Observer issue 19

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The Weekly

BSERVER An IIJNM Publication

The Weekly Observer @theweeklyobserver

Volume 16 Issue 19

Demonetisation adds to the banking difficulties of visually impaired people

Thursday, 16 March, 2017

Online delivery apps shines offline Page 5

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Siddaramaiah presents ‘please all’ budget By Arunava Banerjee arunava.b@iijnm.org

The Karnataka government seems to have prioritized health care and education in this year’s budget. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in his Karnataka state budget 2017-18 speech said, “Any public policy, apart from the purpose of achieving the intended target, should also be very efficient in its execution. Demonetization caused huge amount of distress to the public but the Union Government is yet to disclose what outcome has been achieved by it. Apart from proposing to have a dialysis centre set up in each of the 114 talukas in the state, the budget also aims at setting up five superspecialty hospitals for cancer and heart treatment in Devanagere, Tumakuru, Vijayapura and Kolar. The budget also guaranteed assistance of Rs 1000 to 25,000 HIV infected kids. A shortage of doctors in government hospitals in Karnataka is expected to be countered by the setting up of DNB post graduate courses in government hospitals. A sum of Rs 10 crore has been allo-

trict hospitals. For the easy accessibility of ambulances, the budget plans to place an ambulance within a 10-15 km radius of every establishment. Ambulance services will be streamlined under two different departments to be integrated. For education the budget approved grants Karnataka CM announced state budget 2017-18. to establish the Courtesy: NammaKarnataka Dr BR Ambedkar School of Economics in cated for establishing a 20 bed poly trauma centre and a 10 bed Inten- Bengaluru, to be set up on the lines sive Care Unit at the Sanjay Gandhi of the London School of EconomAccident Trauma and Rehabilita- ics. A new university will be set up in Raichur, to oversee all colleges tion Centre in Bengaluru and Rs under the Raichur and Yadgir dis10 crore to upgrade the Wenlock tricts. The government has also hospital in Mangaluru. The bud- proposed to set up 25 polytechnic get plans to set up 150 mortuaries colleges in rural areas in this year’s in community health centres and budget. Free laptops have been blood transfusion units in 10 dis- proposed for first year students

studying in engineering, polytechnic and first grade colleges. The provision of providing milk to school students under the Ksheera Bhagya scheme will be increased to five days in a week from the present 3 days and anganwadi children will be gived eggs twice a week starting June. The budget also proposes to provide school children studying in classes 8-10 with books with a social message. To improve the infrastructure of Karnataka’s capital city, Rs 150 crore has ben allocated to the BBMP for developing and maintaining railway over bridges and under bridges and Rs 300 crore has been provisioned for the development of storm water drains. Phase 3 of the Bengaluru metro also received clearance and the PwD is expected to develop 150 km of roads at a cost of Rs 1455 crore. The budget has also proposed the widening of the Hebbal flyover and construct an under bridge at the cost of Rs 88 crore to degcongest traffic. Three thousand more buses will be added to the BMTC fleet of which 150 will be electric buses, Fifty of these buses will run in Mysuru.

Amid water crisis, Vrishabhavathi struggles to survive By Mrigakshi Dixit mrigakshi.d@iijnm.org

Vrishabhavathi, a century old river that used to be one of the prime sources of water for the residents of the city, is on the verge of extinction. Owing to the disposal of waste from industries and households, the river has now become a hub for waste disposal. The river originates from Basavanagudi and is a tributary of Arkavathi River. Vrishabhavathi gets polluted the mostwhile flowing through Kengeri and R. R. Nagar. Over the years, the river has turned into a cesspool of pollutants from various sources. Chandrasekhar, a priest at a temple near the river said, “This temple was built, 5 years ago, earlier devotees used to come, but now due to the bad smell, nobody comes,” he added. According to the Vrishabhavathi Valley Treatment Plant study, one-third of the entire water waste, that is estimated to be around

five-million litres, flows into the river.The researchers also said that the treatment plants have not been modified for the last 20 years. “The river is constantly getting polluted with heavy metals like nickel, mercury, copper, chromium, manganese, and lead,” said Dr. M.D

Subhash Chandran. According to a study conducted by Ashoka Trust of Environment and Ecology, the river is full of sewage that goes untreated due to small capacity of Sewage Treatment Plant (STPs). With massive urbanisation along the banks of the

Vrishvabhathi river, buried under the depth of waste and contaminated water during the time of water crisis. Courtesy: Leo Reegan

river, an increase in dumping of pollutants directly into the river is expected. According to the study, only one-third of the STPs, installed in the river are working and that can treat only half percent of the effluents. Roza, a 16-year-old girl said, “We are living here since one-and-a half years. It’s hard for us to live here because some or the other person in our family keeps falling ill.” “The condition of the river is consistently becoming worse over the last 50-years. I remember people living the near river used to directly drink water from it.” recalls Raju, an autorickshaw driver. “The river is like this since last ten years and no action has been taken by the authorities in last 10 years. In my locality, people complain of frequent fevers,” said Chandru, an autorickshaw driver. “The city is undergoing a water crisis so we should atleast take initiative to save the water body that we already have,” he added.

#Elections2017 Virender Sehwag @VirenderSahweg Totally shocked that Mayawati didn’t say that EVM refused to get touched by her voters because they’re Dalit #Elections2017

Sir Ravindra Jadeja @SirJadeja It’s “Hand”, That Always Applies Brake On “Cycle”. Proved Yet Again #Elections2017#UttarPradesh #Mayawati #UPElection2017

Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep BJP is a party of vultures and falcons, they want to gobble the people’s mandate against them in Goa: @ digvijaya_28 tells me @IndiaToday

Anit Gosh @Indianit07 They played - Gurmehar Card, Cast Card, Religion Card, Donkey Card! But everything is failed Bcoz #ModiMagic still in d Air

M Venkaiah Naidu @MVenkaiahNaidu #ElectionResults show people’s faith in govt’s pro-poor policies, anti-corruption measures- #DeMonetisation & zero tolerance to terrorism!


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