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Friday, February 1, 2019
Thursday, January 31, 2019
What Karnataka govt, startups, farmer leaders and others expect from Union Budget 2019
TNM spoke to various stakeholders in Karnataka about their expectations ahead of Budget day.
Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal, who was handed the additional portfolio of Finance recently owing to Arun Jaitely’s ill health, will present the interim budget on Friday. There is speculation that the BJP-led Union government will go on a populist drive and present a full-fledged budget instead of a ‘vote-on-account’. A day ahead of the last Union budget of the Narendra Modi government, TNM spoke to various stakeholders in Karnataka about their expectations. State government Karnataka’s Rural Development Minister Krishna Byre Gowda who continues to represent the state in the GST council, told TNM, “I do not have any additional expectations. I will be overjoyed if the current Central government delivers on its minimum obligations.” “To illustrate, mandatory payments of MGNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) workers to the tune of Rs 1800 crore is pending in Karnataka. It is a violation of law and it is a burden that most vulnerable people cannot bear. Karnataka has been allocated about Rs 949 crore for drought relief compared to Rs 4700 crore for Maharashtra. Central funds for drinking water have been drastically cut from 75% to 12-13% in reality. So, if the Central government keeps up to its basic obligations, I will be a relieved man. I am in no delusion to expect achhe din or any bonanza from the current dispensation,” he added. Startups Mayank Bidawataka, co-founder of Vokal and RedBus among others, said, “Startups are looking forward to the so called ‘angel tax’ to be abolished forever. It’s been a problem for both investors and startups. I am both a startup founder as well as an investor in startups. For most angels, investing is a way of paying it forward. However, you don’t want the hassle of going through some scrutiny just for investing a small amount in a startup.” He added, “Startups are employment generators. Startup investments need to be incentivized. There should be no ambiguity / subjectivity when looking at funds raised by startups. The onus is on the government to find ways to separate the few questionable transactions from the thousands of genuine startups.” Industry Given Bengaluru is the epicenter of Indian startup culture, Chairman of Aarin Capital and the ex-Chief Financial Officer of Infosys, TVS Mohandas Pai, also opined that the angel tax is the biggest issue in Karnataka. Speaking to TNM, he said, “Please remember this is an interim budget so expectations are very low.” He suggested that the government promise a minimum guaranteed income for farmers, increasing the tax slab and investment in infrastructure in smaller towns and cities. “We need a national level income support plan for farmers so that it can counter the constant farmer distress we hear about,” he said. “The government should also think of increasing the tax slab to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 2.5 lakh as middle class has not got much from the last four years despite what the Finance Minister says. We need in a big way is infrastructural spend on India’s small towns. There are around 5,000 small towns, the money has to go there,” he added. He explained, “If there is better infrastructure in these small towns, then labour-intensive industries can go there instead of coming into big cities. We (the government) have not looked into this aspect instead have gone for the Smart City project which will take a lot of time to build capacities.” Public Transport Vinay Kooragayala Sreenivasa, a lawyer and rights activist, said, “One common but neglected need of urban residents across India is accessible and affordable public transport. While governments are spending thousands of crores on metros, public bus utilities which carry many more people and are used by the poorest of the poor remain neglected. For instance in Bengaluru the bus service clocks 51 lakh trips whereas the metro clocks under 5 lakh trips. Even then the bus utility barely gets any funding.” He added, “Increasing the fleet of buses and reducing the fares will ensure that the most utilised of public commons, the streets will be under lesser pressure and can be cleaner greener and healthier. Additionally, environmentally destructive projects like road-widening and flyovers can be avoided, tree-felling for the same can be avoided.” Unorganised job sector Vinay also pointed out that big policy decisions like demonetisation and the GST rollout made the lives of those in the unorganized sector even more precarious. “We expect that the budget will be honest and upfront about the impact on the economy, especially in the unorganized sector due to demonetization and GST. There has been a complete neglect of the workers in these sectors. A change in the prioritisation of public investment is required to secure the lives and livelihoods of the workers. We need to for instance spend money on rehabilitation of workers included in manual scavenging and less on publicity of Swacch Bharath, he said. He added, “The GST rollout further impacted artisans and rural economy. The budget should announce a complete loan waiver for these artisans and also provide subsidised inputs to these workers.” Education Dr Pramod Nittur, leader of All India Democratic Students Organisation, said, “We demand that the government spends at least 10% of the budget on education. At a time when big corporates are getting loan write offs and bail outs, fellowships for researchers should be hiked.” He added, “Government should open more institutions instead of encouraging private businesses entering the education sector. Teaching staff is very less across India and this is the basic duty of any democratically elected government to invest in education.” Agriculture Kurubara Shantakumara, farmer leader and former president of Rajya Raitha Sangha in Mysuru insisted that farmers should get their due in this budget. “We want a thorough implementation of the Swaminathan Commission report for pricing of crops, complete farm loan waiver and the crop insurance scheme by the government.”
