The Observer - Issue 12

Volume 15 | Issue 12

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

BBMP officials push for a beef ban Parvathi Benu The BBMP Animal Husbandry Department wants a complete beef ban, but the state government is opposing it, claimed a top official.

“People are basically against the slaughter of animals and we are trying to bring a complete beef ban, but it has not been accepted by the state,” said Dr. Kanthraj, Assistant Director, BBMP Animal Husbandry Department.

Also, the president of the Beef Merchants Association, Karnataka has said that cases of cattle livestock taken away by the goons of Hindutva groups have gone up, since the BJP has come to power in the centre.

The Hindutva groups attack drivers and suppliers and “rescue” the cows, which they consider a sacred animal, before taking them to local ashrams.

Merchants in one beef market in Bangalore claim they lost

Dr. Kanthraj Rs20 lakh during Eid because of the Hindutva stop and search gang, and that sourcing good suppliers is becoming more difficult.

BRIEFS Auto driver challenges cops in court for charging fines Just one auto driver of the 3,000 booked last week for flouting traffic police rules is taking his case to court.

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Photo courtesy: Animals' Angels “Beef for sale comes mainly from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Northern Karnataka.

We pay for these in advance.

But in the border area, the Hindutva group members and the goons they hire, block the vehicle, beat up the driver and cleaner and send the cattle to Ashrams nearby,” said Asim Rehman, President, Jamiat ul Quraish Beef Merchants Association, Karnataka.

“This is happening for the past eight years, but it accelerated after the BJP government came in power in the centre,” he added.

He also accused RSS workers of taking cattle away and selling the meat at a higher price. He said that the latest incident was on the 6th October, near Gulburga, where the driver and cleaner were beaten up and their cargo of livestock was taken.

He added that the merchants in the Shivaji Nagar Beef Market had lost around 15-20 Lakhs of rupees during the Bakr-Eid, which was on 25th September, owing to this problem. However, he was unable

to provide data on how many attacks occurred in the past year.

“The members of Hindutva parties are constantly threatening us. There isn’t much problem in the market, but we face much trouble while transporting and slaughtering,” said Zabiduna, a beef seller for the past 10 years in the Shivaji Nagar Beef Market.

Another beef merchant, F. Babu, said that the association has approached every possible legal body regarding this problem, but nobody listens to them.

This issue is affecting the retailers in the city too. “We are unable to get the required amount of stock, because of these problems faced by the wholesalers,” said C. Raju, a beef retailer in the city.

According to the Karnataka Prevention of Cow Slaughter and Cattle Preservation Act, 1964, only bulls, bullocks and adult buffaloes above 12 years of age or incapable of breeding can be slaughtered for meat.

The spokesperson for the Shivaji Nagar BBMP councillor

said that he is aware of the problem but is afraid that any action would harm the communal harmony in the area.

“The slaughtering happens illegally. Also, they are being transported in a very inhumane condition. This is the reason why we rescue these cattle,” said Vadiraj, Media Coordinator, RSS Bangalore. “Also, cow is synonymous to mother by most Indians. This sentiment has to be respected,” he added.

When asked if they have the right to do these things, he changed his statement. “I’m not aware if any RSS workers are indulged in these activities,” he added.

“The beef merchants are always accusing BJP and RSS. Animal lovers rescue these cattle only on seeing the inhumane conditions in which they are being transported. BJP members are not involved in this,” said Prahlad Joshi MP, President, BJP, Karnataka State Unit.

Roshan Baig, Shivaji Nagar MLA said that he was too busy to comment on the issue.

Baby dies after hospitals refuse treatment due to no ventilators In another case of lack of medical equipment causing death in government hospitals, a 19-month-old baby girl died on Monday after three hospitals refused treatment. NIMHANS, one of them, sent the parents away stating they had no ventilators available. The Observer in its August 27 edition had reported the lack of working ventilators in government hospitals.

More on Page 3...

Bribes to teach English medium, alleges schools’ union Several low-income private schools in Karnataka have been paying bribes to babus to be able to teach primary classes in English medium, a schools’ association has alleged.

Page 3

Scarcity of cadavers in Medical Institutions in the city Medical colleges in Bangalore running short of cadavers for academic purposes. There is a shortage in the number of cadavers used for dissection in the private medical colleges in the city.

Page 4

Online sales a bitter pill for chemists Chemists and pharmacy owners across India have called for a nationwide strike to protest government plans to allow online sales of medicines.

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2 THE OBSERVER

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Auto driver challenges cops in court for charging fines Sana Husain Just one auto driver of the 3,000 booked last week for flouting traffic police rules is taking his case to court.

