Dailies 2013, Issue 8
Indian Institute Of Journalism and New Media, Bangalore
March 20, 2013
Karnataka Assembly polls announced for May 5th
More on PAGE 2
“We will do something to curb the poverty in Karnataka.”
He will “visit every taluk” as part of his election campaign.
“We have to deal with issues like irrigation and poverty.”
Jagdish Shettar
B.S.Yeddyurappa
H.D.Kumaraswamy
Dead from minor illness
Minor ailments lead to the deaths of many inmates in Bangalore Central Jail, a Right to Information (RTI) query reveals.
DEATHS
18 DISEASED DUNGEONS
LEADING CAUSES OF DEATH
Heart Disease
Udita Chaturvedi
EIGHTEEN inmates at Bangalore central jailhave died from minor, preventable ailments and the prison’s own doctor has admitted they are at breaking point. While major diseases like HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis are claiming lives, minor ailments are also being recorded for dead prisoners in Bangalore. In the last three years in Bangalore Central Jail, HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis have been listed as one of the reasons of death for 18 and 16 patients respectively. Curable ailments like hypertension, diabetes, gastroenteritis and anaemia are among some of the diseases listed for another 18 prisoners’ deaths. Psychological disorders, minor and major, cancer and heart mal-
HIV/AIDS
functioning too are listed next to the names of 15 prisoners, as diseases they suffered from at the time of their deaths. The prison hospital is equipped with a lab where the patients’ blood sugar levels can be tested and diabetics are even often referred to the Karnataka Institute of Diabetes, yet six patients have lost their lives to diabetes in the last three years, a disease which is not fatal and a person can live with. A Right To Information response in December last year stated only 79 of the 4126 prisoners were suffering from Diabetes. However, the prison doctor, in an honest and frank interview with the Daily Observer, admitted this was incorrect and has blamed overcrowding and lack of funding for the mess the jail is in. Dr. Kumar K, Medi-
PRISON CAPACITY
CURRENT CAPACITY
2100
4126
cal Officer, Bangalore Central Jail, said: “There are about 400 diabetic patients in the prison. They are either on prescribed drugs or insulin. Even a report by NIMHANS says that eight percent of a community suffers from diabetes.” Another miscalculation by the prison medical staff in reply to the RTI was the number of patients suffering from HIV/AIDS. Dr Kumar said at least 30 prisoners are on anti-retroviral therapy (ART) at the moment while 40-50 are HIV positive. However, the RTI reply stated only 17 were suffering from HIV/AIDS. Among various health issues, the doctor is also concerned about the issue of overcrowding in the prison. He said: “BCJ has a capacity of only 2100 but it is almost 100 per-
cent overloaded. Two years ago, there were almost 5000 prisoners. “There is hardly any space between two prisoners and this leads to a lot of diseases to occur and spread in the prison. Scabies, a skin infection, is very common in the prison.” With this large number of prisoners there isn’t enough medical staff to supervise their health. “The prison has a total strength of 4126 prisoners with 3978 male prisoners and 148 female prisoners. For this large strength there are only two male medical officers out of the four sanctioned by the government, and one female nurse, out of another four sanctioned. “Until two years ago, there were two lady doctors in the hospital but not anymore,” said the doctor. Continued on PAGE 3
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The Daily Observer| March 20, 2013
BSY set to contest Protest overAir India flying KINGMAKER B.S. Yedyurappa is expected to announce his intention to contest the upcoming state assembly elections, tomorrow. The Election Commission has announced May 5 as the big day for Karnataka State elections. Every political party has planned their strategies for the upcoming election, which will be counted on May 8. A spokesperson for KJP said Yedyurappa will hold a press conference to announce he will “visit every taluk” as a part of his election campaign. Manjunatha, BJP Assistant Media Conveyor, said: “ We have planned district level meetings where all MLA’s will be present and also new MLA’s will be there who are contesting for the first time.” He added: “We have planned the huge Rath Yatra all over Karnataka from April 23 and we will cover each and every district of this state till April 4. “Our declared chief minister is Jagadish Shettar, what-
ever congress will say”. Shreekant Murthy, assistant spokesperson, Congress, said: “We have been planning for this election for the last six months and we are not taking out any Rath Yatra rather will do something to curb the poverty In Karnataka.” Y.S.V Datta , Janata Dal (Secular),said: “Our party is related with rural economy and we have to deal with the issues like irrigation and poverty so we have not released any manifesto for this recent election”. When The Observer contacted Nanditha Haldipur a High Court lawyer, on the transparency of Electronic Voting Machines, she said, “In urban areas it is transparent enough but in rural areas, if they train them how to use it, then it will be effective. ”The controversy over the machines was fueled further when Hari Prasad, a technocrat, was arrested in connection with the theft of an EVM in 2010 but charges were later dropped. The transparency in the EVS is still a doubt.
