After Shakthi Yojana launch, men ridership surge, alongside free travel for women; reports
Bengaluru: One of the newly formed Congress government’s flagship schemes, the ‘Shakthi’ Yojana which came into effect earlier this week, has shown a very positive response. In the meantime, alongside people complaining about the crowding, reports also indicate that the ridership of men travelling in the state transport has also shown a steep surge.
Quoting notes of a number of urban mobility experts, The New Indian Express reported that there has been a sharp rise in the overall ridership of passengers including men who have to pay for their travel.
As per experts cited by the TNIE, they opined that there could be a possibility of two kinds of shifts following the launch of the Shakthi scheme. Firstly, the women who previously preferred other modes of transport, veered to the state transport. Subsequently after the implementation of the scheme there was a substantial surge in ridership in the form of euphoria towards the complimentary initiative.
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According to the TNIE report, the average daily ridership of BMTC stands at 27.34 lakh. However, data provided by the transport utility reveals that on June 12, the total ridership reached 34.94 lakh, with 17.57 lakh women passengers. On June 13, the ridership increased further to 40.17 lakh, including 20.57 lakh women. Similarly, on June 14, the total ridership was 33.44 lakh, with 16.85 lakh passengers being women, and on June 15, it reached 33.28 lakh, with 17.67 lakh women passengers. These figures indicate a rise in the number of male passengers.
Meanwhile, in a video released by a Twitter user named @shaandelhite , a KSRTC conductor was seen stating that “Because women are going out with family and so more men are travelling by bus. Earlier, it was 7-8k collections per day but now it is up to 16k per day,” he added.
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Second PUC results: Life convict clears exam with distinction, DGP lauds effort
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Bengaluru: A life convict lodged in Ballari Central Prison has successfully cleared the second PUC examination.
Ashok Kumar S, who appeared for the examination under prison escort, secured 481 marks out of 600, registering 80.1 percent.
Director General of Police (Prisons and Correctional Services), Alok Kumar (IPS), shared the development on his official ‘X’ handle, commending the inmate’s achievement.
In his post, he stated that it was heartening to see a life convict score over 80 percent in the examination, adding that the inmate had appeared from Ballari Central Prison under escort.
It’s heartening to see that one of our life convict prisoners Ashok has obtained 80.1% marks in PUC exam. He appeared under Prison escort from Ballari Central Prison for his exams.
— alok kumar (@alokkumar6994) April 9, 2026
Glad to see that Walls of the prison has not subdued his hopes for a better future. pic.twitter.com/Nzlcy076SR
He further noted that the achievement reflected that the “walls of the prison have not subdued his hopes for a better future.”
Alok Kumar in his post also shared the result sheet of Ashok.
The Karnataka School Examination and Assessment Board (KSEAB) declared the second PUC results for 2026 on April 9.
A total of 6,32,200 students appeared for the examination across all streams, of whom 5,46,698 passed, recording an overall pass percentage of 86.48 per cent.
