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Siddaramaiah is now member of Congress Working Committee

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Former chief minister of Karnataka, Siddaramaiah, has been given the membership of Congress Working Committee (CWC), which happens to be the highest policy-making body of the Congress in the country.

There was a perception that after the defeat of Congress in the state, Siddaramaiah was being relegated in terms of importance in his party. However, the high command, which gave him prominence when forming the coalition government, offered him the post of the chairman of the coordination committee of the state government. By making him CWC member now, the party has taken steps to assure him that he continues to be held in high esteem by the party high command.

The CWC been revamped, and veteran Congress leader from Karnataka, Mallikarjun Kharge, happens to be a member of this committee. Another senior party leader from Karnataka and former minister, K H Muniyappa, has been given the status of a special invitee.

The new list of CWC has been released with 18 members and ten special invitees. The list comprises names of leaders like Rahul Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Mallikarjun Kharge, Siddaramaiah, Manmohan Singh, A K Antony, Oommen Chandy, and K C Venugopal among others.

J&K bans cable TV carriage of 30 channels

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Jammu and Kashmir have directed cable television operators to stop airing 30 television channels, including controversial preacher Zakir Naik’s Peace TV, among several others that originate from Pakistan.

Sources said the decision was taken by Governor N.N. Vohra after the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting took up the issue with the state government.

In a letter written to all District Magistrates, the state Home Department on Tuesday directed them to act against transmission of “these channels as they have the potential to encourage violence and disturb the law and order situation”.

Among others, the channels ordered to be taken off the cable television platform are GEO TV, Peace TV, ARY TV, QTV and ABB TAKK TV.

Tanvir Ahmed, a cable operator in the old city area, said: “With this order in place, we will have to off-load our staff. This could finally close our business.”

Flood Alerts Along Cauvery; HDK Says

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Residents of at least 30 villages of Srirangapatna, Pandavapura and K R Pet taluks in the district are living in fear of floods as the water levels in the Cauvery and Hemavati are continuously rising.

The Cauvery has been brimming ever since the crest gates of the Krishnaraja Sagar (KRS) were lifted on Saturday afternoon. The rate of discharge, which began at 20,000 cusecs, was augmented to 81,930 cusecs by Monday evening.

Meanwhile, water is being discharged from the Hemavati reservoir in Hassan at the rate of around 28,800 cusecs. The Hemavati joins the Cauvery in the district after passing through many villages of K R Pet.

Tough draw for Indians at Badminton Worlds

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India’s competitors in the BWF World Badminton Championships 2018 in Nanjing, China, have been handed a difficult path in the draw.

Men’s singles fifth seed Kidambi Srikanth has been clubbed in the fourth section which also has Malaysian veteran Lee Chong Wei means they could clash in the quarter-finals.

Srikanth will open against Ireland’s Nhat Nguyen and is likely to meet Indonesia’s Jonatan Christie, the 13th seed, in the third round.

H.S. Prannoy, on the other hand, may face Hong Kong’s Wong Wing Ki Vincent and Chinese Taipei’s Chou Tien Chen after being handed an easy opening round clash against Australia’s Abhinav Manota. In the last eight stage, rising Chinese star Shi Yuqi may be Prannoy’s opponent.

B Sai Praneeth will have to upset South Korean Son Wan Ho, while Sameer Verma meets Frenchman Lucas Corvee in the opening round.

In the women’s singles category, third seed and three-time medallist P.V. Sindhu will open her campaign against the winner between Fitriani Fitriani or Linda Zetchiri. If the Indian wins the match, South Korean ninth Sung Ji Hyun will be a stiff challenge for Sindhu while reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara is a possible opponent in the quarter-finals for the Hyderabadi.

Sindhu’s senior, Saina Nehwal will play either Swiss Sabrina Jaquet or Turkish Aliye Demirbag in the second round. After this round, she is expected to fight Ratchanok Inthanon of Thailand and Olympic champion Carolina Marin in the next two rounds.

In the men’s doubles, the senior pair of Manu Attri and B Sumeeth Reddy will open against Bulgarian combo of Daniel Nikolov and Ivan Rusev, while fast-rising Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty face Olympic bronze medallists Marcus Ellis and Chris Langridge of England.

The women’s doubles pair of Ashwini Ponnappa and N. Sikki Reddy will meet Chinese Taipei’s Chiang Kai Hsin and Hung Shih Han in their first round.

The mixed doubles pair of Ashwini and Satwik will clash with Danish pair of N. Nøhr and S. Thygesen, while Pranaav Jerry Chopra and Sikki will meet Czech combine of Jakub Bitman and Alzbeta Basova.

