Kuruba Siddaramaiah gets goat, blanket as gifts

Udupi, Jan 9: State Revenue Minister R Ashoka said on Wednesday that the state government is embarking on a novel method to ensure that social security schemes were available to the beneficiaries at their doorsteps.

Speaking after inaugurating the Mini Vidhana Soudha here, he said government will look into the Aadhaar number and income certificates to decide the eligibility of the beneficiaries. The initiative will help the poor to access welfare schemes without any hassles.

The initiative will be launched as a pilot project in Udupi district. Later, the project will extend to other districts in a phased manner. In Udupi district, 30,000 beneficiaries have been identified. The government has set aside nearly Rs 7,000 crore for social security schemes. The initiative will not only eliminate middlemen menace but will help the government save Rs 1,000 crore.

Bengaluru, Jun 27: Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday emphasised on giving a new dimension to the city by strengthening the infrastructure and improving various other sectors including health and housing.

He was speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony of the 108-feet-tall bronze statue of Kempe Gowda, the founder of Bengaluru, at the Kempegowda International Airport near here. The statue would be built at a cost of Rs 66 crore in one-and-half years.

Yediyurappa said Bengaluru has earned the fame of Garden City and Silicon Valley of India. Noting that the state capital was one of the fastest-growing cities in the world and internationally acclaimed hub of information technology and biotechnology, he said, "We need to give a new dimension to this city and strengthen the infrastructure. We have to focus on health, housing, pollution control, traffic management. Our government has taken various measures to develop the city," the chief minister said.

On Kempe Gowda, Yediyurappa said though the city did not have a perennial river, he built hundreds of lakes and interconnected them. His water management reflects on his foresightedness, he added.

"Kempambudhi, Dharmambudhi, Sampaniram and Halasuru lake are among the major lakes gifted to the people of Bengaluru. He had set up the markets called Chickpet, Akkipet, Balepet, Kumbarpet, are still the major trade hubs," Yediyurappa said.

Former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda, Union Minister of State for Railways Suresh Angadi, deputy chief ministers Govind Karjol, Dr C N Ashwath Narayan, Laxman Savadi and many other ministers were present on the occasion. The event was organised on the 511th birth anniversary of Kempe Gowda. Kempe Gowda was a chieftain of Vijayanagara dynasty who founded Bengaluru around 550 years ago.