India’s first toy manufacturing cluster in Karnataka wants to create over 1 lakh jobs

Industry

CM BS Yediyurappa inaugurated the facility on Saturday and the construction of the units is expected to be completed by December this year.

Theja Ram

Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa on Saturday laid the foundation stone for the country’s first ‘toy manufacturing cluster' in Koppal district’s Bhanapur village where 400 acres of land has been allocated to establish plug-and-play manufacturing units at a cost of $545 million. The manufacturing campus is being promoted by Aequs SEZ Pvt Ltd in partnership with the Karnataka government. The toy manufacturing cluster will contain over 100 units with a potential to generate 25,000 to 30,000 direct jobs and over 1 lakh jobs indirectly, Chief Minister Yediyurappa said. “Today’s groundbreaking ceremony for the toy cluster is a moment of pride as we look forward to this new journey to build India’s indigenous toy manufacturing capacity and capability to cater to not just the local, but also the $80 billion global market for toys. The market for toys in India is estimated at $1 billion annually but nearly 60% of it is met through imports,” said Aravind Melligeri, Chairman of Aequs Group. The state government signed memorandums of understanding (MoUs) with six companies on Saturday which will drive an initial investment of over $200 million. The six companies that signed the MoUs include Playgro Industries Pvt Ltd, which is investing $15 million to manufacture remote control cars in Koppal, with its manufacturing unit spread across 4 lakh sq ft; Sterling New Horizons Pvt Ltd, whose manufacturing unit will be spread across 50,000 sq ft and will invest $10 million; Hotshot Tooling and Engineering Ltd, which will invest $6 million in a manufacturing unit spread across 1 lakh sq ft; Aequs Force Consumer Products Pvt Ltd, which will invest $60 million in a unit spread across 6 lakh sq ft; and Aequs Engineering Plastics Pvt Ltd, which will invest $80 million in a manufacturing unit spread across 8 lakh sq ft within the toy cluster. Large Scale Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said that the cluster is expected to drive investment of over $450 million in the next five years. The campus of the manufacturing units has been designed to include a Special Economic Zone, Domestic Tariff Area and Free Trade Warehousing Zone. The capabilities will include modal making and tooling, moulding, assembly, painting, packaging, testing and warehouse management. The cluster will have plug-and-play industrial buildings along with the option to customise the industrial facilities. “This is a momentous occasion as the Koppal toy cluster is the first in the country. By December this year, the construction of the campus is expected to be completed. If this happens, we will invite Prime Minister Modi to inaugurate the completed toy cluster,” Yediyurappa said. Yediyurappa said that preference would be given to women for employment in the manufacturing cluster in Koppal. “Women who are earning Rs 200 per day now will be able to earn Rs 600 per day. We will prioritise employment of women and Aequs has promised to train the locals in skill development,” he added. Regarding apprehension among locals that the promised jobs would be given to those outside the district, Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar said that 80% of the jobs would be given to locals from Koppal and other parts of the state. “We are implementing the Sarojini Maharshi report which calls for employment of locals. We will give companies a margin of 10-20% of their workforce to be hired from outside the state. These will be the high level skilled jobs. First preference will be given to residents of Koppal,” Jagadish Shettar said. Prior to the BJP coming to power, the toy manufacturing cluster was to come up in Ramanagara district. However, Koppal was chosen in 2018 by former Industries Minister and Congress MLA RV Deshpande as it is 380km away from Bengaluru, 400 km away from Hyderabad, 95 km from Hubballi and 215 km from Belagavi, all of which have airports. Koppal has a well-connected railway network and is strategically closer to Mumbai, Goa, Mangaluru, Visakhapatnam, Chennai and Thoothukudi, which have major ports. Jagadish Shettar further stated that a pharma park would come up in Yadgir district’s Kadachur, where manufacturing units will be set up across 4,000 acres of land. A total allocation of Rs 2,812 crore has been sanctioned for the same, Jagadish Shettar said. The pharma cluster is expected to generate 11,770 jobs. The Minister also said that the State High Level Clearance Committee has given the go-ahead for the construction of a consumer electronics manufacturing cluster too, in Hubballi.   

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BBMP’s move to tackle public urination gets tech savvy

Sanitation

The new public toilet scheme comes under the Shubhra Bengaluru Scheme, a multi-crore project to focus on beautification and sanitation.