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Infosys Foundation to revive age-old Panchakalyani lake in Karnataka
Panchakalyani, about 140 km from Bengaluru, is said to be one of the largest ancient lakes of Melukote town.
Global software major Infosys' philanthropic arm on Thursday said that it will restore the age-old Panchakalyani lake in Karnataka's Mandya district. "The Foundation will restore the lake by cleaning the tank, removing silt and waste deposit, ensuring structural and chemical conservation of Panchakalyani and a nearby tank called Ganeshan Honda, reconnecting the existing canals and building a compound wall," the city-based Infosys Foundation said in a statement. Panchakalyani, about 140 km from Bengaluru, is said to be one of the largest ancient lakes of Melukote town, which has several water bodies situated on a hilltop through which rainwater has been harvested for consumption and irrigation for decades. "The restoration project is important to improve the water quality of the lake and bring back the balance in the natural ecosystem of Melukote," Foundation Chairperson Sudha Murty said in a statement. By preserving the lakes of Melukote, a town patronised by the empires of Hoysala, Vijayanagara and the Wodeyars of erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore, the heritage structures and legacy are also protected, Murty said. This announcement from the Infosys Foundation comes days after Karnataka Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy had asked top officials of the Karnataka Lake Development Authority to take up restoration of lakes in public-private partnership mode under corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. The CM was speaking at meeting between the lake body and office bearers of Karnataka Chamber of Commerce and Industry at his official residence. He had directed the officers to prepare a DPR (detailed project report) after studying the ground realities and to take up these projects phase by phase in a time-bound manner under the corporate sector’s CSR initiatives. This comes at a time when the Karnataka government is waging a fight against the steep fine imposed by the National Green Tribunal (NGT), for not following procedures by a court-appointed panel in restoring the Bellandur and Varthur lakes. The state government also wants the buffer zones for lakes and storm water drains set by the NGT in its 2015 order, to be relaxed. With IANS inputs
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Did police brutality result in the death of an undertrial prisoner in Bengaluru?
The prison officials have denied the charge – and claim he could have died from injuries he allegedly sustained when he was arrested, one year ago.
