Youth falls to death from moving bus in Mangaluru

Bengaluru, Sept 11: The federation of private transport associations have called off the ‘Bangalore Bandh’ after Karnataka government assured to fulfil their promises. From the morning, the private transport system was halted as cabs, taxis and other private buses stopped operating across the IT capital.

The major demand of the unions is to extend the government's Shakti scheme to even the private players in the state as they are severely hit by the free transport scheme to women. The government has already said that it is practically not possible to extend the Shakti scheme to private buses.

The auto unions have also demanded a ban on bike taxis in Karnataka, which is affecting their livelihood. The government said that it must seek a legal opinion on their bike taxi ban demand. Welfare board for drivers, insurance for auto drivers and lifetime tax on commercial goods vehicles are among the other demands. A total of 30 demands were presented to the transport department by the unions in previous meetings.

Earlier, transport unions had held discussions with state transport minister Ramalinga Reddy on July 24, just three days before they initially scheduled a protest for July 27.

However, Reddy had then said that he will take it to the notice of the chief minister and discuss the issues with him. After not hearing back from the government, the associations decided to go on a strike for a day on September 11. After minister Ramalinga Reddy promised the fulfillment of demands, the bandh was called off on Monday afternoon. 

Toronto, Sept 22: Canada on Friday said that acts of aggression, hate, intimidation or incitement of fear have no place in the country amid the circulation of an online video in which Hindu Canadians are told to leave the country.

Public Safety Canada, the department responsible for matters of public safety, emergency management, national security, and emergency preparedness, said the circulation of the video is offensive and hateful and is an affront to all Canadians and "the values we hold dearly".

"There is no place in Canada for hate," it said in a post on X.

"Acts of aggression, hate, intimidation or incitement of fear have no place in this country and only serve to divide us. We urge all Canadians to respect one another and follow the rule of law. Canadians deserve to feel safe in their communities," it added.

The video was circulated amid tensions flared between India and Canada following Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's explosive allegations of the "potential" involvement of Indian agents in the killing of Khalistani extremist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on his country's soil on June 18 in British Columbia. India had designated Nijjar as a terrorist in 2020.

India angrily rejected the allegations as "absurd" and "motivated" and expelled a senior Canadian diplomat in a tit-for-tat move to Ottawa's expulsion of an Indian official over the case.

Bengaluru, Sept 9: The fresh announcement of alliance between BJP and JD(S) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections shows that the JD(S) has no ideology and it does anything for power, opined Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.

"When I termed JD(S) as a 'B team' of the BJP, they used to be angry with me. H D Deve Gowda had said that there would be no alliance with any party at any cost. Now, G T Devegowda is saying that they are going for the alliance for the survival of their party. They have put 'secular' in their party's name and are joining hands with communalists. It shows that they have no ideology, and they do anything for power," he said.

In the wake of his admirers saying that Siddaramaiah can become the prime minister, he clarified that he would not enter national politics. "Anybody can become anything in democracy. They have just expressed their opinion. Narendra Modi directly became the Gujarat Chief Minister, and then the Prime Minister. But, I will not join national politics," he noted.

"I just speak on issues, and not just for the sake of criticising anybody or attacking Narendra Modi, Siddaramaiah said.