Articles by News Desk

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its manifesto, on May 1st, for the upcoming Karnataka Assembly Elections. It lists 16 promises. They will provide three free cooking gas cylinders to all BPL families annually; one each during the months of Yugadi, Ganesh Chaturthi, and Deepavali. They will set up an Atal Ahara Kendra in every ward of every municipal corporation in the state to provide affordable, quality and healthy food across the state. They will launch the Poshane scheme through which every BPL household will be provided with half litre Nandini milk every day and 5 kg siri dhanya--through monthly…

GCC's bus shelter renovation project faces hurdles The Greater Chennai Corporation's (GCC) plan to renovate bus shelters across has been unable to take off due to a lack of bids. The civic body's plan to spruce up bus 844 bus shelters across Chennai was approved by the council in March. The aim was to ensure uniformity in the renovation and quality of the shelters through the adoption of a public-private partnership model. The total number of bus shelters in the city were divided into 12 corridors, with each corridor comprising 65 bus shelters. The tenders were called for renovation soon…

Mumbai's summer heat: Traffic officials aged 55 and above asked to stay indoors in afternoon Mumbai is currently facing higher temperatures than previous summers, and as a precautionary measure, traffic police officers who are 55 years old and above have been advised to avoid being outside between 12 pm and 5 pm to prevent heatstroke. A circular was issued on April 26th to all 50 traffic chowkis in the city to convey the same. Senior officers are responsible for ensuring that on duty traffic police officials have access to clean drinking water and wear caps during the afternoon hours. On…

Over 16 lakh added to voters' list Almost 16,04,285 voters, including about two lakh young electors, have been newly added to the voters’ list after the publication of the final electoral rolls on January 5th  and January 15th in Karnataka. Hence, there are 5.31 crore electors in the 224 Assembly constituencies, said Manoj Kumar Meena, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) for Karnataka. People now cannot add, delete or update the rolls. After announcement of polls, enrolment activities were taken up till April 20th and all eligible applications have been updated in the electoral roll 2023. Just before the elections, a voter…

H Nagesh, the Congress candidate from Mahadevapura Constituency, shares why voters should choose him. Hanumappa Nagesh, 64, is the MLA of Mulbagal (Kolar district), winning his first election as an independent candidate in 2018. He says he has performed well in Mulbagal and would like to repeat that in Mahadevapura, where he is originally from. H Nagesh: Government official-turned-politician Nagesh supported the Congress-JD(S) coalition government and became Minister of Skill Development, Entrepreneurship and Livelihood (September 2019 – February 2020).  In 2019, he withdrew his support to the coalition government, along with 16 other MLAs, which then fell. He switched support to…

In March 2023, a 55-year-old woman who rode pillion on her son’s bike was injured when the duo were chased by street dogs and attempted to escape from them. She passed away a week later. There have been reports of more injuries to individuals as a result of street dogs in Chennai in recent months.  Such incidents have prompted heated debates between those affected by street dogs in the city and animal welfare activists who seek better treatment of street and community dogs in Chennai.  Residents and activists have both pointed out failures in street dog management by the civic…

Chennai Corporation to audit old buildings in Parry's Corner The Greater Chennai Corporation is to audit the stability of the buildings in Parry's Corner after a 70-year-old building in the area collapsed recently. A building on Armenian Street, which was under renovation, collapsed on April 19. The incident left four injured. As many as 280 personnel were deployed in the rescue operation and more than 30 trucks were used to clear the debris. Officials of the civic body stated that prior permission had not been accorded for carrying out the renovation of the building. Source: DT Next Expert Appraisal Committee…

Sunstroke deaths in Kharghar at Maharashtra government event At least 14 people died on Sunday from sunstroke during the Maharashtra Bhushan award ceremony held in Kharghar, which is located in the Raigad district neighbouring Mumbai. The event was organised by the Maharashtra government, and the chief guest was Home Minister Amit Shah. The cause of death has been confirmed by health officials after port-morterm. It was also found that two of the deceased also suffered from co-morbidities. The award ceremony was held in an open ground and attended by several lakh people, most of them followers of spiritual leader Appasaheb…

Poll fever shoots up Even as all parties swing into campaigning, efforts are being made to increase voter turnout, hoping that it would go up to at least 75% from last time’s 55%. About 1.35 lakh voters in the age groups of 18-19 years will vote for the first time. About five lakh voters have been added since January 2023, said Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Chief Commissioner and District Election Officer Tushar Giri Nath at a voter awareness campaign organised by Bengaluru Chamber of Industries and Commerce (BCIC) . The hope is that voting goes up to 100%. A…

Bangalore Apartments’ Federation (BAF) is a federation representing the interests of residents of apartments and villa communities across Bengaluru. More than 1,180 apartment and villa resident welfare associations (RWAs) are members of BAF, representing nearly 250,000 households with close to one and a half million citizens either residing or working within these communities. Bengaluru city is growing at a rapid pace – nearly 1.35 crore of people from various parts of the country and the world have made this city their home. The rapid increase in population has been supported by a massive growth of vertical-living as the housing format.…