On account of implementation of the Right to Education (RTE) Act in the State, the government has decided to distribute a second set of school uniforms free to all students studying from class one to class eight in all government and aided schools this academic year (2012-13).
The government has been implementing the RTE Act during this academic year.
A meeting of the State Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar here on Tuesday decided to distribute school uniforms to 46.44 lakh students studying in classes one to eight. As per the RTE rule, the Union government has directed State government to distribute uniforms to only students belong to other backward classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. But the State government has decided to distribute uniforms to all schoolchildren.
Of the 46.44 lakh students, 8.90 lakh students belong to the general category.
Addressing presspersons on Cabinet decisions, Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Visveshwara Hegde Kageri said that the total cost of uniforms is Rs. 106.24 crore. The Union government would contribute Rs. 88.30 crore, while the State would incur the balance.
A decision has been taken to grant an additional payment of Rs. 1,000 a month for daily wage employees in various government-owned corporations and boards from April 1, 2012. There are 23,000 employees rendering services on daily wages.
Mr. Kageri said that a proposal on regularisation of services of daily wage employees was still under the consideration of the government.
New taluk
The Cabinet has decided to form Kittur taluk in Belgaum district. With this, the number of taluks in the State will go up to 177. Mr. Shettar announced the formation of Kittur taluk during the recent Kittur Utsav.
Till now Kittur, the erstwhile princely state of Rani Chennamma, was part of Bailhongal taluk.
Awards
A decision has been taken to institute Sarvothama Awards for honouring government employees for their service to society. As many as 38 State and six district-level awards would be given to employees. The State-level award carries a cash award of Rs. 40,000, while the district-level award comprises a cash award of Rs. 20,000.
The awards would be given on Republic Day. IAS and KAS officers are not eligible for this award, Mr. Kageri said.
The Cabinet has accepted the K. Chidananda Gowda panel report on the development of Kannada software. The report recommended the implementation of Unicode as the official standard for Kannada. A sum of Rs. 2 crore has been earmarked for this.
The Cabinet has, in principle, agreed to extend government guarantee to Karnataka State Seeds Corporation Limited to borrow Rs. 30 crore from the State Bank of India.
It was decided to recruit 642 veterinary assistants in the Animal Husbandry Department, Mr. Kageri said.
