Villagers are claiming that land taken by the government to build houses left them out of pocket.

Karnataka Housing Board took land from villagers at Kakaramana-halli to build layouts.

Kakaramanahalli village houses about 747 people, according to the 2011 census. According to the local Panchayat, the village’s civic leader, there are 900 residents.

Of about 500 farmers living in the village, more than 8o per cent have claimed to have sold entirely or parts of their land to the KHB.

From 2011, officials of the Kar-nataka Housing Board have said to have been persuading the villagers at Kakaramanahlli and Barahalli to sell their land to KHB at set prices.

According to the Panchayat De-velopment office in Bidadi: “The KHB, at that time, had evaluated the price of land between 6-8 lakhs per acre and the villagers were told that they would be paid 26 lakhs in compensation for selling their agri-cultural land.”

But the villagers claim that they were told that they would be paid 30 lakhs per acre if they agree to sell their land.

Veerabadhriya, a resident of the village said,” More than 80 per cent of the villagers have sold a part of their lands to Karnataka Housing Board. It was acquired by them to build layouts. “

KHB has started working on the 449.21 acres of the land ac-quired from the farmers. The vil-lagers claim that they regret selling their lands.

Most of the farmers were in-volved in breeding of silkworms on their land which was their source of income. Now they engage in milk-ing cows and goats and doing driv-ing jobs.

Shanti, a resident of Kakara-manahalli said:”I have two acres of land of which I sold half an acre. I was paid Rs.10 lakhs for my land.”

Ramamurthy, another farmer said: “I had three acres of land. I sold one acre and 11 ghuntas and was given 35 lakhs. We were prom-ised Rs.30 lakhs per acre but they paid us less. The papers of my land were submitted to the KHB while

taking the payment.”“Life was better earlier. Now, the

money we received is almost over. I bought more land and cattle. Also, my earnings have fallen,” he added.

Umbaiyya, said that the KHB didn’t come and talk directly to the villagers. They interacted with a handful of villagers who then were made to talk to the remaining villag-ers.

“Five months back, we received 26 lakhs per acre. When the layout work started, villagers protested at the site to stall the ongoing work as they had promised us 30 lakhs in-stead of 26 lakhs. MLA Ambareesh came and said that instead of the remaining money, every farmer who sold his land would be given a site in the layout,” he added.

Umbaiyya now owns four cows and earns his living selling milk and curd at the Nandini Milk Federa-tion.

The villagers also stated that they were not given any written documents about the money, land acquisition or the sites promised.

Vikas added: “Two months back Ambareesh said that he will come

and talk to us about the remaining money and site for farmers in ten days. But he didn’t come after that.”

When villagers who weren’t will-ing to give away their lands to gov-ernment, Vikas said that they were persuaded until they sold up.

He added, “Most of the vil-lagers sold away some acres of the land they owned and now depend on cattle to make a living.”

Venkatesh, another villager who sold his land, used to breed silk-worms and now he has four cows. “I sold 20 ghunta of land for 16 lakhs. Now, a lot of what I earn goes into taking care of the cattle,” he said.

“Like others I am also regretting having sold my land”, he added.

Narayanappa, officer at the Kenchanaguppe Grama Panchayat said :”Govt had set a price of 23 lakhs for dry land and 26 lakhs for agricultural land.”

Mr Shibu, from the Karnataka Housing Board, said: “Only 26 lakhs had been offered, not 30 lakhs. The 26 lakh was fixed by the Deputy Commissioner of Ramanagara after taking into account the loss of land and compensation.”

In a period of less than a week, the CCB has recovered just over Rs.4, 30,000 and arrested almost 50 people across the city for ille-gal gambling.

On February 3, the Special En-quiry team of the City Crime Branch arrested 24 people and seized cash of Rs.1, 60,000 in a house within Seshadripuram Police Station lim-its in an operation authorized by DCP Central, Sandeep, based on a tip off.

Another 10 people were arrest-ed from a room in Star Hotel and cash of Rs.1, 90,000 were seized by the Special Enquiry team after a tip

off based on information gathered by DCP Crime, Abhisek Goyal on February 1.

On January 31 in Devar, Chick-anahally within Mico Layout Police Station limits five people were ar-rested and Rs. 30,790 was recovered from the accused.

