KARNATAKA

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.

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation(KSRTC) has so far received 257 Awards, the highest among state transport undertakings (STUs) in the country.

The awards have been conferred for reasons like maximum improvement in mileage, minimum operational costs, oil conservation, road safety, lowest accident rate, Intelligent Transport System, vehicle-tracking system and low-floor buses.

While public transport is not meant to be profitable, the government is responsible for supporting STUs in terms of carbon credits they accrue, by reducing the number of private vehicles. Fewer private vehicles on roads translates into less traffic, pollution and accidents.

Keeping up with the times, government school children of classes 8 and 9 in Karnataka will get a chance to learn coding. Thanks to a memorandum signed by Samagra Shikshana Karnataka (SSK) and British Council, children at 100 schools will be taught coding skills to begin with.
Under the pilot project, 200 teachers from 100 schools will be trained in TEACHING digital and coding skills using physical Micro:bit, a pocket-sized computer. The teachers, in turn, will train around 3,500 students this academic year.

The teachers will receive a three-day face-to-face training that will be delivered by British Council trainers using material provided by Micro:bit Foundation, a non-profit organisation.

As per the Unified District Information System of Education for 2021-22, around 81% of schools in the state have computer facility. But less than 7% of government schools in the state have a functional ICT (Information and Communication Technology) lab.

The Education department has intensified its survey of out-of-school children and those hwo were never enrolled across the state.

The department has found that 64,003 children were out of school for the 202223 academic year. For this reason, the department decided to conduct an extensive survey till January 5.

All steps will be taken regarding activities to be carried out in the district, taluk cluster, school, and residential areas for children to get enrolled.

The district has found 375 children who never joined any school and 216 children who took transfer certificates before COVID-19 and did not get admission in any school in the district. The department has formed teams to find out about these children.

According to the SATS statistics, more children were found to be out of school.

The state education department will get a clearer picture about the children, said Samagar Shikshan Karnataka assistant project coordinator and nodal officer Prakash Bhutali.