Bangalore

The Karnataka government Friday decided to release Rs.300 crore as additional support price to sugarcane farmers for this fiscal.

“The support price of Rs.150 per tonne is in addition to the minimum price of Rs.2,500 per tonne the state government has fixed for sugar mills to pay farmers,” state Sugar Minister Prakash B. Hukkeri told reporters here.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah announced the support price in the 10-day winter session of the state legislative assembly, held last month at Belgaum in the northern region of the state, about 500 km away from here.

Scholarships worth more than Rs. 1 crore were distributed among nearly 1,200 meritorious students from three districts by the Karnataka Zakat and Charitable Trust (KZCT) here on Tuesday.

A total of 1,799 students — from Dakshina Kannada, Udupi and Uttara Kannada — studying in pre-university who have secured 70 per cent or more; degree students who have secured at least 65 per cent, and professional courses (medicine, nursing, pharmacy, engineering, law and postgraduate students) who scored at least 60 were chosen for the scholarship.

Karnataka BJP leaders late Thursday met former leader B.S. Yeddyurappa here and formally asked him to return to the party, over a year after he quit to head the Karnataka Janata Party.

State Bharatiya Janata Party president Pralhad Joshi, Bangalore South MP H.N. Ananth Kumar, former chief minister Jagadish Shettar and former state unit chief K. S. Eshwarappa and others met Yeddyurappa at a posh hotel and discussed details of the merger of KJP with BJP.

Joshi told reporters after the meeting that Yeddyurappa has agreed to merge KJP with BJP.

It was a thorough professional performance by Karnataka as they crushed hosts Delhi by eight wickets to end their Ranji Trophy group league engagements as table toppers with 38 points from eight games.

The visitors got some nice match practice ahead of their quarterfinal match, as they chased down a paltry victory target of 115 in 29 overs after dismissing Delhi for 201 in 77.4 overs. This was Karnataka’s fifth outright win this season.

Karnataka’s Congress Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Wednesday inducted party legislators D.K. Shivakumar and Roshan Baig to his ministry, ignoring corruption charges against the two and sparking dissatisfaction among many aspirants.

Shivakumar, a six-time member of the Karnataka assembly, is facing illegal mining charges and Baig, also a six-time lawmaker, is charged with land grab. Both have denied the allegations and accused their opponents of “conspiracy” to prevent them from becoming ministers.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Wednesday expanded his cabinet, inducting party legislators D.K. Shivakumar and R. Roshan Baig. For over seven months, the chief minister resisted pressure from them to be made ministers as they face corruption charges.

While Shivakumar faces charges of illegal mining, Baig is accused of land grabbing.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Wednesday expanded his cabinet, inducting party legislators D.K. Shivakumar and R. Roshan Baig. For over seven months, the chief minister resisted pressure from them to be made ministers as they face corruption charges.

While Shivakumar faces charges of illegal mining, Baig is accused of land grabbing.

Hundreds of Bangaloreans, particularly youth, thronged popular hangouts like Brigade Road, M.G. Road, Commercial Street and Church Street in city to bid bye to 2013 and cheer in 2014 singing, dancing and greeting each other on the occasion.

The hangouts were brightly lit to add colour to the celebrations while in many areas a burst of crackers greeted the new year.

Police had stopped vehicular movement in these roads since 8.00 p.m. to facilitate free movement of the crowd gathering in the area.

Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani is likely to become the first IT czar to contest Lok Sabha elections. He has told the Congress of his interest — and the party is considering his candidature.

Though there has been speculation for weeks that the Congress may field him from Karnataka, his home state, Nilekani has been coy about his intentions. The party was also reluctant to talk about it.

Now, the Karnataka Congress president, Parameshwara, has confirmed that Nilekani had met him and expressed his willingness to enter politics – and contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

The National Urban Health Mission will be launched in Bangalore in January to provide healthcare facilities to the urban poor, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said Friday.

“The National Rural Health Mission will be extended to the urban poor in Bangalore next month under the Urban Health Mission, scheduled to be launched in January,” Azad told reporters here after discussing the centrally-sponsored scheme with state Health Minister U.T. Khader and state health officials here.

A controversy is brewing over the proposed trip to South America by 18 Karnataka lawmakers, ostensibly on a study tour when the Congress government is struggling to finance development works and its budgetary schemes this fiscal.

Though the foreign jaunt in January to Argentina, Brazil and Peru by the Karnataka legislature committee, with lawmakers of the three main political parties as its members, has not been finalised, the trip has come under severe criticism from all quarters, especially the public.

The Bengaluru International Film Festival (Biffes) opened on a glittering note here Monday, with hundreds of cine buffs thronging the venue for the inaugural event where Tollywood superstar Kamal Hassan was the cynosure of all.

Organised by the Karnataka Chalanachitra Academy in association with the Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce and the state information department, the sixth edition of the fest is showcasing 152 films from 45 countries over the next seven days on nine screens, including multiplexes in the city centre.

Karnataka Monday sought Rs.1,719 crore from the central government toward drought relief to the affected people and farmers in the state’s 10 drought-hit districts, especially Tumkur.

