The Daily Observer_Vol 14_Issue 7

OBSERVER The Daily

Volume 14 | Issue 7

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Third degree burns not good enough for FIR Husband still at large, threatens to kill both children

Apoorva Choubey Eight months after a woman’s husband allegedly tried to burn her to death, the police are still refusing to register an FIR. According to Jacqueline, a resident of Audugodi, her husband, Mahesh, threw kerosene on her and set her alight on July 27 as a result of which Jacqueline’s upper body was badly burned.

Jacqueline, 29, said: “My husband tried to burn me to death in our house last year. I have been trying to file a complaint from July, but the police are refusing to register. The Audugodi police asked me to file a complaint in an all-women police station without giving any reasons.

“When I went to Halasuru Gate Police Station, they asked me to go to Basavangudi Police Station. I have visited both these police stations at least twice each since the incident.

Today they asked me to approach the assistant commissioner, since the case falls under the jurisdiction of Audugodi Police Station,” she added.

Rani, her mother, said: “We do not have any hopes of getting justice. He is still at large and threatening my daughter. My sons are also helpless since the police are refusing

Jacqueline has burns all over her upper body to even file an FIR. When we tried to register the complaint initially, in August 2014 the Inspector of Audugodi Police station asked us to come back after Jacqueline got well.”

Jacqueline added, “Now that I

am well, they are saying it’s an old injury, go to women’s police station.

Mahesh has threatened to kill our three-year-old son and one-year-old daughter if I complain against him.

He tried to beat me up again in Janu-

ary after he broke into my brother’s house, where I am presently living.”

Samuel, her brother, said: “Mahesh is a robber and a rowdy. He drinks and fights all day; that is his daily routine. He has snatched my nephew, Rahul, from my sister but is unable to feed him. The poor child has nothing to eat, no proper dresses; we feed him whenever we can. Now, Mahesh is demanding to keep both the children with him.”

“Ramya, their daughter, was only five months old when he tried to kill my sister. Had it not been for my mother, the child would not have survived with that monster. Jacqueline was hospitalised for almost two months after the incident. It is so painful for all three of us to see our sister in this condition. We are paying for her operations and we don’t mind that but we want justice. I want to see Mahesh getting what he deserves for doing this horrid thing to my sister,” he added.

Jacqueline said: “Ever since we got married in 2010, he has been asking my brothers for money. He beat me every day, tried to force himself on me whenever possible, even when I was eight months pregnant. He doubted on me and accused that our daughter, Ramya, is not his child but now he wants

to take her away from me too.”

“The day he burned me, he was upset that there was no food in the house. When he threw kerosene on me, I thought it was just a threat.

But he just lit a matchstick and threw it on my dupatta which caught fire in almost a second,” she added.

(Continued on page 3)

Jacqueline can’t hear from her right ear

Over 500 dead and injured miners in 2014 yet mine owners flout law unreported. Dorai, a Tamil migrant who works at a granite quarry in Kanakpura, Ramanagara said, “I fear for my life, this Miners in Karnataka are forced is a very risky job as we are not given any to work without safety gear pre- protective gear. Two months ago, Rajesh, scribed by central government. a close friend, died at the quarry. I also lost The Mines Act of 1952 mandates that my uncle when a granite slab fell on his leg.”

The Worker’s Compensation Act states all miners should be given proper safety equipment. However quarries in the state that any dependent family member of the function without any safety precaution. deceased is to be given a sum not less than The death toll of miners across India in the Rs. 80,000. Dorai complains that his unyear 2014 was 119 and there were 424 cases cle’s family is yet to receive compensation of reported injuries, according to the director- for their loss. The quarry operators however deny any instance of injury or death. ate of statistics, Mines Umesh RoagSafety Department. horpade, the quarry Director of Mines The law is broken because it is not manager said, “There Safety Bangalore, P.C enforced has been no injury or Rajak said, “It is a - Ravi Panwar, PRO, NHRC death in this quarry. violation of the law In case an accident if the miners are not given safety precautions mandated in the happens we will compensate as per law.”

