Siddaramaiah to present Karnataka budget on March 7
Bengaluru (PTI): Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, on Monday said that he will present the state budget for the year 2025-26 on March 7. This will be the 16th budget to be presented by him.
Speaking to reporters here, Siddaramaiah said, "The Assembly session will begin from March 3. As this will be the first session in the new year, the Governor will address the joint session of both houses of the state legislature on March 3. There will be discussion on the Governor's address on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (March 4, 5 and 6). On Friday (March 7), I will present the budget for 2025-26."
"After that there will be discussion on the budget, for which I will reply during the end of March. The Business Advisory Committee will decide as to how long the session should be held (the last date)," he said.
The chief minister who held a pre-budget consultative meeting with farmer leaders and representatives of farmers' organisation on Monday, said he has held similar discussions with various departments at his official residence for the last few days, despite his knee pain, and had come to Vidhana Soudha to meet farmer leaders, who had gathered in large numbers.
"Farmer leaders and representatives of various farmers' organisations have shared their inputs and opinions. Keeping them in mind, the budget will be prepared. We will include whatever possible within our limitations," he said, as he asserted that the government had never lagged behind in protecting the interest of farmers and in supporting the development of agriculture sector.
Responding to a question regarding huge expectations on him, due to the price rise, Siddaramaiah said, "Let's see, both Central and state governments should work towards addressing the issue of price rise. The Central government has more responsibility in this regard. We will do whatever is possible from us."
Siddaramaiah alleged that the Union government was not releasing its share of funds for Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) in Karnataka, in accordance with the speed at which the state is implementing the scheme.
Regarding the metro rail fare hike, he said, the fare fixation committee is appointed by the Union government. Though the committee is an autonomous body, it has two representatives appointed by the Centre and one by the state government.
"Metro rail is by both the Centre and state. We (state) may give a proposal for fixing the fare, but the fare fixation committee decides. The committee's chairman is also appointed by the Centre," he said.
To a question about complaints on non-payment of money to beneficiaries of Anna Bhagya (payment of cash in lieu of the additional 5 kg of rice to every member of a BPL household) and Gruha Lakshmi (providing Rs 2,000 per month to women head of families) schemes for the last few months, the CM said, there is no question of stopping any of these schemes. If the payment of money is delayed, it will be done at the earliest.
"I'm not aware it is pending for a couple of months. If not paid, will ensure it is paid," he said.
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Screenwriter Salim Khan on ventilator support and stable, say doctors
Mumbai (PTI): Veteran screenwriter Salim Khan suffered a brain haemorrhage which has been tackled, is on ventilator support as a safeguard and stable, doctors treating him said on Wednesday, a day after he was admitted to the Lilavati Hospital here.
The 90-year-old, one half of the celebrated Salim-Javed duo which scripted films such as "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don" with Javed Akhtar, is in the ICU and recovery might take some time given his age.
"His blood pressure was high for which we treated him and we had to put him on a ventilator because we wanted to do certain investigations. Now the ventilator was put as a safeguard so that his situation doesn't get worse. So it is not that he is critical," Dr Jalil Parkar told reporters.
"We did the investigations that were required and today we have done a small procedure on him, I will not go into the details. The procedure done is called DSA (digital subtraction angiography). The procedure has been accomplished, he is fine and stable and shifted back to ICU. By tomorrow, we hope to get him off the ventilator. All in all, he is doing quite well," he added.
Asked whether he suffered a brain haemorrhage, the doctor said, "Unko thoda haemorrhage hua tha, which we’ve tackled. No surgery is required.
As concern over Khan's health mounted, his children, including superstar Salman Khan and Arbaaz Khan, daughter Alvira, and sons-in-law Atul Agnihotri and Aayush Sharma, have been seen outside the hospital along with other well-wishers. His long-time partner Akhtar was also seen coming out of the hospital.
Khan, a household name in the 70s and 80s, turned 90 on November 24 last year. It was the day Dharmendra, the star of many of his films, including "Sholay", "Seeta aur Geeta" and "Yaadon Ki Baraat", passed away.
Hailing from an affluent family in Indore, Khan arrived in Mumbai in his 20s with dreams of stardom. He was good looking and confident he would make a mark in the industry as an actor. But that did not happen. And then, after struggling for close to a decade and getting confined to small roles in films, he changed lanes.
He worked as an assistant to Abrar Alvi and soon met Akhtar to form one of Hindi cinema's most formidable writing partnerships. They worked together on two dozen movies with most of them achieving blockbuster status.
Other than "Sholay", "Deewar" and "Don", Khan and Akhtar also penned "Trishul", "Zanjeer", "Seeta Aur Geeta", "Haathi Mere Saathi", "Yaadon Ki Baarat" and "Mr India".
