Water crisis is looming in Bangalore after Chennai is still witnessing the worst of it. (Representative Image)
Bangalore news August 1 highlights: In a bid to build confidence among citizens of Bengaluru over safety and security concerns, the Bengaluru City Police has introduced a night roll call named ‘Beat Cops.’ According to City Police Commissioner Alok Kumar, this new system will be implemented in sensitive and crime-prone areas and the same was put into practice from Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the IT-BT and Science and Technology department’s programme Elevate 2019 has identified 100 winners among startups from across Karnataka for funding, mentoring and a chance to scale up their businesses. While as many as 29 women entrepreneurs were chosen among the final 100, 76 startups among the winners are Bengaluru-based.
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M.S Velpari, has taken the charge as Director (Operations)-HAL from Sunil Kumar who superannuated on July 31, 2019. Earlier, he was holding the post of Chief of Project (LCA Tejas) at LCA-Tejas Division.
Mr Velpari holds a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy, Chennai and did his Masters from IIT Madras in Aircraft Production Engineering. He joined HAL in 1985 as Management Trainee (20th batch). He gained experience in the areas of manufacturing, assembly, design, product support, customer support, indigenisation, and other management functions while serving at LCA-Tejas, Aircraft, Foundry & Forge Divisions in Bengaluru and Aircraft Division at Nashik.
Velpari was instrumental in the sustained growth of LCA production from the initial two in FY 2015-16 to eight in FY 2018-19. He took path-breaking steps with the strategic outsourcing of structural assemblies of LCA-Tejas, which is poised to grow further. He played a key role in implementing the task of indigenisation of 1850 types of castings, forgings, rolled rings and rubber products at F&F Division.
Demanding further investigation into the 'suicide' of Cafe Coffee Day founder-owner VG Siddhartha, Karnataka Congress president Dinesh Gundu Rao Wednesday said that his letter should be read as a death note. "Tax terrorism and an environment of fear has enveloped our country. Many dread the threat of retribution if you’re on the wrong side of the establishment," he said in Bangalore
Bengaluru startups led the list of 100 winners at Elevate 2019, an event organised by the startup cell of Karnataka’s IT & BT Department. Among the winners, 76 startups are based out of Bengaluru and 29 of them are led by women entrepreneurs. Speaking at the event, chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar said, “Bengaluru is the startup capital of India that has helped in closing 267 deals, the highest in India out of the 864. The state will soon set up an innovation authority headed by the Chief Minister to empower startups to overcome legal hurdles in innovative technologies and ideas.”
Bengaluru will host a national conference titled 'Assistive Technology (AT) for all' on Friday in a bid to discuss, exhibit, build network and to promote assistive technology in order to achieve Universal Health Coverage and the Sustainable Development Goals for all.
The conference themed 'Improving access to quality and affordable assistive technology for Everyone, Everywhere,' will address the growing need for AT both in India and globally is a great opportunity for India to lead the way to design and develop life-changing and innovative AT, organisers add.
Union Social Justice & Empowerment Minister Dr Thawar Chand Gehlot will inaugurate the conference at 11.30 am, which will be held in Nimhans Convention Centre
Addressing the looming water crisis in Bengaluru, the Bangalore Apartments' Federation (BAF) has come out with a set of action items for the government and citizens to tackle the water emergency.
Srikanth Narasimhan, General Secretary of BAF, said, “Bengaluru gets 1,450 Million Liters Per Day (MLD) of Cauvery Water and about 1,500 MLD of STP treated water, which totals to over 3,000 MLD. If we were to harvest even 30% of the 3,000 MLD rainwater that falls in Bengaluru, we have another 1,000 MLD available. The requirement of water for a population of 1.2 cr at 135 liters per person per day, works out to around 1600 MLD and adding another 400 MLD for industrial/commercial requirements, works out to just 2000 MLD. Hence, the crisis is not one of water availability but one of water management.”
BAF has started a change.org petition addressed to citizens for them to undertake simple measures of water conservation, which can help address the water crisis effectively.
Several areas in Bengaluru including RT Nagar, MM Palya, Vijaynagar, BHBCS Layout, and surroundings are facing interruptions in power supply. According to BESCOM, the same is due to various works including pole replacement, feeder tripping, and other minor repairs. BESCOM officials informed that power supply will be restored in these areas by 6 pm
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the multi-crore IMA scam case has submitted an interim report on the case to the Karnataka High Court. The High Court has adjourned the hearing of the case till August 20, refusing to disclose further details of the report.
