bengaluru l Thursday l January 02, 2025 l `9.00 l PAGES 22 l late city EDITION Expect warmer January than normal in most parts of India: IMD Minimum and maximum temperatures are likely to be above normal in most parts of India, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said below normal winter rainfall in the north last year was warmest since 1901 Apart from some areas in eastern, northwest, and west-central regions, other parts of the country will see minimum and maximum temperatures above normal, the IMD said. States in north India are most likely to receive below-normal rainfall from January to March. This may affect the growth of rabi crops, which depend on winter rainfall ■ ■ Monthly rainfall over the country as a whole during January is most likely to be more than 118% above the long-period average, IMD said The meteorological department said 2024 was the warmest on record in India since 1901, with an annual mean temperature of 25.75 degrees Celsius, 0.65 degrees above the long-period average 31.250C was the average maximum temperature in 2024 CHENNAI ■ MADURAI ■ VIJAYAWADA ■ BENGALURU ■ KOCHI ■ HYDERABAD ■ VISAKHAPATNAM ■ COIMBATORE ■ KOZHIKODE ■ THIRUVANANTHAPURAM ■ BELAGAVI ■ BHUBANESWAR ■ SHIVAMOgGA ■ MANGALURU ■ TIRUPATI ■ TIRUCHY ■ TIRUNELVELI ■ SAMBALPUR ■ HUBBALLI ■ DHARMAPURI ■ KOTTAYAM ■ KANNUR ■ VILLUPURAM ■ KOLLAM ■ TADEPALLIGUDEM ■ NAGAPATTINAM ■ THRISSUR ■ KALABURAGI Govt outreach to put fertiliser rates on leash Cabinet’s first decision of the new year on farmers; crop insurance schemes extended M U K ES H RANJAN @ New Delhi At a time when farmers in Punjab are on the war path, the Union Cabinet on Wednesday allocated up to `3,850 crore for a one-time package to subsidise the di-ammonium phosphate (DAP) fertiliser and approved a one-year extension of two crop insurance schemes. In a post on X, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said, “(Govt’s) first decision of the New Year is dedicated to crores of farmer brothers and sisters of our country. We have approved increasing the allocation for the crop insurance scheme. This will provide more security to farmers’ crops and will also mitigate their concerns about any damage.” The decision on DAP will ensure farmers get it at affordable prices, the prime minister added. The DAP subsidy aims to keep retail prices at `1,350 per bag of 50 kg, Union minister express read Man stabbed by his girlfriend in Hassan Hassan: Manu Kumar from A Guduganahalli village was allegedly stabbed by his girlfriend here on Tuesday night. He is being treated in HIMS Hospital. Bhavani from A Guduganahalli stabbed Kumar after he refused to marry her, according to police. Infiltrators coming to work in mills: Sarma Guwahati: Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday dropped a bombshell claim that a section of India’s textile industry is illegally “importing” cheap labourers from Bangladesh where the industry has taken a hard hit in the aftermath of the unrest that brought down the government of Sheikh Hasina. P8 GST kitty Dec mop-up rises 7.3% year-on-year Gross GST revenue of the Centre and states stood at `1.77 lakh crore in December 2024, up from `1.65 lakh crore recorded in the same month of 2023 | P15 Ashwini Vaishnaw said during a media briefing. Last year, the Centre announced a one-time special package on DAP at `3,500 per tonne, valid from April 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, with a financial implication of `2,625 crore. The package was over and above the nutrient-based subsidy fixed by the government on non-urea nutrients. Besides, the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) and the Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (RWBCIS) have been extended to align it with the 15th Finance Commission period, Vaishnaw said. The outlay for PMFBY and RWBCI has been enhanced to `69,515.71 crore for 2021-22 to 2025-26, up from `66,550 crore for 2020-21 to 2024-25. For targeted infusion of technolog y in crop insurance schemes, the Cabinet also approved a separate fund with a corpus of `824.77 crore. Budget: Siddu’s focus on getting revenue deficit grants? D e v a r a j B H i r e h a l l i @ Bengaluru Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who is all set to start department-wise review meetings for 2025-26 budget, is likely to chalk out a plan meticulously to draw the attention of the 16th Finance Commission to get revenue deficit grants from the Centre. Sources told TNIE that he may not stick to presenting a surplus budget, but would showcase the gap in state’s revenue and expenditure to help get revenue deficit grants from the Centre based on the commission’s recommendations. The 15th commission had recommended neighbouring states, especially Kerala for Rs 37,814-crore revenue deficit grant between 2020-21 and 202526, of which it received Rs 34.648, the sources said. chief minister stated that the state gets only about Rs 45,000 crore in the form of devolution and about Rs 15,000 crore grantin-aid. This means, for every rupee Karnataka contributes, it gets only 15 paise in return. When he presents his 16th budget tentatively on March 14, he would project the actual revenue on one hand, and on the other expenditures soaring, according to sources. “Siddaramaiah does not want to get a pat on his back by presenting a surplus budget, which would not help get Centre’s grants, instead would be pragmatic,” they said. The outlay would cross Rs 4 lakh crore, an increase of 10-15 per cent over the 2024-25 budget which had an outlay of Rs 3.71 lakh crore. P4 Farmers up in arms against land acquisition for B’luru’s SWIFT City A s h w i n i M S r i pa d @ Bengaluru new Year rush Devotees throng Ram Lalla Temple in Ayodhya on the first day of the New