Mock drill on COVID readiness at hospitals in Karnataka on Dec 27
Bengaluru: A mock drill to test the COVID emergency preparedness of health facilities in Karnataka will be conducted on December 27, state Health Minister K Sudhakar said on Friday.
Addressing reporters here, after a meeting with Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya, he said, “We are conducting the mock drill in all our health facilities on December 27 just to make sure all our facilities, right from infrastructure health personnel, our equipment, oxygen generators, everything are in working condition.”
Mandaviya held an emergency COVID meeting with all the state health ministers and gave a presentation on the prevailing status of pandemic across the world. “Mandaviya has given us several guidelines. He has also directed all the states to ensure that adequate beds are reserved for COVID patients in district hospitals, Taluk hospitals, and also in the private establishments,” Sudhakar said.
The state health minister noted that about five to six lakh cases were being reported daily but of them, 80 percent of these cases are contributed by only 10 countries. It was obvious that India has to be careful and take all precautionary measures.
“The Union Minister has given us some specific directions like increasing the surveillance and testing. Secondly, appropriate COVID behavior should be brought back and thirdly we have been asked to conduct mock drill in our health facilities.”
On guidelines for the New Year, he said the Centre has asked the states to closely monitor major activities.
“Any activity that involves thousands of people is a big gathering. So, we need to closely monitor and should also ask people to follow COVID appropriate behaviour, because this is not the time you let your guard down,” Sudhakar added.
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Karnataka Governor gives assent to legislation against ‘honour killing’ in inter-caste marriages
Bengaluru: The government has brought into force the Karnataka Freedom of Choice in Marriage and Prevention and Prohibition of Crimes in the name of honour and tradition (Eva Nammava Eva Nammava) Act, 2026, intended to restrict ‘honour killings’ in inter-caste marriages.
According to The Indian Express, the legislation received assent from Governor Thawar Chand Gehlot on April 9 and was officially notified in the state gazette on April 10. The law had been passed unanimously by the state legislature last month.
The Bill was proposed by the Congress government in the wake of caste-linked ‘honour killings’ in the state, including the December 21, 2025, murder near Hubli of a 20-year-old Lingayat woman by her father for marrying a man from another caste.
The phrase ‘Eva Nammava Eva Nammava’ in the title is in reference to the message of universal humanity that the Lingayat saint Basavanna espoused. Basavanna, who rebelled against the caste system to lay the foundation of the Lingayat faith system, an amalgamation of all castes, used the words meaning ‘he is a part of me’ to say all people are one.
Under the new law, crimes committed in the name of ‘honour’, including murder, assault, threats, and social boycott, are specifically addressed with stringent punishments. ‘Honour killing’ offences carry a minimum imprisonment of five years, while serious assaults attract at least three years in jail.
The new law defines the social boycott of inter-caste couples as forcible eviction to remote corners of villages, refusal to provide services, refusal to provide work, refusal to conduct business, denial of loans and admissions to schools, and makes it punishable.
In the case of ‘honour killings’ per se, the new law prescribes a minimum imprisonment of five years, and in the case of assaults, a prison term that is not less than three years for serious injury and two years for minor injuries.
The offences under the proposed law are cognisable and non-bailable, which means police can carry out arrests without court permissions after taking up a case.
The legislation follows several reported inter-caste relationship-related killings in Karnataka in 2025, including cases in Raichur and another involving 18-year-old Kavita.
The law to protect the freedom of choice in marriages is among several social bills that the Congress government has brought out in line with its policies for the backward and downtrodden communities in the state.
