Drought relief: Karnataka govt to pay Rs 3,000 each to 16 lakh small and marginal farming families
Bengaluru, May 9: The Karnataka government, for the first time, has decided to pay Rs 3,000 each to 16 lakh agricultural families involved in small and marginal farming to compensate for the loss of their livelihood due to drought, Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda said on Thursday.
With the rains picking up in the state, he also said that the government has designed measures to prevent loss of life due to lightning strikes.
"There are about 16 lakh families of small and marginal farmers involved in dry farming. It has been decided to give Rs 3,000 each to these families to compensate for the loss of their livelihood due to drought, and officials have been directed to take action in this regard immediately," Gowda said.
While speaking to reporters here, he said, "This will be paid to farmers from both SDRF and NDRF funds, and also funds from the state government. It will be about Rs 460 crore. Officers have been directed to work this out. This is being done for the first time. But, there is a provision for it in the drought manual."
Karnataka had declared 223 out of 240 taluks as drought-hit; 196 of them were categorised as severely drought affected.
Noting that all together about Rs 4,300 crore would be credited to the accounts of the farmers in the state as drought relief, the minister said it may take 20 days to complete this process, and already about Rs 3,000 crore has been deposited to the bank accounts of over 32 lakh farmers.
He said, "After going to the Supreme Court and the legal fight, so far about Rs 3,454 crore has come (from the Centre) as drought relief, which the government has started depositing into the bank accounts of farmers from last Monday itself. And so far, the relief has been completely been deposited to the accounts of 32.12 lakh farmers."
Together, from the first and second installments, so far Rs 3,000 crore has been deposited to the bank accounts of the farmers through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), he added.
Noting that the second installment of relief is yet to be deposited to the accounts of about 1.5 lakh farmers, he said it is in the verification stage due to minor technical issues. "Once it is cleared, relief would have gone to over 33 lakh farmers' accounts," he added.
Apart from this, it has been decided that compensation would be distributed for rain-fed and irrigated crops which were not included in the drought relief list in some taluks, despite them being eligible, he said. About 3 lakh eligible farmers would get the relief of Rs 400-500 crore in total.
"The process has started and this will be done within 10 days after verification by Deputy Commissioners of the districts," he added.
Responding to a question on whether the drinking water scarcity has reduced due to rains, the minister said, "It has not reduced, but chances of it aggravating are fewer. Drinking water is being supplied through tankers to 270 villages and through private borewells to 594 villages."
"In urban areas, supply is done through tankers to 150 wards and through private borewells in 29 wards," he said, adding that things seem to be under control.
Stating that there are reports predicting good rains in the state this year, Gowda said most parts of the state are likely to get above-normal rains this time.
From April till now, 17 persons have died due to lightning strikes. Last year, this number was 68, he said, adding that certain preventive measures have been designed in this regard, but the government has not been able to implement it due to the Lok Sabha polls and Model Code of Conduct (MCC).
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Who is Iran's first vice president, Mohammad Mokhber, appointed acting president after crash?
Dubai (AP/PTI): Iran's first Vice President Mohammad Mokhber was appointed as acting president of the Islamic Republic on Monday after the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in the country's northwest.
Raisi's death under the constitution thrust Mokhber into public view. He is expected to serve as caretaker president for some 50 days before mandatory presidential elections in Iran.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei made the announcement of Mokhber's appointment in a condolence message he shared for Raisi's death in the crash Sunday. The helicopter was found Monday in northwestern Iran.
Despite his low-key public profile, Mokhber has held prominent positions with in the country's power structure, particularly in its bonyads, or charitable foundations.
Mokhber oversaw a bonyad known in English as the Execution of Imam Khomeini's Order, or EIKO, referring to the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
The US Treasury said the organisation oversaw billions of dollars in assets as “a business juggernaut under the direct supervision of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei that has a stake in nearly every sector of the Iranian economy, including energy, telecommunications, and financial services”.
“EIKO has systematically violated the rights of dissidents by confiscating land and property from opponents of the regime, including political opponents, religious minorities, and exiled Iranians,” the Treasury said in 2021 in sanctioning Mokhber. The European Union also had sanctioned Mokhber for a time with others over concerns then about Iran's nuclear programme.
As the head of EIKO, Mokhber oversaw an effort to make a COVID-19 vaccine during the height of the pandemic, pledging to make tens of millions of doses.
Mokhber previously worked in banking and telecommunications. He also worked at the Mostazafan Foundation, another bonyad that's a major conglomerate that manages the country's mega-projects and businesses. While there, he found himself entangled in a bitter legal dispute between mobile phone service providers Turkcell and South Africa's MTN over potentially entering the Iranian market.
Iranian media reports suggest Mokhber, who holds a doctorate in international law, was crucial in Iranian efforts to bypass Western sanctions on its oil industry.
Mokhber has been a member of Iran's Expediency Council since 2022, which advises the supreme leader, as well as settles disputes between parliament and the Guardian Council, Iran's constitutional watchdog that also oversees the country's elections.
Mokhber was born Sept 1, 1955, in Dezful in Iran's southwestern Khuzestan province to a clerical family. He served as an officer in the Revolutionary Guard's medical corps during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, according to the pressure group United Against Nuclear Iran.
“Mokhber used the vast wealth accumulated by EIKO — at the expense of the Iranian people—to reward regime insiders like himself,” UANI said. “Managing the patronage network endeared him to the supreme leader, but at a cost.”
