Karnataka sets up task force to woo multinational companies pulling out of China

Economy

The panel would also have nominees or representatives from trade promotion organisations of Japan, Korea, Taiwan and others including those from US and France.

PTI

The Karnataka Government on Monday constituted a Special Investment Promotion Task Force to woo disenchanted multinational companies looking to shift their manufacturing bases from China. Commerce and Industries Department's Principal Secretary Gaurav Gupta said following the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a pushback against China by several countries. "Rising labour costs, shortages of workforce, a trade war with the United States, the rise of manufacturing hubs in South-East Asia and now a pandemic that originated on its mainland...China may not be able to retain its position as the world's largest factory in the post Covid global economic order," he said. This is an opportunity for India to attract them in India, bringing with their investments both jobs as well as a transfer of technologies. India stands a good chance to emerge as a reliable substitute, given its congenial landscape for manufacturing as well as its vast consumer market, a Karnataka Government Order said. For attracting investments and looking to woo disenchanted multinational companies considering shifting manufacturing bases away from China in the backdrop of the coronavirus outbreak, there is a need to constitute a Special Investment Promotion Task Force under the Chief Secretary's chairmanship to attract investments into the state, it said. The panel would also have nominees or representatives from trade promotion organisations of Japan, Korea, Taiwan, as also US, French, Singapore and German companies, among others. The task force would identify sectors in which Karnataka can attract investment due to relocation from other countries post COVID, formulate special incentive package and "facilitations" which need to be provided to attract these investments. It would also identify key infrastructure projects, including dedicated industrial township that needs to be undertaken or expedited to attract investments, measures to fast-track clearances to promote these investments, and recommend outreach activities and brand building to position Karnataka as an attractive investment destination. In recent days,Large and Medium Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar held consultations with industrialists such as co-founder and Non-Executive Chairman of Infosys Ltd, Executive Chairperson of Biocon Ltd, Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw and Chairman of early-stage startup accelerator and venture fund Axilor Ventures Senapathy (Kris) Gopalakrishnan to fine-tune the State s outreach push. Shettar also held interactions with industry bodies, including Confederation of Indian Industry, the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Bangalore Chamber of Industry and Commerce and Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association. The Minister told PTI that industrialists who took part in the deliberations suggested to the Government to focus on ease of doing business and improving the single window clearance system for approvals. To boost the industry sentiment in the state, they also stressed the need on easing land acquisition regulations, and leveraging the knowledge base of Bengaluru to promote technology-based manufacturing, according to an Industry Department official. "Given the interest shown by some companies in moving their manufacturing bases out of China, the industry leaders recommended that State Government identify a target list of 100 firms to reach out to for attracting to the State, and work out a strategy to bring them to Karnataka", the official said. The industry leaders assured cooperation from the private sector in reaching out to and facilitating interactions with CEOs of these companies. Shettar said restrictions on acquisition of agriculture land for starting industries have now been relaxed with the passage of an amendment to the land reforms act in the recent Legislature session. This would facilitate immediate land allotment to industries, he added. Secretary General of industry body ASSOCHAM, Deepak Sood, told PTI rcently that there is a broader consensus that the global manufacturing supply chain would be more spread than concentrated in major economies like China. "If India comes out of the present crisis with minimum of impact, we can be the destination of choice for the global manufacturing giants in different sectors like electronics, computer hardware, pharmaceuticals, including medical devices, automobile, including components and other engineering products," Sood had said. Gopalakrishnan, also co-founder of Infosys and former CII President, said India has to target companies which have operations in China, reach out to them, understand what their needs are and hold discussions with them. "We have to make sure that their requirements are addressed, be it with regard to land, office space, faster approvals, and some concessions on local taxes. It depends on the businesses that the companies are in, and if we are able to respond to those requests, I think we will be able to attract them", he told PTI. All states will compete for this business (foreign investment), Gopalakrishnan added.

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Capt Manivannan IAS shunted out – Industry pressure or allegations?

Politics

The All India Central Council of Trade Unions on Monday night released a letter written by the employers to the CM, lobbying for a transfer.