Auto drivers took to the streets on October 8 to protest against Bangalore Traffic Police charging Rs.2000 fines and seizing 3,000 autos across the city.

The drivers travelled to all parts of the city, claiming cops were charging too much in fines.

Jairam, the auto driver who has decided to challenge the cops in court, said, “I have display card, but my vehicle has been seized for the past six

Jairam, auto driver

days. Magistrate has asked to file an application tomorrow morning, for the release of vehicle.” He added that the auto unions in the city don’t know laws, due to which he’s facing difficulties.

Bangalore Police has collected a sum of Rs.2,40,00,000 in fines. “The Karnataka government has no funds and is looting us. Even the President of Adarsha Auto Union wasn’t present when called for,” said Jairam.

Jagadeesh G. A., Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic), West Division, said, “As per the Motor Vehicles Act, the police don’t have the power to collect fines for permit violations except for minor offences like no uniform and phone use while driving.”

Srinivasa, another auto driver at the October 8 protest, said, “I was coming from JP Nagar to pick up my relative from Majestic, when a policeman disguised in civil clothes stopped me and took a seat.

Ultimately, I felt looted, when charged Rs.2000 fine and my auto was confiscated.”

“The Road Transport Com-

Pawnshop closure prompts police probe

missioner sent us these orders for charging fines to auto drivers,” said a spokesman for Bangalore Traffic Police.

He added that the auto drivers misused their display cards and drove around the city, due to which such a step had to be taken.

K. H. A. Gopi, a criminal lawyer, said, “The auto drivers need to be fined every once in a while and shown no mercy.

Instead they should be charged even bigger fines.

Even after penalizing them for their act, they’ll continue with the same.”

Dhruvakumar, a citizen, said, “The drivers never take us customers where we want to go, but where they want. It’s looting the common man and not them by charging exorbitant rates.”

“Even after auto drivers paying regular nominal fine to policemen for the past three years, the Bangalore Traffic Police (BTP) has been harassing them through these raids,” said Rudramurthy, General Secretary of Auto Rickshaw Drivers Union.

Last Thursday, the auto driv-

Payal Gangishetty A pawnbroker allegedly fled with gold jewellery worth two crore rupees.

Ram, 42, from Rajasthan, who owns Ram Dev pawn shop in Ramohalli Nagar of R.R. Layout, reportedly fled with gold which he took as collateral from his customers.

“Several people pledged their gold and silver jewellery with Ram and took loans from him over the last few months.

However, for past one month Ram did not open the shop,” said B. K. Patil, sub-inspector in Kumbalgudu police station.

Last week, a private employee, Venugopal, lodged a complaint with the police stating that he had pledged two kilograms of gold and took a loan of Rs.2.5 lakh, but when he came to collect it, he found the shop closed.

Based on his complaints the police registered a case and are making an effort to trace him as he is absconding for the last one month.

“As I had some financial problems, I mortgaged my six bangles and ear-rings, but today I lost everything.” said, Rupa, another victim. She added, “He used to rarely issue the receipt for the transactions.”

A total of eight people approached the police claiming that they had also pledged gold with Ram. “To meet the expenses of the college fee of my son we mortgaged our gold jewellery including the mangalsutra of my wife and two gold rings of mine, but we are in a great loss today as we are left with nothing,” said Venugopal, one of the residents of Ramohalli Nagar.

ers had to wait three to four hours outside the High Court, until fines were paid and vehicles released by the cops.

Jairam’s next court hearing is on November 13. In Bangalore West Division, 172 autos were seized on October 7 and 274 autos on October 8. One auto was seized and fined Rs. 3,100 in South Division.

Nizamuddin, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Traffic), Central Division, said, “The number of cases booked

against autos without display cards from January–September 2015 is 27,650.”

Driver, Mohammad Sardar, 21, said, “I have a license and the necessary documents, but I was still fined by the Bangalore Traffic Police.” He added that vehicles are confiscated if the fine is not paid in two days.

Karan, another driver said, “Police charge us Rs.2000 fine and at court it becomes Rs.4000 or more, depending on the chargesheet.”

City builders protest against govt harassment Rishi Sabharwal

The closed pawnbroker shop that belonged to the accused

An auto driver arrested during police clampdown

A union of real estate developers in the city held protests to demand smooth procedures in getting clearances.

The protests on Tuesday were held at Town Hall by the Confederation of Real Estate Developers’ Association of India (CREDAI) following the suicide of a member in Maharashtra.

