Mixed response to Karnataka shutdown, as BJP, Congress spar over bills

News Network
September 29, 2020

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Bengaluru, Sep 29: The day-long shutdown by the farmers and others on Monday evoked mixed response in Karnataka amid tight security, even as the ruling BJP and opposition Congress sparred over the bills to amend the APMC Act and the Land Reforms Act.

“The shutdown was mixed but peaceful, barring a few stray incidents. The shutdown evoked good response in the old Mysuru (southern) region, partial in Malnad but tepid in coastal and northern regions across the state,” a home ministry official told IANS here.

In the Bengaluru, hundreds of farmers, pro-Kannada activists, labourers, workers and trade union members staged a massive demonstration at Town Hall in the city centre and a held a protest rally to Freedom Park, shouting slogans against the state and Central governments for its ‘anti-farmer’ bills.

“About 300 protesters were detained at the Mysuru Bank circle in the city centre when they tried to block vehicular traffic and force shops and eateries to shut,” a police officer said.

Farmers’ leaders Kodihalli Chandrashekar and Kurburu Shanth Kumar and Kannada Rakshana Vedike President Narayan Gowda addressed the gathering at Town Hall and Freedom Park, urging the state government to withdraw the bills passed in the state legislature on Saturday, as they were against the farmers and the rural people.

Heavy police deployment thwarted some protesters from taking out a bike rally from Town Hall to Freedom Park to prevent disruption to vehicular traffic in the central business district on the first working day of the week.

Though normal life was not disrupted in this tech hub, as pubic transport services like buses and metro rail operated normally and government and private offices reopened after the holiday on Sunday, there were not many customers in shops and eateries across the city.

Hundreds of farmers and protesters blocked vehicular traffic on Bengaluru-Mysuru state highway at Ramanagara, Chennapatna and Mandya but were whisked away to clear the stranded vehicles later.

While farmers were allowed to stage protest rallies and demonstrations in cities and towns across the state peacefully, the police prevented them from disrupting normal life, close shops or disturb movement of buses.

Though intra and inter-state bus services were not suspended, their frequency was curtailed, as commuters were less than on a normal working day, even as the protesters raised slogans, burnt effigies and held banners against the ‘anti-farmer’ bills.

The shutdown call got mixed to poor response in Dakshina Kannada, Udupi, Uttara Kannada, Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkote, Kalaburagi and Bidar in the state’s coastal and northern regions.

In Kalaburagi, bus services were withdrawn, as farmer associations and pro-Kannada outfits staged a protest at the central bus stand.

“Though there were commuters at the bus stand, the services were withdrawn as a precautionary measure,” a state transport official said.

In Bidar, farmers alleged that the BJP government in the state and the NDA government in the Centre were neglecting them and helping corporates to exploit them by buying their produce at lower prices.

The state-wide bandh call got poor response in Malnad region, including Shivamogga, which is Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyiurappa’s home district, and Bhadarvati.

Unfazed by the protests and shutdown, Yediyurappa told reporters here that he would tour the state and explain to the farmers the benefits of the amended APMC Act and the Land Reforms Act.

“The Congress is conspiring with the protesters and using the gullible farmers to oppose the bills. I invited them (farmer leaders) for talks, but the talks failed due to the machination of the Congress. I am not sitting here to enjoy power but to help the farmers. These bills will change their lives forever,” the Chief Minister said.

Upset with the farmers terming him as “son of corporates and not son of the soil”, Yediyurappa said he was not the one to stick to power by cheating farmers.

Reiterating that the bills would help eliminate middle-men from agri-business, the Chief Minister told the farmers wait for at least eight months to a year to reap the benefits of the bills.

Congress leader and former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, however, dared the Chief Minister to prove how the new laws enacted by the Parliament and the state Assembly were beneficial to farmers.

“Let Yediyurappa dissolve the assembly and face elections on the amended laws. The people will defeat him and the BJP,” Siddaramaiah said in a statement here.

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Agencies
March 24,2025

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The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has warned that the tight Israeli blockade on the entry of humanitarian supplies into the Gaza Strip is pushing the coastal territory closer to an acute hunger crisis.

