Government of Karnataka

State government IN
name_of_state= Karnataka
coat_of_arms=
state_
colorbox|redcolorbox|#FFD700
seat_of_government= Bangalore
name_of_governor= Rameshwar Thakur
name_of_chief_minister= B. S. Yeddyurappa
name_of_dpy_chief_minister= None
legislative_assembly= Karnataka Legislative Assembly
speaker= Jagadish Shettar
legislative_council= Karnataka Legislative Council
chairman= Veeranna Mattikatti
high_court= Karnataka High Court
chief_justice= Paul Daniel Dinakaran Premkumar
website= http://www.karnataka.gov.in

The Government of Karnataka is a democratically elected body with the Governor as the constitutional head. The Governor who is appointed for a period of five years appoints the Chief Minister and 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 deal of legislative powers is vested.

Administrative divisions

Karnataka State has been divided into four Revenue divisions, 49 sub-divisions, 28 districts, 175 taluks and 745 hoblies/Revenue Circles for administrative purposes. cite web|url=http://karnatakaforest.gov.in/English/forest_glance/forest_at_glance.htm|title=Statistics - Karnataka state|work=Online webpage of the Forest Department|publisher=Government of Karnataka|accessdate=2007-06-04] The State has 27,028 inhabited and 2,362 uninhabited villages, 281 towns and 7 municipal corporations. Bangalore is the sixth largest urban agglomeration out of 23 metropolis, urban agglomerations and cities in India. It is among the fastest growing cities in the world.

Political and administrative reorganisation

Karnataka took its present shape in 1956, when the states of Mysore and Coorg (Kodagu) were merged with the Kannada-speaking districts of the former states of Bombay and Hyderabad, and Madras. Mysore state was made up of ten districts, Bangalore, Kolar, Tumkur, Mandya, Mysore, Hassan, Chikmagalur (Kadur), Shimoga and Chitradurga; Bellary had been transferred from Madras state to Mysore in 1953, when the new Andhra State was created out of Madras' northern districts. Kodagu became a district, and Dakshina Kannada (South Kanara) district was transferred from Madras state, North Kanara, Dharwad, Belgaum District, and Bijapur District from Bombay state, and Bidar District, Gulbarga District, and Raichur District from Hyderabad state.

In 1989, Bangalore Rural district was split from Bangalore and, in 1997, Bagalkot district split from Bijapur, Chamrajnagar district split from Mysore, Gadag district split from Dharwad, Haveri district split from Dharwad, Koppal district split from Raichur, Udupi district split from Dakshina Kannada, and Davanagere district was created from parts of Bellary, Chitradurga, Dharwad, and Shimoga.

Legislature

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. cite web|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2002/05/31/stories/2002053104000400.htm|title= Council polls may not give Congress majority|author=A Jayaram|work=Online Edition of The Hindu, dated 2002-05-31|publisher=2002, The Hindu|accessdate=2007-06-04] The Legislative Council is a permanent body with one-third of its members retiring every two years.cite web|url=http://legislativebodiesinindia.gov.in/States/kanataka/karnatakacouncil-w.htm|title= Karnataka Legislative Council|work=Online webpage of Legislative bodes in India|publisher=Government of India|accessdate=2007-06-04]

Ministry

The government is headed by the Governor who appoints the Chief Minister and his council of ministers. The Governor is appointed for a period of 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 also assisted by the Chief Secretary, who is the head of the administrative services.

List of present Karnataka cabinet ministers

As of 2008, the government of Karnataka consists of 31 ministers. The important porfolio of finance has been retained by the chief minister.

*Chief Minister: B.S. Yeddyurappa
*Home: Dr. V.S. Acharya
*Law & Parliamentary Affairs and Municipal Administration: S. Suresh Kumar
*Power: K.S. Eshwarappa
*Rural Development & Panchayati Raj and Rural Water Supply & Sanitation: Shobha Karandlaje
*Cooperation: Lakshman Savadi
*Agriculture: S.A. Ravindranath
*Higher Education: Aravind Limbavali
*Medical Education: Ramachandra Gowda
*Transport: R. Ashok
*Social Welfare: D. Sudhakar
*Small Scale Industries and Sericulture: Venkataramanappa
*Revenue: G. Karunakara Reddy
*Tourism and Infrastructure Development: G. Janardhana Reddy
*IT, BT, Excise, BWSSB and Science & Technology: Katta Subramanya Naidu
*Food and Civil Supplies: H. Halappa
*Housing and Muzarai: E.S. Krishnaiah Setty
*Health and Family Welfare: B. Sriramulu
*Labour: B.N. Bachche Gowda
*Textiles and Youth Sevices: Goolihatti Shekhar
*Primary and Secondary Education: Visveswara Hegde Kageri
*Animal Husbandry: Revu Naik Belamagi
*Fisheries, Sports and Small Savings & Lotteries : Krishna Palemar
*Horticulture: S.K. Bellubbi
*PWD: C.M. Udasi
*Agriculture Marketing and Sugar: Shivaraj Tangadagi
*Minor Irrigation, Planning and Statistics: Govind .M. Karjol
*Medium and Major Irrigation: Basavaraj Bommai
*Medium and Major Industries: Murugesh Nirani
*Women & Child Development: Narendraswamy
*Haj, Wakf and Minority Welfare: Dr. Mumtaz Ali Khan

Bureaucrats

Deputy commissioners are appointed as the highest officers to look after each district.

Karnataka Panchayat Raj

Panchayat Raj (Rule of Village Committee) system 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. Karnataka is the first in the country to enact new Panchayat Raj Act. Incorporating all provisions of 73rd Amendment to the Constitution.

Judiciary

There is a high court in Bangalore and courts in every district centres and some Taluq centres. The "Attara Kacheri" (which once housed the original "Eighteen Departments"), is the supreme judicial body in Karnataka and is located in Bangalore. Cyriac Joseph is the current Chief Justice of the Karnataka High court.cite web|url=http://karnatakajudiciary.kar.nic.in/JudProfile/sittingjudges.html|title=Profiles - High Court Judges|work=Online webpage of the High Court of Karnataka|publisher=Government of Karnataka|accessdate=2007-06-04]

Executive

A district of an Indian state is an administrative geographical 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. He 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 wild-life related issues of the district. He is assisted by the officers of the Karnataka Forest Service and other Karnataka Forest officials and Karnataka Wild-Life 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 various State Services.

Politics

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

The previous government was a coalition government of JDS and BJP. The Chief Minister for an initial term of 20 months was H. D. Kumaraswamy of JDS and the post was supposed to subsequently be transferred to BJP's B. S. Yeddyurappa. A political fall out due to the failure in transfer of power to Yedurappa 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.

Elections

Last Assembly elections: Karnataka state assembly elections, 2008

ee also

Karnataka
List of Chief Ministers of Karnataka

Footnotes

References

* http://www.kar.nic.in/kla/histry.htm
* http://www.karnataka.com/govt/

;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/