Members of CREDAI say that lack of transparency at various government offices is a major setback for real estate business in the city.

The members of the body said they face a number of problems at various govern-

ment offices like Revenue Department, Tax Department, Finance Department, Housing and Urban Department “It takes a lot of time to get clearances from various government departments as a result of which the projects get held up for a long time resulting in increase of its overall cost,” said S. Suresh Hari, Secretary, CREDAI, Bangalore. “Those who follow the rules are the ones who suffer.”

"High-rise buildings, 18 metres high, have a tough time to get a clearance from the airport authorities,” he said. “Also it is very difficult to get a sanction from airport authorities since there are many such authorities like Kempegowda Airport

Protesters at Town Hall

Authority, Military Airport Authority etc. It becomes ambiguous with whom should we apply for clearance. They do not give us permission easily even when all the rules are followed and the project gets hauled up."

He also said that the water board pose a lot of problems for them. "When we get clearance from the board, it is mentioned in it that water will be provided subject to its availability." He said that at least after clearance, this should not be a problem.

Protestors initially wanted to have a silent march from Town Hall to Vikas Soudha in a black attire. However, they were stopped at Corporation Circle by the police. .

After the protest was stopped, Mr. J. C. Sharma, president of CREDAI, said that a smaller group would march to Vikas Soudha to meet Bangalore district in-charge Minister Ramalinga Reddy.

"I have accepted their memorandum. I am going to meet the CM within seven days and convey the message to him,” Ramalinga Reddy.

He also added that he is going to have a meeting with the heads of various departments and talk to them regarding this matter and resolve the matter as soon as possible.

Tuesday, October 15, 2015 3

THE OBSERVER

A day after baby died, locals file FIR against doctor and nurses Regina Gurung An FIR has been filed against a doctor and his team of nurses after the death of a 19month-old baby on Monday.

The case was registered by angry residents of Narayanaswamy Garden, J. C. Road and the members of Mahatma Gandhi Slum Development Association.

The baby girl, Gagana, fell from a second floor balcony after her mother had gone downstairs to fetch water.

“The child’s parents have left for Kolar early this morning along with her dead body,” said R. Mugam, neighbour of Venkatesh and Suma Devi, the parents of the victim. “Today all residents of the area went to

Narayanaswamy Garden, the locality where the family lived

register an FIR at 10am,” he added.

It was yesterday’s course of events and the ultimate death of Gagana that prompted the residents to file an FIR, under section 304 subsection A, under Indian Penal Code, in Siddapur Police Station against the “Duty Doctor and Nurses”. Residents have said that the suspension of the doctor accused is to follow in coming week.

“Venkatesh pleaded with the doctor, touching his feet but the doctor said the hospital has no time to see the child and they are in no compulsion to do so because it does not belong to his father,” said Devika Murthy, Mahila Block President of Jayanagar and immediate neighbour of Gagana.

She added that they were transferred to three hospitals one after another and were made to wait one and a half hours in the ambulance because Indira Gandhi Institute of Child Health and NIMHANS said that ventilators were not available.

It was only when media arrived that doctors came outside to treat Gagana in the ambulance.

It took the hospital 20 minutes to get accommodation for her.

Murthy alleged that the statements given by NIMHANS and

The baby being taken to the hospital IGICH are all “false.”

The incident took place at 10:30am yesterday and she was treated at 2:30pm at NIMHANS. She fell from the second floor of the rented apartment while leaning on the sleeping mat that was hung on the balcony.

“She was just trying to follow her mother who had come down to fetch water,” said Mugam, who saw the child fall on spot.

She was rushed to a nearby Popular Clinic and was directed to go to St. Martha’s Hospital because of head injuries and immense bleeding from ears and nose.

“We did the best we could’ve

done,” said Swati, Public Relation Officer of St. Martha’s.

Gagana was treated there for one hour.

According to the residents, the problem began on reaching IGICH and NIMHANS. The 25 residents helping Gagana and her family returned home at 9pm after accommodating her in NIMHANS at 8:30.

“Half an hour after we arrived I receive the phone call saying Gagana has died,” said Mugam.

Devika has questioned the authorities saying that they would need 50 such deaths for a wake-up call. “I just pray no parents or child go through what they did. Government

servants should know how to treat people who come to them, because they are mostly poor people seeking good available facilities.”

Ventilator facilities cost Rs. 20,000 a night in private hospitals whereas government hospitals charge Rs.1500.

Out of Rs.10,000 that they were supposed to deposit, they deposited only Rs.3000.