England outclass India by 8 wickets, clinch ODI series

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England put up a strong all-around show to thump an underwhelming India by eight wickets in the series-deciding third and final One-day International (ODI) at the Headingley cricket ground here on Tuesday.

Leg-spinner Adil Rashid’s triple strikes in the middle overs helped England restrict India for a below par 256/8, despite captain Virat Kohli playing a 71-run knock.

Then India’s bowlers could not respond to brilliant batting from Joe Root (100 not out) and Eoin Morgan (88 not out), who shared a 186-run stand for the third wicket as the hosts cantered to a big win, with 5.3 overs to spare.

It was England’s second consecutive win as they bounced back strongly after the first ODI loss in Nottingham before they produced a handsome win at the Lord’s.

For India, it was the second successive occasions in which their bowling and batting were outclassed. After conceding 322 runs before being bowled out for 236 in the second ODI, India made as many as three changes, dropping pacers Umesh Yadav, Siddharth Kaul and batsman Lokesh Rahul in favour of pacers Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Shardul Thakur and batsman Dinesh Karthik. However, despite these changes, the result did not change.

Put in to bat, India rode on captain Kohli’s 71, combined with his predecessor Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s laborious 66-ball 42 and a valuable 44 from opener Shikhar Dhawan even as Rashid applied the brakes to return figures of 3/49 off his 10 overs.

India were in trouble early on, losing in-form opener Rohit Sharma for a sluggish 18-ball 2, before Dhawan and Kohli forged a 71-run second wicket stand to inject life back into the innings.

With the right-left duo of Kohli and Dhawan going all guns blazing, all-rounder Ben Stokes brought the hosts back into the game with the run-out of Dhawan, who by then had faced 49 balls and struck seven fours.

The southpaw’s dismissal brought in Dinesh Karthik for his first game of the tour. Karthik started off well with a boundary before picking two more on his way to a quickfire 22-ball 21 but an inside edge off a tossed up delivery from Rashid ended his stay and also the 41-run third wicket stand.

Despite losing his partners at the other end, Kohli kept his cool to raise his 48th ODI half-century with a boundary off pacer Liam Plunkett and thereafter began switching gears even as Suresh Raina (1) joined him in the middle.

However, Rashid and his fellow spinner Moeen Ali managed to keep the run flow in check, which prompted both the Indian batsmen to take risks and in the process the leggie bamboozled the Indian skipper with a ripper which broke through his defenses before Raina too departed off the same over.

With India in deep trouble, Dhoni once again came to the rescue with a hard-working innings, and together with all-rounder Hardik Pandya (21 off 21 balls), raised a 36-run stand for the sixth wicket before adding another 27 runs with Bhuvneshwar Kumar (21 off 35) to stretch the total to some sort of respectability.

Towards the end, pacer Shardul Thakul produced a brilliant cameo of 13-ball unbeaten 22, that saw him launch Stokes for two sixes in the penultimate over as India’s total crossed the 250-run mark.

For England, besides Rashid’s three wickets, pacer David Willey also returned figures of 3/40 while fellow quick Mark Wood took one wicket.

Chasing a relatively easy target in modern-day one-day cricket, England got off to a flier, thanks to Jonny Bairstow’s quickfire 30 off 13 deliveries.

However, pacer Thakur brought relief for India as Bairstow was caught by Raina.

Root then joined hands with James Vince (30), who was making his first ODI appearance in two years. The partnership was running smoothly for 30 runs until the latter ran for a second but was caught short by a throw from Pandya from midwicket and Dhoni effected a runout.

Root, who roared back to form in the previous ODI with a 113, was joined in the middle by his captain Moragan, who also returned to form with a 53 at Lord’s.

Luck was also on England’s side as right-hander Root was dropped by Dhoni, who dived to his left to pick an edge off a wide delivery from Shardul in the 30th over. Root was batting on 59 then.

Root completed his 13th ODI century with a four towards midwicket off Hardik as it not only gave him the three-figure mark but also sealed England’s win.

Brief Scores: India: 256/8 in 50 overs (Virat Kohli 71, Shikhar Dhawan 44, M.S.Dhoni 42; David Willey 3/40, Adil Rashid 3/49) vs England: (Joe Root 100 not out, Eoin Morgan 88 not out; Shardul Thakur 1/51).

Maharashtra businessman secured Rs 5400 crore loans in name of farmers

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The leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Legislative Council Dhananjay Munde on Wednesday said a businessman had allegedly secured loans worth over Rs 5400 crore on the basis of fake documents made in the name of farmers.

Raising the issue under Rule 289, Munde (NCP) said Ratnakar Gutte, promoter of the Gangakhed Sugar and Energy Limited in the state’s Parbhani district, had also transferred bank loans obtained by various groups firms into different accounts.

