Karnataka would study the final award of the Mahadayi Water Disputes Tribunal, which on Tuesday recommended 13.42 TMC (thousand million cubic feet) of the river water to the state before deciding on its next move, said an official statement here.

“We will respond to the final award of the Tribunal after a detailed study of its recommendations to the Union government. An appropriate decision will be taken after studying the award in 12 volumes and consulting with the concerned,” Chief Minister H. D. Kumaraswamy said in a statement here.

The three-member Tribunal awarded 13.42 TMC of the river water to Karnataka as against its demand for 36.66 TMC, said an earlier statement.

“I have discussed the ruling with the state water resources department and legal experts,” added the Chief Minister.

One of the counsels who represented Karnataka before the Tribunal, Mohan Kataraki, said the immediate water needs of the state’s drought-prone districts Bagalkote, Belagavi, Dharwad and Gadag, have been addressed by the award.

“While the immediate water requirement has been met by the Tribunal’s award, we will take steps for any additional water requirement after going through the verdict,” Kataraki told reporters in New Delhi.

Congress state unit President Dinesh Gundu Rao said the party is partially satisfied with the award.

“We are partially satisfied with the Tribunal’s verdict as the award for Karnataka is less than the water we had demanded,” Rao told reporters here.

Karnataka Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) President B.S. Yeddyurappa, however, hailed the award as “historic”.

“We are happy with what has been awarded to the state and welcome the Tribunal’s decision,” Yeddyurappa said.

A girl student of Sri Venkateswara Medical College in Tirupati committed suicide on Sunday, the second such incident in a week, police said.

Gitika, 19, was an MBBS second-year student. She ended her life by hanging at her house here in the evening. police said. The reason for her suicide is not known.

The incident came a week after the suicide of B. Shilpa, a postgraduate student in paediatrics, who hanged herself at her house in Pileru town of Chittoor district.

The 30-year-old student had in April written to Governor E.S.L. Narasimhan, accusing three Professors of Pediatric Department of sexual harassment.

The student was upset after she failed in exams. She told her friends that she was deliberately failed for complaining against the Professors.

Following an uproar, authorities transferred the college Principal and formed in May a three-member inquiry committed headed by the Director of Medical Education K. Babji. The panel is yet to submit its report.

Two persons were killed and 35 suffered minor injuries on Wednesday in a stampede outside the Rajaji Hall here as hundreds of thousands thronged for a final glimpse of DMK leader M. Karunanidhi, a hospital official said.

A senior official of the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital told IANS: “Two persons were brought dead to the hospital with injuries arising due to trampling. One is a woman, Shanbagam, while the other person is an unidentified male.”

The dead woman was said to be 60 years old.

The official added that another 35 persons were brought to the hospital with minor injuries. Some were dehydrated. They were given treatment.

“There has been heavy jostling and pushing and pulling in the crowd since morning,” one man at the site said, explaining what led to the stampede.

The tragedy occurred shortly after DMK leader and Karunanidhi’s son M.K. Stalin appealed for calm to the milling crowds which were getting restive at not being able to get close to the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s body.

A debt-ridden Central Bank employee killed himself along with his wife and daughter by jumping in a well in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul district, police said.

The deceased have been identified as the bank’s cash van driver Vinod Baraskar, his wife Sushila Baraskar, and their four-year-old daughter Purvi.

The Baraskars had gone for their daughter’s medical check-up on Tuesday morning but did not return. Their bodies were later found in a well, 30 km from the district headquarters.

According to Saikheda Police Station Sub-Inspector, O.P. Sharma, he got to know about the incident on Tuesday afternoon. The bodies were then sent for post-mortem in the district hospital.

A suicide note was found which read: “I have a debt of over Rs 2 lakh. The debtors are troubling me, so I’m committing suicide along with my family.”

The demand for a separate North Karnataka state has once again gained momentum in the state with a few activists calling a bandh.

On Wednesday, the President of the Uttara Karnataka Horata Samiti, Somashekar Kotambari said that the state government was doling out “step-motherly treatment” to the areas of north Karnataka.

He called for a bandh in the 13 districts of North Karnataka on August 2 against the “government’s attitude” towards settling the Mahadayi water dispute.

The Uttara Karnataka Horata Samiti individuals additionally said that they have moved toward different activists and associations in the northern district, who will support their objective. The individuals from the UKHS communicated their disappointment in regards to Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy’s announcement on Monday regarding the demand of waiving farmer’s loan in Koppala.

