Bengaluru: Rajyotsava Awardee veena maker Penna Obalaiah passes away at 103
Bengaluru: Veena maker Penna Obalaiah, who was honoured with the Rajyotsava Award this year, died at home in Simpadipura in Doddaballapura taluk, Bengaluru Rural district, late Sunday night. He was 103 years.
He is survived by three sons and two daughters.
Popularly called as ‘Veene Brahma’, the centenarian used to provide conventional style veenas to artistes all over India. He had also mentored hundreds of veena makers.
Kannada and Culture Minister Shivaraj Thangadagi has expressed grief at the passing away of Obalaiah barely a day after he received the Rajyotsava Award. As he was suffering from health issues, his children had received the award on his behalf during the Rajyotsava programme in Bengaluru.
The minister gave his condolence to the family of Obalaiah, adding that Obalaiah’s service to art by making and supplying veenas to artistes had also brought fame to Simpadipura, which is a small village.
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CM launches poster campaign 'Justice for Karnataka'
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday released nine posters as part of a campaign: ‘Justice for Karnataka. Fair Share–Strong Federalism’ asking the Centre to heed state's demands.
These posters highlight key demands placed before the Finance Commission: Restoring Karnataka’s fair tax share; correcting unjust income, population and GSDP criteria; ensuring fair disaster and ecological support; strengthening decentralisation; providing dedicated infrastructure support for Bengaluru; supporting backward regions like Kalyana Karnataka; and upholding the constitutional spirit of cooperative federalism, Siddaramaiah said.
In a statement, Siddaramaiah said his government has placed its legitimate and constitutionally grounded demands before the 16th Finance Commission, seeking justice in tax devolution and fiscal federalism.
“We hope that the 16th Finance Commission reflects these concerns fairly in its recommendations, and that the Union Government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi implements them in letter and spirit, without subjecting Karnataka to petty politics or discrimination, as has unfortunately happened in the past,” the chief minister said.
Siddaramaiah underlined that Karnataka is among the country’s highest contributors to national revenues, yet its share in tax devolution was earlier reduced from 4.71 per cent to 3.64 per cent causing a loss of nearly Rs 80,000 crore.
"Flawed formulas that penalise development and population control, unrealistic GSDP calculations, inadequate disaster support, unchecked cesses and surcharges, denial of GST compensation, and non-release of recommended grants have collectively weakened the state’s finances," Siddaramaiah charged.
