KARNATAKA

In the wake of increasing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) and charging ,Mescomhas planned to open 1,000 EV charging stations within its limits in the next five years.

In the first phase, the company will open 195 charging stations under PPP mode in Dakshina Kannada, Shivamogga, Chikkamagaluru, and Udupi districts. While the company has already opened 61 charging stations, the process is underway to identify locations for the remaining stations.

Mescom will give emphasis for the convenience of vehicle owners/ drivers by providing necessary infrastructure while setting up new charging stations. The EV charging stations will be set up by the side of national highways and other government land. Mescom has already set up 61 Type-1 EV charging stations with a capacity of 3.3kv at a cost of Rs 24 lakh.

For the longest time, the agricultural land market inKarnatakasaw little movement, archaic land ceiling laws being a major reason. But over the past six months, transactions have surged, resulting in a revenue mop-up for the government.

Farmland sales prices are up 5-15% in six months, with most of the increase coming since the new laws were introduced, said Bhaskar C, a land aggregator. The demand for good farmland is outstripping supply of farms for sale. The strong demand to own farmland is one of the main factors pushing prices higher.

Section 63 was also amended to raise the cap on ownership of farmland. Earlier, the ceiling for a family of four was 54 acres and for a larger family, it was 108 acres. The amendment made it 108 acres for a person or a family of four, and 216 acres for a larger family. This is higher than Kerala (42 acres), Nadu (60) and Andhra Pradesh (54 ).

The three-day elephant census, being conducted after a gap of five years, concluded on Friday. Previously, the elephant counting exercise was done in 2017.
Karnataka forest officials have roped in all the personnel to carry out the enumeration exercise in the forest. In the last census, the number was just over 6,000 and the state had the highest number of elephants in the whole of India.

Elephant census was done simultaneously in southern states of India Karnataka,Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Goa, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana. The numbers will be tabulated after the survey is over and the elephants Population in the state will be revealed after a detailed analysis.

About 300 personnel have been roped in for the census covering 91 patrols in about 500-00 sq.km area, the director said, adding nearly 1,000 elephants were counted during the previous census in the forest.

TheKarnatakagovernment on Wednesday opposed formation of a joint select committee by theNational Green southern bench to inspect the controversialMekedatubalancingreservoir projectproposed along the Cauvery.

the government will launch a legal fight against theNGTs decision to suo motu set up the committee to inspect Mekedatu, which is in Karnataka state.

The Home department will set up two cybersecurity forensic labs with exclusive focus on cybercrime in Shivamogga and Tumakuru. The Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) is awaiting a final order from the government in this regard.

In the recently presented budget, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had announced the establishment of labs in these districts to strengthen evidence examination and improve the success rate in cybercrime investigation.

According to recent data shared by the department, on an Average, Rs 1 crore is stolen from individuals daily by cybercriminals.Karnatakalost a whopping Rs 363 crore in 2022, while Rs 722 crore has been siphoned off in total since 2019. The data was presented in the legislative council in response to a question asked by MLC M Nagaraj.

TheKarnatakagovernment proposed to set up a cloud-based state data centre with an outlay of Rs 590 crore for various departments and . Information technology (IT) is being used extensively in the administration of the state, chief ministerBasavaraj Bommaisaid, adding the security of the administrative system is of extreme priority.

The government proposed to simplify the Professions Tax Act by amending the law.
To provide relief to the lower income class, it is proposed to raise the tax exemption limit from Rs 15,000 to Rs 25,000 per month for salaried or wage-earning employees

The government on Tuesday told the that there is no restriction on wearing hijab but it is subject to institutional curbs and discipline.

Countering the petitioner from Udupi district, who challenged the ban on hijab on campuses, Advocate General Prabhuling Navadgi said the right to wear the headscarf falls under the category of 19(1)(A) and notArticle 25as has been argued by the petitioners.

The Preamble of theKarnataka Education Actprovides for this with a view to maintain a secular perspective, he said. There is institutional discipline. It may be hospitals, schools, military establishments, he added.

The AG said the right to grow a beard in the military has been negated on the ground that institutional discipline bars exhibition of individual choices.

According to him, under Article 19(1)(a), the right to wear the dress as an exercise of freedom of expression is contradictory as there would be persons who do not wish to wear it as well.

Even as the legislators and Speaker Vishweshwara Hegde Kageri admitted that there has been a drop in the quality of debate, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said the government will try to increase the number of days for each of the legislative sessions in 2022.

As decorum within the house went haywire, Speaker Kageri expressed his anguish over members not refraining themselves from speaking out of turn and wasting time, while repeating the same issues time and again.

The anguish was shared by senior legislators like former speaker K RRamesh Kumar, former chief ministers B S Yediyurappa and H D Kumaraswamy and the law minister JC Madhuswamy.