On the same day a gambling den at Arafathanagar within JJ Nagar Police Station area. 10 were arrested and cash of Rs.51, 300 were seized.

“It is the second incident in the same area within four days”, said Anjunappa, sub-inspector at the po-lice station.

Seven people were arrested in that incident involving public gam-

bling.All these men were charged with

The Public Gambling Act, 1867, The Lotteries (Regulation) Act,

1998, Section 294-A of the Indian Penal Code, Section 30 of the In-dian Contract Act, 1872.

OBSERVERThe Weekly

Volume 14 | Issue 20 Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Shruti SureshRidhi Agrawal

Umbaiyya stands in front of the land he was persuaded to sell

Land row farmers cry foul play

49 arrested for gambling in just 4 days

EXCLUSIVE

Soumya Chatterjee

The gambling den in Arafatnagar where 10 people were arrested

Shanti gave up half an acre of her land to the housing board

BRIEFS

Stress makes Garden City less than rosy

Bangalore’s popula-tion explosion has led to an increase in urban stress. Page 2

Tax dodging illegal hostel owners risking safety

“I saw the girl being beaten by four men who also tried to rape her,” said Shreya Ver-ma, who used to live in a PG in BTM layout 1st stage.Page 2

City schools clueless that they are ‘illegal’

Most of the 1,266 schools in Bangalore, deemed illegal by the government aren’t aware of their cur-rent status due to the absence of any notice from the government.Page 3

3 duped with promise of jobs

FOUR men have been arrested after victims of a fake jobs scam alerted police.Page 3

Male breast cancer ‘myth‘ lethal

Men who are diag-nosed with breast can-cer are far more likely to die from the disease than women, accord-ing to specialists.Page 4

2 The Weekly OBSERVER Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Tax dodging illegal hostel owners risking safety“I saw the girl being beaten by four men who also tried to rape her,” said Shreya Verma, who used to live in a PG in BTM layout 1st stage.

She added: “They were very drunk, so she managed to escape and cried for help. People gath-ered after hearing the cry and handed those men to the police. The incident took place in the PG

next to mine. “The girl filed the FIR but she

had to take back her complaint as she was getting threatening calls from the men’s relatives.”

Private hostels and PGs in Ban-galore are taking in guests but not paying tax, as they refuse to regis-ter with authorities.

“Registration of PGs and pri-vate hostels are divided in eight zones. In south zone only, there are 898 PGs registered and in all of Bangalore more than 8,000. However, if we see the market, there are more PGs than the reg-istered number working success-fully,” said Haughe Gowda, PA to Joint Commissioner BBMP, South Zone.

“People don’t want to register because for that they have to pay more tax than the normal resi-dent,” he added.

According to Sayed Sadiq, 42, who runs PGs and private hostels, I and my friends, are in this busi-ness since a decade. But we haven’t bothered to take license from Bru-hat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP). We fixed the matter with the area police and we’re running our business successfully.”

He added: “In Bangalore, 70-80 percent private hostels and PGs are unregistered and running

illegally. I think safety is all in the hands of the owner.”

However, some PG owners think that safety is not only their responsibility.

“It is not possible to go by every demand of the hostellers. CCTV is not so cheap that we install it easily. Also it is not pos-sible to have a security guard all the time. But we have license and reputation, so if anything happens we will take care of that,” said Leela (name changed), who runs a private PG in Koramangala.

Roshni, 24, who lives in J.P. Na-gar, recalls her PG days and said: “My last PG was at BTM Layout. Initially the PG was very good, ev-erything was perfect. However, the conditions changed when that PG was sold out to another man.”

“One night, my friends and I were partying. Suddenly we real-ized that our male warden came into our home without knocking.

“It was really shocking and we asked him to go out but he screamed at us and used abusive language. We left the PG very next day. He didn’t even return our se-curity money,” added Roshni.

Tuhina (name changed), 22, who lives in a PG in Marathahalli, said that she has shifted to a new PG this month only because in

her last PG there was no security. A girl was stalked constantly for six-month by the landlord’s son.

“We complained to the land-lord about that and also asked him to install CCTV cameras in the premises but he didn’t. How-ever, this PG is also not that good because it is surrounded by wine shops and a parlor,” added Tuhi-na.