The UKHS has demanded that the state government form an expert committee to assess the demand for a separate state of North Karnataka and to likewise present the committee’s report to the Central government for approval.

The Samiti also demanded that the state government promptly resolve the Mahadayi water dispute.

The final verdict by the Mahadayi Water Dispute Tribunal is relied upon to be delivered next month.

Given the long-standing agitation by the drought-stricken people of North Karnataka, the state government is expecting favorable verdict for sharing of Mahadayi waters with Goa.

Addressing correspondents in Bengaluru on Wednesday, July 25, Karnataka’s Water Resources minister D K Shivakumar said the state government has given all records, including photos on utilizing water by Goa, to the court to look for justice in water sharing.

In the meantime, the Goa government has chosen to move the Tribunal against Karnataka’s asserted demonstration of redirecting the Mahadayi river water to its Malaprabha basin.

A group of authorities from Goa visited Karnataka’s Kanakumbi village, situated in the Malaprabha basin on Monday and affirmed that the Mahadayi river water was being redirected, Goa’s Water Resources Minister Vinod Palyekar said in Goa on July 23.

However, Shivakumar said the state government would battle the fight with neighboring Goa within legal limits. The state government is hoping to get justice from the court in one month, he said.

At least 55 people, including 27 army and BSF personnel, have been killed in the first six months of this year in cross-border firing — making it the deadliest in recent years for civilians as well as security forces manning the international border and the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir.

The dead included 15 soldiers, 12 BSF personnel and 28 civilians, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The overall number is almost double that in 2016 when the Indian Army carried out surgical strikes and destroyed dozens of terror launch hubs in Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

“No personnel of J&K police got killed in the incidents of ceasefire violations and cross-border firing during the last three years and current year upto June,” he said.

Detailing the number of deaths in the last three years, the minister said 26 people — six soldiers, four Border Security Force (BSF) personnel and 16 civilians — were killed in 2015.

In 2016, firing from the Pakistani side again claimed 26 lives — eight soldiers, five BSF troopers and 13 civilians.

Thirty one people — 15 soldiers, four BSF personnel and 12 civilians — were killed in 2017.

The details of militants killed along the LoC and the international border are: 108 in 2015, 150 in 2016, 213 in 2107 and 110 up to July 22 this year.

“Appropriate retaliation to these ceasefire violations has been carried out wherever necessary. During ceasefire violations, the inhabitants of border villages which are vulnerable to shelling or firing are shifted to safer locations to prevent any loss of life,” the minister said.

“All arrangements are made for free boarding, lodging, medicare, water, electricity, food, sanitation and transport to safer places in such cases. The defences along the border are adequately fortified to withstand fire. Continuous improvements, including the usage of modern technology, in the defences are made to make them more robust and resilient.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Centre to come out with proper guidelines within two weeks to blacklist builders, contractors and architects found to have constructed buildings against sanctioned plans.

A bench of Justice Madan B. Lokur and Justice Deepak Gupta said that from now on the owner(s) of illegal or encroached constructions would be given only 48-hour notice to show cause why the building not be sealed or demolished and action shall be taken immediately thereafter.

The court directed that wherever any unauthorized/illegal construction comes to the notice of the authorities, it “should be stopped with immediate effect”.

The bench also sought the personal presence of councilor Mukesh Suryan, Chairman of the Najafgarh Wards Committee, after the bench was told that he prevented the officers from carrying out the sealing drive in the area.

The court asked the authorities concerned to file an affidavit on the allegation that Deputy Commissioner Vishwendra Singh was transferred at Suryan’s behest. The authorities, however, maintained that it was a routine transfer.

The top court asserted that the sealing drive will continue in Delhi.

It directed Delhi Police to ensure adequate protections to officers involved in the sealing of illegal and unauthorized buildings.

The court was hearing pleas relating to the validity of the Delhi Laws (Special Provisions) Act, 2006 and subsequent legislation that protected unauthorized constructions from sealing.

The sealing drive in Delhi is being carried out by a Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee against business establishments using residential properties for commercial purposes. It is being implemented by the three BJP-led Municipal Corporations of Delhi.

The committee was set up by the Supreme Court in 2006. In 2012, the apex court asked the committee to stop the drive. But in December 2017 it ordered the resumption of the drive.

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.

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.