By Ananya Sharma 
Bengaluru, October 18: Politics, tragedy, and small sparks of innovation Karnataka saw a bit of everything this week. The headlines were noisy, the details messy, and the stories, unmistakably real.
The “World Record” That Turned Into a Political Punchline
The Siddaramaiah government started the week in celebration mode. On social media, the Chief Minister proudly announced that Karnataka had “set global benchmarks,” crediting the Shakti scheme for women and the KSRTC for being recognised by something called the London Book of World Records.
Within hours, the internet had questions. The “book” in question, it turned out, was a tiny private outfit in the UK dissolved earlier this year. Even the certificates posted online were riddled with spelling errors.
By midweek, the mood had shifted from pride to damage control. Transport Minister R. Reddy claimed the certificates were only “drafts” and that the substance of the achievement was what mattered. “The work speaks for itself,” he said.
But the opposition pounced. BJP and JD(S) leaders accused the government of chasing publicity with fake certificates. To them, the “record” was just another case of optics over governance.
Behind the noise, though, lies a quieter truth. The Shakti scheme offering free bus travel to women has changed daily life for millions. You see it in the buses: college girls, domestic workers, and vegetable vendors all traveling without worrying about fare. That’s the real record, whatever some dissolved British company says. Still, the episode leaves the government’s credibility with a dent it didn’t need.
A Suspension That Split Opinions in Raichur
Down in Raichur, a government employee’s morning walk with the RSS has turned into a full-blown political flashpoint.
Praveen Kumar K.P., a Panchayat Development Officer, joined an RSS route march on October 12. He wore the uniform, carried the stick, smiled for the photo, and soon found himself suspended. The order said he’d violated the Karnataka Civil Services (Conduct) Rules, which demand neutrality from public servants.
To the Congress government, this was a simple rulebook decision. To the BJP, it was an attack on “patriotism” and proof of what they call the government’s bias against Hindu organisations.
This isn’t an isolated story. Just days earlier, the cabinet approved rules banning RSS activities in government schools and colleges. The line between enforcing neutrality and targeting ideology is, as always, blurry.
For now, Praveen Kumar is out of a job. The BJP is rallying behind him. The government insists it’s protecting the secular spirit of administration. Both may be right in their own ways and that’s exactly what makes Karnataka’s politics so combustible.
From Dried Lakes to Solar Fields
Amid the political noise, Bengaluru is quietly trying something inventive. The city’s power distributor, Bescom, has started setting up solar parks on lakebeds that have gone permanently dry.
It’s an oddly poetic solution using the scars of climate change to fight climate change. With land prices around the city shooting up, the idea is to make use of spaces that can’t serve their old purpose anymore.
Four such projects, roughly 5 to 6 MW each, are already running. Work is underway on twenty more. Bescom’s goal: to generate 250 to 300 MW of solar power by the end of 2025.
The plan isn’t flawless. Environmentalists point out that even “dry” lakes often recharge groundwater or support birdlife. Officials counter that the installations are removable if the lakes ever return, the panels can be lifted.
Still, it’s a rare story of local innovation that doesn’t begin with a press release. Engineers came up with the idea because they were running out of space. Sometimes necessity really is the mother of green invention.
A Death Outside the Panchayat Office
The most heartbreaking story this week came from Chamarajanagar.
Chikoosa Nayaka, a “waterman” at the Honganuru Gram Panchayat, took his own life outside his workplace. He’d worked there since 2016, drawing and distributing water to households, the kind of invisible labour most rural systems rely on. His grievance was painfully simple: he hadn’t been paid for 27 months.
He reportedly faced harassment from his superiors, too. Hours after his death, the local administration suspended the Panchayat Development Officer and promised an inquiry.
Opposition leaders blamed the government. Officials promised action. But for those who knew Chikoosa, the story isn’t political; it’s about dignity. It’s about how someone can keep working, unpaid for two years, still hoping the system would notice. It never did.
His death has become a symbol of what’s broken in local governance: delayed salaries, missing oversight, endless paperwork. Every time a tragedy like this happens, the same cycle of outrage and forgetfulness begins again.
MM Hills Celebrates a “Green Deepavali”
Not all stories are grim. In the forested folds of MM Hills, Chamarajanagar district is celebrating Deepavali a little differently this year.
For five days, the temple town near the wildlife sanctuary is turning into an eco-festival. Plastic has been banned, vehicle entry restricted, and a seven-kilometre procession will feature 101 tribal girls in green sarees walking through the hills. Folk dances, mass feeding, and special buses from Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are all part of the plan.
The district administration calls it a “Green Deepavali.” Whether the ban on plastic and traffic holds is another matter, but the spirit is commendable, an attempt to make celebration coexist with conservation. If it works, MM Hills might just set a new template for pilgrimage in the age of climate change.
The Week in a Nutshell
Elsewhere in the state:
- The High Court paused new civil-service appointments under the government’s internal SC quota, asking for more responses first.
- Narayana Murthy and Sudha Murty politely declined to participate in the ongoing Socio-Economic Survey, the Chief Minister says they probably misunderstood its purpose.
- Government schools remained closed till October 18, so teachers could focus on survey work.
- The state approved a ₹139 crore “Mission Zero Preventable Maternal Deaths” plan, tackling causes like haemorrhage and sepsis.
- The Karnatak Vidyavardhaka Sangha held a Kannada awareness festival in Belagavi, reminding everyone that language pride is still political currency.
- And Bengaluru is all set to host India’s first state-level Centre of Excellence in Space Technology, a move that fits the city’s tech-obsessed image perfectly.
A State Always in Motion
When you put all of this together, Karnataka this week feels like a microcosm of India proud, argumentative, occasionally careless, and constantly innovating.
The state government wants to prove it can deliver welfare with credibility and growth with conscience. But that’s easier said than done. Between inflated record claims, unpaid salaries, and ideological flare-ups, the distance between intent and reality is visible.
And yet, the small stories a solar field on a forgotten lakebed, a festival turning green, a court insisting on fairness remind us that governance isn’t always defined by scandal. Sometimes it’s shaped by quiet, stubborn attempts to do better.
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Covers Indian politics, governance, and policy developments with over a decade of experience in political reporting.
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
- Ananya Sharmahttps://hindustanherald.in/author/ananya/