Ravi Panwar, Public Information OfMines Act. As per this law they should be provided with safety equipments, drinking ficer of the National Human Rights water and a first aid facility. Any mine opera- Commission(NHRC) said, “Some governtor who does not abide to the law shall face ment bodies neglect such issues. The law penalty and his quarry will be shut down.” is broken because it is not enforced. The The official statistics state that there were NHRC cannot speak representing the govjust five cases of injury and one death in ernment but it shall surely take action against Karnataka in 2014, but miners in the state quarry owners and supervising government complain that most injuries and deaths go authorities if laws are found to be violated.”

Agnivesh Harshan

“

119 miners died in India in 2014 due to mining related accidents

2 The Daily OBSERVER

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

MLAs ignorant of salary hike Divya Kishore Some MLAs in Karnataka say that they are not happy over news of a hike in salaries for MLAs and ministers while a few claimed they knew nothing about it.

A. S Patil, member of Karnataka Legislative Assembly, said, “I can’t tell anything about this new amendment now because I don’t know about it well.

I heard about it from people and I still need to get details about it.”

According to the Karnataka Legislature Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill, the legislators will get Rs 5000 hike and now get Rs 25, 000 instead of Rs 20, 000.

Shivananda Patil does not find the bill great for MLAs

A S Patil says he has no knowledge of the Bill The bill also presented a hike in legislator’s pension. The minimum pension has increased from Rs 25, 000 to Rs 40, 000 and those who have served for more than five years will get an extra Rs 1, 000 for every additional year in the Assembly.

The condition of serving for five years to get pension has been removed now.

However, the Chief Minister’s monthly salary is set to jump from Rs 30, 000 to Rs 50, 000 and each minister will get a pay hike of Rs 25, 000 to Rs 40, 000 according to the Karnataka Ministers Salaries and Allowances (Amendment) Bill.

According to the news reports, although the hike has put MLAs and ministers in the bracket of some of the highest paid law makers in the country, there are legislative members who are not happy with it.

“I think the hike is for ministers only, I still need to find out if we benefit in the new bill. However, I have read that legislators will get Rs 5, 000 hike, I don’t think that is something great,” said Shivananda S Patil, Legislative member from Basavana Bagevadi, Bijapur district.

M B Patil from Babaleshwar believes that hike is in favor of them but they were not informed about

The Bill was passed in KLA on Monday Courtsey: Google it earlier. “We don’t even know about it well. The decisions were taken in Bangalore and I am getting the news from newspapers only, we were not asked to participate in the meeting,” he added.

According to M. K. Vishalakshi, Deputy Secretary, Karnataka Legislative Assembly, ministers and members should know about the new bill. He said, “It is for them only, if they are still ignorant about it, it’s unfortunate.”

Taxpayers to pay As the ministers and MLAs are getting hike in their salary,

taxpayers are not happy with it.

“I don’t understand why they are getting hike. It’s really of no worth, also it is very unfortunate to know that their salaries are hiked in just four minutes meeting; however, it would take more than four years for a common man to get hiked his salary,” said Achint Srivastav, an IT worker.

Dheeraj Sharma, a bank employee also thinks the same. “They are getting their salary from the tax we pay.

I am afraid if they increase tax and if they don’t as a common Indian man, I want to know from where they are getting money,” added Dheeraj.

Police clampdown on Ola Cabs as tax bills pile up

Ola cabs company needs to pay taxes to get the cabs released Punita Maheshwari After a recent raid on taxis across the city, Ola cabs were found to be charging customers higher fares, according to the transport department.

About 100 cabs registered to Ola were seized for flouting norms set by the state transport department.

Cabs which are supposed to charge as per the govt norms were charging higher fares. It was also found that they were not fitted with digital fare meters. Instead they were fitted with GPS connected mobiles in which inflated fares were displayed.

