KSRTC Wins Svayam Accessibility Award 2025 for Pioneering Inclusive Transport in Mysuru

Posted on by Vividh Bharthi

New Delhi: Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has bagged the Svayam Accessibility Award 2025 for its groundbreaking initiative ‘Dhwani Spandana’—a first-of-its-kind Onboard Bus Identification and Navigation System aimed at making public transport in Mysuru more inclusive and accessible.

The award, which recognises innovation in accessible mobility, was presented by Prashant Kumar Mittal, Deputy Director General, National Informatics Centre (NIC), and Sminu Jindal, Founder-Chairperson of the Svayam Foundation. It was received on behalf of KSRTC by Sharan Basavaraj K.M., Divisional Controller, Mandya Division, and Sudharani R., Deputy Chief Systems Manager.

The Dhwani Spandana system, developed by the Raised Lines Foundation at IIT Delhi, helps visually impaired commuters navigate city buses independently. The technology enables users to identify approaching buses and locate entry points using assistive audio signals. So far, over 200 Mysuru city buses have been equipped with the system, and more than 400 visually impaired passengers have been trained to use it.

The project, implemented under the SUM-ACA initiative with technical support from GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH), has significantly improved safety, confidence, and independence for commuters with vision impairments.

The Svayam Foundation, India’s leading accessibility advocacy organisation, has been recognising institutions that set benchmarks in universal design and inclusion for 25 years. The 2025 edition of the awards marks a milestone year for Svayam as it celebrates its silver jubilee of promoting accessibility across the globe.

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CM Vijayan and daughter would have been in jail long before Kejriwal: Congress MLA

Thiruvananthapuram, Dec 19 (IANS) First-time Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan on Thursday said Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter Veena Vijayan would have gone to jail in her IT firm case long before former Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, as the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) informed the Delhi High Court that their probe has been completed in the business dealings and they are awaiting orders from authorities to go forward.

It was Kuzhalnadan who first raised the issue of the Kochi-based mining company Cochin Minerals and Rutile Ltd (CMRL) having paid Rs 1.72 crore to Exalogic Solutions, the IT firm owned by Vijayan’s daughter, in the name of software services without any service being rendered by it.

His revelation came after a media report, attributing the findings to an Income Tax Department statement, first surfaced and after this, he has been pursuing the case.

The Serious Fraud Investigation Office and the Enforcement Directorate also took up this case.

The SFIO on Wednesday informed the Delhi High Court that their probe has been completed in the business dealings between CMRL and Exalogic and is waiting for orders from authorities to go forward. It said that Exalogic has received huge sums of money and it was to influence a top politician.

“There is no doubt and no one has any doubts also this top politician is none other than Vijayan. I raised this when the case surfaced and Vijayan said his hands are clean. I challenged him to prove it was not him and if he does it, I would end my public life and quit as a legislator. Till date, he has not accepted my challenge. It’s most unfortunate that a party like CPI-M is defending Vijayan and his daughter,” Kuzhalnadan alleged.

He also claimed that there was a nexus between the BJP and Vijayan, comparing it to the Tom and Jerry cartoons.

“Today what’s happening here is the Tom and Jerry show… Just as in the cartoon series, one gets a feel that anytime Tom will pounce on Jerry, but it doesn’t happen and in real, the same is happening. This game is going on and the benefits like the BJP winning the Thrissur Lok Sabha and such things have also taken place,” he alleged.

The Congress legislator also pointed out that two High Courts – Kerala and Karnataka – had dismissed petitions filed by the state-owned KSIDC and Veena Vijayan and now, the same issue has come up in the Delhi High Court.

For pursuing the case, Kuzhalnadan was accused of usurping government land, and a case was registered against him. On Thursday, he asserted that he would continue to pursue this case to its logical conclusion.

–IANS

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Tug-of-war over Dr Ambedkar intensifies as BJP, Congress gear up for events in MP

Bhopal, Jan 17 (IANS) The political contest over Dr B.R. Ambedkar between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the opposition Congress is set to intensify in Madhya Pradesh in the coming week.

While the Congress will launch its ‘Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan’ campaign from Dr Ambedkar’s birthplace in Mhow on January 27, the BJP has also announced its own initiative, ‘Samvidhan Gaurav Diwas,’ with events planned across the state.

