Mangaluru: A tiled house of Dayakar Bangera (46) has been collapsed in Maroli due to the recent rain.

Unfortunately, the family belongs to a poor background and the situation has turned worse as both the legs of Mr. Bangera has been amputated and he depends on wheel chair for all his activities. MLA J.R Lobo, who visited the spot on Wednesday, understood the pathetic condition of the house. He promised monetary support to the family for the immediate renovation of the house, with the help of government, city corporation and from his party.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lobo asked Village Accountant (VA) Raj Kumar to come to the spot and instructed to release maximum of funds under Calamity Relief Fund for the family. He also assured of funds of Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 under Kuteera Bhagya Yojane to repair house, through Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC).

MLA also said that he would collect additional funds from the party to construct the house.

Meanwhile, corporters Lancylot Pinto and Keshav Maroli, congressmen TK Sudhir, Ramanand Poojary, Krithin Kumar, Vinay Mascharenas were present.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's ruling UDF faced a new crisis on Friday as Finance Minister K.M. Mani asked his party colleague P.C. George to quit as the government's Chief Whip.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the media that Mani has in a letter to him sought George's removal as the chief whip and also barring him from attending the liaison committee meetings of the United Democratic Front.

"We have had a few rounds of discussions but no decision has been taken yet. I have to speak with other allies also. A decision will be taken soon," Chandy said.

The Kerala Congress-Mani is the third biggest ally of the UDF and has nine legislators.

On Thursday, barring George, all others met at Mani's residence and took the decision regarding George. It was conveyed in a letter to Chandy by Mani and his cabinet and party colleague P.J. Joseph.

On Friday, Chandy first spoke with George and then with Mani.

George argued that the meeting which took place at Mani's residence was null and void as he was not invited "and there was no unanimity in ousting me".

"Moreover, I am not going to be cowed down by threats and veiled attacks. Now the ball is in the court of the chief minister. So, I continue to be the chief whip and a member of Kerala Congress (Mani)," said the 64-year-old George, a six-time legislator from Poonjar in Kottayam district.

In 2003, after breaking away from another faction of the Kerala Congress, George formed his own Kerala Congress-Secular. He contested the 2006 elections as an ally of the Left Democratic Front.

Mid-way, he shifted to the UDF and in 2010 merged his party with the Kerala Congress-Mani.

But since Mani was accused of taking bribes to let liquor bars open in Kerala, George has been giving him sleepless nights. He has asked Mani to quit as a minister.

Chandy, whose government since 2011 is hanging on a slender majority in the 140-member Kerala assembly, has already lost one member, K.B. Ganesh Kumar, to the opposition.

Knowing that a disgruntled George outside the UDF will create havoc, the chief minister is engaged in a tough balancing act vis-a-vis Mani and George.

Source: IANS

Bengaluru: Home-grown chat application creator Hike Messenger is hosting 'Hikeathon', a two-day offline hack fest for engineers and mobile developers here from Saturday.

"The event will give a unique opportunity for hackers to think innovatively and find solutions on how to make the So-Lo-Mo (social-local-mobile) revolution a reality, especially in the context of messaging," Hike chief technology officer Rajat Bansal said in a statement here on Friday.

The 24-hour event is being organised on Saturday and Sunday in partnership with Venturesity, a peer learning and competition platform, which conducted hackathons for start-ups, e-commerce firms and large enterprises in the past.

About 1,000 engineers have registered for the event so far.

Three winning teams, to be selected on Sunday evening, will be awarded prizes of up to Rs.500,000 each and selected participants will be offered jobs at the Hike start-up.

"We are on a mission to bring India online, which will materialize we when hit 100 million users. All smart developers should build applications to connect the country," Bansal said.

The start-up is aiming at getting a billion people on the internet using a mobile device.

The participants will be given a unique problem set related to So-Lo-Mo and build their products in teams of two-four members.

Source: IANS