Karnataka govt accuses Centre of adopting ‘step-motherly attitude’ towards State on AIIMS issue
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Medical Education Minister Sharan Prakash Patil on Monday accused the Centre of adopting a ‘step-motherly attitude’ towards the State on the issue of setting up an All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and upgrading existing government medical colleges.
He said the Centre was not responding to the state government’s repeated requests to set up the premier medical institution in Raichur district.
“All the states in India have got AIIMS except for Karnataka and Kerala. The Centre has to decide. This is a step-motherly attitude towards Karnataka,” Patil said responding to a question raised by JD(S) member K A Thippeswamy in the Legislative Council.
Thippeswamy charged the state government with "doing nothing" to get an AIIMS in Raichur and upgrade the existing government medical colleges to offer tertiary healthcare to people under the 'Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana'.
Patil dismissed the allegation and said he and Minister for Science and Technology N S Boseraju had met the then Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and requested for establishing an AIIMS in the State.
He said Chief Minister Siddaramaiah wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and even personally handed over the request letter to sanction AIIMS but to no avail.
The Minister said the state government has identified land for AIIMS in Raichur and is ready to provide "whatever is required" to set it up.
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Why remove Mahatma Gandhi's name, asks Priyanka on move to replace MGNREGA
New Delhi (PTI): Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday slammed the government over its move to change the name of MGNREGA, asking what is the government's intention behind removing the name of Mahatma Gandhi who is the tallest leader not just in India but in the world.
A bill to repeal the MGNREGA and bring a new law for rural employment -- Viksit Bharat Guarantee for Rozgar and Ajeevika Mission (Gramin) (VB-G RAM G) Bill, 2025 -- is set to be introduced in the Lok Sabha. According to a copy of the bill, it seeks to introduce the VB-G RAM G Bill, 2025, in Parliament and repeal the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) of 2005.
Asked about the government's move, Priyanka Gandhi said, "Whenever the name of a scheme is changed there are so many changes that have to be made in offices, stationery... for which money is spent. So, what is the benefit, why it is being done?"
"Why is Mahatma Gandhi's name being removed. Mahatma Gandhi is considered the tallest leader not just in the country but in the world, so removing his name, I really don't understand what is the objective? What is their intention?" she told reporters in Parliament House complex.
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"Even when we are debating it is on other issues not the real issues of the people. Time is being wasted, money is being wasted, they are disrupting themselves," Priyanka Gandhi added.
The bill aims at establishing a "rural development framework aligned with the national vision of Viksit Bharat 2047", by providing a statutory guarantee of 125 days of wage employment in every financial year to every rural household whose adult members volunteer to undertake unskilled manual work.
The bill has been listed in the Lok Sabha in the supplementary list of business issued on Monday.
Rural Development Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in the statement of purpose of the Bill, said MGNREGA has provided guaranteed wage-employment to rural households over the past 20 years.
However, "further strengthening has become necessary in view of the significant socio-economic transformation witnessed in the rural landscape driven by widespread coverage of the social security interventions and saturation-oriented implementation of major government schemes", he said.