Sanjana Deshpande

BBMP

The Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is installing new public toilets across the city to tackle the issue of public urination under the Shubhra Bengaluru Scheme, which was digitally launched on December 8. This will be a part of the annual budget of the BBMP, keeping their focus on improving amenities of sanitation across the city. The Shubhra Bengaluru Scheme is a multi-crore project initiated by the civic body that will focus on sanitation and beautification of the city, said the BBMP Commissioner of Solid Waste Management, Randeep D. The BBMP authorities are also formulating an operational manual for the toilet system and maintenance. NGO Janaagraha, which runs a campaign against public urination called Yellow Spots Beda, is assisting the BBMP in identifying and locating areas where toilets are needed and public urination is rampant. The authorities will collect suggestions, complaints and other information from the citizens until January 10 to come up with where the toilets should be installed and how many. They will also focus on maintenance of the toilets that will be built or already have been. “The BBMP can identify the spots [where public urination is rampant] with the help of citizens and install toilets there. We have set up a portal where citizens can notify and we have gotten a good response so far,” said Srinivas Alavalli of Janaagraha, speaking about the ‘My City, My Budget’ initiative, their collaborative effort with BBMP.  The citizens can leave their addresses at the online portal. Another NGO ReapBenefit has further extended a helping hand by creating a chatbot on WhatsApp, through which people can report their problems as well. “We wanted to reach out to more people and there is no better platform than WhatsApp to do so,” said Sapna, a member of Janaagraha. “This is not the first time ReapBenefit has helped in public campaigns,” she added. The firm has been experimenting with the creation of chatbots to reach out to a large number of people, especially young adults. Elaborating on how the chatbot can be used, Sapna said, “One has to send a WhatsApp message 'report' to 8095500118. It will further present you with multiple options. The complainant will just have to follow the instructions or they could use the link and do the same.” Srinivas Alavalli said, “30 other citizens’ organizations like Whitefield Rising, Bellandur Jothege, ChangeMakers of Kanakpura have been actively helping us in this initiative.” The authorities will continue to collect suggestions, complaints and other information from the citizens until January 10. The toilets will be first constructed in areas worst affected by public urination; additional toilets will be built according to the needs of the people. They can be geolocated with the help of Google maps; people could type in ‘SBM toilets’ and be directed to the nearest one. Signboards showing directions and distance to the nearest toilet will also be installed. Praising the efforts being made by the BBMP, Alavalli further said that Bengaluru has a shortage of sanitation facilities like toilets. “We (at present) have 500 toilets across the city, we need at least 2,000-3,000 more. Nearly 60 wards in the city have zero toilets,” he added, saying that the city needs to provide infrastructure to the villages that were recently included in city limits as well. “There needs to be a behavioural change and we are hoping to spread awareness among people. We are trying to make it a mass movement,” said Alavalli.

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No bird flu in Karnataka, officials on high alert, says govt

Health

Karnataka was placed on alert after bird flu was reported in two districts of neighbouring Kerala.

TNM Staff

Image for representation

There is no case of bird flu (H5N8) in Karnataka yet, and officials have been asked to remain alert, state Animal Husbandry Minister Prabhu Chauhan on Friday said. The alert in the state comes after many cases of bird flu reports in two districts of neighbouring Kerala. The minister, who held a high-level meeting of senior officials of various departments concerned, instructed that a meeting under the chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners be held in all districts to keep a vigil and take all precautionary measures against bird flu, his office said in a release. Transportation of poultry and its products from Kerala into the state had been prohibited, he said. People can consume meat and eggs without any fear, he added. There was no bar on arrival of poultry products from other states. Bird flu has been reported in parts of Alappuzha and Kottayam districts in Kerala, prompting officials to cull birds, including ducks and chicken, there. Deputy Commissioners of the districts sharing border with Kerala have been directed to take preventive measures by holding district level diseases control committee meetings. Chauhan said directions have also been given to have proper coordination between forest, urban and rural development and police departments. Forest officials have been directed to be vigilant about symptoms of the flu or unnatural deaths among birds in Dakshina Kannada, Kodagu, Mysuru and Chamarajanagar districts bordering Kerala. The minister also said officials have been asked to maintain care at poultry areas, especially bird sanctuaries and water bodies. The Bengaluru Bannerghatta Biological Park, which is home to about 378 birds from 45 species, is also taking precautionary measures.

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Karnataka to get COVID-19 vaccine shipment by Sunday: How the logistics will work

COVID-19 vaccine

The state government will store the vaccines at all Primary Health Centres, taluk and district hospitals for easy disbursal.

