Page 8 - Bengaluru

Paytm Mall becomes first to go live on ONDC in Bengaluru beta test

People can place orders in grocery and restaurant segments for now

Karnataka HC directs EC to conduct Bengaluru civic polls by Dec 31

The Karnataka High Court on Friday set aside the reservation list for the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) announced by the state government in August this year and directed the State Election Commission (SEC) to conduct elections to the civic body by December 31. The court directed that a fresh list has to be prepared before November 30. The government announced the draft list on August 3 and notified it on August 16. Several petitions were filed in the HC challenging this notification. The HC partly accepted the contentions of petitioner K Mahadev and others from Ejipura. The court found errors in the reservation provided in the OBC and women's categories. However, the reservation for SC/ST candidates was found to be in order. Before the HC's order, Additional Advocate General Dhyan Chinnappa submitted an affidavit prepared by H S Shivakumar, the Under Secretary of the Urban Development department. The affidavit sought 16 weeks to redo the reservation list. The HC, how

Reliance Retail's fashion-lifestyle store AZORTE to take on Zara, Mango

The company plans to ramp up the store presence across key markets over the coming months

Commerce ministry's initiative ONDC to be open for public on Friday

The commerce and industry ministry's initiative to help small retailers and reduce the dominance of e-commerce giants, Open Network for Digital Commerce will be opened to the public in Bengaluru from Friday as part of its beta testing process. "Bengaluru consumers to get a whole new shopping experience! Beta testing of the Govt's revolutionary Open Network For Digital Commerce to begin from tomorrow. It is democratic, cost-effective and empowers buyers and small businesses," commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal said in a tweet. The ministry in April launched the pilot phase of the open network for digital commerce, a UPI-type protocol, in five cities Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Bhopal, Shillong and Coimbatore. People were allowed to do transactions in these cities. As many as 20 organisations of national repute have confirmed investments of Rs 255 crore into ONDC. Lenders such as State Bank of India, UCO Bank, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, and Bank of Baroda have already committed ...

CRED, upGrad, Groww on LinkedIn's 'Top Startups in India' list

Unified payment interface CRED, online higher education firm upGrad and investment platform Groww have topped the LinkedIn 'Top Startups List' for this year. CRED valued at USD 6.4 billion, topped the list of startups, followed by upGrad and Groww in the second and third place, respectively. This year's list also features new entrants, including e-grocery company Zepto (at the fourth place), full-stack car buying platform Spinny (7th), and insurtech startup Ditto Insurance (12th). Fitness platform Ultrahuman ranked 19th on the list, while organic food marketplace Living Food (20th) also debuted on this year's list by enabling consumers to lead a conscious and healthy lifestyle. The top ten startups on the list also include Skyroot Aerospace (5th), MBA Chai Wala (6th), The Good Glamm Group (8th), GrowthSchool (9th) and BluSmart (10th). According to LinkedIn, 13 out of the top 25 startups are based out of Bengaluru, the city affirms its reputation as the 'Silicon Valley of India'. "

Akasa Air to start services to Guwahati, Agartala from Bengaluru

Newly-launched Akasa Air on Monday said it will commence its flight services to the northeast with the addition of Agartala (Tripura) and Guwahati (Assam) from October 21. As part of this expansion, the airline will connect the two north-eastern destinations, which will be its seventh and eighth, respectively, with Bengaluru, Akasa Air said in a statement. These new flights will provide seamless one-stop connectivity between Bengaluru and Agartala with no change of aircraft required at Guwahati, it said. The airline launched its services on the domestic routes from August 7 this year. Akasa said it has been progressively expanding its operations and will be flying a total of 11 non-stop routes along eight cities - Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Kochi, Chennai, Mumbai, Delhi, Guwahati, and Agartala from October 21. To further enhance connectivity on existing sectors, the airline has also announced additional daily flights on the Bengaluru-Chennai route also commencing from October 21. Guwa

Congress puts up 'PayCM' QR codes at BJP's party office near Bengaluru

The Congress in Karnataka intensified its campaign targeting Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai by pasting the 'PayCM' posters at the BJP's Nelamangala office on the outskirts of Bengaluru on Friday. The party later shared the pictures of its PayCM campaign with media. The police which are probing the matter on Bommai's instruction had arrested B R Naidu, the former chief of Congress' Karnataka unit social media team, on Wednesday night from his residence. The PayCM QR code bearing the photograph of the Chief Minister gets directed to a website - '40% Sarkara' - accusing the Bommai-led BJP government was charging 40 per cent commission on public works. The website was launched a few days ago by the Congress. Ahead of assembly elections in Karnataka next year, the Congress is trying to rake up the issue of contractor Santosh Patil's death by suicide in an Udupi hotel earlier this year. Patil had accused the then state Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa of ...

'PayCM' posters with CM's photo surface in Bengaluru, Bommai orders inquiry

"PayCM' posters with the photo of the Karnataka Chief Minister surfaced in several parts of the city on Wednesday, following which an angry Basavaraj Bommai ordered an inquiry. He also dubbed it a 'pseudo campaign,' which not only maligns his image but also of Karnataka. "It is a systematic conspiracy to spoil my name and also Karnataka. I have directed the officials concerned to book a case. We will get it investigated to find out the people behind it," Bommai told reporters here. "This is a baseless campaign in social media. Everyone knows how to do such things. Also, people know who is running the campaign. These are pseudo campaigns, which have intensified only recently. This has no value," he added. The CM said he is hurt because more than him, Karnataka is getting a bad name due to such a campaign. "So, we have decided to put a brake on such activities," Bommai said. The posters, which appeared in the central region of the city resembled advertisements of electronic wallet .