He claimed Gutte had formed 22 shell companies to route the money.

“In 2015, Gangakhed Sugar Factory procured bank loans in the names of more than 600 farmers under the ‘Harvest and Transport scheme’. These farmers are now getting bank notices for loans amounts some of which are as high as Rs 25 lakh,” Munde claimed.

He further alleged that several companies which were part of the group were shell companies which had little or no assets of value.

Munde informed the House that an FIR had been registered against Gutte on July 5 this year under various sections of the IPC but no arrest had been made so far.

Calling the issue a very serious one, Munde said that any laxity on the part of the government could allow the businessman to flee the country like PNB scam-accused diamantaire Nirav Modi.

Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar took cognizance of the issue raised by Munde and sought information from the government.

Nimbalkar asked the government whether the Special Investigation Team formed to probe the matter was appointed by the court or not.

Strategy for Lok Sabha polls – Amit Shah sets guidelines for Karnataka

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BJP national president, Amit Shah, who has set the victory target of 20 to 25 seats in Lok Sabha election for the state BJP leaders, has given a list of 23 guidelines to be followed to maximize the party’s tally in the next year’s election.

Amit Shah had set 19-point guideline in the state for the assembly election. Now he has added four more points to the list. He has issued directions to appoint MLAs, state office bearers and core committee members as in-charge for every Lok Sabha constituency in the state. The guidelines include listing out failures of Congress and JD(S) leaders in the constituencies currently represented by them, presenting before the people the chargesheet of failures of the coalition government backed by figures and statistics, holding workshops for those who manage social websites of the party to make it more effective, spreading information about manifesto of the party, programmes and projects implemented by the central government etc are some of the points contained therein.
Formation of WhatsApp groups, exchanging of information with electoral Vistaraks (extension officers), entrusting additional responsibilities to Page Pramukhs, formation of core committee with important leaders for each assembly constituency, giving more responsibility to booth level committees, compulsory organizing of Navashakti meets, arranging of stay in constituencies on two days every week and two-day tours of the constituencies for those appointed as in-charge, appointment of Shakthi Kendra Pramukhs for every booth, holding of meetings on a regular basis, preparing of list of directors of cooperative societies and self-help societies falling under each of the booths, are among the list of guidelines.

Although Shah was expected to tour the state on July 28, the same has been cancelled in view of Lok Sabha session. A meeting of all the MPs has also been organized on that date at New Delhi. Therefore, Shah’s proposed tour is expected to be deferred, sources said.

All india democratic students organisation have Called for schools- college bundh on July 21

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All India Democratic Students Organisation and All India Democratic Youth Organisation have called for schools and college bundh across the state on July 21 demanding free bus passes for all students.

Speaking to reporters at the Press Club here on Tuesday, Students Organisation national vice president VN Rajashekar said that the previous Congress government had announced the free bus passes to all students in its Budget because of the pressure from the student’s community. But it was not implemented due to election code of conduct. Now, Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy, in his Budget, had announced that the programmes of the previous Congress government would continue in the coalition government. But he has not cleared about the free bus pass issue. This has caused injustice to the students who have been waiting for the facility for the last two months, he said.

Keeping this in mind, the organizations have called for the bundh and all students would participate in it voluntarily, he said.

All India Democratic Students Organisation state secretary KS Ashwini said that the state government and the Transport department have been telling that it would become a burden on the government, which is a big lie. The government could give free bus passes with Rs 860 crore given by the previous government. But the government was saying that it would require Rs 600 crore more. Already, Social Welfare and SC/ST departments have been reimbursing the amount of the students passes. Now, the government should extend this facility to the remaining students only, she said.

‘Crop insurance scheme benefits companies more than farmers’

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It is yet to be seen how much the Modi government’s ambitious crop insurance scheme has benefitted farmers, but one section that has definitely hit the jackpot is the insurance industry, which collectively earned around 85 per cent profit, excluding expenditure on administrative purposes and reinsurance, during the 2017-18 kharif season, government data shows.

According to the Agriculture Ministry’s data, all 17 insurance companies — five public and 12 private — empanelled under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) registered a margin of Rs 15,029 crore as they paid out claims of a mere Rs 2,767 crore against the Rs 17,796 crore collected as premium.

PMFBY is exempted from Service Tax (now a part of GST), as per its operational guidelines.

Similarly, these companies have earned over 96 per cent profit under another crop insurance scheme — Restructured Weather-Based Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) — during kharif 2017-18 as they received Rs 1,694 crore as premium and paid out just Rs 69.93 crore as claim compensation, figures accessed by the IANS show.

