Belagavi, Dec 12: Senior Legislator K Pratapchandra Shetty of Congress was unanimously elected as Karnataka Legislative Council Chairman here on Wednesday during the ongoing Winter Session at Suvarna Vikas Soudha.
Mr Shetty was the lone candidate who had filed his nomination papers yesterday. The senior leader from Udupi has been a four-time MLA and three time MLC.
Senior member of the house and former Minister S R Patil and Allam Veerbhadrappa, both from Congress proposed Mr Shetty's name.
Bengaluru, May 17: Left to itself, Karnataka will look to spring back towards normalcy under Lockdown 4.0 as the state government is on standby to resume public transport services from May 18, if the Centre allows it.
Though KSRTC and BMTC have been preparing for resumption of services, officials in the two corporations told DH that they cannot make a move till the government makes a decision.
Transport Commissioner N Shivakumar said the department will take a decision based on the state government's orders. "The government will take a call on buses as well as taxi and other transport services," he said.
Senior officials in the state government said Deputy Chief Minister and Transport Minister Laxman Savadi has written to Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari seeking a nod for resumption of the services.
Transport Secretary Gaurav Gupta has written a separate letter to his counterpart in the Union government requesting permission to operate public transport. "The state government wants the services to open. The official has listed out the steps the corporations will take to ensure social distancing other steps that will be taken to check spread of Coronavirus," a source said.
The B S Yediyurappa administration has been bullish on easing lockdown restrictions.
If the Centre empowers the states to define Lockdown 4.0, Karnataka is likely to do away with the red-orange-green zoning of districts and allow public services to resume, except in COVID-19 containment zones. The government is also likely to redefine its containment strategy by micromanaging localities where COVID-19 cases are reported, without letting life in an entire district get affected.
The government has already shown willingness to allow hotels and gyms to open after May 17 subject to social distancing norms and restrictions. In fact, the government has proposed to allow the resumption of all economic activities in standalone establishments. The government, however, is not keen on opening malls, theatres, diners and establishments that have centralized air conditioning.
“Everything depends on the Centre,” Deputy Chief Minister CN Ashwath Narayan said. “Our only stand is that the red zone should be treated at par with the other zone when it comes to relaxation.”
Bengaluru, Jun 12: The Karnataka government is mulling to issue caste and income certificates to Brahmins though they are in a minority, accounting a mere three per cent of the southern state''s seven crore population, an official said on Thursday.
"Though Brahmins are in a ''minority'' in terms of their population across the state, they need caste and income certificates to benefit from the welfare schemes as in the case of the SC, ST and OBC groups," an official said here.
The Karnataka State Brahmin Development Board was set up in March 2019 as a state-run company with Rs five crore authorized capital and Rs five crore equity and is registered with the Registrar of Companies.
"The Board has petitioned the state government to implement the 10 per cent quota for the economically weaker sections, as its benefit is being given by the central government jobs and in admissions to the national educational institutions," said its chairman H.S. Sachidananda Murthy.
Responding to the demand, state Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa said the state government would consider issuing caste certificates to the Brahmins so that they too can benefit from the state''s various welfare schemes.
"Though Brahmins belong to the forward community, they are economically weaker and need financial support," said Yediyurappa on Wednesday after unveiling the Board''s official website for all its stakeholders here.
Brahmins whose gross annual family income is less than Rs eight lakh per annum will be eligible for the benefit schemes.
"The Board will soon be authorised to issue caste and income certificates to the members of the Brahmin community so that they can also benefit from the schemes," said the chief minister on the occasion.
Noting that every community has people who are forward and backward economically for various, including historical reasons, Yediyurappa said the Board would be empowered to serve the Brahmins.
"The Board also proposes to provide interest-free loans to the financially weaker sections of the people in the Brahmin community," added Murthy.
The community members urged the Chief Minister to provide 10 per cent of the state government jobs and seats in state-run educational institutions, including professional collages.
Bengaluru, Jul 10: Karnataka health minister B Sriramulu on Thursday said that the government is planning to increase number of COVID-19 testing labs and technicians in the state.
Speaking to news agency, Sriramulu said, "We have 72 labs where COVID-19 tests are conducted. They are under pressure with increased number of tests. When lab technicians are quarantined, it gets difficult to complete work. So we are considering to increase number of labs and technicians."
Speaking on the community transmission of COVID-19 in Bengaluru, he said, "The experts are already deliberating over the issue of community transmission. According to me the community spread has not taken place yet."
Meanwhile, Cabinet Minister Madhu Swamy said that the government is calling for foreign investment for which Boston Consulting Group (BCG) has been hired by the state government.
Speaking to the reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Swamy said, "We call for foreign investment in Karnataka for which we need an agency who has to coordinate, who has to bring outsiders in Karnataka to invest in the state. For that we have hired a company by name Boston consulting Group(BCG) we will be paying them Rs 1 crore for twelve months."
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CONGRATULATIONS AND ALL THE BEST ON THE OCCASSION OF ELECTED KARNATAKA SPEAKER.
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