Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai has announced that dependents of children of martyred soldiers will get a government job and compensation of ₹25 lakh will be paid by the state government to the dependents. This was among the new announcements made by the Chief Minister during his Independence Day speech after unfurling the national flag and receiving guard of honour at the parade at Field Marshal Manekshaw Parade Ground on Monday.
The CM said that an order copy of government jobs to the children of the soldiers who sacrifice their life during war will be directly delivered at their doorsteps. The CM also made new announcements pertaining to sanitary, nutrition and welfare of labour class.
Other announcements include allocation of ₹250 crore to government schools to build toilets. The CM has vouched that all the government schools will have toilets facilities by next August. The State government has also decided to provide financial aid of ₹50,000 each to skilled labourers that include carpenters, weavers, potters, sculptors, blacksmiths and others . As many as 4,000 new Angandwadis will be set up for providing nutritious food for the children of landless agricultural workers. Another major announcement made is extending benefits of the ‘Raitha Vidhyanidhi’ scheme to auto and taxi drivers, fishermen, weavers and others.
On development initiatives taken up in the State, the CM said that GDP is growing at 9% and the State receives the highest FDI. He expressed the confidence of the state contributing $1 trillion to realise Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of transforming India into $5 trillion economy. He added that six engineering colleges will be developed on the model of IIT, five cities will have infrastructure of international cities and irrigation projects will be completed in time.
Nehru finds a mention in CM’s speech
The Chief Minister, who drew flak from the opposition party Congress for omitting contributions made by Jawaharlal Nehru for freedom struggle in publicity materials to mark “75th Independence Amrut Mahastova” made a mention about the first Prime Minister in his speech.
Instead of reading out written speech, the Chief Minister addressed the gathering by making a spontaneous speech. In his speech, the CM remembered contributions made by various freedom fighters such as Mahatma Gandhi, Lokamanya Tilak and others during the freedom struggle. The CM also remembered the contribution of the anonymous freedom fighters.
Referring to the freedom struggle in the state, the CM said, “Much before the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, in Karnataka, in 1824, Kittur Rani Chennamma had fought against the British. We cannot forget the sacrifices made by Chennamma, Sangolli Rayanna and others.”
“The first prime minister of the country Jawaharlal Nehru, then Lal Bahadur Shastri have contributed in their own way. The Prime Ministers’ Museum at Delhi has in display all the contributions made by the Prime Ministers of the Country. The museum has come up because of the visionary initiative of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi. There is no question of forgetting anyone. It is not just Prime Ministers, even other noble personalities too have contributed. Dr B.R.Amebdkar who has written the Constitution should get the credit for the functioning of democracy in all these 75 years. There has been a growing tendency of downplaying the contribution made by Ambedkar,” the CM said.
Colourful celebration
After the outbreak of the pandemic, the celebration of Independence Day had remained a low key affair for two years. However, the celebration of 76th Independence Day was a colourful event. Hundreds of the school children participated in cultural events. A cultural show on ‘Isuru Fight’ enacting the freedom fight of people living in Isuru village of Shivamogga district in 1944 was one of the highlights. Tent pegging by ASC center and College, Best Physique Show by MEG and Center and Combat Free Fall by the Para Regimental Training Center enthralled audience. Due to poor weather conditions, instead of 10 paratroopers four of them participated. The paratroopers landed at the Parade Ground, they received rousing applause. The team was led by Brigadier Sunil Sheroan.