Theja Ram

PTI : Image for representation

The vaccines for COVID-19 are expected to reach Bengaluru airport by Sunday, the Karnataka Health and Family Welfare Department said on Friday. According to state Health Department sources, 1,13,400 vials of the vaccine would arrive at the Kempegowda International Airport and an additional 25,800 vials would arrive at the airport in Belagavi by Sunday. The first phase of vaccines will be provided to frontline workers and the Health Department said that 6,35,986 healthcare workers registered themselves for the vaccination in the first phase on the Cowin app. Other than healthcare workers, police and Revenue Department officials with comorbidities will also be identified for vaccination, the official said. “All PHCs and medical institutions will have to send back the used and unused vials to keep check. In Bengaluru, all the vaccines will be first brought to Anand Rao Circle from where the vaccine will be taken to all other centres. No private infrastructure will be used for logistical purposes for the first phase of vaccination,” a senior Health Department official said.  According to the Health Department, as many as 24 lakh syringes will arrive in Karnataka, which are provided by the Union government. To store the vaccine vials and syringes, the state government has 10 walk-in coolers, four walk-in freezers, 3,201 ice-lined refrigerators (ILRs), 3,039 deep freezers, 3,312 cold boxes, 46,591 vaccine carriers and 2,25,749 ice packs across the 30 districts in the state. Health Department sources said that the government has ILRs with the capacity ranging between 50 litres to 200 litres with each litre having the capacity to store 287 doses of the vaccine.  In addition, the Union government has provided 64 Large ILRs, with a storage capacity of 225 litres each. The state government is also awaiting the arrival of two walk-in coolers and one walk-in freezer from the Union government, Health Minister Dr K Sudhakar said.  Karnataka also has 2,870 cold chain points spread across the 30 districts under the universal immunisation programme, which comprises 10% of the total number of such units in the country. “These cold chain points will be beneficial for logistical support,” the health department official added.  The government has identified two primary storage facilities in Bengaluru and Belagavi for the disbursal of the vaccine to districts located in the northern and southern parts of the state. Apart from these two primary facilities, five regional storage facilities have been set up in Chitradurga, Mangaluru, Mysuru, Kalaburagi and Bagalkote districts in order to ensure that the vaccine disbursal occurs smoothly.  "All the 30 districts have adequate number of ice-lined refrigerators and deep freezers to store vaccines. The cold chain points are located in district hospitals, medical colleges, taluk hospitals, community health centres, primary health centres to ensure that vaccines are available in all regions,” Minister Sudhakar said, while adding that the cold chain facilities will have adequate capacity to even store the polio vaccines along with COVID-19 vaccines.  Health Department officials said that each district has been allocated insulated vans to supply vaccines to taluk hospitals, community health centres and primary health centres.  Sources said that the state has requested the Union government to provide additional cold chain kits, deep freezers and freeze ice packs for transporting the vaccines from cold chain points as it would be required for the next phases of vaccine disbursal.  Health Department officials said that the government is equipped to handle the logistics as it had implemented the measles-rubella (MR) vaccination campaign in 2017. At the time, the state had received around 1.8 crore doses of the vaccine in just two months and the department had ensured its disbursal in a timely manner. "We have experience in managing storage and transportation of vaccines. Besides, we will have an electronic vaccine intelligence network at all cold chain points to monitor stocks,” the official said.  However, health activists expressed apprehensions regarding the disbursal of Covaxin without adequate data regarding its side-effects. “Already a lot of regulations have been diluted given this is a pandemic but even then it is unacceptable that Bharat Biotech has presented no data of efficacy yet it has received emergency use authorization. Even in the Serum Institute vaccine has been tried out in populations outside the country and this is the level of efficacy. But the Indian arm where 7,500 Indian participants were given the vaccine, that data has not been disclosed. Both these incidents will not give the people any confidence as the regulators have allowed political compulsions  to override the scientific aspects,” said Akhila Vasan a health activist with Karnataka Janaarogya Chaluvali. 

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BJP MP Tejasvi Surya cries foul over Trump social media ban for inciteful posts

Politics

"If they can do this to POTUS, they can do this to anyone. Sooner India reviews intermediaries regulations, better for our democracy," the BJP MP tweeted.

