Seer’s love jihad task force a political gimmick ahead of polls, says U T Khader

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.

Kalaburagi, Mar 14: Utter negligence of Kalaburagi health department officials was one of the main reasons for the death of his father, alleged family member of Kalaburagi man and India's first COVID-19 victim here on Friday.

The victim's son said 'if officials of Kalaburagi health department had advised us to admit his father in isolated ward, which was opened in Gulbarga Institute of Medical science (GIMS), my father's survival time may have been extended,' he said.

Bengaluru, Mar 24: Bengaluru police registered an FIR against a 23 year-old woman who, while in home quarantine, visited supermarket despite having clear instructions to stay at home.

The Vijayanagar police said that the woman, a resident of Vijayanagar, had returned to the City on March 22 after a visit to Dubai."The city police had visited her house and stamped her for home quarantine and instructed her to stay at home but she visited Reliance Fresh on Monday.

We received information about it and the footage. Following this, we registered an FIR against her under section 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life). We traced her and warned her to stay at home. We are also consulting senior officers and health officers on whether we have to send her to the government quarantine Centre or not,"the police said.

Commissioner of Police Bhaskar Rao strictly warned the people who are home quarantined to stay at home in public interest. If they were found in public places they will be picked up, arrested and sent to government quarantine."Please log in to get detailed story.