BEML to open excellence centre for railways in Bengaluru
Bengaluru, April 5: State-run Bharat Earth Movers Ltd (BEML) will set up a centre of excellence for the Indian Railways here to test its equipment and coaches, a top official has said.
"The centre of excellence is being set up in Bengaluru with Rs 300-crore investment with a testing facility for railway equipment and coaches," said BEML Chairman D.K. Hota at an industry seminar here on Wednesday.
The state-run Railways and the Science and Technology department are partnering with the company in the project to build the centre.
The defence behemoth, which provides the Indian armed forces logistics solutions, also makes metro coaches, accounting for 47 per cent of the needs of corporations operating the metro rail service in cities across the country.
"As India is at the cusp of rapid economic growth, the government has to focus on developing skill sets in the youth with right policies to catalyse the industry," asserted Hota at a seminar, organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) with Society of Indian Defence Manufacturers (SIDM).
Committing to indigenous making of defence equipment, state-run Bharat Electronics Ltd (BEL) Chairman M.V. Gowtama said 60 per cent of materials for defence and civilian use was sourced from the local industry.
"The company has 1,289 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as vendors to outsource 30 per cent of our equipment needs for defence and civilian use," said Gowtama at the seminar on 'Opportunities in Defence for Industry'.
Karnataka's industrial development Commission Darpan Jain said the state government was keen to develop a defence industrial corridor in the state.
"The state industrial policy envisages Rs 1 lakh crore investment to generate 3 lakh jobs annually over the next five years. To achieve the target, we are focusing on developing infrastructure, promoting industry with incentives, technology, SMEs and ease of doing business in the country," said Jain.
SIDM Director-General Lt General (retd.) Subrata Saha said as India was the world's largest arms importer for the fifth consecutive year, the need for greater indigenisation was imperative.
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Karnataka government lifts ban on hijab in classrooms imposed in 2022
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government on Wednesday withdrew its 2022 order banning wearing hijab in classrooms and has issued a fresh order permitting students to wear a ‘limited traditional and practice-based symbols’.
According to the Deccan Herald, the preceding BJP government had, in February 2022, banned students from wearing hijab to classrooms, giving rise to a controversy as some Muslim girls were prevented from attending classes since their dress was not in accordance with the uniforms of the institutions. The BJP government also insisted that the girls follow the uniform prescribed by the schools or colleges they were studying in.
Further, in March 2022, the High Court upheld the government order, stating that wearing hijab was not an essential practice in Islam. The Supreme Court, however, delivered a split verdict in October the same year.
The present decision of the state government follows strong objections raised by leaders of the Muslim community when the Congress did not give the Davanagere bypoll ticket to a Muslim candidate.
The leaders reminded the party that the hijab issue remained unresolved although it was three years since the party came to power.
