Udupi: Five-time MLA,  Former minister  Vasanth V Salian passed away in a hospital here on Saturday.
Sources said that Salian felt uneasiness and chest pain on Saturday evening, after which he was taken to High-Tech hospital at Ambalbady. But unfortunately he couldn't be saved and lost his life.

Salian was in Congress party for a long time and had been elected as MLA five times from Kaup constituency, and had served as state minister twice. During the last Assembly elections, he had moved himself to JD(S), and later to BJP.

He is survived by his wife and two daughters.

Hubballi: Tension was palpable in Uttur, a village in Mudhol taluk of Bagalkot district, when hundreds of farmers staged a protest in front of a sugar factory owned by horticulture minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa, along with the body of Hanumanthappa Dasar, 28, a farmer who committed suicide because he was not paid arrears by the management of the factory, on Saturday.

Dasar, from neighbouring village of Shirol, supplied 29 tons of sugarcane to the factory owned by the minister in April, but did not get arrears of Rs 52,000, forcing him to borrow from private money lenders and banks in order to repay loans taken from banks for cultivation of the crop.

He had even sold half his of 11 acre farm in order to overcome his financial problems. He had borrowed Rs 3.27 lakhs from Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank and other money lenders.

When he took the extreme step, scores of farmers marched to the factory and demanded adequate compensation to the kin of Dasar, as well as settlement of arrears of sugarcane growers who had supplied sugarcane to the factory.

They did not allow post-mortem examination of the body till evening despite the intervention of local legislator Govind Karjol and senior police officer.

“Sugarcane growers are forced to borrow from private money lenders as the sugar factory owned by minister Shamanur Shivashankarappa has failed to settle their arrears. The victim had sunk into depression after the minister made an irresponsible statement that the government cannot be held responsible for suicides of the farmers.

“He also faced harassment from money lenders who demanded that he repay his loans”, said Rachappa Kallolli, a farmers’ leader and resident of Shirol village.

Mangaluru: The Health and Family Welfare Minister, U T Khader, held a press meet at the Circuit House here, on July 11.

Addressing the mediapersons, U T Khader said that the health department has decided to make Karnataka a deaf and dumb free state. “As a pilot scheme, we have taken Dakshina Kannada district. Through this scheme, we have organized a camp to identify the affected children.” In every hospital, children will checked for any hearing problems and this will be mandatory in all the hospitals. The test will be done as soon as the child is born instead of waiting for the child to grow and the parents to notice the hearing problem.

“Under this scheme, we have identified 120 children and we will distribute the necessary equipment free of cost. If using the equipment does not give favorable results, surgery will be done. We had identified 13 children from the district who required surgery. Out of the 13, 10 children have already undergone surgery while the parents of 2 children refused to do surgery and one child has some health issues. All the 13 children are below 5 years of age.”

Every newborn child will be tested for hearing problems and if found positive, they will be operated when they are 8 months old. He said that parents should come forward to carry out the test. Surgery with the cochlear implant will cost around Rs 10 to 12 lakh; the central government will provide Rs 3 lakh and the state government Rs 1.5 to 2 lakh. A child having hearing problem will undergo surgery free of cost.

“Mostly when the child is born, we do not check them. When they grow, we will realise the problem that the child faces. To prevent such a situation, we have made the hearing test compulsory in all the hospitals. The government will provide equipment to all hospitals. The Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has implemented ‘Assistance to Disabled Persons Scheme (ADIP)’. Under the scheme, 1000 implants will be done in the current year. Children whose parents earn below Rs 15000 per month are eligible under this scheme.”

Speaking on the occasion Padmashree awardee Prof (Dr) J M Hans explained about the Cochlear implant, which is a small, complex electronic device that can help to provide a sense of sound to a person who is profoundly deaf or severely hard-of-hearing. The implant consists of an external portion that sits behind the ear and a second portion that is surgically placed under the skin; a microphone, which picks up sound from the environment; a speech processor, which selects and arranges sounds picked up by the microphone; a transmitter and receiver/stimulator, which receive signals from the speech processor and converts them into electric impulses; an electrode array, which is a group of electrodes that collects the impulses from the stimulator and sends them to different regions of the auditory nerve. “An implant does not restore normal hearing. Instead, it can give a deaf person a useful representation of sounds in the environment and help him or her to understand speech,” he said.

