My statement on 'Shakti scheme' was distorted, says Deputy CM DK Shivakumar
Bengaluru, Nov 1: Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said his statement on 'Shakti scheme' was distorted and presented as if the Congress government in the state wanted to withdraw it.
Shivakumar's reaction came after Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge subtly pulled him in public for his statement that some women wished to pay for travelling in the buses.
"Whatever statement I had made was distorted as if we would stop it (Shakti scheme). I only said some section of people is saying so. There is no question of winding up any guarantee," the Deputy CM told reporters here.
According to him, some people voluntarily wish to pay for their travel.
ALSO READ: Three devotees sustain injuries as thousands throng to Deviramma temple in Chikkamagaluru
"Even though these women are willing to pay, the conductors are afraid of collecting money from them. I said we will discuss it," Shivakumar said.
Shakti is one of the five guarantees offering free rides for Karnataka women in non-luxury government buses anywhere in the state.
The Deputy CM slammed the opposition parties for making a fuss about it.
"Politics is important for the opposition parties. They could not introduce such schemes and now they are unable to tolerate it. Playing with emotions, clashes, fights between parents, siblings and in-laws is their job and not the development of the state is their (BJP) politics," Shivakumar said.
Kharge on Thursday said, "You have given some guarantees. After seeing them, I too said in Maharashtra that there are five guarantees in Karnataka. Now you (Shivakumar) said you will withdraw one guarantee."
The Congress chief said Shivakumar’s statement about reviewing the Shakti scheme had given the BJP a chance.
"Don’t go for saying five, six, 10 or twenty guarantees. Give guarantees according to your state budget. If you give guarantees beyond your budget, you will become bankrupt. There will not be even soil to fill the road. People will blame you. If this government fails, then there will be nothing for the next generation. You will only get a bad name and not a good one," Kharge said at a function here.
Regarding the Maharashtra election, he said the Congress will study the state's budget and accordingly, the guarantees will be announced.
Kharge, who is the leader of opposition in Rajya Sabha added that he would go to Maharashtra after the budget is studied and guarantees are well worked out.
"Till then I will not go there. We started this exercise (of reading Maharashtra budget) a fortnight ago. We will announce guarantees in Nagpur and Mumbai," he said.
Regarding Kharge’s call for unity in the party, Shivakumar said the message was not for him or anyone else present there.
"It was not for us. He (Kharge) has only sent a message to the workers on various occasions," the Deputy CM said.
He also sought to know whether there was a single instance of discord either in the government or in the party ever since he became the Congress state president and the DCM.
Shivakumar also ruled out any interference in the functioning of Congress. He said Kharge being a senior leader gives them guidance, keeping the national scenario in mind.
Meanwhile, reacting to Kharge’s statement, Union Minister Pralhad Joshi asked people to read between the lines.
"Kharge said in a manner ‘keep mum till the elections to the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls are over and withdraw it (Shakti) later’," Joshi said.
He charged that the Congress is making states pauper by making bogus promises.
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.
Judge issues temporary injunction against Trump administration cancellation of humanities grants
Washington (AP): A district court judge in New York issued a preliminary injunction Friday night stopping the mass cancellation of National Endowment for the Humanities grants to members of the Authors Guild on the grounds that their First Amendment rights were violated.
Judge Colleen McMahon of the US District Court in the Southern District of New York stayed the mass cancellations of grants previously awarded to guild members and ordered that any funds associated with the grants not be reobligated until a trial on the merits of the case is held.
In reaching her decision, the judge said the “defendants terminated the grants based on the recipients' perceived viewpoint, in an effort to drive such views out of the marketplace of ideas. This is most evident by the citation in the Termination Notices to executive orders purporting to combat Radical Indoctrination' and Radical … DEI Programs,' and to further Biological Truth.'”
One of the grants was to a professor writing a book on the reemergence of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970s and 1980s. On a spreadsheet entitled “Copy of NEH Active Grants,” the government flagged the work as being connected to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, McMahon wrote.
The judge said several other history projects on the spreadsheet were also canceled in part because of their connection to DEI-related subjects.
“Far be it from this Court to deny the right of the Administration to focus NEH priorities on American history and exceptionalism as the year of our semiquincentennial approaches,” McMahon said. “Such refocusing is ordinarily a matter of agency discretion. But agency discretion does not include discretion to violate the First Amendment. Nor does not give the Government the right to edit history.“
McMahon said some of the grantees lost grants simply because they had received them during the Biden administration.
The Guild filed a class action lawsuit in May against the NEH and the Department of Government Efficiency for terminating grants that had already been appropriated by Congress.
The humanities groups' lawsuit said DOGE brought the core work of the humanities councils “to a screeching halt” this spring when it terminated its grant program.
The lawsuit was among several filed by humanities groups and historical, research and library associations to try to stop funding cuts and the dissolution of federal agencies and organizations.
McMahon noted her injunction is narrowly tailored “to maintain the status quo until we can decide whether Plaintiffs are entitled to ultimate relief. It does nothing more.”
The judge denied a temporary injunction request from the American Council of Learned Societies, as well as several of their claims in the lawsuit. Their case included the American Historical Association and the Modern Language Association.
