KARNATAKA

Several states includingKarnatakahave urged the Centre to enact a law to ban online gaming with stakes, alleging that the practice was ruining lives of people, especially youngsters. The demand was made during the two-day conference of law ministers and secretaries of all states in October.

In February this year, the Karnataka struck down the Karnataka Police (Amendment) Act 2021 that prohibited and criminalised online games with stakes. The court held that although poles apart in nature, the law puts games of skill on par with games of chance. The court also observed that the government enacted the law without the support of any study to understand the ill effects of online gaming.

To bring transparency and avoid irregularities in the tendering of government works, theKarnatakagovernment has decided to subject tenders costing Rs 50 crore and above to scrutiny by an independent committee headed by a retired judge of the .
The state cabinet took a decision in this regard at its meeting here on Monday. Besides the retired high court judge, the committee will have two members with expertise in finances and technical field. All tenders costing Rs 50 crore and above will go before the committee and they should be cleared in 15 days, said state law and parliamentary affairs minister JCMadhuswamy.

The set government up two such has committees decided to to speed up the process of scrutiny. Currently, each department has a panel of its own to scrutinise the tenders. But allegations of overestimation of budget, tweaks in qualification of bidders and taking up works deemed not necessary have put a question mark on the functioning of these committees. The new system will address all these issues, said Madhuswamy.

The cabinet cleared a sandmining policy, which seeks to empowergramand taluk panchayats to dispose of sand mined in their jurisdiction.

Under the policy, gram and taluk panchayats can sell sand extracted from streams and lakes at Rs 300 a tonne. Similarly,Mysuru Mines and Mineralsand Hatti Gold Mines have been empowered to extract sand from riverbeds and sell it in south and north Karnataka regions, respectively. The sand extracted from rivers will be priced at Rs 700 a tonne. The initiative will help GPs financially as 25% of the royalty will go to them.

Between April 2017 and March 2022, theKarnatakagovernment received complaints or tip-offs about 10,352 attempts of child marriage and 9,261 (about 90%) were prevented. In all, 860 FIRs were registered against people involved in getting minors married or at least tried it in the same period.

Experts and officials point out that most child marriages occur largely due to POVERTY, illiteracy, superstition or to ease what elders see as their burden of having a girl child.

Data of the Karnataka Women and child development department shows that 1,091 child marriages actually took place.

Of the 10,352 cases, most (3,007) were between April 2020 and March 2021, followed by the next 12 months that saw 2,819 cases. While these two years account for over 56% of all cases, the other three years (April 2017 to March 2020)together saw 4,526 cases.

After making traditional dress compulsory at Kateel Durgaparameshwari Temple and Polali Rajarajeshwari Temple in Dakshina Kannada district, the Karnataka State Dharmik Parishat has plans to implement similar code in all 216 A grade temples under the Hindu religious institutions and charitable endowment department in the state.

The Parishat is a government body that makes recommendations on conducting rituals, pujas and preparing a dress code for devotees entering temples controlled by the government. The Hindu religious institutions and charitable endowment department has to approve the Parishats recommendations and send them before the cabinet for approval before they are implemented.

An hour after swearing-in ceremony of 29 Ministers, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai chaired a full-fledged Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and decided to establish a separate Scheduled Tribe Welfare Secretariat for faster approval of schemes and effective utilisation of funds meant for the community.

At present, there are separate secretariats for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Cabinet decided to form the separate ST Welfare Secretariat for quick approvals, effective supervision, and faster implementation of schemes meant for the welfare of the community, the chief minister told media persons after the meeting.

At present, the different departments allocate funds for the Scheduled Tribe Plan (STP). Formation of the separate secretariat would help the government to allocate funds in one department. STs constitute around 7% of the States Population. With todays decision, the government has fulfilled a long-pending demand of the community, he said.

On the lines of Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plans (SCSP/TSP), the Cabinet has taken a decision on forming a Mission headed by the CM for effective implementation of womens safety and welfare programmes in various departments. The Mission would function under the direct supervision of the CM, as announced in the Budget 2021-22.

Industries minister MB Patil visited industries in Belur industrial area Gamanagatti, Mummigatti, Ithigatti on Monday. The minister has assured government support to those wishing to set up agro-based industries in their farmlands.

Patil, who has been emphasizing the need to spread industries to regions outside Bengaluru, visited Infrafine Foods Private Limited in Gamanagatti, which specializes in fruit pulp extraction and exports to America, Japan, and European countries, Patil praised the company’s impressive Growth. He highlighted the benefits such industries bringing to farmers by directly purchasing fruits like mango, guava, and pineapple. Additionally, these industries add value to agricultural produce.

Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) estimates that the city produces 150 tonnes of animal waste every day but says there is no mechanism to control or properly dispose it of.
Determined to find a solution to this, Mahadevapura Task Force (MTF), a citizens group set up by local MLA Arvind Limbavali, has come together with the local administration to build Bengalurus first animal waste processing plant, with an initial capacity of 20 tonnes.

The plant has been sanctioned by the gram panchayat of Kannuru and will be constructed under a private-public PARTNERSHIP model. The plan is to collect animal waste from all shops in the constituency for free and process it into usable products that will be sold to relevant dealers and businesses. An inaugural ceremony a bhoomi pooja was conducted to kickstart the project on July 2.

TheKarnatakagovernment said that it will cap the treatment cost of mucormycosis in private hospitals across the state. A potentially fatal fungal infection, mucormycosis spreads rapidly from the nose and sinuses to the face, jaw, eyes, and brain, entailing expensive treatment and long hospitalisation. Hundreds of families are shelling out lakhs on anti-fungal drugs, the prices of which have rocketed in recent weeks following a spike in cases.

The cost of treatment, especially in private hospitals, can go up to Rs 3 lakh. Moreover, with the relatives of patients being told to bring the medicines on their own mainly Liposomal Amphotericin-B and Amphotericin-B injections medicine prices have surged, besides leading to blackmarketing and a price surge.

In the wake of spiralling cases in Karnataka, the decided to replicate the Mumbai model for Covid management in Bengaluru. Itll have a decentralised approach with Decentralised Triage and Emergency Response (DETER) committees in all 198 wards.

Its also expected to provide timely, accurate information relating to masking and physical distancing, symptoms, testing, Home isolation while waiting for test results, contact tracing and triaging (identifying home isolation or admission to stabilisation centres or hospitalisation and access to hospital beds with/ without Oxygen/ventilators).

According to the district survey reports,Belagavidistrict has 1,536 voters who have crossed 100 years, eligible to vote in the assembly Elections, scheduled on May 10.

Belagavi stands second in the state, while Mysuru tops the list. According to the office of the chief electoral officer in Karnataka, there are 16,973 registered voters who have crossed 100 years, of whom 9,985 are Women. Mysuru, Belagavi and Bengaluru (Urban, North, South) have nearly 40% of all the centurion voters in the state. The top-5 districts listed in terms of centurion voters are Mysuru (1,744), Belagavi (1,536), Bengaluru Urban (1,191), BBMP North (1,133), and BBMP South (922).