Karnataka govt is working hard to realise these aspirations of the Constitution: Governor
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot on Friday said the state government is working hard to realise the aspirations of the Constitution, as he highlighted that it has fulfilled the commitment by implementing the five guarantees successfully, and its management of the drought situation.
The Governor was speaking after unfurling the national tricolour at the Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground here on the occasion of Republic Day.
"The Preamble of the Constitution provides to all its citizens justice, liberty, equality and fraternity. The Constitution of India has envisaged all its citizens equal opportunities and equal status to develop themselves with self dignity and thereby to contribute to the development of the nation. My government is working hard to realise these aspirations of the Constitution," Gehlot said.
In his address, he said, "My Government had assured the people of Karnataka that we would implement the five guarantees Shakti Yojane, Anna Bhagya, Gruha Jyoti, Gruha Lakshmi and Yuvanidhi programme. I am happy to state that we have implemented all the five guarantees in the State."
The Congress in Karnataka had promised to implement five 'guarantees' ahead of the Assembly polls in the state 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), additional 5 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).
Further noting that as per norms and procedures delineated in the Drought Manual 2020, Karnataka has declared drought in 223 out of 236 taluks out of which 196 are categorised as severely drought affected, the Governor said, the State government had sought funds from NDRF for undertaking drought relief and mitigation measures in the 195 drought affected taluks.
"To alleviate the distress of farmers an interim relief of input subsidy of up to Rs 2,000 per farmer in the drought declared taluks is being released by the State Government directly to the Aadhaar-linked bank account of farmers. The process to transfer about Rs 580 crore to about 30 lakh farmers is underway," he said.
He also highlighted various measures taken by the government in managing the drought situation in the state.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, Ministers of his cabinet, legislators, officials were among the dignitaries present at the event, which saw a march past parade by security forces, police, NCC and contingents from various schools, followed by cultural programmes.
Listing out various programmes being implemented by the government in various sectors, Gehlot said, "Brand Bengaluru", an ambitious project of the Government of Karnataka has been formulated with an idea that the citizen's voice is the government's voice for all-round development of the city of Bengaluru and making it a global hub.
"Under this concept, advice was sought from experts and the public on 8 key issues. Discussions were held with public associations, civil defence forums, industry sector experts. Accordingly, more than 70,000 suggestions were collected and a committee is examining the suggestions and will make recommendations," he said.
Keeping in view the comprehensive development of Bengaluru and realising the need to lay more emphasis on smooth traffic, a Rs.2000 crore project has been launched and the process of inviting tender for white topping of major roads has been initiated, he further said, in order to find a permanent solution to the congestion of the city, it is proposed to construct tunnel roads at selected places.
"The process of preparation of a Detailed Project Report with the help of an international agency for construction of a tunnel road of 2 km area has been initiated," he added.
The Governor said arrangements have been made to incorporate a photo of the design of the preamble of the 'Indian Constitution' in all the schools of the State and to read the preamble during daily prayers.
For the first time a scheme providing loan from Karnataka State Financial Corporation to minority community entrepreneurs at 6 per cent interest rate up to to Rs 10 crore is implemented, he said, adding during the current year, the government is taking steps to distribute various equipment to the differently-abled persons at a cost of Rs 54.40 crore.
On the occasion of the completion of 50 years of renaming as Karnataka, "Karnataka Sambhram-50" programmes are being celebrated all over the State throughout the year, he pointed out.
State-level Single Window Clearance Committees have approved 165 investment projects, wherein, Rs.45,325 crore investment will be made and will create employment opportunities to 42,292 people, the Governor said.
Pointing out that 42 per cent of the software exports from the country are contributed by Karnataka, he said, the State government regularly revises its policies to suit the changing requirements of IT & BT sectors and to upgrade the skills in the most advanced and emerging technologies.
Gehlot in his address, also noted that action has been taken to hand over the compensatory afforestation land to the Forest Department for speedy implementation of Mekedatu Balancing Reservoir and Drinking Water Project and to speed up planning works and land acquisition process.
The implementation of the prestigious Upper Krishna Project Stage-3 of North Karnataka will be expedited with priority for land acquisition and rehabilitation & resettlement activities under the project, he said.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
