Meet the Kerala man who promotes cycling through a free bicycle-sharing club

Called Athi’s Bicycle Club, the service was initially started in Thiruvananthapuram, but is now more popular in Kochi, and is also picking up in Chennai.

Kerala News: Year 2011 was still a time of SMSes, before WhatsApp came to rule messaging services. Athirup, a man who never stopped loving bicycles since he was a child, had found a way to connect people to cycling through text messages.

Athi first began the service in Technopark, in Thiruvananthapuram, his hometown, calling it Athi’s Bicycle Club. People could take a bicycle from one of the cycle racks spread across Technopark by getting an SMS code on their phone and then ride it for free till another rack, closest to where they want to go. The system worked for six years under sponsorship and then the sponsors stopped. Athi then took it to Kochi’s Infopark and the city as a whole.

“There are more takers there because the terrain in Ernakulam is different, and also because it was spread outside Infopark,” says Athi, who has made it a business venture now.

In Technopark, Allianz used to sponsor them. All they had to do was branding – put the company logo on the cycles. The then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had inaugurated the service, riding a cycle with… continue reading full story

Why a 75-year-old Kerala woman’s body is still in a mortuary, 14 days after she died

Annamma wanted to be buried in her church, with dignity. But protests by some residents has forced a delay in her funeral.

Kerala News: More than two weeks after 75-year-old Annamma passed away due to age related issues, her body remains at the Kunnathur Taluk hospital in the Kollam district of Kerala, awaiting the District Collector’s permission to bury her in her own church.

Almost 30 kilometres away from Kollam town, Kunnathur is just like any other rural area in the coastal state of Kerala. Nestled amidst the greenery of the quiet Kunnathur taluk, is the Jerusalem Marthoma Church, which is the church of Dalit Christians in this region. Getting through to this church is not an easy task for an outsider, as there is very little access through public transport, apart from a rare auto rickshaw or two that happen to pass by the road now and then. Apart from the people living close to the church, not many are even aware of its existence.

But over the last few days, there has been an unusual series of events in the church. “This is the place where my grandmother wanted to be laid to rest. And we have been running from pillar to post to ensure that she gets buried in this church only,” 27-year-old Rahul tells TNM, as he and a few other men are busy concreting the tombstone for his grandmother, Annamma, at the cemetery of the Jerusalem Marthoma Church.

Annamma’s family is running a race against time as they received a message from the Kollam District Collector’s office on Monday that if they manage to build a fence along the cemetery of the church, as well as finish the tombstone renovation within 14 days, then Annamma can be buried at the… continue reading full story

For Rs 38,000, a central govt school in Bengaluru jeopardising tribal student’s future?

The 15-year-old from Andhra who has completed Class 10 from the same school is being denied the application form for Class 11.

Karnataka News: Fifteen-year-old Yerikala Supriya from Gooty town in Anantapur district would like to go to college to study Political Science. But she is allegedly being denied the application form for seeking admission to Class 11 in Kendriya Vidyalaya, ASC Centre in Bengaluru, where she recently completed Class 10.

Supriya, who belongs to the Yerukula community, a Scheduled Tribe, had studied from Class 1 to 9 in Kendriya Vidyalaya Gooty. Her father Sudhakar felt that since Supriya is a sharp and articulate child, she must be able to access better educational opportunities and exposure than those available in her hometown.

“She can speak English and Hindi quite well. She is a very bright child. She is good at sports too. In Class 7, she was in a team that came third in the KV Regional Sports Meet. I thought she could have a great future if she could go to a school in a city. Bengaluru was close by, so I came multiple times and tried for admission into KV ASC Centre since they have hostel facility. I tried from the time she was in Class 8. Finally, she was given admission in Class 10,” Sudhakar said.

Sudhakar, who rears cattle for a living, occasionally also does painting jobs for additional income. On average, he earns Rs 300 a day. “I have a BPL (Below Poverty Line) card. Based on that, the school said that we would not have to pay tuition fees, but a hostel fee of around Rs…. continue reading full story

Electricity bill for Bengaluru households to increase by about 5% from June

The hike of 33 paise per unit on average has also been announced for residents of Mysuru, Mangaluru, Hubbali and Gulbarga.

Karnataka News: Bengaluru residents, your electricity bills will get more expensive from June onwards. This after the Karnataka Electricity Regulatory Commission (KERC) on Thursday announced a hike of 33 paise per unit for Bangalore Electricity Supply Company (BESCOM) customers.

Officials said this would effectively mean that expenses towards electricity for households will increase by 4.9% on average for domestic users.

