Here are the big stories from Karnataka today

Karnataka Today newsletter: Failure of waste-to-energy plant exposes lack of segregation in Bengaluru, and more

On the one hand, where the civic administration is finding it difficult to manage the waste in Bengaluru, the waste-to-energy (WtE) plant at Bidadi, is unable to get the required amount of dry waste to produce energy. Karnataka’s first of its kind WtE plant, a joint venture of Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) and BBMP, was set up across 10 acres of the vast 163-acre KPCL premises.

The plant has not been able to generate its full capacity of 11.5 Megawatts (MW) of electricity every day, due to the lack of dry waste. The plant requires 600 metric tonnes of properly segregated dry waste every day to produce 11.5 MW of electricity. The KPCL officials say that they have been receiving not more than 400 metric tonnes of waste every day from the BBMP.

Karnataka students have achieved a pass percentage of 99.70% in the class 10 ICSE exams conducted by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE). The results were announced on April 30. Class 12 students of ISC achieved a pass percentage of 99.63%.

A total of 29,745 students from 425 schools in the State had written their class 10 exams, while 2,442 students from 55 schools had given their class 12 examinations. Girls outshone boys (pass percentage of 99.58%) in class 10 with a pass percentage of 99.82%. In ISC, boys outdid girls (99.61%) with 99.65% results. A total of 89 students of class 10, and 9 students of class 12 have failed.

A sustainable cooking solution designed by two class 10 students of Mysuru, which seeks to help street food vendors by reducing fuel consumption and minimising environmental impact, has qualified for funding by the Ministry of Education to not only develop the product, but also for its commercialisation.

The cooking solution — Agnipath — was designed by Shruthakeerthi V. and Aditi V., students of Excel Public School (EPS) in Mysuru. It was pitted against close to one lakh entries from across India in the latest edition of School Innovation Marathon (SIM) organised jointly by Union Ministry of Education, Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) and Niti Ayog.

As per a notification issued by the Central Government in line with its ‘One state, One RRB’ policy, a unified Karnataka Grameena Bank (KGB) with its headquarter at Ballari, will come into existence on May 1. KGB has been formed by the amalgamation of Karnataka Vikas Grameena Bank (KVGB) and Karnataka Grameena Bank (KGB).