CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOGGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI ■ ■ HUBBALLI  THURSDAY  JANUARY 20, 2022  `9.00  PAGES 12  CITY EDITION CM hints at lifting weekend curfew Bommai to hold meeting with experts tomorrow E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @Bengaluru DEFECTION TO BJP FROM MULAYAM’S PARIWAR Lucknow: Samajwadi Party patriarch Mulayam Singh Yadav’s daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav joined the BJP on Wednesday, saying that she supports the good governance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, the real reason was SP chief Akhilesh’s reluctance to give her a ticket for the upcoming polls so as not to create alternative power centres. Aparna is married to Prateek Yadav, the son of Mulayam’s second wife PAGE 8 CHIEF Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday hinted at lifting certain restrictions, including weekend curfew, after a discussion with experts on Friday. The chief minister, who was under quarantine after testing Covid-positive, has recovered and was back at work on Wednesday . He told reporters that though the number of cases is increasing, some experts pointed out that it is more like a flu and the number of hospitalisation cases is less in the current Covid wave. “There is also an opinion that it would be better to carry on daily life by following Covid guidelines, which is being examined by experts,” he added. Bommai said he has convened a meeting of deputy commissioners on Tuesday and directed them to hasten the vaccination drives. “More than 94 per cent of Covid-positive patients are under home isolation. I directed health department officials to focus on them,” he said. Asked whether the Covid-triggered restrictions, including weekend curfew, would be lifted, he said a suitable decision will be taken after getting clarity from experts during Friday’s meeting. He said experts who have studied the trend in various states estimated that the Covid wave in Karnataka could peak by January-end or February first week. Cases started increasing late in Karnataka as compared to other states, he added. Meanwhile, many leaders, including from BJP, said restrictions should be lifted. Union Minister Pralhad Joshi on Tuesday had said there is no need for weekend curfew as it is adversely impacting the economy while BJP Nation, al General Secretary CT Ravi too said there is no need for restrictions during weekends. Nursing graduates looking to enroll for medical services gather outside the Karnataka State Nursing Board in Bengaluru on Wednesday | EXPRESS NATIONWIDE JAN 18 JAN 19 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 2,38,018 2,82,970 1,57,421 1,88,157 310 441 KARNATAKA JAN 18 JAN 19 Fresh cases Recoveries Deaths 41,457 40,499 8,353 23,209 20 21 JAB-O-METER TAKE YOUR SHOT January 18 65,85,945 doses January 19 62,39,005 doses TOTAL DOSES 1,59,54,40,865 GLOBAL 777 FLIGHTS SC gives AP, Bihar of its mind HIT BY U.S. 5G ROLLOUT piecetardy relief over EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE SEVERAL global airlines, including Air India, have cancelled their flights to the US as a precautionary measure to avoid accidents due to the 5G rollout in North America from Wednesday . The move follows a warning from the US aviation regulator that the high-speed telecom service could interfere with the radio altimeters used by aircraft to take off and land. This is because the band on which altimeter works is very close to that on which 5G system works. The US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has allowed aircraft with accurate, reliable altimeters to fly into airports with 5G signals but the widely used Boeing 777 is not on the list, triggering large-scale flight cancellations. Many global airlines including Emirates, Air France, Lufthansa, British Airways, All Nippon Airways, Korean Air, Cathay Pacific and Austrian Airlines either cancelled their trips or used planes other than 777s. Air India cancelled eight flights on India-US routes till further notice. These include services between Delhi and San Francisco, Chicago and JFK, as well as between Mumbai and Newark. “We are working closely with aircraft manufacturers and the relevant authorities to alleviate operational concerns, and we hope to resume our US services as soon as possible,” it said. US telecom groups AT&T and Verizon, which are rolling out 5G, claimed the services won’t interfere with aircraft technology The Federal Communications . Commission, which set a buffer between the 5G band and the spectrum that planes use, has also cleared the services in the vicinity of air traffic. However, DGCA orders probe into near miss at KIA The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has ordered a probe into an incident in which two IndiGo flights that took off from the Bengaluru airport on January 7 had come close to each other mid-air while taking off. the FAA saw a potential problem and the telcos agreed to pause the service near airports while it is addressed. The 5G services were originally scheduled to start in the US in December 2021, but the operators delayed it by a month to allow time for safety reviews. E X P R E S S N E W S S E R V I C E @ New Delhi APPALLED at the slow pace of disbursal of Covid ex-gratia by a few states despite multiple directions, the Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the chief secretaries of Bihar and Andhra Pradesh to appear before it, stating people cannot be left at the mercy of the executive. The court directed states to share complete details about the number of Covid deaths as well as information uploaded on the Bal Swaraj Portal with their respective State Legal Services Authorities. It also directed states to go by the information uploade d on the Bal Swaraj Portal to offer compensation and rehabilitation to all children orphaned by the virus. While Andhra Pradesh’s official records show 14,471 Covid deaths, after the Supreme Court’s orders in June and October to pay `50,000 ex-gratia, the state received 36,205 claims as on January 16. But compensation had been given to only 11,464 so far. P7 EXPRESS READ CM to chair meet on interstate water disputes on Saturday Bengaluru: Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will take part in a virtual meeting on Saturday with legal experts, ministers and officials to discuss interstate water dispute cases. Meanwhile, Congress is planning to continue the padayatra at a later date after it was called off because of rising Covid cases. P4 INSPIRED BY ELEPHANT Let’s blow own trumpet, Kannada gets new font C H E TA N A B E L A G E R E @Bengaluru TRUMPET it out, Kannada gets a new font, Bandipura, inspired by the elephant. Developed by Manjunatha R, an independent type designer and a conceptual photographer from T Narasipura in Mysuru district, the font has letters that resemble the characteristics of an elephant, with sharp edges and irregular thickness. It is an informal display typeface in “Kannada and Latin script”, which is ideal for large sized headlines, banners and titles. Speaking to TNIE, the 34 year old said he began drawing Kannada letters at the age of 10. He continued to be fascinated with paintings and let- Manjunatha R (left) and the font he designed ter design even during his school days. He then took to digital typeface design and started his own type foundry called “Akshara Type Studio”. A keen observer, he wanted to develop a font that looked different from others, like Google-Benne, Noto Sans, Baloo Tamma and Akaya Kanadaka. He was aiming at designing a font that could be used in big size and that also supports all languages. “Being a graphic designer, I have customised existing fonts to make logos, headlines and others. But I thought I should make my own font that looked different and big. Immediately the elephant came to my mind. , If you observe the Bandipura font, each letter has uneven, sharp curves like that of an elephant’s trunk, tusks, small eyes etc,” he said. He worked for nearly one-and-ahalf years on the font and released it on Sankranti day . Manjunatha, who has a passion to create his own font library said, “As , Bandipura is in Unicode, all letters are available. It supports 125 languages, including Latin and Swahili. I have also used Halegannada (old Kannada) in some of the letters.” P5 The naval brass band performs during a full rehearsal for Beating Retreat ceremony at Vijay Chowk in New Delhi on Wednesday | PTI