Karnataka Current Affairs – KAS/KPSC Exams – 31st March 2019

Karnataka economy grew 132% since 2011

• Karnataka’s economy expanded a good 132% between 2011-12 and 2018-2019, the highest among the south Indian states and only behind Gujarat when compared with the industrially prosperous states of the country.
• Karnataka’s economy rose to Rs 14.08 lakh crore at the end of 2018-19 from Rs 6.06 lakh crore in 2011-12, data from the Reserve Bank of India and the state budgets showed.
• Though Tamil Nadu’s economy was bigger in size than Karnataka’s, its growth in the current decade in percentage terms was much lower at 101%.
• The neighbouring Andhra Pradesh grew at a handsome 129% from 2011-19, but the size of its economy remained much smaller and almost half of that of Tamil Nadu.
• Highlighting Karnataka’s prosperity and its sustained consumption pattern, personal loans or credit to housing, car and white goods increased by 218% in the nine years to 2019. It grew from Rs 61,300 crore in 2011 to Rs 1.95 lakh crore in 2019, the RBI data showed.
• Growth in personal loan segment indicates that the price rise in the economy is not acute and the households are able to save for their capital expenditure.
• It also shows that the inflation expectation of the masses is well entrenched. Loans in the personal segment did not grow as rapidly in the case of Tamil Nadu although it expanded 143% in the period under review.
• Personal loan growth was the highest in Gujarat, where it rose 306% in nine years since 2011.
• Adding another feather to its cap, the social sector spending of Karnataka grew nearly 186% from 2011 to 2019. This was the highest among all Indian states.
• Social sector spending includes housing, education, health, sanitation and urban development among others. Karnataka, which spent Rs 92,300 crore on its social sector in 2018-19, up from Rs 32,300 crore in 2011-12.
• Maharashtra, with a 142% rise in spend on its social sector in nine years, came a remote second. The data showed that Karnataka’s social sector spending grew rapidly between 2014-15 and 2018-19. Industrial loan, too, fared well in Karnataka, the IT hub of the country and home to the fourth largest technology cluster in the world.
• Karnataka credit to industry grew 86% between 2011-12 and 2018-2019, as compared to 45% growth in Tamil Nadu and a decline of 57% in Andhra Pradesh in the same period.

Bengaluru’s Kempegowda airport becomes “world’s first” to bag awards for both arrivals and departures

• Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport has become the “world’s first” airport to secure the Airports Council International’s Airport Service Quality (ACI ASQ) awards for both arrivals and departures.
• The Kempegowda airport in Karnataka has won the first-ever ASQ award for arrivals, a category which was open to airports across the world, and was introduced in the year 2018. ACI World has announced that Bangalore airport also won the award for best airport by size or region in the 25-40 MPPA category in the Asia-Pacific zone.
• Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport will also receive a major infrastructural boost. A Rs 13,000 crore programme has been envisioned for the airport, which will include the development of a new terminal, access roads, a second runway, airport service utilities, internal road infrastructure and a multi-modal transport hub.
• The airport authorities are planning to undertake a big expansion programme in order to accommodate the high demand of passengers. It is the third busiest in India and has recorded 27 million passengers in the year 2017-2018, and is expecting passenger traffic to increase three-folds in the next 10 years, according to an earlier report. The expansion programme planned is expected to be completed by the year 2021.

Some of the prominent features about the expansion project are as follows:

1. The new terminal will be built at the most affordable cost and in a responsible manner.
2. The terminal will be world class as it will be built in a sustainable way, including its operation, design and performance.
3. It will be environmentally sustainable as solar energy, which is a renewable form of energy will be utilized. With this feature, there will be zero electricity consumption during the day.
4. In terms of water requirements for the terminal, Arrangements have been made for self-sustainability.

Five coffee varieties get GI tag

• The government has awarded Geographical Indication (GI) tag to five varieties of Indian coffee including Coorg Arabica.
• The move is expected to help the growers get maximum price for their premium produce.
• The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, under the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has recently awarded this tag to — Coorg Arabica coffee from Karnataka, Wayanad Robusta coffee from Kerala, Chikmaglur Arabica from Karnataka, Araku Valley Arabica from Andhra Pradesh, and Bababudangiris Arabica coffee from Karnataka.
• The Araku coffee is produced by the tribals, who follow an organic approach in which they emphasise management practices involving substantial use of organic manures, green manuring and organic pest management practices, the ministry said in a statement.
• Similarly, it said, Bababudangiris Arabica coffee is selectively hand-picked and processed by natural fermentation.

About coffee plantation

• In India, coffee is cultivated in about 4.54 lakh hectare by 3.66 lakh coffee farmers of which 98 per cent are small farmers.
• Coffee cultivation is mainly done in the southern states of India including Karnataka, which accounts for 54 per cent of the total production. It is followed by Kerala (19 per cent), Tamil Nadu (eight per cent).
• It is also grown in non-traditional areas such as Andhra Pradesh and Odisha (17.2 per cent) and North East states (1.8 per cent).
• India is the only country in the world where the entire coffee cultivation is grown under shade, hand-picked and sun dried, it said adding the country produces some of the best coffee in the world, grown by tribal farmers in the Western and Eastern Ghats, which are the two major bio-diversity hotspots in the world. Indian coffee is highly valued in the world market and sold as premium coffee in Europe.

How will “GI” tag help?

• The recognition and protection that comes with GI certification will allow the coffee producers of India to invest in maintaining the specific qualities of the coffee grown in that particular region.
• It will also enhance the visibility of Indian coffee in the world and allow growers to get maximum price for their premium coffee,” it added.
• A Geographical Indication (GI) is primarily an agricultural, natural or a manufactured product (handicrafts and industrial goods) originating from a definite geographical territory.
• Typically, such a name conveys an assurance of quality and distinctiveness, which is essentially attributable to the place of its origin.
• Darjeeling Tea, Tirupathi Laddu, Kangra Paintings, Nagpur Orange and Kashmir Pashmina are among the registered GIs in India.
• Experts said that award of GI tag gives protection to the producer of those genuine products, which commands premium pricing in the markets both domestic and international.
• Once the GI protection is granted, no other producer can misuse the name to market similar products.
• It also provides comfort to customers about the authenticity of that product
• Such products also get premium pricing in the markets