Mangaluru: Northeast student molested in broad daylight while returning from mall

Bengaluru, Jan 12: Karnataka’s ranking in Niti Aayog’s sustainable development goals (SDG) index rose by one place to No. 6 in 2019, compared to the year before.

Of the 17 SDGs that are used to compute the overall index, Karnataka topped in two – ‘climate action’ and ‘life on water’. The former is a measure of how well a state integrates climate action into policies and strategies and promote mechanisms for raising capacity for effective climate change planning and management. The latter focuses on preventing marine pollution, ending illegal and destructive fishing practices, and sustainably managing and protecting marine and coastal ecosystems.

It also did well in ‘decent work and economic growth’ and ‘peace, justice and strong institutions’. But it fared poorly, slipping 16 places – from No. 5 in 2018 to No. 21 in 2019 – in ‘industry, innovation and infrastructure’. Rankings in ‘quality education’ and ‘zero hunger’ have also fallen. While in education it is now ranked 7, a drop of three places, in ‘zero hunger’, it has dropped to No. 17 from 13. SDG is a United Nations initiative. Niti Aayog has customised it for India, and 36 states and union territories are ranked. The organisation admits there is an issue of data availability in India, indicating the numbers may not exactly reflect the ground situation.

In ‘industry, innovation and infrastructure, Karnataka scored just 40 out of a target of 100. The country average was 65. It failed to achieve targets in all the four parameters for the category, except in the number of mobile connections, where it has 100 connections per 100 population. The biggest dip was in manufacturing industry jobs and in providing allweather roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana to targeted habitats. Niti Ayog has given a score of 0 for the latter. Speaking on the dismal performance in the ‘industry and infrastructure’ category, state planning commission vice-chairman BJ Puttaswamy said he was yet to look into this parameter. “I have asked the departments concerned to meet me by Monday,” he said.

Bengaluru, Feb 6: Karnataka government has launched an aggressive awareness campaign against the novel coronavirus across the state with a special focus on its bordering areas in wake of the three confirmed cases of the deadly pathogen in neighbouring Kerala.

According to Health Commissioner Pankaj Kumar Pandey, "All necessary information on the virus, its symptoms and precautions are being announced at public places like bus stops via radio from time to time."

“A video regarding the same is also being played in 500 cinema halls, advising masses to take precautions," he said.

Bengaluru, Jan 16: It was necessary to revise rates under the ECHS, CGHS and GIPSA schemes for private hospitals to be able to sustain, doctors from private hospitals have opined.

Under the banner of the Association of Healthcare Providers of India (AHPI), doctors from top private hospitals in the city spoke about the dues pending from the union government schemes. They said they could not give a deadline as to when they would stop offering the scheme.

In a press release issued here on Thursday association said, which had previously told the government that they would not treat patients under the scheme owing to dues, mellowed down after the government released Rs 250 crore out of the Rs 1,000 crore dues.