Cabinet approves proposal to add Karnataka's Betta-Kuruba community to ST list
New Delhi, Sep 14: The government on Wednesday approved the inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling long-pending demands from these states.
The decision, taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was welcomed warmly by the states concerned.
Briefing reporters after the cabinet meeting, Tribal Affairs Minister Arjun Munda said 12 communities from Chhattisgarh will be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes for the state. He said the demand was pending for 15 years.
In poll-bound Himachal Pradesh, the Hattee community of the Trans-Giri area in Sirmour district will be included in the list of Scheduled Tribes for the state, Munda said, adding that the decision would benefit 1.6 lakh people.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur thanked Modi and Munda for accepting the long-pending demand of the people of the hill state and pointed out that the Hattee community straddles Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
The Hattees of Uttarakhand in the Jaunsar region have similar traditions and lifestyle and already enjoy the Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
In Tamil Nadu, the Narikoravan and Kurivikkaran communities have been included in the list of STs for the state. The demand of the two communities for inclusion in the list dates back to 1965, which was followed up by successive chief ministers of the southern state, including M G Ramachandran.
In Karnataka, the cabinet approved a proposal for the inclusion of the Betta-Kuruba community as a synonym of the Kadu Kuruba in the list of STs for the state.
The government will now introduce separate bills for revising the lists of STs of the five states.
After the Bills becomes Acts, the newly-included communities will be able to derive benefits under the existing government schemes for the STs.
The major schemes for the STs include post-matric scholarships, national overseas scholarships, national fellowships, top class education, concessional loans from the National Scheduled Tribes Finance and Development Corporation and hostels for the boys and girls of these communities.
"In addition, they will also be entitled to the benefits of reservation in services and admission to educational institutions in accordance with the government's policy," an official said.
In Uttar Pradesh, the Gond tribe, along with its five sub-castes, was already approved for inclusion in the ST list for the state.
The changes were approved for four districts in Uttar Pradesh -- Kushinagar, Sant Ravidas Nagar, Chandauli and Sant Kabir Nagar.
However, the Uttar Pradesh government changed the name of Sant Ravidas Nagar district to Bhadohi in 2015. The name of the district will be changed to Bhadohi in the Bill pending in Parliament.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi, former Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh and Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai thanked the prime minister for accepting the demands of their respective states.
Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also thanked the prime minister for the inclusion of 12 communities in the list of STs and recalled that he had written to Modi in this regard last year.
Under the visionary leadership of Prime Minister @narendramodi ji, the Union Cabinet approved the proposal of the @TribalAffairsIn for inclusion of "Betta-Kuruba" community as a synonym of "Kadu Kuruba" in respect to the Karnataka state.
— Pralhad Joshi (@JoshiPralhad) September 14, 2022
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President Donald Trump threatens 100% tariff on foreign-made films
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New York (AP): President Donald Trump is opening a new salvo in his tariff war, targeting films made outside the US.
In a post on Sunday night on his Truth Social platform, Trump said he has authorized the Department of Commerce and the Office of the US Trade Representative to slap a 100% tariff “on any and all Movies coming into our Country that are produced in Foreign Lands.”
“The Movie Industry in America is DYING a very fast death," he wrote, complaining that other countries “are offering all sorts of incentives to draw" filmmakers and studios away from the US. "This is a concerted effort by other Nations and, therefore, a National Security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda!”
It wasn't immediately clear how any such tariff on international productions could be implemented. It's common for both large and smaller films to include production both in the US and other countries. Big-budget movies like the upcoming “Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning," for instance, are shot around the world.
Incentive programs for years have influenced where movies are shot, increasingly driving film production out of California and to other states and countries with favorable tax incentives, like Canada and the United Kingdom.
Yet tariffs are designed to lead consumers toward American products. And in movie theaters, American-produced movies overwhelmingly dominate the domestic marketplace.
China has ramped up its domestic movie production, culminating in the animated blockbuster “Ne Zha 2” grossing more than USD2 billion this year. But even then, its sales came almost entirely from mainland China. In North America, in earned just USD20.9 million.
The Motion Picture Association didn't immediately respond to messages Sunday evening.
The MPA's data shows how much Hollywood exports have dominated cinemas. According to the MPA, the American movies produced USD22.6 billion in exports and USD15.3 billion in trade surplus in 2023.
Trump has made good on the “tariff man" label he gave himself years ago, slapping new taxes on goods made in countries around the globe. That includes a 145% tariff on Chinese goods and a 10% baseline tariff on goods from other countries, with even higher levies threatened.
By unilaterally imposing tariffs, Trump has exerted extraordinary influence over the flow of commerce, creating political risks and pulling the market in different directions. There are tariffs on autos, steel and aluminum, with more imports, including pharmaceutical drugs, set to be subject to new tariffs in the weeks ahead.
Trump has long voiced concern about movie production moving overseas.
Shortly before he took office, he announced that he had tapped actors Mel Gibson, Jon Voight and Sylvester Stallone to serve as “special ambassadors" to Hollywood to bring it "BACK—BIGGER, BETTER, AND STRONGER THAN EVER BEFORE!”
US film and television production has been hampered in recent years, with setbacks from the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hollywood guild strikes of 2023 and the recent wildfires in the Los Angeles area. Overall production in the US was down 26% last year compared with 2021, according to data from ProdPro, which tracks production.
The group's annual survey of executives, which asked about preferred filming locations, found no location in the US made the top five, according to the Hollywood Reporter. Toronto, the U.K., Vancouver, Central Europe and Australia came out on top, with California placing sixth, Georgia seventh, New Jersey eighth, and New York ninth.
The problem is especially acute in California. In the greater Los Angeles area, production last year was down 5.6% from 2023 according to FilmLA, second only to 2020, during the peak of the pandemic. Last, October, Gov. Gavin Newsom proposed expanding California's Film & Television Tax Credit program to USD750 million annually, up from USD330 million.
Other US cities like Atlanta, New York, Chicago and San Francisco have also used aggressive tax incentives to lure film and TV productions. Those programs can take the form of cash grants, as in Texas, or tax credits, which Georgia and New Mexico offer.
“Other nations have been stealing the movie-making capabilities from the United States,” Trump told reporters at the White House on Sunday night after returning from a weekend in Florida. “If they're not willing to make a movie inside the United States we should have a tariff on movies that come in."
