-The Business Standard Implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), a flagship programme of the Central government to alleviate poverty, has resulted in an increase of up to 20 per cent in the cost of farm production in Karnataka. It has also created a shortage of labour in the agriculture sector in the state. According to a study conducted by the Bangalore-based Institute for Social and Economic Change...

The Bharatiya Janata Party in Karnataka appears to be readying itself for a big fight, and this time it is over the Bhagavad Gita. A statement by Karnataka Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda, in which he said that the government was considering introducing the Gita in primary and secondary standards in school has drawn appreciation as well as flak in the state. Vicky Nanjappa reports. The issue had come up...

BJP chief minister D.V. Sadananda Gowda has said he wants the Bhagvad Gita taught in schools across Karnataka, reviving a touchy subject. Prodded by the BJP government, several schools run by Hindu organisations have been holding Gita classes since January 2011 in parts of the state, which has seen attacks on Christians and churches by Hindutva groups in the past three years. The latest statement, coming from the chief minister himself and...

-The Hindu   The National Human Rights Commission has issued a notice to Karnataka on media reports that around 8,000 people still make a living through the banned practice of manual scavenging in the State. The Commission, which suo motu took cognizance of the reports, said that if they were true, they raised a serious issue of violation of the human rights of those engaged in the inhuman job. The notice, returnable in four...

Even as farmers of Halligudi vilage of Gadag district are up in arms against the government's move to acquire land for the Posco steel plant, the Tata group, which plans to set up its Tata Metaliks plant in Haveri, will take 300 farmers to its Jamshedpur steel plant. The group will take farmers of Agadi and Budagatti and other villages of Haveri district in batches in August or September so that...