1. BBMP appoints nodal officer to supervise setting-up of disaster management cell
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has now appointed Dr. Trilok Chandra as the nodal officer to oversee the formation of a disaster management cell in the civic body. This has been a long-pending measure which the BBMP was forced to take due to heavy rains in the city over the past week.
Earlier, following the downpour on November 6, BBMP administrator Rakesh Singh had instructed all zonal commissioners to appoint an engineer for each ward for disaster management. Mr. Singh had said the engineers would take care of problems like potholes, solid waste management, repair work of pedestrian paths among other things in their respective wards.
2. Suspected Maoist Srimathi, native of Chikkamagaluru, arrested by Kerala police
Kerala police arrested a suspected Maoist following an encounter in Wayanad district on the night of November 7. The arrested persons are Srimathi, alias Unnimaya, a native of Belagodu-Kudige in Sringeri taluk in Chikkamagaluru, and Chandru.
Following an encounter between the Thunderbolt Squad of Kerala police and suspected Maoists, the local police combed rural areas of Kozhikode district and the Periya forest on the night of November 7. Srimathi and Chandru were arrested during this operation.
3. Karnataka Cabinet meets ahead of Winter session
The Karnataka Cabinet met today to discuss preparations for the Winter session of the State Legislative Assembly starting on December 4.
It remains to be seen if controversial proposals such as renaming Ramanagara as Bengaluru South, internal reservation or progress on caste census report will also figure in discussions.
4. U.S. firm founded by Ballari doctor to build world’s largest GenAI platform exclusively for health
Texas-based Vizzhy Inc., a firm focussing on healthcare innovation leveraging multi-omics, is in the process of building what is claimed to be the world’s first and largest multi-omics-based Generative AI platform on holistic health to help the common man, medical professionals and researchers.
The company was founded by Dr. Vishnu Vardhan Pogunulu Srinivasalu, an orthopaedic hailing from Ballari district. Vizzhy’s team of 40 data scientists, medical professionals and researchers, and deep tech experts based in Bengaluru will be working on this project.