‘Neglecting minorities in state Budget is not a good sign’
Former minister HK Patil writes to leaders
Bengaluru, July 06: Former minister and senior Congress leader HK Patil said that no particular programme was announced in the budget for the welfare of the minority community which is instrumental in electing the secular parties in the 2018 election, and it was not fair.
Patil expressed his displeasure in a letter written to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, Deputy Chief Minister Dr G Parameshwar, state Congress incharge KC Venugopal and Housing Minister DK Shivakumar.
The budget should have had special programmes for the minority community and the poor in that community. Along with the programmes announced in the last budget, the Chief Minister should have announced some programmes for the welfare of the minorities in this budget keeping in mind the changed political scenario, he said.
Patil also urged the Chief Minister and others to announce a few programmes during the debate on the Budget before approving it and compensate the lacking. People of north Karnataka had their own expectations on the budget. In the previous government, several new taluks were announced and most of them were in north Karnataka. People were expecting that this budget would have a special programme to provide basic infrastructure to all those new taluks. But their expectations were not fulfilled, he said.
Regarding north Karnataka, the programmes announced in the last budget were once again repeated in this budget and no new programmes which can respond and fulfill the needs of the people of north Karnataka were announced in the budget of the coalition government, he averred.
This budget hurt the feelings and expectations of north Karnataka people. It was the duty of the coalition government to respect the feelings of those people. In view of this, the Chief Minister should announce special programmes in his answer before approving the Budget in order to alleviate the regional imbalance to ensure justice to north Karnataka, he demanded.
Convene coordination committee meeting
The Congress governments between 1999 and 2004, Congress-JDS government between 2004 and 2006 and in Congress government between 2013 and 2018, had tried to alleviate the regional imbalance through various programmes. It was better to announce some special programmes to develop the north Karnataka. It should be discussed in an emergency meeting of the coordination committee and find solutions, Patil appealed Coordination Committee chairman Siddaramaiah in his letter.
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Two African nationals linked to 12 cyber fraud complaints nationwide held in Delhi
New Delhi (PTI): Two African nationals have been arrested over suspected involvement in an international cyber fraud racket that allegedly duped victims across multiple states of more than Rs 50 lakh, police said on Thursday.
The accused allegedly impersonated women on online platforms to befriend Indian victims and build emotional relationships. They would later claim to be travelling to India and fabricate stories about being detained at airports or facing immigration issues, seeking money for clearance and other expenses.
Police said the arrests were made following sustained surveillance, technical analysis and verification of suspicious mule bank accounts linked to multiple complaints registered on the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (NCRP).
According to the police, at least 12 complaints from across states involving defrauded funds exceeding Rs 50 lakh were traced to several bank accounts used by the accused.
"These accounts were opened in different names across various banks and were used to receive money fraudulently obtained from victims," a senior police officer said.
During investigation, six mobile phones and two passports were seized from the accused. Police said the devices contained incriminating chats, details of mule bank accounts and conversations with victims, along with fabricated images related to airports apparently used to mislead targets.
Both accused are also suspected to have links with drug trafficking activities in the Delhi-NCR region and are being probed further, police said, adding that efforts are underway to identify and apprehend other members.
