Prominent Muslim leader, former minster Qamarul Islam passes away

Mangaluru, Feb 11: Renowned journalist and winner of Magsaysay award, P Sainath will be in Mangaluru on February 14 & 15 at St. Aloysius College (Autonomous). He will speak on the topic ‘Indian democracy in post liberalisation and post truth era’.

P Sainath’s two-day visit to St. Aloysius College will also feature a workshop by the veteran journalist on his rural development project PARI (People’s Archives of Rural India). It is a part of the tenth edition of Media Manthan, a National level media fest organised by the post-graduate department of Journalism and Mass Communication of St. Aloysius College.

P. Sainath is a veteran journalist and media activist who has an avid interest in rural reporting. People’s Archives of Rural India (PARI), a digital journalism platform is an initiative put forward by him which aims to document rural Indian lives and livelihood. Sainath is also a teacher who has trained over 1000 media persons across 27 years.

Media Manthan is a media festival by the PG Department of Mass Communication of St. Aloysius College (Autonomous). Besides endowment lecture and workshop by P. Sainath, the fest holds various media-related competitions for the students of various colleges from across the state.

Feb 3: The Karnataka government is probably the only state to have so many nodal agencies to deal with investment proposals. There is the KIADB, Karnataka Udyoga Mitra, State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC), State Level Single Window Clearance Committee (SLSWCC) and District Level Single Window Clearance Committee.

While the government claims these have been created to speed up the process of setting up industries, they’re only delaying it. “A four-to-five year delay in acquiring land has become the norm,’’ say industry sources.

“These entities are only adding layers of obstacles to investors and is not really helping industries,” said a senior IAS officer.

While DLSWCCs are headed by deputy commissioners are empowered to clear investment proposals up to Rs 15 crore, SLSWCC, headed by the industries minister, clears proposals more than Rs 15 crore and up to Rs 500 crore. Proposals worth more than Rs 500 crore have to be cleared by SHLCC chaired by the CM. These entities have to meet regularly and clear proposals. But often, these meetings don’t happen as scheduled. “The delay starts from here,” said Vasant Ladava, industrialist and member of Karnataka Industries and Commerce, Bengaluru.

The single-window agencies involving representatives of departments like industries, revenue, pollution control board and forest are supposed to collectively give necessary clearances required for industries. “But, of late, they have become only project approvers without other responsibilities, leaving investors in the lurch,” said Ladava.

Kodagu, Mar 19: One more person has tested positive for coronavirus in Kodagu on Thursday, taking the tally of confirmed cases in the state to 15.

The man has a travel history to Saudi Arabia.

"One person has tested positive for #COVID19 in Kodagu today; he has travel history to Saudi Arabia. He is being treated in an isolation hospital. Total number of positive cases reaches 15 in the state," said B Sriramulu, Karnataka Health Minister.

A total of 169 positive cases of coronavirus have been reported in India so far, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said on Thursday.

Globally, the virus has infected more than 184,000 people and killed more than 7500, as per the data available on the World Health Organisation website.