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.

Amid the kickbacks controversy, the government has decided to use new-age technology to ensure transparency in the tendering process. This is to track every authenticated vendor/contractor before allocating new projects.

Over the years, incomplete or pending public projects have resulted in several private firms being blacklisted from applying for government tenders. Yet, the same companies shift their base to other states to apply afresh for new projects and continue to misuse public funds without adequate expertise or track record, sources say.

Using crypto technology, theCentre for Smart Governancehas developed a vendor blockchain that will keep a chronological record of every vendor/contractor who has registered on theKarnatakae-procurement portal or in any other state, and intends to bid for a project.

The government plans to complete the repository of vendors registered on the e-procurement portal after securing their Consent. Once the vendor agrees to be part of the blockchain, all his records will be available to tender-inviting parties. It will also help the vendor prove his antecedents without having to run from pillar to post for a physical completion certificate and letter of recommendation from his previous employer, said the official.

The CSG will try to get on board other state governments and tender-inviting agencies across the country, so that more stakeholders will utilise the blockchain.

AmmanigonduPustaka, an initiative started by a librarian in a remote village panchayat, has now become a state-wide campaign. This is thanks toSavithriram Kanemaradka, the librarian at Mandekolou village panchayat. She started the Ammanigondu Pustaka concept to pique interest among the younger generation to read books.

As per the circular from the panchayat raj department, the children must read the book along with their parents, after borrowing it from the local panchayat library.

There are no storage facilities for solar power, and the government finds it difficult to fulfil the rigid requirements of PPAs that were signed long back. At the same time, it has to utilise funds to keep conventional sources alive as a backup.

The energy department is working on a plan to utilise solar power for the operation of Irrigation pumpsets, offset must-use clauses in long-term PPAs and reduce power subsidies provided to farmers. There are two mechanisms. One is the old scheme of offline solar pumpsets. The other one that is being looked into is supplying solar power directly to Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture feeder lines rather than merging with commercial and domestic lines.

The has embarked upon a new Industrial Policy which is focusing on development of the Bengaluru-Mumbai Industrial Corridor. This corridor passes through Dharwad. As the district has ample scope for major players to set up their Plants here, 5,200 acres of land is being acquired for the purpose.

With this, Dharwad will be redesigned as one of the biggest industrial clusters and would open abundant opportunities for youth to get EMPLOYMENT.

Meanwhile, AequsSEZPrivate Limited is developing a Consumer Electronics and Durable Goods (CEDG) cluster on 350 acres in Itigatti-Gamanagatti area between Hubballi and Dharwad, with an Investment of Rs 3,524 crore, and will create around 20,000 jobs.
The cluster has the status of a Special Economic Zone and provides plug-and-play Infrastructure to other companies, both domestic and foreign.

Apart from concessions and subsidies in the new industrial policy and SEZ norms, the state government has extended more benefits to Aequs, such as 25% capital investment subsidy and 20% for other companies investing there, besides deferring payment for land.

Though thebudgetpresented by CMSiddaramaiahhas focused on fulfilling the guarantee schemes, it has ensured that it is under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, saidKarnatakaRajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) president Badagalapura Nagendra.

Welcoming the decision to increase the zero-interest loan to Rs 5 lakh for the farmers, he said that the scale of finance must also be increased for the farmers to reap the benefits of the scheme.
Stating that the farmers were ready to provide rice for the AnnaBhagyascheme, Nagendra added that the government must pay the farmers as per MSP, which would be Rs 5 more than the Rs 34 fixed by the .

KRRS has no objection to authorities taking up the modernisation of Visvesvaraya Canal (VC canal) but asked theCauveryNeeravari Nigam to use latest technologies to modernise the canal without disturbing the flow of water. Farmers should not be made to suffer, Nagendra said.

The Covid-induced lockdown imposed for prolonged periods has dealt a massive blow to the fortunes of thousands of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs), with many of them staring into endless pits of despair.

Despite the restrictions being eased gradually and the government permitting the units to resume operations, these enterprises continue to face a host of other problems, ranging from lack of skilled manpower to the inflated price of raw materials. In Dharwad, Dakshina Kannada and Mysuru districts, more than 40,000 MSMEs have been identified whose productivity has suffered.

Although some MSMEs involved in the food and condiments sector registered a spurt in demand for their products, they were unable to exploit the opportunity to their benefit owing to the labour crunch.

A study conducted by LocalCircles, a community Social Media platform that encourages citizens to strive for policy changes, found that 7% of the participants fromKarnatakaended up wasting 50-70% of the drugs they had purchased in the past three years, whereas 9% did not use 30-50% of the medicines they bought some of them expired and had to be thrown away.

Drug wastage, to a great extent, can be avoided. For instance, 47% of the participants from Karnataka attribute it to chemists selling a higher minimum quantity than what is required. E-pharmacies also sell a higher minimum quantity than what is needed.

These strips will have manufacturing and expiry dates on each segment, making it easier to sell the remaining medicine and avoid wastage. The possibility of printing QR code on each tablet is also being explored.

Former speaker of theKarnatakalegislative assembly Krishna, popularly known asKR Pete Krishna, died at hisMysururesidence on Friday, sources close to him said.

Krishna had served as animal husbandry and sericulture minister in SR Bommai cabinet and had represented KR Pete assembly constituency thrice in 1985, 1994 and 2004 from Janata Party,Janata Daland JD(S).

He had represented the Mandya Lok Sabha seat in 1996 and served as the speaker of Karnataka legislative assembly from 2004-08.

Nearly 2,000 projects in industrial areas developed by theKarnataka Industrial Areas Development Board(KIADB) have failed to take off, even past the deadline to start work, while more than 13,000 are currently under way.

Data from the state industries department show that across the 199 industrial areas developed by KIADB, more than 21,569 units have been allotted land in excess of 35,949.3 acres. Of these, 3,579 units are spread across 5,556.9 acres in 16 estates across Bengaluru Urban district, while there are other units in Bengaluru Rural, Tumakuru and Mysuru districts.

Data show that while 13,464 units are currently being worked on, there are 1,995 units for which the deadline for implementation has already expired.
District-wise data for units that have failed to take off reveal that maximum number of these units (322) are in estates in Tumakuru, followed by Bengaluru Rural (288), Kalaburagi (207), Dharwad (184) and Gadag (138), implying that government’s efforts to take industries to tier two and three towns needs a more focused approach.