BESCOM facilitates electricity supply in eight districts of Karnataka – Bengaluru Urban, Bengaluru Rural, Chikkaballapura, Kolar, Davanagere, Tumakuru, Chitradurga and Ramanagara.

At present, customers who use 0-30 units pay Rs 3.5 per unit and those using 30-100 units pay Rs 4.95 per unit. The tariff for the next two slabs of 101-200 units and 201-300 units are Rs 6.5 and Rs 7.55 per unit respectively.

Officials said the price hike was necessary to match the overall higher input costs of power production. The same hike of 33 paise per unit on average will also be applicable to residents of… continue reading full story

As Olive Ridley nesting season ends, nearly 70,000 turtles released from Vizag coast

This year, around 80,000 turtle eggs were collected from the city’s beaches and housed in hatcheries made especially for these eggs.

Andhra Pradesh News: 69,874 Olive Ridley turtle hatchlings were released into the sea from beaches in Visakhapatnam as part of the Ridley Sea Turtle Conservation project by the Andhra Pradesh Forest Department (APFD).

This year, around 80,000 turtle eggs were collected from the city’s beaches and housed in hatcheries made especially for these eggs. APFD Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Visakhapatnam, CP Vinodkumar said, “These hatcheries are established every December, when the turtles come and lay their eggs, and they are run till May, when they all hatch and are sent into the sea.”

The APFD’s initiative was started in 2015 and is funded by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) Simhadri, a Public Sector Undertaking, as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility. The APFD is also partnered with the Visakha Society for Protection and Care of Animals (VSPCA), an NGO.

Pradeep Nath of the VSPCA said, “There is a 20% increase this year in the number of turtles compared to last year.” However he also mentioned that there was a 20% decrease in the number of turtles in the beaches of Visakhapatnam, and this needs to be addressed. This could be attributed to the increasing tourism in the city and pollution of the… continue reading full story

Bengaluru corporators wear Modi masks to celebrate colleague’s Lok Sabha victory

A Congress corporator commented that the BJP should be re-branded “Modi Party”.

Andhra Pradesh News: On Thursday, almost 100 BJP corporators walked in to the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike council meeting wearing masks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The masks were to celebrate the victory of former BBMP corporator S Muniyappa from the Kolar Lok Sabha seat. Muniyappa had defeated eight-time Congress MP from Kolar KH Muniyappa.

But the masks made tempers flare in the council, that anyway usually sees heated arguments. Affronted by the celebratory mood of the opposition, Congress corporator Abdul Majid commented that the BJP should be re-branded “Modi Party”. “We don’t know where Sab ka saat, sab ka vikas went. They (BJP) lied and came to power. Let Modi be accepting of all languages and all religions,” Abdul Majid added.

“Yours is not BJP it’s an EVM Party. You have cheated and won. BJP did not win the elections. EVMs did,” Congress corporator K Venkatesh said.

Reacting to the statements made by Congress corporator, leader of Opposition in the BBMP Council Prabhakar Reddy said that the Congress leaders would “quake in their boots” if they even hear… continue reading full story

Did PM Modi pay tribute to Nathuram Godse?

Fake News India Hindi → प्रधानमंत्री नरेंद्र मोदी द्वारा कथित तौर पर नाथूराम गोडसे की मूर्ति का माल्यार्पण करते हुए एक तस्वीर सोशल मीडिया पर काफ़ी वायरल हो रही है | आपको बता दें की यह मूर्ति पूर्व-भारतीय जन संघ के नेता और राष्ट्रीय स्वयंसेवक संघ के कार्यकर्ता दीनदयाल उपाध्याय की है |

इस वायरल पोस्ट के साथ एक कैप्शन भी जिसमे लिखा है: प्रज्ञा गोडसे को देशभक्त बोलती है, डिवाइडर इन चीफ गोडसे की पूजा करते हैं, क्यूंकि हमारे देश में अब आतंकी देशभक्त कहलाते हैं |

आपको बता दें की गोडसे ने ही जनवरी 30,1948 को महात्मा गाँधी की गोली मार कर हत्या की थी|

ये, और ऐसे कई अन्य पोस्ट पिछले कुछ दिनों से वायरल हो रहे हैं | ऐसा खासकर भारतीय जनता पार्टी की भोपाल कैंडिडेट प्रज्ञा ठाकुर के उस बयान के बाद हो रहा है जिसमे उन्होंने नाथूराम गोडसे को सच्चे देशभक्त की उपाधि दी थी |

