Israel has decided to open three ‘Centres of Excellence’ in the field of agriculture in Karnataka. The country also plans to open its second consulate in India, in Bangalore by October to attract tourists, especially from South India.

Speaking to Deccan Herald, the Consul General for Israel in India, Orna Sagiv said the country was now targeting three major sectors in Karnataka – IT, agriculture and food processing.

If all goes as per DULT (Directorate of Urban Land Transport) plan, Bangaloreans will soon have rail facility to different destinations in districts like Mandya, Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Kolar, Tumkur and Bangalore Rural.

A draft report on implementation of commuter rail system (CRS) in Bangalore, submitted by RITES (Rail India Technical and Economic Services) limited to DULT recently, proposes to run trains to these destinations with a speed of 70 km to 100 km per hour, apart from providing connectivity to commuters within the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagar Palike limits.

The State Forest Department, in a bid to create assets and popularise the concept of sandalwood estates, will take up the exercise of planting around 10 lakh sandalwood saplings in around 10,000 acres of forest land across the State.

Addressing mediapersons here on Friday, Forest Minister C P Yogeeshwara said that 10 places - Kolar, Ramanagara, Bangalore, Mysore, Shimoga, Belgaum, Dharwad, Chikmagalur, Hassan, Tumkur and Bidar - had been identified for planting sandalwood saplings.

It will be a while before Karnataka can expect any grant from the Centre for drought relief.

The Central drought assessment team headed by Parvesh Sharma on Wednesday directed the State government to furnish detailed statistics within a week’s time. The officials, at a meeting presided over by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, expressed dissatisfaction over the information provided by the Gowda-led all-party delegation in its memorandum.

The Central team touring the State to assess the drought situation has concluded that the drought in Chitradurga district is severe.

A member of the team, D Rajashekar, Deputy Advisor, Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, New Delhi, told mediapersons in Chitradurga on Tuesday that the water table had depleted and borewells have dried up. The team will recommend to the Centre in its report to roll out development schemes to alleviate the sufferings of the drought-affected, he said. He commended the officials for the drought-relief works taken up in the district.

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.

The State government was resorting to “jugglery of words” when speaking about the Netravati diversion project and the Yettinahole project, member of the Western Ghats Task Force B.M. Kumaraswamy said here on Wednesday.

Speaking to The Hindu here on the sidelines of a programme organised by the task force and the Department of Forests, Mr. Kumaraswamy said the government was denying that there was any attempt to divert the Netravati, and instead it was saying that it would supply drinking water to Kolar, Chickballapur, Chitradurga and Bangalore Rural districts from the Yettinahole, a tributary of the Netravati, he said.

The State government has submitted a proposal to the Centre to release Rs 2,200 crore fund for drought management. But the Centre has not released any amount till date, said the former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa.

During his visit to Ammerahalli tank on Thursday, he said if the Centre releases the amount without any partiality, relief works will be started immediately in all the drought-hit districts of the State.

An all-party delegation led by Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda will leave for Delhi in the third week of April to press for the release of Rs 2,200 crore for drought-relief works.

A letter in this regard has already been sent to the Union government, said Municipal Administration Minister S Suresh Kumar. He was speaking to mediapersons here on Tuesday.