From Our Special Correspondent
Daijiworld Media Network
Bengaluru, Jan 29: Ridiculing the BJP agitation, ‘Parihara Kodi, Kurchi Bidi’ (give compensation or quit chair), as a drama, which is laughable and a fraud on farmers, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday lashed out at the BJP leaders as being ‘pukkalu’ (cowards) who are ‘gutless’ to ask Prime Minister Narendra Modi to release funds for drought relief works, which is being delayed for over five months.
“We are not asking for charity or Modi’s magnanimity. The compensation for drought relief works is a legitimate demand, which any party in power must concede. The BJP leaders must pressurise the Prime Minister if they have guts instead of fooling the people and farmers,’’ he said.
‘Tigers, Lions become Mice without tails’
Siddaramaiah taunted the BJP leaders by terming them as ‘tigers and lions’ in the State but ‘mice without tails’ before the Prime Minister and Home Minister.
“If the BJP leaders have any guts and want to protect the interests of Kannadigas, let them go to Delhi and ask Modi why he hates Kannadigas and even sit in dharna before the Prime Minister’s residence.’’
Speaking to media persons in Bengaluru on Monday, he said people of Karnataka know the credentials of BJP. When BJP came to power for the first time through ‘fraudulent means’ by engineering defections, the farmers were killed in firing for demanding seeds and fertilisers and when the farmers demanded compensation, the then BJP chief minister had the arrogance to ask ‘whether his government has note printing machines’.
‘People have not forgotten that the atrocities committed by BJP against the farmers. They have suddenly woken up and have started shedding crocodile tears. Farmers are not fools to forget the misdeeds of BJP in the State or by the Centre,’’ he said.
The Chief Minister said the Congress government swung into action following the failure of monsoon and the signs of drought conditions to conduct surveys and undertake relief measures. The government had declared 223 out of the 226 taluks in the State as drought affected on September 13 last year.
The assessment of the losses due to drought conditions was Rs 37,000 crore. The State government had submitted memoranda to the Centre to release compensation of Rs 18,177 crore as per the prescribed norms. A Central study team has visited the State in October to assess the situation, he said wondering nobody knows what happened to the Central team’s report.
17 Letters Unanswered
“I have met Prime Minister Narendra Modi along with Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda. The State’s Agriculture Minister has met the Union Agriculture Minister. The State Government has written 17 official letters on the drought relief but there is no response from the Centre,’’ he said.
Siddaramaiah asked BJP leaders as to how they are going to meet the farmers given the apathy of the Modi regime since the last five months. “I can only tell them to be careful as farmers are angry and might revolt against BJP leaders,’’ he said.
The Chief Minister said the Congress government has acted on its own to help the farmers. The Deputy Commissioners have Rs 870 crore with them to undertake drought relief works. Arrangements are made to supply drinking water to 36 villages in tankers and 158 borewells have been sunk. Wherever private land is available, 3,000 places identified for sinking borewells. The government has distributed 6.5 lakh kits of seeds and arrangements are being made for supply of fodder in 16 villages.
As of January 25, 29 lakh farmers have been distributed Rs 545 crore as compensation and another 8.9 lakh farmers are being given compensation after assessment of crop damages. The State Government is doing its best to help the farmers but Modi’s BJP regime has not released even a paise as compensation. The BJP is resorting to its drought study drama to hide the Centre’s failures, he said.
He accused the BJP of discriminating against Karnataka in devolution of funds out of the taxes collected or in Finance Commission awards. Despite all these injustices, the 25 BJP MPs have sealed their mouths and have remained silent.
“People will teach a befitting lesson to BJP in the Lok Sabha polls and even Sri Ramachandra will not be able to protect,’’ he declared.
Industry must Work with Govt for Growth
The Chief Minister later inaugurated the 5th Edition of the Bengaluru GAFX 2024 conference on ‘Augmented intelligence: Powering AVGC’ and said Karnataka has been the torch-bearer State across technology, innovation and growth besides being pioneers of leading IT and IT-enabled service industries.
The Media and Entertainment industry in Karnataka accounts for 20% of the Indian media and entertainment industry, employing more than 15,000 professionals. It also has more than 300 specialized AVGC-XR studios. GAFX is a step curated in the direction of celebrating, promoting and showcasing this industry, which has fast become the engine room for the global industry, he said.
Siddaramaiah pointed out that in 2021, when India’s nominal GDP grew 19%, advertising growth outperformed and grew 25%. The highest growth was in television advertising of Rs. 62 billion, followed by digital advertising of Rs. 55 billion and then of Rs. 29 billion from a resilient print. India is amongst the largest content producers in the world — with 150 thousand hours of TV content, 2,500 hours of premium OTT content and 2,000 hours of filmed content produced in 2021.
Digital media has firmly established itself as the second-largest segment and it grew by Rs. 68 billion in 2021. The government released the draft biotechnology, and Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, Comics, and Extended Reality (AVGC-XR) policy, in November 2023, aimed at fostering development in each individual sector and growing the state’s economy, he said explaining that recognizing the global and national surge in these industries, the policy aims to leverage Karnataka’s existing strengths in IT and BPM to establish the state as a global leader in AVGC-XR.
“We envision to position Karnataka as a global innovation leader in AVGC-XR technologies, create a robust talent pool by transforming the state into a centre of excellence for AVGC-related skills, generate 30,000 new high-quality jobs in the sector by 2028, ensure that exports constitute at least 80 per cent of the sector’s total revenue, and foster sustainability and inclusivity within the AVGC industry.
For growth to leapfrog, it is imperative for the government and industry to work together. Bengaluru GAFX 2024 is the perfect platform for the ecosystem to come together, deliberate the future and progress of AVGC in India,’’ he added.