39-yr-old woman, 42-yr-old brother end lives by self-immolation in Bantwal

New Delhi, Jan 9: A total of 10,349 people involved in the farming sector, including 5,763 farmers or cultivators, committed suicide in 2018, the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)'s report on 'Crime in India-2018' reveals.

The annual data was released around three months after the government released the NCRB report on 'Crime in India-2017'.

As per the latest data, of the 10,349 persons, who committed suicide in 2018, 4,586 were agricultural labourers.

The number of suicides in the farming sector in 2018 accounted for 7.7 per cent of the total suicide-victims (1,34,516) in the country, the NCRB data said.

Suicides in the country in 2018 rose to 1,34,516 from 1,29,887 in 2017.

The rate of suicides was up from 9.9 per cent in 2017 to 10.2 per cent in 2018. In 2017, a total of 10,655 farming sector-suicides were reported.

West Bengal, Bihar, Odisha, Uttarakhand, Meghalaya, Goa, Chandigarh, Daman and Diu, Delhi, Lakshadweep and Puducherry reported zero suicides of farmers or cultivators and agricultural labourers during 2018, said the report.

Bengaluru, July 17: The government of Karnataka has decided to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins in the state to reduce the socio-economic inequality faced by the community.

“A notification has been issued to tehsildars in all 30 districts to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins so that they can also benefit from the government schemes and scholarships,” a Revenue Department official told said.

The notification comes a month after the Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board on June 10 appealed to Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa to issue the certificates to the traditionally dominant community, which accounts for 3 per cent of the 7 crore state population.

“Though Brahmins are in ‘minority’ in terms of their population across the state, they need caste and income certificates to benefit from the welfare schemes meant for the economic weaker sections such as SC, ST and OBC groups,” the official said.

The board was set up in March 2019 as a state-run company with Rs 5 crore authorised capital and Rs 5 crore equity and is registered with the Registrar of Companies.

The notification was issued to the local bodies and taluk offices after several members of the community complained to state Revenue Minister R. Ashoka that they were unable to benefit from the welfare schemes in the absence of the certificates.

The certificates will also help students from the community to avail scholarships for higher studies from the state-funded board if their gross annual family income is less than Rs 8 lakh per year.

The board has also urged the state government to implement the 10 per cent quota for its community members under the economically weaker sections, as applicable for Central government jobs and admissions to central institutions.

Noting that every community has people who are forward and backward economically for various reasons, including historical, the official said the board would be empowered to serve the Brahmins.

“The board will provide interest-free loans to the financially weaker sections of the community,” said its Chairman H.S. Sachidananda Murthy.

Bengaluru, Jan 8: The Karnataka high court on Tuesday directed the government to submit steps taken in respect of the order of Lokyukta in relation to the Kethaganahalli landgrab case involving former chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, his relatives and former minister DC Thammanna.

A division bench headed by Chief Justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka gave the direction on a PIL filed by Samaj Parivartan Samudaya (SPS), an NGO. The petitioner said despite an order from the Lokayukta on August 5, 2014, to take action within 15 days, no action has been initiated till date in respect of encroachment of a huge tract of land in Kethaganahalli along Bengaluru-Mysuru highway.

SPS says the land was purchased in 1979 contrary to norms of Karnataka Land Revenue Act. It claims Kumaraswamy and others paid only Rs 5,000 per acre, although the prevailing market rate was Rs 25,000 to Rs 30,000 per acre.