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Bengaluru, Nov 20: As his government completed six months in office on Monday, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said his administration has taken decisive steps to reduce corruption and initiated thorough investigations in various cases.

He said his government is committed to building a state that not only meets the immediate needs of its people, but also lays the foundation for a prosperous future.

In the elections to the 224-member Assembly held in May this year, the Congress ousted the BJP from power with a landslide victory. The Congress got 135 seats to BJP's 66.

"As the Chief Minister of Karnataka, it brings me immense pride to mark the completion of six months of our government's tenure. In this short span, we have been steadfast in our commitment to empower the people of Karnataka and craft a sustainable and progressive future for our state," Siddaramaiah said in a statement.

"Our governance model, the New Karnataka Model, is a testament to this commitment. It is a model that intertwines the welfare of people with holistic development. We have introduced pioneering guarantee schemes that have directly impacted lives," he added.

Noting that the Shakthi scheme, providing free bus travel for women, is not just a travel subsidy; it's an investment in women's empowerment and mobility, the Chief Minister said, similarly, the Gruha Jyothi (200 units of free power to all households) and Anna Bhagya (additional 5 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household) schemes have lightened the financial burden of countless households, ensuring that basic needs like electricity and food are not a luxury but a right.

Moreover, the Gruha Lakshmi scheme (Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family) has been a groundbreaking step in supporting women who head BPL families, ensuring they have the financial resources to lead their families with dignity, he said, adding that, the Yuva Nidhi scheme, (Rs 3,000 every month for graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders) offering unemployment allowances, is a safety net for our youth, sustaining their dreams and ambitions during challenging times.

"Central to our governance is our unwavering stand against corruption. We have taken decisive steps to reduce corruption and initiated thorough investigations in various cases," Siddaramaiah further said. This commitment to transparency and accountability is reshaping the government's relationship with its people, fostering trust and confidence.

"As we step into the future, our focus remains steadfast on creating a Karnataka that is inclusive, progressive, and a beacon of development. We are committed to building a state that not only meets the immediate needs of its people but also lays the foundation for a prosperous future," he said.

"I thank the people of Karnataka for their unwavering faith in our vision and promise to continue working tirelessly to make Karnataka a model state in India," the CM added. 

UNICEF has sounded a strong warning about the toll being exacted on children in the Gaza Strip, which has come under a renewed and genocidal Israeli war.

"We cannot see more children with the wounds of war, with the burns, with the shrapnel littering their bodies, with the broken bones," James Elder, spokesman for the United Nations children's agency, said on Friday.

"Inaction by those with influence is allowing the killing of children. This is a war on children," he added.

The regime launched the war against Gaza on October 7 following an operation staged by the territory's resistance movements.

The war killed more than 15,500 people, most of them women and children, across the coastal sliver until last week when an Egyptian- and Qatari-mediated truce took effect. Israel restarted the military campaign earlier on Friday, following the truce, killing nearly 200 more people.

Thousands more are missing and feared buried under rubble.

Speaking earlier this month, the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the besieged Palestinian territory was turning into "a graveyard for children."

"The health system here is overwhelmed," Elder said.

"I cannot overstate how the capacity has been reduced of hospitals in the last seven weeks," he added.

"Clearly words, clearly pleas from the world do not make a difference on those who have the power to stop the killing, the maiming of children."

The remarks came amid untrammeled military and political support for the war on the part of the United States, Israel's biggest and oldest ally.

The US has provided the regime with thousands of arms consignments since the initiation of the war.

Washington, which has backed Tel Aviv's ferocious attacks on Gaza as a means of "self-defense," has also been casting its veto against the UN Security Council resolutions that would call on the occupying regime to cease its aggression.

The Kerala police have registered a case against cricketer S Sreesanth and two others based on a cheating complaint filed by a man in north Kerala’s Kannur district.

The complainant, hailing from Kannur’s Choonda, alleged that the accused, Rajiv Kumar and Venkatesh Kini, took Rs 18.70 lakh on various dates from April 25, 2019, by claiming that they would build a sports academy at Kollur in Udupi district of Karnataka, in which Sreesanth is a partner.

In his complaint, Sareesh Gopalan said he invested the money after being offered the opportunity to become a partner in the academy.

Sreesanth and the two others have been booked under IPC Section 420 (Cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property).

Sreesanth has been named as the third accused in the case.