Bangalore news live: Karnataka reports 622 new Covid-19 cases, 3 deaths

In a twist to the alleged sex-for-job scandal in Karnataka, social activist Dinesh Kallahalli on Sunday said he would withdraw his police complaint against BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi, which had led to his resignation. Dinesh Kallahalli said he will withdraw the complaint as he was hurt by allegations of a Rs 5 crore deal, levelled by JDS leader H D Kumaraswamy. However, the activist's laywer said there were some technical probelms due to which the decision was taken.

Former Karnataka CM H D Kumaraswamy on Sunday said bringing petroleum products within the ambit of GST would be a death knell for the states. In a series of tweets in Kannada, the JD(S) second- in-command opposed the attempts to include fuel in GST and appealed to Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa not to allow this to happen as it would dry the state's resources.

A five-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by a 60-year-old man who was in an inebriated condition in the early hours of Saturday in a village in Hassan district. The accused, George, was hired by the girl’s parents to work as a cleaner at their restaurant three months ago. Sakleshpur deputy superintendent of police BR Gopi said: “George was quite drunk, and the girl’s parents asked him to retire to bed. However, he crept inside the girl’s room and abused her.”

Protests, pandemonium and disruptions, which have become a norm during state legislature sessions in recent times, happen at the cost of taxpayers’ money. The first two days of the budget session of the assembly, which began on Thursday, were completely washed out following a protest by the opposition Congress seeking revocation of suspension of MLA BK Sangameshwara and opposing the debate on ‘one nation, one election’. READ FULL STORY

Four Karnataka districts have reported fewer than 10,000 Covid-19 cases each since the pandemic began a year ago, demonstrating effective strategies to limit the spread. Three of them are border districts and see interstate movement of people and goods, which makes their lower infection tallies even more impressive. The four districts are Kodagu (6,172 Covid cases), Chamarajanagar (6,990), Ramanagara (7,436) and Bidar (7,589). Overall, Karnataka has recorded more than 9.5 lakh positive cases. Senior health officials said that localised prevention efforts had helped the four districts keep the infection numbers in check.

The opposition JD(S) on Saturday urged chief minister BS Yediyurappa to drop all six ministers who moved court to restrain media from airing or publishing any defamatory content against them. Former minister Sa Ra Mahesh wanted to know why they are seeking judicial intervention. Opposition leader in the assembly and former chief minister Siddaramaiah said: “I feel sad that politics has reached this stage.”

Bhadravathi Congress MLA BK Sangameshwara’s son Basaveshwara was arrested on charges of assaulting BJP activists during a recent kabaddi tournament. This comes two days after Speaker Vishweshwar Hedge Kageri suspended Sangameshwara, a four-time MLA from Bhadravathi, and barred him from attending the assembly till March 12 after he removed his shirt in the House to protest what he claimed was a false case against him and his son.

In the tech capital of the country, only around 15% of motorists are availing transport services online. “More than 20 transport services are available through Parivahan portal (parivahan.gov.in) of the Union ministry of transport and highways (MoRTH), but our records show only 15% of the applications approved in Bengaluru RTOs are through online,” additional commissioner of transport (e-governance and environment) Shivraj Patil said.

What type of mask should one wear if he or she is coughing? Researchers at IISc suggest wearing multilayered masks to prevent aerosol generation as these do not allow escape of droplet volume when the person coughs. The study carried out by IISc in association with scientists from UC San Diego and University of Toronto Engineering has been published in Science Advances. According to IISc, when a person coughs, large droplets (>200 microns) hit the inner surface of a mask at a high speed, penetrate the mask fabric and break up or atomise into smaller droplets, which have a greater chance of aerosolisation and thereby carry viruses like SARS-CoV2 with them. This study is important as it examines the happenings at the droplet-level and could be decisive in working out strategies to handle respiratory diseases. The researchers used a high-speed camera (images were captured at 20,000 frames per second) andtracked individual cough-like droplets impinging on single, double and multi-layered masks.

A girl student and her friend were abused and attacked with stones and slippers by three members of a family in Vinayaka Layout in Nagarbhavi on Friday night. The bone of contention: Feeding stray dogs. The incident, which has been captured on camera, has evoked mixed reactions on social media. Many condemned the attack on the animal lovers, while a few nudged the civic authorities to contain the stray dog population in the city. The issue has now reached Annapoorneshwarinagar police station with the girl, a law student, lodging a complaint. READ MORE

The high court has quashed the proceedings against Air India (AI), Airports Authority of India (AAI) and two of their officers in a criminal case registered in connection with the May 22, 2010 crash of Air India Express 812 flight at Mangaluru’s Bajpe Airport in which 158 passengers lost lives. Allowing the petitions filed by AI, AAI, Ansbert D Souza of AI and Peter Abraham of AAI, Justice Ashok G Nijagannavar has pointed out the probe report by the Court of Inquiry is with the Centre and other appropriate authorities and it is for them to take action. READ MORE

Passengers landing at Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) can now take bike—Harleys, Triumphs or Royal Enfields—on rent to head to their destinations. Royal Brothers, a motorcycle rental service, claimed to be the first among Indian airports, was unveiled on Friday by minister for urban development BA Byrathi Basavaraj at KIA. READ MORE

From Monday, 3,000 vaccination centres will be operational in the state, said health minister K Sudhakar. These include primary health centres and taluk and district hospitals. Karnataka, he added, plans to vaccinate 1.5 lakh people every day. READ MORE

Karnataka chief minister BS Yediyurappa on Saturday expressed grief over the death of Agricultural Scientist and Padma Bhushan awardee M Mahadevappa. "A master in the field of Agricultural Science, Mahadevappa was also admired for his service-mindedness. In his death we have lost a great agricultural scientist," Yediyurappa said in his message.

A day after half-a-dozen Karnataka ministers moved to a Bengaluru city court in connection with the recent sleaze CD case, state Health Minister K. Sudhakar said on Saturday that the state government is mulling over to bring a law to prevent the media from being misused to defame political opponents.