Philippe Lazzarini made the remarks in a social media post, in which he noted that the siege, which is preventing food, medicines, water and fuel from entering the region, has lasted longer than what was in place in the first phase of the war.

Israel has banned the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza since March 4, following the expiry of the first phase of a ceasefire and an agreement with Hamas resistance movement on the exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners.

Lazzarini warned that Gaza’s population depends on imports via Israeli-occupied territories for their survival.

“Every day that passes without the entry of aid means more children go to bed hungry, diseases spread & deprivation deepens,” he said.

“Every day without food inches Gaza closer to an acute hunger crisis,” the UNRWA chief noted.

Lazzarini described the banning of aid as a collective punishment on Gaza’s population – the vast majority of which are children, women and ordinary men.

He called for the siege to be lifted and for humanitarian aid and commercial supplies to be brought into Gaza “uninterrupted and at scale.”

Backed by the United States and its Western allies, Israel launched the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, after the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas carried out Operation Al-Aqsa Flood against the Israeli regime in response to its decades-long campaign of oppression against Palestinians.

The regime’s bloody onslaught on Gaza has so far killed at least 50,021 Palestinians, mostly women and children, and injured 113,274 others. Thousands more are also missing and presumed dead under the rubble.

On November 21 last year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former minister of military affairs Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its deadly war on the blockaded coastal sliver.

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Agencies
March 28,2025

Udupi: Deputy Commissioner K. Vidya Kumari has directed officials to expedite land acquisition for designated industrial zones in the district to facilitate new industries. She issued these instructions during a meeting at Rajatadri on Wednesday.

Lands have been identified across various taluks for industrial development. The DC emphasized that KIADB must acquire these lands and ensure essential infrastructure—electricity, roads, and drainage—to attract industries and generate employment.

A total of 77 acres of private land has been acquired and compensated, including 31.2 acres in Kerebettu village, Hebri taluk, and 45.7 acres in Shivapura village. However, approval for 36.5 acres of government land is still pending. She instructed the forest department to assess whether this land falls under an eco-sensitive zone.

For the Belapu Industrial Area, the DC urged officials to accelerate minor land acquisitions for road expansion and commence construction at the earliest. She also mandated rainwater harvesting systems for all units in the Miyaru Industrial Area to tackle water scarcity.

Currently, 22 export-based units operate in the district. The DC encouraged further promotion of exports and an increase in their number.

The meeting was attended by Joint Director of Industries Nagraj V. Naik, KIADB Development Officer Srinivasa Murthy, Small-Scale Industries Association District President Harish Kunder, Deputy Director of the District Industrial Center Seetharam Shetty, District Skill Development Officer Arun B., and others.

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Agencies
March 26,2025

The airstrikes led by the United States have killed at least 25 civilians in Yemen over the past week, marking the deadliest week of bombing on the country since the final months of the Washington-backed Saudi war in January 2022.

In a report released on Tuesday, the Yemen Data Project said the 25 civilians were the victims of 38 US-led aerial assaults on March 15-21, adding that 28 people were also injured in the attacks.

The independent tracker also said that 21 out of the 38 US air raids hit non-military, civilian targets.

“Civilian targets hit included: a medical storage facility, a medical center, a school, a wedding hall, residential areas, a cotton gin facility, a health office, Bedouin tents, and Al-Eiman University,” it said.

The deadliest US strike in the first week of US bombing campaign struck a residential area in Yemen’s northwestern Sa'ada province, killing 10 civilians and wounding 11 others, among them children.

The US began bombing Yemen on March 15, a few days after Yemen resumed its operation against Israeli-linked ships in response to Israel’s Gaza aid blockade that violated a ceasefire with the Hamas resistance group.

The Yemeni Armed Forces began their anti-Israel naval campaign in November 2023, a month after the occupying regime waged a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip.

The Yemeni forces halted their attacks in solidarity with the Palestinians in January, when Israel accepted a three-phase Gaza ceasefire.

Two months later, however, Israel unilaterally broke the Gaza truce and resumed its brutal onslaught on the besieged territory.

On Tuesday, Yemeni media reported 17 US strikes on Sa'ada and two more on the nearby 'Amran province.

The reports said American warplanes carried out "aggressive air raids... causing material damage to citizens' property," but gave no details of casualties.

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