This year has been a landmark one for Deccan Herald as the newspaper celebrated its 70th anniversary. And 2018 also marked the launch of the newly redesigned deccanherald.com. So, as we say goodbye to 2018, we look back at some of our website’s most-read stories of the year.
the train to pass at Seshadripuram. DH Photo/Janardhan B K
1. An old railway underpass gives drivers the creeps by Sandesh MS was one of the most talked-about stories of the year.
Vartika Katiyar of the charge of failure to control communal
violence at Madikeri during celebrations of
Tipu Sultan Jayanti on November 10, 2015. File photo
2. Also generating water cooler chat was a story on the acquittal of an IPS officer on the charge of failure to control communal violence in Madikeri in 2015.
aspirant from Kumta in Uttara Kannada.
3. A number of different stories from various parts of the nation got people talking. One of them was a story about a young civil services aspirant from Kumta in Uttara Kannada who committed suicide after he was four minutes late to the preliminary exam and was barred from entering the hall.
4. A heart-breaking story by Nrupathunga S K about a Shivamogga girl who committed suicide inside her hostel room in IIT-Guwahati also drew attention. ‘Engineering sucks’ was written in the student's suicide note.
5. Incidents of fraud also grabbed some buzz. This story of Flipkart being cheated of 1.56 crore by a gang of proxy customers was one. Those responsible had ordered expensive Flipkart products and post-delivery made complaints that they had received nothing but trash. They put stones and soil in the packages as proof of this.
6. A Bengaluru report on a 1,200-crore GST fraud racket by Furquan Moharkan was another buzz-worthy piece. GST authorities busted a major racket in the city for creating fake GST invoices in order to evade taxes to the tune of Rs 200 crore.
7. A tragic story of a car crash that claimed the lives of two Kannada TV personalities.
8. The story, 'Bengaluru to get Boeing’s second-largest unit', authored by Furquan Moharkan and Mahesh Kulkarni caught some eyeballs.
9. A 26-year-old father allegedly slit the throat of his 4-year-old daughter to perform a sacrifice and appease Allah during the month of Ramzan. This gruesome story by our correspondent Tabeenah Anjum was also among the most clicked.
10. An unusual statement by Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy that he was "indebted" to the Congress, and not to the people of Karnataka gained attention.
11. Kumaraswamy's austerity drive to cut “unnecessary expenditure” and strengthen the state’s finances gained the interest of many. It was one of the most viewed stories of the year.
12. ‘Railways to cut fares on 5 more express trains’ by Chiranjeevi Kulkarni was a news story that provided details of the fare reduction by the end of 2018.
13 Poornima Nataraj's story, ‘Techie rides a horse to office on last day of work’, was a widely shared story about a Bengaluru techie’s flamboyant exit on his last employment day.
14. A news piece on Indians accounting for more than three-fourths of highly-skilled professionals waiting in the queue for US legal permanent residence.
15. An Abhay Kumar news story highlighted the absurd as a Bihar School Examination Board gave zero marks to several intermediate students who recently cleared the Joint Entrance Examination (Mains). This is the third consecutive year that the Board is drawing flak for major goof-ups.
models in the Indian market, more than two decades after it left.
(Photo: Jan Kameníček/ commons.wikimedia.org)
16. The news of the Jawa returning to India and rumours of a similar Yezdi move was written about in ‘Return of Jawa reminiscent of biking's golden days’ by Vivek Phadnis and was a delight for many bike enthusiasts.
17. Ashish Tripathi reported that the Supreme Court had said that the Karnataka government and the Bangalore Development Authority are responsible for the mess in Bengaluru.
18. Annapurna Singh’s report shed light on the government possibly reverting to the old system of giving cooking gas cylinders to households at subsidised rates similar to pre-2013-14 when subsidy to bank accounts was not in practice.
19. ‘Bengaluru: Defence ready to part with land for Metro’ by Chiranjeevi Kulkarni was one of the highest viewed articles.
20. The previous year saw the fees for every MBBS seat at private colleges sitting at Rs 6,32,500. The statement from Medical Education Minister D K Shivakumar that the state government would hold a meeting with private medical colleges with a final offer allowing them to hike fees by 10%, was widely discussed.
21. While social media was agog with rumours of bank closure for six days in the first week of September, Annapurna Singh’s report - ‘Govt says no bank holiday next week’ - made it clear that banks would remain open and banking activities would continue unimpeded.
22. Shemin Joy reported on Malayalam superstar Mohanlal’s meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi. The RSS felt that fielding Mohanlal in Thiruvananthapuram, presently represented by the Congress's Shashi Tharoor, would fetch rich dividends and pushed him to contest the next Lok Sabha elections from Kerala.
sustained injuries, two of them grievously at the Tata Institute
at the Indian Institute of Science in Sadashivanagar on Wednesday afternoon. DH Photo
23. Bellie Thomas, in his story ‘Explosion at IISc lab kills research scholar’, wrote about a gas cylinder explosion during an experiment at the Hypersonic and Shock Wave Research Laboratory at the IISc in Sadashivanagar, which made headlines in the first week of December.
documents were found in Avinash Amarlal Kukreja’s (inset) lockers. (DH Photo/ SK Dinesh)
24. DH offered a news piece on the discovery of cash, valuables, bank and land documents worth more than 500 crore inside three different lockers at the Bengaluru Club.
25. Heavy rains that hit the city during June submerged roads and caused distress for pedestrians and commuters. The city’s weather patterns are always among the most-clicked stories.
Mugad Railway Station in Dharwad taluk. DH Photo
26. The railway station constructed at Mugad got credit for becoming India's first model railway station. The South Western Railway has followed the lead of the Bus Rapid Transit System, according to Srinidhi R.
track fence in Veeranahosahalli forest. Credit: DH Photo
27. Wildlife conservation is alive in the public discourse and many environmentalists fighting for the cause. T R Sathish Kumar’s story ‘Rail track fence claims life of elephant’ has left many readers furious.
28. Deepika Padukone made her Hollywood debut with 'xXx: Return of Xander Cage' and is set to return for the fourth film in the series. Hollywood director DJ Caruso tweeted "I want to end 'xXx 4' with a Bollywood dance song. Led of course by @deepikapadukone. Lungi Dance? Something new?". The story, DJ Caruso teases Bollywood song with Deepika in 'xXx 4', drew in many Bollywood fans.
29. Exams, results and admissions are topics that always interest people. Sandesh M S's story on KEA publishing their second round seat allotment for engineering, architecture, farm science and others for the year 2018-19 found many eager readers.
30. The last of our 30 most-clicked stories of the year was written by Abhay Kumar. It's a story on the Bihar government’s proposal to ban fish imported from Andhra Pradesh as they were found to contain formalin, cadmium and lead. These chemicals are carcinogenic but are used for the preservation of the fish, according to lab reports.
What was your most memorable story of 2018? Share your thoughts in the comments.