Bengaluru, June 17: Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy appealed Prime Minister Narendra Modi to give 50 per cent funds to waive off the farm loans of more than 85 lakh farmers who are under distress.

Speaking at the fourth NITI Aayog meeting held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Sunday, Kumaraswamy explained the problems being faced by the farmers in the meeting. Farmers were in trouble because of drought, crop loss and other issues. It was the duty of the government to come to their rescue in such a situation. So, the state government has planned to waive off the farm loans of farmers at once, he said.

The state government is committed to introduce innovative programmes for the benefit of the farmers. It has already introduced some programmes. Every year, the state experiences natural calamities like drought or floods and the government has been spending huge money to handle this situation. In the last five years, the State Calamity Relief Funds (SCRF) has increased six times and this has been causing a burden on the state Exchequer, he said.  

Under the SCRF, the centre has released just Rs 1375 crore between 2015 and 2020. Compared to other states, the amount is too minimum. So, the centre should increase this amount to help the state, he appealed.

Both capital investment and skills development are inevitable to set up self employment. The state government has been taking various measures for skills development. But it should be doubled. In view of this, employment generation and skills development subjects should be included in the agenda of the NITI Aayog, he suggested.

Welcoming the Prime Minister’s Rashtriya Swasthya Suraksha Mission of the central government, he said that the Karnataka government has also introduced Yashaswini and other ambitious programmes. Total 145 lakh beneficiaries from 30 lakh families were getting the benefit of this scheme, he said.

 

 

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Bareilly (UP), Nov 24: Three people died when their car fell into the Ramganga river from a partially constructed bridge here on Sunday, police said, adding that they suspect the driver was misled by its navigation system into taking the unsafe route.

The accident occurred around 10 am on the Khalpur-Dataganj road when the victims were travelling from Bareilly to Dataganj in the Badaun district, they said.

"Earlier this year, floods had caused the front portion of the bridge to collapse into the river, but this change had not been updated in the system," Circle Officer Ashutosh Shivam said.

The driver was using a navigation system and did not realise that the bridge was unsafe, driving the car off the damaged section, the police said.

There were no safety barriers or warning signs on the approach to the damaged bridge, leading to the fatal accident, Shivam said.

Upon receiving information, police teams from Faridpur, Bareilly and Dataganj police station rushed to the spot. They recovered the vehicle and the bodies from the river, Shivam added.

The circle officer said that bodies had been sent for post-mortem. Further investigation into the matter is underway.