Bengaluru, Oct 5: Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Tuesday underscored the need to start 'tech schools' in the state to promote technical education.

There used to be a technology school in Hubballi way back in 1960 itself which was closed later. But, technology schools need to be started considering the fact that perception ability will be more during childhood," the CM said during a video conference after virtually inaugurating Innovation and Impact' programme, organised by the Department of Electronics, IT/Bt and S&T under Beyond Bengaluru' initiative.

Bommai said steps will be taken to promote the growth of innovative industries in the Hubballi region.

He also insisted on upgrading the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Tinkering Labs.

He added that polytechnic colleges will also be upgraded along the lines of 150 Industrial Training Institutes in the state.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for IT/Bt C N Ashwath Narayan said a centre of excellence (CoE) for Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Data Engineering will be set up soon in Hubballi.

The National Education Policy (NEP-2020) aspires to ready the students as per the global technological developments, and accordingly, coding will be taught for students at the school level itself.

"The government has introduced effective policies to promote innovative technologies and the duration of the internship has risen from three weeks to 30 weeks.

Students will also be given opportunity to undergo internship in foreign countries," the Minister explained.

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Mumbai (PTI): The Maharashtra government has ordered that all files will now go through Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde before being presented to CM Devendra Fadnavis for approval.

The moves seeks to revive an arrangement which existed in 2023 of files being vetted by the then two deputy CMs --Ajit Pawar and Fadnavis -- before being forwarded to then CM Shinde.

State Chief Secretary Sujata Saunik issued an order to this effect on March 18. "Since July 26, 2023, files were moved from Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who holds the finance department, to (then) Deputy CM Fadnavis, who held the home, law and judiciary departments before being sent to (then) CM Shinde for approval," as per the order.

This arrangement was made after Pawar, who was then leader of opposition in the state assembly, joined the Shinde-led government along with a several NCP MLAs on July 2, 2023.

Now, with Fadnavis taking charge as chief minister, following the victory of the Mahayuti (comprising BJP, Shinde's Shiv Sena and Pawar-led NCP) in the state polls last year, the arrangement has been changed.

All files will be routed from Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who continues to hold the finance department, to Eknath Shinde, who is also the deputy CM and holds housing and urban development portfolios.

The files will be sent to Fadnavis after Shinde's approval, as per the latest order.

Since the Mahayuti 2.0 took over, there has been speculation of a "cold war" between Shinde and Fadnavis. Both the leaders have strongly denied the speculation.

There have been disagreements over the guardian minister posts of some districts. Fadnavis had to revoke his decision on the appointment of guardian ministers of Nashik and Raigad districts after objections from Shinde.