Shiva Kumar, Bangalore Ur-ban District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum, Cauvery Bha-van, believes that there is lack of awareness among people who live in PGs and hostels.

“The number of complaints regarding hostel issues is very less. If they complain, they complain only about lack of facilities and promises unfulfilled. We haven’t received any complaint regarding serious issues,” he added.

Campus hostels also pose a risk to safety.

“I am studying here from the last one year and haven’t found a single guard at the gate to watch the guests. Anyone can enter in our campus.

“Male-sweepers enter bath-rooms without letting us know. Sometimes they stare at us and it feels very embarrassing,” said Akshara, student of B.A. (Hons)

English, Bangalore University.Ramanatha Y.B., a sub-inspec-

tor at Halasuru police station, said, “Complaints regarding PGs and hostels are less. Girls from outside prefer not complaining. There are people who live in illegal PGs but they don’t complain till they face any issue. However, if any issue comes we do look into that.”

Stress makes Garden City less than rosyBangalore’s population explosion has led to an increase in urban stress.

According to 2011 Census data released by Karnataka gov-ernment, the number of people living per square kilometre in the city has increased to 4,378 in 2011 from 2,985 in 2001.

The population of Bangalore has increased to 9.5 million in 2011 from 6.5 million in 2001. This ac-counts for 15.7% of Karnataka’s 61.1 million people, according to the 2011 Census reports.

The report of the National Commission on Population, in 2006, stated that urbanisation in India would be 38.8% of the pop-ulation by the year 2026.

According to a survey by the United Nations State of the World Population report, by 2030, 40.76% of the country’s popula-tion is expected to reside in urban areas. India will lead the world’s urban population surge by 2050, according to the World Bank.

Urbanisation has taken a toll on the lives of people living in the cities that witness most migrations from other parts of the country. According to the Census 2011, Bangalore ranks fifth most ur-banised city in the country inhab-iting 8,499,399 of population.

Dr Roshan Jain, a consultant psychiatrist in Bangalore, said the stress of living so closely together was leading to an increase in the

numbers seeking help with mental issues.

“I think the pace of things in our country may be one main rea-son. Too many things too soon, with no time to reflect and intro-spect,” he added.

“There is rampant urbaniza-tion with the cities being full of migrants, many of them living an isolated existence with lack of confidence and limited support network.

“People seem to live more in the virtual rather than the real world. This is mainly due to the rise of computer usage, social media and virtual communica-tion networks. Smart phones are becoming smarter than their own-ers!, he added.

Dr Jain has been practicing psy-chiatry for the past 17 years, main-ly in Bangalore. He said, “Young professionals from the IT industry develop stress related physical and mental health problems. HR at IT companies refers employees for mental health evaluation in order that they have proper treatment and successful return to work in a healthy state.

“Many corporate companies invite me for seminars and one-to-one interactive sessions as part of wellness related activities.”

The number of suicides in cit-ies has gone up from 13,071 in 2008 to 18,280 in 2011. National Crime Records Bureau records the number of suicides was 13,675 in 2010. According to the data, be-

tween May and August 2013, as many as 572 people ended their lives. The majority - 393 - were men and the rest women.

The reason for young adults at-tempting suicide are varied, from work stress to pressure of fitting in with the rapidly changing face of the urbanized city. The cause of suicides among teenagers is because of the constant perfor-mance pressure on them.

SAHAI Helpline is one of the leading suicide prevention and emotional distress helplines in the city, based in Fraser Town. The number of callers every day on an average goes from five to seven who are seeking counselling from the helpline.

“People calling our helpline are mostly people who have joined some IT company saying that they are not able to handle the perfor-mance pressure. Most of the call-ers are young adults. Some are not able to find jobs and some are not happy with what they have,” said one of the attendants at SAHAI Helpline.

Dr Jain said that most people are overworked with poor work life balance and little or no time for meaningful activity or relax-ation or fitness programs. “IT staff catering for international cli-ents work late or round the clock, which I think is burning out many at a young age.”

Many are unaware of the impact of relentless stress on their health.

Awareness programs conducted by Dr Jain have proved beneficial and life changing for many.