Year. According to local administration estimates, more than five lakh devotees visited the temple on Wednesday | PTI 40 years later, toxic Union Carbide waste exits Bhopal AN U RAA G SIN G H @ Bhopal FOUR decades after the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy killed thousands of people, some 337 tonnes of toxic waste lying at the defunct Union Carbide factory were on Wednesday night moved to another site in Dhar district. The Madhya Pradesh government is shifting the hazardous waste out of Bhopal to comply with a MP High Court order, which on December 3 had directed it to shift the toxic waste within four weeks. The state government has to file compliance report before the next hearing on January 6. Officials said the toxic waste has been sent to Pithampur Industrial Area, 250 km from Bhopal, for disposal. A dedicated green corridor has been created to transport the hazardous material in one night. Twelve specially designed trucks with leak-proof, fire-resistant, and GPSenabled containers are carrying the waste—toxic soil, pesticide residues, and chemicals. The process of collecting, packing, and loading of the waste, which was lying at a sealed shed within the closed factory, had started on Sunday under the supervision of experts. Over 200 trained workers were deployed, each of them operating in short 30-minute shifts following strict safety measures, including wearing PPE kits. The entire process—unlocking the waste, its secure and safe packing, and loading on to the secured Trucks transporting hazardous waste collected from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal to Pithampur Industrial Area, on Wednesday night containers—was video-filmed and recorded. “The incineration process could take 3-9 months, depending on the speed (feed rate),” Swatantra Kumar Singh, director of Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation Directorate, told this newspaper. The move comes amid stiff protests from activists who claimed the incineration process would pollute the soil and ground water in the villages around Pithampur, a charge refuted by the authorities. Indore mayor Pushyamitra Bhargava, who is a BJP leader, has also voiced concern, saying the decision to destroy the waste should be reviewed. blessing in disguise Bangla crisis a boon for Ballari jeans units K i ra n Ba l a n n a n ava r @ B a lla r i Political unrest in Bangladesh has come as a blessing in disguise for the jeans industry here. Bangladesh was one of the world’s largest jeans exporters till a few months ago when the crisis hit the industry there. Each unit in Ballari is now doing 30% more business. Industry experts said India’s top brands depended on Bangladesh for jeans till recently, but they are now in touch with the units in Ballari, which is known as the jeans capital of India. According to business data, each unit here made profits between Rs 5 and Rs 10 lakh every month after the political unrest hit the industry in During the visit of the 16th Finance Commission headed by its chairman Dr Arvind Panagariya in August last, Siddaramaiah, who also holds the finance portfolio, presented a report on the state’s financial situation. Highlighting Karnataka’s contribution of about Rs 4 lakh crore to the Gross Tax Revenue of the Union every year, the Workers at a jeans unit in Ballari Bangladesh. There are more than 500 units in Ballari city and its outskirts. Products made here are usually purchased by traders and dealers in Mumbai and Surat. But now, some international brands are keen on Ballari jeans. Pollux Mallikarjun, owner of Pol- lux Jeans and member of Ballari Jeans Industry Welfare Association, said the local jeans industry has now gone global. Any development in the global jeans market will have its impact on the industry here. The crisis in Bangladesh is a classic example of this. The demand for products manufactured in Ballari has increased significantly he added. , “Some top international brands started contacting the producers here after the crisis hit Bangladesh. We have been getting bulk orders since September last. I have increased my staff strength to deliver the products on time,” he said. According to sources, a unit in Ballari received a Rs 35-lakh supply order last month. Many farmers from villages in Sarjapur hobli of Anekal taluk have received notices from Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) stating that their lands will be acquired for industrial purposes. The board is set to acquire 1,050 acres of land for the state government’s ambitious SWIFT City (Startups, Work-spaces, Innovation, Finance, and Technology) in Sarjapur. SWIFT City will have offices, residential areas, and co-working environments to support startups. KC Devaraju, a farmer from B Hosahalli village, said, “My family has three acres and 16 guntas of ancestral land. We completed ragi harvesting recently We get water at a depth . of 300 ft even now.’’ Devaraju and other farmers from B Hosahalli received notices from KIADB in October last. In the notices, officials from KIADB stated that they will acquire 400 acres of land in B Hosahalli. Neither Devaraju nor other farmers were consulted before notices were issued to them by KIADB. Devaraju said farmers from B Hosahalli send around 10 truck loads of vegetables and fruits daily to KR Market and to the market in Madiwala in Bengaluru. Similarly, KIADB  will acquire around 600 acres of land at Andenahalli near Hosahalli. According to documents av a i l a b l e w i t h TNIE, the state government, at its cabinet meeting in February last, stated that only dryland will be acquired for the project. But farmers from these villages said that they grow ragi, vegetables and flowers with water from borewells and other sources. P5