The Hindu : Karnataka News : Foodgrains for poor families at lower rates

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Aug 16, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Foodgrains for poor families at lower rates

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALROE, AUG. 15. In an Independence Day gift to the poor, the State Government has announced that 75.76 lakh families living below the poverty line will get foodgrains at subsidised prices from September 1.

The Chief Minister, N. Dharam Singh, made this announcement after unfurling the National Flag at Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground.

He said the Government had distributed ration cards to 75.76 lakh families living below the poverty line and each cardholder would be provided 20 kg of rice and 5 kg of wheat at Rs. 3 a kg. A sum of Rs. 400 crores had been set aside to implement the programme this year.

Welfare programmes

In his eight-page address, the first since taking over as Chief Minister, in Kannada, Mr. Dharam Singh said the Government had been implementing several programmes to improve the quality of life of farmers and the workers in the unorganised sector.

The Government had earmarked Rs. 241 crores for crop insurance, Rs. 68 crores for farm seeds, Rs. 100 crores each for the Price Stabilisation Fund and watershed development programme and imposed a six per cent cap on interest rate on loans from cooperative banks. In all, Rs. 840 crores had been allotted for the welfare programmes for farmers, he said. The Chief Minister said the Government was committed to implementing all irrigation projects on schedule.

Works under the Upper Krishna Project would be completed by 2005.

The Government was also formulating a Rs. 10,000-crore power project in collaboration with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd. to increase power generation.

He expressed happiness over the good monsoon which had filled the major reservoirs such as Alamatti, Narayanapur, Krishnarajasagar, and Harangi. The farmers who were severely hit by drought for the past three years were now busy sowing in all the districts, he said.

He said the Government would implement the D.M. Nanjundappa Committee Report in phases for the removal of regional imbalances. Accordingly, Rs. 7,170 crores had been allocated for the development of North Karnataka and Rs. 20 crores for setting up a Bench of the Karnataka High Court in the region. ents through the Common Entrance Test, he said the Government had adopted new legislation for a seat-sharing formula of 75:25 in professional courses. The fees had been fixed on the directions of the Supreme Court. But the Government had decided to pay the fees of meritorious students from poor families.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Karnataka