Install Dr Rajkumar’s statue in parliament, give him ‘Bharat Ratna’: Vatal Nagaraj

Bengaluru, Feb 5: Despite installing a BJP government in Karnataka through disguised operation Kamala, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led union government has continued its step motherly attitude towards this south Indian state.

Under the new formula adopted to share central taxes among states Karnataka will be the worst-affected. Though the 15th Finance Commission has recommended a special grant of Rs 5,495 crore for the state for 2020-21, the Centre appears reluctant to pay up and instead has asked for the proposal to be reviewed.

During the Union budget, the report of the 14th Finance Commission headed by NK Singh for 2020-21 was tabled in Lok Sabha. It shows besides Karnataka, Telangana, Mizoram and Kerala saw their central tax share decrease, while Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra were top gainers.

Karnataka's share has decreased from 4.7% provided by the previous finance commission, to 3.6%. Acknowledging there is a steep decline in Karnataka's share from 2019-20, the finance commission has recommended a special grant of Rs 5,495 crore for the state.

Its share in 2019-20 was Rs 36,675 crore, but under the new formula, Karnataka will get only Rs 31,180 crore in 2020-21 from the divisible pool of Rs 8.5 lakh crore - a decline of 22.5%.

Also, the decrease for Karnataka comes on the back of a shortfall in 2019-20. While the state was entitled to Rs 39,806 crore from the divisible pool, it got only Rs 36,675 crore as the Centre suffered a tax revenue shortfall of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

What is more disheartening though is the Centre's refusal to pay the special grant. Instead, the Union finance ministry has asked the finance commission to reconsider the recommendation. This has prompted the state to take up the issue with the Centre.

"The decline in central taxes devolution comes at a time when the state is going through a tough financial situation. Steps are being taken to ensure Karnataka gets justice," said chief secretary TM Vijay Bhaskar.

Officials said besides corrective measures for 2020-21, the focus will be on ensuring a fair share in subsequent years. However, Karnataka has little chance of getting its dues as the Centre is known to be prudent when distributing tax proceeds among states.

"The Centre has certain views on devolution. We have done our duty by submitting the interim report. It's up to the states to convince the Centre," said Ravi Kota, joint secretary of 15th Finance Commission.

Under the new formula, the commission changed the weightage for some of the six criteria it considers - population, area, forest cover, income distance, demographic performance and tax effort.

Bengaluru, Jun 7: A mobile app and a portal offering technology-driven solutions to manage and mitigate floods in urban areas were launched here on Saturday by Karnataka Revenue Minister R Ashoka.

The mobile app 'Bengaluru Megha Sandesha' was developed to disseminate information on rainfall and flood forecast, location-specific dynamic weather directly to the public. "The in-built features of the app and the information provided for a city is the first of its kind in the country," a press release said. This is a system of providing rainfall, flood forecasts and early warning to the officials of government agencies in the city through SMS to their mobile phones, social media platforms and a dedicated web portal, the release said.

The information provided would help the civic authorities act in advance and manage the floods, it said. The portal 'Varunamitra' is for information on the weather. The information provided is based on real-time data from 100 telemetric rain gauges installed and maintained at various locations across the state, it said. Rainfall forecast is based on the weather research and forecast models developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Ahmedabad, the release said.

The information on flood forecast is based on the hydrological model, hydraulic routing and automation of the results. The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre, along with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), took up this project on the urban flood model for Bengaluru city. The project was funded by the Central government's department of science and technology, the release added. 

Bengaluru, Jul 17: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Mayor, M Goutham Kumar on Friday called for an extension of lockdown in the city for one more week due to rise in the COVID-19 cases.

"It will be better if we get more time to tackle COVID-19 cases, we wish for the extension of lockdown for one more week. We have given the proposal to the government," said M Goutham Kumar, BBMP Mayor.

"After the number of cases increased in Bengaluru, BBMP started antigen test in containment and hotspot zones of Bengaluru to tackle the cases which have crossed 2,000 mark," he added.

Along with Mayor, BBMP Commissioner Anil Kumar has also proposed the state government to extend lockdown in Bengaluru for one more week.

"The number of cases in Bengaluru increasing in Bengaluru rapidly. BBMP has inaugurated more than 200 vehicles in Bengaluru for the use of the antigen test," said Anil Kumar, Commissioner BBMP.

According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 51,422 COVID-19 cases in the state.