KARNATAKA

In a move that could affect electric vehicle (EV) adoption inKarnataka, the state transport department is mulling ending 100% road tax exemption given to battery-run vehicles. If approved, EVs will be costlier in the state.

Sources in the transport department said discussions are going on to include this proposal in the upcoming budget. By 2030, a significant number of vehicles will be electric, especially in Bengaluru. Motor vehicle tax is one of the major revenues of the and any shortfall will affect Infrastructure and social welfare schemes. There will be a separate tax slab for EVs. But talks are in early stages. The state government will have to approve the proposal, the sources said.

Karnataka has more than two crore registered vehicles of which EVs are only 1.5 lakh till December. Between May and December 2022, 61,598 EVs were registered in the state.

In March 2016, the state government exempted all EVs from paying road tax. In Karnataka, however, only road tax exemption with no registration fee is given to EV customers. Many other states/UTs offer financial subsidies for EVs along with road tax exemption.

Karnataka is also the first state in the country to come up with an Electric Vehicle and Energy Storage Policy in 2017. Experts fear a move to impose MV tax on EVs is likely to discourage prospective buyers. Many are reluctant to shift to EVs due to the high initial cost and inadequate number of charging stations.

At present, Karnataka imposes the highest road tax for non-EVs in the country. For cars below Rs 5 lakh, for instance, it is around 13% of the actual price, 14% for Rs 5 lakh-Rs 10 lakh, 17% between Rs 10 lakh-Rs 20 lakh and 18% for above Rs 20 lakh.

The number of students fromKarnatakaamong those securing the top 10,000 ranks in NEET-UG has more than doubled this year from pre-Covid times 436 state students made it to the 1-10,000 bracket as compared to 351 in 2020 and 198 in 2019.

The number of those who secured more than 700 marks out of 720 in the National Eligibility cum Entrance test (UG) this year was nearly four times more than that of 2020. As many as 11 students from Karnataka scored above 700 in 2021. As per the data shared by National Testing Agency, no student could get over 700 in 2019. In 2020, three students managed to make the cut.

In the top 50,000 ranks, there are 2,291 students from Karnataka, an increase of 279. In the first one lakh students, 5,364 are from Karnataka. The number was only 4,775 in 2020.

:KarnatakaCM Basavaraj Bommai said his government will work towards ensuring that Kannadigas get jobs in private, government and semi-government sectors on priority.

Delivering an address at the 66th Karnataka Rajyotsava here, the CM said the government was according importance to get 75% of jobs in skilled and semi-skilled sectors for Kannadigas through effective implementation of the Industrial Policy. CallingKannadaa unifying factor, he said the states language should be adopted in all walks of life right from primary Education till administration to help Karnataka prosper in all sectors.

In huge cheer for the cash-strapped stategovernment, the excise department has collected Rs 9,572 crore in revenue which translates to about 38% of the annual target for the 2021-22 fiscal in less than five months.

While this has not only come as a godsend for the government, since revenue from most other heads are yet to gain steam, but also is an indicator that the economy is on the mend. However, sources say they are still reeling under restrictions and government revenue cannot be an indicator of the Health of the sector.

As per data shared by the department, while the state recorded a revenue of Rs 7,227.4 crore in the previous year for the same period (April-August), this year the numbers suggest that there has been a spike of 32%. In the previous fiscal (2020-21), excise revenues had seen a serious drop due to the nationwide lockdown and restrictions thereafter on account of Covid-19.
As expected, there has been an increase in sales of Indian manufactured liquor (IML) with close to 247 lakh case boxes (cbs). This accounts for roughly 42% of the entire sales of IML in 2020-21 in just under five months.

The Centre for Brain Research (CBR) has been set up at Indian Institute of Science (IISc), at a cost of Rs 280 crore.

During the Programme, Prime Minister laid the foundation stone for Bagchi Parthasarathy Multispeciality Hospital. It is 832-bedded hospital.

The CBR is one of its kind research facilities, which focuses on conducting vital research for providing evidence-based public Health interventions in order to manage age-related brain disorders.

Centre for Brain Research was established as a non-profit, autonomous research organization in the IISc. It was a generous gift from Gopalakrishnan and his wife Sudha Gopalakrishnan. It is funded by philanthropy and receives research grants to do specific projects from several granting agencies. Gopalakrishnan has also provided funds to construct the state-of-art building.

The Covid-induced lockdown imposed for prolonged periods has dealt a massive blow to the fortunes of thousands of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSMEs), with many of them staring into endless pits of despair.

Despite the restrictions being eased gradually and the government permitting the units to resume operations, these enterprises continue to face a host of other problems, ranging from lack of skilled manpower to the inflated price of raw materials. In Dharwad, Dakshina Kannada andMysurudistricts, more than 40,000 MSMEs have been identified whose productivity has suffered.

Although some MSMEs involved in the food and condiments sector registered a spurt in demand for their products, they were unable to exploit the opportunity to their benefit owing to the labour crunch.

The Indian Council of Agricultural Research National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology (ICAR-NIANP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with theKarnatakaPoultry Farmers and Breeders Association (KPFBA) to further collaborative research in the field of sciences.

The MoU was signed by Dr Raghavendra Bhatta, director of ICAR-NIANP, Bengaluru and BSushanthRai, president of KPFBA. As the poultry sector faces enormous challenges, the need for collaborative research, particularly in the field of animal nutrition is becoming urgent.

Having received a rude shock earlier this year with one of the majorelectric vehicle(EV) investments inOlato neighbouringTamil Nadu, theKarnatakagovernment decided to revisit the 2017 EV andEnergystorage policy to provide a more competitive deal to retain promised investments and attract new investors.
The at its cabinet meeting decided to amend the 2017 policy by providing a substantial amount of sops including a 15 percent reimbursement on value of fixed assets (VFA), production linked subsidy and a training stipend.

The 2017 policy also spoke of providing a 50 per cent coverage on stipend for in-plant training provided by the EV manufacturers in the state to a maximum of Rs 10,000 per month per trainee for 50 trainees. While the stipend shall remain the same, the government has withdrawn the clause of limiting it to only 50 students.