News and pics by Ronald D F D’Souza
Daijiworld media Network – Bahrain (GA)
Bahrain, Mar 23: Karnataka State Government Non-Resident Cell chief and Legislative council member Capt Ganesh Karnik along with Madan Patel, cine-artiste and chief secretary for Cooking Gas Supplies of Karnataka Government arrived at Kannada Sangha on Sunday March 22 evening..
They were welcomed by Sangha’s president Austin Santosh along with other committee members at the Sangha premises. Capt Karnik was very much impressed about Sangha’s library and Kannada novels and other literature. He praised the committee members for preserving the art and culture of Karnataka State and Kannada Language in particular. Anil Basagi, the general secretary welcomed the gathering and asked the president to escort Capt Karnik and vice-president to escort Madan Patel to the dais. Anil Basagi in his welcome speech gave brief introduction about Capt Karnik.
After his voluntary retirement from Armed Forces, he served as assistant general manager of Lamina Suspension Products. He has been serving in Nitte Education Trust since 1992, former elected member of Mangalore University and so on. In his speech he said that Karnataka government has requested NRI Kannadigas to come forward and invest in Karnataka agricultural, industry or any rural developments activities. He mentioned that today 70% of the Indian population is in between 20 to 35 years. He agreed that Indian population lacks education and most of the unemployment problems are from rural areas and due to these problems country is facing urban slum-dwellers.
He gave an open invitation to all Kannadigas to come and visit his place in Bangalore if they have any problems. He is aware that due top economic recession, middle class workers and semi-skilled workers are facing employment problems in Middle-East. He also assured that Karnataka government will try its level best to create employment for NRIs. He also gave assurance that after the general election, he is planning to have a website for NRIs so that all NRIs of 148 countries of the world can access and to know the feed back of the government’s plans for NRIs.
He also promised that during his tenure as deputy chairman of NRI Forum that he will create more facilities for Karnataka NRIs. During question-answers period, Ramesh Ramchandran, Krishn Bhat, Keshav Udayawar, Udaya Shetty asked Karnik regarding housing plots, government offices’ problems, and employment of NRIs etc Capt Karnik gave them satisfactory answers.
At the end of the ceremony both Karnik and Madan Patel signed the visitors’ book. President Austin Santosh proposed vote of thanks.
From archives:
Mangalore: NRI Cell to Aim at Welfare of NRIs - Capt Ganesh Karnik