Kumaraswamy says his govt will complete full term

Agencies
August 30, 2018

Bengaluru, Aug 30: The JD(S)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka has "taken off" smoothly and will complete the full term without hiccups, Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said here today on completion of 100 days in office.

The coalition government is "secure" and there are no differences between the ruling allies, he asserted, and strongly criticised the BJP for "creating confusion" among people by constantly questioning the stability of his government.

"How can anyone say the government has not taken off when the Centre has appreciated the state for its relief work in flood-hit Kodagu. Even the President of India has praised the state for taking active steps to provide the relief," Kumaraswamy said at a press conference here.

"Only an active government can think of announcing Rs 4,500 crore farm loan waiver and relief from indebtedness to small farmers, landless agricultural labourers and those from the economically weaker section," he said.

Kumaraswamy hit out at the BJP, saying the opposition party was living in an imaginative world.

"Since land denotification and crimes are not happening, Yeddyurappa feels that our government has not taken off. But for this, what else the BJP leaders can talk about. BJP leaders are living in an imaginative world," he said replying to a query on BJP state president B S Yeddyurappa' remark that the coalition government has not yet taken off fully.

Asked if political rumblings and differences have been sorted out with the ruling partner, Kumaraswamy said, "We can resolve only if there are fights. There are no fights."

He said that the coalition government is "secure" and will complete the term without hiccups.

On senior Congress leader and former chief minister Siddaramaiah's comments about becoming chief minister again, fuelling speculation that all is not well within the coalition government, Kumaraswamy said: "Everyone should have the aspiration to become a chief minister. Anybody can become a chief minister. Yeddyurappa can also. You cannot grow in politics if you don't have aspiration."

Congress leader and Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara, who was present at the press conference, also ruled out any serious differences between the coalition partners.

"All decisions are being taken with proper consultation. Even farm loan waiver was announced after a discussion between the coalition parties," he said.

Senior Congress leader and Revenue Minister R V Deshpande said that a common minimum programme has been chalked out and decisions are taken accordingly. "There are no internal differences nor any fights."

Earlier during the day, Kumaraswamy called on Congress president Rahul Gandhi and expressed gratitude for the party's support on completion of 100 days of the coalition government in Karnataka.

In a brief meeting, he also urged the Congress chief to help speed up the process of expansion of the cabinet and appointment of chairman for corporation boards in the state.

The state chief minister also met Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and submitted an interim memorandum seeking release of Rs 1,118.40 crore relief funds for flood-hit eight districts including Kodagu in the state.

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Agencies
June 10,2020

US dictionary Merriam-Webster will update the meaning of the word "racism" after being contacted by a Missouri black woman, who claimed the current definition fell short of including the systematic oppression of people of colour, according to media reports.

"A revision to the entry for racism is now being drafted to be added to the dictionary soon, and we are also planning to revise the entries of other words that are related to racism or have racial connotations," according to a statement of the 189-year-old dictionary shared by Kennedy Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, on her Facebook.

Mitchum, 22, emailed the dictionary last month, following the death of African American George Floyd in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I kept having to tell them that definition is not representative of what is actually happening in the world," Mitchum told CNN. "The way that racism occurs in real life is not just prejudice, it's the systemic racism that is happening for a lot of black Americans."

Merriam-Webster's first definition of racism is "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."

"It's not just disliking someone because of their race," Mitchum wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. "This current fight we are in is evidence of that, lives are at stake because of the systems of oppression that go hand-in-hand with racism."

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Agencies
March 18,2020

Thiruvananthapuram, Mar 18: To raise awareness about protective measures against coronavirus, Kerala Police released a dance video on the State Police Media Centre's Facebook page promoting the washing of hands, here on Tuesday.

In the video, the police officers were seen dancing to the tunes of Kalakkatha from the Malayalam action-drama thriller Ayyappanum Koshiyum while demonstrating the right technique for washing hands.

The video gained over 27,000 likes and over 2,400 comments and more than 33,000 netizens shared the video.

The video has received a positive response with users congratulating Kerala Police for the initiative.

"Congrats Kerala police media for this kind of initiative," one user commented on Facebook. Another user thanked the police in the comments section saying, "Super super thanks to KL (Kerala) police."

The number of people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Kerala is 25.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in India has reached 147, including 122 Indians and 25 foreign nationals, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare earlier today.

Globally, the virus has infected more than 184,000 people and killed more than 7500, as per the data available on the World Health Organisation website.

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Agencies
May 30,2020

The GST Council is unlikely to make major changes in the indirect tax structure at its next meeting slated mid June.

A top government source said that the Centre is not in favour of increasing tax rates on any goods or service as it could further impact consumption and demand that is already suppressed due the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown.

It was widely expected that the GST Council could consider raising tax rates and cess on certain non-essential items to boost revenue for states and the Centre. Several states have reportedly taken an over 80-90 per cent hit in GST collections in April, the official data for which has not yet been released by the Centre.

"The need of the hour is to boost consumption and improve demand. By categorising items into essential and non-essential and then raising taxes on non-essential is not what Centre favours. But, the issue on rates and relief will be decided by the GST Council that is meeting next month," the finance ministry official source quoted above said.

The GST Council is chaired by the Union finance minister and thus the views of the Centre play out strongly in the council meetings.

However, the Council will also have to balance the expectations of the states whose revenues have nosedived after the coronavirus outbreak and wide scale disruption to businesses while they have still not been paid GST compensation since the December-January period.

To the question of wider scale job losses in the period of lockdown as businesses get widely impacted, the official said that the Finance Ministry has asked the labour ministry to collect data on job losses during Covid-19 and is constantly engaging with the ministry to oversee job losses and salary cuts.

On restrictions put on Chinese investment in India, the official clarified that no decision had yet been taken to restrict China through the Foreign Portfolio Investment (FPI) route.

Asked about monetising government debt, the official said that the issue would be looked at when we reach a stage. It has not come to that stage yet.

In the government's over Rs 20 lakh crore economic package, the official defended its structure while suggesting that comparisons with the economic packages of other countries should not be drawn as India's needs were different from others.

"We have gone in more reforms that is needed to give strength to the economy. This is required more in our country," the official source said.

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