animals to their deaths
By Hansa V
MEMBERS of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA) today urged Air India not to ship animals to laboratories. In a unique form of protest, three members of PeTA dressed in prisoner suits and animal masks, knelt inside steel cages holding signs that read “Air India flies animals to labs - Jet Airways doesn’t.” Dr.Chaitanya Koduri, Science Policy Advisor for PeTA, said: “The protest is to reverse Air India’s decision to transport animals to laboratories not only within India but abroad as well, where the animals are caged, experimented upon and then killed.” He said that they had tried to talk to the chairman of Air India for over six months but received no response. Koduri further said: “They keep assuring us that they will not transport animals but they still do. We have evidence from the Secretary of Civil Aviation, K.N.Srivastava, who confirmed that Air India still flies animals to labs.”
While a manager of Air India refused to comment on this, an employee Chandra (name changed on request), said: “This is an unnecessary
In response to this, Dr.Koduri told that PeTA have its freedom of expression. He said that animals ranging from rats to horses are still
Credits:Hansa V
By Reshma Tarwani
Air India yet again in the news for illegally flying animals
protest. They have taken money from Jet Airways to promote their airlines and to demote Air India, as Jet Airways is one of its competitors. They are not presenting any solid evidence to us and neither are they showing the so-called written statement by the Jet Airways management that says they do not transport animals.”
being transported and are ultimately killed. He added: “We are happy to promote Jet Airways if it’s for the cause of animals. We will support the organization that is “not cruel” to animals, and if people think that this is promoting Jet Airways, then so be it. We will continue protesting all over India peacefully until Air India reverses this terrible decision.”
By Priyanka Roy UP to 80 per cent of land in Bangalore designated for residential use has been given to commercial premises, according to campaigners. One residents’ group in JP Nagar has aklready gone to court to seek redress and residents say many areas of the city are affected. They say the BBMP is breaching the Karnataka Town & Country Planning Act, 1961, which clearly states that the limit on commercial businesses within residential areas is 20 per cent. It also states that consent from those living in the area should be obtained before any construction takes place. Residents of several city duburbs say this has not happened. Residents in J.P. Nagar
filed a lawsuit two months The head of the NGO, ago against companies Coalition Against Corrupand retail chains like Adiga, tion (CAC), Mr. RN Guru, Woodland and Mayura for said: “Commercial buildconstructing their outlets in ings are mushrooming their area.. The case went up all across the city ento the High Court and is croaching land and leading still pending. People living in Gayathrinagar suffered the same problem. The residents were agitated after a power loom factory was opened near to their homes. The Factory Act, 1948 says power loom factories are not allowed to build within residential area but it was violated in this case. Following this incident one resident from Gayathrinagar filed a case in the High Court against the power loom Mr. RN Guru, CAC NGO head factory but no action has to the scarcity of land for been taken against it. parking spaces, footpaths,
Credits: Priyamka Roy
Residents go to court over land row roads and other vital purposes.” He added: “Though there is lot of hue and cry all over the city for scarcity of land nobody cares to protest against these problems. “Beside,a large number of commercial establishments don’t own trade licenses. In the month of December, the commissioner of BBMP, Mr.Siddaiah, agreed at a press conference that out of five lakh commercial establishments, only 10% had trade licenses. To fix such a massive breach the commissioner promised to tighten up the process of obtaining licenses. A new project was proposed by the BDA named Comprehensive Development Plan (CDP)
2015 and it was decided that they will include commercial as well as residential areas for town planning projects. This project was approved by government in 2006. But last year, 17 petitioners including the Citizen Action Forum, Sadashivanagar Resident’s Welfare Association and other private individuals condemned the plan as illegal and challenged it in court. Mr.Guru said that there is an appellate court for citizens to file lawsuit against such civil bodies, but hardly anyone comes forth and takes any initiative to act, as they know it’s going to be a lengthy process to fight in court. He claimed citizen apathy was as much to blame as big business and the BBMP.
