Kolar: Protests marked by stray incidents of stone pelting erupted during a bandh in Kolar district today over the death of an IAS officer who allegedly committed suicide, even as police said they were probing his death from "every angle".

Angry protesters in Kolar district where 35-year-old D K Ravi had taken on the sand mafia as Deputy Commissioner before being posted as Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes (Enforcement) in Bengaluru, also blocked a National Highway placing burning tyres before being chased away by police.

The house of local MLA in Kolar Varthur Prakash was stoned but police rushed and dispersed the protesters, police said.

Ravi, who had taken on the sand and land mafia, had allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan in his room at his official flat here yesterday after returning home from office in the morning.

The protesters, including some political leaders, are demanding a CBI probe into what they allege is the mysterious death of Ravi, who on his posting in Bengaluru had taken on the land mafia cracking down on them for tax evasion.

Bengaluru Police Commissioner M N Reddi said that forensically, medically and examination of the situation all point to "prima facie understanding of a suicide."

He said Ravi was a "bold officer" and it was natural for people to think he was not a person to have committed suicide.

But, he added, "let us wait for the medical report...no single angle will be untouched.... every angle will be covered."

"We have not found any suicide note as of now and prima facie, we don't see any room for foul play," he said.

Reddi said police would examine the CCTV footage from the apartment complex and analyse Ravi's mobile records.

Ravi, a Karnataka cadre officer of 2009 batch, who had taken on the sand mafia as Deputy Commissioner of Kolar district, had struck a chord with the people for being an honest and responsive officer.

He was posted as Additional Commissioner of Commercial Taxes in October from Kolar which had then evoked strong protests from the local people.

Police have announced a special investigation team, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-East) Rohini Katoch, who is a medical doctor by qualification, to probe the case. 

Katoch is being assisted by forensic, medical and regular police teams specially selected for it.

Apprehending trouble, the Department of Pre-University Education has postponed the mathematics and geography examinations scheduled for today to March 28.

As the Legislative Assembly met for the day today, senior BJP leaders Jagadish Shettar and Suresh Kumar demanded a CBI probe into the death of Ravi.

Kumar,speaking to reporters earlier,said though he has a lot of respect for state investigation agencies, in this case, it has become mandatory that it should be handed over to CBI.

Former Chief Minister and Karnataka JDS President H D Kumaraswamy said the officer had taken some bold decisions against powerful and influential builders and sand mafia.
He also said that Ravi had taken on the sand mafia when he was Deputy Commissioner of Kolar District and even after his transfer to Bengaluru, he received threat calls.

Ravi also was instrumental in clearing encroachments on government land.

Regional Transport Authority convenes fresh meeting on Thursday
The impasse over the revised autorickshaw fares in Dakshina Kannada district appears to get settled with the Regional Transport Authority (RTA) convening another meeting on February 19. While the minimum fare is likely to remain at Rs. 20 as notified on January 9, the per km fare is likely to be at Rs. 14 as against Rs. 13 ordered by the RTA.

Ever since the RTA notified the revised fares following steep reduction in fuel prices, autorickshaw operators in the district had been defiant. Holding protests and a three-day strike, the operators also knocked the doors of the High Court and district in-charge Minister B. Ramanath Rai. The impasse continued with operators unwilling to adopt the revised fares, putting passengers into discomfort.

The Forum For Justice, Mangaluru, which had threatened to launch agitation against arrogant autorickshaw drivers, appears to have succeeded in brokering peace between the operators and general public. Its president Dayanath Kotian told that the Forum spoke to all the concerned operators, the Deputy Commissioner who is also the RTA Chairman, and Mr. Rai, and informed them that Rs. 20 minimum fare was commercially feasible. At the same time, it said the per km fare may be fixed at Rs. 14. He said the Mangaluru Autorickshaw Drivers Union, non-political group with a high following, was with the forum.

After taking all into confidence, the forum and union members met Deputy Commissioner A.B. Ibrahim on Monday and conveyed the compromise formula. Mr. Ibrahim said he alone could not take the decision and hence convened the RTA meeting, Mr. Kotian said.

Mangaluru:Communist Party of India (Marxist), led by the party’s Lok Sabha member from Tripura (East) Jitendra Chaudhury, took out a jatha and burnt a copy of the ordinance on land acquisition promulgated by the Narendra Modi government “to favour the corporates.”

Mr. Chaudhury told a public meeting earlier that the ordinance had to be opposed as it would affect the livelihoods of the peasantry by taking away their lands at a time when they needed more land to protect their livelihood.

The ordinance took away all the safeguards of the amendments introduced by the previous government such as seeking ensuring consent by majority of the farmers’ families losing land for projects.

Mr. Chaudhury also sought the formation of a new committee of experts and engaging with local people and adivasis – whom he described as natural custodians of the environment – to evolve a wide-based alternative strategy to manage the environment. He sought withdrawal of the Kasturirangan report.

He also assailed the proposed Environment Law Management Act, which he said would repeal many other Acts including the Forest Rights Act, 2005 that had granted certain rights to forest dwellers.

He alleged that the governments had been adopting a double standard on the issue. While on the one hand they spoke about protecting environment through plans such as the ones on the Western Ghats, on the other hand they (both the BJP and previous UPA governments) were diluting provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972, and Forest (Conservation) Act, 1980, he said.

For example, the Forest Rights Act allowed allotment of up to four hectares of land for forest dwellers, but this was being diluted.