He joined this profession be-cause, “Psychiatry is about people and not just their problems and symptoms. Psychiatry is medicine and much more, with opportu-nities to learn much about life. Human emotions have always in-terested me therefore I naturally landed in this very interesting spe-cialism.”

He qualified as a medical prac-titioner in 1995 from JJM Medical College, Davengere, Karnataka, India then moved in United King-dom. He obtained membership of the Royal College of Psychiatrists, London, Masters of Medical Sci-ences in Clinical Psychiatry, Uni-versity of Nottingham and Cer-tificates of Completion of Higher specialist Training in General adult Psychiatry, with specialist endorse-ment in Substance Misuse (addic-tion) Psychiatry.

The people that he deals with come up with all possible prob-lems and issues with life. The ages range from five to 85 years. The problems vary from attention deficit and behaviour problems to mental health issues to addictions.

Many consultations are illness related for example those suffer-ing from panic attack, anxiety, in-somnia, depression, phobia, psy-chosis. Many people also consult for academic problems and career guidance.

Divya Kishore

The man who entered the girls’ hostel in BTM Layout at mid-night. He was never charged.

Aparna Singh

Dr. Roshan Jain says that people are coming forward sooner and proactively seeking help for wellness, change and better lifestyle

Tuhina shifted from the old PG due to safety reasons

Principal of Holy Child Primary School, S.T. Bano

3 The Weekly OBSERVER Wednesday, February 04, 2015

News Digest

RBI has increased the annual foreign investment limit from $ 1,25,000 to $ 2,50,000 – an all-time high for foreign exchange reserves.

Formula one 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen claims that Fer-rari is a much im-proved team com-pared to last year. He has promised to regain the title this season es-pecially with the technical team working hard to improve the per-formance of the car.

A Taiwan plane carrying 58 pas-sengers has crashed in Taipei. Reports stated 10 people are wait-ing to be rescued.

The Public Sector Employees Union announced a four-day strike over a paltry wage rise offered by bank management.

In a new turn of events the Uber cab rape accused Shiv Kumar Yadav has denied all the charges against him.

FOUR men have been arrested after victims of a fake jobs scam alerted police.Three people who claim they were duped into paying Rs25,000 each for jobs in the city were promised posi-tions at two different companies but they heard nothing after paying the money.The City Crime Branch and HAL police arrested the four men - Lak-shmi Krishna, 36, Vijaya Raghava Reddy and Vijaya Kumar, both 35 and Venkata 26-year-old Reddy - who they claim promised jobs to people providing them with ap-pointment letters, work experience letter and salary slips in return of Rs.25,000 .

The alleged conmen traced names and phone numbers of people from the internet and promised them jobs in Nexus Technologies and VGS Technologies, in Marathahalli .The HAL police have registered a case against them under various sections of the Indian Penal Code Sections- 420, 467, 468 and 471 - charges of forgery and possession of counterfeit materials. IPC 467 is applicable as forgery of valuable security, will, etc.—whoever forges a document which purports to be a valuable security or a will, or any document purporting to be an acquittance or receipt acknowledg-ing the payment of money. The police also seized fake appoint-ment letters, work experience letters, salary letters, computers, laptops

and printers during the arrests. The police took immediate actions after the victims Surendra Babu

(35), Ananda (35), Diwakar Reddy (32) registered a complaint against the four arrested.

3 duped with promise of jobsSoumya Chatterjee

Two of the four men who were arrested by the police for duping people of Rs. 25,000

City schools clueless that they are ‘illegal’

Most of the 1,266 schools in Bangalore deemed illegal by the government aren’t aware of their current status and claim the education board hasn’t notified them.

In December 12, 2014, the de-partment of Public Instruction up-loaded documents on their website which listed the Bangalore schools that were unauthorized.

The reasons for this were mainly twofold. Firstly, the schools had per-mission to only teach in Kannada medium but were teaching in Eng-lish medium. Secondly, the schools only had permission to adhere to the national syllabus but were fol-lowing an international syllabus.

Although the government had given an assurance that all schools would be informed and had expect-ed replies within 10 days, several schools in the city haven’t got any intimation regarding this issue.

