Bangalore: MLAs' foreign study tour: Of cherry juice and grazing cows

Daijiworld Media Network – Bangalore (SP)

Bangalore, Feb 28: A group of legislators including members of legislative council were recently sent on a study tour to Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand, with the desired objective of going through the progress achieved by these countries in various sectors, and making recommendations to the state government on what strategies could be adopted to achieve the level of the progress witnessed there.

The 11-member legislators' panel on SC/ST and backward classes welfare, which toured Australia, New Zealand and Fiji for nearly fifteen days, submitted its 26-page study report to the state Assembly on Thursday February 27. The study tour was led by chairman of legislature committee on backward classes and minorities’ welfare B R Yavagal.

B R Yavagal

In the past too such jaunts have been organized, yielding nothing but a ritual-like report at the end, and achieving nothing but draining of taxpayers' money. Many of the reports submitted earlier by these groups have been gathering dust, with allegations that many parts of these reports had been downloaded directly from different internet sites.

'Simplicity to the core' appears to be the hallmark of the study tour report presented by the recent delegation to Karnataka government. What's more, a glance at some of the sentence makes one wonder if the report was of a school trip. Digest this: "We saw making of cherry juice. We even saw the way the fruits are packed. We went on a helicopter and landed on a 3,900 ft glacier. We landed on Mount Cook which is 39,000 feet tall. We spent 20 minutes looking at surroundings. We saw sheep and cows grazing in open lands. We should focus on these things. We visited a reservoir and were happy.”

The report also adds that the team visited rain forests in New Zealand and studied negative impact of cutting trees. "We went on ropeway. We need to introduce this in hilly regions of the state. Caste system is absent there. People are more disciplined. Scientific methods are used in agriculture. More pay-and-use toilets are built," are some other observations contained in this report.

When questioned about the report, chief minister Siddaramaiah said he was yet to study the report. It is learnt that he has ordered to put off such study tours till detailed guidelines are implemented.

The recommendations of the committee are to use modern technology in dairy farms, earmarking funds for the progress of tribal communities in line with Australia and New Zealand, paying more attention to cleanliness, traffic control, building bylaws, punishing of violators, cruise tourism along beaches and heli-tourism for Hampi, Badami, Belur, Halebid, Lakkundi and Shravanabelagola, and so on.

B R Yavagal however insisted that it was not a jolly trip to foreign countries funded by common people, but a purposeful one.