KARNATAKA

The ordered notice to the State Government in a Public Interest Litigation seeking implementation of National e-Vidhan (NeVA) application in the state.

NeVA is a work-flow system developed by the Centre to enable smooth conduct of legislative proceedings and house business in a paperless manner. A division bench headed by Chief Justice Prasanna B Varale directed the government to submit its response by the next date of hearing.

The Central government sponsored scheme, NeVA, which envisages to cover all state assemblies has a total comprehensive outlay of Rs 674 crore as against Karnatakas scheme which covers only the states assembly and council with an outlay of Rs 254crore.

Incidents of rape against minors and child marriages have surged exponentially from 2018 to 2021 in the state, setting alarm bells ringing about the safety of kids. Rapes against Women have also gone up.

According to data tabled in the legislative council during the , cases of rape against children have increased from 1,410 to 1,761 (25%) from 2018 to this year. Activists say the actual number is more as many cases go unreported in rural areas. Cases of child marriage have jumped 200% (from 74 to 223) in the state in the corresponding period, raising questions about functioning of child protection units in districts and the women and child welfare department.

Activists say kids became more vulnerable during the pandemic due to the lockdown assaults (other than rape) against kids increased by 8%. Rapes against women saw a 4% rise, going up from 486 in 2018 to 507 in 2021.

Child marriage incidents have been on the rise since 2018 with 74 cases registered that year, 108 in 2019, 180 in 2020 and 223 in 2021. The increase during the pandemic has not been addressed. The data also shows that cases underJuvenile Justice Actincreased from 50 in 2018 to 67 in 2021.

The government has decided to allow takeover or sale of sick industries in the state if the unit used 51% of its allotted land, ran for two years or more, and cleared all government dues before going sick.

Currently, neither sale nor takeover of sick industries is permitted till their lease-to-sale period of 10 years (earlier it was 99 years) is over. As a result, owners of thousands of sick industries were in a fix as they had no right over the property.

The state has also decided to reduce the amount to be deposited by industrialists from the existing 40% to 25% of the total land cost at the time of issuance of preliminary notification.

The delay by the department of Kannada and culture in finalising the tune to which Kuvempus Naada Geethe (state anthem) is to be set has drawn criticism afresh from writers and litterateurs across the state. The department has been dragging its feet to finalise the official tune for the anthem Jaya Bharata Jananiya (Hail, Daughter of Mother India) for the past 17 years.

The department constituted two panels to decide the tune. While the first committee was reportedly in favour of Mysuru Ananthaswamy composition, the second one was believed to have leaned towards C Ashwaths version. Another committee constituted more recently and headed by senior music artiste HR Leelavathi, meanwhile, has recommended Ananthaswamys composition.

The Karnataka Religious Structures (Protection) Bill 2021 envisages providing protection to all religious structures, including temples, churches, mosques, gurudwaras and other major religious constructions, in public places which have come up without the requisite sanction from competent authorities.

While the bill aims at protecting illegal religious structures built before the date of its enactment, it also seeks to prevent construction of illegal shrines in public places such as roads, streets, parks and playgrounds.

Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa announced his resignation from the top post on 26 July 2021, when his government completed 2 years in the state after being elected to power in the year 2019. The 78-year-old Yediyurappa, often called BSY, served as the 19th Chief Minister of Karnataka. BSY had served as the chief minister of Karnataka for four terms and was the only chief minister to serve 4 terms in Karnataka HISTORY.

Chief minister Siddaramaiah is expected to enhance the outlay of the state budget to Rs 3. 2 lakh crore and is Banking heavily on robust Growth in tax collection, especially commercial taxes.

Siddaramaiah, who will present the budget on July 7, held a pre-budget meeting with all revenueearning departments, including commercial taxes, excise, transport, and stamps and registration. The focus was on mobilisation of Resources to fund the governing partys five guarantee schemes.

In a boost for the government, all revenue heads, which exceeded targets in 2022-23, are showing a bullish trend for the current fiscal. This will give Siddaramaiah ample headroom to enhance targets.

For instance, the commercial taxes department mopped up over Rs 1 lakh crore in 2022-23 as against the original target of Rs 72,000 crore. Signs of phenomenal growth began showing as early as in thesecond quarter. Then chief ministerBasavaraj Bommai, who held the finance portfolio had revised the target to Rs 84,000 crore. But the department exceeded even that, despite the Centre endingGSTcompensation (Rs 16,277 crore) in June 2022.

This has enthused Siddaramaiah who is said to be mulling hiking revenue targets for commercial taxes, which includes GST (goods and Services tax),KST(Karnataka sales tax) on petrol and diesel, and professionaltax, to Rs 1. 1 lakh crore. This means the department will have to mop up about Rs 23,851 crore more than what it collected in 2022-23.

Having received a rude shock earlier this year with one of the majorelectric vehicle(EV) investments inOlato neighbouringTamil Nadu, theKarnatakagovernment on Thursday decided to revisit the 2017 EV andEnergystorage policy to provide a more competitive deal to retain promised investments and attract new investors.

The at its cabinet meeting decided to amend the 2017 policy by providing a substantial amount of sops including a 15 percent reimbursement on value of fixed assets (VFA), production linked subsidy and a training stipend.

The 2017 policy also spoke of providing a 50 per cent coverage on stipend for in-plant training provided by the EV manufacturers in the state to a maximum of Rs 10,000 per month per trainee for 50 trainees.

Cracking down on schools without valid permits, thedepartment of school educationand Literacy has given 45 days’ time to these institutions to get the necessary permits.

About 1,600 schools inKarnatakahave been identified as lacking the required permits for functioning.

Following the incident, the Education department asked the deputy directors of public instruction to compile the number of schools that do not have valid recognition.

Five entrants have joined the growing league ofprivate/deemed universities in Karnataka, with the giving the go-ahead in a notification issued on April 16.

The five universities St Josephs, New Horizon, Sri Jagadguru Murugarajendra, Vidyashilp and Atria will now be allowed to expand their campuses and launch new courses. Murugarajendra University will be based out of Chitradurga, about 200km from here, and the other four will be in Bengaluru.

As per the law, any private/deemed university applicant needs 25 acres of land and at least 3,000 students on its campus. With the newNational Education Policy, these requirements may be diluted due to the growing cost of land and increased need of practical courses.