Punith, principal of New Car-mel School in Hegganahalli, said he wasn’t aware that the school had been declared as unauthor-ized. However, he did admit that the school was defaulting, as the school has permission to teach only in Kannada medium. He said, “Yes, we have been teaching in English medium. It(the school being on the

list) may be because of this.”When Husna Bano, principal of

St. Saras English medium school, Koramangala, was asked whether she knew about the document, she said: “I know. We had permission only for Kannada medium and later applied for English medium. We were given the approval, and also received acknowledgement before December.” She didn’t know why their school was still listed. Bano wasn’t sure whether the school was following national syllabus or inter-national.

When The Weekly Observer informed Nahid, Vice-Principal of Holy Child Primary School, Kengeri about this document, she refused to believe it. S.T. Bano, Principal of the same school, expressed confi-dence that this wouldn’t be an issue and reiterated it by saying that the school had been around for quite some time, and that all the required permissions had been taken.

Vanamala, principal of SJR School in Kengeri, was also taken aback by the information. She said, “Actually our syllabus is ICSE so councilor has directly given us per-mission; we are having a permanent affiliation. For nursery we have to take permission (separately), and we

have already applied for that.” She also spoke about another

school which had been shut down because it was following English medium without having permission to do so.

Umesh, affiliated with the Gu-rujnana School, Kengeri, said that their school hadn’t received any inti-mation regarding this issue. He also said that the school will wait till the circular arrives, and after that the le-gal department will “take care” of things.

Rosy Samuel, vice-principal of Vidya Mandir in Kamakshipalya,

also had no inkling of any develop-ment.

Padmavathi, Block Education Officer, or BEO, of Bangalore North, said that notices had been issued to all the schools in the list. Manjunath, BEO of Bangalore South, also said the same thing.

When asked the reason for so many schools defaulting, he blamed it on the govt’s policy change post 1994. He added that in case the schools didn’t comply and take the required permissions, they would 100% be shut down within a few months.

Apoorva ChoubeyTushar Kaushik

The school authorities were taken aback when told that their school was listed as unauthorised

Shri Gurujnana Kendra, another school unaware of the issue

Men who are diagnosed with breast cancer are far more likely to die from the disease than women, according to specialists.

While 17 per cent of all women who develop breast cancer will die, the figure for men is signifi-cantly higher, at 26 per cent, according to one of the city’s leading oncologists.

Breast cancer is common among women in the city but cases among men are also on the rise.

“Three years ago there were rare cases of breast cancer in men. Now there is a 3-5 per cent rise in these cases,” said Professor Kodaganur S. Gopinath, senior surgical oncologist and director of the Bangalore Institute of Oncology.

Breast cancer in Indian men is much rarer than in females, according to Dr. M. Chandrashekar, Senior Surgical Oncologist at Apollo Hospital, Bangalore. He said, “In India, every one out of 30 women and one out of 400 men develop breast cancer.”

Dr. Chandrashekar added: “Breast cancer in males is not a myth. In fact, more men tend to at-tract this cancer due to increased stress levels.

“If we check elsewhere in the world, highest incidences of cancer breast in males can be found in sub-Saharan population. All over the world this cancer affects only 1% of the men. Gener-ally, breast cancers in African population tend to behave more aggressively than elsewhere in the world.”

Sex makes a differenceThere are significant differences between

male and female breast cancer. “Men do not have breasts like women, but they do have breast tis-sue. Lesions are easier to be found in men due to the smaller breast size. However, lack of aware-ness may postpone seeking medical attention. The presence of gynecomastia may mask the condition,” said Dr. Chandrashekar.

Professor Gopinath says that thankfully young boys do not develop breast cancer. “Except for one or two cases in the past five years, there have been no cases among boys in India,” he said. The survival rate for men with breast cancer is low, because of the small tissue in the breast area. Only 74 per cent of men survive within five years of treatment while 83 percent of women tend to live after the surgery.

Affecting factorsAccording to Bangalore

Individual Cancer Regis-try of 2007-09, men below the age group of 30 do not develop breast cancer. The highest number of cases can be found in the age group of 55-60 years.

Consumption of al-cohol, cirrhosis of liver,

parasitic infestations like schistosomiasis, obesity, estrogen intake, lower levels of testosterone and associated Klein Felter syndrome are some of the factors that lead to breast cancer in men.

