The Karnataka Cabinet has decided to recommend to the Central government the inclusion of the Kunchitiga community, a sub-caste of the Vokkaligas, in the Other Backward Classes (OBC) list for providing reservation to the community in jobs and seats in educational institutions.
Briefing on the Cabinet decisions, Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar said the State Cabinet decided to fulfil the long-pending demand of the Kunchitiga community by recommending to the Centre for including the caste in the OBC list. All sub-sects of the Vokkaliga have been included in the OBC list of the Centre, except the Kunchitiga community, sources told The Hindu. The community has about nine lakh population and has presence in 37 taluks of 17 districts.
The Cabinet also made a minor change in the name of Kodava community. Instead of “Kodavaru”, it has decided to rename it as “Kodava” in all government documents, Mr. Shivakumar said.
Compensation from Centre
Following drought in 195 taluks in Karnataka, the Cabinet has decided to seek compensation of ₹4,860.13 crore as per the NDRF norms from the Centre for providing compensation to farmers who had lost crops, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs H.K. Patil told reporters.
Agricultural crops, including horticulture, on 39.74 lakh hectares worth ₹30,432 crore have been damaged. The loss of agriculture crops alone is estimated at ₹27,867.17 crore and compensation of ₹3,824 crore would be sought from the Centre. Revenue Minister Krishna Byre Gowda would meet the authorities concerned in the Central government and apprise them of the drought situation in the State, he said.
The Cabinet has approved rules pertaining to providing pension to Chairman and members of Karnataka State Public Service Commission. The chairman and members, who served in office for six years, would get pension of ₹67,500 and ₹61,500, per month, respectively, Mr Patil said.
Forensic sciences university
The government has decided to provide 45 acres for a campus of the National Forensic Sciences University on the land of the University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, on a lease basis. The State government has decided to set up the campus of the National Forensic Sciences University, Ahmedabad, to offer courses in forensic sciences to boost its capabilities in gathering scientific evidence from crime scenes. However, the institute has to set aside 25% of seats to Karnataka students, Mr Paitl said.
A total of 15,295 government vehicles, of more than 15 years-old, would be scrapped in a phased manner. In 2023-24, he said 500 vehicles would be scrapped which would cost ₹500 crore to the state. The vehicles would be scrapped following the direction of the centre.
Mr Patil said ₹6099 crore would be provided to ESCOMS for regularisation of illegal IP sets of farmers since 2015. Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar said September 22, 2023, was the last date for regularization of IP sets.
