CM Siddaramaiah meets PM Modi, seeks urgent clearances for two irrigation projects
New Delhi (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting rectification in short term farm loan limit, Rs 10,000 cr in financial support and urgent clearances for the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir and Kalasa Bandhuri projects.
In the meeting in Parliament complex, Siddarmaiah pressed for several key interventions focusing on critical areas, including agriculture, water resources and urban infrastructure.
Deputy Chief Minister and Irrigation Minister D K Shivakumar, Energy Minister K J George and Urban Development Minister Byrathi Suresh accompanied the CM for the meeting.
The chief minister highlighted that NABARD has drastically cut the Short Term Agricultural Credit Limit for Karnataka from Rs 5,600 crore in 2023-24 to just Rs 2,340 crore in 2024-25, a 58 per cent reduction that could severely impact farmers' access to soft loans.
"I request you to look into this and direct the Finance Ministry to rectify this situation so that farmers in Karnataka continue to receive soft agricultural loans," Siddarmaiah said in a representation made to the PM.
He requested Rs 5,300 crore for the Upper Bhadra Project, which promises to irrigate central Karnataka's drought-prone farmlands. The project has been pending since the 2023-24 Union Budget.
He also pushed for clearances of two critical water projects - the Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir on the Kaveri river and the Kalasa Bandhuri project on the Mahadayi river -- both awaiting approvals from the Jal Shakti and Environment Ministries.
Highlighting Bengaluru's status as a tech hub and top GDP contributor, the state requested special assistance for urban and public transportation.
Additionally, Karnataka sought Rs 10,000 cr to develop infrastructure in 13 emerging city corporations.
On fiscal allocation, the CM complained of receiving an unfavourable deal from the 15th Finance Commission, which reduced its tax share by 1 per cent.
Siddaramaiah urged the government to provide compensation grants and ensure future finance commissions do not penalise states with significant tax contributions.
The Karnataka chief minister also met Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra and congratulated her on being elected as an MP from Wayanad.
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Army showcases several AI-driven applications at AI Summit, Rajnath visits pavillion
New Delhi (PTI): From a climatology and diaster prediction system to a device that detects driver's fatigue to avert accidents, the India Army has showcased a slew of artificial intelligence-based applications at the AI Impact Summit here, with Defence Minister Rajnath Singh visiting the Army pavilion on Friday.
The Indian Navy has also put up a pavilion as part of the summit expo.
The AI Impact Summit is being held from February 16-20 at Bharat Mandapam, in which several heads of state, many global AI leaders, academicians and researchers, and heads of global tech giants, and philanthropists have taken part.
The Army has showcased several AI-based applications at its pavilion in Hall no. 4, and Defence Minister Singh interacted with military officials who gave him a tour of the pavilion, which has attracted both young and old-age visitors.
"Delighted to visit the AI Impact Summit at Bharat Mandapam today. India is rapidly emerging as a global leader in Artificial Intelligence and advanced technologies. The Summit showcases the immense talent of our innovators, researchers, startups, armed forces and industry leaders. India's AI vision MANAV, articulated by PM Shri @narendramodi at #IndiaAIImpactSummit2026, sets humanity’s direction towards a secure and future-ready world," Singh later posted on X.
"Guided by principles of morality, accountability, national data sovereignty, accessibility and robust systems, India is helping shape the next civilisational leap through responsible AI.
"AI is not just a driver of economic growth, but also a force multiplier for national security and good governance. I thank PM Modi for hosting the AI Summit in India. Compliments to the organising Teams and all participants for making this Summit a grand success," he added.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the summit on Thursday and unveiled the 'MANAV' vision for a human-centric approach and use of AI with a strong accent on sovereignty and inclusivity.
"Army officers and personnel, researchers and scholars, of course have come to our pavillion in the past few days, but youths too are showing keen interest in AI-based military applications. And, today the honourable defence minister visited and showed keen interest in knowing more about these applications," a senior Army official told PTI.
Some of the AI-based applications which have been showcased include 'Prakshepan' a military climatology and diaster prediction system; Xface -- a facial recognition system for rapid image and video-based verification in boosting security and surveillance mechanism; Nabhdrishti -- a telemetry reporting system which can capture positional data, imagery and orientation, "even based on images of an unidentified drone in flight"; and an AI-based device that detects driver's fatigue and alerts the person behind the wheels to avert accidents.
Lt Col A R Packianathan said 'Prakshepan' was launched by the defence minister last November.
The name draws from Sanskrit word 'Prakshepan', which means projection, he said.
At the Army pavilion, a dashboard has been displayed showcasing how the system works, with "near-live data".
"This application is a cutting edge military climatology application developed in-house by the Army's Directorate General of Information Systems. It has been powered by scientific and technical collaboration from several ministries with agencies like India Meteorological Department, National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, Central Water Commission, North East Space Application Centre, Geological Survey of India and Defence Geospatial Research Organisation," Lt Col Packianathan told PTI at the pavilion.
It has three prediction modules -- prediction of flood, of landslide and of an avalanche.
"This is India's first hybrid military climatology system capable of predicting landslides and avalanches 3-7 days in advance using multi-agency scientific datasets, terrain intelligence, and AI/ML (AI/machine learning) modelling," another Army official said.
The Indian Army in January had declared 2026 as the 'Year of Networking & Data Centricity' and said that this initiative will enhance connectivity, real-time decision-making and combat effectiveness, thereby strengthening resilience and agility for a future-ready force.
In line with the vision, the pavilion also showcases visual representations of Army assets and weaponry using holographic projections.
The Army has said that beyond military use, man of these application can have dual-use and help civilian administration and the masses as well,
So, 'Prakshepan' can provide early warnings to civil administration in remote areas, contributing to national disaster resilience and capacity building, Lt Col Packianathan said.
Similarly, the AI-based device that detects driver's fatigue and alerts the person behind the wheels can help avert accidents on highways for civilian drivers too, another official said.