Criticising former Karnataka speaker Ramesh Kumar's move to disqualify 17 MLAs from the Vidhana Soudha, senior BJP leader KS Eashwarappa said that the former has "ruined the system" by doing so. Citing other similar instances where the speaker has not disqualified legislators, he further alleged that Ramesh Kumar has "acted against the Constitution."
It can be recalled that the then speaker Ramesh Kumar had disqualified three MLAs on July 25 and 14 others on July 28 citing anti-defection laws in accordance to the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution.
Kengal Hanumanthaiah's daughter Vijayalakshmi met new chief minister BS Yediyurappa in his office in Vidhana Soudha today. Hanumanthaiah was Karnataka's second chief minister and is a noted visionary who built the Vidhana Soudha, Karnataka's legislative assembly and secretariat.
Personnel from the CRPF has been deployed for the security of Mohammed Mansoor Khan, the prime suspect of the multi-crore IMA scam case. The action is reportedly taken after Khan requested ED officials to provide security claiming a threat to life if he revealed names of other accused involved in the case.
After an eventful month of July in Karnataka politics, the parties on the receiving side of the developments which led to the Congress-JD(S) coalition government's collapse in the state decided to take stringent action against their respective legislators.
The Congress on Tuesday expelled all fourteen rebel Karnataka MLAs who were disqualified by former Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar under the anti-defection law last week. A list sent by the party’s state unit calls for action against the MLAs for “anti-party activities.”
Citing the same reason, the JD(S) on Wednesday expelled three rebel leaders of the party who were disqualified by former Karnataka Assembly Speaker Ramesh Kumar under the anti-defection law last week. The action was taken by JD(S) supremo HD Devegowda citing “anti-party activities.”
Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa, who visited the Reception and Remittance Branch on the ground floor of Vidhana Soudha, intensified the administration by instructing all staff to be in the office throughout working hours set by the government.
Average air quality in Bengaluru is 'moderate'. At 10.30 am, PM 2.5 (Fine Particulate matter) is at an 'unhealthy' level if you are near Kadubeesanahalli. or Bapuji Nagar. The same is at 'moderate' levels near Koramangala, Mathikere, and Ulsoor.
The Sri Radha Krishna ISKCON Temple located at Rajajinagar, in North Bangalore has deities of Radha and Krishna. It is one of the largest ISKCON temples in the world.
Today's timings: 7.15 am–1 pm; 4–8.20 pm
The body of Cafe Coffee Day owner VG Siddhartha was found in a river in KarnatakaWednesday, a day after a purported letter, written by him to the Board of Directors, surfaced. Could this be considered a suicide note? Any document where a person has specifically mentioned that he is planning to end his life can be considered a suicide note. If the contents of the letter reveal that the person had been pushed to commit suicide by someone, the police can conduct an inquiry to find out if the person can be booked under Section 306 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that stands for abetment to suicide. Read more
The Special Investigation Team (SIT)probing the multi-crore I Monetary Advisory (IMA) scam questioned former minister and Congress MLA B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan for over seven hours on Wednesday. The officials were trying to get clarification on the politician's link to IMA chief and prime suspect of the case Mohammed Mansoor Khan, officials said.
Ahmed, the MLA from Chamrajpet, produced various documents of his business transactions during the grilling, according to the SIT. However, disqualified MLA and senior politician R Roshan Baig chose to miss the summons notice yet again, citing personal reasons. Baig was recently expelled from the Congress party with 13 other MLAs for indulging in "anti-party activities."
Many expressed surprise after the demise of VG Siddhartha, the founder of the Cafe Coffee Day chain, was announced Wednesday. But it also resulted in people taking to social media to share their fondest memory at a Cafe Coffee Day outlet in the country. People spoke about how they had gone on dates, met their future spouses and struck business deals over a cup of coffee. Paying tribute to Siddhartha with #CCDMemories, people shared their memories. Many also said the staff of the coffee chain would need their support following the CEO’s demise. Read more
Innovating for Clean Air (IfCA), an initiative that aims to provide a unique measurement system for air quality by integrating satellite and sensor data, and extending support to India’s transition to electric vehicles was launched in Bangalore on Wednesday. The two-year UK-India joint initiative is expected to provide stakeholders of the two countries opportunities to test interventions related to air quality and Electric Vehicle (EV) integration. Read more
The Cafe Coffee Day board on Wednesday decided to investigate all financial transactions outside the knowledge of the senior management, auditors and the board. It also appointed an interim chief operating officer and an executive committee to exercise the powers previously vested with the chief executive officer of the company and the Administrative Committee constituted by the board in 2015.
The board took serious note of the contents of a letter purportedly written by the company’s CMD V G Siddhartha, who went missing Monday evening and was found dead Wednesday morning. Read more