Barefoot jogger does Bengaluru to Varanasi in 38 days

Six years after a near-fatal heart attack, Giridhar Kamath covered 1,850 km to promote fitness

02/12/2019, BISHWANATH GHOSH,KOLKATA

Long run: Giridhar Kamath averaged about 50 km a day, carrying just 1.4 kg in luggage. Special Arrangement Special Arrangement

Like many people, Giridhar Kamath decided in his early forties that it was time to get fit. In 2011, when he was 42, he began running — short distances at first and then challenging himself to the 10-km target.

Then, in 2013, he had a heart attack at the finishing line of a race.

But unlike many people, who might have given up running after this potentially-fatal episode, he merely changed his approach to running. “I moved to barefoot running from then on. It is one of the most natural modes of human movement,” says the Bengaluru-based Mr. Kamath.

And recently, barely weeks after his 50th birthday, he ran all the way from Bengaluru to Varanasi — a neat distance of 1,850 km — in one set of clothes, with a pouch and a hammock tied to his waist. “I have covered several ultra runs between cities and done races spanning 100 km to 800 km. But this is my longest run till date,” says Mr. Kamath, who set off from Bengaluru on October 2 and reached Varanasi on November 10.

Travelling light

The idea of travelling light came from a mendicant he had encountered during an intercity run from Puducherry to Chennai in 2018. “He was walking solo with no support or luggage, and he made me realise how easy it is to be light. I reached Varanasi in one T-shirt and shorts and just 1.4 kg of luggage, which also included my mobile phone and charger,” he says.

Mr. Kamath averaged about 50 km a day, and reached Varanasi in 38 days. The most challenging stretch was the forests of Madhya Pradesh.

“This segment took me three days to cover and I was compelled to have a crew car follow me for reasons of safety,” he said.

‘Contributory pension scheme not applicable to judicial officers’

Govt. directed to refund amount deducted from salaries

02/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,BENGALURU

The High Court of Karnataka has declared that the contributory pension scheme, introduced for State government employees who joined service on or after April 1, 2006, was not applicable to judicial officers.

However, it made it clear that the judicial officers who joined service on or after that date could voluntarily opt for the New Defined Contributory Pension (NDCP) scheme by giving their consent in writing.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka and Justice Mohammad Nawaz delivered the verdict last week while allowing petitions filed in 2013 by Vijaykumar Rai and several other judicial officers belonging to the civil and the district judge cadres, and the Karnataka State Judicial Officers’ Association.

The petitioners had questioned the application of the NDCP scheme to judicial officers who joined service on or after April 1, 2006. The scheme provides for employees’ contribution of 10% of basic pay and dearness allowance (DA) with matching contribution from the State government. And the government, in its notification issued on March 29, 2010, had made the scheme applicable to judicial officers who joined service on or after April 1, 2006.

While the petitioners contended that their pension was determined as per the recommendations of the two National Judicial Pay Commissions (NJPCs), as approved by the Supreme Court, the government claimed that it had the right to change the pension of judicial officers as they were also civil servants under the provisions of the Karnataka Civil Services Act, 1978.

“There is no manner of doubt that even the payable pension from judicial officers will be strictly governed by the recommendations of the NJPCs as accepted by the apex court. An order of the apex court dated July 26, 2010 records acceptance of the recommendations of the second NJPC, including recommendations in respect of pension, and notes that none of the States had any objection to accepting the recommendations,” the Bench observed.

Pointing to the State government’s notification on September 30, 2010 on the second NJPC, as per the apex court’s orders, the Bench said, “The State government, without seeking permission from the apex court, has no power to tinker with the quantum of salary and pension payable to judicial officers.” It stated that applying different yardsticks for payment of pension to judicial officers appointed before and after April 1, 2006 would be directly contrary to the directions of the SC.

The Bench also directed the government to refund the amount already deducted from salaries by the end of February 2020.

Woman orders cake online, loses ₹71,500 to fraudster

02/12/2019, SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT,BENGALURU

Ordering a cake online has cost a 37-year-old woman ₹71,500.

Radha Prakash, an employee with a PSU in Bengaluru, told the Cubbon Park police, with whom she registered a complaint, that she had ordered the cake online from a shop on Lavelle Road on Friday afternoon.

Collects details

Soon after, a man claiming to be an employee called her back to confirm the order and allegedly offered to help her with the online transaction. In the process, he managed to get all her details such as bank account number, one-time password (OTP), etc. Within minutes after she put down the phone, Radha received a transaction alert on her mobile phone stating that ₹71,500 has been debited from her account.

She tried to call the shop but got no response.

Police advice


Almost every day the police receive complaints of such online frauds. “In almost all the cases, the fraudsters are able to get the victims to give them their bank and card details and the OTP that the bank sends them. We urge people not to share the OTPs with anyone, including people who claim to be from a bank,” said a senior police official.

The Cubbon Park police have taken up a case under various sections of the I-T Act and are investigating.

