KARNATAKA

Guest lecturers, who have been saddled with 15 hours of work, instead of the earlier eight hours, are upset over the states new policy. More importantly, they say half of the guest lecturers TEACHING in undergraduate or postgraduate colleges across the state, will lose their jobs.

The has decided to increase the monthly honorarium to Rs 26,000 to 28,000 from Rs 11,000 for guest lecturers. Those candidates who have cleared UGC-NET or completed their PhD, will be paid Rs 30,000 to Rs 32,000 (Rs 13,000 earlier salary).Karnatakahas around 14,000 guest faculty.

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.

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.

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

Karnataka achieved a vaccination milestone with 50% of its targeted Population fully vaccinated against Covid-19. Of the nearly 4.9 crore persons aged 18 years and above and identified as eligible, nearly 2.5 crore persons have been given both doses.

The highest second-dose coverage is reported from Bengaluru Urban district at 77%, followed byKodaguat 60% and BBMP at 59%.

The Health department has instructed district-level authorities to engage with prominent doctors, religious leaders, Sports personalities and elected representatives during the campaign.

The number of beneficiaries of GramaOne, theflagship programmeofKarnataka governmentthat delivers citizen Services at the doorsteps of villagers, has crossed the one-crore mark.

The milestone has been recorded within ten months of the launch of programme, which was intended to help rural residents in availing of multiple government services without having to travel long distances to visit the district headquarters, taluk office and hobli centres to get their official work done. Currently, about 800 services including G2C (government to citizens), B2C (business to citizens),Banking services, and RTI (Right To Information) queries are being delivered through the 7,112 GramaOne centres across the state.

Former Karnataka chief ministerSiddaramaiah said BJP leader Rama Jois filed a in theSupreme Courtchallenging reservation to backward classes, dalits and Women in local bodies. RSS leaders are against reservation and their hidden agenda is to change the Indian Constitution.

Siddaramaiah said the Central and state governments must conduct a caste census to ensure government facilities to people.

Government schools inKarnatakaare short of 17,258 rooms, the legislative assembly was informed last week. The rooms includes separate chambers for teachers and headmasters and offices as mandated by the Right to Education (RTE) rules.

Replying to an unstarred question seeking details of classroom shortage on July 6, school education and Literacy ministerMadhuBangarappa said there is a requirement of over 17,000 rooms and to make up, under Viveka Yojane, 6,601 classrooms were sanctioned in schools in 2022-23. While the required fund for the project was Rs 943 crore, Rs 469 crore was released last year. This year, Rs 30 crore has been released as the first instalment.

Additionally, he said, Rs 48 crore was released for repairing 1,878 schoolrooms last academic year. In yet another project, under the Samagra Shikshana Karnataka plan, Rs 50 crore has been released for building 274 classrooms and toilets at 39 Karnataka Public Schools. Gram panchayats have been given the freedom to use funds under theMahatma Gandhi National Rural EMPLOYMENT Guarantee Actto build and maintain classrooms.

As per the data, Chitradurga needs 1,664 classrooms the biggest requirement among all educational districts. Vijayanagara needs 1,159 rooms, Davanagere 1,160, Vijayapura 1,144 rooms, Kalaburagi 1,025 and Raichur 1,023. Belagavi (574) and Belagavi Chikkodi (500) are the other educational districts with much shortage. Bengaluru Rural and Bengaluru North need 200 rooms.

The Karnataka government is planning to introduce the Model Tenancy Act in the state, aimed at ending tenant-owner disputes within two months and aiding the rental housing sector.

Revenue minister R Ashoka told reporters here on Thursday that 2-3 lakh houses in Bengaluru are vacant as on date and said the tweaked tenancy law once brought in will help owners get tenants and rentals will soften a bit.

The Centre sent the law to states either to enact fresh legislation based on the template or suitably amend the existing laws.

Road Transport Corporations (RTCs) in Karnataka have estimated that about 1.2 crore Women may apply for smart cards in order to avail the newly-launched ‘Shakti’ scheme that guarantees free travel for women on all state-run buses.

On the launch day of the scheme, more than 5.7 lakh women took free rides on buses operated by the four RTCs from 1 pm to midnight. The free rides cost the RTCs around Rs 1.4 crore.

Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation(BMTC) accounted for the highest number of women passengers at more than two lakh, who took free rides, while free ridership was lowest forKalyana KarnatakaRTC at 50,000-plus.

For tour guides, the pandemic seems to have left them in one of those deep, dark tunnels that they once led eager tourists through one with no end in sight. However, there now is some Light.

Sudha Murty, philanthropist andInfosys Foundationchairperson, has donated Rs 10,000 each to around 300 tourist guides from seven different heritage hubs across the state. The is being directly transferred to the bank accounts of recognised tourist guides in Hampi, Belur, Halebid, Badami,Aihole, Pattadakal and Chitradurga.

The local economy in these places relies heavily on tourism, and incomes of thousands of people are determined by tourist in-flow