He urged people to come together against such actions and compel the Government against it.

Passenger services on Mumbai's Central Railways line between Kalyan and Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus were disrupted on Friday, following violent protests near the Diva railway station.

According to media reports, agitated passengers stepped on to the railway tracks after trains services were hampered when a pantograph of a local train broke near Thakurli station, near Kalyan.


The police resorted to lathi charge to disperse the protestors who were pelting stones. In retaliation, one police vehicle was also torched.


Meanwhile, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has appealed to the people to stay calm.

"Police is taking all steps to restore peace," Minister of State for Home Ranjit Patil said.

"The CM is monitoring the situation every five minutes. He has spoken to Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu," he added.

Bantwal: Members of Social Democratic Party of India, Bantwal division staged a protest demanding the resignation of purasabha President taking responsibility of the failure of congress administration in the purasabha. On Saturday December 27 members of SDPI organised a protest march from Kaikamba in BC Road to purasabha office and shouted slogans against purasabha President.

Speaking to the gathering Koosappa, district vice president of SDPI and leader of Dalit sangharsha samiti said, congress administration is lodging cases against the people who seek justice. They are using purasabha president as their puppets and hence there is no chance of getting justice.

There is no cleanliness in many wards of Bantwal. Purasabha has completely failed in maintaining the cleanliness in the region. Drainage water is running on the road in Parlia, rat fever is affecting the people of Pallamajalu, administration is responsible for the death of auto driver Vishwanath protesters accused.

They also demanded a compensation of Rs. 2 lakh for the family of Vishwanath who died of rat fever. Dalit leader Anand Mithabail, Purasabha members Munish, Ali, Iqbal, Mumtaz, SDPI district committee members Yusuf Aladka, district General Secretary Riyaz, Shahul Hameed S.H were present.

Mangaluru:  Workers of BJP district unit protested against urban development minister Vinaya Kumar Sorake on Monday December 22 over the issue of non-appointment of a commissioner to Mangalore City Corporation for the past six months.

Sorake was supposed to arrive in the city to attend a private function at a hotel. On receiving the news of Sorkae’s visit BJP members gathered in front of their party's office at PVS and began to protest showing black flags against the minister. However, Sorake cancelled his visit.

"From the past six months we have been demanding the appointment of MCC commissioner, but the government has failed to act on it. Hence, wherever and whenever Sorake comes to Mangaluru, we will protest by waving black flags” said Premanand Shetty,the opposition leader in MCC.

  He also said that due to internal clash in the Congress party, the appointment of Commissioner has been delayed. Bunder and Barke police rushed to the spot and detained few protesters. But soon other BJP members gathered and the protest turned chaotic. The police rounded up around 25-30 persons and took them away in vans. BJP members including Monappa Bhandary, Kishore Kumar, Vedavyasa Kamath and many others were part of the protest.

 

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Germany: A record 15,000 people marched in eastern Germany against "asylum cheats" and the country's "Islamisation" in the latest show of strength of a growing far-right populist movement. Chancellor Angela Merkel earlier cautioned Germans against falling prey to xenophobic "rabble-rousing", reacting to the nascent movement called "Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident" or PEGIDA.

"The people are with us!," the group's founder Lutz Bachmann shouted at the crowd, celebrating a 50-percent rise in attendance since their last "Monday demonstration" in a series of rallies that started only in October.

"Everywhere now, in every news rag, on every senseless talkshow, they are debating, and the most important thing is: the politicians can no longer ignore us!" Bachmann told the mass of people, many waving the black-red-gold national flag.

"We have shown by taking another 'little stroll', and by growing in numbers, that we're on the right path, and that slowly, very slowly, something is beginning to change in this country," Bachmann bellowed to loud cheers yesterday.

Since the protests have rapidly grown in size and spawned smaller clones in half a dozen cities, a debate about immigration and refugees has gripped Germany, a country whose Nazi past makes expressions of xenophobia especially troubling.

Politicians have been stunned by the emergence in the city of Dresden of the nationalists who march against what they consider a broken immigration and asylum system and who vent deep anger at the political class and mainstream media.

The demonstrations have flared at a time when Germany, Europe's biggest economy, has become the continent's top destination for asylum seekers, and the world's number two destination for migrants after the United States.

The influx of refugees from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and several African and Balkan countries has strained local governments, which have scrambled to house the newcomers in old schools, office blocks and army barracks.

One demonstrator, Michael Stuerzenberger, said he does not oppose asylum for refugees but asserted that "70 percent of people claiming political asylum here are economic refugees. We don't want to stay silent about this anymore."

"We don't want a flood of asylum seekers, we don't want Islamisation. We want to keep our country with our values. Is that so terrible? Does that make us Nazis? Is it a crime to be a patriot?"

While several known neo-Nazis have been spotted in the PEGIDA crowds, the rallies have been dominated not by jackbooted men with shorn heads but by disenchanted citizens who voice a string of grievances.

Udupi: Banning of Kambala, (the traditional bull race) by Supreme Court is not right. Kambala is an integral part of Tulu culture and tradition. Hence discussion is on to stage protest against the court order in front of the DC office said Belapu Deviprasad Shetty, President of Aikala Kambala committee.

Speaking to the media persons on Wednesday November 26 Shetty said that the decision of the Apex court to ban kambala is not right. Tulu people must protest against this. Many kambalas have been organised in South Kanara and Udupi. The order of the Apex court will affect the organizers badly said Deviprasad Shetty.