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March 20, 2013| The Daily Observer
Families left to rot By Sneha Banerjee
Credit: Sneha Banerjee
FAMILIES in Okalipuram face an anxious wait to discover if they will be rehoused after city government workers demolished their homes. Three houses collapsed on Monday morning and other homes adjoining the Vrishabhavathi drain developed severe cracks during on-going construction work on the drain by the BBMP. After the incident the BBMP claimed that the houses were illegal encroachments with weak foundations and residents say officials BBMP started clearing construction debris this morning failed to address concerns that the Bruhat Bangalore have been using make shift for two days. Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) toilets and cooked our meals Many of these residents declared that the three de- in the open air in the past two say they were relocated by molished homes were illegal days.” BBMP from Swatantrapa- encroachments. Workers started clearing lya in 1973 to accommodate A portion of Nataraj’s the construction debris to rethe building of a public toilet house has been demolished. construct the wall this mornthere. Mr. Nataraj told the Observer ing. They also have Aadhar that they had moved their Meanwhile, Swami Kancards and other supporting children to the neighboring nan, driver, hasn’t gone to documents tied to their ad- houses so that they could work in the last two days. dresses. prepare for the ongoing ex- Along with the help of the loMr.A.Nataraj received his ams. cal residents, Aadhar card six months back Mr.Selvaraj has a daughMr.Kannan has successafter completing all the nec- ter studying at the Gandhi fully stopped the drainage essary formalities. Accord- Vidyashala and she has been water from seeping into the ing to the Aadhar card he is using the footpath to prepare houses. The Chief Engineer a resident of Okalipuram. It for her board exams. of BBMP, Mr.Ananth Swamy, was only yesterday (Tuesday) Mr.Selvaraj said: “We and the Public Relations Offi-
cer, Mr.S.S.Khandre, refused to comment on this issue. The Gandhinagar MLA Dinesh Gundu Rao had earlier visited the affected families and told them that the once the BBMP Commissioner accepted the hakku patras (title deeds) conditions would stabilize. Today the Janata Dal President, Mr.M.Anandan visited Okalipuram. Residents spoke about their woes to him. Mr.Anandan said: “The entire incident is very unfortunate and these people need to be compensated for the damage.” Though the residents of Okalipuram have tax receipts, endorsement letters, voter identification cards and Aadhar cards entitled to them on these addresses they did not have any substantial proof of ownership on this address. Advocate Amitesh Bhattacharya said that the available documents with the residents are merely supporting documents and it wasn’t sufficient to show entitlement to the property. Recent property tax slips and land ownership certificates are more substantial proof of entitlement.
Brazen sale of fake certificates By Kakoli Mukherjee
FAKE certificate makers in the city brazenly advertise online, but authorities sit totally unaware of the situation. Websites such as: www. Quickr.com and www.adoos. in give instruction how to procure fake diploma, experience and other kinds of certificates in Bangalore. Dr. BA Mahesh, Superintendent of Police, and Cyber Crime Branch, said: “This is unlawful and we are totally unaware of this trend. We can take action only if someone lodges a complaint.” When asked if there are any cyber laws in India
that address such issues, he said: “There are many sections of the Indian Penal Code that deals with such fake advertisements.” Even officials of the Central Crime Branch (CCB) of Bangalore Police, who have busted many fake certificates rackets in the city, were not aware of this new channel of selling fake certificates. Ashokan, Assistant Commissioner of Police, CCB, said: “These ads are illegal. I am surprised to see that so many ads selling fake certificates float online.” Sites like www.gimpsy. com give the addresses of many websites includ-
ing www.diplomasandtranscripts.com and www. idealstudios.com that offer fake diplomas, transcripts and birth certificates for “novelty” purposes only. Anyone looking for fake certificates can get them shipped to their homes. When asked if these websites can sell fake certificates by saying that they are not responsible if the users use those certificates for wrong purposes, Ashokan said: “The word ‘novelty’ is meaningless. They are just trying to escape the law by saying such things. This is definitely punishable by law. The problem is that courts do not deal with the
Spanshot of Quickr.com with the fake ads
Section 420 of the Indian Penal Code, which covers offences related to cheating and dishonesty, seriously.” Customer care of Quickr said: “We do not endorse such ads. We check their ads before putting them up. This one has escaped from our notice.”