The father, speaking by telephone, said the burial of Gagana was held at around 4 pm today in their village, 30 km from Kolar.

Bhawani, a 13-year-old girl and a ground-floor neighbour of Gagana, said she feels empty without her.

Bribes to teach English medium, Tender policy to blame for poor hospital security, says alleges schools’ union Tanay Sukumar Several low-income private schools in Karnataka have been paying bribes to babus to be able to teach primary classes in English medium, a schools’ association has alleged.

“Even though the court gave its final verdict, the government was not ready to allow the change in medium of instruction,” said D. Shashi Kumar, general secretary of Associated Managements of Primary and Secondary Schools in Karnataka. “They are trying to buy time because of their own interests. Earlier they would use the issue of illegal medium of instruction and collect hefty bribes from schools, which will not be possible if they give approval.” When asked for specific examples, he said that it was too common, though schools would deny paying bribes.

Kumar was referring to the May 2014 Supreme Court verdict, which had held that the government “has no power to

compel linguistic minority to impart primary education by compulsorily imposing regional language”. The state’s language policy mandated schools to use Kannada as a medium of instruction for primary classes, before the verdict.

This week, the Department of Public Instruction has started releasing formal circulars to allow interested schools to use English as a medium for classes 1 to 5. However, around 8,000 to 9,000 schools have yet to get the approval.

They had submitted their applications before December 2014.

“Orally, we got the permission, but we have still not got a copy of the order in writing from the Department,” said Anuradha, principal of St. Paul’s English High School, which has applied for conversion of the medium of instruction. Another school, Little Angel’s School in Bangalore Rural, which applied in April 2015, has not yet got a formal approval. “We are still teaching in Kannada medium in classes 1 to 5,” said principal, Anu-

radha K. R. “Why do budget schools have to face hardships? Why do all these things not apply to elite schools that violate so many norms?” said Kumar.

We want the government to understand us, not to harass, he said. Most of the 16,000 schools facing the issue teach in the state board and serve the economically disadvantaged category. They lie in the Rs.5,000–Rs.30,000 bracket in terms of annual expenditure per child. In comparison, “elite” CBSE and ICSE schools spend anywhere over Rs.2 lakh a year per child, said Kumar.

“They started approving the applications after April, and 1,400 applications were processed within a week. But then, the Commissioner changed, and the new Commissioner, K. S. Satyamurthy wanted further legal opinion on the permission.” It was further delayed, though the applications should have been approved by January 2015.

Officers at the Department of Public Instruction were repeatedly unavailable for comment.

top official

Sutanu Guha Government tenders for hospital security guards are putting hospital staff and patients at risk, said a senior official at Bowring Hospital.

“According to the tender policies, the lowest quoted has to be given,” said the official, on the condition of anonymity.

“This results in poor security.

This comes barely ten days after the recent kidnap of a three-day-old baby boy by an unidentified woman from Bowring Hospital. The incident raised questions about safety in government hospitals due to lack of security.

Government hospitals like Bowring and Lady Curzon Hospital give contracts to various agencies through tenders.

Those security companies in turn pay the guards employed at the hospital. Currently there are 72 guards for the hospital, and their salaries are decided according to the Daily Wages Act, Karnataka.

“Security guards in government hospitals are appointed according to the tender policies that are set by the Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute,”said the official.

“Every year the institute calls for tenders for the security agencies to bid. With low quotes, agencies hire guards without any prior training at low salaries guards.”

Akram Pasha, a guard at Bowring Hospital, said, “A year and a half ago, we were paid Rs.8,000 a month under a different agency, now the payment has come down to Rs.5,700.”

“We don’t get any benefit because they keep changing the agency,” he added.

The security guards are currently under Detect Well Security Agency, which provides security for government institutions including Victoria Hospital and Sanjay Gandhi Institute of Trauma and Orthopaedics.

They were not available for comment.

4 THE OBSERVER

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Scarcity of cadavers in B’lore medical colleges Raina Paul Medical colleges in Bangalore are running short of cadavers for academic purposes.

There is a shortage in the number of cadavers (corpses) used for dissection in the private medical colleges in the city.

“The unclaimed bodies go to the government medical colleges and not to the private medical colleges, so we face a shortage in the number of cadavers that we receive,” said Dr. Aswini C. Appaji professor from M. S. Ramaiah Medical college, Bangalore. She added that the same situation prevails in many of the private colleges in the city.

The Karnataka Anatomy Act, 1998 allows the provision of handing over an ‘unclaimed body’ (the body of a person

who dies in a hospital, prison or public place or a place to which the members of public have access and which has not been claimed by any person interested) to the approved institution for the purpose of conducting anatomical examination and dissection or other similar purposes.

