KARNATAKA

Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai announced that the high-powered committee of central government gave national project statusto Upper Bhadra Project.

This is the first project from state to getthis status.

This status of national project will change Irrigation scenario of
central Karnataka.

It will help the state in getting Rs 12,500 crore from the Centre.

It will speed up the ambitious irrigation project and help in transforming central Karnataka from being water scarce to water rich state.

Upper Bhadra Project

This project was launched with the aim of irrigating 2,25,515 hectares by means of micro-irrigation in drought-prone districts of Chitradurga, Chikkamagaluru, Davangere and Tumakuru. It will fill up 367 tanks under drought prone taluks of three districts through Chitradurga and Tumakuru branch canals. This project was launched with the objective of providing sustainable irrigation facility in Kharif season. Its other objectives include recharging groundwater table and diluting chemical contaminants of which Fluoride is predominant. It is worth Rs 16,125 crore project.

The Upper Bhadra Project is being undertaken by Visvesvaraya Jala Nigam Ltd. It is a major lift irrigation scheme under implementation in Karnataka. In the first stage, this project would lift water, from Tunga to Bhadra. While in second stage, it would life water from Bhadra reservoir and provide it to a tunnel near Ajjampura. Water will be provided through gravity canal in Tungabhadra sub-basin of Krishna basin.

Karnatakahas joined other states in trying to attract electric majorTeslaby extending an invitation to its billionaire-founder and CEO ElonMusk.

, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab and Tamil Nadu have already invited Musk to set up shop.

In January 2021, Tesla registered its office in Bengaluru as Tesla India Motors & Energy Pvt Ltd and named three directors. The firm is registered with an authorised capital of Rs 15 lakh and paid-up capital of Rs 1 lakh.

The state cabinet approved the Karnataka State Sandalwood Policy 2022. The government plans to introduce the policy soon. Currently, farmers must provide details on the number of saplings they intend to plant and secure permission from the department to cut the trees. Farmers are allowed to sell sandalwood logs only at the depots run by the forest department. Health ministerK Sudhakar, who briefed reporters after the meeting, said sandalwood is in high demand in both domestic and international markets.

They will insert microchips in trees to help track them even if they are stolen, the minister said. The cabinet also gave approval to construct a new campus for Rajiv Gandhi University of Health Sciences (RGUHS) at Archakarahalli, near Ramanagara town, at a cost of Rs 600 crore.

In a positive sign forKarnataka, the number of children in the 6-14 age group, who are not enrolled in school, dropped to 1.6% in 2021 from 6.2% in 2020. However, the number is still much higher than pre-Covid days when only 0.7% of children were out of school.

Data from the Annual Status of Education Report (ASER) 2021, shows 1.6% boys and 1.7% girls in Karnataka are not enrolled in school. The figure was 6.4% and 5.9%, respectively in 2020. Nationally, there is no change in Percentage terms in the number (4.6%) who are not in school.

he report specifically highlights Migration of children from private to government schools. The report says 8.3% children moved to government schools in Karnataka, taking the total to 77% the seventh highest among states. The largest migration was inUttarPradesh (13.2%),Kerala(12%), Nadu(10%) andRajasthan(9%).

The increase is most striking in the lowest grades. For example, admissions in government schools rose by more than 10% points from 2020 to 2021 among boys in classes 1 and 2. Boys are more likely to be enrolled in private schools than girls. TOI had reported the trend in mid-2020.

The coconut processing centre set up by a cooperative Society at Munachanahalli in Chamarajanagar taluk will soon be extended at a cost of Rs 4.5 crore. A decision to this effect was taken by the board of directors of the unit at the recently held general meeting.

The unit, which has a capacity of processing 50,000 coconuts per day, provides jobs to around 250 people. Local growers formed a cooperative association and established this processing unit under Chamarajanagar Coconut Growers Association 20 years ago. More than 13,000 farmers of the district are cultivating coconut on 26,000 hectares using Irrigation pump sets in Hanur, Kollegal, Yelandur and Gundlupet taluks.

The had sanctioned Rs 3.5 crore for the unit in the 2010-11 budget to help the Association to set up their unit at Munanchanahalli village to ensure Marketing facilities for local coconut growers.

Besides these restrictions, the ban on serving liquor in pubs and closure of swimming pools will remain in force till September 28. However, the has authorised deputy commissioners to lift weekend curfew if the test positivity rate (TPR) is less than 2%.
Stakeholders had hoped curbs would be lifted as the pandemic situation has improved significantly. TPR is below 2% in all 31 districts the state Average is around 0.6% and the number of new daily cases has slid below the 1,000-mark.

Only one Kannada film, Lanke, was released in the past three months and only 60 of 630 single-screen theatres in the state have reopened. Representatives say the Kannada film Industry has suffered a loss of Rs 4,500 crore so far.

The Health and family welfare department has urged the over 28 lakh people in Karnataka who have recovered from Covid-19 to undergo voluntary testing to rule out tuberculosis infection. The is conducting a special TB test drive across Karnataka from August 16 to August 31.

Since 2017, a total of 75 lakh people have been mapped under a TB surveillance programme and more than 60,000 of them were tested for TB. About 3.9 % were found infected. However, TB tests have reduced during the pandemic, Sudhakar said. The central government has set a deadline of 2025 to rid the country of TB.