by admin | May 25, 2021 | Entrepreneurship, News, Politics, Success Stories, Women Entrepreneur
By Bhavana Akella,
Bengaluru : Anupama Shenoy, a former woman police officer in Karnataka, has entered politics to become a lawmaker and police politicians who make promises but don’t fulfil them.
“I have entered politics, floated a party to contest in the May 12 state assembly elections and become a lawmaker to police politicians so that they fulfil their promises and fear any wrongdoing,” Shenoy told IANS in an interview here.
Shenoy, 37, a 2010 batch officer of the Karnataka State Police Cadre, resigned as Kudligi Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) in Ballari district in June 2016 after a spat with a state cabinet minister and a local liquor baron.
As Shenoy could not get justice within the administrative system or serve the people to her satisfaction, she decided to empower herself by plunging into politics.
Though Shenoy floated the Bharatiya Janashakti Congress (BJC) on November 1, 2017, she registered it on February 18 with the Election Commission (EC), which allotted it the “lady’s finger” (bhindi) symbol on March 15 to contest in the assembly polls and the Lok Sabha elections in 2019.
“I am in politics to create a new leadership in the state, as the youth in the three main parties have no space to become leaders unless they are wealthy to contest elections,” asserted Shenoy. The ruling Congress in the state is being challeneged by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S).
As a greenhorn in politics, Shenoy knows she cannot come to power, but wants to get into the political system anyway so as to ensure better governance, clean administration and efficient delivery of services to the people across the state.
“Our party will contest in about 30 constituencies, with seven-eight in Bengaluru, three in Vijayapura, two each in Bagalkot, Kalaburgi, Mysuru and Udupi, and the remaining in other districts of the state. I plan to contest from Kaup segment in the coastal Udupi district,” said an upbeat Shenoy.
For the 225-member assembly, including one nominated, a single-phase polling will be held in 224 constituencies on May 12, with the counting on May 15.
“I want to make my party a platform for the youth and anyone committed to changing the political system and serving the people better. Their economic and social backgrounds do not matter,” she affirmed.
Candidates contesting on the BJC ticket, however, should have no criminal background or police cases against them and should know to read and write Kannada, the state’s native language.
“As I was in the police department for four years after joining government service in 2012, I am teaching my party members how to police politicians for the good of the people and the state,” Shenoy averred.
For Shenoy, winning in the assembly elections is not as much a priority as establishing her party through the democratic process. She noted that even the BJP had won only two seats when it was formed in 1980 and the grand old Congress took decades to come to power in the past.
“We have not formed the party only to contest in the assembly elections, but to sow the seeds for its growth in the years to come. We will support any party that secures majority to form the next government in the state,” hinted Shenoy.
As parties are permitted to spend Rs 28 lakh for campaign in each assembly segment, BJC will raise funds from trusts which support new parties financially.
“In the long run, we want to support candidates who are poor by sponsoring their election expense. We are managing so far with whatever money we have from our sources,” said Shenoy.
Claiming that BJC was against corruption, Shenoy said her party would be transparent, pro-women and pro-environment with sustainable policies.
“We also want to check the rampant commercialisation of the education and health sectors in the country so that better facilities can be provided to the needy. As people are our kingmakers, we have to protect them at any cost,” she said.
Shenoy left a promising career in protest against harassment by her seniors who transferred her for taking on a liquor baron in the northwest district.
“People around me think I should have continued in the high-profile job. But I had to quit as there was no other means to ventilate against my seniors,” she recalled.
Singling out former state labour minister P.T. Parameshwar Naik, who was Ballari district’s in-charge, for meddling in her work, Shenoy said she had opposed her transfer from Kudligi as the model code of conduct was in force for the local body elections by the state election commission, which supported the state government and left her in distress for 10 days.
“I have also complained to the Chief Electoral Office not to depute two IPS officers, S. Murugan and R. Chetan, on election duty as they were my seniors and harassed me on the transfer, which was not binding due to the poll code,” she reiterated.
Observing that it was very hard to be a public servant as politicians force officers to secure money through any means, Shenoy said a bad politician and a bad public servant “rot” the system when they were hand-in-glove.
For Shenoy, the ruling Congress and the opposition BJP and JD-S in the state are alike when it comes to the three Cs — corruption, communalism and casteism.
“I think corruption was high during the BJP rule (2008-2013), under the leadership of its chief minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, when his government looted the rich mining district (Ballari) with mining baron G. Janardhan Reddy as a cabinet minister. He made politicians believe they will not be questioned,” lamented Shenoy.
Blaming the Congress government for curbing the state ombudsman’s powers to investigate graft cases by setting up an Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah as its head, Shenoy said the executive wing of the Constitution become a mere political tool in the state.
“The state government uses ACB to threaten opposition leaders, while the central government uses the CBI and ED against the state government,” she added.
(Bhavana Akella can be contacted at bhavana.a@ians.in)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Bengaluru : The ruling Congress on Friday won three seats and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) one in the Rajya Sabha biennial election for four seats in Karnataka, said an election official.
“All three Congress candidates and one from the BJP won the contest while the Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S) candidate lost,” an Election Commission official told reporters here after counting of votes.
L. Hanumanthaiah, Syed Naseer Hussain and G.C. Chandrasekhar of the Congress and Rajeev Chandrashekar of the BJP were declared elected by the Returning Officer.
B.M. Farooq of the JD-S lost to G.C. Chandrasekhar of the Congress in the contest for the fourth seat, as his party (JD-S) boycotted the bypolls after two of its members cast their votes earlier in the day.
Of the three Congress winners, Chandrasekhar secured 46 votes as against two by Farooq, L. Hanumanthaiah got 44 and Hussain 42, while BJP’s Rajeev Chandrashekar bagged 50, the highest among the four contestants.
