Here are key takeaways from Karnataka Budget 2024

News Network
February 16, 2024

budget.jpg

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented his record 15th Budget as Finance Minister, and the second under the present Congress regime. In his address to the Karnataka Assembly, he emphasised that his government was striving to establish a new standard of development, known as the 'Karnataka Model of Development,' based on the principles of justice, equality, and fraternity enshrined in the Constitution.

Agriculture:

1) Siddaramaiah announced the implementation of ‘Karnataka Raitha Samruddhi Yojane’ to encourage integrated farming by consolidating various pro-farmer schemes.

2) He also announced the formation of Agriculture Development Authority to facilitate effective implementation of policies related to agriculture and allied activities coming under various departments.

3) Establishment of food parks at airports in Sogane of Shivamogga, Ittangihala of Vijayapura and Pujenahalli of Bengaluru Rural district.

Horticulture:

1) Setting up of Kissan Malls in select districts to provide farmers with horticulture-related technical guidance, market connectivity, farming implements and agro-products under one roof.

2) State-of-the-art international floriculture market to be established in Bengaluru city under Public-Private Partnership.

Animal Husbandry:

1) Construction of new building to 200 veterinary institutions which are in dilapidated condition at a cost of Rs 100 crore.

Fisheries:

1) Rs 7 crore for purchase of sea ambulance for protection of fishermen.
2) Financial assistance to 10,000 houseless fishermen for construction of houses under various housing schemes.

Co-operation:

1) Target of providing record crop loan of Rs 27,000 crore to more than 36 lakh famers in the state.

2) The Karnataka government will also urge the Centre to announce MSP for important crops such as arecanut, onion, grapes, mango, banana and other horticultural crops and to fix MSP based on the formula of cost of cultivation plus 50 per cent profit as per the report by Swaminathan panel.

Water resource:

1) Rs 365 crore project of flowing water from Bhima and Kagina Rivers to Bennetora reservoir to provide drinking water to Kalaburagi city.

School Education and Literacy:

1) 2000 Government Primary Schools to be converted as bi-lingual medium schools to enhance quality of education.

2) NEET/ JEE/ CET coaching to be imparted to 20,000 science students of Government PU Colleges.

Higher Education Department:

1) Rs 100 crore to develop University Visveswaraya College of Engineering on the lines of IIT.

2) Rs 30 crore to upgrade 30 women’s colleges and government women’s polytechnics.

Health:

1) Rs 187 crore to construct critical care block buildings in seven districts.

2) 50 new blood storage units to be established in North Karnataka in next two years.

Medical Education:

1) Rs 20 crore for robotic surgery facility in Institute of Nephro-Urology in Bengaluru.

2) Health repository to be created under Digital Health Society to make treatment details available from single source.

Woman and Child Development:

1) Rs 28,608 crore allocated for Gruhalakshmi gurarantee scheme.

2) Rs 90 crore to be spent on providing 75,938 smartphones to Anganwadi workers and supervisors.

3) Rs 200 crore to construct 1,000 Anganwadis.

4) Enhancement of Pension under Maithri scheme to the linguistic minorities from Rs 800 to Rs 1,200.

Social Welfare:

1) Monthly food allowance to be enhanced by Rs 100 per student for students studying in residential schools and hostels under the social welfare, tribal welfare, backward classes and minority welfare departments.

2) A corpus fund of Rs 35 crore to be set up to bear the cost for treatment of rare diseases and expensive treatments for SC and ST communities.

Scheduled Tribe Welfare:

1) The Ashram schools working under Scheduled Tribe Welfare Department to be re-named as Maharshi Valmiki Adivasi Budakattu Vasathi Shale, and Class 6 & 8 will be started in schools with Class 5 and 7 respectively. The student strength to be enhanced from 25 to 40 in each class.

2) Rs 15,000 stipend to be paid to 200 engineering graduates who got admission in IISc, IIT and NIT for short term professional training courses.

Minorities Welfare:

1) Rs 50 crore for Jain pilgrimage centres and Rs 200 crore for the development of Christian community.

2) Rs 2 crore for the welfare of Sikligar Sikh community, Rs 1 crore to gurudwara in Bidar.

3) Rs 10 crore to encourage minority women SHGs to take up self- employment activities

Housing:

1) Target of construction of three lakh houses this year.

Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs:

1) Rs 4,595 transferred to 4.02 crore beneficiaries under Annabhagya till January, 2024.

