Eminent Hadith scholar Abdusslam Sullami passes away 

Puttur, Jan 8: NCC Officer and two NCC Cadets of St Philomena College Puttur have been selected to participate in prestigious Republic Day Parade on January 26, 2020 in New Delhi.

NCC Officer, Lt. Johnson David Sequeira, Assistant Professor of Bachelor of Social Work has been selected as Contingent Officer of Karnataka and Goa Directorate to train the cadets in New Delhi.

Senior Under Officer Chethan P of first year BCA has been selected to Flag Area and Prime Minister’s Rally.

Junior Under Officer Mahalasa Pai of first year BCom has been selected to participate in cultural event which will be presented on the occasion of VIP’s visit.

These two meritorious cadets of the NCC wing of the College underwent a four months’ rigorous training at various places of Karnataka.

The Correspondent of the College Rev. Fr Alfred J Pinto, Principal Prof. Leo Noronha and Campus Director Rev. Dr Antony Prakash Monteiro expressed their happiness and compliments for the tremendous achievement of the NCC Officer and the cadets.

Bengaluru, Mar 6: In the face of unprecedented economic difficulties, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has chosen to hike the prices of fuel and liquor to fund development in his 2020-21 Budget, which tries to offer something for everybody with the available resources.

Yediyurappa announced a 3% hike in the rate of tax on petrol and diesel. This will result in the prices of petrol going up by Rs 1.60 per litre and diesel by Rs 1.59 per litre. This is expected to fetch the government Rs 1,500 crore.

By hiking additional excise duty on Indian Made Liquor (IML) by 6%, the government hopes to mop up Rs 1,200 crore.

In essence, Yediyurappa, the finance minister, pointed fingers at the Centre for the state’s fiscal woes. He said Karnataka’s share in Central taxes has come down this fiscal by Rs 8,887 crore. Plus, Rs 3,000 crore GST compensation will also be reduced as collections from the GST cess are not on expected lines, he said in his Budget speech. 

“It has become difficult to reach the 2019-20 Budget targets due to these reasons. To manage this situation within the bounds of the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, it has become inevitable this year to cut down the expenditure of many departments,” he said.

Under the 15th Finance Commission, Karnataka will see a reduction of Rs 11,215 crore in the state’s share of central taxes in 2020-21, Yediyurappa said. He also pointed out that expenditure on salaries, pensions and loan interest payments had risen by Rs 10,000 crore. “Serious difficulties are being faced in resource mobilisation efforts of the state. The state never faced economic difficulties of this magnitude in the previous years,” he said.

But in an attempt to please all, Yediyurappa made announcements across sectors and communities. Instead of the usual department-wise announcements, the CM chose to divide the Budget into six sectors: agriculture & allied activities; welfare & inclusive growth; stimulating economic growth; Bengaluru development; culture, heritage & natural resources and administrative reforms & public service delivery.

Farmers will get additional incentives under PM-KISAN costing Rs 2,600 crore and a waiver of interest on loans they have borrowed from cooperative banks worth Rs 466 crore.

The CM has earmarked Rs 500 crore to start work on the Kalasa-Banduri canals under the Mahadayi project. Also, Yediyurappa has given Rs 1,500 crore to commission the Yettinahole drinking water project.

This project will cater to the districts of Hassan, Chikkamagaluru, Tumakuru, Bengaluru Rural, Ramanagara, Chikkaballapur and Kolar.

For Bengaluru, the CM has made an allocation of Rs 8,772 crore. This includes Rs 500 crore for the suburban rail project, an electric bike taxi project and bus priority lanes.

Significantly, Yediyurappa has not made any allocation to mutts. However, the government will spend Rs 100 crore on the Anubhava Mantapa at Basavakalyan, Rs 66 crore for a 100 ft Kempegowda statue in Bengaluru and Rs 20 crore on a 325 ft statue of Basavanna at the Murugha Mutt in Chitradurga.

The CM has given Rs 305 crore for the development of various communities — Christians (Rs 200 crore), Upparas (Rs 10 crore), Vishwakarma (Rs 25 crore), Ambigara Chaudaiah (Rs 50 crore), Arya Vysya (Rs 10 crore) and Kumbara (Rs 10 crore).

Also, nearly 22.5 lakh government employees and their dependents will get cashless treatment facility for surgical treatment procedures at an estimated annual cost of Rs 50 crore under the Jyothi Sanjini scheme, the CM said.

Kalaburagi, Feb 22: All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) leader Waris Pathan was booked for his alleged remark against the Hindu community in his speech during an anti-CAA rally held here recently, police sources said on Saturday.

According to police sources, the FIR was registered against the AIMIM leader, following a complaint lodged by a woman advocate on Friday evening.

Taking strongly about the incident, the Karnataka Home minister Basavaraj Bommai had directed the Kalaburagi city police commissioner to submit a report on the incident.

It may be recalled that the AIMIM leader, in his speech at a rally held in the city on February 15 had said that if all the 15 crore minority populations in the country stand united they could take on 100 crore Hindu population.