Rural development
In order to further strengthen the Panchayat Raj Institutions, I propose to enhance the
grant to Rs 5 lakh per Gram Panchayat. For the 5,659 Gram Panchayats in the state, I am
thus allocating Rs 283 crore, a 43 per cent increase to give a genuine fillip to local
self government.
Education
My Government is committed to improve literacy levels. A key initiative that I would like
to announce is to introduce the “Aksharadasoha” scheme for all Government
primary school children up to class 5 all over the state from the next academic year.
Under this programme hot mid day meals will be provided to school going children in all
Government schools all over the state. I am dedicating Rs 200 crore for this scheme. As
part of my Government’s initiative for the development of Northern Karnataka and
decentralisation, I propose to create a separate Commissioner of Public Instruction for
schools in the Bombay Karnataka and Hyderabad Karnataka Region. The Commissionerate will
be located in Hubli.
Health
Providing advanced health care to our rural people afflicted with diabetes, hypertension,
asthma and heart disease is one of the challenges faced by us. Keeping this in view and by
using advanced technology in the areas of space, information and communication, I propose
to promote a Tele-medicine Project which will link 25 district hospitals. AIDS
continues to be a cause of concern for us. We have launched new programmes like Voluntary
Counseling and Testing Centres and Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission in almost
all the districts. We will upscale the services this year and take them to the Taluka
level.
I propose to set up four cardiology referral centers of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology
in Hubli-Dharwad, Shim-oga, Mercara and Bijapur. These centers will be able to cater to
about 40 lakh patients for preliminary and advanced diagnostic procedures. I am allocating
Rs 3 crore for this purpose. I propose to allocate Rs 1 crore to the Institute of
Nephro-urology in Bangalore. It is proposed to build 15,000 Ambedkar houses at a
cost of Rs 30 crore and 60,000 Ashraya houses at a cost of Rs 60 crore in rural areas. It
is proposed to construct 15,000 houses for houseless Scheduled Tribe families. Considering
the growth of population and backwardness of the North Karnataka, 7 backward districts
viz. Bijapur, Bagalkot, Bidar, Raichur, Gulbarga, Koppal and Bellary, I propose to start
75 new hostels for the benefit of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Class
students, in these districts. I propose to reserve 30 per cent of these institutions for
girl students.
In memory of late Sri Devaraj Urs I propose to earmark Rs 2 crore for the purpose of
construction of a “Devaraj Urs Bhawan” in each district headquarter at a cost of
Rs 10 lakh each. I propose to establish a “Chief Minister’s Fund for repair of
old temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and basadis in rural areas”. The initial
corpus will be Rs 1 crore. Assistance from this fund will be limited to Rs 10,000 per
institution as a one time grant. I am also allocating Rs 5 crore to enable
construction of one Shaadi Mahal in each taluka by providing a grant of Rs 5 lakh each. To
encourage research scholars to pursue studies on development of backward classes and their
assimilation into the mainstream I propose to institute a “Devaraj Urs Research
Fellowship” in six Universities of Karnataka. A grant of Rs 15 Lakh each is proposed.
In memory of the great patriot Tipu Sultan a museum and research centre will be set up at
Srirangapatna at a cost of Rs 3.5 crore. I propose to grant Rs 2 crore to this project.
Promoting higher education among women is perhaps the principal catalyst for women’s
empowerment and their economic independence. As part of my commitment to this cause and to
encourage higher education of women in Northern Karnataka, my Government will establish a
women’s university at Bijapur during 2003-04. I have allocated Rs 5 crore for this
purpose. The anganawadi workers have played an important role in successfully
implementing the Stree Shakti programme. I propose to increase the honorarium of
Anganawadi workers by Rs 200 per month and of the Anganwadi helpers by Rs 100 per month. I
am providing Rs 14 crore for this purpose.
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