Karnataka to come out with scheme to reverse brain-drain

Karnataka Governor Thaawarchand Gehlot, in his maiden address to the joint session of the legislature on Monday, announced that the state government will implement a scheme to reverse brain-drain by utilizing the knowledge of Indians or Kannadigas overseas.

The scheme will be known as 'Marali Taynaadige' (return to the motherland).

"Proper policy will be framed and grants released to implement the 'Marali Taynaadige' scheme," Gehlot said in a speech that was panned by the Opposition Congress.

Gehlot, highlighting the achievements of the government, said that Karnataka topped the the country with 48 per cent of India's Gross Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) flows during April-June 21. "Karnataka also tops the 'Major States' category under the 'Bharath Indian Innovation Index 2020' published by the Niti Ayog of Government of India," he said.

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Karnataka, he said, "ranks 4th in the Business Index (Growth, Equality and Sustainability) and 4th in SDG India Index and we lead in implementation of 11 Sustainable Development Goals," he said. The state ranks first in the country with the installed capacity of 15,374.55 MW from renewable energy sources.

Gehlot said the 32.54 km of Bengaluru Metro phase-2 will be completed by 2022-23 and will be open to public. The upgradation of the existing water purification unit situated in Koramangala-Challaghatta valley will also be taken up, he said.

An additional kg of rice will be distributed free of cost to BPL families from April 1, 2022, in addition to the 5 kg rice distributed every month, Gehlot said.

The government is working to supply portable piped water to all households by providing connections to 27.14 lakh households in 2022-23 and 17.45 lakh households in 2023-24. The Governor said that solid waste management units were approved at 5,571 of the 5,965 gram panchayats in the state.

Gehlot also hailed the Covid relief works carried out by the state, noting that Karnataka received national recognition for the IT enabled Covid-19 management. "My Government and I personally also, thank the doctors, nurses, police, other health and frontline workers and people who worked so hard during the pandemic," he said, lauding the government for handling the pandemic effectively.

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