Mangaluru: 2 killed in police firing; curfew imposed; holiday declared for schools, colleges

Bengaluru, Feb 13: Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Thursday said the government had initiated measures to implement the Sarojini Mahishi report as the 12-hour Karnataka bandh call by several pro-Kannada organisations under the banner of Karnataka Sanghatanegala Okkoota began on Thursday.

“Government always stood for Kannada and Kannadigas and initiated measures to implement the Sarojini Mahishi report,” Yediyurappa said. Meanwhile, in Bengaluru, Ola, Uber and auto services were affected even though buses were plying as usual. Security has also been beefed up in Bengaluru after stones were pelted at a Tirupati-Mangaluru bus in Farangipet, though no one was injured.

Bangalore University has postponed all postgraduate (PG) exams scheduled for today. A pro-Kannada activist, Praveen Shetty, was kept under house arrest and police have detained a few people, including those involved in Cauvery protests and other bandh cases.

The organisations are demanding the implementation of a report by former union minister Sarojini Mahishi that recommends a certain percentage of jobs to Kannadigas in public sector undertakings, private companies, and multinational companies. The report was submitted in 1984 but is yet to be implemented.

Bengaluru, Mar 15: The civic body in Bengaluru has said that gathering at marriage functions should not exceed 100 people in order to curb the spread of coronavirus.

A circular issued by Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) dated March 15 said, "All marriage functions pre booked in marriage halls, hotels, Party places, etc. prior to the issue of circular dated March 13, shall be allowed to be conducted subject to the condition that the gathering in the function not exceeding 100 persons."

"The above relaxation is an exception in consideration of the difficulties in rescheduling and cancelling the Marriage event immediately," the circular said.

It said, "The Owners/Management of such locations where Marriages are to be solemnized due to pre booking shall maintain high standards of sanitation and hygiene by periodically cleaning by 10 per cent Sodium Hydrochlorite Solution or any other effective disinfectant the surfaces, floors and exposed areas likely to be touched by the attendants."

"Any person attending the function having any such symptoms like Cough, Cold, and Fever etc. shall be requested for immediately leaving the Programmes," it said.

The civic body further said in the circular, "No fresh bookings of any place for Marriage programme are permitted till further orders. Any bookings on future dates by any organizer, event manager, owner of such property or any other person will be at his own risk and action will be taken against the property or any other person for any kind of bookings before an Order allowing such bookings is issued by a Competent Authority."

"The restrictions imposed are in the absolute interest of Public Health for preventing the Community Spread and outbreak of the disease at mass scale. All other restrictions imposed by order dated March 13 shall stand the same," the Circular added.

Bengaluru, Mar 5: Karnataka is facing unprecedented economic difficulties following a Rs 8,887 crore reduction in the state's share in central taxes, cut in allocation under 15th finance commission and a Rs 3,000 crore hit in GST compensation, Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa indicated on Thursday.

Presenting the state budget for 2020-21 in the Assembly, he said Karnataka's share in central taxes has come down by Rs 8,887 crore in 2019-20 as per the revised budget estimates of the central government. Therefore the state's revenue resources have been reduced. Apart from this, Rs 3,000 crore GST compensation will also be reduced as collection from the GST compensation cess is not as expected, the Chief Minister said. "With all this it has become difficult to reach to reach the 2019-20 budget targets and to manage this situation within the bounds of the Karnataka Fiscal Responsibility Act, an inevitable situation has arisen this year to cut down the expenditure of many departments," he added.

As per the interim report submitted by the 15th finance commission, there is a reduction in the state's share of central taxes to 3.64 per cent compared to 4.71 per cent fixed by the 14th finance commission. In view of this, there will be a reduction of Rs 11,215 crore in the state's share of central taxes in 2020-21 budget, when compared to the previous one.

He, however, noted that the allocation recommendation of the 15th finance commission is limited to one year only and the complete report for the period 2021-22 to 2025-26 will be submitted in October 2020.

"Our government will soon submit a revised memorandum to the commission to set right the loss caused to the state with regard allocation for the year 2020-21 and give more allocation for the remaining period," the Chief Minister said. He also said, when compared to the previous year, there is an increase of approximately Rs 10,000 crore for 2020-21 with regards to government employees salary, pension and interest on government loans, but there is no proportionate increase in resources as compared to committed expenditure. "Due to this reduction of the state's share of central taxes as per the 15th finance commission report and other developments, serious difficulties are being faced in resource mobilisation efforts of the state," Yediyurappa said. "This magnitude of economic difficulties was never faced in the previous years by our state," he added.

However, the state's own tax revenue collection is excellent during this year, he said. As compared to the previous year, there is a growth of 14 per cent in State GST collection. "Based on this, in the new budget, efforts are being made to manage the reduction in the share of central taxes by stabilising the state's own resources more", the Chief Minister said.

Karnataka recorded a gross state domestic product growth rate of 7.8 per cent in 2018-19 and Yediyurappa said for the current financial year it is estimated to be 6.8 per cent.