bangalore news times

Bengaluru: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Revenue Minister G Parameshwara has sought immediate central assistance for drought-affected areas, urging Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Agriculture Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan to speed up the relief process. In separate letters, Parameshwara said the worsening drought had severely affected farmers and rural livelihoods and called for close coordination between the Centre and state government to ensure timely assistance. Karnataka has so far declared 177 taluks drought-hit. The first phase covered 101 taluks, for which the state sought Rs 3,705.30 crore. A second assessment resulted in another 76 taluks being declared drought-affected. Ground-truthing is under way in 40 additional taluks, and the number of affected taluks could rise beyond 220. The latest assessment in 76 taluks has found agricultural crop damage over 26.08 lakh hectares and horticultural crop damage over 1.49 lakh hectares. Major affected crops include...

Bengaluru: Several Booth-Level Officers (BLOs) in Karnataka’s Belagavi North Assembly constituency have claimed they were pressured into signing bulk Form 7 applications, The Hindu reported . According to the report, BLOs were receiving “already printed” Form 7s seeking deletion of Muslim names in large numbers. This incident was flagged in at least six polling stations in the constituency — two at the Government Kannada Higher Primary School in Shettigali and four in Veerabhadra Nagar. Pose as officials, men seek Muslim name deletion BLOs stationed at these polling booths told The Hindu that they were approached posing as Belagavi City Corporation with bulk Form 7 applications seeking removal of Muslim names only. While the voters’ names and information were pre-printed, the objectors’ details were either written by hand or left completely blank. The men allegedly pressured the BLOs to sign and return the forms immediately. The BLOs re...

Bengaluru : The Customs Department has imposed a penalty of Rs 89 crore on Kannada actress Ranya Rao in connection with the alleged gold smuggling case involving the illegal transportation of gold from Dubai to India. The action follows a detailed investigation into the network in which Rao was allegedly involved along with three other accused. Customs Joint Director Sandeep has issued a 399-page detailed adjudication order and directed Ranya Rao to pay the penalty under the Customs Act. The department has also imposed penalties of more than Rs 244 crore collectively on Rao and the three other accused in the case. According to the order, the alleged illegal transactions took place between March 7, 2024 and February 18, 2025. The investigation found that around 113 kg of gold was allegedly brought into India from Dubai through an organised network involving Rao and her associates. The other accused named in the case are Tarun Konduru Raju, Sahil Jain and Bharat Kumar Ja...