Udupi: Unauthorized door-to-door campaign of collecting data stopped in Kapu after video goes viral
Uchila/Kapu (Udupi): The unauthorized campaign of collecting data by ASHA workers that was started and backed by local police was stopped on Friday after a viral video triggered controversy on Thursday. The incident came to light when a video of this incident went viral.
A video of a woman speaking about the incident with the letter of details went viral across social media platforms on Thursday.
Locals in Uchila had expressed anguish over the ASHA workers visiting homes seeking details of all the members of the family without warranting any official letter or sealed document from the government. The people had protested against such a campaign and had refused to fill out the forms given by the ASHA workers.
“The ASHA workers visited our homes. When we refused to give the information that they sought, they threatened us adding that the police will come and take the information from us. They asked for our passport and bank details when we questioned them they could not give us satisfactory answers.” The woman in the viral video had claimed.
“We complained to the Gram Panchayath officials when these ASHA workers threatened us. They said they have not issued any orders for any data collection or survey. So if the officials have not sought any data or information, who are these workers collecting the data for?” the woman had questioned in the video.
The developments have triggered panic and confusion among the locals at a time when reports of the deletion of names from electoral lists are doing rounds. This has also collaborated with the confusion people have about the CAA and NRC regulations of the Centre.
When contacted, Health and Family Welfare Officer Dr. Nagbhushan Udupa clarified that the department has not tasked any of the ASHA workers to collect information or conduct surveys.
Following the controversy, a top official in the police department told Vartha Bharati that the campaign was stopped.
Among the details that were sought in the forms, the ASHA workers carried included Names, Educational details, Mobile Numbers, Email IDs, PAN cards, Passport Numbers, Aadhar Card, Vehicle Numbers, Gas connection numbers, and Landline numbers of all the members of the family.
The forms also asked people to fill in if they were vegetarians or non-vegetarians along with school details of the kids at home. Vaccine information, and bank details were also sought in the forms.
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Israel launches first airstrike on Lebanon since ceasefire, accusing Hezbollah of breaching truce
Beirut, Nov 28: The Israeli military on Thursday said its warplanes fired on southern Lebanon after detecting Hezbollah activity at a rocket storage facility, the first Israeli airstrike a day after a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah took hold.
There was no immediate word on casualties from Israel's aerial attack, which came hours after the Israeli military said it fired on people trying to return to certain areas in southern Lebanon. Israel said they were violating the ceasefire agreement, without providing details. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said two people were wounded.
The back-to-back incidents stirred unease about the agreement, brokered by the United States and France, which includes an initial two-month ceasefire in which Hezbollah members are to withdraw north of the Litani River and Israeli forces are to return to their side of the border. The buffer zone would be patrolled by Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers.
On Thursday, the second day of a ceasefire after more than a year of bloody conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, Lebanon's state news agency reported that Israeli fire targeted civilians in Markaba, close to the border, without providing further details. Israel said it fired artillery in three other locations near the border. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
An Associated Press reporter in northern Israel near the border heard Israeli drones buzzing overhead and the sound of artillery strikes from the Lebanese side.
The Israeli military said in a statement that “several suspects were identified arriving with vehicles to a number of areas in southern Lebanon, breaching the conditions of the ceasefire.” It said troops “opened fire toward them” and would “actively enforce violations of the ceasefire agreement.”
Israeli officials have said forces will be withdrawn gradually as it ensures that the agreement is being enforced. Israel has warned people not to return to areas where troops are deployed, and says it reserves the right to strike Hezbollah if it violates the terms of the truce.
A Lebanese military official said Lebanese troops would gradually deploy in the south as Israeli troops withdraw. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief media.
The ceasefire agreement announced late Tuesday ended 14 months of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah that began a day after Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack out of Gaza, when the Lebanese Hezbollah group began firing rockets, drones and missiles in solidarity.
Israel retaliated with airstrikes, and the conflict steadily intensified for nearly a year before boiling over into all-out war in mid-September. The war in Gaza is still raging with no end in sight.
More than 3,760 people were killed by Israeli fire in Lebanon during the conflict, many of them civilians, according to Lebanese health officials. The fighting killed more than 70 people in Israel — over half of them civilians — as well as dozens of Israeli soldiers fighting in southern Lebanon.
Some 1.2 million people were displaced in Lebanon, and thousands began streaming back to their homes on Wednesday despite warnings from the Lebanese military and the Israeli army to stay out of certain areas. Some 50,000 people were displaced on the Israeli side, but few have returned and the communities near the northern border are still largely deserted.
In Menara, an Israeli community on the border with views into Lebanon, around three quarters of homes are damaged, some with collapsed roofs and burnt-out interiors. A few residents could be seen gathering their belongings on Thursday before leaving again.
