Karnataka

1. Rejuvenated lakes regress

• Several lakes in the city that were either rejuvenated or usually well maintained have developed untreated sewage and effluent inlets.

Allalasandra lake

• The northwest corner of Allalasandra lake at Yelahanka has an inlet of black brackish water that has turned a breeding ground for mosquitoes. This despite the lake having a dedicated sewage treatment plant.The source of this inlet is the improperly treated effluents from the nearby KMF Dairy.

Jakkur, Rachenahalli

• The BWSSB has laid a new underground drainage pipeline at Sriramapura and other areas behind the Jakkur lake. This UGD line is yet to be connected to the STP. Sewage often overflows into the storm-water drain (SWD) and enters the lake.

Sankey Tank

• What is also a cause for concern is Sankey Tank, one of the most well-maintained lakes in the city, seems to have developed problems.
• The source of the odour was uncleared dead algae that emanates methane. The lake has no sewage inlet at all. However, SWDs in the surrounding areas have for the first time been connected to the lake and some overflow may be from the drains.

Garbage at Ulsoor lake

• At Ulsoor lake, it is illegal dumping of garbage that is causing a problem.

2. Transportation : Metro long queues , Last mile connectivity.

• Last-mile connectivity from metro stations has been a problem that passengers have been facing ever since Namma Metro became operational. To address this, Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation and Bangalore Metropolitan Transport Corporation are currently in talks about the feasibility of operating ‘mini-buses’.
• Though feeder services are operational, they are limited to only 10 to 15 metro stations. At present, 150 feeder services, including AC buses, are plying from stations including Baiyappanahalli, S.V. Road, Mysuru Road, and M.G. Road.
• There were instances of the corporation seeking compensation from the BMRCL for the loss of operating buses on other routes. The BMTC is also facing operational difficulties as well as most of the stations do not have bus bays to park their vehicles or pick up the passengers. Drivers are forced to halt on busy roads, causing traffic jams.

3. Proper Quality checks of civic works :BBMP

• What Quality Control Cell is equipped with :
  • Compressive Test Machine — used to check the crush resistance of a material, mostly concrete
  • Sieves for Sieve Analysis — conducted to assess particle size distribution
  • Bitumin Extractor — for quality control test to find out the percentage of bitumen in bituminous concrete samples
• The Bruhat Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has been in the news lately, having been pulled up by the High Court of Karnataka for the poor quality of roads in the city.
• There have been complaints over the lack of proper quality checks and allegations that bills submitted by contractors are being released without any field inspection, especially by third-party inspectors.

• The former Mayor and Madiwala councillor B.N. Manjunath Reddy pointed out that there are around 15 engineers empanelled as third-party inspectors. These engineers, a majority of whom are retired officials, are required to certify the quality of work, based on which the bills of the contractors are cleared.
• However, many of these engineers are not based in Bengaluru and live in cities such as Udupi, Mysuru, and Hubballi. The contractors often visit the third-party inspectors in their cities and get the quality certificates signed by them. There is no check on the field.
• Currently, the cell has equipment to conduct just three basic tests. It does not even have a proper space to function.

4. English language in Schools & Kannada Sovereignty

• The State government was making efforts to teach English language from class 1 to empower the rural population. He reiterated that the move would not have any impact on the sovereignty of Kannada in the State.
• That the decision has been taken in the interest of students in rural areas so that they could avoid having an “inferiority complex”.
• Interestingly, the Chief Minister, in his budget, had proposed introducing English medium in 1,000 government schools. The decision has been on the back burner owing to strong opposition and the focus seems to be on teaching English as a language from class 1.
• Marikamba Government School in Sirsi, which is doing outstandingly well on student enrolment despite receiving stiff competition from private schools.

5. Ksheera Bhagya for Disabled Children

• The Ksheera Bhagya scheme extends to 10,567 children with disabilities in schools run by the non-governmental organisations in the State.
• More than 58.3 lakh students are already beneficiaries of the scheme. Under the scheme, students of government and government-aided schools and anganwadis will get 150 ml milk five times a week.
• Introduced by the previous government, it is aimed at mitigating malnutrition.

6. Gokak Movemet & Federalism

• Gokak Chaluvali is one of the biggest, agitations to happen in India. It happened in 1980s. Karnataka till then was considered as a state with no official language and anything spoken, written were official. Sanskrit, Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu etc were accepted officially.
• Kannada was spoken, but never was even accepted officially till then. People could read Kannada, write, watch Kannada movies but never thought of worrying making Kannada as Karnataka's official language.
• The then vice chancellor of V. K. Gokak (Vi. Kru. Gokak - Vinayaka Krishna Gokak) found something is not right. He started a movement to declare Kannada as the official language of the state and also make Kannada compulsory in official transaction in the state.
• Also, there was a urgent need for teaching Kannada in Primary Education. This eventually modulated itself as an agitation.
• However, without understanding the seriousness of a need of First language status to Kannada, common people did not bother to participate.
• To bring seriousness into this, famous poets and literates walked straight to Natasaarvabhowma Dr. Rajkumar (Annavru) and requested him to lead the movement. This was one brilliant move I would say.
• Annavru was already a popular star in Kannada cinema, and gracefully accepted it. The moment he came in, people from the entire Kannada cinema came under one roof and supported him.
• Public gathered in thousands, to watch their famous stars even without bothering what the motto of the agitation is about.
• With Annavru talking and delivering speechs in cinematic way, people easily understood what they have to stand for. Now the agitation was state wide.
• The then Chief Minister of Karnataka Sri Gundu Rao, bogged down the entire state's pressure and ensured all transaction from then would be made in Kannada.