KARNATAKA

Continuing its good run for the third year in a row, IIT-Madras has topped the India Rankings 2021 released by the ministry of Education on Thursday, while Karnataka has improved its performance with one Mangaluru and two Bengaluru colleges breaking into the list of top 100 colleges.

The three colleges which have made the cut are Bengalurus MS Ramaiah College of Arts, Science and Commerce (No. 62) and St Josephs College of Commerce (74) and Mangalurus St Aloysius College (95).

This is the sixth edition of India Rankings instituted by theNational Institutional Ranking Framework(NIRF) by the ministry of education, which now ranks higher education institutions in 11 categories.

IIT-Madras retained top position in the engineering and overall categories. Among the universities, IISc-Bangalore is ranked number one, followed by JNU. In the research category introduced this year, IISc-Bangalore emerged topper and IIT-Madras second.

InKarnataka, theGroundwater Directorateanalyses the water level every month.
The figure pertains to the period between November 2010 and November 2020. Among the 1,316 wells analysed, excess to 4-meter fall in water level was reported only in 1.7% of the wells. Among the wells analysed, 936 witnessed an increase in water level while 370 wells recorded a fall.

Veteran BJP leader and former Union minister Thaawarchand Gehlot on Sunday took oath as the 19th governor of Karnataka succeeding Vajubhai Rudabhai Vala.

The chief of the Karnataka High Court, justice Abhay Shreeniwas Oka, administered him the oath of office and secrecy to Gehlot at the Raj Bhavan in the presence of outgoing governor Vala, chief minister B S Yediyurappa, his cabinet colleagues, MPs, MLAs and senior officials of the State Government.

The 73-year-old Gehlot was the minister for social justice and Empowerment at the centre, and was Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha before assuming the new role in the southern state.

State housing minister B Z Zameer Ahmed Khan proposed that theKarnataka Housing Board(KHB) consider constructing 1,000 villas on 500 acre of land available for the department on the outskirts of Bengaluru. The proposal was mooted at a review meeting of the board and housing department officials.

Justifying the reasons for proposing the villas, Khan has told the officials that Bengaluru has gained a lot of international reputation and a large number of industrialists and VVIPs come from abroad looking to stay in the city vicinity permanently.
It is said the proposal looks to construct 250 villas in all five directions of Bengaluru and as much as 10,000 sqft palatial houses can be offered for the purpose. He specified that the villas must be located amidst nature.

The announced a second COVID-19 relief package of 500 crore, largely for the unorganised sectors impacted by the lockdown imposed in the State since April 27.

Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said relief of 3,000 each would be given to power looms weavers, with a maximum of two workers per loom. Around 59,000 power looms are to benefit. Unorganised workers of the film and television Industry would get 3,000 each relief. This will benefit 22,000 registered workers, he said.

AsKarnatakais battling the second wave of the pandemic, chief minister BSYediyurappa announced a over Rs 1,250 crore financial package, to provide relief for those whose livelihood has been affected by Covid-19 inducedlockdown.

Despite that, as the current restrictions have affected the livelihood of those in unorganised sector and farmers, to mitigate its impact, we are announcing a relief programme of over Rs 1,250 crore.

He said Rs 2,000 each will be given to those under unorganised sector like barbers, washermen, tailor, ragpickers, household workers, cobblers, among others, benefiting 3.04 lakh people, and will cost about Rs 60.89 crore.

Roadside vendors, those registered under “Aatmanirbhar” package will be given Rs 2,000 each, he said adding that it will benefit about 2.20 lakh people and cost Rs 44 crore.
Also artists and art teams will be given Rs 3,000 each, benefiting 16,095 benificiers and will cost Rs 4.82 crore.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Saturday launched a scheme to door deliver basic revenue documents such as caste certificates, income certificates, and land records (RTCs).

After the launch of the programme at Chickballapur, the Chief Minister said, It is a pity that people, particularly farmers, have been made to run from pillar to post to get basic documents such as RTCs and other records. Under the programme, records would be delivered on the doorstep of people for free.

The Chief Minister said a sum of 1,050 crore had been set aside in the State Budget for the Raitha Shakthi programme which would help farmers having landholdings upto 5 acres as aid to purchase diesel and hire farm equipment.

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, the petitioner states.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai said, We are introducing the scheme Beyond Bengaluru, for shifting some industries to the NorthKarnataka(NK) region, which will help to create jobs for local youths.

He said the Union Government has formulated an ethanol policy, by keeping in mind the overall perspective of environmental protection, economic activity, and farmers welfare. Karnataka is on its path to getting the maximum benefit from it. Ethanol units have been set up in some sugar factories. A provision has been made for the production of ethanol from maize and paddy. Farmers can get a good price for their produce, when it is processed and value added to it.