Death and disease... Contd from Page 1>>> The lack of any female doctors, even if a female inmate is uncomfortable referring to a male doctor, they don’t have a choice. The available doctors are in the hospital between 9:30am until 5:30pm while the nurse lives in staff quarters within the campus after hospital hours. He said the sanctioned posts include one post for a psychiatrist and three for medical officers. Interestingly, the basement of the prison hospital is home to about 50 psychiatric patients. These patients are kept isolated and on medication yet there is no specialised doctor to attend to them. He said: “The government is not bothered about prisoners' health. I have myself made a lot of complaints and suggestions directly to members of the government but nothing is ever done. I am not saying give us the best but at least a good quality of food, accommodation and health is the responsibility of the government.” There is no provision of general medical checkup of patients in the prison. Even though the jail manual states that doctors must check all patients once every 15 days, "it's not possible," says the doctor. “We're not asking the government for the most excellent facilities or CT scan machines which cost crores, but at least the basic facilities should improve like lab, doctors' strength, paramedical staff and access to medicines. “Five cases of TB were reported in January alone last year. Sometime later in the year, the situation was so bad that there were 10 TB patients admitted in the hospital at the same time. “In the last five years, about 350 prisoners have been diagnosed with HIV/ AIDS,” said Dr. Kumar.
The Daily Observer| March 20, 2013
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T
RANSPORT Credits:Krishnaprasad
Expensive buses, expensive travel
Compared to other major cities in India, Bangalore has the most expensive public transport system. By Sneha Banerjee
DEVARAJAN is a tailor who works at a small shop on Brigade Road. He gets paid on daily basis and is paid Rs.200 per month. He lives in Hosur Road and travels to Brigade Road everyday for work and spends between Rs35-40 on a daily basis. There are no direct buses to his place. Hence he needs to switch between buses every day. This clearly shows that Devranjan spends at least 17 percent of his monthly income on commuting to and fro from his workplace. Devranjan is one amongst the many who face the wrath of expensive public transport in Bangalore. Connectivity between buses and cost of bus passes have always hurt the lower income group in their
pockets. Shanti Mary, who works as a cleaner on a contract basis on Brigade Road has been recently appointed to work in this locality. She earns Rs.6000 a month and lives in Kalasipalliya. Unfortunately, she feels that she works close to a metro station, she cannot afford it. “Metro is for the rich, I will continue to switch two buses and travel to work.” Similarly Lakshmi works for a house in Malleswaram and leaves home as early as 6am to make it to work by 9pm. Lakshmi lives in Peenya. Citizens of Bangalore spend endless hours in commuting to work. The cost of commuting has always hit the lower middle class who depend on buses for their work. The Controller of Western Division of Bangalore
Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Mr.S.R. Kalyankumar agreed that the cost of commuting is definitely a worrisome issue in Bangalore. He said: “The cost of operation is very high in Bangalore. We are the bulk intenders of petrol and hence we have to pay high taxes for maintaining petrol bunks.” Mr. Kalyankumar also claimed that Bangalore was one of the very few metros that were running a profitable transport institution. Bangalore also had the tradition of disposing buses as scrap every four years. All this has accounted for the expensive transportation costs in the city.
cle as their mode of communication to work. This had two incentives; it improved health and controlled the pollution levels in the city. Murali told the Observer that he saw a lot of hope in the lower income groups of the city but failed to see an equal amount of response from the corporate crowd. Murali believes that his endeavors would reap the necessary results. On the contrary, Kalyankumar felt that the Bangalore road infrastructure of Bangalore doesn’t promote the movement of cyclists. He feels that travelling my cycle is too early to be a vision.
