Mangaluru: National level volleyball player Salihath Adam, 24, dies of cardiac arrest

Bengaluru, Sept 13: The cabinet sub-committee formed to monitor the drought situation in Karnataka has decided to recommend the government to declare 195 taluks as drought-hit. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is expected to give his nod to the proposal soon.

Karnataka has 236 taluks in 31 districts.

Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda on Wednesday held a cabinet sub-committee meeting where a decision to send a proposal to the CM recommending to announce 195 taluks as drought-hit was taken.

“After the survey of crops in several taluks, we have received a report. In 161 taluks, there is a severe drought situation and in another 34 taluks, there is moderate drought. In the remaining 40 taluks, despite the rain deficit, there is no moisture deficit. We have decided to recommend to declare 195 taluks as drought-hit. CM Siddaramaiah is likely to approve the proposal soon,” the minister said.

Karnataka has faced severe rain deficit this year except in July due to which several reservoirs are yet to reach their maximum levels.

“We are prepared to handle the drought. We have decided to form a task force in all drought-hit areas. We are planning to give maximum jobs under the MGNREGA scheme. In the Malnad region there was a 40 per cent rain deficit due to which there was water scarcity in the Cauvery basin. Even in the south interior region, there is a rain deficit. The report for 40 taluks is awaited,” Krishna Byre Gowda said.

He also said that once the CM signs the recommendations, a notification will be issued and will be sent to the Centre.
 

KPCC spokesperson M Lakshmana said that the Congress will win 22 to 25 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.

The BJP-JD(S) alliance will not help them, but only benefit Congress to get more votes, he said. 

Speaking to media persons in Mysuru recently, Lakshmana said, “The survey reports have indicated that the incumbent MP Pratap Simha will not win the Lok Sabha elections. If Pratap Simha wins the elections, I would leave the city.”

The Gaza-based Hamas resistance movement has censured the Israeli regime’s police officers for their repeated “fascist” calls for settlers to carry guns while commemorating the Rosh HaShanah holidays for the Jewish New Year.

In a statement on Saturday, Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the renewed calls on settlers to bear firearms are a public incitement to murder that encourages the Jewish extremists to commit further crimes against Palestinian people.

“This fascist call and other similar calls by Zionist officials require clear condemnation from the international community and measures to hold them accountable before international courts,” he said.

Earlier, the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates warned about increasing calls for Israeli settlers to carry guns, terming it “a racist incitement against Palestinians.”

The ministry said in a Friday statement that it “views the calls by the commander of Moriya police station in al-Quds for Israeli settlers to carry guns as an extreme danger.”

The statement described such calls as “An official incitement to carry out extrajudicial killings of Palestinians and an authorization for fanatics to take the law into their own hands motivated by their dark agenda.”

The Palestinian foreign ministry held the Israeli regime, particularly far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, for the fallout of these moves.

Official data has shown that more than 160,000 Israelis carry guns, in addition to the police, security personnel and the army.

More than 700,000 Israelis live in over 280 settlements built since the 1967 Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East al-Quds.

The international community views the settlements – hundreds of which have been built across the West Bank since Tel Aviv’s occupation of the territory in 1967 – as illegal under international law and the Geneva Conventions due to their construction on the occupied territories.

The UN Security Council has condemned Israel’s settlement activities in the occupied territories in several resolutions.