“Around 30 of us work on a single cadaver. It is mostly difficult for us to push through each other to see what is being taught,” said Swathy, first year MBBS student from Kempegowda Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS).

“There are 150 of us in a class and at present five cadavers are kept for dissection.

We have to peep over the others to see the cadaver,” said another student from KIMS. According to the Journal of Clinical and Diagnostic Research, 64 per cent of the col-

Tweets of the day The cadaver for dissection kept in the dissection Hall of Bangalore Medical College leges in India do not have enough cadavers to teach anatomy.

This violates the minimum student-cadaver ratio of ten students per cadaver, as prescribed by Medical Council of

India (MCI).

“Private colleges mostly end up receiving cadavers that are donated, and much of it still goes to the government colleges,” said Dr. Jayanthy K., MD, professor from KIMS.

Online sales a bitter pill for chemists Rajarshi Das Chemists and pharmacy owners across India have called for a nationwide strike to protest government plans to allow online sales of medicines.

The chemists claim the practice could harm their businesses and that it is reckless to allow drugs to be purchased over the world wide web.

The All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) has called for the nationwide strike tomorrow (Wednesday) in response to fears that online sites will take over their businesses.

Up to 8,50,000 Indian pharmacies will remain closed as organisers claim they must act to protect their interests and those of the consumers.

Millions of people dependent on over the counter medicine will be affected.

The union is strongly opposed to the government’s move to regularise the sale of medicines through online retailers who sell pharmaceutical products.

AIOCD states that this is illegal under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940.

Expressing solidarity, the Karnataka Organisation of Chemists and Druggists is also joining the protest. The chemists, from different corners of Bangalore, will hold a

protest at Freedom Park on Wednesday at 11am.

Kiran, a medical shop owner in R.R. Nagar, said, “I do not support online retail as far as medicines are concerned.

Most of these websites provide drugs to their customers without prescriptions. This tends to have an adverse effect on patients who take sedatives, in turn affecting their health.”

“My wife is diabetic. She needs constant medical support, for which I need to visit a chemist every alternate day. As I came to know about the protest this morning, I am planning to buy medicines in bulk to avoid commuting long distances to procure them,” said Manoj, a regular customer at Kumbalgudu pharmacy.

Recommendations made by state drug controllers for allowing medicines to be sold online include safeguards related to selling prescription drugs.

Under Rule 65 of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, a drug cannot be dispensed without a registered pharmacist.

In the latest 48th Drug Consultative Committee meeting, the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) has formed a sub-committee to assess to what extent the sale of drugs online is feasible. The CDSCO has said that a lot of organisations have approached them to regulate online drug sales. To ensure this,

@TimesNow MCD should first deal with its own corruption & financial imprudence: Raghav Chadha /#Not AnAamHike @ZeeNews India vs South Africa: Winless MS Dhoni & Co lodge complaint against umpire Vineet Kulkarni @ABPNews ABP news #OperationBlackMoney impact: ED arrests 4 Newsflicks More than 75% of the people kidnapped in 2014 are still missing @TimesNow Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray felicitates 6 party workers who allegedly smeared Kulkarni's face with black paint: Reports # SenaBacksGoon @IndiaToday the_musictoday's #RagasBeyondAges- a tribute to Sarod maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan. @NDTV PM’s silence for Dadri killing, attacks on writers condemnable : M Karunanidhi

A pamphlet about the October 14 strike in a chemist shop in R. R. Nagar a committee was set up.

Recently, one of India’s online shopping giants, Snapdeal was cracked down upon by the Maharashtra drug control authorities for illegally selling drugs that need prescriptions.

Snapdeal removed these med-

icines from its website saying that it would co-operate with investigations against them.

The annual Indian pharmaceutical market is estimated to be around Rs.79,000 crore and growing at a rate of 20 per cent.

@ABPNews # OperationBlackMoney impact: ED arrests 4 Watch: abplive.in/video/2015/10/13/a rticle7391 @TimesofIndia Delhi woman dies of suffocation at Skrillex concert in Gurgaon

THE OBSERVER Editor: Tanay Sukumar | News Editor: Sanskriti Talwar | Chief Sub-Editor: Reema Mukherjee Sub-Editors: Prabhpreet Singh Sood, Sana Husain Reporters: Regina Gurung, Rajarshi Das, Payal Gangishetty, Rishi Sabharwal, Raina Paul, Sutanu Guha