BENGALURU BUZZ

SEC seeks to speed up BBMP polls The SEC (State Election Commission) filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the government to issue a fresh notification to fix the reservation for the BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) wards immediately. The SEC alleged to the courts that the state government is seeking three more months to issue a notification, so that it can delay the BBMP elections beyond May 2023. The Assembly polls are due before May, so if the election schedule is declared, then the BBMP elections would get postponed indefinitely. The hearing on the state application…

Coldest November day in a decade The minimum temperature of 13.9 degrees celsius, on November 21st, was the lowest reported in November in a decade, said the IMD (India Meteorological Department). At HAL airport station the temperature was reported to be 12.5 degrees celsius, while at Bengaluru International Airport station, it was recorded to be 14.7 degrees celsius. The maximum temperature on November 21st was 25.2 degrees celsius. It was on November 21, 2012, that the temperature plummeted to 13.3 degrees celsius, but the all-time low record was 9.6 degrees celsius on November 15, 1967. Source: The Indian Express Read…

Opposition slams BJP government for voter data theft The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) filed a complaint with the Halasaru Gate Police Station to look into allegations of voter data theft by Chilume Educational Cultural and Rural Development Trust, a private agency. The State Election Commission directed the district election officer (DEO) to conduct a probe and submit a detailed report. Senior Congress leaders, on November 17th, slammed the '40% Commission Sarkara', the BJP-run government, for permitting Chilume to conduct a house-to-house survey and steal personal voter data. The agency had claimed to be creating awareness on filing online applications through…

Almost 3 lakh deletions in draft electoral rolls The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) has published the draft electoral rolls, but with almost three lakh deletions from last year’s list. On January 1 2022, the city had a voter population of 94,92,539, but that got reduced to 91,15,805 on November 9th. The public can put up suggestions for objections, additions and modifications to the electoral draft rolls by December 9th. As Assembly elections are due next year, the rolls assume significance, said Chief Commissioner Tushar Giri Nath. He said that they have deleted almost six lakh entries as they were…

Rs 5.20 lakh cr MOUs signed at Global Investors Meet On the inaugural Wednesday (November 2nd) of the three-day Invest Karnataka 2022 – Global Investors Meet, the government signed MOUs (memorandums of understanding) worth Rs 5.20 lakh crore, while many industry leaders assured further investment. Seven companies invested Rs 2.9 lakh crore in the ‘Manufacturing – Green Hydrogen and Derivatives’ sector. MoUs worth Rs 25,024 crore were signed with six companies in the core manufacturing sectors such as mining, iron, steel and cement, while MoUs worth Rs 22,906 crore were signed with nine companies under the e-mobility, aerospace and defence…

Statue of Prosperity to be unveiled The 108-feet bronze statue of Kempegowda, the founder of Bengaluru, will be unveiled at the Bengaluru International Airport, Devanahalli, by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 11th. It will be called the 'Statue of Prosperity' to symbolise the progress of the city under the vision of its founder, Kempegowda. On October 21th, as part of the Nadaprabhu Kempegowda Campaign, vehicles were flagged off from Vidhan Soudha’s grand steps to collect sacred soil and water from the 31 districts of the state. The sacred soil and water will be integrated with the Kempegowda Theme Park…

Record rainfall, yellow alert This year the city had the highest total annual rainfall in a decade, but it has now set a new record. The IMD (India Meteorological Department) said that till October 17, 2022, there were 171 cms of rainfall, while on the following day, Tuesday, there was a new record of 174 cms. Expert sources said the fluctuations in the rains are not new and are already at a scale of 30-50%. They have been caused by human interference, rise in carbon dioxide levels and temperatures. Poor planning has led to flooding in the Bengaluru-Mysuru expressway. Due…

First anti-conversion case registered The first case under the 'anti-conversion' law or the Karnataka Right to Protection of Right to Freedom of Religion Act, 2022, was registered by the Yeshwanthpur police. A girl, who is a major, was allegedly converted to Islam and married a youth she is in love with. The girl’s mother complained to the police, who arrested the youth, even before recording the girl’s statement on the issue. Opponents to the arrest said that the couple had married in Penukonda (Andhra Pradesh), where the law is not in place. Moreover, the girl is a major and was not…

City drops 15 ranks in Swachh Survekshan Ranked 43 out of 45 cities (among those with a population above 10 lakhs), Bengaluru has slipped by 15 spots in Swachh Survekshan, 2022. Last year, it was 28th among 48 cities. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs released the list of cleanest cities on October 1st, evaluated on three parameters scored at 7,500 for service-level progress, certification and citizens’ voice. The BBMP (Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) has scored 2,892.98. Almost Rs 1,500 crore was spent on solid waste management per year. Sources said that delays in the preparation of reports, disputes…

Students in city protest against NEP At a convention in Freedom Park on Wednesday, AIDSO (All India Democratic Students Organisation) said that about 40,000 students have collected and will send almost 35 lakh signatures to the Prime Minister and the state Chief Minister, demanding the scrapping of the NEP (National Education Policy), 2020 . AIDSO opposed many NEP features, including four-year degree courses and students simultaneously studying two degree courses, saying it would commercialise education. Experts slammed the government for rolling out the NEP without consulting stakeholders. They added that instead of focusing on developing infrastructure and addressing dropout rates in…