Modernize agriculture activities to hike revenue, Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar tells Udupi farmers
Kundapur: District In-charge Minister Lakshmi Hebbalkar stressed on the need for modernization in agriculture for increased revenue and urged the farmers in Udupi district to opt for updated technology and modern facilities.
The minister was speaking after inaugurating the Raitha Samparka Kendra (Farmers’ Contact Centre) of Koteshwara in Kundapur taluk during a programme held jointly by the Udupi Zilla Panchayat and the Agriculture Department.
Explaining that the centres are meant for the benefit of the farmers, Hebbalkar said that the officers will provide help and guidance to the farmers in various aspects, including government projects and provisions. She reminded the officers that they were meant to connect the government and the farmers.
Assuring that the state government was greatly concerned about the welfare of the farmers, the minister said that the government was focusing on ensuring continuation of agricultural activities by providing agricultural equipment and goods to farmers at subsidized rates, and also giving them necessary information related to farming. Hebbalkar again directed government officers to install information boards at prominent points under all gram panchayat limits for the benefit of farmers.
She opined that although India gained Independence, the British ensured agriculture in the country was greatly affected, when they quit the country. They introduced chemicals in agricultural products to prevent progress of India. Since India depends heavily on agriculture, however, the country has fought back and, is growing into a ‘vishwaguru’ in the field of agriculture, Hebbalkar added.
The minister spoke on her recent accident and said that she had survived with the blessings of the Almighty and the people. She emotionally expressed gratitude to both and said that God had saved her life for her to continue in service of the people.
Kundapur MLA Kiran Kumar Kodgi, District Guarantee Committee President Ashok Kumar Kodavoor, District Guarantee Committee Vice-president Dinesh Hegde, Deputy Commissioner Dr. K Vidya Kumari, Superintendent of Police Dr. K Arun, Zilla Panchayat CEO Prathik Bayal and officials of the Agriculture Department were present.
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Former railway minister Mukul Roy dies at 71
Kolkata (PTI): Former railway minister Mukul Roy, once regarded as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's most trusted lieutenant and the TMC's principal strategist, died of cardiac arrest at a private hospital here early on Monday.
He was 71, and is survived by his son, Subhranshu Roy.
He breathed his last around 1.30 am at the hospital in Salt Lake, Subhranshu Roy said.
He had been suffering from multiple ailments and was in and out of the hospital over the past two years. Family members said he had also been diagnosed with dementia and had recently gone into a coma.
His body will be taken to his residence before the last rites are performed later in the day, they said.
A former Union minister and two-time Rajya Sabha member from West Bengal, Roy's four-decade-long political journey saw his stints in the Congress, TMC and the BJP.
His political career began with the Youth Congress, before he joined hands with Banerjee when she broke away from the grand old party to form the Trinamool Congress in 1998.
As a founding member, he quickly emerged as one of the key organisational pillars of the fledgling party and went on to serve as its general secretary.
He was elected to the Rajya Sabha in 2006 and became the party's leader in the Upper House in 2009, turning into TMC's principal troubleshooter in Delhi. In the UPA-2 government, when the TMC was a constituent, Roy first served as Minister of State for Shipping before taking over as the railway minister in 2012.
In West Bengal's political circles, Roy earned a reputation as a backroom operator deft in organisational work. Following the TMC's historic victory in 2011 that ended 34 years of the Left Front rule, he played a significant role in consolidating the party's hold in several districts, overseeing defections from the CPI(M) and the Congress, strengthening the new regime's political base.
However, his career was not without controversy. His name had surfaced in the Saradha chit fund case and the Narada sting operation.
By 2017, relations between Roy and the TMC leadership had deteriorated. In November that year, he joined the BJP in a move that altered the state's political equations. Tasked with strengthening the BJP's organisation in West Bengal, Roy was credited by party leaders with helping engineer defections from the TMC and expanding the saffron party's base ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, in which the BJP won 18 of the state's 42 seats.
He was elected as a BJP MLA from the Krishnanagar Uttar constituency in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections. Within months, however, he returned to the TMC, triggering legal and political wrangling. Subsequently, a court disqualified him as an MLA under the anti-defection law for switching parties after being elected on a BJP ticket.
Though he rejoined the TMC, Roy never regained the political centrality he once enjoyed. As his health declined, he gradually withdrew from active politics.
Often described as the 'Chanakya' of West Bengal politics during his prime, Roy remained a pivotal figure in the state's turbulent political landscape -- a strategist who operated as comfortably in Delhi's power corridors as in the backrooms of Kolkata's party offices.
Leader of the opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, condoled Roy's death.
In an X post, he wrote, "Deeply disheartened to learn about the sad demise of senior politician, Shri Mukul Roy. My sincere condolences to his family. Praying that his soul attains eternal peace. Om Shanti."