Revenue from Taj Mahal rises

Pollution impacting the 17th century monument, says govt.

02/12/2019

Historic upkeep: A view of the Taj Mahal in Agra, Uttar Pradesh

PTI

The revenue earned from the Taj Mahal in Agra went up around four times over five years ending in 2018-2019, according to data given by the Union Ministry of Culture to the Lok Sabha in the ongoing session of Parliament.

To a question by Assam MP Badruddin Ajmal, Culture Minister Prahlad Singh Patel informed the House on November 18 that the revenue generated from the UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018-2019 was ₹86,48,93,100 from 70,90,207 visitors.

The previous year, the revenue was ₹58,76,04,981 from 65,65,627 visitors, up from ₹55,09,29,860 from 61,77,196 visitors in 2016-2017. In 2015-2016, the Taj Mahal generated ₹17,92,27,050 from 50,70,573 visitors and in 2014-2015, was lower than ₹21,23,55,330 in 2014-2015 when 60,89,901 visitors were recorded.

The expenditure on the maintenance of the 17th century tomb increased to ₹5,48,34,582 in 2018-2019 from ₹3,38,42,927 in 2017-2018, according to the reply. The Ministry, under which the Archaeological Survey of India functions, had spent ₹4,50,45,819 in 2016-2017 and ₹3,28,37,534 in 2015-2016.

Effects of pollution

Asked by Mr. Ajmal whether pollution was discolouring the white marble structure, the Minister replied: “The effect of pollution is there, but the monument is cleaned periodically.”

Recently, there have been concerns about the discolouration of the facade.

‘Passenger trains to run up to 160 kmph in a few years’

Increasing the speed will take five to 10 years, depending on infrastructure development, says Railway Board Chairman

02/12/2019, , V. GEETANATH,HYDERABAD

Vinod Kumar Yadav

The Indian Railways is poised for a major structural and operational transformation in the next few years, with passenger trains slated to be run at 160 kmph in the Mumbai-Delhi-Kolkata sector and freight trains to be run at 100 kmph.

Towards the South, in the Delhi-Chennai, Kharagpur-Vijayawada sectors, the plan is to run passenger trains up to 130 kmph. Increasing the speed up to 160 kmph will take five to 10 years, depending on infrastructural development, said Railway Board Chairman Vinod Kumar Yadav.

‘Run on demand’

“Our vision is to see that trains, passenger and freight, are run on demand in the Mumbai-Delhi-Kolkata sector by upgrading our capacities. We have divided major works into super critical and critical categories, to complete them in the next two to five years,” he said during his recent visit to the city to inaugurate the Financial Management Institute.

Instructions were issued to increase the speed of all passenger trains to 110 kmph and move this to 130 kmph within the next two to three years in the South, where average speeds reach between 45 kmph and 110 kmph.

‘Super critical’

About 76% of the ‘super critical’ works were complete and the remaining 24%, requiring about ₹7,500 crore, was expected to be completed within a year or so. There were works where 91% was yet to be done in the ‘critical’ category, costing up to ₹85,000. This includes doubling and tripling lines, and traffic facilities at various locations across the country. This is scheduled to be done in three years and funds were being sourced.

“This will give us tremendous mobility. We have identified the works based on the need for efficient operations and also economic considerations like freight movement,” he said.

Freight corridor

The most important development would be completion of the freight corridor of about 3,000 km, between Mumbai-Delhi-Kolkata, by December 2021.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi took the initiative to call up the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh to remove certain bottlenecks,” he said.

Retirement age of TSRTC employees increased

02/12/2019,HYDERABAD

An increase in the retirement age of Telangana State Road Transport Corporation staff from 58 to 60 and payment of their September salary

and wages for the strike period from October 5 to November 28 in one instalment were among the several decisions announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao at a meeting with a cross-section of them at a luncheon on Sunday. He also allayed
their apprehensions of privatisation of the RTC.

Ambur girl becomes brand ambassador for Rotary’s WinS programme

02/12/2019, STAFF REPORTER,CHENNAI

One fine day, seven-year-old Hanifa Zaara from Ambur walked up to her mother and said she was planning to file a police complaint against her father for not building a toilet inside their house. Aghast, her mother refused. But Zaara did not give up, and quietly walked to the station and spoke to the sub-inspector, who was shocked as well.

He immediately called her father and the municipality officials. “They took my complaint and built a toilet in a day’s time [under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana]. And I am not the only one who has got it. Now, nearly 100 families near my residence have a toilet too,” she says with a beaming smile.

Now, she has become the ‘Swachch Ambassador’ for the Ambur Municipality, and on Sunday, she was also made the ‘Ambassador of WinS programme of Rotary’.

The Rotary Club’s Wash-in-Schools (WinS) programme was started in 2017 to celebrate the 100th year of the Rotary Foundation, as a pilot project that aimed to ensure schoolchildren got pure drinking water, gender-segregated toilets and handwash stations.