TNM Staff

File photo

Hours after social media giant Twitter announced that it was banning United States President Donald Trump from its platform, citing "risk of further incitement of violence," Member of Parliament (MP) from Bengaluru South, Tejasvi Surya, said that it was a threat to democracy. "This must be a wake up call for all who don’t yet understand the threat to our democracies by unregulated big tech companies. If they can do this to POTUS, they can do this to anyone. Sooner India reviews intermediaries regulations, better for our democracy," the BJP MP tweeted. This must be wake up call for all who don’t yet understand threat to our democracies by unregulated big tech companies. If they can do this to POTUS, they can do this to anyone. Sooner India reviews intermediaries regulations, better for our democracy.@GoI_MeitY https://t.co/SWzaBfycJ8 — Tejasvi Surya (@Tejasvi_Surya) January 9, 2021 Meanwhile, BJP IT cell head Amit Malviya also said that he was against social media platforms' move to ban Trump over his inciteful posts. "Deplatforming Donald Trump, a sitting US president, sets a dangerous precedent. It has less to do with his views and more to do with intolerance for a differing point. Ironically, those who claim to champion free speech are celebrating. Big tech firms are now the new oligarchs," he tweeted. Deplatforming Donald Trump, a sitting US president, sets a dangerous precedent. It has less to do with his views and more to do with intolerance for a differing point. Ironically, those who claim to champion free speech are celebrating. Big tech firms are now the new oligarchs. — Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) January 9, 2021 The Twitter ban on Donald Trump came two days after a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol, hoping to stop the certification of Joe Biden's election victory. "After close review of recent Tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them, specifically how they are being received and interpreted on and off Twitter, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence," Twitter had said in a statement. The ban from Twitter came shortly after Facebook and Instagram also temporarily suspended Donald Trump from their platforms for a period of two weeks, till Joe Biden took over as US President. In an "overview", Twitter called out two of Trump tweets from January 8 and then went on to explain the context of the ban. The first tweet said, "The 75,000,000 great American Patriots who voted for me, AMERICA FIRST, and MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, will have a GIANT VOICE long into the future. They will not be disrespected or treated unfairly in any way, shape or form!!!(sic)." The second tweet said, "To all of those who have asked, I will not be going to the Inauguration on January 20." Twitter said that both these tweets need to be seen in the "context of broader events in the country and the ways in which the President's statements can be mobilized by different audiences, including to incite violence, as well as in the context of the pattern of behaviour from this account in recent weeks." Twitter justified the Trump ban saying its language went against "our Glorification of Violence policy". Twitter reportedly also picked up chatter on its platform of another possible attack being planned on the Capitol later this month, days before inauguration day on January 20. Late on January 6, Trump was locked out of his account for 12 hours after a violent mob stormed the US Capitol. On the same afternoon, Trump posted a video on Twitter calling his supporters "very special" people and repeating claims of election fraud without offering any conclusive evidence. Five people, including a Capitol Police officer, are reported dead after the violence on January 6. With IANS inputs

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After Karnataka schools reopen, 211 teachers test positive for coronavirus

Coronavirus

The government had mandated that all teaching and non-teaching staff must undergo a COVID-19 test before educational institutions reopened.

TNM Staff

Image for Representation

As many as 211 teachers across Karnataka have tested positive for the coronavirus just seven days after schools and colleges reopened in the state. The figure went up to 236 after several non-teaching staff members also tested positive. The government had mandated that all teaching and non-teaching staff must undergo a COVID-19 test before educational institutions reopened.  In Uttara Kannada district, 20 people, including teachers and non-teaching staff have tested positive for the coronavirus while in Belagavi, 19 teachers and six non-teaching staff tested positive. In the districts of Shivamogga, Hassan and Mandya, a total of 39 teachers have tested positive for the coronavirus. In the districts of Tumakuru, Mysuru, Chamrajnagar and Gadag, as many as 45 teachers tested positive along with two non-teaching staff members. The results have created a sense of fear among parents and students. However, in three places in the state — Chikkaballapur, Bellary and Madhugiri, none of the teaching or non-teaching staff members tested positive. Students of Classes 10 and 12 in Karnataka returned to schools on January 1 after a nine-month break, following the lockdown imposed due to the coronavirus outbreak in March 2020. Government schools in Karnataka reported a large number of students turning up for classes in school. The students were allowed to enter the school premises after undergoing temperature checks, were asked to compulsorily wear masks and sanitise their hands. Students who wished to attend classes in school were also asked to carry letters of consent from their parents. Regular classes for Class 11 students are expected to resume from January 15. The Vidyagama scheme for students of Classes 6 to 9 is also expected to resume shortly. Schools were reopened under directions of a Technical Advisory Committee and Health Department.  Meanwhile, Karnataka on Friday reported 970 new cases of COVID-19, taking the total number of cases to 9.25 lakh, out of which 9.04 lakh people have been discharged after recovery. With three more deaths, the toll rose to 12,134. The number of active cases in the state stands at 9,119.

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Biden calls for speeding up release of Covid shots

The pledge comes in the wake of calls from eight Democratic governors to ship out as much of the vaccine as possible.

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