2) Anna-Suvidha programme to be launched to facilitate senior citizens above the age of 80 by door delivery of food grains.

Skill Development:

1) Café Sanjeevini, rural canteens and 2,500 coffee kiosks to be established for women.

2) 50,000 Women SHG owned micro-enterprises to be developed in next two years.

Rural Development and Panchayath Raj:

1) Solar street lights to be installed in 50 panchayaths and systematic metering to be done in 200 panchayaths to reduce electricity charges.

2) Circular economy to be encouraged for sustainable solid waste management in rural areas.

3) The monthly incentive to freed persons from bonded labour system to be increased to Rs 2,000.

Urban Development:

1) Brand Bengaluru launched to develop Bengaluru as a world class city.

2) Efforts to ease traffic congestion will be made by completing white topping works, tunnel to be constructed in Hebbal Junction on pilot basis and installing Area Traffic Signal Control System in 28 importance junctions of the city.

3) Peripheral ring road to be developed under new concept as Bengaluru Business Corridor.

4) 250 meter tall sky-deck to be built in Bengaluru city.

5) 44-km length to be added for the Bengaluru Metro Rail network by March 2025.

6) Feasibility report to extend Metro to Tumkur from BIEC and to Devanahalli from KIAL.

7) 1,334 new electric buses and 820 BS VI diesel buses to be added to the fleet of buses in BMTC.

8) The Cauvery Stage 5 project at a cost of Rs 5,550 crore providing drinking water to 12 lakh people will be commissioned by May 2024.

9) The curbs on businesses during night time to be extended till 1 am in Bengaluru and 10 city corporations in the state.

10) The towns on the outskirts of Bengaluru such as Devanahalli, Nelamangala, Hosakote, Doddaballapura, Magadi and Bidadi will be developed as satellite towns with road and train connectivity.

Energy:

1) 1.65 crore consumers registered under Gruha Jyoti Scheme.

2) Under Phase II of solarisation of IP set feeder, 4.30 lakh IP sets to be solarised by implementing solar projects of 1,192 MW.

PWD:

1) 875-km state highway development at a cost of Rs 5,736 crore with the assistance of external financial institutes under KSHIP-4 in the current year.

2) Construction of six railway overbridges at a cost of Rs 350 crore.

3) Action to construct dedicated economic corridors from Mangaluru port to Bengaluru and Bidar to Bengaluru.

Commerce and Industries:

1) A grant of Rs 50 crore for supplemental infrastructure to the mega textile park project establishing in Kalburgi district in collaboration with state and central government.

Kannada and Culture:

1) A grant of Rs one crore to undertake literature survey, collection, publication and propagation programmes including Tatvapada, Keerthana Sahitya and Bhakti movement through Saintpoet Kanakadasa Study Centre.

2) Steps will be taken to ensure that 60 per cent of signage is in Kannada in the nameplates of all offices, shops and various commercial enterprises under Kannada Language Comprehensive Development Act.

Forest, Ecology and Environment:

1) To address man-animal conflict, measures to form one new task force in Bandipur this year. Allocation of Rs 10 crore to strengthen these task forces.

Excise:

1) IML and beer slab to be revised by rationalising the declared slabs of liquor.
 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 15,2024

Udupi: The Tourism Department is planning a major eco-friendly development initiative for Kamini Island, located near the Blue Flag-certified Padubidri End Point beach, aiming to attract more visitors while maintaining environmental sustainability.

Assistant Director Kumar CU emphasized that, given the island’s proximity to the Blue Flag beach, all development efforts will center around eco-friendly practices. “We are looking to enhance the Kamini River and the island’s surroundings by adding a hanging bridge, nature trails, and eco-friendly food courts offering traditional cuisine. Visitors will also be able to reach the island by pedal boats or kayaking,” he said.

The development project is estimated to cost between Rs 3 crore and Rs 4 crore. Meanwhile, the Blue Flag beach, Padubidri, continues to see a steady flow of visitors. Vijay Shetty, manager of the beach, shared that tenders for food courts and water sports have been awarded to private parties. Recently, three new coracles have been introduced, which are proving to be a hit with visitors. Additionally, three more shelters are expected to be ready by November 20.

Shetty mentioned that the beach can now accommodate between 2,500 and 3,000 visitors daily, although footfall remains lower than other district beaches due to user fees and activity restrictions. “Initially, most visitors were from Mangaluru, but now nearly 40% come from other districts, showing a shift in the visitor demographics,” Shetty noted.

