Doctors halt OPD services amid nationwide strike over Kolkata rape-murder

Bengaluru, Aug 28: Amid rumours that he may be the new Chief Minister, Karnataka Home Minister and prominent leader from the Dalit community G. Parameshwara said on Wednesday that he is a disciplined soldier of Congress and whenever the party gave him an opportunity he delivered honestly.

The statement comes amid speculation that he may be made the Chief Minister in case of the growing legal troubles of CM Siddaramaiah. The rumours have gained weight after Parameshwara met Rahul Gandhi in Delhi on August 23.

However, Parameshwara refuted the speculation saying, “The question of me becoming the Chief Minister does not arise at all...That question won’t arise and I will not answer any such question,” he stated. When asked about his separate meeting with Rahul Gandhi, he said, “Rahul Gandhi had spoken to me separately and it is true. However, the media can’t speculate about the subject matter. I am also a Congress’ disciplined soldier. Whenever the party gave me an opportunity to work, I did it with full honesty. Rahul Gandhi has spoken to me about the matters of the party. There was no discussion as such.”

Talking about the pending court’s verdict on the prosecution against CM Siddaramaiah on Thursday, he stated, “We are hoping that the court in any way won’t consider the Governor’s decision because no material is there to substantiate. There is nothing to prove CM Siddaramaiah’s involvement such as his signatures, orders, involvement and his name is not there in the registration. When this is the case, the court will observe all this and give its verdict.”

“We will stand with CM Siddaramaiah as the high command has announced. The development can’t be predicted. The high command is of the opinion that once the court's decision comes, the future course of action would be discussed,” he stated.

When asked about the Congress government approaching the Supreme Court against the Governor for sending back 11 bills, Parameshwara stated, “The legal team is verifying on approaching the Supreme Court regarding the sending back of 11 bills by the Governor. We will have to see about that. We will first send the bills back to the Governor with the clarifications he had sought. If he is not satisfied, we will have to approach the President for that matter as well.”

Asked whether the Governor will heed to the demands of the Congress party, Parameshwara stated, “It is a different matter whether the Governor will oblige the demands of the Congress party. There is a need to organise the agitations ... Tomorrow one might state that if the legislators had to meet and brief him about the situation, he would have taken a different call. We want to explore the opportunity as well.”

Answering a question on BJP planning to stage protests at the national level, he said, “If they are planning a national level agitation, then we will also have to organise the protests at the national level. The high command will decide whether the Congress party alone is going to stage the agitation or it will be staged through the INDIA bloc. If BJP takes it to the national level, we will also certainly do it.”

On the issue of land allotment by the Karnataka Industrial Development Board (KIADB) to Minister for RDPR and IT and BT Priyank Kharge, Parameshwara stated, “Let the Governor examine the complaint and if there is anything against the law, let him take appropriate action. The application was submitted for the land allotment for a project. Anyone can make the submission after coming up with a company, project report and investment. The land will be allotted.”

Indian wrestler Vinesh Phogat on Friday joined the Congress ahead of the upcoming Haryana Assembly polls and will be the candidate from Julana. Along with Phogat, Bajrang Punia also joined the party.

Meanwhile, Former Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh took a jibe at the wrestlers saying, "God has punished them for cheating."

"Haryana is the crown of India in the field of sports. And they stopped the wrestling activities for almost 2.5 years. Is it not true that Bajrang went to the Asian Games without trials? I want to ask those who are experts in wrestling. I want to ask Vinesh Phogat whether a player can give trials in 2 weight categories in a day? Can the trials be stopped for 5 hours after the weigh-in?... You did not win the wrestling, you went there by cheating. God has punished you for the same, " Brij Bhushan said, as reported by ANI.

Additionally he also called out Congress leader Bhupinder Hooda.

"I am not guilty of disrespecting daughters. If anyone is guilty of disrespecting daughters, it is Bajrang and Vinesh. And the one who wrote the script, Bhupinder Hooda is responsible for that. If they (BJP) will ask me (to campaign in the Haryana polls), I can go. One day Congress will have to regret it...," he said.

Both Phogat and Punia met Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence before officially joining the party at an event at headquarters in the presence of General Secretary (Organisation) K C Venugopal.

Vinesh Phogat, who defied several odds to make the final of the women’s freestyle 50 kg event of the Paris Olympics, was disqualified after being overweight by a few grams.

Now, Olympians Phogat and Bajrang Punia, who were at the forefront of the wrestlers' protest against former WFI chief and BJP leader Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh last year, entered the political arena on Friday by joining the Congress with a vow of "not being scared or backing off".

Hours after joining the Congress, Punia was appointed as the working chairman of the All India Kisan Congress. It seems unlikely now that he would be fielded in the polls.

The 90-member Haryana Assembly is scheduled to go to polls on October 5 and the counting of votes will be undertaken on October 8.

Mangaluru: The Unicode Consortium has announced the inclusion of Tulu script in its latest version, Unicode 16. This update adds 80 characters to the Unicode Standard, marking a significant milestone for the Tulu-speaking community.

According to officials, the journey to this achievement began in 2001 when a member of the Unicode Consortium helped fix the Kannada script in Unicode and simultaneously advocated for the inclusion of Tulu.

Despite initial misunderstandings with the Tulu Academy in Mangaluru, the groundwork was laid for future developments. Initially, three Tulu experts had worked on the subject, including S A Krishnaiah, a Tulu scholar.

"In 2014, efforts to create a Tulu Wikipedia gained momentum, leading to its launch on August 6, 2016. By 2017, the Tulu Academy recognised the need for Tulu Unicode, forming a committee to finalise the characters with technical guidance. Concurrently, another proposal for the Tilari script was submitted," Krishnaiah said.

After extensive correspondence, the script was officially added to Unicode under the name Tulu-Tigalari. While there are minor differences between the Tulu Academy's list and the finalised Unicode version, most characters have been included. Notably, Tulu digits and some diacritic marks necessary for writing Sanskrit in Tulu script were added, he said.

According to him, the inclusion of the Tulu script in Unicode will have a significant positive impact on digital communication for Tulu speakers, including enhanced digital presence. Tulu speakers can now use their native script across various digital platforms, including social media, websites, and messaging apps, fostering a stronger online presence.

The availability of Tulu in Unicode will facilitate the creation of educational materials, such as textbooks and online courses, in the Tulu script, supporting language learning and literacy, he said.

The development of Unicode-encoded fonts, keyboard software, and converters will streamline the use of Tulu in digital communication, making it easier for users to type and share information in their native script, he said.

Being part of the Unicode Standard gives Tulu global recognition, encouraging more software and application developers to support the script, thereby increasing its usability and visibility, the Tulu scholar said.

Overall, this will empower Tulu speakers to communicate more effectively and confidently in their language, both locally and globally.

It is estimated that over 1.8 million people worldwide speak Tulu. Most Tulu speakers live in the coastal areas of Karnataka and Kerala, India, in regions known as Tulu Nadu. There are also Tulu speakers in the Gulf countries and the United States, he said.

Tulu is a Dravidian language and is related to Kannada, the official language of Karnataka. Tulu has a rich oral tradition, but there isn't much written in the language. Tulu's script is similar to Malayalam and originated from the Grantha script.

A long-drawn fight is ongoing to include Tulu in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. The Dravidian University at Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh has a special Tulu chair, he added.