Karnataka government to set up squad to check misuse of flood-relief funds
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will set up a state-wide squad to check any misuse during the flood relief programme, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Wednesday.
Addressing reporters after a meeting with senior officials on the flood relief programme, Ashoka said there was anotion among some people that the natural calamity was an opportunity to plunder resources.
"This belief reflects in (sections of) media as well", he said. "For the first time, we have decided to form a squad, which will randomly visit places to contain the menace of middlemen," Ashoka added.
This statewide squad, which would travel to flood-affected areas and meet people there would examine whether the money reached the beneficiaries, the affected persons or middlemen were siphoning it off, he said.
Ashoka said the government would directly transfer money into the accounts of the victims instead of paying through cheques.
Cautioning officers against any malpractices in the name of flood relief programme, he said, "We will take stringent action against anybody demanding money from the flood hit people to include them in the list of beneficiaries."
"We will make sure that such officers do not stay in the department," the Minister warned. On the minutes of the meeting, Ashoka said they discussed preparation of an estimate of the flood related damages to seek Central aid.
"We have prepared a note comprising all the points required to get central aid. We had a detailed discussion on this issue. We convened the meeting to get maximum aid from the centre. In two days we will ready the estimate," he added.
He acknowledged services rendered by Central forces such as Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, and National Disaster Response Force and 43 teams from State comprising fire force, home guards, civil defence and Karnataka State Reserved Police and saving a large number of people.
"We express our deep gratitude for the services rendered by these forces in Karnataka to save our people," Ashoka said. The flood, which hit parts of the State in the first fortnight of August, wrecked havoc with almost all the riversin spate.
As many as 82 people lost their lives in flood and rain-related incidents. About five lakh people were displaced. According to the State government, 103 taluks of 22 districts were affected. The flood damaged 7.5 lakh hectaresof land and 75,317 houses.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
India should create strategic buffers to navigate 'most difficult' energy shock: CEA Nageswaran
New Delhi (PTI): Chief Economic Advisor V Anantha Nageswaran on Saturday said India needs to create strategic buffers in the face of the "most difficult" energy shock that the country is facing amid the West Asia crisis.
Nageswaran also said the rising prices of fertiliser and petroleum products globally due to the crisis will make it challenging to achieve the 4.3 per cent fiscal deficit target for the current fiscal, while below normal monsoon and pass-through of higher energy prices could lead to "potential inflation spike".
He also said India has employment challenge emanating from AI, and there is a need to ensure that IT sector becomes more competitive and not lose jobs to AI, and instead create jobs that use AI within the IT sector or in other services.
Speaking at the ICPP Growth Conference organised by the Ashoka University, Nageswaran said the current account deficit (CAD) in the current fiscal could rise to over 2 per cent of GDP, from less than 1 per cent in FY'26.
"The ... priority for us is to create strategic buffers. This energy shock is the most difficult one compared to any other previous energy shock in terms of energy lost as a percentage of total global energy supply, not just oil, including gas.
"And we also need to use this occasion to think about other areas where we are vulnerable in terms of import dependence, nickel, tin, and copper. We need to build strategic buffers if we have to make a shot at manufacturing and becoming indispensable," Nageswaran said.
Since the beginning of the war in West Asia on February 28, crude oil prices soared to a four-year high of USD 126 per barrel on Thursday, from about USD 73 level before the war.
Stating that geopolitics will compel policymakers to be nimble and flexible and shed old model of thinking, Nageswaran said India is better prepared than many other countries to deal with the crisis because of the fiscal leeway that the country has due to lowering of fiscal deficit ratio to 4.4 per cent of GDP in FY'26.
Nageswaran said the West Asia conflict is more of a price shock than supply shock for India as the government is managing the supply side deftly.
"This particular conflict, which is going to be on a low simmer or a high flame situation, whatever it is, it is going to be there with us in some form or the other because the military conflict may be over, but the strategic conflict is well and truly alive. It will be so for some time," Nageswaran said.
He said the conflict has four channels of shock: price and supply shock, trade impact, sticky logistics costs and remittance shock.
India imports 60 per cent of its LPG usage and of that, 90 per cent flows through the now closed Strait of Hormuz.
Nageswaran said the pass-through of high global energy prices would have to be a "balancing act". He said some pass-through is already happening in commercial LPG, and the levy of export duty on diesel and ATF.
The government has cut excise duty on petrol and diesel to shield customers from the impact of the rise in petroleum prices. "We are coming around to arriving at a certain modus vivendi with respect to burden-sharing between the fiscal policy side, inflation, households and the oil marketing companies. So it has to be a balancing act," Nageswaran said.
