Implementation of the Prime Minister’s Rehabilitation Package for farmers in suicide-prone districts in the State has come a cropper.

The government has failed to spend allocations made for the payment of ex gratia amount to distressed families of farmers and distribution of certified seeds, according to an evaluation study. The study conducted by professors M J Bhende and P Thippaiah of the Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, has also noted that the government has disbursed the ex gratia amount to ‘rich farmers’ and not to the actual beneficiaries.

The area under forest cover in Karnataka has increased by four square kilometres, according to a latest report of the Forest Survey of India. It says the change has been noticed in the assessment year of 2009, compared to the survey carried out in 2008. The report was put in the public domain recently.

Sources in the State government told The Hindu that the change for the better was being seen for the first time in about a decade. What was noteworthy was that at a time when forests were being “plundered in terms of their flora and fauna and conservationists facing a tough challenge,” the increase, though negligible, marks a refreshing change.”

A Karnataka High Court-appointed committee has said the State Government should take up as top priority medical treatment of 68,000 children suffering from malnutrition.

Karnataka will implement modified National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) in 20 taluks in five districts.

Maharashtra government has agreed to release 2 thousand million cubic metres (TCM) of water from Dudhganga and Warna rivers to the border districts of Karnataka till the monsoon. In return, Karnataka would do necessary arrangement for the release of Almati backwater which can help overcome prevailing scarcity in Jat taluka of Sangli district in western Maharashtra. These decisions were taken at the meeting between the Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan and a delegation of Karnataka ministers comprising agriculture minister Umesh Katti and industries minister Murugesh Nirani.

The onset of summer has brought with it the fear of spread of H1N1 influenza.

As many as 200 cases have been reported in the neighbouring city of Pune and so far nine people have reportedly succumbed to the virus. These numbers and the lack of screening of passengers from Pune for H1N1 before they enter the city has put residents here at risk.

‘Outsourcing supply will see tariffs skyrocketing’

Day Two of the Bangalore World Water Summit saw a parallel summit being organised by Peoples Campaign for Right to Water, which sees a move to privatise water supply in the agenda of such meets.

In Karnataka, 2,500 farmers took their lives last year. But the BJP government is turning a blind eye to their plight, reports Imran Khan

Government blamed for poor planning in implementing drinking water schemes

In search of good governance that can make the running of their businesses smooth, over 500 industrialists and business aspirants from Maharashtra’s border district of Sangli are set to expand or s

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