1. PM’s 2-day K’taka Visit Starts Today
Elaborate security arrangements have been made in Bengaluru and Tumakuru in view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the state starting Thursday.
On day 1, Modi will visit Tumakuru and take part in Krishi Karman Awards function. According to officials, the PM will also visit Sri Siddaganga Mutt and will later interact with students there. On Friday, he will inaugurate the seven-day Indian Science Congress in Bengaluru.
“The PM will present Krishi Karman Award to 32 farmers from across the country,” Union law and parliamentary affairs minister Prahlad Joshi told reporters on Wednesday. Chief ministers of Manipur and Jharkhand, Uttarakhand governor and agriculture ministers of 12 states are likely to attend the programme, he added.
(Source: The Times of India)
2. Several Women Molested by Unruly Revellers on NYE
A civil defence guard was one of several women groped and accosted during the New Year’s Eve celebrations in the city’s party zone in the early hours of Wednesday. However, only one FIR has been lodged as not many women chose to file complaints.
In spite of a large police presence to control the boisterous crowd on MG Road, Brigade Road, Residency Road, Church Street and in Indiranagar and Koramangala, several women faced molestation attempts by drunk revellers. But not every woman caved in. Some of them gave tight slaps to the would-be molesters. Police arrested at least four alleged molesters.
At 1.16 am, an individual named Shivakumar allegedly groped a woman riding pillion on a male friend’s two-wheeler at the MG Road signal. The woman raised an alarm, drawing a female civil defence guard. But the suspect allegedly misbehaved with the guard, too. DCP (Central) Chetan Singh Rathore, who happened to be on the spot at that time, quickly bundled Shivakumar into a patrol car which then hauled him up to the Ashoknagar police station.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
3. Three School Students Drown Near Belkota dam
A school trip in Karnataka's Kalaburagi district to the Belkota dam for a Vijayapura district-based school turned tragic on Tuesday, after three students drowned while taking a dip in a stream nearby.
News agency ANI reported that the three boys were students of the Satyasai Premniketan Residential School of Vijayapura district in northern Karnataka. The Satyasai Premniketan Residential School is set up in Anjutagi in Indi taluk.
The Hindu reported that they drowned while taking a dip in the Gandori Nala waters in the vicinity of the dam. The stream is around 35 km from the district headquarters. The deceased have been identified as Manjunath C Yadav (15), a resident of Indi taluk, Shubham S Hosur (15), of Vijayapura; and Laxman B Donnur (14), a resident of Devara Hipparagi, according to the police. While Manjunath and Shubham were studying in Class 9, Laxman was in the eighth standard, the police further said.
(Source: The News Minute)
4. Activists Plan ‘Twitter Storm’ Against PM’s Visit
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to the city has prompted the resurfacing of a once-trending twitter hashtag, which dogged his visit to Chennai in September 2019.
On Tuesday evening, a variation of the hashtag #ModiGoBack began to appear on Twitter, as part of a campaign by Bengaluru-based activists to prompt the national leader to do an about-face. “We want him to know that he is not welcome in South India because of his actions – his centralisation of power, his attempt to impose Hindi on South India and the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA),” said activist Manohar Elavarthy, who was involved in the planning in an ancillary way.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
5. Four Postal Employees Arrested in Global Drugs Scam
Four postal employees have been arrested for running a sophisticated and well-oiled illegal drug racket in cahoots with local peddlers for the past six months.
City police chief Bhaskar Rao announced the sensational arrests on Monday. H Subba, 34, from Srirampuram, Ramesh Kumar, 47, from Devarachikkanahalli, Syed Majid Ahmed, 54, from RT Nagar, and Vijaya Rajan, 58, from Nagavara, are the arrested suspects. They worked in the General Post office and at a post office in Chamarajpet. Two of them worked in the sorting division. The other two worked as a security guard or peon.
The CCB raided the gang after a suspected drug peddler arrested in a previous case spilled the beans.
(Source: Deccan Herald)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)