Politics
Air gun training: Complaint lodged against Bajrang Dal in Karnataka
Popular Front of India (PFI) has lodged a complaint against air gun training to more than 100 participants during a week-long training camp held recently in Karnataka’s Madikeri district, police said on Tuesday.
Ibrahim, a member of PFI, has lodged a complaint and demanded a probe into the matter. The complaint mentioned that air guns were used in the camp held in the school grounds in Ponnampet town.
The police have initiated a probe into the matter and sought a report from the Education department on whether the school grounds could be used for such an event.
The issue has stirred a controversy in the state and resulted in a political slugfest between ruling BJP and opposition parties. Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has stated that his government will not allow anything which happens illegally.
Responding to the allegations, National General Secretary and BJP MLA C.T Ravi claimed that the camp was a part of a self-defence course. They were not trained in using AK-47’s and bombs. Every year, the Bajrang Dal trains its activists for self-defence.
Sri Ram Sena Founder Pramod Muthalik also defended the camp saying there is nothing wrong in giving training for self-defense.
The training camp was organised from May 5 to 11. The participants took part in a procession in the Ponnampet town on May 10. Bajrang Dal maintained that it had not violated law and the Arms Act. Air guns and tridents do not come under the act. However, police stated that they are looking into the issue of use of air guns in the open.
Karnataka Congress has demanded the arrest of Bajrang Dal leaders for giving arms training to young students in the school premises in Madikeri district.
Opposition party leader Siddaramaiah had stated that “by giving arms training in Madikeri to young members, Bajrang Dal has challenged the law of our land. Do we have a Home minister or Education minister in Karnataka? Is the government still alive?” Siddaramaiah questioned.
“MLAs M.P. Appachu, K.G. Bopaiah and Suja Kushalappa participated in the Shaurya Prashikshana Varga event of Bajrang Dal. Do they have any commitment towards our Constitution?” he asked.
Arms training is against the law and the Home Minister should file a case against the leaders of Bajrang Dal and arrest them, he demanded.
Education minister B.C Nagesh should take action against the school authorities for allowing Bajrang Dal to organise illegal activities, he demanded.
National News
Mumbai Masala: Encroachments Reduce SV Road To A Crawl As BMC Looks The Other Way, Urgent Action Needed

Mumbai: Wonder if massive traffic snarls on the Western Express Highway are here to stay. Many meetings have been held by the traffic police and civic officials but a concrete solution is eluding them. However, the traffic load on the highway can be reduced to certain extent if encroachments on SV Road, which stretches from Bandra to Dahisar, are removed mercilessly. The width of this arterial road is reduced to just one lane at several places because of heavy encroachment by shopkeepers. For example in the Jogeshwari stretch sellers of antiques (many are fake) occupy the road with zero fear of the BMC. The media had highlighted the problem sometime ago after which the BMC officials carried out demolitions at a few places. But it is business as usual now. Commissioner Bhushan Gagrani should set up a task force and have all the illegal shop extensions removed in a time-bound manner.
The Supreme Court recently called for the restoration of all footpaths to pedestrians. This is a most welcome move. Wish the apex court too had prescribed stringent punishment for those who illegally occupy pavements or abet in the encroachment.
In Mumbai the problem is massive corruption in ward offices. For example, in F/north ward the flower sellers occupying an entire footpath near Matunga post office are so powerful that they got the ward officer Nitin Shukla shunted out for daring to demolish their stalls. The new ward officer Arun Kshirsagar is blissfully indifferent to the heavy encroachment because of which pedestrians are forced to walk on roads risking their lives. Sab chalta hai….
Elections were held in several suburban gymkhanas recently. The campaigning was so heavy that one would think the general elections are on. Members were wine and dined liberally. Any number of whatsapp messages were posted soliciting votes for one panel or the other. Also whisper campaigns were launched to demonise members of rival panels. The conduct of some of the members would have put professional politicians to shame. What is the point in blaming our “netas” when educated middle class persons indulge in unethical practices just to be a member of the managing committee?
Entertainment
Vijay to meet families of Karur stampede victims in Mahabalipuram today

