This Karnataka village sets example for water conservation

Agencies
June 5, 2019

Shivamogga, Jun 5: Amidst the scorching heat and delayed monsoon across the country, residents of the Vitagondana Koppa village in Shivamogga district are living happily with sufficient drinking water and are easily able to meet the requirements of their livestock.

The Vitagondana Koppa village situated near Ayanuru town is an inspiration to many neighbouring villagers. With the help of government assistance and crowd-funding, the villagers have rejuvenated a water tank called Hulikere.

The tank helps to keep groundwater stable and recharges the borewells. With its expanse reaching to over five acres, it is the biggest tank of its kind near the Shivamogga city.

A retired accountant from the village, Shivanadappa, deposited three lakh rupees from his pension to get approval for the tank restoration under the government scheme 'JalaSamvardhane' in 2011 and the tank till date has prevented the village from facing the water crisis.

"In 2011 there was a World Bank-assisted 'Jalasamvardhane' scheme which provided grants for rejuvenating traditional water bodies to keep the village green. At that time no villager had any interest in approaching the government. We just had to deposit three and a half lakh rupees to get the project sanctioned."

"I had recently retired and had around three lakh rupees with me, I came forward to save our tank and soon everybody joined. The tank has now been handed over by the government to the village for preserving water, we take care of it together. More people joined in, now the tank fulfills everybody's needs. I have never seen a drought in my village and surrounding villages because this tank helps to recharge the groundwater level," Shivandappa told ANI.

Rohith, a farmer requested the government to treat tanks and other modes of water conservation as a priority.

"In the old days, every village had a tank, today a lot of tanks have been destroyed or have been encroached upon. The tank is in itself an ecological system which should get priority by government to tackle the drought conditions," Rohith said.

At a time when the water crisis is deepening year by year, the example set by Vitagondana Koppa village is an excellent case study to improve the situation in the days to come.

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Agencies
June 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 14: Karnataka Medical Education Minister K Sudhakar on Sunday said there was no question of reimposition of the lockdown amid speculation that it would be done.

"The question of lockdown is not in front of us. There is such speculation as the Prime Minister is holding a video conference with all Chief Ministers on June 16 and 17.

On June 17 our state will be taking part in it at around 3 pm," Mr Sudhakar said in response to a question.

Speaking to reporters at Kalaburagi, he said the current situation would be discussed in that meeting. Mr Sudhakar said the Prime Minister has repeatedly been holding such video conferencing exercises to take stock of the situation and plan for the future.

"There will not be a lockdown anymore according to me," he added.

There has been speculation that there would be another shutdown from this month owing to a rapid rise in the number of cases.

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Mr Sudhakar had on Friday said experts have indicated a surge in COVID-19 cases in the state in August and that the government was taking all precautionary measures in that direction.

As of June 13 evening, cumulatively 6,824 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 81 deaths and 3,648 discharges.

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coastaldigest.com news network
June 14,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 15: The total number of COVID-19 cases in Karnataka reached the 7,000-mark on Sunday, with the state reporting 176 new cases and five related fatalities, taking the toll to 86.

The day also saw 312 patients getting discharged in the state after recovery while the total number of positive cases in the Udupi district alone breached 1000 cases mark.

As of June 14 evening, cumulatively 7,000 COVID-19 positive cases have been confirmed in the state, which includes 86 deaths and 3,955 discharges, the health department said in its bulletin. It said, out of 2,956 active cases, 2,940 patients are in isolation at designated hospitals and are stable, while 16 are in ICU.

The five dead include- thee from Bengaluru urban, and one each from Dakshina Kannada and Bidar. The three from Bengaluru include- two women aged 57 and 60 respectively and a man who was 50 years; while the person who died in Dakshina Kannada was a 24-year-old man.

Also, a 76-year-old man from Bidar, who died at his residence on June 6, later tested positive for COVID-19. Out of 176 new cases, 88 are returnees from other states, the majority of them from neighboring Maharashtra. While 6 are those who returned from other countries.

Among the districts where new cases were reported, Bengaluru urban accounts for 42, Yadgir 22, Udupi 21, Bidar 20, Kalaburagi 13, Dharwad 10, Ballari 8, Kolar 7, Uttara Kannada 6, five each from Mandya and Dakshina Kannada, Bagalkote 4 and Ramanagara 3. Besides, two each from Raichur and Shivamogga, and one each from Belagavi, Hassan, Vijayapura, Bengaluru rural, and Haveri.

Udupi district tops the list of positive cases, with a total of 1,026 infections, followed by Kalaburagi 896 and Yadgir 809.

Among discharges also Udupi tops the list with total of 713 discharges, followed by Kalaburagi 427 and Bengaluru urban 327. A total of 4,43,969 samples were tested so far, out of which 7,451 were tested on Sunday alone. So far 4,27,608 samples have been reported as negative, and out of the 6,835 were reported negative today.

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News Network
June 10,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 10: The Karnataka government on Wednesday said coronavirus tests conducted in the state has crossed the four lakh mark, while the recovery rate remained at 44 per cent.

Sharing the daily COVID-19 bulletin on his Twitter handle, Medical Education Minister Dr K Sudhakar said till Tuesday 4,00,257 samples were tested in 71 COVID-19 testing labs across the state.

"Karnataka crossed 4 lakh tests mark on Tuesday. So far, we tested 4,00,257 samples in 71 #COVID19 testing labs across the state with a positivity rate of 1.4 per cent," he said.

He tweeted that the state's recovery rate remained healthy at 44 per cent with 2,605 discharges and 5,921 cumulative cases.

The minister said Karnataka was home to nearly a tenth of the total testing labs in India.

According to the Karnataka Health department, out of the four lakh odd samples tested, 3,87,027 samples were reported negative.

The total active cases in the state as on Tuesday evening were 3,248 whereas 66 people lost their lives to coronavirus so far.

Major contributors to the spike in COVID-19 cases in Karnataka are those who returned from Maharashtra recently.

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