In some cabs it was found that the fares levied were 10 times more

than the fares fixed by the government. The company is supposed to pay advance tax for each cab but the tax has yet to be paid.

Some of the cabs have been consistently evading taxes, according to the excise dept. The cabs were seen flouting pollution norms and it was found during the check that fitness certificates had expired.

Jayasri, who used to hail Ola cabs frequently said: “Without your knowledge Rs. 2 is charged every two minutes of your waiting time.

You board the cab in a traffic free time. Without any signals or stoppages, you will be charged about Rs. 80 for waiting. When you ask the same they give you some stupid explanations.”

“For a mini taxi, the fare is Rs.100 for the first 5km and after that Rs.12 per km, this is the fare being advertised on your TV. But when you book a cab that is not the case,” she added.

Another consumer of OLA cabs said: “I have used Ola twice and on both occasions it was around 50 minutes late. Moreover, although I travelled the same distance on both occasions, the first time the fare was Rs. 255 and the next time it was Rs. 168. I fail to understand the discrepancy as there was no waiting time on either occasion. I’m really disappointed with the poor service. Not only will I never book Ola cab again but I will definitely advise everyone I know not to book OLA cab.”

The state transport dept also said that they seized Ola cabs which were granted State Taxi permits and were operating in the city.

Rahul Mittal a user of Ola services said that he had been forced to shell out money in the name of surcharge.

He said: “I had booked a cab online for my parents and their website did not mention about any peak time charges and neither was it mentioned in the SMS. I only came to know when they billed for the travel and they charged Rs. 203 as surcharge for peak time charges.

I talked to Ola representatives and they were very blunt to say that I should have called their call center to confirm the charges before booking.”

Premlatha, PRO, Transport De-

partment, said, “Ola company made money as they thought that the govt won’t take any action. Now we are taking stringent action against them.

The details about consolidated tax amount are not available as the cases against the drivers are filed at different RTO offices, only when all check reports are seen will we know the total amount that has been unpaid.

“They dupe money of the customers especially at the airport as they are not from the city and lack awareness. There are no digital meters in some of the cars and till they pay the taxes, the vehicles will be seized,” she added.

Nobody from Ola was available to comment.

Around a hundered Ola cabs were ceased by transport dept.

The Daily OBSERVER

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

3

Indian govt helpless as Yemen crisis continues Natasha Singh The situation of Indian natives stuck in conflict-ridden Yemen remains the same as the Minister of State of External Affairs, V.K. Singh, is flying to Dijibouti today to look into the matter.

For the sixth consecutive day today, Yemen was bombarded with missiles and weapons. The Airport as well as the outskirts on the East side of Aden held by rebels was bombarded using warships.

At least 40 people have been declared dead when a Saudi-led coali-

tion targeted a camp for internally displaced people in North Yemen.

As landing of Air India flight has been denied in Yemen, Syed Akbaruddin, the official spokesperson of the Ministry of External Affairs, said, “As and when it is possible to utilize air services through Sana’a, we will press Air India flights to Sana’a to assist Indian nationals in that region. As you can see, we are making every effort for the return of our nationals safely from what is a difficult situation in Yemen. We are also in touch with the regional leaders there and will seek their assistance in this difficult situation. “

“This is very close to the road we normally travel on,” said Ravi

Ravi Kumar (38), an industrialist in Peenya, Bangalore, went to Yemen for a skill development program on March 12 and was scheduled to be back by 26th March. He said, “There is no official confirmation as of now from the government of India as well as the Ambassador regarding the rescue arrangements from Sana’a. We have been waiting for the past two days to get transported to India.”

“Whenever the power is available, I get in touch with my family,” said Ravi, who has a wife and two children of ages 4 and 7, waiting for him in Bangalore.

“I have presently vacated my room that I had been staying in. They said that there would be an evacuation by flight but it turned out to be unsuccessful yesterday. I am now staying in an office near the Airport with six others, waiting for a call from the embassy. I don’t think there will be any flight even today,” he said.