इन पोस्ट्स के आर्काइव्ड वर्ज़न्स यहां देखें |

No, this is not Manmohan Singh touching Sonia Gandhi’s feet in the viral image

Fake News India Hindi → We Support BJP India नाम के फेसबुक पेज पर शेयर किया गया एक पोस्ट ये दावा करता है की पूर्व-प्रधानमंत्री मनमोहन सिंह सोनिया गाँधी के पैर छूते थे | पोस्ट में एक तस्वीर शेयर की गयी है जिसके साथ कैप्शन में लिखा है: ये हाल था भारत के प्रधानमंत्री का |

यही तस्वीर पहले भी कई और पेजेज़ पर शेयर की गयी है जैसे की फ़िर एक बार मोदी सरकार, RSS, I Support Amit Shah |

इस फ़ोटो में दिख रहा है की पगड़ी पहने हुए एक व्यक्ति कांग्रेस पार्टी की पूर्व सचिव सोनिया गाँधी के पैर छू रहें है और पीछे राहुल गाँधी हंस रहे हैं |

नीचे दिए गए फ़ोटो में एक शख़्स सोनिया गाँधी के पैर छूता नज़र आ रहा है | फ़ोटो की एडिटिंग करके उस पर लिखा गया है – सोनिया गाँधी उम्र 71 साल और वहीं नीचे लिखा गया है मनमोहन सिंह उम्र 85 साल |

फ़ोटो में निचली तरफ लिखा है “यह थे हमारे पूर्व प्रधान मंत्री कम से कम इनकी उम्र का तो लिहाज़ कर लिया होता” इसके बाद राहुल गाँधी पर टिप्पणी करते हुए लिखा गया है की “ऊपर से पीछे खड़ा नालायक हंस रहा है”|

Did SP workers jump the gun with a PM Akhilesh billboard not quite

Fake News Hindi → प्रधानमंत्री बनने पर समाजवादी पार्टी के मुखिया अखिलेश यादव को बधाई देने वाले बिलबोर्ड फ़र्ज़ी है। असली बिलबोर्ड में अखिलेश यादव को नए साल की शुभकामनाएं दी गई थी ।

लोकसभा चुनाव के नतीजों की पूर्व संध्या पर वायरल हुई यह तस्वीर फ़ोटोशॉप्ड है।

फ़ोटोशॉप्ड तस्वीर पर लिखा गया है, “प्रधानमंत्री बनने की हार्दिक सम्भावना – श्री अखिलेश यादव – शुभ अखिलेश, खुश देश, खुश प्रदेश – निवेदक – सुनील सिंह ‘साजन’, एम.एल.सी लखनऊ – उन्नाव।”

वाक्य भी गलत है

यादव के अनुसार, मूल पोस्ट में पार्टी प्रमुख के लिए नए साल का संदेश था । संदेश हिंदी में लिखा था: नव वर्ष की हार्दिक संभावना श्री अखिलेश यादव।

इसी तरह, नकली तस्वीर वाले संदेश में लिखा गया है: प्रधानमंत्री बनने की हार्दिक सम्भावना श्री अखिलेश यादव ।

No, Priyanaka Chopra did not call people who voted for Modi fools

Fake News Hindi → हाल ही में ख़त्म हुए चुनावों के बाद कई फ़र्ज़ी दावे और पोस्ट्स सोशल मीडिया पर वायरल हो रहे हैं | ऐसा ही एक फ़र्ज़ी दावा, जिसकी जाँच बूम ने की है,वो काजल अग्रवाल नामक किसी महिला के फ़ेसबुक प्रोफाइल से किया गया है |

काजल ने उनके पेज पर 16 मई, चुनाव खत्म होने से तीन दिन पूर्व, को एक पोस्ट शेयर किया गया था जिसमे फिल्म अभिनेत्री प्रियंका चोपड़ा की एक तस्वीर के साथ एक क्वोट है: गलती मोदी की नहीं जो देश को धोका दिया, गलती उन मूर्खों की है जिन्होंने मोदी को मौका दिया | क्वोट के नीचे भी प्रियंका चोपड़ा का नाम लिखा गया है |

आपको बता दें की यह दावा फ़र्ज़ी है और प्रियंका चोपड़ा का इस बयान से कोई सबंध नहीं है |

आप काजल का पोस्ट यहाँ देख सकते हैं |

प्रियंका एक जानी मानी अदाकारा हैं और यदि ऐसा कोई बयान उन्होंने दिया होता तो रिपोर्ट्स ज़रूर छपे होते |