To further boost tourism and promote a healthy lifestyle, a Beach Carnival is set to take place on November 23-24, featuring the National Sea Swimming Championship and a sea marathon in collaboration with the Padubidri JCI, which is celebrating its golden jubilee. Cultural events will be held at the main beach, with some sports events taking place at the Blue Flag beach. Emphasis will be placed on making all activities environmentally friendly.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 13,2024

voting.jpg

Bengaluru: An estimated overall 10.14 per cent voter turnout was recorded during the first two hours, since the voting began for bypolls to three Assembly segments in Karnataka on Wednesday, election officials said.

The voting began at 7 am and will go on till 6 pm.

More than seven lakh voters are eligible to cast their votes in about 770 polling stations in Shiggaon, Sandur and Channapatna, where a total of 45 candidates are in the fray.

While Channapatna recorded 10.34 per cent voter turnout till 9 am, it was 10.08 per cent in Shiggaon, and 9.99 per cent in Sandur, election officials said.

Voters, including women and elderly were seen queuing up in front of polling booths in these segments.

By-polls for Sandur, Shiggaon, and Channapatna are necessitated, as the seats fell vacant following the election of their respective representatives -- E Tukaram of Congress, former CM Basavaraj Bommai of BJP, and Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy of JD(S) -- to Lok Sabha in May elections.

As many as 31 candidates are in the fray from Channapatna, while Sandur and Shiggaon have six and eight contenders, respectively.

Elaborate security arrangements have been made in the three segments for the smooth conduct of the polls.

The by-polls will witness a straight fight between the ruling Congress and BJP in Sandur and Shiggaon segments, while in Channapatna, JD(S) which is part of the NDA alliance is in contest against the grand old party.

Among the three segments, Channapatna is considered to be a "high profile", where the contest is between C P Yogeeshwara, a five time MLA from the segment and former Minister, who joined the Congress quitting BJP ahead of nomination, and actor-turned -politician Nikhil Kumaraswamy, who is Kumaraswamy’s son and former PM H D Deve Gowda's grandson.

BJP's Bharath Bommai, son of Basavaraj Bommai, is fighting Congress Yasir Ahmed Khan Pathan, who had faced defeat against the former Chief Minister in the 2023 Assembly polls, in Shiggaon.

Bharath Bommai and his father cast their vote at a polling booth in Shiggaon segment.

In Sandur, Bellary MP Tukaram's wife E Annapurna of Congress is contesting from the seat vacated by her husband, against, BJP ST Morcha president Bangaru Hanumanthu, who is considered close to party leader and former mining barron G Janardhan Reddy.

Annapurna, Tukaram and other family members cast their votes at a booth in the segment.

With Nikhil Kumaraswamy and Bharath Bommai contesting, the third generation of Gowda and Bommai families are in the fray in this by-poll. Both their fathers and grandfathers have served as Karnataka's Chief Ministers in the past.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
News Network
November 19,2024

mobile.jpg

Gone are the days of chaotic group chats and endless back-and-forth messaging. Say hello to seamless event planning with WhatsApp's new event feature—your ultimate tool for stress-free gatherings!

Why You’ll Love It:

No More Confusion: Create, organize, and share event details in a snap.
Streamlined Coordination: All your event logistics, neatly in one place.
Stay on Track: Friendly reminders for everyone—no excuses for missing out!

Here’s How It Works

Create an Event
Open your group chat, tap the + button, and select Event from the menu.

Add Event Details
Name your event, set the date and time, pin a location, and include a description for extra details.

Send Invites
Tap Send to instantly share the event with your group.

What Happens Next?

Effortless RSVP:
Your friends and family can respond with a single tap:

  • Going
  • Maybe
  • Can’t Go

All-in-One View:
From the date and time to the location and special instructions, every detail is beautifully organized and accessible in one spot.

Gentle Reminders:
WhatsApp sends timely nudges to keep everyone in the loop.

Make Every Occasion Special

Whether it’s a birthday bash, a weekend adventure, a family reunion, or a casual hangout, WhatsApp’s event feature ensures smooth planning and execution.

Pro Tip: Use this tool to turn chaotic planning into pure convenience.

So, what are you waiting for? Open WhatsApp, give it a try, and watch your gatherings transform from stressful to simple! 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.