KARNATAKA

Only 13% of government schools (upper primary to higher secondary) inKarnataka, Home to the countrys IT capital, haveICTlabs, says the latest U-DISE (Unified District Information System for Education) data released by the ministry of school education and Literacy on Thursday. Worse, the Percentage of government schools with a functional ICT (Information & Communication Technology) lab is just 7%.

However, Karnatakas education department said the figures are not updated. The data could be reflecting only labs built using government funds. Almost all schools have labs through donors or other means. Last year alone, 764 schools were given permission. Due to Covid-19, we could implement it only in 502 schools thus far.

Kannada film starPuneeth Rajkumar, who passed away following cardiac arrest a fortnight ago, will be conferred Karnataka Ratna, the highest civilian honour in the state.

The award has been given to nine achievers ever since it was instituted three decades ago.Puneethis the second Personality from the Kannada film after his father and superstar Dr Rajkumar to be given the award.

CM Basavaraj Bommai made the announcement during Puneeth Namana, a tribute to the actor organized by the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce.

According to the Karnataka Women and child welfare department, 2,074 child marriages were prevented between February and November 2020 when Covid-19 pandemic was at its peak. The highest number of child marriages averted was in Ballari (218), followed by Mysuru (177), Belagavi (131) and Chikkaballapura and Chitradurga (107 each). In the same period, 20 child marriages cases were prevented in Bengaluru.

In the same period, FIRs were registered in 108 child marriages across the state. As per data, the highest number of child marriages were conducted in Hassan (26), followed by Mandya (25), Mysuru (24), Belagavi (19) and Ramanagara (13). In Bengaluru city, five child marriages were held in the same period.

According to data from theministry of Environment, forestsand https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change, more than 13.3 lakh hectares of forests are under encroachment across the country.

Of this, Karnataka alone has 83,092.3 hectares, which, according to local authorities, includes families occupying forests without permission. Heres some perspective: The extent of forest area under encroachment is more than the size of Bengaluru the city has a land area of about 74,000 hectares and more than four times the size ofMysuru.

In Karnataka, the issue of forest encroachment has for long been both a critical and sensitive one. While there are encroachments for commercial activity, the other, more sensitive type of encroachment, has been by families living in areas they shouldnt.

As per Union ministry data, of 13.3 lakh hectares, more than 40% of the encroachment is in Madhya Pradesh, followed by Assam, which accounts for 27% of the encroached land. Although Karnatakas share is much less around 6% compared to these two states, it occupies the third place, followed byMaharashtraand Arunachal Pradesh.

The KarnatakaRajya RaithaSangha (KRRS) and Hasiru Sene activists staged a dharna near old deputy commissioners office in the city on Thursday urging the to repealKarnatakaPrevention of Slaughter and Preservation of Cattle Act, 2020. The protesters said the Act is detrimental to the interests of farmers to take care of aged cattle.
They also asked the government to withdraw the three controversial farm laws the Farmers Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Act, 2020, the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement on Price Assurance and Farm Services Act, 2020, and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Act (ECA), 2020.

Citizens and Environmentalists are combat towards the notion to clear over 6,000 trees in Singanayakanahalli to construct a lake under Hebbal-Nagawara Valley Project with the aid of Minor Irrigation Department in Karnataka.

Highlights:

Forest Department, in a latest notification, proposed to felled 6,316 timber to advance Singanayakanahalli lake, Yelahanka hobli, due to the fact they are coming in way of this project.

Hebbal-Nagawara Valley Project: This challenge was launched with the aim of filling 65 tanks in Bengaluru Urban, Rural and Chickballapur. Bagaluru lake was the first lake to obtain handled water from this project.

The mission was once intended to act as an impounded reservoir to furnish water in 11 different lakes in this region. Direct use of handled water for ingesting and agricultural purposes used to be prohibited but farmers have been of the view that, task is growing the water table. Activists are questioning the need and good judgment of casting off such big quantity of trees.

Hebbal Lake:The lake is located in Bangalore at the mouth of National Highway 7, close to the junction of Bellary Road & Outer Ring Road. These lakes had been created in 1537 with the aid of Kempe Gowda. It used to be shaped by using damming herbal valley systems. It spreads over a place of 75 ha with plans for extending it up to 143 ha.

In a huge blow to farmers inKarnataka, milk unions have decided to slash purchase price by Rs 1.5 per litre from June 1, owing to plummeting consumption amid the pandemic-induced lockdown.

Ironically, low demand has been compounded by a glut in production because of decent rains. The Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF), the apex body of milk unions, receives about 87 lakh litres daily as against normal inflow of 73 lakh litres. Daily sales, on the other hand, have dipped from 60 lakh to 49 lakh litres.

KMF, which is under pressure to continue procurement, has appealed to the Centre to allow milk unions to borrow under the interest subvention scheme on the lines of its package for last years lockdown when the milk unions availed Rs 800 crore.

After completing the work of survey and markings for its Kalasa project,Karnatakahas now successfully carried out the survey and markings for itsBhanduraproject as well. Both projects will help Karnataka divert water from the tributaries of Goas lifeline, the Mhadei river, into the neighbouring statesMalaprabha basin.

After carrying out a survey and completing markings for its Kalasa project, Karnataka had submitted its detailed project report to the Central Water Commission and received approval for damming and diversion of the Kalasa nullah at Kankumbi and Haltara nullah at Chorla, very close to Goas border.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai assured that theKodava development board, which has been a long-pending demand of the community, will be set up soon. He was speaking after inaugurating aKodavahockey family tournament at the General Thimmaiah Stadium inNapoklu.

The CM, who started his speech in Kodava language, said the Kodava culture is unique. “The Kodava family hockey tournament binds families and is one of a kind event in the world,” Bommai said.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai unveiled the logo and mascot for the National Youth Festival, which is set to take place in Hubballi-Dharwad from January 12 to 16.

The virtual event was attended by Union coal, mining, and parliamentary affairs minister Pralhad Joshi, Union minister for youth Empowerment and Sports Anurag Singh Thakur, and Karnataka minister for youth empowerment and sports Dr C Narayana Gowda.

The CM thanked the Government of India for allowing Karnataka to host this year’s National Youth Festival and Khelo India University Sports meet. The state has made all arrangements to host the youth festival on a grand scale.