10 more COVID-19 cases in Karnataka; total 207

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.

Mangaluru, Feb 26: Mangaluru Smart City Limited (MSCL) Managing Director Mohammed Nazir on Wednesday said that 13 Schools in eight wards, here, will be upgraded under the Area Based Development (ABD) of the Smart City Mission (SCM).

Mr. Nazir, in a statement, said that the Schools selected include Government Higher Primary School Car Street, Bastigarden, Neereshwalya, Hoigebazar Lower Primary School, Government Practicing HS, Balmatta Primary School, Balmatta Secondary School, Bunder Higher Primary School (Urdu), Bunder Government High School (Urdu) and Bolara East Government Primary School.

These Smart Schools will have IT-enabled interactive teaching and learning tools, computer labs and open reading plazas.

Bengaluru,  Apr 30: As many as 30 new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed in Karnataka from April 29, 5:00 pm to April 30, 5:00 pm, taking the total number of cases to 565, informed the State Health Department on Thursday.

Meanwhile, a total of 1,718 new cases were reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of cases to 33,050 in the country.

A total of 630 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, as per the latest data provided by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.