KARNATAKA

Senior advocate KN Phanindra, who is assisting the as amicus curiae in a suo motuPILon the issue, said 91% of households in rural areas and 79% in Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) have been covered under the door-to-door survey till June 2021. This apart, 9,716 children in rural areas and 4,842 in ULBs have never enrolled in school.

The exercise for identifying out-of-school children is stipulated under rule 6 (1) of the Karnataka Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Rules, 2012.

The amicus curiae said so far, 80,59,221 of 88,55,659 families in rural areas have been covered and 32,14,257 out of 34,55,656 children were found to be going to school. In the ULBs, 25,65,309 out of 32,43,590 families (based on properties) have been covered and 9,25,820 children in the age group of 6 to 18 attend classes.

The has allowed free travel for Women under theShakti Yojana, but it is affecting students as authorities are not providing more buses for the transportation of school and college students. Because of this, the students from rural areas will have to travel in crowded buses, which is causing inconvenience to them.

The buses plying via Yaraguppi, Chikkanarthi, Hirenerthi and Benakanahalli route of Kundagol taluk are witnessing heavy rush and having more than the prescribed number of passengers, which has forced school and college students to travel by standing on the footboard or standing in the crowded buses. Due to these problems regularly, the Conductors are said to be forcing students to get down or come by another bus

In four decades,Karnatakas life expectancy at birth has gone down from the second best to the lowest insouth India.

As per Abridged Life Tables 2015-19 of the Sample Registration System (SRS), Karnatakas life expectancy at birth in 1970-75 was 55.2 years, the second highest in South India.Keralahad the highest life expectancy at birth with 75.2 years. AP and TN trailed Karnataka with 48.8 years and 49.6 years, respectively. In 2015-19, all the other south Indian states have left Karnataka behind with 69.5 years of life expectancy at birth.

Tinthani villagepanchayat in Karnataka’sYadgir districthas been declared as the first village panchayat in the state to achieve 100% Covid vaccination.

All 4,200 eligible persons have been vaccinated within its limits in an all-out effort.
Yadgir district is considered one of the most backward districts in Karnataka. However, the District Administration was able to achieve what the authorities of most developed regions, including surrounding district of Bengaluru, could not achieve.

Yadgir is highly under-developed and the Literacy rate is also very low. There were misconceptions about side effects, long-term damage regarding the vaccination as resistance to vaccination was very high. It was then that the district commissioner, R. Raagapriya, decided to have one inspirationalgram panchayatto motivate others to come forward for the vaccination programme.
Tinthani village panchayat was selected and all revenue authorities and tehsildars were sent along with the Health department staff. With door-to- door campaigns 95% of the people were vaccinated.

The deaths ofCovid-19 patients in Chamarajanagarand Kalaburagihospitalsin less than 24 hours due to non-availability of medical Oxygen have exposed the lack of a sturdy distribution mechanism as well as official bungling.

Despite several warnings by Health experts, the government failed to assess the shortage of oxygen and take remedial steps. The response brings to mind a Kannada proverb: digging a well for water when people are dying of thirst.

Its been more than two weeks since hospitals and health experts have repeatedly highlighted scarcity of oxygen and asked the government to ramp up facilities, especially in districts, where cases are rising.

In a bid to ensure smooth supply and prevent pilferage and black-Marketing ofRemdesivir, the government has developed a system that not only informs patients via SMS that a vial has been issued against his/her name but also allows him/her to tip off the state if they dont get the dose.

As on date, of the 3,269 recognised hospitals in the state, 1,276 have already migrated to the online process. On Average, between 210 to 300 hospitals have been placing indents. On Monday (May 10) for instance, 214 hospitals placed indents for 7,182 vials, while it was 278 and 10,292 on Tuesday. As of 6.30pm on Wednesday, 286 hospitals had placed indents for 9,960 vials. Officials estimated that this would go beyond 11,000 by the end of the day.

TheNational Institute of Technology Karnataka(NITK) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with theNational Jute Board(NJB), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, to develop technology to make Geo-Cell products from jute and standardize them for variousengineering applications.

The commercially available polymer-based geo-cells are costly and not readily available in rural areas and small towns. This navigates towards inventing an eco- friendly, cost-effective cellular confinement product that satisfies engineering strength requirements. Jute is a natural material that is plentifully available in India.

Almost 85% of the world’s jute cultivation is concentrated in the Ganges Delta. It is high time that India explores its diverse applications and widens its usage in the form of different products. The project by NITK, Surathkal, proposes a very affordable and eco-friendly method of ground improvement using jute in the form of cells.

With all 11 inland national waterways (NWs) identified by Indias Inland Waterways Authority (IWA) not taking off, the government ofKarnatakahas embarked on the development of an ambitious inter-state waterway betweenMangaluruand Panaji in Goa, to promote tourism, and for affordable passenger and freight transportation.

Though techno-economic feasibility studies have been initiated for the 11 NWs in Karnataka, the has initiated the preparation of a detailed feasibility report (DFR) for the development of an inter-state waterway between Mangaluru and Panaji.

Three firms had expressed interest in the request for proposal from the Karnataka government, floated by the Ports & inland water transport department, directorate of ports and inland water transport. Kalinath Advisors Pvt Ltd have been selected as consultants for the project.

There are seven critical river systems in Karnataka, with a lot of tributaries, but not much progress has been seen in the development of inland waterways for transport, tourism or cargo movement.

The chamber has said the inland water connection of Nethravathi River from Thumbe, that connects Maravoor Bridge via OldPort, and the Mangaluru International Airport, will catalyse Economic Development along the riverbank.

The Karnataka legislative assembly passed the long-pending Bengaluru Metropolitan Land Transport Authority Bill, 2022 that aims to streamline the ill-famed Bengaluru traffic and integrate public transport Services and civic agencies under one roof for effective coordination.

Piloting the bill on CM Basavaraj Bommai’s behalf, law and parliamentary affairs minister JC Madhuswamy said the bill has been drafted to supplement the Centre’s National Urban Transport Policy.