All farmers suicides are not due to debts: D K Shivakumar

TNN
July 26, 2018

Bengaluru, Jul 26: Water resources and medical education minister D K Shivakumar on Wednesday stirred a controversy when he claimed several farmer suicides in the state could be due to personal reasons.

“If a farmer commits suicide it is not necessarily because he was in debt,” Shivakumar said. “There can be various reasons for a farmer to commit suicide.” His comments come a day after BJP chief B S Yeddyurappa alleged that the state government has been apathetic towards the increasing number of farmer suicides in the state.

Shivakumar also cited an example to support his statement.

“Not all accidents happen because of the driver’s fault,” he said. “Some happen also because of the fault of the driver of the other vehicle.” He said the media should stop reporting farmer suicides as it only encourages more farmers to take extreme step.

His remarks sparked instant criticism from the BJP and farmer organisations, which said it exposed the ruling party’s “insensitivity” towards farmers’ plight. “How can a minister, who is the custodian of farmers’ issues make such an insensitive statement?” questioned a BJP member. “Officials or NGOs making such remarks is acceptable but not a minister.”

Mahadayi dispute

The state government is expecting a favourable verdict from the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal which it is expected to deliver its decision next month, Shivakumar said. “The government has given all the documents including photographs on the amount of water used by Goa to the tribunal to seek justice,” Shivakumar said.

The minister was speaking in the wake of a team of officials from Goa visiting Karnataka’s Kanakumbi village, located in the Malaprabha basin adjoining the state’s border, and alleging that Karnataka was already diverting and using Mahadayi water.

Rubbishing the charges, Shivakumar said Karnataka has not been utilising the water from Mahadayi and sought evidence from Goa.

Comments

Farooq
 - 
Thursday, 26 Jul 2018

D K Sivakumar wants to loot more money from farmers' loan waiving plan.

 

NB: Raid On Karnataka Minister DK Shivakumar Finds 300 Crores 'Undisclosed Income': Sources (reported in 2017)

Mohan
 - 
Thursday, 26 Jul 2018

Media reports never encourage farmers to do extreme steps. Media showing the plight. If media dont report such things then govt wont listen or wont take any action.. even govt wont know such incidents

Ramprasad
 - 
Thursday, 26 Jul 2018

Sivakumar, 95% of farmers are commiting suicide due to debts. They wont do for pleasure. Please dont utter rubbish statements

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News Network
April 15,2020

Mangaluru, Apr 15: A 27-year-old man, who died of breathing problem at Banglagudda in Surathkal, has tested negative for COVID-19.

The entire area was panic-stricken following his death on Tuesday evening. Suspecting COVID-19, his throat swab samples were collected, said Mangaluru North MLA Dr Y Bharath Shetty. Now the test has proved he was negative for coronavirus.

The youth had collapsed suddenly on Tuesday evening and was rushed to a hospital where the doctors declared him brought dead.

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News Network
May 10,2020

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.

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News Network
July 25,2020

Chennai, Jul 25: Two weeks after a 62-year-old widow accused him of harassment, including urinating outside her house, the Chennai Police on Saturday registered an FIR against ABVP national president Dr Subbiah Shanmugam.

Dr Shanmugam, Professor and HOD, Department of Surgical Oncology, Kilpauk Medical College and Government Royapettah Hospital, has been booked under sections 271 (disobedience to quarantine rule) and 427 (mischief causing damage) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Tamil Nadu Women Harassment Prevention Act.

The FIR was lodged exactly two weeks after the woman’s relative Balaji Vijayaraghavan filed a complaint with the Adambakkam police accusing Dr Shanmugam of harassing his aunt, who is living alone in her apartment following her husband’s death last year, following an argument over a parking slot. 

The action came after Vijayaraghavan alleged that the police were not filing an FIR due to the ABVP functionary’s “political connections.”

Dr Shanmugam and the woman were living in the same apartment complex in Nanganallur and an argument broke between them over a parking slot.

“He wanted to use our parking lot. We agreed but demanded a nominal charge for using it. He was outraged by our demand and even broke our signboard at the parking lot,” Vijayaraghavan wrote in his complaint.

He also alleged that Dr Shanmugam began harassing her by throwing “pieces of chicken” outside her apartment despite knowing she is a vegetarian.

CCTV footage corroborates with the allegations of urinating outside the residence of the widow. However, the ABVP called the incident as a “malicious and derogatory propaganda” by the Congress’ student wing of NSUI.

"The video shared by NSUI with an allegation of harassment is tampered with and is being used with malafide intentions. The two families have discussed this within their housing society and have already concluded that the harassment allegations were caused due to misunderstandings and are untrue,” ABVP National General secretary Nidhi Tripathi said.

Vijayaraghavan also alleged in his two-page written complaint that the ABVP national president had urinated outside the woman’s apartment gate and had been throwing garbage and used masks at her gate.

In his complaint, Vijayaraghavan also said the family was “concerned about her safety” while asking police to take action against Dr Shanmugam, who he says, “has a bad track record in maintaining rapport with neighbours.”

Also Read: ABVP national president accused of harassing woman, urinating at her doorstep

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