Karnataka launches job portal connecting employers and job seekers

Bengaluru, Feb 4: The possibility of defeated MLA CP Yogeshwar being inducted into chief minister BS Yediyurappa’s cabinet is causing ripples within the ruling BJP, with many legislators, especially from Kalyana-Karnataka region, raising a banner of revolt.

Several MLAs led by Surapur legislator Narasimha Nayak, also known as Raju Gouda, held a meeting at the Legislators Home on Monday and voiced their opposition.

"When there are more than two dozen MLAs aspiring for a cabinet berth, making a former MLA a minister is beyond logic," Gouda said. "We will convey our feelings to Yediyurappa and state BJP president Nalin Kumar Kateel." Murugesh Nirani, Paranna Munavalli, Rajkumar Patil, Dattatreya Patil Revoor, Basavaraj Mattimud are among others who attended the meeting. MP Renukacharya, political secretary to the CM and Honnali MLA, was also present at the meeting. "Some more MLAs will join us when we meet again tomorrow," Gouda said.

The MLAs highlighted the issue of caste and regional imbalance in the council of ministers to further their cause. With four from Bengaluru and three from Belagavi district set to take oath on February 6, the share of MLAs from these districts in the cabinet will rise to seven and five respectively. Currently, 16 districts have no representation.

Sources say Yediyurappa and BJP’s national leadership decided to reward Yogeshwar with a cabinet berth for his "active" role in getting 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs to resign and join the BJP, enabling the party to grab power. The party also believes he has the potential to become the Vokkaliga face of the BJP in the Old Mysuru region, where the party’s organisation is weak.

If Yogeshwar is inducted, he will be the second former MLA to make it to Yediyurappa cabinet after deputy CM Laxman Savadi, who lost the 2018 assembly polls. Several party MLAs were unhappy with Savadi’s elevation and are now upping the ante against the party leadership.

"Let Yogeshwar be made Rajya Sabha or council member. We have no problem. But making him minister is not acceptable. If they want to make defeated MLAs ministers, then why not AH Vishwanath and MTB Nagaraj, whose sacrifices brought BJP to power?" said Gouda.

Reports say Yediyurappa has promised Vishwanath and Nagaraj, the disqualified MLAs who lost the bypolls, that they would be made ministers in June. Both met Yediyurappa and secured this assurance. The two were demanding that they be inducted into the cabinet on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Vijayapura MLA Basavanagouda Patil Yatnal urged the CM to evaluate the performance of existing ministers and drop those found non-performing. "Many ministers don’t even come to the Vidhana Soudha. What is the use of having such ministers?" he asked.

Yediyurappa also continued to face pressure to induct Athani MLA Mahesh Kumatalli into the cabinet. The Jarkiholi brothers, Ramesh and Balachandra met Yediyurappa separately on Monday with a request to make Kumatalli, their confidant, a minister.

The euphoria over the claim that around 3,000 tonnes of gold reserves, worth Rs 12 trillion, have been discovered in Uttar Pradesh’s Sonbhadra district could not last even 24 hours, with the Geological Survey of India (GSI) clarifying on Saturday there had been no such discovery.

The GSI, headquartered in Kolkata, rebutted the claims of the Uttar Pradesh Directorate of Geology and Mining (UPDGM), and said “miscommunication” must have led to the wrong reporting of facts.

M Sridhar, director general of the GSI, said nobody in the agency gave any such data. He said 52,806 tonnes of gold ore was found in Sonbhadra district during the exploration work in 1998-2000. From this reserve, only 160 kg of gold can be extracted.

“There must have been some miscommunication of facts because of which the gold ore deposits have been overestimated. We have written a letter to Uttar Pradesh (UPDGM), stating the facts. The GSI has not estimated such kind of vast resource of gold deposits in Sonbhadra,” Sridhar said.

ALSO READ: 2,900-tonne gold mine found in Sonbhadra, 4 times that of India's reserves

The UPDGM had said on Friday that gold deposits were found in Son Pahadi and Hardi areas of the district. Sridhar said while gold ore was found in the area during the GSI’s exploration work in 1998-2000, it had told the state government about the discovery in November last year.

