Five states hit by natural disasters given additional assistance by Centre
New Delhi, Mar 3: The Centre has approved over Rs 1,682 crore as additional assistance to five states and a union territory which were hit by floods and landslides last year.
The approval of the additional central assistance under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry has been given by a High Level Committee (HLC) headed by Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The HLC approved the additional central assistance of Rs 1,664.25 crore to five states from the NDRF and Rs 17.86 crore to Puducherry, an official statement said on Thursday.
While Rs 351.43 crore has been approved for Andhra Pradesh, Rs 112.19 crore has been given to Himachal Pradesh, Rs 492.39 crore to Karnataka, Rs 355.39 crore to Maharashtra, Rs 352.85 crore to Tamil Nadu and Rs 17.86 crore to Puducherry.
This additional assistance is over and above the funds released by the Centre to the states in the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), already placed at the disposal of the states.
During the financial year 2021-22, the Centre has released Rs 17,747.20 crore to 28 states in their SDRF and Rs 4,645.92 crore to eight states from the NDRF.
The central government had deputed Inter-Ministerial Central Teams (IMCTs) to these states and UTs immediately after the calamities, without waiting for the receipt of memorandum from them, the statement noted.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