Is there an escape? H. Murali heads the Namma Cycle plan in Bangalore. Murali and his team encouraged cyclists to use the cy-
Is there a solution? Dr. M.A. Saleem, additional commissioner of police (traffic) felt that the new daily pass schemes from the
metro rail and greater connectivity to Majestic and other important points in the city could help the citizens manage the cost of commuting. Mr. Kalyankumar wasn’t able to give any specific solution. He felt that people should reside closer to their workplaces. The lower income groups should enroll for bus passes. People should be more aware of the topography of the city and learn to use the bus system more efficiently. There are buses available to the main points of the city for the benefit of the citizens. As a result of this, one wonders if the gentleman who makes a living out of selling maps on Brigade Road and lives in Lingarajapuram should start looking out for an accommodation near his work place.
The Daily Observer| March 20, 2013
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“Volvo buses are only meant for the elites and not us” By Nikita Malusare
“The air-conditioned Volvo buses are only meant for the elites and not us,” says Shankar Rajaram. The 40-year-old commutes daily by bus from Kumbalgudu to K.R.Market. He is a helper in the grocery shop at the city market. However he believes that the Volvo buses are meant for the rich upper classes. A performance report released by the road transport and highways awarded Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation as the second best service which provides transport facilities in India after Chennai. Bangalore’s 4.8 million people depend almost solely on buses as Bangalore has no other effective public transport which is economical and connected to every corner of the city. But the frequency
good buses. Not frequently will you get an opportunity to ride in a Volvobus.” “There are only 800 Volvo buses out of 6443 buses in the city,” said t h e Te c h nical Eng i neer o f
Bidai and Nelamangala. The Managing Director, Anjuman Parwez told in an interview to citizen matters
tings of the old buses add up to the passengers’ headache. As compared to the previous years the break downs
have reduced comparatively. In the year of BMTC buses to remote BMTC, Nagaraja . Most of these Volvo placeslike Bidadi and Nelabuses are demangala is ployed in the appreciable IT corridor as but the qual“the people is ity of buses is those areas doubtful. demand it and Most of are willing to the buses travel, but in that travel on places like “I haven’t got chance roads from Bidadi and K.R.Market to drive Volvo buses. Nelamangala, or Majestic Hopefully if they inpeople would or Kengeri crease the volvo fleet, always prefer are ordinary I may get to drive it”. ordinary busbuses and es over Volonly two out Parshuram, BMTC vos,” added of ten buses Nagaraja. bus driver. are Volvo. Ordinary Shanta, 48, a buses are can professor at a PUC college, who often accommodate more people commutes from Majestic to than Volvos. Therefore ordiRajarajeshwari said, “You nary buses are more viable need to be lucky to get those option for distant places like
that almost 600 buses in the city are old and are due to be scrapped by the end of this July. These old buses are difficult to maintain and go through several breakdowns.The technical director of the BMTC, Baburao, blamed the traffic in the city for often breakdowns in the city, “Bangalore has very bad traffic and also roads. After every second the drivers have to use clutch and break because of which the transmission fails and the bus goes through break downs.” The shattering noise of the windows against the metal body of the bus and the loose fit-
2008, the breakdowns were as high as 2813 but last year the breakdown fell as low as 1535. From April 2012 till this month, there have been 1,849 break downs registered in the city. Parshuram, says he has been working as a driver in BMTC for 10 years now, wiping the sweat off his brow with a handkerchief after his first round from Shantinagar. “Volvo buses are driver f r i e n d l y. The clutch and gear are very smooth unlike those in the ordinary buses.” “But the maintenance cost of Volvo buses is very high. If a glass of the ordinary bus breaks, it can be fixed within Rs. 500 or 600.
The Daily Observer| March 20, 2013
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LEPROSY cases are rising again in Karnataka – eight years after the government announced India a leprosy free country. According to statistics provided by the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department, 2975 new leprosy cases have been reported between April 2012 and February 2013, a rise of 872 cases on the previous year.