Theja Ram

Hours after the Karnataka government transferred Captain Manivannan IAS, the Principal Secretary of both the Labour Department and Information and Public Relations Department, a letter written by the Karnataka Employers’ Association (KEA) to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa demanding the bureaucrat's transfer has surfaced.  The letter released by the All India Central Council of Trade Unions showed that KEA, an industry body, was upset with Captain Manivannan for a circular on April 13, 2020. The former Labour Secretary had issued a circular asking employers not to cut salaries of employees and to not remove employees including temporary employees. The circular stated that action would be taken under the Disaster Management Act if the employers fail to comply with the circular. It was later withdrawn under pressure.  Thread. It is shocking and condemnable that @BSYBJP govt has transferred @mani1972ias because of pressures from industries lobby. How can industries ask for labour secy to be transferred because he tried to implement central govt notification ? 1/n pic.twitter.com/zRvwFcVyZe — AICCTU Karnataka (@aicctukar) May 11, 2020 However, state Congress President DK Shivakumar tells TNM that he and certain ministers and MLAs had issues with the way the Labour department was functioning, and had raised it with the Chief Minister. The KPCC chief says that ‘his threat to expose how the Labour department bungled with the distribution of relief kits’, was behind the transfer.   Pressure from industry body The letter written by KEA President BC Prabhakar brazenly asked the Chief Minister to remove Manivannan from the post. “We are pained to request that immediate steps be taken to change the leadership in the Labour Department, which in these difficult times, has to play the role of the umbilical cord that connects the employers and employees and not an impediment in the harmonious relationship, which is the need of the hour,” BC Prabhakar’s letter to the Chief Minister states.  The AICCTU on Monday night expressed shock over the transfer of Captain Manivannan. “It is shocking and condemnable that the BS Yediyurappa government has transferred Captain Manivannan because of pressures from industries’ lobby. How can industries ask for a Labour Secretary to be transferred because he tried to implement a central govt notification?” the AICCTU said in a tweet.  Captain Manivannan had issued the April 13 circular based on a central government order. However, despite this the Employers’ Association called the circular a threat in the letter to the CM. The letter claims it (KEA) influenced the government’s reversal of the circular.  “Alarmed by this shocking circular, the Industries Association including the KEA, had submitted memorandums to the Chief Secretary, whose timely intervention resulted in the withdrawal of the above circular,” the letter states.  We have our fair share of differences with @mani1972ias but this decision of @BSYBJP is nothing but bowing to the dictates of the industries lobby. https://t.co/SEVesq6Obo — Clifton D' Rozario (@clifroz) May 11, 2020 It also complains of Captain Manivanna’s tweet in response to that of an employer alleging that he was unable to pay his employees as he was under immense loss. Captain Manivannan, had at the time tweeted, “Business is your domain sir. Implementing Law is my domain. Let each of us do our job. That is Dharma.”  “It is our humble submission that employers' dharma is to create wealth for the benefit of the nation. And that is why they are called Udhyogadaatas and Annadataas,” KEA’s letter states.  “It is submitted that when no work has taken place during the lockdown period, the hands of employers are tied due to the lockdown, and therefore they have been unable to run their businesses and produce wealth. In such a situation, the ‘Dharma’ of the government, particularly, the Labour Department, instills confidence,” the Karnataka Employers’ Association’s letter to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa reads.  “It is further noted that the Labour Secretary is actively encouraging workers to register their complaints regarding non-payment of wages or retrenchment with the assurance that strict action will be taken against employers,” the Karnataka Employers’ Association’s letter to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa reads.  ‘I will expose corruption’ Though the letter by KEA is out in the open, Congress leader DK Shivakumar believes that the real reason for the transfer was that MLAs from both opposition and ruling party were unhappy with the Labour Department. “Have you seen any migrant worker at a railway station, camp or bus stop carrying a food kit? Where did all these food kits go? We have proof of more corruption and I told the CM that I will expose it soon. This transfer was because the government is worried,” DKS alleged. DKS also hinted that the Congress was looking at alleged corruption in the call centres that was set up by the Labour Department. 'Minister was unhappy' The buzz is also that the Labour Minister was unhappy with the bureaucrat. A senior IAS officer expressed shock at Captain Manivannan’s transfer and said that there was also a tussle between Captain Manivannan and Labour Minister Shivaram Hebbbar and indicated that this could have also led to the transfer. “There was a tussle over distribution of ration kits for the poor," the officer said. Though the Labour Minister wanted to distribute kits through local MLAs, Captain Manivannan wanted the distribution through the department. Small scale industry owners also opposed Manivannan The April 13 circular had ruffled feathers of the Karnataka Small Scale Industries Association (KASSIA) also. The Association expressed its disapproval and said that Captain Manivannan was going against the 'interest of entrepreneurs' and insisting they pay salaries. "He should be a facilitator between labour, government and entrepreneurs – but he was not doing that. He was one-sided in his approach. He is a government representative, who was not interested in a mutually acceptable solution. He was one-sided in his approach," said R Raju, vice-president, KASSIA. KASSIA said he was going against the interests of entrepreneurs and small business owners. "He should be a facilitator between labour, government and entrepreneurs - but he was not doing that," said R Raju, vice-president, KASSIA. — Rachel Chitra (@rachelchitra) May 11, 2020 He further stated that Captain Manivannan’s approach would not have been unfounded under normal circumstances as employers cannot exploit employees. "In normal circumstances, I would say Manivannan's actions were perfectly right. No industrialist should take it out on workers – the most vulnerable. But we are in an emergency; it's an unprecedented situation. Something that we never envisioned in 100 years," R Raju added.  Bring back Captain Though Captain Manivannan has faced opposition from various quarters, he has also been receiving much support. #BringBackCaptain trended on Twitter with many people asking for his reinstatement. Credited with starting the government Telegram group that addresses people’s concerns on COVID-19 and also running a robust volunteer group called ‘COVID-19 Karnataka Team’.  He should focus on solutions, look at various funds to give relief not focus on harassment, inspector Raj at time’s of crisis! Yup Good Officer but wrong approach! @CMofKarnataka @drashwathcn @kiranshaw These are not normal times:Emoloters struggling with no revenue to keep jobs https://t.co/VYUoS0UNu9 — Mohandas Pai (@TVMohandasPai) May 12, 2020

