Karnataka's crop loan waiver smacks of tokenism
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah's announcement of a crop loan waiver in an election year was a good political move. The government order on loan waiver issued on Saturday has many riders. The loan waiver of Rs 50,000 per farmer (which costs the exchequer Rs 8,165 crore) is unlikely to bail out the distressed farmers caught in the vicious cycle of drought, crop loss, price crash and the burden of growing debts leading to suicides. The suicide toll of farmers in the state in the last three years has crossed 3,000.
A closer look at the populist announcement tells you the waiver is only on short-term crop loans availed through the cooperative banks, which amounts to Rs 10,736 crore. This was expected to benefit nearly 23 lakh farmers. To begin with, only 16.9 lakh farmers will benefit from the waiver as it is restricted to loan amounts up to Rs 50,000. For loans exceeding Rs 50,000, the waiver will be applicable only if the beneficiary repays the remaining amount within the stipulated time. More than 33 lakh farmers will be deprived of any relief as the waiver does not apply to loans availed from nationalized and commercial banks (which amounts to Rs 42,000 crore). The benefit is not applicable to medium and long-term loans and non-agriculture loans availed under various schemes.
In the drought-hit state, the government has so far distributed the central funds of Rs 1,459 crore to 2.19 million farmers as compensation for crop loss as there was no sowing after 167 taluks were declared as drought-hit this year. While the opposition is demanding for compensation of Rs 25,000 per acre, the farmers who have neither received compensation nor paid-up crop loan are struggling to raise credit as the sowing season has already started.
During the recently concluded legislature session, the members of both ruling and the opposition parties had stressed the need to enhance and redesign the loan schemes for farmers in the wake of the deepening agrarian crisis, including writing off of loans availed from nationalised and commercial banks. However, the Siddaramaiah government has done little to mitigate the crisis.
The farm loan schemes and the waiver are both seriously inadequate. But the Siddaramaiah government's announcements increasing the compensation for families of farmers who committed suicide from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, widow pension of Rs 2,000 and compensation for the death of an uninsured cattle expose the politics of tokenism.
Panel to look into bill to rein in private hospitals
An amendment bill to regulate the pricing for medical treatment in private hospitals, which was tabled in the assembly, was referred to a joint house committee, following opposition by private doctors and hospitals.
The Karnataka Private Medical Establishments (Amendment) Bill, 2017 that advocates price prescriptions for treatment and punitive action for violations, was tabled by Health Minister K.R. Ramesh Kumar, but was not passed in the house. The committee is expected to come up with recommendations within four to five weeks.
The bill envisages setting up of an expert committee to classify private medical establishments and recommend the state government to fix the cost of treatment for different medical services—package rates for investigation, bed charges, operation theatre procedures, intensive care, ventilation, implants, consultation and any additional treatments. It also prohibits imposing additional charges over and above the rates fixed by the government “unless explained to and consented to by the patient”. The bill has made erring doctors or hospitals liable to pay a penalty of not less than Rs 25,000 and up to Rs 5 lakh and imprisonment not less than six months and up to three years.
Terming the bill as “draconian”, the private hospitals association and Indian Medical Association have raised objections to the government hospitals being kept out of the purview of the legislation. The contention is that the bill has set aside the recommendation of the Justice Vikramajit Sen committee appointed in last July to regulate the healthcare system in the state. The committee had said that there couldn't be two sets of rules for private and government hospitals.
Justifying the bill, the minister said that it was to protect the interests of the patients. “As a public representative, I represent the interests of the people. What use is with the assembly or the government if we cannot keep the interests of the common man in mind?,” asked Kumar.
“Overpricing in private hospitals is common menace. A stent costing Rs 50,000 is charged Rs 2 lakh. The situation is so grave that the insurance companies have blacklisted 337 hospitals for inflating bills,” the minister told the assembly.
Meanwhile, the doctors contend that healthcare in Karnataka is the best because of the private sector. “Healthcare entrepreneurs have invested their money to set up quality hospitals. What moral right does the government have to regulate the private sector, when its own hospitals have failed to deliver?,” asked BJP MLA Dr C.N. Ashwathnarayana, who is also the member of the joint house panel.
IT city finally makes it to smart city list
Bengaluru finally made it to the list of Smart Cities, and is among the 10 state capitals selected by the Centre to be developed as smart cities. A hundred cities are up for selection under the mission to redevelop cities and till date 90 have been chosen. Bengaluru, which has earned disrepute for its poor infrastructure, garbage crisis, frothing lakes and notorious traffic, managed to turn lucky the fourth time, after it focused on a sound proposal on area-based development projects.
The projects will be operational across 17 wards in core area (21.8 sqkm) in the city which will witness 10 interventions including road development under Tender SURE model, integrated mobility for vibrant destinations (Shivajinagar Bus Station, Russell Market and Kempegowda Bus Station), redevelopment of historical and economic centres (KR Market and Malleswaram market), innovation of downstream clean-up of drainage system (Ulsoor Lake and Sankey Tank), protection and redevelopment of centrally located parkland (Cubbon Park), increasing affordable housing stock through slum redevelopment (Swathantra Palya, Gandhinagar) and retrofitting of a healthcare facility (KC General Hospital, Malleswaram).
This time, the application was jointly made by the BBMP and Jana Urban Space Foundation. The BBMP proposed Rs 1,700 crore for the projects. Of this, Rs 500 crore will be sanctioned by the ministry of urban development and the remaining Rs 1,200 crore will be borne by the state government.
CM's debut in film
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah will debut in an upcoming bilingual (Kannada and English) children's film Summer Holidays, being directed by Kavitha Lankesh. Siddaramaiah will play the role of a chief minister in the movie too. It will be a 30-second role in the movie. Siddaramaiah is said to have accepted the role as he has a long association with the director's family. In the sequence to be shot in a forest, tribal children approach the CM seeking his help. In the past, chief ministers who have acted in the movies include Ramakrishna Hegde (Marana Mrudanga), J.H. Patel (Avasthe), H.D. Kumaraswamy (Ee Preeti yeke Bhoomi melide) and D. V. Sadananda Gowda (Chella Pilli).
