1. Governor Intervenes Twice in Trust Vote, Faces off With Govt
The Kumaraswamy government’s battle for survival in the assembly on Thursday was overshadowed by two missives from governor Vajubhai R Vala — one to the speaker to wrap up the vote by the end of the day, and another to the chief minister setting a deadline of 1.30pm on Friday, 19 July to prove majority. The Raj Bhavan messages set the stage for a standoff between the governor and the legislature, with coalition MLAs pointing out the governor and BJP were speaking the same language.
Even before Kumaraswamy moved the motion of confidence at 11am with a brief but passionate speech, the JD(S)- Congress camp had shrunk further by two MLAs. Congress MLA Shrimanth Patil left the resort where party MLAs were staying and got himself admitted to a Mumbai hospital; B Nagendra continued to remain in a Bengaluru hospital where he is being treated for a heart ailment.
(Source: The Times of India)
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2. IMA Founder Mansoor Khan Returns to India, in Joint Custody of SIT & ED
In a major breakthrough in the IMA Gold multi-crore cheating case, the prime accused and founder of IMA Mohammed Mansoor Khan has returned to India.
He landed at Delhi airport in the early hours of Friday and is currently in the joint custody of Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the case and the Directorate of Enforcement (ED).
SIT officials said that a team of its officers located Khan, who has been absconding for over a month now, in Dubai through its sources and persuaded him to come back to India and submit himself before law.
(Source: The New Indian Express)
3. K’taka to Take up Survey of 25k Heritage Structures
The department of archaeology, museums and heritage will survey 25,000 monuments and other places of historical importance across the state. The aim is to shortlist certain structures and add them to the list of ‘declared monuments’ to protect them and take up renovation work if necessary.
Karnataka has 832 protected monuments spread across 30 districts. These have been constructed by rulers from dynasties like Kadambas, Gangas, Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas, Hoysalas, Vijayanagar empire, Mysore Wadiyars and Muslim rulers under Bahmani, Adil Shahi, among others.
T Venkatesh, commissioner, department of archaeology, museums and heritage, said apart from the declared monuments, Karnataka has 25,000 to 30,000 undeclared ones and other places of historical and cultural importance.
(Source: The Times of India)
4. Kids Admitted Under RTE Quota Yet to Get Textbooks
Two months after the commencement of the 2019-20 academic year, thousands of children admitted under Right to Education (RTE) Act in private unaided schools in the state are yet to get their textbooks.
Thanks to bureaucratic red tape, students without textbooks are forced to stand outside the classroom in many schools. Despite several requests from parents, the Department of Primary and Secondary Education has failed to supply textbooks, resulting in their children facing humiliation in front of their classmates.
"My daughter is studying in class 8 under RTE quota in a private unaided school in Bengaluru and she has not received any of her textbooks and she refuses to go to school as the teachers make her stand outside the school," said a parent of one of the students.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
5. Congolese man Sexually Assaults Friend
A 24-year-old student accused her Congolese friend of sexually assaulting her at a guest house in Hennur.
She had gone to visit the said friend on 16 July when she was violated. In her complaint to the Hennur police, the victim stated that she was at a party with her friends and later visited accused Joel at the guest house where he was staying in Hennur.
Joel forced everyone out of his room and forced the victim to stay back. Later, he sexually assaulted her when she wanted to leave, even taking her belongings. Initially, she complained to the guest house manager. The manager reprimanded Joel and demanded him to return her belongings.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
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