Education

Coronavirus Impact: The Ultimate List of Freebies You Can Use From Home (Updated)

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Vudu

COVID-19 aka coronavirus has shutdown offices, so people are working, playing and studying at home. To help them with this, several firms are offering their paid services and products for free until the world is rid of the virus. We spent the better part of a day scouring the Internet to bring you the best … Read more

Coronavirus: What You Should Do Now!

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COVID-19

Take it seriously. Don’t bother with people who say that you are simply panicking as there are no deaths in India so far, and only about 74 people are infected. The reasons the counts are less could be because it takes 14 days for the virus to show up through symptoms, and by then imagine … Read more

Coronavirus: Everything you need to know

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coronavirus

With information overload, fear mongering, and much misinformation spreading across the social media channels, it is important to know about the most reliable sources of information. For example, there was news that China had approved a vaccine for coronavirus, when the truth is that there was no such news by any official source of the … Read more

Royale Concorde school double parks on service road despite police notice; repeat offender for years!

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Royale Concorde International School

For years, the residents were complaning about the double-side parking of over 50 buses belonging to Royale Concorde International School in Kalyan Nagar. Recently, the Banaswadi police actually took action under order from the Deputy Commissioner of Police, Traffic. A notice was issued and the vehicles were removed from the road. The cops clicked pictures … Read more

Manipal Hospitals fined Rs 1 lakh for improper disposal of medical waste!

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Manipal Hospitals

Manipal Hospitals in Jayanagar 9th Block was fined by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) for mixing medical waste with general garbage and handing it over to an open BBMP lorry. They were fined Rs 1 lakh for the offence by a vigilant BBMP marshall as it was against the Bio-Medical Waste Management Rules (BMWMR), … Read more

Quick voter registrations across Bangalore from Jan 6-8. Enrol now!

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voter ID campaign

If you are aged between 18 and 20 years and don’t possess a voter ID, here is the time to register yourself quickly at the nearest BBMP office or polling booth. To enrol online or know about your polling booth, you can visit here. Remember to be at the BBMP offices or polling booths between … Read more

Say ‘no’ to superstition; you can drink and eat but not watch solar eclipse with naked eyes: Scientists

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solar eclipse

The scientific community and rationalists came out with a silent awareness campaign at Town Hall today asking people to say ‘no’ to superstition. Today, being solar eclipse between 8.30am and 11.30am, they encouraged people to drink, eat and even watch the eclipse with special shades. However, they cautioned that people should avoid watching it with … Read more

Adyar Ananda Bhavan fined Rs 1 lakh for using banned plastic and not segregating waste!

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A2B raid

After Flipkart and Myntra, it was now the turn of Adyar Ananda Bhavan (A2B). Clearly, these big chains have no sense of responsibility towards the environment and thereby, humans. Adyar was fined Rs 1 lakh by the city corporation for using banned plastic and not segregating waste, thereby violating the rules of Solid Waste Management … Read more

Myntra fined Rs 2 lakh for using plastic and not segregating garbage! Will Big Basket be next?

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Myntra fined Rs 2 lakh for using plastic and not segregating garbage! Will Big Basket be next? 1
Myntra fined Rs 2 lakh for using plastic and not segregating garbage! Will Big Basket be next? 2
Myntra fined Rs 2 lakh for using plastic and not segregating garbage! Will Big Basket be next? 3
Myntra fined Rs 2 lakh for using plastic and not segregating garbage! Will Big Basket be next? 4
One of the two cheques, each worth Rs 1 lakh

Myntra Designs in Kudlu was fined Rs 2 lakh by HSR Layout ward BBMP officials for non-segregation of waste and using banned plastic on December 2, 2019.

BBMP Commissioner BH Anil Kumar says, “The HSR sub-division imposed and collected the penalty. BBMP is urging establishments to segregate waste and stop using plastics that pollute.”

Amit Singh had his misgivings too: “When a company like Mantra doesn’t adhere to simple waste segregation requirements, then how can we trust them on adherence to complicated regulations around data privacy? I have serious doubts about their ethics.”

Shashank felt that the BBMP was being biased: “Wonder why you go into hiding when it comes to naming and shaming contractors doing shoddy and below par work? Convenient to blame firms not hand in glove, right?”

Naveen Patil felt that Rs 2 lakh was too less. “Add one zero or two zeros extra, it will show up in its bottom line profit and (they will) mend their ways of doing business.”

Is Big Basket next?
Residents like PV Balakrishna have asked the BBMP to raid the Big Basket office behind Marble Palace on Sarjapur Road. “They openly dump waste, and even BBMP contractors selectively pick from the trash, leaving the rest to rot and emit a stench making living in the neighborhood a miserable experience,” tweeted Balakrishna.

Many netizens asked about Amazon and Flipkart. Well, Flipkart was fined recently. Myntra followed. Perhaps, it’s Amazon next, if they are also caught violating the rules.

May this serve as a warning to all those big establishments as the law applies to everyone. For all those who don’t know, you cannot use banned plastic (google it to know more). In addition, you are to segregate the waste into three sections: kitchen or wet waste, dry waste and sanitary waste.

No black garbage bags, please?