“I request the government to act as quickly as possible to rescue all Indians from Sana,” said Ravi.

Shiv Kumar, Ravi’s brother, has been keeping in touch and following the proceedings closely. He said, “There have been bombings throughout nights keeping everyone sleep-

‘It is a shame,’ says lawyer (Continued from page 1) She said: “I do not remember anything after that. I woke up a week later with third degree burns all over my upper body. My right arm does not function, my right ear got burned completely.

I can only hear faintly from it.”

She added that her neck and breast wounds are fresh even now; they start bleeding and burning whenever her clothes rub against them.

According to Rani, Jacqueline’s life was saved only because she and her son visited Jacqueline on the day Mahesh tried to kill her.

Rani, added: “Thank goodness we were on our way to their house that day. My only daughter might have died. Mahesh came to the hospital after he heard that the hospital had informed the police. In front of

the police he claimed that the fire broke out since the stove burst.”

Surya M, a lawyer who deals with criminal cases in Bangalore, said “This is shameful. The Supreme Court clearly states that in such severe cases like burns and attempted murder, all police stations must file the complaint immediately and arrest the accused. If it does not fall under their jurisdiction then they must transfer the case to the police station in question in three weeks.

But under no circumstances can they refuse to register the complaint.”

He added: “We get to see cases like these since the police would have to do more work and investigate the case as soon as possible because of its severity. They do not want to take responsibility and thus take the easier way of not registering the cases at all.”

Jacqueline lives with her mother and her three brothers now

less. The situation has gone from bad to worse in the past few weeks” “I have come to understand that the flight has gone back to Mascot in Oman and is waiting. India needs to evacuate the 5000 Indians immediately. All other nations have left Yemen, and so must India. There is no confirmation by the embassy regarding the arrival of two ships that India had claimed to send,” said Shiv.

Syed said, “We have previously made three announcements requesting Indian nationals to leave Yemen as soon as possible. The first one was on the 21st January this year, the sec-

Saudi-led coalition continues bombardment in Sana’a

Ravi Kumar an industrialist in Peenya ond on the 19th March and the third was on the 22nd March. Yet, as you are aware, approximately 4,000 Indian nationals remain in the conflict zone in Yemen. As a government, we’ve launched a national endeavor to ensure their safe return to India.”

The government plans to evacuate 400 Indians from Aden and bringing them to Djibouti on a commercial passenger ship today.

This has been the fourth evacuation plan in less than 10 months by the government of India. The first was Ukraine, followed by Iraq and Libya.

8 petrol bombs found in dumpster near airport

Jacqueline before she was attacked by her husband He added that when such victims approach lawyers, they usually help the victims file a private complaint to the Magistrate, under a rule called Protection of Civil Rights, PCR. The magistrate then orders the police station to file the complaint and start an investigation, which is then produced before the concerned court.

Amarnatha Reddy, Assistant Commissioner at Halasuru Gate Police Station said: “The police do whatever they can to help such victims. I do not understand why the compliant was not filed.”

Anjumala T, Inspector of the same police station, said, “The case falls under the jurisdiction of Audugodi Police Station so they must register it there.”

“I will look into the matter and find out why the case was not registered,” she added Jacqueline said: “I can only hope that the police register the case and arrest Mahesh. I want my son and daughter safe. My life has already been ruined; I do not want that for my children or my brothers.”

One of the petrol bombs found in the garbage dump Elizabeth Mani Natasha Singh Eight petrol bombs were found in a garbage dump near Mangalore Airport on Monday night.

The bombs were found by residents in Ganjimat, 10 Km away from Bajpe Airport, Mangalore near the BSNL telephone exchange.

“The search was conducted after the residents, who were having a function nearby, complained.

They said that they found the petrol bombs when they were cleaning the area after their function,” said Ramesh, Sub Inspector of Bajpe police station where those residents had registered a complaint.

