Lingayat rally sets Dec 30 deadline for state to recommend for religion tag

DHNS

November 20, 2017

Bengaluru, Nov 20: Lingayat spiritual leader Mathe Mahadevi on Sunday set a December 30 deadline for the state government to recommend to the Centre that a religious status is accorded to the Lingayat faith.

This was one of the resolutions adopted at a rally organised by the Lingayat Mahasabha at the National College ground in Basavanagudi. "The state government should make the recommendation before the model code of conduct kicks in. If we don't get justice from the state and central governments, we will wage a legal battle," she said.

Mahadevi criticised Siddaramaiah for sitting on the proposal. "We have repeatedly petitioned the government to recommend a religious status for Lingayats. I don't know what to say, looking at the government's approach," she said.

She maintained that Lingayat and Veerashaiva were not the same, and even blamed the Veerashaiva community for the Lingayat faith losing its independence. The Akhila Bharata Veerashaiva Mahasabha argues that the two are the same and that a separate religion must be called Veerashaiva-Lingayat.

It was also resolved to urge the government to declare 12th-century social reformer and Lingayat faith founder Basavanna as Karnataka's cultural icon. The Gulbarga University must be named after Basavanna, it was resolved.

"The struggle for a separate Lingayat religion is not a new one. The Lingayat faith was a religion before independence. Our struggle will continue till the goal is achieved," Mines and Geology Minister Vinay Kulkarni said.

Water Resources Minister M B Patil, retired IAS officer S M Jaamdar, JD(S) leader Mallikarjun Khuba, Shivalinga Shivacharya Swami from Ahmadpur, Shivarudra Swami from Belimutt among others participated in the rally.

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Think Before You Post! Mangaluru Police Crack Down on Provocative Instagram Accounts

News Network

December 5,2025

Mangaluru: In a significant step to curb online hate and intimidation, Mangaluru City Police have registered a suo motu case against multiple Instagram accounts accused of circulating alleged provocative and threatening content.

While monitoring social media activity on Tuesday, Kankanady Town PSI Anitha Nikkam identified the Instagram handle ‘team_targetttt_900’ for posting a hate message alongside images of lethal weapons. Another account, ‘team_nagara_900’, allegedly shared a threatening post targeting activist Bharath Kumdelu, tagging additional pages such as KARAVALI-OFFICIAL.

Several other accounts — including ‘immu_bhai.fan’, ‘target_boy_900’, ‘kings_of_manglore’, ‘team_target_boys.900’, ‘arshad_mangalore’, ‘target_ka19_ullal’, ‘team_target__’, ‘troll_tigersz_900’, ‘tr_group_900’, and ‘team_target_900’ — are also under scrutiny for spreading similar inflammatory material, police said.

Authorities have urged citizens, especially young social media users, to report suspicious pages and avoid engaging with groups that glorify violence or threaten individuals. Online hate can quickly escalate into real-world harm, and police stress that sharing or promoting such content can attract legal consequences.

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Elusive bamboo shrimp resurfaces in Mangaluru estuary after 70 years

News Network

December 7,2025

Mangaluru, Dec 7: A rare bamboo shrimp has been rediscovered on mainland India more than 70 years after it was last reported, confirming for the first time the presence of Atyopsis spinipes in the country. The find was made by researchers from the Centre for Climate Change Studies at Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, Chennai, during surveys in Karnataka and Odisha.

The team — shrimp expert Dr S Prakash, PhD scholar K Kunjulakshmi, and Mangaluru-based researcher Maclean Antony Santos — combined field surveys, ecological assessments and DNA analysis to identify the elusive species. Their findings, published in Zootaxa, resolve decades of taxonomic confusion stemming from a 1951 report that misidentified the species as Atyopsis moluccensis without strong evidence.

The shrimp has now been confirmed at two locations: the Mulki–Pavanje estuary near Mangaluru and the Kuakhai River in Bhubaneswar. Historical specimens from the Andaman Islands, previously labelled as A. moluccensis, were also found to be misidentified and actually belong to A. spinipes.

The rediscovery began after an aquarium hobbyist in Odisha spotted a shrimp in 2022, prompting systematic surveys across Udupi, Karwar and Mangaluru. Four female specimens were collected in Mulki and one in Odisha, all genetically matching.

Researchers warn the species may exist in very small, vulnerable populations as freshwater habitats face increasing pressure from pollution, sand mining and infrastructure development. All verified specimens have been deposited with the Zoological Survey of India for future reference.

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