Under the new regulation, which came into effect from 2015, the GSI has to inform the state government when ore deposits are discovered. Earlier, no such action was mandatory. In its report, the GSI estimated that only 3.03 gm of gold can be extracted from a tonne of ore. It also clarified that even the extraction amount was tentative and could not be established for certain.

Moreover, Sridhar said the deposits were spread across only 0.5 sq km in forest land, which made the mining of ore economically unviable. “When there are several mines nearby, we can club it into a block and then it makes sense to mine the ore. But in this case, the deposits are too small to make it viable for any company to mine it,” he said. The GSI usually prioritises its exploration work based on the needs of the Centre. While strategic minerals like tin, cobalt, lithium, beryllium, germanium, gallium, indium, tantalum, niobium, selenium, and bismuth are atop the list in GSI exploration, gold is another commodity on its priority list.

According to the World Gold Council, India has reserves of 630 tonnes of gold.

Mangaluru/Udupi, Jul 26: Karnataka’s twin coastal districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi have recorded 369 new coronavirus positive cases and 10 more deaths related to the covid-19 in past 24 hours. 

Dakshina Kannada

With 199 new covid-19 cases, DK’s covid toll mounted to 4,811. The district also recorded eight new covid-related deaths. The death toll mounted to 123. 

Among the 199 new cases are 31 primary contacts, 73 with influenza-like illness (ILI), and 10 with severe acute respiratory illness (SARI). As many as 83 cases are under investigation. Two of the patients have international travel history.

Eight deaths:

A 71-year-old man from Mangaluru, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 19, passed away on July 23. He was diagnosed with ARDS/multiorgan dysfunction, chronic renal disease, diabetes, and hypertension. His throat swabs tested positive for covid-19. 

A 70-year-old man from Mangaluru, who was admitted to a private hospital on July 20, passed away on July 24. He had developed sepsis, chronic kidney disease, lower respiratory tract infection, and other ailments. 

A 55-year-old man from Puttur was admitted to a private hospital on July 23, and passed away a day later. He was diagnosed with septic shock with acute kidney injury with severe metaboic acidosis. 

A 56-year-old man from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 20 passed away on July 24. He was suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi-organ dysfunction syndrome and ischemic heart disease.

A 72-year-old man from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 18 passed away on July 24. He was suffering from refractory hypoxemia/refractory ARDS, septic shock, secondary bacterial infection, renal failure, acute coronary event, and other ailments. 

A 45-year-old woman from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 24 passed away the same day. She had been diagnosed with metastatic carcinoma of right lung and pneumonia. 

A 55-year-old man from Mangaluru who was admitted to a private hospital on July 21 and passed away on July 24. As per the district bulletin, he was suffering from refractory hypoxemia/refractory ARDS, septic shock, secondary bacterial infection, renal failure, acute coronary event, and other ailments.

A 70-year-old man from Mangaluru suffering from severe pneumonia with ARDS, multiorgan dysfunction, sepsis, chronic kidney disease and hypothyroidism was admitted to a private hospital on July 24 and passed away the same day.

Though the above patients contracted coronavirus, the exact cause of their deaths is being investigated by a team of experts and their report is awaited.

Udupi

The district recorded 170 new covid-19 cases and the total confirmed cases mounted to 3,388. Among the new cases, 86 are in Udupi, 31 in Kundapur, and 52 in Karkala. They include 106 male and 63 women. As many as 2,133 patients have been discharged so far, and 1,241 cases are currently active. 

The district also recorded two covid-19 related deaths – a woman and a man. One is a 63-year-old resident of Byndoor and the other is from Udupi's Indiranagar area. Both had been admitted to the ICU of a private hospital. 

Byndoor resident passed away on the night of Saturday July 26, the Udupi resident died on Sunday. The last rites of both the deceased were conducted as per protocol.