Several senior BJP leaders, including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Health and Family Welfare Minister J.P. Nadda (also the BJP national president), and Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, are scheduled to visit Madhya Pradesh for this campaign.

As per party sources, Amit Shah will address a public rally in Bhopal while Nitin Gadkari will participate in events in Indore. Similarly, J.P. Nadda will attend a rally in Jabalpur and Vinod Tawde, BJP national general secretary, will preside over a program in Rewa.

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with other senior BJP leaders, will lead events in cities like Gwalior, Ujjain, and Sagar as part of the Samvidhan Gaurav Abhiyan.

On the Congress side, party president Mallikarjun Kharge, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, and Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra will lead the ‘Jai Bapu, Jai Bhim, Jai Samvidhan’ campaign from Mhow, Dr Ambedkar’s birthplace, located 25 km from Indore.

“All Congress Working Committee (CWC) members, former and sitting Chief Ministers, and senior leaders from across the country will join the campaign in Mhow,” said Madhya Pradesh Congress chief Jitu Patwari during a press conference.

Patwari has been actively preparing for the event, holding meetings with party workers and touring the Malwa-Nimar region to build momentum.

This campaign marks the Congress’ first major political event in Madhya Pradesh since its crushing defeat in the 2023 Assembly elections. The loss led to a change in state leadership as veteran Kamal Nath was replaced with Jitu Patwari as the new state unit chief.

The Congress hopes to rally support by emphasizing its commitment to the ideals of Dr Ambedkar, with the campaign strategically positioned in a state where the Dalit community plays a significant electoral role.

–IANS

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Over 1 lakh votes stolen in K’taka’s Mahadevapura in 2024 LS polls; happening everywhere: LoP Gandhi

New Delhi, Aug 7 (IANS) In a revealing Press conference, Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on Thursday alleged massive electoral fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly segment of Karnataka’s Bangalore Central constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and stated that this was happening across the country too.

Backed by data collected over six months by a team of over 30-40 people, the senior Congress MP accused the Election Commission (EC) of colluding with the BJP to manipulate voter rolls, suppress scrutiny, and enable voter theft on a significant scale.

According to LoP Gandhi, the Congress received 6,26,208 votes in Bangalore Central, while the BJP secured 6,58,915 votes — a margin of 32,707.

However, a deeper examination of the Mahadevapura Assembly segment, a part of this Lok Sabha seat, revealed a massive discrepancy. Here, BJP polled 2,29,632 votes while the Congress managed only 1,15,586 — a staggering gap of 1,14,046 votes.

LoP Gandhi claimed that at least 1,00,250 votes were stolen in this single Assembly segment alone and the same was being done across the country.

“First, duplicate voters. As many as 11,965 entries were found to be duplicated across multiple booths and even states. Names like Gurkirat Singh and Aditya Shrivastava appeared multiple times and in the case of Shrivastava, his name appeared in different states — Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh,” said LoP Gandhi.

“Second, fake or invalid addresses where 40,009 voter entries listed addresses that did not exist or were clearly fake (e.g., house number “0”, symbols like “-” or “#”).

“We found thousands of such cases and interestingly, in some cases, we found voters’ father’s name mentioned as ‘dfojhaidf’… There are similar such cases as well and it tells us why the EC is hesitating to give us the data,” he said.

Dwelling on the issue of mass voters at a single address, he said, “Certain addresses like House No. 35 had 80 registered voters in a single-room dwelling. Another address — a brewery — had 68 voters registered, raising serious questions about legitimacy.”

“When our people went there to check and cross-verify, we found that in much of such addresses, where dozens of people are allegedly living, were a single-story apartment. When we went there, we were threatened and, in some places, we were told that no such individual lived there,” he said.

LoP Gandhi also talked about the 4,132 invalid entries that had either missing photos or photos so small or unclear that identification was impossible and the misuse of Form 6 by 33,629 voters.

LoP Gandhi emphasised that this is why the poll panel refuses to provide soft copies of voter rolls or allow proper audit of data. He also alleged the destruction of CCTV footage to eliminate evidence of wrongdoing.

“This isn’t just a local issue. What happened in Mahadevapura is happening across India,” LoP Gandhi said.

“PM Modi needed to win only 25 seats to stay in power. BJP won 25 seats with margins under 33,000. That’s why the EC is hiding the data — it’s protecting a crime, not democracy,” he alleged.

–IANS

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