On January 24, a 21-year-old undertrial prisoner, who was lodged at the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison in Bengaluru, died in Victoria Hospital. His death has brought forth several daunting questions. Most importantly – did he die due to custodial torture? Fairoz was arrested by the DJ Halli Police in January 2018 after they found 300 gm of marijuana in his possession, and was remanded to judicial custody. His parents are no more and with no other family members around to pay for his bail surety, Fairoz was awaiting trial at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison. On January 19 this year, he was rushed to the prison hospital after his right leg was bruised and swollen. According to Dr Pramila at the prison hospital's OPD, who treated Fairoz, he had "greenish bruises on his right leg". "When we told him to obtain proper treatment, he refused. So we prescribed some medicines,” Dr Pramila told TNM. On January 21, Fairoz's condition became critical and he was rushed to Victoria Hospital in Bengaluru's Kalasipalya area. "His blood pressure was dropping quickly and he had to be shifted out," Dr Pramila added. According to doctors at Victoria Hospital, Fairoz was being treated in the jail ward of the hospital and his condition was stable. "When he was brought in to Victoria, we had to get in touch with someone. We found that his parents were dead. So the DJ Halli Police, who had arrested him, tracked down an uncle named Muzamil," a doctor at Victoria told TNM. Fairoz's uncle was informed that his condition was stable and that there was no threat to his life on the night of January 23. However, on January 24 morning, Fairoz died. An autopsy was performed, which concluded the cause of death as assault. Fairoz allegedly told his uncle Muzamil and the doctors at Victoria that the police at Parappana Agrahara Central Prison had beaten him mercilessly, according to hospital sources. "Fairoz had bruises all over his right leg. There were also blisters on his upper thigh and the skin on the side of his upper thigh had been scraped off. He also had an injury on his left temple. It was caused by a blunt object," an official with the forensic department at Victoria Hospital said. However, prison officials have denied that Fairoz's injuries occurred inside the jail – and instead claim that he might have been assaulted at the time of his arrest – one year ago. "When we had brought him inside the prison, he already had bruises on his legs. The police who arrested him had beaten him up before producing him in court,” a prison official claimed. When questioned about the probability of their claim – that injuries sustained a year ago killed him now, the official rattled of a list of ‘other probable reasons.’ “This injury likely did not happen here (in the prison). Even if it did, it could have been when there was a prison fight. When this happens, police resort to lathicharge. These things are common. Or he could have got into a fight with an inmate," the prison official said. Doctors at Victoria hospital say that Fairoz's injuries were not more than 10 days old when he was brought in for treatment. DJ Halli Police denied assaulting Fairoz and alleged that the Parappana Agrahara Central Prison officials were trying to cover up the custodial death by blaming them. "They are trying to create medical documents which say that Fairoz had bruises when was lodged in the prison. No one assaulted him when he was arrested," a police officer at DJ Halli Police Station said. The Parappana Agrahara Police have registered an unnatural death report. When TNM contacted the Parappana Agrahara Police, they refused to divulge information about the case. However, prison officials say that an inquiry will be lodged to investigate the incident.
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IndiGo operator to build MRO facility at Bengaluru airport
"We have entered into a 20-year agreement with InterGlobe to build the MRO facility on our land by March 2020," said the airport operator BIAL.
Twitter / @IndiGo6E
Leading budget carrier IndiGo operator InterGlobe Aviation Ltd would build a Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul (MRO) facility at the Bengaluru airport on the city's northern outskirts, said the airport operator on Thursday. "We have entered into a 20-year agreement with InterGlobe to build the MRO facility on our land by March 2020," said the airport operator Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL), a private-public consortium, in a statement in Bengaluru. The MRO facility will be built over five acres of land the airport operator has sub-leased to InterGlobe in its sprawling campus at Devanahalli, about 40km northwest of the city. "The 13,000-square metre hangar will accommodate two narrow body aircraft at a time with support infrastructure, including a QEC (Quick Engine Change) facility, shop warehouse and engineering offices for repair and maintenance," said the statement. Both operators, however, did not mention the cost of setting up the MRO facility, its revenue-sharing model and if it would be dedicated to IndiGo fleet or other carriers who operate services at the country's third largest airport after New Delhi and Mumbai. "With its strategic location, the Kempegowda International Airport will play an important role going forward. Hence we decided to build a MRO hangar as the core of our maintenance centre in southern India," said IndiGo Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer in the statement. With a fleet of 200 aircraft, the Gurugaon-based low-cost airline operates 1,300 flights daily and connects 52 domestic and 16 overseas destinations the world over. The airline has 158 departures from Bengaluru airport daily, with eight on overseas routes. The operator has its first MRO facility at the Delhi international airport. "We should offer a bouquet of services to facilitate the growth of our airline partners like IndiGo, which is one of the fast-growing at our airport. Its MRO facility in Bengaluru will give it more connectivity and open up new markets," said BIAL Chief Executive Hari Marar in the statement. The over decade-old greenfield airport served around 32 million passengers in the 2018 calendar year.