During the last kharif (2016-17) season, the insurance companies had earned 44 per cent profit as they received Rs 15,735 crore while they incurred expenditure of Rs 8,862 crore in claims made by the farmers.

According to the Agriculture Insurance Company of India (AICI), the nodal agency for these schemes, the business has been “profitable” since they were launched in February 2016.

“A good monsoon has certainly helped increase food production, which we think has led to such profits,” said a senior AICI official, who wished not to be named.

Earlier, under previous insurance schemes, the AICI had paid as much as Rs 2.80 as compensation claim against the premium of Rs 1, causing it to incur significant losses, said the official.

The government and insurance companies cite a “good monsoon” and “higher production” for the low claims. But there were cases of extreme climatic conditions, drought like situations, and floods at many places, said Chandra Bhushan, deputy director of the non-profit Centre for Science and Environment (CSE).

“You cannot call it a good year to back low pay-outs since issues such as extreme climate and floods have been reported at many places. There are issues with assessment, payment dispersal along with technology issues. If claims are so low like 15 per cent (of premium collected), the country’s agriculture has no problem. There is no need to have any such crop insurance scheme then,” he added.

Interestingly, these insurance companies are bound to safeguard their interests by taking reinsurance cover and the government is to provide protection to them in case premium to claims ratio exceeds 1:3.5 or the percentage of claims to “Sum Insured” exceeds 35 per cent, whichever is higher.

Farm activists find a “big lacuna” in the design of the PMFBY, saying it has been more beneficial to the insurer than farmers.

Kavitha Kuruganti of non-profit Alliance for Sustainable & Holistic Agriculture (ASHA) said Crop Cutting Experiment (CCE), which is done to obtain accurate estimates of crop output, is conducted in a unscientific manner.

“The samples collected for CCE are not scientific. The consequences are that the farmers are not benefitted but the companies,” she said.

In addition, claims made by farmers for crop loss have found not to be settled by the insurance companies on time.

“Claims are not provided in time. Also, banks do not send data (to companies) in time. There are several lacunae with the implementation. But the big laucuna is with the design of the product,” Kuruganti said.

As many as 3,31,96,239 farmers bought crop insurance under PMFBY to insure 3,34,73,346 hectares of land during kharif 2017-18.

However, claims of only Rs 2,767 crore were paid against the reported claims of Rs 5,052 crore.

Interestingly, the government could not yet complete claims settlement for winter crops cultivated during rabi 2017-18 when the process “ideally” should get over in “a month” after the harvesting.

According to the ministry data, claims worth Rs 14 crore were made under PMFBY for rabi 2017-18 and the payout was Rs 12.1 crore till early June against the premium of Rs 5,128 crore collected by the insurers.

A top official told IANS that the ministry was “aware” of the “big profits” and delays in settling claims.

“Although companies are earning more profit now, there are chances that they may incur losses in future if significant crop losses are reported. Also, we have asked the companies and states to speed up the settlement process by adopting new technology,” said the official, who requested anonymity.

Under the scheme, farmers have to pay just 2 per cent of total premium in case of kharif, 1.5 per cent for rabi and 5 per cent for horticulture and remaining premium is shared equally by the Centre and the states.

However, there is no cap on the actuarial premium rates charged by the insurance companies, which Kuruganti said was “very high” for some crops.

RS adjourned briefly after protests by opposition

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Proceedings in the Rajya Sabha were adjourned briefly on Wednesday after protests by opposition members on various issues, including the demand for a special status for Andhra Pradesh.

Soon after laying down the papers on the table of the House, Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu rejected the notices for suspension of rules and asked the members to raise their issues during Zero Hour.

“I have decided not to suspend the rules, but the matters mentioned are important and relevant. I have decided to take them up in Zero Hour, except the notice given by TDP member C.M. Ramesh,” Naidu said.

“Ramesh’s notice pertains to an important issue which is agitating the state. This was raised earlier also. I have decided allow a detailed short duration discussion on this. After consulting with the Minister, we will decide the date,” he added.

But Ramesh persisted and demanded that the discussion begin “right now”. “This is not a new issue. We have been raising this since Budget session,” he said.

BSP member Satish Chandra Mishra and Samajwadi Party’s Ram Gopal Yadav asked the Chair to begin a discussion on a University Grants Commission (UGC) notification issued in March having a bearing on the reservation for weaker sections in teaching jobs.

Amid the din, Naidu adjourned the House for a brief period till noon.

Congress members Ghulam Nabi Azad and Anand Sharma, SP’s Ram Gopal Yadav and CPI’s D. Raja were among others who have given notices for suspension of the rules on various issues.

The session, which began on Wednesday, will have 18 sittings. It will conclude on August 10.

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