Birds spotted by wildlife enthusiasts in remote village

A few months after Ramadevarabetta in Ramanagar district was designated the country’s first vulture sanctuary, wildlife enthusiasts have come across a large congregation of critically endangered vultures in a remote village bordering Bellary and Raichur districts. The team of wildlife enthusiasts comprising - Santosh Martin, Honourary Wildlife Warden, Bellary; K S Abdul Samad Kottur, a wildlife activist; local naturalist Anand Kundargi and budding naturalists and photographers Sunaina Martin and Sonia Martin – has discovered 16 long-billed vultures Gyps Indicus and four Egyptian vultures during their expedition to discover vultures in the remote parts of Bellary district.

Every third malnourished child in the State is from the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, reveals a study.

Bidar, Gulbarga, Yadgir, Raichur, and Koppal districts that comprise the Hyderabad-Karnataka region presents a shocking picture. Whereas the situation in Raichur is far worse than sub-Saharan countries and our own BIMARU states, the study notes. The HUNGaMA (Hunger and Malnutrition) report of the Naandi Foundation provides reliable estimates of the prevalence of severe malnutrition in 112 districts in Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Rajasthan.

At a time when the State is reeling under severe drought conditions, about 4,000 cusecs of water gets wasted everyday at the Basavasagara reservoir in Narayanapura due to the lack of maintenance of the reservoir.

The reservoir, which helps irrigate 10 lakh acres of land, has an inflow of about 10,000 cusec of water everyday. Of this, only 6,000 cusec reach the agricultural lands.

A Karnataka High Court-appointed committee has said the State Government should take up as top priority medical treatment of 68,000 children suffering from malnutrition.

The Electronics Division of State-owned Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) has commissioned 13 MW of solar power plants across the country under its solar photovoltaic business in 2011-2012.

The High Court of Karnataka on Monday rapped the State Women and Child Welfare department in connection with children’s death due to malnutrition in Raichur district.

A Division Bench, comprising Chief Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice B V Nagarathna, took the State government to task for not releasing funds to provide milk and egg to the undernourished children.

Power generation from Unit II of Raichur Thermal Power Station (RTPS) resumed on Tuesday, Karnataka Power Corporation Managing Director Yogendra Tripathi said.

It was pushed through at the Cabinet meeting

Karnataka has sought Rs 2,605.99 cr

Citing that the drought situation in the State is indeed of a serious nature, the Central team which visited the State to assess the drought situation in December has opined that there is no exaggeration in Karnataka’s claims.