Page 75 - Karnataka

Priyank Kharge gets IT & BT portfolio in cabinet during minor re-allocation

Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Priyank Kharge will once again be in-charge of IT & BT department in the State, with Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday affecting a minor re-allocation of portfolios to his Cabinet. Kharge will take care of IT & BT along with existing portfolio, while Large & Medium Industries Minister M B Patil has been given the additional charge of Infrastructure Development. The Chief Minister has divested himself of both these portfolios. According to sources, initially, Patil was given the IT & BT portfolio along with Industries. However, in a subsequent revision the department went to Kharge along with Rural Development and Panchayat Raj. With Patil keen on IT & BT, apparently opposing this move, Siddarmaiah had kept the portfolio with himself. Kharge was Minister for IT & BT in the earlier Siddaramaiah-led Congress government.

Committed to fulfil guarantees, cabinet will decide on June 2: Siddaramaiah

Asserting that his government will implement the five poll 'guarantees' promised ahead of the assembly polls, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said officials have shared their inputs on financial implications, and the cabinet will meet on June 2 to decide on the implementation. The cabinet meeting was earlier scheduled for June 1. In view of the implementation of guarantees, the Chief Minister today held a meeting with all the Ministers and senior officials of the concerned departments at Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state secretariat and legislature, here. "We had given five guarantees to the people, regarding these five guarantees concerned officials and finance department officials have made a presentation together. All the Ministers have seen the presentation, it has all the details -- proposals and financial implications of the implementation," Siddaramaiah said. Speaking to reporters here after the meeting, the CM said, "we have not discussed in today's meeti

Siddaramaiah urges Shinde to release water to K'taka district hit by summer

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Wednesday requested his Maharashtra counterpart Eknath Shinde to release water from Warna/Koyna reservoir to Krishna river and from Ujjani reservoir to Bhima river for drinking water needs in the State. In his letter to Shinde, which was also marked to the Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Siddaramaiah cited severe summer situation prevailing in the northern districts of Karnataka. "The North Karnataka districts such as Belagavi, Vijayapura, Bagalkot, Kalaburagi, Yadagiri and Raichur are facing acute shortage of drinking water due to severe summer since March, 2023," the Chief Minister said in his letter. According to him, the Karnataka government had earlier requested for three TMC water from Warna/Koyna reservoir to Krishna river and three TMC from Ujjani reservoir to Bhima river to meet the drinking water needs of human beings and livestock. Accordingly, in the first fortnight of May, the Maharashtra government released

Will not allow BBMP to increase tax to fulfil guarantee schemes: K'taka AAP

He further questioned whether the Congress government has the strength to achieve transparency and honesty, increase revenue collection and deliver freebies

Criteria are being decided for implementation of guarantees: Priyank Kharge

With pressure mounting on the Congress government in Karnataka to implement the five 'guarantees' as promised to the people ahead of Assembly polls, State's Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister Priyank Kharge on Wednesday said criteria and frameworks are being decided for its implementation. He said the criterion has to be fixed to implement the guarantees, as tax-payers money is involved. In view of the implementation of five guarantee schemes, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah is today holding a meeting with all the Ministers of his cabinet and senior officials of the concerned departments at Vidhana Soudha, the seat of state secretariat and legislature, here. The decision on implementation of guarantees is likely to be taken at the cabinet meeting on Thursday. "Every scheme is based on a criterion, it is your (public) money, tax payers money is involved. We will have to put criteria. Tell me which scheme of the central- Modi government is free?" Kharge asked. Speaking to ...

Bengaluru may need Rs 2,800 cr to fix drainage, avoid flooding: Report

The report projected a jump in population to 18 million by 2031 from an estimated 12.3 mln in 2022. The area within city limits more than tripled in 2011 to 741 square kilometres from 1995 levels

Karnataka Dy CM Shivakumar meets Jagdish Shettar, says Congress with him

Shivakumar said, "Through him, our party has gained great strength. Jagadish Shettar, Laxman Savadi, Puttanna, Shivalinge Gowda, Srinivas, Chinachansur have given strength by joining the Congress

Karnataka govt enhances dearness allowance of its employees from 31% to 35%

The Karnataka government on Tuesday enhanced the rates of the dearness allowance to the government employees and pensioners from the existing 31 per cent to 35 per cent with effect from January 1, 2023'. The Basic Pension or Family Pension has also been increased, which will also be applicable to those pensioners in the Aided Educational Institutions whose Pension/ Family Pension is paid out of the Consolidated Fund of the State. "Government is pleased to enhance the rates of Dearness Allowance payable to the State Government Employees in the 2018 Revised Pay Scales from the existing 31 % to 35% of Basic Pay with effect from January 1, 2023," a government order said. These orders will apply to the full-time government employees, employees of Zilla Panchayats, Work Charged Employees on regular time scales of pay, full-time employees of Aided Educational Institutions and Universities who are on regular time scales of pay, the government said. It said that separate orders will be issu

Karnataka education minister hints at possibility of revising textbook

Newly appointed Karnataka Primary and Secondary Education Minister Madhu Bangarappa on Tuesday indicated the possibility of revising school textbooks in the days ahead, in the interest of the students and to ensure that their minds are not "polluted". He however did not wish to make any comments on overturning te 'hijab ban', saying the matter was before court, and asked people to wait for answers on the new government's plans to scrap the National Education Policy (NEP). The Congress in its poll manifesto had promised to undo the changes made to school textbooks when the BJP was in power, and had also promised to scrap NEP. "I was the vice president of the Congress' manifesto committee, and in the manifesto we had said clearly that textbook revision will take place in the interest of the students' future. We don't want their minds to get polluted," Bangarappa said. Speaking to reporters here, he said, "We have already said that students come to schools to get educated and we don't

