1. Bengaluru district administration sets price limits for water tankers
In a bid to address water scarcity and skyrocketing tanker prices, Bengaluru district administration has capped water tanker prices for a four-month period. Effective immediately, residents who order a 6,000-litre water tanker are to pay ₹600 for delivery within a five-kilometre radius while the charge for an 8,000-litre tanker has been capped at ₹700. The maximum rate fixed is ₹1,200 for a load of 12,000 litres of water.
The move to cap tanker prices comes amidst escalating demand and soaring price of tankers, particularly with all taluks in Bengaluru Urban district declared as drought-hit. At present, a 12,000-litre tanker load costs anywhere between ₹1,800 and ₹2,500 depending on the locality. Whitefield and Varthur are some of areas worst hit by the drinking water crisis.
2. Retired IAS, IPS officers urge Rajya Sabha Chairman to put oath of office of Syed Naseer Hussain on hold
A group of 22 retired all-India service officers of IAS, IPS, IFS and IRS from Karnataka have written to Vice-President Jagdeep Dhankhar, who is also Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, to put the administration of oath of office to newly-elected member Syed Naseer Hussain of the Congress on hold until he is absolved of alleged involvement in the “pro-Pakistan” sloganeering case.
A video had gone viral of a few Congress supporters allegedly shouting “Pakistan Zindabad” slogans in the corridors of Vidhana Soudha to celebrate the win of a party candidate Syed Naseer Hussain, soon after results were declared to the Rajya Sabha elections. On March 4, Bengaluru police arrested three persons in connection with the case, which was registered on February 27.
3. Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha seat is witnessing a contest before the contest for BJP ticket
The Udupi-Chikkamagaluru Lok Sabha constituency, which comprises four Assembly constituencies spread across the two districts, is witnessing an intra-party contest before the actual contest.
As the BJP appears to be confident of victory, Pramod Madhwaraj — who had lost to incumbent Shobha Karandlaje in the 2019 general elections while contesting as a Congress candidate — is now making an all-out and open bid for the ticket, spicing up the poll pitch. After the poll debacle, he had exited the Congress to join the BJP in May 2022. Now, he is making efforts to secure the party ticket for the coming election.
4. Covishield vaccine demonstrated more robust immune response compared to Covaxin: Study
A new study by a consortium of 11 institutes, led by scientists from the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), has found that the Covishield vaccine demonstrated more robust immune responses compared to Covaxin, the two primary COVID-19 vaccines widely used in India.
The study, which compared the immunogenicity of the two vaccines, found that Covishield, leveraging a virus vector to deliver the spike protein of the coronavirus, consistently demonstrated more robust immune response compared to Covaxin, an inactivated virus vaccine.
