Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: CM Siddaramaiah launches 5,800-acre KWIN City in Bengaluru, and more

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched Karnataka’s ambitious 5,800-acre Knowledge, Wellbeing and Innovation City (KWIN) City amidst an audience comprising captains of diverse industries, at Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru on September 26, 2024. The project was earlier named KWIN City.

Expected to come up between Dabaspet and Doddaballapur, KWIN City is going to be a smart, sustainable ecosystem that is expected to attract global talent, foster entrepreneurship and economic growth. The first phase of the city, comprising 2,000 acres of land, will be built in public-private partnership in the next three years, as per information shared by the government.

MPs, legislators and former elected representatives of the opposition BJP staged a protest in Bengaluru demanding the resignation of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in the wake of an inquiry being ordered against alleged irregularities in allotment of MUDA sites to his wife.

On September 26, BJP State unit president B.Y. Vijayendra, Leader of Opposition in Assembly R. Ashok and Leader of Opposition in Council Chalavadi Narayanaswami were among those who took part in the protest in front of the Mahatma Gandhi statue in the premises of Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru.

Lakshmi Hebbalkar, Minister for Women and Child Welfare has defended Karnataka government’s decision to make Urdu a mandatory language for Anganwadi workers in areas with a higher Muslim population, as it aligned with the policy of the State government to hire those who speak the language of the children. The State government had cleared the rules on December 3, 2022, that said that recruitment to Anganwadis would be based on the population percentage of various linguistic groups.

“According to the rules, in any district or area that has a minority linguistic group of 25% or more of the population, Anganwadi workers and assistants from that group should be appointed, along with those speaking Kannada. This is how Karnataka has workers and assistants who speak Urdu, Marathi, Konkani, Telugu, Tamil and Barry and other languages, in some districts,’‘ she said.

Even as admissions to professional courses, including engineering and others, are in progress, students have complained that some reputed private engineering colleges in Karnataka are charging fees over the prescribed amount for government quota seats in the name of ‘processing’ and other fees.