1. Global Investors Meet 2025 | Rapido to launch pink bike taxis in Karnataka this year
Ride hailing service Rapido co-founder Pavan Guntupalli has announced that the company will launch pink taxis in Karnataka. The pink bike service, by women and for women, will help create 25,000 jobs within this year for women, he said at Global Investors Meet Karnataka 2025.
Noting that 35% of the jobs created by the company are in smaller towns, Mr Guntupalli said the team is constantly looking for ways to increase the number of women entrepreneurs and jobs for women.
2. BBMP aims to vaccinate 1.84 lakh stray dogs through Combined Vaccine programme in Bengaluru
The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has set a target to administer vaccines to 1.84 lakh stray dogs across the city for multiple diseases under the Combined Vaccine programme. The BBMP claims that a civic body administering combined vaccines to strays is a first in the country.
The initiative aims to curb the spread of deadly infectious diseases among stray dogs and prevent zoonotic diseases that could affect humans. Among the various fatal diseases affecting stray dogs, five are particularly dangerous. The Combined Vaccine is essential to shield stray dogs from these diseases and to prevent their transmission to humans, officials said.
3. Karnataka Cabinet to decide fate of nine new universities established during BJP tenure: D.K. Shivakumar
The Karnataka Cabinet will take an appropriate decision on continuation or closure of nine new Universities including Mandya and Chamarajanagar established during the BJP tenure, said Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said. “The previous government had established new universities without providing appropriate land and necessary grants as per the rules in the State,” he said.
In particular, students of Mandya and Chamarajanagar district have expressed their opinion to continue higher education with Mysore University only. Therefore, enrollment in Mandya and Chamarajanagar universities has fallen and these universities had submitted an internal report to the government in this regard.
4. Police, Dakshina Kannada district administration hand-in-glove with sand mafia, alleges CPI(M)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has alleged that Dakshina Kannada district administration and the police department have turned the district, particularly rivers in the coastal regulation zone (CRZ), into safe havens for illegal sand extraction with thousands of sand loads being extracted and transported overnight.
Party district secretary Muneer Katipalla alleged that while the police department has directly identified with the sand mafia, the Deputy Commissioner’s office has offered tacit support with its wilful silence on the illegal extraction. Going a step ahead, the administration provides details of complainants of illegal sand extraction to the mafia thereby threatening their safety, he alleged.
Published – February 14, 2025 06:12 pm IST