Karnataka govt starts cash disbursal in lieu of 5 kg rice under 'Anna Bhagya' scheme
Bengaluru, Jul 10: Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday launched payment of cash in lieu of the additional 5 kilograms of rice to beneficiaries under the government's 'Anna Bhagya' scheme.
With the launch of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) programme, the Congress government in the state is fulfilling one more of its five poll 'guarantees' (promises) announced in the run-up to the elections held in May.
Facing difficulty in procuring large quantities of rice required to implement the poll guarantee, the state government decided to pay cash to beneficiaries at the rate of Rs 34 per kg, for the additional 5 kg of rice under the free rice scheme, which is applicable to every member of a BPL household and 'Antyodaya' households.
According to the state government, Karnataka has 1.28 crore ration cards of 'Antyodaya Anna Yojana and Priority Households'.
As much as 99 per cent of these cards are seeded with an Aadhaar number, it said, adding that 82 per cent (1.06 crore) of these cards are linked with active bank accounts, and the cash transfer will start for these beneficiaries.
The remaining ration card holders will be intimated to open new accounts, it added.
As many as 1.27 crore ration cards have one member designated as head of households (HoH). Cash will be transferred to the bank accounts of these HoHs. It said 94 per cent of HoH are women and 5 per cent are men.
The government has already implemented the first poll guarantee, 'Shakti' by providing free services for women in public transport buses last month. While the 'Gruha Jyothi' scheme to provide 200 units of free electricity to households has already come into effect from the beginning of this month, the electricity bill for the same for power consumption this month will come in the beginning of August.
The remaining two guarantees that the government is taking steps to implement soon are -- Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi); and Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (Yuva Nidhi).
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
