Ramesh Kumar to head panel to rein in media

March 30, 2017

Bengaluru, Mar 30: Health Minister K?R?Ramesh Kumar will head a joint House Committee constituted to rein in the media, Legislative Assembly Speaker K?B?Koliwad announced on Tuesday.

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Koliwad said the panel will have 10 members from the Assembly and three from the Legislative Council.

Last week, legislators cutting across party lines had come down heavily on the media. They had charged the media, both print and visual, with blackmail, extortion, character assassination and misleading society. Koliwad had then announced that a House committee will be constituted to rein in what he called “irresponsible” and “arbitrary” media.

The other members from the Assembly in the panel are Ashok Pattan, B?R Yavagal, N?A?Haris, Shivaraj Thangdagi, S?T?Somashekar (all Congress), Bharamagouda Kage, Suresh Gowda (both BJP), S R Mahesh and K?C?Narayana Gowda (JD-S). Interestingly these are the members who had spoken vociferously against the media during the discussion.

The panel will decide on its frames of reference at its first meeting. Legislative Council chairman D H Shankarmurthy said he will appoint three MLCs after consulting leaders of all the parties. Leader of the Opposition K S Eshwarappa said the BJP would not like to be part of the committee.

Rayareddy against panel

Earlier, Higher Education Minister Basavaraj Rayareddy has appealed to ?Koliwad not to go ahead with the constitution of a House committee to rein in the media on the grounds that it is ‘irresponsible’ and ‘arbitrary’.

Rayareddy, on the day the Assembly witnessed a heated debate on how the media is doing baseless reporting and humiliating politicians, had said that at any cost there should be no restrictions on the media. However, he was the lone MLA to speak on those lines.

In his letter to Koliwad, the minister said there is no provision under the Constitution to curtail the freedom of press except during rare situations such as the Emergency. At the same time, he said, he could understand the anger, helplessness and pain suffered by the legislators because of baseless media reports.

However, the minister said he is of the view that cordial relations should be maintained between politicians and the media in a democratic setup. Values are declining in public life, and even the media is not an exception to this. But a majority of the journalists, newspapers and television channels have been upholding the values of their profession. Complaints can be lodged with the Press Council of India if media houses publish or telecast baseless reports, Rayareddy said.

Rayareddy suggested that the Speaker hold dialogues and discussions with senior journalists to encourage adopting self restrictions through a code of conduct . In addition, a meeting could also be held with heads of media houses to draw guidelines pertaining to the usage of language.

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News Network
March 18,2024

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Mangaluru, Mar 18: The rising temperature has become a growing concern for residents of coastal district of Dakshina Kannada, as the issue of drinking water shortage continues to worsen in several parts. 

Though the water supply of Mangaluru city has not been affected much, nearby urban local bodies, including Ullal, Kotekar, Bajpe and other parts on the outskirts of Mangaluru have been facing an acute shortage of drinking water.

Though the water level in the Thumbe vented dam across Nethravati River has started going down in the last few days, officials have ruled out possibility of rationing the water supply in the city.

According to officials, the water level at Thumbe dam of the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) stood at 5.8 m as against the maximum storage capacity of 6m height on March 16. The water level at the dam during the same period last year was 5.3 metres. The water level reduced from 5.9 m on March 15 to 5.8 m on March 16 due to the scorching heat, causing evaporation.

The MCC has been drawing 160 MLD of water from the Thumbe vented dam. According to officials, without inflow, the maximum water stored in the dam will be sufficient for only 50 days. Meanwhile, the MCC has already started pumping backwater from downstream of the Thumbe vented dam back to the dam using pumpsets. Water from Thumbe dam can be drawn only if it has more than 1.5m of water in it.

DC Mullai Muhilan MP said that the district administration is closely monitoring water levels in all the dams that supply water.

The AMR dam located upstream of Thumbe dam has 18 m of water from sea level. If the water level in the Thumbe vented dam recedes, then water from the AMR dam will be released into the Thumbe dam. There is water in a dam at Biliyoor, which is located upstream of the AMR dam, the DC said.

“Drawing water for irrigation purposes from Thumbe and AMR dams has been banned,” the deputy commissioner said, adding that an order in this regard has already been issued. Some of the pockets in rural areas too have started facing water crisis.

“We have made arrangements to supply water through tankers in Ullal, Kotekar and Bajpe areas. We will not introduce water supply rationing in MCC limits for the time being,” he said and appealed to citizens to use water judiciously.

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News Network
March 26,2024

Bengaluru: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has detained two suspects in connection with the Rameshwaram Cafe blast case in Bengaluru, sources confirmed on Tuesday.

The preliminary probe has revealed that the two suspects were in direct contact with the suspected bomber.

The NIA sleuths have picked up the suspects from an area in the state capital. However, a statement is yet to be made by the NIA in this regard.

Even as the investigating agencies, both NIA and state special wing CCB teams have launched an extensive search operation in various states, the bomber has remained elusive. The authorities had obtained the bomber’s images and videos from CCTV footage on March 1, soon after the incident.

Sources said that the sleuths were suspecting that the bomber had come from Tamil Nadu and was staying in a neighbouring state for two months before carrying out the blast.

The hair samples of the accused were gathered from the hat of the accused which he abandoned in Bengaluru near a religious place. The authorities have sent the samples for the DNA testing and were hoping for a breakthrough.

The Rameshwaram Cafe bomb blast took place on March 1 on the International Technology Park Limited (ITPL) road in the Brookfield area. Low intensity Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was used to carry out the blast and nine persons were injured in the incident.

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News Network
March 27,2024

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Hassan: Former Prime Minister and JD(S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda has announced that his son, former Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy will contest from state's Mandya parliamentary seat as NDA candidate.

Deve Gowda told reporters on Tuesday that the decision to field Kumaraswamy, who is also JD(S) state president, in Lok Sabha polls from the Mandya seat was taken amid mounting public demand. "People are demanding that Kumaraswamy should contest from Mandya. In the core committee meeting as well, all members suggested that he should contest from Mandya," Deve Gowda said.

The former Chief Minister's son Nikhil Kumaraswamy had lost to independent candidate Sumalatha Ambareesh from Mandya in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

The JD(S) supremo further said that the name of senior leader Mallesh Babu has been finalised from the Kolar seat.

Deve Gowda's grandson and former Karnataka Minister H. D. Revanna's son sitting JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna will be contesting as the NDA candidate from the Hassan seat.

Earlier in the day, Kumaraswamy in a media briefing indicated that he would contest from Mandya amid mounting public pressure on him.

Congress has fielded Venkatarame Gowda popularly known as ‘Star Chandru’ from the Mandya seat dominated by Vokkaligas. Star Chandru is a close associate of Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar.

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