Post Bengaluru rain fury, Bommai says he will not spare land sharks

For this, it is necessary to probe when and why this land was utilized; which political forces ensured encroachment of lakes; which officers executed the task, Bommai stated.

Arrested Al-Qaeda operative used Telegram to radicalise J-K youths: NIA

A suspected Al-Qaeda operative, who was arrested from Bengaluru in July, used Telegram channels to provoke gullible youths to wage jihad in Kashmir, the NTA said

Bengaluru teenager Pranav Anand becomes India's 76th Chess Grandmaster

Bengaluru teenager Pranav Anand became India's 76th Grandmaster after he crossed the 2,500 Elo mark in the ongoing World Youth Chess Championship in Mamaia, Romania. The 15-year-old, having already met the other requirements that are necessary for a GM title, achieved the honour late on Thursday. To become a GM, a player has to secure three GM norms and cross the live rating of 2,500 Elo points. Anand had scored the third and final GM norm at the 55th Biel Chess Festival in Switzerland in July. "He is passionate towards chess. Extremely interested and passionate towards the game. He can work for any number of hours," Anand's coach V Saravanan told PTI. "He is especially good in calculation and end games...they are his two biggest strengths right now," Saravanan said about his ward's ninth round win in the under-16 section of the World Youth Chess Championship 2022. "Also, the most important reason for Pranav's achievement is the dedication of his family, his mother, father...They

Bangalore emerges as top city in intent of hiring for 2nd quarter: Report

Driven by growth in IT, ecommerce, FMCG and other allied sectors, Bangalore has emerged as the top city with the highest intent to hire in the second quarter followed by Chennai and Mumbai, according to a report. In the July to September quarter, according to the TeamLease Employment Outlook Report, 95 per cent of employers expressed the intent to hire more, compared to 91 per cent in the April-June quarter. From a pan-India perspective, 61 per cent of employers surveyed were keen to hire during the period, a 7 percentage point increase over last quarter, it added. In Bangalore, both manufacturing and services have shown positive intent to hire, the report stated. In the manufacturing sector, leading industries were FMCG (48 per cent), healthcare and pharmaceuticals (43 per cent), manufacturing, engineering and infrastructure (38 per cent), power and energy (34 per cent) and agriculture and agrochemicals (30 per cent), it revealed. From the services sector perspective, leading ...

Bengaluru encroachments: Penalise builders, BBMP, says Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw

Biotechnology industry veteran Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw has suggested penalising city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) and Bangalore Development Authority (BDA) for giving permissions leading to encroachments of storm water drains (SWDs) that resulted in the recent floods. The Executive Chairperson of Bengaluru-headquartered biopharmaceuticals company Biocon said the anti-encroachment drive launched by the BMMP this week to clear illegal structures sitting on SWDs, is a long overdue measure to address water logging which caused unprecedented havoc in parts of Bengaluru two weeks ago. "The question that begs to be answered is whether there will be a parallel investigation into how the BBMP and BDA gave permissions in the first place", she told PTI. "Moreover, we need to go beyond knee jerk quick fixes and find holistic long term solutions. For example, razing buildings will impact helpless and innocent homeowners. Why not penalise developers and BDA/BBMP and use that

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Traffic, water shortages, now floods: Is Bengaluru dying a slow death?

Concrete replaced green spaces and construction around the edge of lakes blocked off connecting canals, limiting the city's capacity to absorb and siphon off water

IT parks, posh villas top list of stormwater drain encroachers in Bengaluru

The Bengaluru civic agency has identified several illegal structures that have come up on stormwater drains, which had recently caused severe flooding in parts of the city, particularly information technology (IT) corridors and arterial roads. The anti-encroachment drive echoed in the state assembly as well. Speaking in the House on Wednesday, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai reiterated that there will not be any discrimination in the drive to free illegal occupants of stormwater drains. According to an Assistant Executive Engineer (Stormwater Drain-Mahadevapura zone) of the BBMP, Bagmane Techpark, Wipro, and Purva Paradise have encroached on drains across various survey numbers of Mahadevapura zone, which bore the brunt of the rain fury. Real estate firm RBD was another encroacher which occupied drains in Junnasandra, Halanayakanahalli and Doddakannahalli, as per the list, along with 'Ecospace' in Bellandur and Gopalan Group in Hoodi and Bellandur, the AEE stated. Bellan

Insurers juggle surge in claims in aftermath of Bengaluru floods

Three days of heavy rainfall from Sept. 5 saw homes and offices in Bengaluru's IT corridor flooded, sparking chaos and raising questions over poor urban planning.

Wipro, Prestige, Eco Space: Big names on list of encroachers in Bengaluru

The list was made by the state government, after severe flooding in the parts of Bengaluru, to find the names of buildings that have closed nearly 700 drains in the city

Bengaluru rains: How bad infra took Indian Silicon Valley under the weather

The flood on August 30, which brought parts of Bengaluru to its knees, led to a loss of about Rs 225 crore in a single day

CM Bommai assures on time completion of Bengaluru's stormwater drain work

In the backdrop of recent rains and deluge in Bengaluru, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday assured the government will ensure a time-bound completion of the stormwater drain work that is underway across the city and provide more funds for this purpose. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, he highlighted that the ongoing work of clearing encroachments along the stormwater drains was taking time and the government is at it. Also, the master plan for stormwater drains is being redrawn to increase its capacity, he said. "Work on developing stormwater drains across the city is underway and the work will continue without any break. I have kept Rs 1,500 crore in the budget for this and recently I have given another Rs 300 crore, so it is a total of Rs 1,800 crore for stormwater drains. This will not be enough and an additional budget will be given," Bommai said. He said the government will ensure that a total 859.90 kilometres of stormwater drain work gets completed. "