Ramesh said, “The explosive consisted of petrol and kerosene

mixed in phenyl bottles. The bottles were found last night at 10p.m.”

Naseed, a sweeper who found the explosives first, said, “When I was cleaning after the function got over, I saw six bottles and informed the hosts of the function immediately. The police must have searched further and found two more. I saw the bottles at around 6, but the police came down to check at 10.

Naseed added that the police had taken safety measures after the incident, and had also checked the bottles for fingerprints.

A spokesperson from The Director’s office at Bajpe Airport denied having anything to do with this incident. “The security in the Airport is already intact and we do not think that the incident had anything to do with us,” he said.

4 The Daily OBSERVER

Coffee planters gripped by labor issues Ridhi Agrawal Despite Karnataka accounting for two-thirds of the total coffee produced in the country, coffee growers are feeling the pinch.

“We get laborers on contract basis from Davangere, Assam and Tamil Nadu. At times middlemen, who arrange workers, take threefour lakh rupees as advance and don’t turn up,” Nandu N.H, who owns a coffee estate in Chikmangalur, said.

According to India’s Coffee Board, in 2013-2014, India produced 3,05,500 MT of coffee, of which Karnataka produced 2,11,100 MT (69.32%) - the highest in the country.

Jeevan Belliappa, who has owned a coffee estate in Chikmangalur for more than 25 years, said: “There is an acute shortage of laborers especially during the harvest season. Due to the increase in temperature, operational losses are also incurred.”

Nandu added that the laborers hired on a contract basis are not enthusiastic anymore and need constant supervision to get the work

Picteresque coffee plantation in Chikmangalur

moved and burned,” he added.

Kodagu district, the highest coffee producer in the state, produced 1,11,860 MT of coffee, followed by Chikmangalur and Hassan district.

India exported 25.12% of the total produce to Italy, the highest importer of Indian coffee in 20132104. For the fiscal year 2014-2015, up to August, India had exported 22.13% of the produce to Italy.

“Brazil being the largest producer of coffee, there is a strict marketing competition. The coffee pricing in India depends highly on the Brazil pricing,” Jeevan said. “India’s coffee Robusta is the finest in the world where as Arabica stands fifth in the world. Last year, coffee Robusta had an average harvest whereas the Arabica harvest was poor.”

Panchani Shadakshari, another coffee estate owner, said, “ Coffee plantation which depends on extensive manual work for 365 days, is facing quality and quantity issues due to the lack of effective labour

force. Laborers are not available all the time.There is no stability in their work.

“These laborers keep shifting from one estate to another in short intervals. They are also not work oriented and it is difficult to get them to work.

“Off late, they have also become ver demanding. They demand more for less work.

She added: “When the required head count is not available, it affects coffee in terms of applying manure, working on spraying insecticides and pesticides and grooming of the plants on a time to time basis.”

“Coffee picking, re-planting of saplings and digging the ground to the optimal size for these saplings are also affected,” According to statistics from the country’s Coffee Board, 1,32,660 MT of Robusta was produced whereas only 78,440 MT of Arabica was produced in Karnataka.

Highway boost for northern Karnataka Soumya Chatterjee The National Highway Authority of India has commissioned the upgrading of two highways in northern Karnataka.

The two commissioned projects cost an estimated Rs.1180 crore which includes expansion of NH218 and NH-234 into two-lanes with paved shoulders in Bijapur-Humnad and Madhugiri-Mulbagil respectively.

Union Minister of Road and Transport, Nitin Gadkari laid the foundation stone of the projects at Bangalore on Tuesday along with other state and union ministers including D V Sadananda Gowda, Union Law Minister.

Chief Minster Siddaramaiah was absent. B.P. Channabasavesha, Under Secretary to Chief Ministersaid:”There is an Assembly meeting in progress today. It was informed in advance that the Chief Minister will not be able to participate.”

