Valmiki Corp scam: Former minister B. Nagendra released from jail
Bengaluru: Former minister B. Nagendra, who was in judicial custody in connection with the Valmiki Development Corporation scam, was released from Parappana Agrahara prison on Wednesday morning.
Nagendra had been arrested three months ago in a money laundering case involving the Valmiki Development Corporation.
On Monday, the Special Court for People's Representatives granted him conditional bail and issued the release order.
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Karnataka govt spent Rs 6.2cr to train IAS, IPS aspirants; Only 4 of 892 cleared prelims
Bengaluru: The Karnataka government spent Rs 6.2 crore to establish coaching centres and train IAS and IPS aspirants from the Kalyana Karnataka region. However, only four out of 892 beneficiaries from the first batch in 2021-22 cleared the preliminary stage of the Civil Services Exam (CSE) conducted by the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).
The government paid Rs 5.4 crore to hire four coaching institutes to train candidates across six districts and spent an additional Rs 83.2 lakh on a monthly stipend of Rs 6,000 for each trainee.
This information was revealed by an internal audit of the IAS/KAS training programme implemented by the Kalyana Karnataka Human Resource, Agricultural and Cultural Society (KKHRACS). The audit was conducted by the Karnataka Monitoring and Evaluation Authority. According to the assessment report published in June 2024 and cited by Times of India on Tuesday, only 64 of the interviewed candidates (13%) opted to appear for the CSE, while the remaining 430 candidates (87%) did not attend the IAS exams for which they had received intensive training.
“About 36.8% of the sample size attended the training for the entire period. However, the accounts revealed that the stipend was disbursed to 85.2% of the trainees,” the audit found.
The study further identified several factors contributing to the poor performance, including limited access to online resources due to poor telecom networks. Training sessions were conducted in both online and offline formats while previously adhering to Covid protocols.
Trainees also highlighted issues such as a lack of smartphones, insufficient mobile data for lengthy training sessions, and subpar training content. “Some revealed that their target was KAS as they were convinced that the training for the UPSC exam would yield positive results in the KPSC exam,” the study stated, as cited by the news outlet.
The study mentioned that 69% of the trainees wrote other competitive exams, with nearly 17% successfully clearing those, despite the training being specifically aimed to excel in IAS/IPS.
Based on the findings, the evaluation authority recommended that the government conduct these training programs regularly over a longer duration to improve success rates. They also suggested increasing the monthly stipend and ensuring timely payments, taking into account inflation and rising living costs.