“Of the 188 votes polled, 184 were valid and four were declared invalid,” Joint Electoral Officer K.N. Ramesh told IANS.
For BJP’s Chandrashekar, the win takes him to the upper House of Parliament for the third consecutive term after completing two terms as an Independent from the southern state.
Farooq, richest among all the five candidates, lost for the second consecutive time after he suffered a defeat in the 2016 biennial election from a Congress candidate (K.C. Ramamurthy).
Farooq, 51, declared an income of Rs 770 crore in his affidavit filed with the Election Commission on March 9.
In the 225-member state legislative assembly, including one nominated, the Congress has 122 legislators, BJP 48, JD-S 40 and seven are vacant.
Of the 40 JD-S members, seven rebel legislators voted for the Congress, making its third candidate (Chandrasekhar) get 46 votes.
Crying foul play in the election process, the JD-S boycotted the polling when its members found two Congress legislators voting a second time after initially cross-voting.
The two Congress members were Revenue Minister Kagodu Thimmappa and Baburao Chinchansur.
“Election officers are working like the ruling party’s agents. Two senior Congress MLAs, who cross-voted, were given ballots again by the Returning Officer to cast their votes for their nominated candidates,” JD-S state president H.D. Kumaraswamy told the media.
The by-election was held to fill the vacancies arising out of the retirement of incumbent members Basawaraj Patil, Rahman Khan and R. Ramakrishna of the Congress and Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate finance, Corporate Governance, Economy, Finance, News, Politics
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah arrives at Vidhana Soudha to present the state budget in Bengaluru on Friday. (PTI)
Bengaluru : With an eye on Assembly election, due in late April or early May, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday presented a popular state budget for fiscal 2018-19 to please all sections of society.
Barring 8 per cent increase in additional excise duty on Indian-made liquor, the budget spared the people from fresh taxes despite Rs 151.30 crore deficit on capital account (revised estimates) on steep hike in borrowings.
Delivering his 13th budget, sixth in a row as Chief Minister, by virtue of holding the finance portfolio, 70-year-old Siddaramaiah told the lawmakers in the Assembly that his government posted Rs 383.84 revenue surplus (revised estimates) as against Rs 136.54 crore budget estimates for fiscal 2017-18.
“For new fiscal (2018-19), revenue surplus is estimated to be Rs127.28 crore, while deficit on capital account is expected to be Rs 383.25 crore due to higher institutional borrowings and repayment of loans,” he pointed out.
Projecting Rs 1,03,444 crore tax revenue, including GST (Goods and Services Tax) compensation from the Central government for FY 2019, an increase of 12.78 per cent over the revised estimates of FY 2018, the Chief Minister said the non-tax revenue would be Rs 8,163 crore.
“We expect to receive Rs 36,215 crore from central taxes and Rs 14,942 crore as central grants. The revenue receipts will be supplemented by Rs 39,3128 crore as borrowings, Rs 75 crore non-debt capital receipts and Rs 129 crore from recovery of loans,” noted Siddaramaiah.
The budget expects state-run boards, civic corporations and local bodies to mobilise Rs 16,760 crore through internal resource generation and borrowings during the upcoming fiscal.
Among the new schemes, the budget has envisaged to strengthen the software of the IT network to make the police system citizen friendly across the state.
“The number of women in the state police department will be enhanced 25 per cent over the next years and all the women police stations in the district will be upgraded as one-stop service centres,” added the Chief Minister.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News, Politics
Manohar Parrikar
Panaji : The Goa government has withdrawn the contempt petition filed before the Mhadei River Water Disputes Tribunal, following an assurance by Karnataka government, that it would not carry out any construction work to divert water till the dispute is resolved, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said on Tuesday.
“Based on the assurance, our lawyer informed the Tribunal, that we would not like to press the contempt petition,” he said.
Goa, Karnataka and Maharashtra are currently involved in a dispute in the tribunal over controversial Kalsa-Bhandura dam project across Mhadei river, through which Karnataka aims to divert water from the Mhadeibasin to nearby basin on the Malaprabha river.
Mhadei, also known as the Mandovi river, is considered as a lifeline in the northern parts of the coastal state. It originates in Karnataka and meets the Arabian Sea in Panaji, while briefly flowing through Maharashtra.
The river course is 28.8 km in Karnataka, and over 50 km in Goa.
Last month, Goa government had filed a contempt petition against Karnataka, after the latter latter allegedly carried out construction work to divert water from the Mhadei basin.
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Business, Corporate, Corporate Governance, Economy, Large Enterprise, Markets, News
Bengaluru : Karnataka will purchase 640 electric vehicles under the Central government’s Fame India subsidised scheme, an official said on Monday.
“We have received approval from the Department of Heavy Industries to purchase the electric vehicles under the National Electricity Mobility Mission of the Central government’s Fame India scheme,” the statement said here.
Of the electric vehicles, 40 will be buses, 100 cars and 500 three-wheelers.
“The Department is giving subsidy up to 60 per cent under the scheme with funds to set up infrastructure to charge the vehicles across Bengaluru,” noted the statement.
The state-run transport corporation will operate the eco-friendly vehicles for the commuting public and protect the city’s environment and save fossil fuel.
The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles (FAME) was launched in 2015 to promote eco-friendly vehicles across the country by providing fiscal and monetary incentives for adoption and market creation of both hybrid and electric technologies vehicles.
The scheme incentivises all vehicle segments, including two-wheeler, three- wheeler auto, four-wheeler vehicles, light commercial vehicles and buses.
The scheme also covers hybrid and electric technologies like a strong hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles.
Its mandate is to support hybrid or electric vehicles market development and its manufacturing eco-system to achieve self-sustenance in a specified period.
—IANS