ENT/ Otalaryngologist Manasa Neuropsychiatric Hospital Dr Vasanthi Anand speaking on the occasion said, “So far, we have done 50 implants for children below 5 years and all the children are healthy and have responded well. People do not know about cochlear implant; in this regard, awareness is very much important and the media should play a vital role in spreading it. Parents should come forward and co-operate with the doctors to carry out the implant. Some parents are afraid to send their children for surgery. If the surgery is done below the age of 5, the child will respond very well. If the problem will be diagnosed early, the child can undergo surgery when it reach 8 months and there will be no need to send any child to a deaf and dumb school. Infact, we do not need such schools for our children if we diagnose the problem at an early stage”, she said.

Khader also said that the Chief Minister will release 150 additional 108 ambulances to replace the old ones. He also said, “When the sessions were going on, Kota Srinivas Poojary staged a protest outside my office. Why does he not stage a protest when people work for a salary of Rs 1500 to Rs 3000 salary in the Gram Panchayat? Why is he not fighting for them to get more salary? NRHM staff are not permanent and they work on a contract basis. We have increased their salary from Rs 5800 to 10500 but Kota Srinivas is demanding Rs 17250 for contract nurses which is not possible.”

Dr Hans and Dr Vasanthi Anand were felicitated by U T Khader with a shawl, memento and garland for their yeomen service. Dr Rajeshwari, Dr Ramakrishna Rao, District Lions Government Kavitha Shastri, Audiologists Prathivi and Rexy were also present.

Uttar Pradesh: Uttar Pradesh Minister Totaram Yadav on Saturday ignited controversy by saying that rapes happen with mutual consent.

"There is nothing like rape. Rapes happen with mutual consent," he told reporters.

His comment drew instant flak from activists and other leaders who termed it shameful and deplorable.

"UP Minister Totaram Yadav's statement is deplorable and shameful. But I think this is his party-line because other leaders of his party have also made such statement," said lawyer and activist Abha Singh.

Meanwhile, Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Gaurav Bhatia said the party and the state government had taken cognizance of the statement and assured appropriate action against Yadav.

"The party and the government have taken cognizance of the statement and appropriate action will be taken. I would just like to clarify that he is not a Minister in the UP government as of now," said Bhatia.

Agra: Angered for allegedly being winked at by the gunner of a Samajwadi Party leader at a traffic light in Agra, a 23-year-old woman jumped on top of the leader’s car.

Sadhvi Pandey, smashed the car’s windshield, also tearing off the party flag for being eve-teased. 

In the 2-minute video that has gone viral, Sadhvi is seen leaving her scooty and climbing up the leader’s car.

She then challenges Abhinav Sharma and the body guard to face her.

According to reports, the incident took place on Sunday when she along with her sister was going to see a doctor.

Waynad: The lone woman minister in the Congress led UDF Ministry in Kerala, P K Jayalakshmi, today married a farmer in a traditional Hindu tribal ritual.

The much-talked about wedding of the minister, handling the portfolio of Welfare of Scheduled tribes and Youth Affairs, was held at her ancestral home at Mambayil near Valadu here as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan and her cabinet colleagues looked on.

After the traditional 'Kurichiya' tribal rituals in the morning, Jayalakshmi, dressed in a silk saree, touched the feet of both Chandy and Achuthanandan and sought their blessings.
The groom C A Anilkumar, clad in a white shirt and 'mundu', tied a 'thali' (mangalasutra) around her neck and both of them exchanged jasmine garlands as their parents and relatives showered blessings.

The wedding turned out to be a major event in the northern Kerala district. Several ministers, including Ramesh Chennithala, K C Joseph and Speaker N Sakthan were among those present.

The event was telecast live by regional television channels as this is the first wedding of a minister held recently. Decades ago, K R Gowri, a firebrand communist leader, had got married to T V Thomas, also a minister. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had got married to Mariamma while he was a minister in 1977.

Jayalakshmi, in her early thirties, is a first time MLA of Congress and was elected to assembly from Mananthavady (SC) segment.Anil Kumar (36) is the grand nephew of the bride's father Kunhaman.A marriage feast was also arranged for the guests at the wedding venue.

Bantwala: Minister Ramanath Rai visited the the Kodanda Rama Hanumanta Garuda Katyayani Temple which is built Near Narikombu.

The estimated cost of construction is 1 crores. Managing Committee president N.Purushottam Bangera, ZP member Mamata S Gatti, KDP member Umesh Bolantur and others were present.

Dubai: His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, yesterday received a copy of the book, “The Mirage”, authored by Jamal Sanad Al Suwaidi.
He received the copy during a meeting with shaikhs, ministers, dignitaries and heads of government organisations and members of the business community in the country.
Al Suwaidi, Director-General of the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR), presented the copy of his recently released book to Shaikh Mohammad during the meeting.
The book revolves around the main idea of political mirage promoted by religious political groups among Arab and Muslim nations.