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Karnataka to launch rapid antibody testing again, to begin with Bidar

Coronavirus

The state government has chosen two foreign companies and one Indian manufacturer from whom it will acquire these kits.

Soumya Chatterjee

Representational image/ Pixcy.com

The Karnataka government is set to launch rapid antibody-based tests for COVID-19 in the state after it had to roll back on the first attempt. While the state had acquired 50,000-plus kits, including those sent by the Centre from Chinese manufacturers, they were returned as they did not match the desired quality.  The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had, at the time, advised state governments not to try out kits made by Chinese companies due to their poor reliability. The test would determine if an individual has been exposed to SARS-CoV-2 by checking for the presence of antibodies against the virus in the blood. Read: COVID-19: What is ELISA, the antibody test developed by ICMR-NIV Pune? Rapid kits, as opposed to legacy testing, are quick and inexpensive. However, they are not entirely reliable, like conventional tests. A patient will be declared COVID-19 positive only after they test positive via legacy testing. “We have taken a call to introduce rapid testing again even though our earlier plans regarding them did not work out. This was because their efficacy was not upto the desired standards. Now, we have tried out kits made by three manufacturers. Out of them is one South Korean, one from Netherlands and one an Indian manufacturer. They have so far proved to be good. We are considering placing orders for 50,000 such kits. We will try it out in Bidar district first,” said Dr CN Manjunath, Director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiovascular Sciences and Research and the nodal officer of testing for COVID-19 in the state. “We will locally validate all batches of orders which we receive from here onwards and put them to use only when their efficacy is 75% plus. Otherwise, we will return them,” he added.  A trial for one of these kits, made by the South Korean manufacturer, was tried in Kolar district. Kolar District Health Officer Dr Vijaykumar said they have done around 800 tests with these kits; among them, 350 tests were then verified through swab tests and the results were uniform.  As of Monday evening, Bidar has 13 active cases, with 1 death and 13 other patients who have been discharged following their recovery.  Officials suggested that since most of the cases are asymptomatic in the state and in the country, the way forward is to do mass testing.  Rapid testing kits have proved to be beneficial for countries like South Korea and Germany, which have been able to contain the spread of the virus better than most countries since the onset of the pandemic. Dr Manjuanth suggested that while red zones have to be prioritised for testing to contain the virus spread, random testing has to be done in green zones. “If no random tests are coming back as positive, then it will mean that the entire area is still unaffected by the virus. If we find random tests in green zones come back positive, then it might mean that there is a possibility of community transmission,” he said.  As of data collected till May 10, 69% of the infections in the state are through contact transmission, 9% of the infected patients have international travel history while 13% have domestic travel history. 8% of all patients have either severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) or Influenza like illness (ILI). A total of 1% of the patients do not have either travel, contact history or SARI/ILI.

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Karnataka tells PM to cordon off containment areas, do away with COVID-19 zones

Coronavirus

CM Yediyurappa pitched for resuming all economic activities in stand-alone establishments while continuing the restrictions on malls, movie theatres, dining facilities, among others.

Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Monday proposed doing away with district-wise colour-coding and instead advocated strict cordoning of containment zones to control the spread of pandemic. In his presentation to Prime Minister Narendra Modi via video conferencing, he pitched for resuming all economic activities in stand-alone establishments while continuing the restrictions on malls, movie theatres, restaurants and establishments with centrally controlled air-conditioning. He has also suggested that only those with severe symptoms should be hospitalised, and recommended home isolation of very mild/pre-symptomatic cases, along with tele-medicine care. "We propose (to the Centre) to do away with district wise red, orange and green zones. Only containment zones have to be identified and strictly cordoned," Yediyurappa was quoted as saying by the Chief Minister's Office, which shared with media highlights of his presentation. He said 50 to 100 meters around known clusters may be declared as containment zones and "commercial activities, including public transport, to be allowed in non-containment zones." With the focus on boosting economic activities amid a graded exit from the coronavirus-induced lockdown, Modi interacted with chief ministers of various states via video conference, the fifth such exercise since the lockdown. Several key ministers and top officials of the state government were present at the video conference along with Yediyurappa. Noting that all domestic and international travel should not be permitted at least till the end of May, the Chief Minister said, all international and inter state travelers should be placed under compulsory institutional quarantine and tested. "All inter-state travelers should be issued a health clearance certificate at the place of origin of journey by local authorities/hospital, those without a health clearance certificate to be placed under compulsory quarantine," he said. Suggesting establishment of a nation-wide testing guideline to determine the minimum number of tests per million to be carried out in each state, Yediyurappa said, "we must only test those with symptoms and need hospitalisation." "We must make Tele-Medicine the new protocol to approach this pandemic. Only those with severe symptoms should be hospitalised... we must advise persons above 60 years and persons below 10 years to remain indoors and stay protected. "Especially people with comorbidity have to be protected with utmost care," he further noted. Karnataka has so far reported a total of 862 COVID-19 positive cases, including 31 deaths and 426 discharges. Highlighting the 4 'T' principle of his government, Yediyurappa in his presentation said Karnataka has emphasised on "Tracing, Tracking, Testing and Treating" and this approach has largely contributed in keeping the numbers comparatively low. The state government has increased the number of testing facilities from just two labs with a capacity of 300 samples per day in February to 35 labs which can handle over 6,000 daily now. "Our state recently crossed the 1 lakh tests milestone. We are on track to set up 60 labs by this month end," he added. Till date, the government through detailed survey has identified and tested 4,419 severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) cases and 12,525 influenza like illness (ILI) cases in the state for COVID-19, the Chief Minister said. Asserting that it was vital to educate the population with the right positive messaging, he said, "It is our collective responsibility to educate people that coronavirus is just like any other virus or flu, but it spreads more and affects people with comorbidity, who need to be protected," he added. With PTI inputs

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Video: Bengaluru cop kicks, slaps migrant worker for asking train details

Police

Rajasab, an assistant sub-inspector from KG Halli Police Station, was suspended after the video started circulating on social media.

TNM Staff

Image for representation

In a video that is being circulated on social media, a police official in Bengaluru can be seen slapping and kicking a few migrant workers, who were asking him for details about registering for interstate travel by train.  The official, Rajasab, who is an assistant sub-inspector from KG Halli Police Station, was suspended after the video of the incident started circulating. The incident took place on Monday in front of the police station. "We inquired into the incident and the police official has been suspended. We have zero tolerance for such incidents. We have been asking police officials to be patient while interacting with workers who are turning up at police stations," SD Sharanappa, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bengaluru (East), told TNM.  The incident comes days after videos showed police officials dispersing migrant workers who turned up at Varthur Police Station aggressively by using lathis.  Migrant workers have been turning up in police stations across the city in the hope of finding out about the travel arrangements to go to their home states. The Karnataka government reversed its earlier decision and restarted train services for migrant workers on Thursday.  However, while over one lakh workers have registered to return home, only a few trains with about 1,200 workers on board have been leaving Bengaluru every day. On Monday, officials revised the number of workers on board each train to 1,500.  Hundreds of workers are also walking along the national highway 44 (NH 44) from Bengaluru. Most of the workers travelling on foot are from states like Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. They say that they are planning to walk and hitch rides on goods trucks heading in their direction to return home.  Read: Too anxious to wait for trains, migrant workers continue to walk from Bengaluru

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Hospitals at center of fight over liability protections in coronavirus relief bill

Some hospitals say the legal uncertainty is making them wary of resuming long-stalled elective procedures.

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Hydroxychloroquine shows no benefit against coronavirus in New York study

There was also no noticeable advantage for patients that took the drug paired with azithromycin, according to hotly anticipated research.

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