Karnataka may keep additional expenditure on 5 poll promises fiscal neutral

The implementation of these promises may cost the exchequer an additional sum in the range of Rs 45,000-50,000 crore

Out of 1,001 Karnataka candidates, 345 faced criminal cases: ADR report

According to the report, Manikanta Rathod, who was the BJP candidate from Chittapur assembly constituency, has 45 registered cases and 15 other cases filed are of serious nature

Karnataka govt to identify and snub bureaucrats with RSS affiliations

The Congress government in Karnataka is all set to identify and snub bureaucrats affiliated to the RSS, according to sources

Govt committed to fulfilling poll guarantees, says Karnataka Deputy CM

Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar on Monday said there is a "responsible government" in the state, which will fulfill all the guarantees made to the people ahead of the assembly polls, and there is no need to worry. He, however, did not specify any timeline to implement guarantees, but maintained that the cabinet meeting on June 1 will discuss on fulfilling them. "There is a cabinet meeting on June 1, the Chief Minister has the responsibility of the Finance department, he will discuss with officials and bring the relevant information to the cabinet. We will keep up our promise. We will have to do it systematically and preparations are on," Shivakumar said. Speaking to reporters here, he said, there is a responsible government in the state and it will keep up the promises made to its people and there is no need to worry. Noting that all the Ministers have been instructed to review their respective departments, the Deputy CM said, all the Ministers including him will beg

K'taka: Sidda keeps finance, DKS gets irrigation, Bengaluru development

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has allocated portfolios to ministers in his Cabinet, keeping the Finance department with himself while assigning the Irrigation and Bengaluru City Development departments to his deputy DK Shivakumar. Siddaramaiah took the oath of office with Shivakumar and eight ministers on May 20. He subsequently expanded the Cabinet to its full strength by inducting 24 new ministers on Saturday after rounds of discussions with the Congress' central leadership. G Parameshwara, who has previously handled the Home department, has once again been allocated the portfolio, MB Patil is the new Large and Medium Industries minister while KJ Geroge has been given the Energy department portfolio, the Karnataka government announced in a notification released late on Sunday. Apart from the Finance department, the chief minister, who has presented 13 state budgets, has kept Cabinet Affairs, Department of Personnel and Administrative Reforms, Intelligence, Information, IT

Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah gives target of winning 20 seats in LS polls

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who has formed a full-fledged government, has fixed targets for all his Cabinet colleagues, saying they should all strive to win at least 20 of the total 28 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. The Chief Minister on Saturday filled all 34 seats in his Cabinet by inducting 24 new ministers. Noting that the Lok Sabha elections are coming in a year, Siddaramaiah said, "We should win at least 20 Lok Sabha constituencies as a gift to party national president Mallikarjun Kharge and seniors Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi." The chief Minister has instructed the ministers to carry out their responsibilities by keeping this goal in mind and with commitment, honesty and agility, a statement from the chief minister's office said. "We should strive sincerely to ensure that the guarantees assured by us reach the people. The mistakes of the past should not be repeated this time," he was quoted as saying in the statement. Siddaramaiah assured th

Karnataka Bank Q4 results: Net profit up 171.5%, dividend declared

The Bank's annual consolidated net profit stood at Rs 1,179.68 crore for FY23

Karnataka CM reappoints slain BJP leader's wife on humanitarian grounds

A day after the wife of slain leader Praveen Nettaru was terminated, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Saturday said, Nutan Kumar will be reappointed to her job on "humanitarian" grounds

BJP urges Congress govt to fulfil election guarantees in Karnataka

The BJP will hold statewide agitations if the Congress government in Karnataka fails to fulfil its five guarantees to the people, party state president Nalin Kumar Kateel said on Saturday. Addressing reporters here, Kateel said the guarantees should be implemented within a month and warned that the government will face a series of protests if there is any delay in this regard. He said government officials are bearing the brunt of people's fury who refuse to pay electricity bills and other charges citing the Congress promises. Kateel, also Dakshina Kannada MP, alleged that the new dispensation is practising revenge politics and booking cases against BJP MLAs and party workers. Cases have been booked against MLAs Harish Poonja and C N Ashwath Narayan, while Congress workers are indulging in violence, he added. The BJP state chief dared the Congress to probe the charges made by them against the previous BJP government. The government should also allow an impartial probe into the ...

Know your minister: A look at 24 MLAs sworn-in to Karnataka cabinet today

Within a week of assuming power, the Congress government in Karnataka has expanded its cabinet on Saturday, filling all posts. Among those who got ministerial posts include sons of two former chief ministers -- R Gundu Rao's son Dinesh Gundu Rao and S Bangarappa's son Madhu Bangarappa. The party also gave a chance to several former ministers and veteran Congress leaders in its second list. Here is a brief description of the 24 ministers who took the oath of office and secrecy on Saturday: * H K Patil is a staunch Congress man and a seasoned politician. The 69-year-old MLA was elected from Gadag constituency. He has held portfolios of textile, water resources, agriculture, law and parliamentary affairs as well as rural development and panchayat raj. He comes from a political family; his father K H Patil was also an MLA from the same constituency. * Krishna Byre Gowda is a five-time MLA twice from Vemgal in Kolar and thrice from Byatarayanapura in Bengaluru city. The 50-year-old ..

K'taka Cong govt withdraws appointment order of Praveen Nettaru's wife

The report said that when governments change, temporary staff are generally asked to leave and no special consideration has been made for Nutan Kumari