UNION BUDGET LACKS VISION: CM
Bengaluru: Terming the Union Budget 2018-19 anti-people and anti-growth, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah - who has presented a record 14 state budgets since 1995, on Thursday said it had no vision or direction.
"The central Budget presented by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley lacks vision and direction. Its proposals are disappointing, as they have nothing for the farmers, the poor and the common man," said Siddaramaiah in a statement here.
Charging the central government of making empty promises to woo the electorate ahead of the next parliamentary elections in 2019, the Chief Minister said the Budget failed to address the agrarian crisis in the country, especially in the southern state, which faced drought over the last three years.
"There is no relief for farmers in distress due to crop loss or declining prices for their produce in the market. The Budget has no waiver on short-term crop loans raised by farmers from state-run banks," lamented Siddaramaiah.
On the National Health Protection Scheme, the Chief Minister said “The health insurance scheme has been announced without allocating enough funds to help the poor and the deprived bear the cost of treatment in state-run or private hospitals,".
The scheme proposes to cover over 10 crore poor and vulnerable families or about 50 crore beneficiaries without providing coverage up to Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation.
"When a similar healthcare scheme, announced in the last year (2017-18) budget, is yet to be implemented, the Ayushman Bharat programme will suffer a similar fate this year," asserted Siddaramaiah.
The Chief Minister, who also holds the finance portfolio, said the Budget had no proposals for addressing the mounting unemployment problem in the country.
"The BJP-led NDA government headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi had promised to create two crore jobs every year, but no word about it in the Budget.
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Mercury plunges in Kashmir after brief respite, Shopian freezes at minus 6.4 deg C
Srinagar (PTI): Night temperatures in Kashmir dropped several degrees below the freezing point, even as a thick layer of fog engulfed parts of the valley, with Srinagar recording a low of minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, officials said on Saturday.
Shopian was the coldest recorded place in Jammu and Kashmir as the mercury there settled at a low of minus 6.4 degrees Celsius, they said.
The mercury had on Thursday night settled above the freezing point at most places in the valley, providing huge relief to the residents from the biting cold conditions.
However, temperatures dropped across Kashmir on Friday night, bringing back the freezing cold, the officials said.
On the Friday night, the minimum temperature in Srinagar -- the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir -- settled at minus 4.1 degrees Celsius, a sharp drop from 0.4 degrees Celsius the previous night, the officials said.
The gateway town to the valley, Qazigund, recorded a low of minus 4.2 degrees Celsius, while the mercury settled at minus 3.5 degrees Celsius in north Kashmir's Kupwara, and minus 0.2 degrees Celsius in south Kashmir's Kokernag, the officials said.
Pahalgam recorded a low of minus 4.4 degrees Celsius, while Gulmarg lodged minus 2.6 degrees Celsius and Konibal town in Pulwama district recorded minus 5.2 degrees Celsius, they said.
The meteorological department said the weather would remain generally cloudy but dry on December 6-7, and a brief spell of light snowfall at isolated places in the higher reaches of north and central Kashmir is likely on December 8.
