Karnataka govt to amend certain rules of Land Reforms Act: CM Yediyurappa
Bengaluru, Jan 25: Terming his four-day visit to Davos to attend the World Economic Forum meet as "fruitful," Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa on Saturday said his government has decided to amend the Land Reforms Act, aimed at allaying concerns of investors over delay in acquiring land.
"The investor's side (during the meet) had some doubts and opposition to cumbersome procedures in starting their units and we assured them of solving all their problems.
For example, they complained of delay in acquiring lands and we told them that rules will be simplified and even we told them about amending rules under relevant act," Yediyurappa told reporters here.
Assuring that the necessary changes will be made at the earliest, he said we would rectify all administrative problems within a month or two and legal problems in next couple of months by amending existing laws.
The Chief Minister who had begun his Davos tour on January 19, returned to the city on Friday afternoon.
Yediyurappa said he has held discussions with Industries Minister, Chief Secretary and officials, on his return, regarding concerns expressed by the investors, and has decided to takes some immediate actions.
"To purchase land for industrial purpose, under theKarnataka Industries(Facilitation)Act, 2002, the State High Level Clearance Committee (SHLCC) and a state-level single-window clearance is required.
After the proposal is cleared, for approval under Section 109, the process has to be completed in 30 days if not such applications will get deemed permission. We will amend the law, we've already discussed this and it'll be done," he said.
"Second, anyone who owns agricultural land and wants to get land use conversion for non-agricultural purposes, the process will be simplified online;
Sharing details of the visit, Yediyurappa expressed confidence over converting Karnataka into a "power house" of development in next three years.
"My four-day visit to Davos, with Industries Minister Jagadish Shettar and a team of officials proved to be fruitful as we had a result oriented discussion with more than 40 heads of various industries and business houses," Yediyurappa said.
"When we began our tour we were slightly skeptical about the tour's outcome, but it will go a long way in Karnataka's development," he added.
The Chief Minister said, though it is too early to quantify investments flowing to Karnataka, he can categorically affirm that definitely investments will be reality in the coming months and it will pick up after world investors meet in November.
Noting that the state government has signed an agreement with WET Managing Director Murat Sonmez on establishing a "Centre For Internet of Ethical Things" which goes a long way in drawing investments in the service and IT, BT sector, Yediyurappa said, Karnataka is the first state in the world to sign such an agreement.
"He (Sonmez) told us that investors will be happy on this count and will not hesitate to make investments in Karnataka," he added.
Some of the companies whose heads and CEOs with whom the Chief Minister led delegation held discussions included ArcelorMittal, Kirloskar, Mahendra, Bharat Forge, 2000 Watt, General Electricals, Dassault Systmes, Dalmia, Lulu group, Volvo, NovoNordisk and Domeco.
"All have responded positively to our appeal to invest in Karnataka," the CM said adding while Lulu group's investment of about Rs 2000 crore will help our farmers in developing a food transport chain, NovoNordisk will help in managing diabetics among state population.
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England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
