Karnataka to strengthen law to ensure those involved in female foeticide don’t get bail easily
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Health Minister Dinesh Gundu Rao on Monday said the state government will strengthen the legislation concerned to ensure that doctors and quacks involved in female foeticide do not get bail easily.
Rao said his department will hold discussions with the police department to make sure that such cases are booked under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.
“People who are accused of foeticide obtain bail. We failed in the legal battle with them. We are assessing the loopholes to plug them in the coming days,” the Minister said in the Legislative Council, replying to a question raised by the BJP's C T Ravi.
Ravi wondered why the government was not booking cases against such quacks under the PCPNDT Act which is a stringent law.
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In reply, the Minister said his department is serious about putting an end to female foeticide, due to which in just one year 23 cases were booked.
“In the last 21 years, less than 100 cases were registered but in just one year we booked 23 cases, which shows our seriousness. It is true that we are not taking up legal battles properly,” he said.
Rao said: “In future all the cases will be booked properly. Since the police book cases, we have discussed with the police department (with regard to quacks and foeticide).”
He also admitted that the department has no information on quacks operating in the State.
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Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah accuses EC of ‘bias’, defends state guarantee schemes ahead of bypolls
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has accused the EC of "double standards" and "bias" after it sought details on the state’s guarantee schemes in Davanagere and Bagalkot districts, where bypolls are scheduled for Thursday.
In a post on 'X' on Wednesday, Siddaramaiah said the Election Commission of India had asked the Karnataka government for information on fund releases under five ongoing guarantee schemes in the constituencies going to polls.
The polls were necessitated following the deaths of senior Congress MLAs Shamanur Shivashankarappa and H Y Meti, respectively.
The schemes are Gruha Jyothi, which provides 200 units of free electricity to every household; Gruha Lakshmi, offering Rs 2,000 to women heading families; and Anna Bhagya, supplying 10 kg of rice per month to each member of BPL families.
In addition, Yuva Nidhi grants Rs 3,000 to unemployed graduates and Rs 1,500 to unemployed diploma holders aged 18–25 for two years, while Shakti enables women to travel free of charge within Karnataka on government non-luxury buses.
Siddaramaiah alleged that the ECI had remained silent when similar cash transfer schemes were announced in Maharashtra and Bihar ahead of elections, calling the scrutiny of Karnataka’s schemes a "clear case of bias".
"In states like Maharashtra and Bihar, cash transfer schemes were announced or fast-tracked just before elections, directly benefiting voters. Yet the ECI remained silent. This is not neutrality—it is complicity," he said.
The CM accused the BJP and NDA governments of "a double standard", noting that when they act, the ECI "looks the other way", but when Karnataka fulfils its promises, it faces "intense scrutiny".
He added that targeting the state’s guarantee schemes is "not just political but anti-poor, anti-women, and anti-Karnataka."
Siddaramaiah clarified that these schemes were not launched in connection with the bypolls but are ongoing programmes implemented as part of the Congress government’s commitments from the 2023 Assembly elections.
Funds are transferred regularly to beneficiaries in a transparent and structured manner, he added.
"The guarantees are part of governance—a direct investment in human dignity, household stability, and economic participation, not inducement," he said.
He also accused the BJP of "hypocrisy", saying that while it criticises Karnataka’s schemes as "freebies", it rolls out similar programmes in states it governs.
"The Karnataka model has set a benchmark for the country. What is deeply concerning, however, is the ECI’s selective approach," Siddaramaiah added.