NEWS DIGEST Five accused escape from Nagpur prison Five inmates accused of robbery managed to escape from Nagpur Central Jail on Tuesday morning by cutting iron rods from their barrack bars. Jail authorities suspect that the inmates might have used blankets to cross the security wall of the jail.

Coffee seeds being dried for processing in Chikmangalur in January done. “If there is rainfall during the blossoming season of coffee, the yield is less. During the months of July and August, when the mercury is high, borer pests infect the coffee plants. In such situations, about 4000-5000 plants need to be re-

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Gujarat passes AntiTerror Bill countered

by Oppn The State government said the legislation was aimed at tackling terrorist activities and organized crime.

Among the provisions of the Bill is a clause which makes evidence collected through the interception of wire, electronic or oral communication admissible in court.

Kashmir flood toll climbs to 16 The flood threat in Kashmir Valley today reduced with improved weather and receding water levels in Jhelum River but the death toll in the flash floods rose to 16 with six more bodies recovered in Budgam district.

IT Dept names India’s 18 biggest tax defaulters, 11 from Gujarat The names of 18 firms that owe over Rs. 500 crore taxes to the exchequer were released today. The names include businesses like Goldsukh Trade and Somani Cements who have been named willful defaulters.

Nitin Gadkari on Tuesday setting the foundation stone for two projects in Northern Karnataka

The Daily OBSERVER

Profs awaiting pay hike stage black badge protest Pulaha Ray Devdatta Sukhdeo Professors from the city’s government colleges are protesting because they haven’t received payments that are due from 2006 to 2009.

“The arrears are different from one individual to another. But at an average it is about 4 lakhs on an average per teacher” said Dr. Ramalingappa T. Begur, staff secretary of Maharani College.

Begur is a member of the Karnataka Government College Teachers Association (KGCTA).

“Reviewing the pay scale comes under the University Grants Commission. The committee had reviewed the pay scale of teachers on January 1st 2006 but the hike in the pay scale was implemented only from 2009,” added Begur.

On January 1 2006, a pay commission set up by the UGC revised the pay scale for college teachers in government colleges as well as government aided colleges.

Another revision of the pay scale is scheduled for 2016.

The UGC had set up a pay commission every 10 years which determines whether there has to be a hike in the Professors’ salary. The hike in pay scale was about 50 percent.

The Ministry of Human Resources Department (MHRD) and the state government are the authorities concerned with this issue.

80% of the payments are made

by MHRD and 20% by the state government.

Along with the arrears there are other issues that are plaguing higher education in Karnataka.

Begur said: “It’s not just about the salary. More than 300 colleges throughout Karnataka have not appointed permanent principals. We

have suggested many solutions to the committee but this government hasn’t done anything.

“How can we expect better quality of higher education without principals and proper administration? Across India there is no such policy that recruits or promotes professors to the post of a principal,” Begur added.

Begur said that More than 100 professors throughout the state are functioning as deputy principals but not as principals.

Begur said that as per the UGC rules, 10% of the overall vacancies must be filled for appointing professors; but the UGC has failed to do so.

“They do not give timely promotions, then how do they expect teachers to produce better work quality?” Begur further added.

According to Begur, the authority’s response hasn’t been satisfactory.

“On 23rd of this month we had arranged a meeting of staff associations from various government colleges, along with the respective heads of their organizations, with the Principal secretary and the Commissioner of the education department.”

Begur said that they had submitted many written memorandums to address issues which had been pending since many years but they didn’t practice what they preached.

“They do not want to address our issues; they treat us like manual labourers. Apart from teaching we have to take care of administrative work and extracurricular activities,” he added The KGTCA protested by wearing black badges yesterday.

“This protest is just to grab the attention of the insensitive governing authority. This is not for the sal-

ary but to maintain equality in higher education. The UGC defames teachers by saying you take so much salary yet you do not work,” said Ramanna, treasurer of KGTCA. The President of KGTCA, Prakash, said, “Our protest doesn’t affect classes; our college is functioning according to the normal routine.

