Government of Karnataka

Government of Karnataka

Seat of Government	Vidhana Soudha, Bangalore
Executive
Governor	Vajubhai Vala
Chief Minister	H. D. Kumaraswamy
Deputy Chief Minister	G. Parameshwara
Legislature
Assembly	Karnataka State Assembly
Speaker	K. R. Ramesh Kumar
Members in Assembly	224
Council	Karnataka Legislative Council
Chairman	D. H. Shankaramurthy
Members in Council	75
Judiciary
High Court	Karnataka High Court
Chief Justice	Dinesh Maheshwari

The Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the governor as the constitutional head. The governor who is appointed for five years appoints the chief minister and on the advice of the chief minister appoints his council of ministers. Even though the governor remains the ceremonial head of the state, the day-to-day running of the government is taken care of by the chief minister and his council of ministers in whom a great amount of legislative powers are vested.

Administrative divisions

A map showing the 30 districts of Karnataka

Karnataka State has been divided into four revenue divisions, 49 sub-divisions, 30 districts, 176 taluks and 747 hoblies/revenue circles and 5628 gram panchayats for administrative purposes.^[1] The state has 281 towns and 7 municipal corporations. Bangalore is the fifth largest urban agglomeration out of 23 metropolis, urban agglomerations and cities in India. It is among the fastest growing cities in the world.

Legislature

The Vidhana Soudha

The state legislature is bicameral and consists of the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council. The Legislative Assembly consists of 224 members with one member nominated by the governor to represent the Anglo-Indian community. The term of office of the members is five years and the term of a member elected to the council is six years.^[2] The Legislative Council is a permanent body with one-third of its members retiring every two years.^[3]

Ministry

The government is headed by the governor who appoints the chief minister and his council of ministers. The governor is appointed for five years and acts as the constitutional head of the state. Even though the governor remains the ceremonial head of the state, the day-to-day running of the government is taken care of by the chief minister and his council of ministers in whom a great deal of legislative powers is vested..

The secretariat headed by the secretary to the governor assists the council of ministers. The council of ministers consists of cabinet ministers, ministers of state and deputy ministers. The chief minister is assisted by the chief secretary, who is the head of the administrative services.

As of June 2018, the Government of Karnataka consists of 27 ministers including Chief Minister and a Deputy Chief Minister.

Chief Minister

The present Chief Minister of Karnataka is H. D. Kumaraswamy (List of Chief Ministers of Karnataka)

Cabinet

Karnataka Panchayat Raj

(Rule of Village Committee) is a three-tier system in the state with elected bodies at the village, taluk and district levels. It ensures greater participation of people and more effective implementation of rural development programmes. There will be a Grama Panchayat for a village or group of villages, a taluk level and the Zilla Panchayat at the district level.

All the three institutions will have elected representatives and there is no provision for nomination by the government to any of these councils. s the first in the country to enact new Panchayat Raj Act incorporating all provisions of 73rd Amendment to the Constitution. In 2014 Karantaka State Grama Panchayats Delimitation committee constituted By govt. of Karnataka. Chairmen S G Nanjaiahna mutt and 6 members. joint secretory of the committee Dr.Revaiah Odeyar. Report Submitted 2014 October 30. This report implemented 2015 Gram Panchayath Elections.

Executive

A district of an Indian state is an administrative unit headed by a deputy commissioner or district magistrate, an officer belonging to the Indian Administrative Service. The district magistrate or the deputy commissioner is assisted by a number of officers belonging to Karnataka Civil Service and other Karnataka state services.

A Deputy Commissioner of Police, an officer belonging to the Indian Police Service is entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining law and order and related issues of the district. The commissioner is assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Police Service and other Karnataka Police officials. A Deputy Conservator of Forests, an officer belonging to the Indian Forest Service, is responsible for managing the forests, environment and wildlife related issues of the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Forest Service and other Karnataka forest and wildlife officials. Sectoral development is looked after by the district head of each development department such as PWD, Health, Education, Agriculture, Animal husbandry, etc. These officers belong to the State Services.

Police Administration

The state is divided into 20 police districts, 77 sub-divisions, 178 circles, State Police consists of 20 police districts, 5 Police Commissioners at Bangalore, Mysore, Mangalore, belgaum and Hubli-Dharwad cities, 77 sub-divisions, 178 circles, 696 police stations, and 317 police outposts. There are six ranges: Central Range at Bangalore, Eastern Range at Davanagere, Northern Range at Gulbarga, Southern Range at Mysore and Western Range at Mangalore. The government Railway Police is headed by a D.I.G. of Police.^[4]

Units that assist the state in law and order include Criminal Investigation Department (Forest Cell, Anti-Dowry Cell, etc.), Dog Squad, Civil Rights Enforcement Wing, Police Wireless and Police Motor Transport Organization and special units. Village Defence Parties protect persons and property in the village and assist the police when necessary. The police force is at times supplemented by Home Guards.

Politics

Karnataka politics is dominated by the Indian National Congress (INC), Janata Dal (Secular) (JDS) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Current politics of Karnataka has roots in 2004 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections. It saw unstable coalition governments of JDS and Congress, JDS and BJP during 2004 to 2007 period. The Karnataka Government for an initial term of 20 months was led by N. Dharam Singh then by H. D. Kumaraswamy of JDS and the post was supposed to subsequently be transferred to BJP's B. S. Yeddyurappa with JDS and BJP making 20-20 agreement to topple Congress government in 2006. A political fall out, due to the failure in transfer of power to Yeddyurappa broke the coalition. The state was then under President's rule until the elections in May 2008. As a result of the BJP victory in those elections B. S. Yeddyurappa became chief minister of Karnataka opening southern gateway to BJP for the first time. But he resigned on 31 July 2011, following his indictment by the Karnataka Lokayukta in illegal iron ore export scam. D. V. Sadananda Gowda was sworn in as the 26th chief minister of the state on 4 August 2011. Sadananda Gowda resigned in 2012. Jagadish Shettar replaced him as new chief minister of Karnataka and administered until general assembly elections May 2013. The assembly elections held to choose new assembly in May 2013 and INC got a clear majority with winning 121 of 224 seats in the assembly of Karnataka. Siddaramaiah was sworn in as the new chief minister of Karnataka. In recent election conducted in May 2018 BJP emerged as single largest party with 104 seats leaving behind INC with 79 , JDS with 38 and others 2. B. S. Yeddyurappa took oath as Chief Minister on 17th May 2018 and he could not prove the majority. After his resignation current Chief Minister Shri. H. D. Kumaraswamy was sworn in on 23rd May 2018.

References

Footnotes

• https://web.archive.org/web/20070311212509/http://www.kar.nic.in/kla/histry.htm
• http://www.karnataka.com/govt/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20100619201924/http://kla.kar.nic.in/cabm.htm

Police

• http://www.karnatakastatepolice.org/First.htm

Judiciary

• http://www.ebc-india.com/lawyer/hcourts.htm
• http://pib.nic.in/archieve/lreleng/lyr2003/roct2003/30102003/r301020037.html
• http://karnatakajudiciary.kar.nic.in/

Transport

• http://www.rto.kar.nic.in Transport Department - All RTO's in Karnataka

LNG

• http://www.theoilandgasyear.com/news/asias-largest-fsru-planned-for-karnataka/