1. KSCPCR to study mobile phone addiction among children in Karnataka
To tackle mobile addiction among school children, the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) has decided to conduct a study. The KSCPCR has formed 10 teams comprising teachers, students, parents, government officials, psychiatrists, non-governmental organisation (NGO) representatives, and other experts in various fields for the study, which will begin this weekend.
The Commission has decided to complete the study within three months, after which it will submit a report to the Karnataka government with various recommendations help children come out of mobile addiction.
2. Karkala police book 2 Bajrang Dal leaders for provocative speech in Udupi
Karkala Town Police in Udupi district have registered suo motu case against Bajrang Dal Mangaluru division joint convenor Puneet Attavar and Bajrang Dal Karkala unit convenor Sampath Kariyakallu for provocative speeches during a public event on August 13.
In the speech Mr. Attavar said, “...the hand with which a Muslim slaughters cows should be separated from his body. Activists should take a vow today to accomplish this”. The police said the speech was provocative, and disturbs the peace, as it prompts people to harm persons of a particular community.
3. NCBS museum has put together a collection of bees from across India
A museum at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS) in Bengaluru has started to put together a collection of bees from across India, particularly biodiversity hotspots such as Western Ghats and North-east India.
According to NCBS, whose scientists are part of a global collaboration to chart a road-map to take Asian bee research forward, “The lack of knowledge about where and how bee species live, and even more foundationally, an inability to identify different species is the biggest impediment to the conservation of Asian bees.” In India too, very little is known about the species’ diversity, population trends and the behavioural traits of native bee species. To fill up this lacuna, the museum started to put together a collection of bees.
4. Mangaluru Junction railway station to get electronically operated pumps to fill water in coaches
Complaints of coaches running out of water in long-distance trains operating through Mangaluru Junction Railway Station in Palakkad division of Southern Railway may be a thing of the past as a facility for Quick Watering of Coaches is expected to be commissioned in a couple of months.
The facility, monitored and handled electronically with pre-programming, ensures that water is pumped with equal pressure in all the coaches of a train rake. Senior railway officials expect a reduction in complaints of coach tanks getting partially filled.
