Union budget offers new services without additional taxes, says CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Feb 1: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday hailed the Union Budget for offering many new services and amenities without proposing additional taxes on the people.
"I congratulate Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman for presenting a unique budget which does not add any extra tax burden on people, but offers many facilities," he said, addressing a press conference.
The Chief Minister opined that emphasis placed on rural India in the budget will benefit the farmers in a big way.
"This budget is a boon for farmers. It's a clear reflection of the Prime Minister's desire to double farmers' income by 2022.
The 'Jal Jivan' scheme extended to 100 water stressed districts will benefit farmers in a big way,"Yediyurappa said.
Never in the past had the country seen so much of budgetary allocation for farmers, the elderly and rural population, he said
"The scheme to minimise dependence on power grid through solar pumps will benefit 20 lakh farmers, while the Kisan Rail and Kisan Udan schemes will help farmers transport their produce," the Chief Minister opined.
Allowing Foreign Direct Investment in education will benefit the student community, he said, adding that offering online degree courses will help the poor get educated at their homes.
The budget, Yediyurappa said, gives impetus to industries to flourish, especially the export hub in every district will help Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs).
Investment of Rs 1.7 lakh for transport and basic infrastructure would attract investors, he opined.
He said that a long standing demand of the city has been fulfilled with the budgetary allocation for the suburban Railway in Bengaluru.
"The impetus given to the Bengaluru Suburban Railway will help ease traffic congestion in the city.
This project will be implemented under the Public Private Partnership, where the state and centre will invest 20 per cent each of the total project cost, while loans will be taken for the rest of the project cost," the Chief Minister said.
He assured speedy implementation of the project.
Yediyurappa also hailed the announcement of a taxpayer charter, calling it a major step to stop harassing taxpayers, which would eventually increase the tax revenue.
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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.