“Family history is the main reason why men may develop breast cancer. Hence, such men should get tested monthly to keep away the scare. If not tested early it can develop into prostate cancer which is difficult to treat,” said Professor Gopinath.

Diagnosis and Treatment“Treatment for breast cancer is the same for

both men and women. Mastectomy is a common operation among men. They have to undergo surgery, chemotherapy and hormone therapy,” said Professor Gopinath.

He added that breast conserving surgery is carried out among men if the cancer is not cur-able.

Dr. Chandrashekar said, “The diagnosis is made later in men—at age 67 on average—than in women with their average at the age of 63. Le-sions are less contained in men as they do not have to travel far to infiltrate skin, nipple, or mus-cle tissue. Thus, lesions in men tend to be more advanced. ”

Awareness“It is not only women anymore; it is the men

too. If any lump is found in the breast area, the person should consult an oncologist. There are plenty of breast cancer screening centres in Ban-galore and India. People should make use of them,” said Professor Gopinath.

Dr. Chandrashekhar says, “Any lump should be evaluated by a physician. Regular exercise and a diet rich in antioxidants is necessary for men and women. If one suspects lesions, mammog-raphy and fine needle aspiration should be done immediately.”

He added that there has been much awareness about breast cancer and now certain importance should be extended to the cases of breast cancer in men. “They should not be ignored.”

“Three years ago there were rare cases of

breast cancer in men. Now there is a 3-5 per

cent rise,”

Professor Kodaganur S. Gopinath, se-

nior surgical oncologist and direc-tor of the Bangalore

Institute of Oncology.

Breast Cancer Fast FactsWorld Cancer Day is marked on February 4 every year to raise awareness about the disease. Here are a few little known facts about breast cancer.

An Account of the First Use of Sulpheric Ether by Inhalation as an • Anesthetic in Surgical Operations states that a Breast Cancer surgery was the first operation where anasthesia was used.

In the book ‘The Everything Health Guide to Living with Breast • Cancer,’ it is stated that the incidence of Breast Cancer is highest in highly developed countries and lowest in less developed countries.

James Olson in ‘Bathsheba’s Breast: Women, Cancer, and His-• tory’ says, Breast cancer was one of the first cancers to be described by ancient physicians. For example, physicians in ancient Egypt described breast cancer more than 3,500 years ago. One surgeon describes “bulg-ing” tumors in the breast of which “there is no cure.”

Data put together by SIRO suggests:Over 100,000 new breast cancer patients are estimated to be diag-•

nosed annually in India.While the majority of breast cancer patients in western countries •

are postmenopausal and in their 60s and 70s, the picture is quite differ-ent in India with pre-menopausal patients constituting about 50% of all patients.

Only about 5% of all patients managed had a family history of • breast cancer.

4 The Weekly OBSERVER Wednesday, February 04, 2015

Male breast cancer ‘myth’ lethalKimaya Varude

Dr. Chandrashekar advises to consult an oncologist as soon as a lump is felt in the breast area

Tweets of the Day

@kiranshaw: Glad to see the @CMofKar-nataka being serious about developing #BLR’s infrastruc-ture. http://bit.ly/1K5YceY

@CMofKarna-taka: #JointSession-Hon’ble Governor Shri.Vajubhai Vala addressed the joint session of the Kar-nataka Legislative Assembly. http://bit.ly/1AqPfev

@anantgoenka: AIB row: Censor Board Ashoke Pandit man needs a mouth-wash | The Indian Express http://bit.ly/1CXYORu

@ProfVarshney: Mr Modi has won a lot -- & that goes bril-liantly to his credit. But if he wins ev-erything like Indira Gandhi, it will only weaken democracy.

@madversity: Both AIB Roast and Ghar Wapsi show a sec-tion of India unable to come to grips with modernity --- and its discontents!

@rukmini_shrini : The bulk of politi-cal funding in India is opaque, to say the least http://bit.ly/1EF3YDW

OBSERVER Team: Editor - Soumya Chatterjee, Chief Sub Editor - Agnivesh Harshan, Sub Editors - Aparna Singh, Pulaha Ray, News Desk - Devdatta Sukhdev, Layout - Shruti Suresh, Suharika Rachavelpula, Picture Editor - Kimaya Varude, Reporter - Apoorva Choubey