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Harris dives into 'Medicare for All' minefield
While nearly every Democratic lawmaker now says they believe in the eventual goal of Medicare for All, the party is far from united on how to get there.
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from Health Care https://politi.co/2FYwJTP
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Beer Beda, Neer Beku: K’taka women marching for prohibition narrate woes of alcoholism
A group of hundreds of women marched from Chitradurga to Bengaluru, a 200 km journey, holding public meetings on the way calling for prohibition in the state.
Basavva Goodachi (50), a daily-wage labourer from Bachinagudda village in Bagalkot district, holds her hand over her head on Wednesday afternoon outside Freedom Park in Bengaluru. Even she has trouble explaining just how she marched 200 km in 12 days demanding a statewide ban on alcohol. "We have come here to close the bar in our village. We should find a way to do it somehow or someway," she says after a pause. Basavva is among a group of hundreds of women who marched from Chitradurga to Bengaluru, a 200 km journey, holding public meetings on the way calling for prohibition in the state. The journey, organised under the banner 'Beer Beda Neer Beku', was completed on Wednesday in spite of the tragic death of Renukaamma, one of the protestors, due to an accident. "We were planning to go back home after that but in spite of that, we have come here. She is dead but we decided that we had to fight and we are here to raise our voices to remove the bar in our village," says Basavva Goodachi. Basavva Goodachi (pictured left) has come to the march from her village in Bagalkot In Basavva's village, the majority of the men flock to the solitary bar positioned at the entrance to the village next to a sugarcane field. "The women are earning and the men are drinking," she says before adding, "Once they are drunk, we have to search for them near the sugarcane fields where they are invariably sleeping and bring them back home. Their presence affects everybody in the house. We do not have the peace of mind to eat our food or do anything because our husbands are drunk and whiling away their time". Several women gathered at the protest echoed Basavva's sentiments and complained that alcoholism has disrupted their livelihood and pushed them deeper into poverty. "We earn wages of around Rs 100-200 every day and if a part of this amount is spent on alcohol, there is no money to buy food or think about buying a house or sending our kids to school. We are tired of earning and seeing our money being spent on alcohol, so we have come to the government asking for a solution. We will vote for any politician who decides to take this up as an issue," Shivamma, a daily-wage labourer from Raichur says on the sidelines of the protest. Shivamma recalls that she was part of a 71-day hunger relay strike demanding prohibition in Raichur in the run-up to the State Assembly Elections last year. She says that many women who gathered have held protests over closing the bars in their villages. They have now come together to give a collective voice to their anguish and demand a statewide ban on the sale of alcohol under the banner of the Madhya Nisheda Andolana (MNA), an organisation formed in 2016 to demand prohibition. Although Karnataka's Minister for Cooperation Bandeppa Kashyampur visited the spot, the protestors refused to engage with him and demanded a meeting with Home Minister MB Patil or Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy. In a tense moment, the protestors clashed with the blockade of police personnel in an attempt to force their way to the Vidhana Soudha, however, they were quelled by around 500 police personnel, mostly women deployed to contain the protest. They chanted slogans "Beer Beda Neer Beku", (We don't want beer, we want water), "Aagale beku Aagale beku Madhya Nisheda Aagale beku" (It must happen, it must happen, alcohol prohibition, it must happen). There were also speeches by a number of activists including Mokshamma, from Raichur and prominent theatre personality and Gandhian Prasanna. Mokshamma previously led a 71-day relay hunger strike demanding prohibition in Raichur in the run-up to the State Assembly Elections last year. Prasanna, meanwhile was involved in a 250 km march last year demanding a better price for handmade goods. A nine-member delegation from the protest was detained by police for staging a protest at the Vidhana Soudha. They were later released after the news of the arrest was announced at the site of the protest. Amid the drama, the deadlock between the protestors and the government continued even at the end of the day in spite of a meeting organised with the Chief Minister at Vidhana Soudha. "We have not been given any assurances yet that this issue will be looked into. We have only been told that action will be taken on liquor shops operating without a license," Reshma, an activist at the protest told TNM.
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