Our protest is against the attitude of the governing authority; the government has been very insensitive to our cause.”

The UGC says that professors appointed in 2009 are not liable to the arrears.

Prakash said, “They are protesting because the government is not considering our demands.

The UGC, which is the highest governing authority for education in the country, decides the workload and guidelines for teachers throughout the country.

“Unfortunately the government of Karnataka hasn’t considered these guidelines important and has not regulated the workload.

They are not filling in positions for principals. More than 50 colleges do not have basic infrastructure like benches etc. We are demanding them to consider these problems,” Prakash added.

Prakash said that if the demands were not met, the KGCTA was thinking of taking a tougher stand.

The Commissioner of the education department had invited KGCTA to have a thorough discussion over the issue.

“If our demands of appointing principals in 35 colleges and payment of arrears are not met in the next couple of months, we will boycott the evaluation process for the upcoming university exams,” added Prakash.

Professors of Maharani College protesting by wearing black badges to classes

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

5

TWEETS OF THE DAY @HannahAllam : UN high commish for human rights Hussein: “Situation in #Yemen is extremely alarming, with dozens of civilians killed over the past 4 days’ @HeadlinesToday : Relief regarding last floods has happened, but not the way it should have been done. We are looking at it: @ HaseebDrabu,J&K Finance Minister @ndtv : Beer belly is my choice: Spoof of Deepika Padukone’s Vogue video. @chetan_bhagat : AAP fired its Lokpal.

Arvind lovers may send hate tweets but what’s the point of a Lokpal if the Supremo can fire him at will? @EconomicTimes : Rejected thrice by #President, contro-

versial anti-terror bill passed in #Gujarat. @ianbremmer : Iran claims US drone kills 2 in Iraq. 1. Timing couldn’t be worse 2. Why US was right to (initially) avoid Tikrit @kiranshaw : Bill passed to hike MLAs salary Hope this delivers better performance or else they shd take salary cut next tim @rahulkanwal : Lots of folks unfairly hurling charges at @ Dr Kumar Vishwas Either complainant submit proof or withdraw charge.

Slanderous attacks not ok. @thenewsminute : Karnataka assembly passes bill making Kannada compulsory in schools from Class 1- 10

Lost or stolen items?

Chances are cops will never find it Soumya Chatterjee Over half of all stolen property in Karnataka in 2013 was not recovered, according to the National Crime Records Bureau, but the state still manages to have one of the country’s highest recovery rates.

In 2013, the recovery rates of stolen property in Bangalore were 37.7%. The same for the state of Karnataka was 43.4% while the national recovery rate was just 13.3%.

In 2012, Bangalore recorded 45.7% retrieval of stolen goods while the state of Karnataka recovered 42% of stolen goods and the same figure for the nation fell to an all time low over the last decade at 6.7%.

In 2011, 40 percent of stolen items were found by Bangalore cops while statewise the figure was 36% and the national average was 18.6%.

According to NCRB figures, the retrieval figures for India have slumped almost 50% over the last decade from 25.8% in 2003 to

13.3% in 2013.

The total value of stolen property in Karnataka for the year 2013 was Rs 4.93565 billion. (Rs 493.565 crore) The average valuation of stolen property for the whole country for the last three years is Rs 136.255 billion (Rs.13625.5 crore).

In 2013, Andhra Pradesh had the highest percentage of recovery in stolen property with 51.7% of the total stolen property recovered which was worth Rs 4.93565 billion (Rs 493.565 crore) while Goa fares the lowest with 0.1% recovery out of total stolen property worth of Rs 30.48424 billion( Rs. 3048.424 crore).

DCP Crime Ramesh said: “It is difficult to catch the thieves because, in the team of accused, one accused will have 50% of the theft commodities and the others have rest. If we catch one, then only half or less than half is acquired. That is the reason for the percentage.”

