, read the tweet from the chief of Congress’ social media and digital communications, Divya Spandana. The question was accompanied by a photograph of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wearing a white kurta, at the foot of the newly inaugurated statue of Sardar Patel.

This is not the first time that one of Divya’s tweets has become a controversy. In September, she was booked for sedition by Lucknow Police for referring to PM Modi as ‘a thief’ in a tweet.

She had tweeted a photoshopped photograph of PM Modi painting the word ‘chor’ on his wax statue with the hashtag “Chor PM Chup Hai”.

Multiple parts of Bengaluru will face a power cut for several hours on Saturday, the Bangalore Electricity Supply Company Limited (Bescom) announced on Thursday. Bescom said that there will be a complete shutdown of power supply in parts of east Bengaluru for seven hours on November 3 due to maintenance work. In a press statement, Bescom said, “There will be no power supply in the following areas on 3.11.2018 between 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM to carry out maintenance work of all equipments at 66/11KV K&C Valley Sub-Station.”

The affected areas include Challaghatta, B Nagasandra, NAL Road, SR Layout, NR Layout, PR Layout, Rustum bagh, Koramangala and Challaghatta Valley, Yemalur Logica, Epsilon Layout, Kempapura, Kempapura A K colony, Wind Tunnel road, Vinayaka Nagar, Pearl Paradise Layout, Intel, Mahesh Kethan, Rohan Jharoka, LG Software, Salarpuria Sattva, Konena Agrahara and NAL installation, and surroundings areas.

The seven-hour outage comes after regularly power cuts for 1-2 hours across the city for small-scale maintenance work or fixing faults, as announced by Bescom through its social media channels.

BESCOM said that out of 9,207 complaints registered on Wednesday, 8,957 complaints were resolved.

Other than 1912 helpline, customers can call these helpline numbers based on their zones.

East – 9480816108, 9480816109, 9480816110

West- 9480816111, 9480816112, 9480816113

North-9480816114, 9480816115, 9480816116

South-9480816117, 9480816118, 9480816119

Despite, a paucity of coal supply from Centre, both BESCOM and the state government have claimed that there is no need for loadshedding in Bengaluru city or elsewhere in surrounding areas. In a press conference on October 25, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy said the demand-supply gap in the state was between 200 MW and 400 MW from 5 pm to 10 pm every day, and reiterated that the government will avoid load shedding and look for increasing power generation through hydroelectric power plants.

TNM

Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Friday failed to appear before the one-man commission conducting an inquiry into the Amritsar train tragedy in which 60 people were killed on October 19.

Sidhu’s wife, Navjot Kaur, who was also summoned by the commission, however, appeared on Friday and gave her statement.

Sidhu, who was present in Amritsar on Friday, later held a press conference and justified his absence.

“I wrote to him (probe commissioner) that I was not in Punjab from October 16-20. So there are no inputs that can actually add to your proceedings,” Sidhu told the media.

Senior IAS officer B. Purushartha, who is conducting the magisterial inquiry in Amritsar, had asked the Sidhu couple to appear before the commission on November 2.

Regarding Sidhu not appearing before the inquiry commission, Navjot Kaur told the media after appearing before the commission at the Improvement Trust building that “He is at home only. He had a programme to distribute cheques (to families of victims of the train tragedy). He has sent whatever statement he wanted to make (to the commission).”

Navjot Kaur, a former legislator and ex chief parliamentary secretary, was the chief guest at the Dussehra festival near Joda Phatak when the DMU (diesel multiple unit) train crushed those standing on the railway tracks.

Sixty people lost their lives and an equal number were injured in the train tragedy.

Opposition leaders and locals alleged that Navjot Kaur fled the scene after the train mowed down the people.

There are allegations that the event was organised without mandatory permissions, which had to be given by the municipal corporation which falls under the local government department headed by Sidhu.

The main organiser of the event, Saurabh Madan Mithoo, is a close political aide of the Sidhu couple.

Mithoo, his family members and other organisers were questioned by the inquiry commission in Amritsar, over 250 km from here, on Tuesday for over four hours.

The commission has been asked to submit its report within four weeks.