Sanjay made a pertinent point to the commissioner about garbage contractors accepting black garbage bags. “I request BBMP not to pick garbage packed in the banned black plastic covers. Whoever uses it should only dispose it, which is seen in BBMP lorries and autos, mostly laid like a bedding, one over the other.”

Myntra fined Rs 2 lakh for using plastic and not segregating garbage! Will Big Basket be next? 5
Myntra fined Rs 2 lakh for using plastic and not segregating garbage! Will Big Basket be next? 6

Youngster tweets, resolves a problem and makes Rs 500!

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Arun Bothra

Dipika Bajpai, the award-winning and dynamic former Deputy Conservator of Forests in Bangalore, praised a middleman the other day. Actually, it was a boy. She was reacting to an impressive story shared by Bhubaneshwar IPS officer Arun Bothra who summed up the tale by saying, “We are a nation of middlemen.” And Dipika responded with: “What a novel and nobel way of employment.”

Why are these civil servants so impressed with the boy, you ask? According to Bothra, this youngster apparently helped a senior citizen’s legal issue by tweeting about it to the cops. After looking at the grouse on Twitter, Bothra apparently invited the harassed citizen to his office, and resolved the issue. But what surprised him most was the passing remark by the elderly gentleman. “While leaving he told that a young boy in his area tweets for others. Charges Rs. 500/- for every resolved issue,” tweeted Bothra.

Clearly, where there is an opportunity, there is money to be made. The tweet received over 238 comments, was retweeted over 600 times and registered over 2500 likes.

However, Bothra did clarify that only 5-10% of complaints are resolved through Twitter. The rest is through the respective police stations.

Here are some of the best comments on Twitter about this boy’s side venture:

Aishwarya P: On a positive side, we can appreciate the boy for using his skill and time to earn money and also enabling others to solve their issues. After all, what he is rendering is also a service. I believe he is much better than those who depend on parents or govt for money.

Sitanshu Mahapatra: The Boy is the Entrepreneur of the Year👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾

Sandip: Is he mentioned anywhere that he is doing social service? If not, then he is doing nothing wrong. You must have heard the dialogue “if you are good at something never do it for free”.

Arun Chopra: He’s making money out of his education while doing social service, better than selling pakoras.

C J Karira: He saw a business opportunity! Fifty years ago, letter writers sitting outside GPOs did a similar job… only difference is that paper sheet has become smartphone and pen the finger.

Syeda Sabaun Noor: Wow!!! This thing is making us less of a community… Everyone is doing a side business.. sad.

Jay Jagdev: These jobs carry more respectable names like Advisor, Consultants…

No footpaths for foot soldiers! Only CCTVs can check traffic violations!

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MG Road footpath

TenderSure footpaths in central Bangalore are the toast of the city for their neatly-designed spaces for pedestrians. However, on MG Road, this has helped two-wheeler riders more than the walkers as this video proves. Clearly, where there is a way, there is a vehicle!

The only way to remove illegalities on roads and footpaths is to equip all the high density roads with high-end CCTVs for automatic traffic violations like speeding, footpath riding, overtaking, cutting signals and so on. This will bring order where none exist. Importantly, three such violations should result in automatic cancellation of driving licences for a year. No human involved means no corruption either. Will the central ministry of transport implement this immediately please?

The video above by Anantha Subramanyam says the story of footpath encroachment in just 30 seconds. A must-watch.

 

Shops begin removing ‘fairy lights’ in Indiranagar; residents triumph yet again!

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fairy lights protest
Shops begin removing 'fairy lights' in Indiranagar; residents triumph yet again! 7
Pics courtesy: Interact Club
Shops begin removing 'fairy lights' in Indiranagar; residents triumph yet again! 8
Pic courtesy: Rajpal Sethi

The spectre of commercialisation has gripped oversaturated neighbourhoods like Indiranagar, Whitefield, HSR Layout and Koramangala. The other day, a few youngsters supported by adults went from shop to shop on 100 Ft Road in Indiranagar, requesting them to remove ‘fairy lights’ on trees as they are damaging to the trunks as they are nailed into them. Not to mention, the birds who cannot bear a series of bright lights in their habitat.

Organised by youngsters of The Interact Club, the initiative did have its fair share of naysayers who asked the residents to do better things than mess with the shop’s aesthetics. Others said that the respectability of resident associations will lose its sheen if these initiatives were supported by them. Clearly, the reactions appeared to be either unfounded or had some vested interest as the arguments in favour of ‘fairy lights’ lacked substance.

The shopkeepers finally saw reason. Today, the fairy lights opposite Vapour pub and brewery, much to the relief of the residents. Today, the youngsters had also gone on a follow-up round of the shops. The store staffers promised them that they will abide by the law and remove the bright lights shortly.

Sonalee, the person coordinating the initiative for the youngsters confirms that most stores that the students visited last week had switched off their fairy lights since last week. “They have also promised to remove the tree lights in the coming week,” she said. 

The stores covered in the follow-up drive included Allen Solly, Simon Carter, Van Huesen, Sony, Bhartiya Jalpan, US Polo, Chai Point, Bohemia, Bumble and O2.