Karnataka's new assembly session from July 2, budget on July 5

Bengaluru, June 22 (IANS) Karnataka's 15th legislative assembly will begin its first session on July 2 and the JD-S-Congress coalition government's maiden budget will be presented on July 5, said a cabinet minister on Friday.

"The state cabinet has decided to hold a 10-day session of the legislature from July 2, with Governor Vajubhai Vala's address to the members of the assembly and council jointly," Parliamentary Affairs Minister Krishna Byre Gowda told reporters.

Though the assembly met twice last month for the floor test of the three-day BJP government on May 19 and of the coalition government on May 25, the house was adjourned on the same day on both the occasions.

"Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy (who holds the finance portfolio) will present a full-fledged budget of the new government on July 5," Gowda said.

"The cabinet meeting also directed the state departments to complete their annual transfers by July-end and the number of officials posted to other places should not exceed more than four per cent of the respective department's strength," he said.

Among the major decisions taken at the two-hour meeting held at the state secretariat and chaired by Kumaraswamy are sanctioning Rs 655 crore crop insurance to farmers across the state under the Central government's 'Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana' for the pre-monsoon and post-monsoon period of this fiscal.

The state government will give Rs 300 to every student in state-run schools reading in Class 1 to 10 for buying an additional uniform during this academic year. The Education Department will be given Rs 115.8 crore for the scheme.

The cabinet has agreed to provide Rs 460 crore to the Higher Education Department for improving the quality of education in the state-run pre-university and under graduate colleges, under the centrally-funded 'Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan' scheme.

The cabinet has also extended the moratorium period by 10 years on the repayment of Rs 333.5-crore loan given to Bangalore International Airport Ltd (BIAL) for expanding its facilities, including the second runway and second arrival and departure terminals.