“ I cannot walk down to collect my pension with deformed legs.” -Muniamma, the pension-holder
In urban Bangalore 237 severe leprosy cases were reported in 2012-2013 out of a total of 314 cases. Leprosy attacks nerve endings leaving patients susceptible to infection. That in turn leads to loss of fingers, hands, toes and feet. Countries can state they have eliminated a disease or condition when there’s less than one case for every 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organisation. As a result of this ruling, funding to fight the disease has tailed off and cases are rising once again, campaigners have warned. Muniamma, a resident of Indirapuram leprosy colony, suffering from severe leprosy, has not received her pension for the last three months as she can barely walk down to the nearest post office due to her afflicted feet. Muniamma is one example, but there are thousands of people across Karnataka who could have been helped had they been tested earlier. According to statistics provided by the Government Leprosy Hospital, they receive around 12-13 cases
Credit: Krittika Sengupta
By Krittka Sengupta
Leprosy on the rise again
Hira Pawar, a leprosy sufferer
every month. Dr. B.C. Vennu said: “It’s a neglected disease nowadays, people including the health workers are ignoring the fact that the cases might have come down but the disease has not been completely wiped out from the country. “The health officers should be more committed towards eradicating the disease, maintaining regular record of medicine stocks, spreading awareness, conducting follow-ups and keeping a continuous track of the patients,
but they often fail to do so.” The Medical Surveillance Officer Dr. Shivram admitted that since 2002 there are no health workers working exclusively for leprosy. As soon as symptoms of deformation start appearing on their body, social ostracization is the only way for leprosy patients. The only solution left for them is to be absorbed in metropolitan cities and to beg to earn their livelihoods. Father George, the director of Sumanahalli Re-
Credit: Krishnaprasad S
Six arrested over murder
The six accused of murder at the Police station By Krishnaprasad & Hansa they conducted a “planned
SIX men were arrested in the city yesterday for the alleged murder of a man earlier this month. Bangalore City Police say
operation” to net their targets in the Kalasipalya Police Station area. The operation was supervised by Joint Commissioner
of Police Pranav Mohanty and Assistant Police Commissioner D C Rajappa. Kumar,30, a construction supervisor, was brutally murdered on March 9 at Fireworks Colony, Vinobhanagar, near Kalasipalya. Investigations revealed that enmity between Kumar and the six arrested was the reason for murder. The six arrested are Ravi, 20, Madan Kumar, 20, Vetrivelu, 23, Kupparaju, 22, Raja, 22 and 24-year-old Ashok. All of them are from Vinobhanagar, according to police. The murder stemmed from a gang rivalry between two groups, police claim. Rowdies had attacked a man called Sundar of Vinobhanagar and also attempted
to murder him with lethal weapons on March 8, police say. On March 9 the dead man Kumar had approached the rowdies to tell them he knew they were behind the earlier attack on Sundar. Later that day Kumar was attacked by Ravi and his associates and in a heated exchange of words between Kumar and Ravi’s associates, Kumar was brutally murdered, according to charges laid by police. The arrested were produced before the magistrate and taken into custody for further interrogation. The police claim they also recovered the murder weapon from the arrested and the case has been registered at Kalasipalya Police Station.
habilitation Centre, working for leprosy affected patients, said: “In 2005 the central government declared leprosy has been eradicated from India and health surveys, which were a primary way of detecting leprosy at an initial stage, came to a halt.” At the rehabillitation centre, he added: “With no more surveys, people failed to identify leprosy at an initial stage, which is gradually leading to such a large number of severe cases of leprosy in this state.”
ObserverTeam An IIJNM Publicaton
Editor Nikita M
Sub-editor Rohan Premkumar Page Editors Shreya Mukherjee Urmi Sengupta Priyanka Roy Deepu Aby Varghese Special Correspondant Krishnaprasad S Hansa V Proof Reader Sneha Bannerjee Aheli Raychaudrari Kakoli Mukherjee Satyajith G D E-mail editor@iijnm.org