KARNATAKA

The said the government has to decide to reintroduce midday meals from April 15, as long as classes 6-10 students are going to school.

Earlier, in its status report, the government said it will continue providing Food Security allowance to students in the form of foodgrains, keeping in view the second wave of the pandemic. It said cooking and serving meals on school premises would lead to more Covid-19 infections.

As for providing meals at Anganwadi centres, the government said a decision will be taken as per the advice of the Health and family welfare departments technical advisory committee.

The Total Fertility Rate (TFR) Average number of children a woman would have in the course of her life in Karnataka has fallen faster than the trend observed nationally.

When the countrys TFR was 3.4 in 1992-93, Karnatakas was 2.65. Thirteen years later in 2005-06, the States TFR had dipped below replacement (the rate at which the Population replaces itself) at 2.1. It further dipped to 1.8 in 2015-16 and 1.7 in 2019-21 signifying that the fertility drop has not levelled off yet, according to observations made in the Karnataka Economic Survey 2021-22, which was released recently.

With the Percentage of registration for both births and deaths increasing across India, the steep fertility decline is consistent.Data from the survey revealed that the estimated births and gross of infant mortality deaths is stagnating for the last five years, and possibly declining. The total number of deaths in the country is also increasing.

Growing demand for jaggery and jaggery-based products, thanks to rising awareness about healthy lifestyles, and widespread adulteration of the item have prompted the commerce and industries department to contemplate regulating the sector and set standards.

A state-level coordination committee will meet this week to decide on conferring the ” tag on the sector.

Given jaggery has a higher nutritional value than sugar, its consumption will only increase with the rising focus on sustainable lifestyle. While India is the biggest exporter of jaggery, Karnataka being the third biggest sugarcane growing state should have cashed in on the advantages that jaggery production offers. However, lack of the authorities focus has cost Karnataka dear as can be seen by the fall in jaggery production in Mandya. An industry tag will certainly go a long way in not only reviving the sector but also generating jobs. It will bring the units under regulatory control so that quality can be ensured and adulteration checked.

The Karnataka Government won’t accept applications for Rajyotsava Awards from 2023. Instead, a panel is to be found to settle on the eligible candidates.

Highlights:

The government is following in the footsteps of the central government. The central government chooses the Padma awardees by itself.

No applications are received from the candidates. The award is additionally called Rajyotsava Prahasti.

It’s the second-highest civilian award within the state presented on November 1. The award carries one lakh rupees and a trophy (20 grams).

Between 1966 and 1972, it had been called the Mysore State Award.

The awards are presented to distinguished individuals in drugs, Sports, science, arts, , Education, public affairs, welfare work.

The government said nearly 25% of its target Population of teenagers in the 15-17 years age group have been inoculated with the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The target population for the vaccination drive, is an estimated 31.7 lakh children, most of whom are school students.

Data from the state Health department showed just under eight lakh children were administered the first dose as on Tuesday evening.

The highest Percentage of doses administered was recorded in Chamarajanagar district with 42% (19,322 out of 45,474 children) and the lowest coverage was reported in Gadag district, where only 10% (5,578 out of 55,880) took the shot.

The other top districts in terms of percentage coverage are Uttar Kannada (40%), Bagalkot (40%), Belagavi (36%) and Ballari (36%). Shivamogga (17%), Kalaburagi (16%), Ramanagara (16%) are at the bottom of the table. While Bangalore Urban has vaccinated 25% of its target population (14,800 out of 60,065), Bangalore Rural has reached 20% (9,869 out of 48,865).

The state will emerge as the topper in manufacturing of semiconductors and chips in the coming years, akill development minister Dr CN Ashwath Narayan said

currently Taiwan is the topper in manufacturing of semiconductors and chips. Now Karnataka is focused in that sector. Karnataka is the only state where Skill development training is being provided for non-technical students too.

In a bid to check the spread of Covid-19, especiallyOmicron, the variant of concern, the is planning to increase the number of genome sequencing labs across the state.
Chief minister BasavarajBommai said he has spoken to Health department officials about stepping up Infrastructure for sequencing. He said the authorities are conducting genome sequencing of every case reported in the state. The health department has commenced work to increase the numbers of such labs to tide over the anticipated crisis, he added.

Despite a recommendation to the contrary, the has decided to merge all four state-run road transport corporations to plug operational losses and increase efficiency.

KarnatakaState Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) Staff and Workers Federation, for years, has been demanding a merger with Bangalore Metro Transport Corporation (BMTC), North Western Karnataka RTC (NWKRTC) and Kalyana Karnataka RTC (KKRTC).

It was even one of the demands made to the MR Srinivasa Murthy committee which was set up by the government in November 2021 to recommend measures to restructure and revive ailing RTCs. However, the one-man committee reportedly rejected the merger demand.