“40%-45% is a very good ratio of recovered items,” he addedd

6 The Daily OBSERVER

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Kejriwal: knight of the long knives?

of Hitler in the current scenario within AAP. “It’s just a comparison and nothing more,” he added.

The majority of posts state that Kejriwal acted like a dictator in the political moves he has made recently.

Girish Chodankar, Secretary, All India Congress Committee, said: “The party had issued a notice regarding this issue. We have received a complaint regarding AAP chief ’s autocratic behavior.”

The official volunteers of the party filled with Kejriwal supporters totally disagreed with the posts and cartoons.

Manjunath, AAP office bearer, Bangalore, said: “Some people may say that Kejriwal acts like Hitler but it is not true. Our internal democracy is really good and whatever happened recently is a usual scenario in politics. Our main agenda is to fight against corruption.

We don’t want to comment on such things, we will continue to fight against corruption.”

C.L.Ramakrishnan Vignesh S.G Social media was flooded with cartoons and posts which compared Arvind Kejriwal with Adolf Hitler yesterday.

The expulsion of founding leaders Yogender Yadav and Prashant Bhushan from the AAP national executive triggered the attacks against the AAP chief.

Some of the cartoonists and politicians from Bangalore are of the opinion that in the present situation comparing Kejriwal to Hitler is not wrong.

Cartoonist, Balraj.K.L, said: “The visual representation of someone from history is just an interpretation of what is happening in the current day political scenario. Every politician behaves like a dictator so there is nothing wrong in portraying them as one. The cartoonists have portrayed only the attitude of Kejriwal to that

‘My Choice’ dubbed ‘pseudo-feminist’, fails to impress many Suharika Rachvelpula Actress Deepika Padukone’s video challenging stereotypes of women has been slammed by activists.

The video, named ‘My Choice’, in which Deepika bluntly challenges stereotypical attitudes towards women, has gone viral online with more than 3.5 million views in three days.

In the video, Bollywood star Padukone reels off her choices as a woman, including whether to sleep with someone outside marriage, be it a man or a woman.

Asha Gidwani, a qualified lawyer with the Bar Council of Maharashtra, said: “I did watch this video.

But here is my problem with it:

Asha Gidwani, legal consultant

the women depicted in this video, who want to make the choice a focal point of their existence, have already reached a stage in their life where they can make such choices. It, therefore, lacks the despair and sincerity that women without choices would have brought to this video. Successful celebrities dressed to look like supermodels don’t make a strong impact on this topic.

“I think in the Indian context, our media continues to neglect the vast majority which needs social reform. This is kind of detrimental to any progress on the issue of women’s rights/ equality in this country,” added Asha.

Sandhya Rao, woman activist, Women Rights Collective,

Tejaswini, member of KHPT

said: “Choice is very well. Everybody should have choices. The reality is everybody’s choices are mitigated by a whole lot of circumstances. Poverty, location, access to resources, education, the ideal world should have choices. How do we enable women more and more choices? We don’t have a choice.

“The work of the movement is to see that more and more women have choices. Deepika’s heart is in a good place, the head needs to do a little more,” she added.

“Women have sex, before and outside marriage. It is a narrow view of women’s sexuality that it should be controlled within marriage. I feel women should have their choice on sexuality. Unfortunately, it is not so all over the world,” she added.

Tejaswini, who worked for Samatha project from KHPT, “I support Deepika’s ‘My Choice’ video.

This is when a woman finally spoke the truth that how women can act like the men. The criticisms hitting the documentary based on the so called values and traditions are curbing the freedom of expression of women. Men can say whatever they want to, but not women?”

Deepika Padukone in My Choice Video

OBSERVER Team: Editor - Kimaya Varude, Chief Sub - Editor - Shruti Suresh, News Editor - Elizabeth Mani, News Desk - Vignesh S.G., Layout Head - Aparna Singh, Layout Desk - Saheli Sen Gupta, Suharika Rachavelpula, Sub-Editors - Divya Kishore, Nikhil M Babu