1. Farmers Call off Stir, Set Govt January Deadline
After a four-day agitation in front of the BJP headquarters in Bengaluru, the Raitha Sena-spearheaded protest for resolution of the Mahadayi river dispute ended on a rather tame note. Governor Vajubhai Vala did not receive the delegation and Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was out of town and could not accept their memorandum.
Only chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar and the film fraternity finally met them. The farmers issued an ultimatum to the chief minister to convene an all-party meeting by January 2018 to deliberate a possible final resolution to the Mahadayi river water sharing dispute.
Before vacating their protest venue outside the BJP office, where they had camped since 23 December, Raitha Sena president Veeresh Sobaradamath said: "The agitation now shifts from Bengaluru to Nargund. We came here to ask state BJP president BS Yeddyurappa about his promise to get Mahadayi water within 15 days. Since there is no response from him, we are going back disappointed.''
(Source: Times of India)
2. Women's Platoon to Debut on New Year's Eve
An all-women platoon will be on duty to protect girls from drunken revellers on New Year’s Eve. It will be a challenging debut for 120 women constables, trained in anti-riot operations, on MG Road and Brigade Road, where boisterous crowds welcome the new year.
Attached to the Karnataka State Reserve Police, they have undergone nine months of training and are equipped to deal with unruly situations, a senior police officer said. City police commissioner T Suneel Kumar has requested additional forces from the Karnataka State Reserve Police (KSRP) and Home Guards.
Police will patrol the city all night, a policeman involved in the preparations said. In 2016, a girl returning from a party was molested in Kammanahalli in the wee hours, and the police are being extra-careful this year.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
3. Freshers Are a Catch as Ragging Incidents Rise on Campuses
This is one fact that can’t be swept under the carpet. Nobody talks about it openly anymore because it is banned under law, but ask any student about his/her first few days in college, and chances are that (s)he would have come across seniors asking freshers to ‘introduce’ themselves or ‘perform’ a few tricks for some cheap laughs.
After sustained steps to stem it, ragging seems to have returned to college campuses in Karnataka. In fact, in 2017 cases of ragging doubled (48) as compared to those in 2016 (24). The Human Resource Development ministry has revealed that there were 115 cases of ragging that were reported to the University Grants Commission (UGC) between 2014 and 2017.
Ragging is a dreaded word and a touchy subject on campus; while extreme cases of ragging in professional colleges led to the deaths of students forcing the government to crack down, votaries of the practice say it is a tool of social interaction and helps juniors break the ice with their seniors.
(Source: Bangalore Mirror)
4. Techie Ends Her Life Over Failed Marriage
A 32-year-old IT firm employee committed suicide on Sunday, leaving a death note that implicates her husband and in-laws for the act. C Smitha was married nine years back and had come back to her parents’ house within 10 months of staying with her husband. However, it is said that there were compromise meetings between both the families to reunite the couple, which did not work.
Her husband is also alleged to have gone to her house and apologised to her, asking her to return. The woman committed suicide by hanging on Sunday, when her family was out of town. Her family had gone out of station on Saturday and when they called her on Saturday, there was no response.
So they sent a relative to the house in Postal Colony in Sanjaynagar police limits. It was the relative who discovered the suicide. The death note is said to have been on the table in the room she committed suicide in. The police are on the lookout for the husband and the in-laws as they are not in the house they used to live in before.
(Source: Bangalore Mirror)
5. Particulate Matter in Bengaluru Air Much Higher Than Permissible Limits
If the findings by the Karnataka State Pollution Control Board (KSPCB) is any indication, there's much to worry about the quality of air in Bengaluru.
The amount of particulate matter in the air – PM10 and PM2.5 — were far greater than permissible level, Nagappa, a senior scientist working with the KSPCB, informed a special BBMP council meeting, convened on Wednesday to tackle the challenges faced by the city on air pollution front.
The levels of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air were within permissible limits. "We have 21 manual and automatic monitoring stations across the city, five of which came up in 2017-18. In 15 out of 16 locations, PM10 was found to be very high and almost double the permissible limit. PM2.5 levels were found to be over the limit according to data from 11 stations. This is according to analysis conducted over a year," he said.
(Source: Times of India)
6. Zero-Pollution Incinerator for Sanitary Pads
The increasing number of used sanitary napkins and diapers that end up with the pile of solid waste pose a grave threat to human health, as they carry disease-causing microorganisms. Now, a local company has come up with an incinerator that promises to burn and dispose of them without smoke or ash.
The new incinerator uses water to smother the smoke – possibly toxic, given the substances used in napkins and diapers – and dilutes the ash. "This can be easily drained," said Nisha Nazre, founder of the company Zuci Fem Care Private Limited, who hopes to install the mini incinerators in BBMP-run schools and hospitals in 2018.
Made in two categories – with eight and 12-litre storage capacity and 5 KW or 2.5 KW of power – the machines are currently in the testing stage.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
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