Oppose as much as you can; we will implement CAA: Amit Shah

Bengaluru, Jul 7: There seems no impact of Covid-19 on kharif crop sowing in Karnataka with the current year actually being ahead of previous years, according to an official here on Monday.

"In agriculture, as far as sowing is concerned, there is no impact of COVID-19," Agriculture Commissioner Brijesh Kumar Dikshit told IANS. One of the reasons, according to Dikshit, is that people in rural areas are aware, but not scared of the pandemic.

"In rural India, coronavirus is there. People are aware, not scared. They are taking precautions, but don't have any phobia," he said.

Another reason was that by June the number of infections in Karnataka was not as high as other states, when a lot of sowing was done, he said.

By the end of June, Karnataka saw 15,242 Covid-19 cases. Of that, 7,074 were active.

The sowing is ahead of previous year as it's mostly dependent on weather. "It's ahead of previous years. Agriculture is directed by weather and rains had been slightly earlier this year," he said.

According to Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, at 185 mm the state received 14 mm less rain in June against the normal 199 mm. "It's like a normal year, or slightly a good year," he said.

Some crops will be sown in the last fortnight of July and few more will extend up to August 15. "The last two weeks will be critical and on July 31 we should be able to tell whether we are short or ahead," he said.

According to preliminary indications, the Commissioner said the area under agriculture is increasing this year, which could also be because that labourers might have come back.

Bengaluru, Jan 2: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday slammed states, which have not enrolled with the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojana (PMKSY), saying that such petty politics has done great damage to the farming community.

"I expect that in the new year, those states which are not associated with the Kisan Samman Yojana will at least become a part of it this year," the Prime Minister said at a function in Tumakuru where he disbursed Rs 12,000 crore to six crore beneficiaries under the government scheme in one-go.

Also, he gave away the Krishi Karman Award to the selected farmers and distributed fishing equipment to the chosen ones on the occasion. Modi said political considerations by the state governments in implementing the PMKSY has caused severe loss to the poor farmers.

"Such politics has never strengthened the farmers. Our government understood your (farmers') needs, requirements and your aspirations and accordingly tried to implement the schemes," said Modi.

He further said his government never saw agriculture in fragments but in its totality. Claiming his government has ensured that the entire money reached the poor beneficiaries, Prime Minister hit out at the previous governments, when middlemen ruled the roost.

"There was a time when a rupee was rolled out (by the government) for the poor person, only 15 paise would reach him. The middlemen would pocket the remaining 85 paise. "Today, whatever money is dispatched from Delhi, the entire amount directly reaches the bank account of the beneficiary," he said.

He told the gathering about the various initiatives taken by his government to improve the agriculture sector such as completing the pending irrigation schemes, soil health card and 100 per cent neem-coating in urea.

Due to the initiatives of the government, agriculture production has gone up, he said. Speaking about measures in the fisheries sector, the Prime Minister said the sector has been promoted in the villages, financial help given to fishermen, modernisation of boats and building fisheries-related infrastructure have been done.

Mangaluru, Jul 11: A youth was run over by a lorry after a speeding car knocked his two-wheeler down on Netravati Bridge near Thokkottu on the outskirts of the city today.

The deceased has been identified as Ubaid (28), a resident of Bandikotya in Ullal. According to sources, he was recently engaged and was supposed to get married on July 23.

Shakir, who was with Ubaid on the two-wheeler suffered serious injuries. He was shifted to a private hospital for treatment. 

The car hit the two-wheeler when the two were heading back to Ullal from Mangaluru. 

The impact of the collision was such that Ubaid was thrown on to the road. Within a second a speeding lorry crushed him to death on the spot. 

The car driver sped away after the mishap instead of stopping to help the accident victims. However, local residents chased the car and waylaid it near Thokkotty flyover. 

The car was reportedly driven by Krishna, who works at Someshwar municipality office. He had reportedly purchased the car just two days ago. Police have taken him into custody along with another person who was also on board the car.

Traffic south police have registered a hit-and-run case and investigations are on.