The Hindu : Karnataka News : Any guarantee of employment?

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Tuesday, Nov 25, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Any guarantee of employment?

The Karnataka State Legal Services Authority and High Court Legal Services Committee had organised a conference of southern States on “Initiative on supporting the NREGS through State legal services authorities.”

A host of suggestions were made to the Government for the effective implementation of the scheme.

However, the background screen at the venue — Vidhana Soudha’s Banquet Hall — spelt NREGS as National Rural Employment Guarauntee Scheme.

When a reporter brought this spelling mistake to one of the officials concerned, he said, “It’s OK. The announcement was cleared by top officials and legal experts, who have examined the spelling too the previous night.”

If one goes by this announcement and the state of implementation of NREGS in Karnataka, it appears the rural mass are not guaraunteed any employment under the scheme being sponsored by the Union Government.

The conference was inaugurated by none other than the Chief Justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, and was attended by Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa among other dignitaries.

Forever charmed

Film actors hold a charm that none can overshadow, even when they are somewhat past their prime. Shivaraj Kumar was the centre of all attention at Bala Mela, a cultural programme for underprivileged children on Sunday.

Even as the organisers were urging the children to shout out slogans like “Bala Mela Bindas,” many in the audience chose to prefix their favourite star’s name to “Bindas.”

The children, who were getting restless with every other speaker, were sorely disappointed when the actor delivered a four-line speech.

The children summoned him back to sing a few lines of a popular song from his film Jogi.

Carried away by the mood, Union Minister Oscar Feranandes decided to add cinematic touch to his speech as well.

After asking children set of predictable questions on the lines of “Do you want to go to school?” he finally asked: “Do you want to act in films?” The last question, of course, received the loudest “Yes” in response in unison.

He went on to say that television news channels were recording the events and would beam their “film” throughout India.

The children weren’t particularly impressed.

NAGESH PRABHU, BAGESHREE S.

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