“We have sought Rs.1,719 crore from the central government for relief works in the 10 drought-hit districts across the state where crops valued at crores of rupees were damaged due to scanty rainfall this year,” Chief Minister Siddaramaiah told reporters here.

Unfazed by criticism over its foreign jaunt at a time when the state is hit by drought, a Karnataka Legislature committee today insisted it would go ahead with the visit to Brazil, Argentina and Peru with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah also defending their tour.

As the jaunt by a contingent of about 18 MLAs planned for January stirred up a controversy, Siddaramaiah told reporters the trip was decided by the legislature committee and it was not as if they were going on the foreign tour this year for the first time.

The Karnataka government has decided to reform the agricultural marketing system for securing best price for farm produce across the state, a senior official said Wednesday.

“We are setting up a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange (NCDEX) Spot Exchange Ltd to help farmers secure best price for their produce through a transparent auction process,” state Development Commissioner G.V. Krishna Rau told IANS here.

The maiden edition of Vodafone Cycling Marathon, over 60 kms, will be held here Feb 9 and is expected to see around 10,000 cyclists, including 150 top cyclists, from across India.

The event is recognised by the Cycling Federation of India (CFI) and is supported by Bengaluru City traffic police.

The resilient $270-billion plus Indian IT industry returned to the higher growth trajectory in 2013 and is hoping to gain momentum in the ensuing year for a greater share of the global multi-billion dollar outsourcing market.

Putting behind a turbulent 2012, the industry consolidated its presence in the software services sector, with its top four IT bellwethers – TCS, Infosys, Wipro and HCL – posting better results to register a healthy 12-14 percent growth thus far as against 10 percent last fiscal (2012-13).

The central government cleared Karnataka’s proposals to set up two more National Investment & Manufacturing Zones (NIMZ) in the northern region of the state, union Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said Monday.

“We have approved two more NIMZs for Karnataka at Bidar and Gulbarga to attract investments and create jobs in the manufacturing sector,” Sharma told reporters here after reviewing projects with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and senior officials.

Manipal University’s Melaka-Manipal Medical College, the first Indo-Malaysian joint venture in higher education, has secured six-star rating for the second time in a Malaysian quality evaluation system, the varsity said.

Located at Malacca in Malaysia, the college also bagged six stars for international students’ readiness in the 2012-13 MyQuest Ratings.

MyQuest, the quality evaluation system for private colleges ratings was instituted in 2010 by the Malaysian ministry for higher education to measure performance of private institutions in the South Asian country biennially.

The Mangalore-Bangalore combination of Arjun Rao and co-driver Satish Rajagopal, driving a Volkswagen Polo, took the honours in both INRC Overall and 1600cc categories as the Coffee Day Rally, the fifth and final round of the FMSCI Indian National Rally Championship, concluded here Saturday.

Two of the three Special Stages scheduled to be run today were completed while the third was cancelled after Malaysia’s former world champion Karamjit Singh (co-driver Jagdev Singh) crashed his VW Polo R2, blocking the route.

Paving way for its induction into the Indian Air Force, indigenously-designed fighter Tejas Friday got initial operational clearance for flying by air force pilots and will join the fleet after the final operational clearance likely next year to replace the ageing Russian-made MiG jets.

The historic milestone was marked by an awesome flying display of the Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) at the Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) airport here, demonstrating its prowess and strike capability in presence of Defence Minister A.K. Antony, IAF chief N.A.K. Browne and top officials.

The Karnataka High Court Friday declared sale of United Spirits Ltd’s 1.9 million shares by United Breweries Holding Ltd (UBHL) to British spirits major Diageo plc null and void.

Business tycoon Vijay Mallya is chairman of UBHL of the UB Group, which runs diversified businesses ranging from breweries to an airline.

Annulling the sale, a division bench of Justice N. Kumar and Justice Rathnakala said the share deal could not be allowed till the pending winding-up petitions of six creditors to the UBHL’s airline business was concluded.

After losing their first home match of the season to Kingfisher East Bengal last Sunday, Bengaluru FC will be looking to get back to winning ways as they take on Salgaocar FC in the 16th Round of the Airtel I-league at the Bangalore Football Stadium here Saturday.

The hosts, who are leading the points table with 27 points from 14 matches, will be hoping to further consolidate their position by bagging full three points. On the other hand, Salgaocar, who have 18 points from 13 matches, will be aiming for an upset and a move up the points table.

Defence Minister A.K. Antony was visibly elated at Light Combat Aircraft Tejas getting initial operational clearance (IOC-II) and departed from his prepared speech several times to convey his feelings.

The minister, who has taken interest in steering the project, said the sky was the limit for India’s defence market and Tejas could be exported after India meets its needs. He also asked the private industry to invest more in research.

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India’s indigenously designed and developed frontline fighter Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas is poised to achieve an important milestone today.

This fourth generation aircraft will get its second Initial Operations Clearance today to pave the way for its induction into Indian Air Force, IAF squadrons.

Defence Minister A K Antony and Air Force Chief NAK Browne will be present on this momentous occasion in Bangalore.

After the second clearance, the defence major Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) will take up series production of the aircraft.