Chennai, Oct 27: TVK president and actor Vijay will on Monday hold a meeting with families who lost their loved ones in the Karur stampede tragedy.
The meeting, organised at a private resort in Mahabalipuram, Tamil Nadu, comes exactly a month after 41 people died during a TVK rally in Karur, marking the first time Vijay will personally interact with the bereaved families.
On Sunday, TVK functionaries arranged for the families to be brought from Karur and the surrounding districts to Mahabalipuram. Around 38 families arrived in eight private buses arranged by the party, while two families are scheduled to reach by air on Monday morning. A family from Tiruppur, however, has chosen to stay back.
About 50 rooms have been booked at the seaside resort along East Coast Road for their accommodation.
According to TVK sources, the families were first picked up from their homes and transported to a common assembly point in Karur before being taken to Mahabalipuram by road. The arrangements were coordinated by three district secretaries representing Karur, Coimbatore, and Erode.
Initially, Vijay had planned to visit Karur to meet the families at their residences. However, the plan was dropped due to security and logistical constraints. The party then decided to bring the families to a common venue to facilitate a quiet and private meeting.
The meeting will begin with a candlelight tribute for the 41 victims at the resort’s convention hall. Vijay will then meet each family individually to offer his condolences and extend assistance. The event is expected to conclude by 3 p.m., followed by lunch, after which the families will begin their return journey.
Party functionaries described the event as “a solemn, humane occasion” meant to express solidarity rather than seek publicity.
“Vijay wanted to stand by the families in their moment of grief and assure them that their pain has not been forgotten,” a senior TVK leader said, adding that the meeting is intended to bring comfort and closure to the affected families.
Business
US has reached a ‘substantial framework’ with China to avert tariffs: US Treasury Secretary Bessent

Washinton, Oct 27: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has said that he believes the US has reached a framework agreement with China to avoid imposing an additional 100 per cent tariff on Chinese imports.
“I think we’ve reached a substantial framework for the two leaders who will meet next Thursday… that tariffs will be averted,” Bessent said on Sunday to media from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where President Donald Trump arrived on Saturday for a weeklong Asia diplomacy tour.
Trump is expected to meet with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in South Korea later this week.
Earlier, Chinese International Trade Representative Li Chenggang said the US and China had reached “preliminary consensus” on trade issues during discussions in Malaysia, according to Chinese media.
Bessent did not provide details about the framework but said on media that he anticipates the US would get “some kind of deferral” on rare-earth export controls.
The minerals have been central to trade tensions between the top global economies.
Bessent said the framework sets up Trump and Xi “to have a very productive meeting,” adding, “I think it will be fantastic for US citizens, for US farmers, and for our country in general.”
Bessent indicated that an escalation in tariffs on China is “effectively off the table” following what he described as “very good” trade talks with his Chinese counterparts.
President Trump had threatened an additional 100 per cent tariff on China from November 1 over Beijing’s efforts to impose export controls on critical rare earths, ratcheting up tensions between the US and China.
Asked about the status of those tariffs, Bessent told media on Sunday that tariff threat has “gone away” after two days of talks in Malaysia.
“We had a very good two-day meeting. I would believe that the – so it would be an extra 100 per cent from where we are now, and I believe that that is effectively off the table.”
He added, “I would expect that the threat of the 100 per cent has gone away, as has the threat of the immediate imposition of the Chinese initiating a worldwide export control regime.”
US and Chinese trade negotiators reached a “basic consensus” on how to address their “respective concerns,” Chinese state media said on Sunday, following talks between the two sides over the weekend in Kuala Lumpur.
A delegation led by Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met with US officials including Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Trade Representative Jameson Greer for the talks, which come days ahead of a highly anticipated meeting between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump.
The two leaders are expected to meet on the sidelines of the APEC summit in South Korea, though Beijing, unlike Washington, has yet to confirm the meeting.
Earlier on Sunday, Bessent said the two sides had “set the stage for the leaders’ meeting” with a “very successful framework for the leaders to discuss”.
“The two sides engaged in candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges and consultations on major economic and trade issues of mutual concern,” the Chinese state media readout said.
It listed out those issues as including US penalties on China’s maritime logistics and shipbuilding industry, reciprocal tariffs, fentanyl tariffs, agricultural trade, and export controls – a sweeping set of frictions that have set the world’s two largest economies at loggerheads.
“Two sides reached a basic consensus on arrangements to address each other’s concerns. Both sides agreed to further finalise the specific details and fulfil their respective domestic approval processes,” the readout said.
Trade and tech tensions between the world’s two biggest economies have heightened in recent weeks after the US expanded its export blacklist, hitting China’s access to American high-tech, while China ramped up its own export controls on rare earth minerals.
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