Police to import sophisticated weapons to fight terrorism

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.

Karwar: The number of Covid-19 patients in Uttara Kannada district has gone up to 39 with seven more persons from Bhatkal testing positive for the virus on Sunday.

These seven persons include five men and two women. Among them, the youngest is 15 years and the eldest is 60 years. Rest of the patients are 50, 21, 16, 42, and 31 years old, a health bulletin said. All the new seven cases are contacts of the eight persons who were found positive on Saturday.

Of the new cases, one is an auto-rickshaw driver who had reportedly transported one of the patients. Now the administration is collecting the details of the driver’s journeys and the persons who had travelled in his auto-rickshaw. It is said that some of these persons who were confirmed positive on Sunday had travelled to Udupi and moved around in Bhatkal town to buy medicine.

The pressure on the administration is increasing with new positive cases being detected in Bhatkal town every day. After the first 11 cases, there were no new cases for 20 days. However, since Friday, there is sudden spike in the number of new cases in Bhatkal town.

Mangaluru, Feb 26: The 'Yakshagana' stage in Karnataka is witnessing a curious spectacle with a Muslim woman artiste creating waves with her performances.

Arshiya, the artiste from Vittal in Dakshina Kannada district, is the first woman from the Muslim community to venture into the popular traditional theatre art form.

At one time, women were barred from Yakshagana stages.

A Muslim woman exponent on stage has attracted the attention of 'Yakshagana' lovers in the state.

Arshiya is now getting advanced training in her skills at the Kadali Kala Kendra under Ramesh Bhat here.

Arshiya, who is fond of 'Bannada Vesha' (villain roles), is now known in her stage name 'Tanu Vitla.'

She has already performed various episodes on stage and gained popularity.

Arshiya, currently working in an automobile showroom at Padil, said she was attracted to the art form from a very young age.

The initial enchantment with the art form came as she saw the role of Mahishasura in 'Sri Devi Mahatme Yakshagana Prasanga' (episode) performed near her home town.

She was attracted to all the elements of the art form, which combines music, percussion, dance, dialogues, stage techniques, make-up and costume.

Arshiya said she was also inspired by a teacher in her school at Vittal who trained her for a performance on stage during the school's annual day celebration.

She started performing on local stages at Vittal at the very young age of 10.

Arshiya now performs prominent roles on stage including Mahishasura in Sri Devi Mahatme Prasanga, the role which enamoured her in her childhood.

She also has donned the roles of Nishambhasura, Rakthabeejasura, Srinivas Kalyana, Sudarshanopakyana, Kadamba Kaushike and Shambavi Vijaya.

Her performances at Udupi and Karwar besides Mangaluru have earned her a lot of admirers, who love her 'Asura' roles, thanks to her loud voice.

Arshiya now wants to learn the 'Chende' (percussion instrument), which is an important element in Yakshagana performances.

Arshiya revealed that there was a bit of resistance from her community about her passion for the art form, but she had staunch backing of her family.