We're ready to face LS polls: Krishna

BANGALORE: Preparation for Lok Sabha elections is not being made by either the state or Central government, but the Election Commission of India, said Chief Minister S M Krishna speaking on the impending polls.
"As far as law and order is concerned, that is the state government''s responsibility, I can assure the Election Commission that we shall ensure a peaceful and fair conduct of elections," Krishna said, answering reporters questions on preparations for polls around the corner.
"I have always said that the Lok Sabha polls were around the corner and we are ready to face it," said Krishna. However, Krishna remained non-committal on advancing Assembly elections in the state, refusing to comment on its timing.
Speaking to reporters after he launched a pilot project for the Edusat satellite on Wednesday at ISRO headquarters, he said his government was ready to face early Lok Sabha polls.
Asked about the possibility of an early Assembly poll in the state, he said "Yesterday, I said, time only will decide."
Asked if he favoured an early Assembly poll or not, he said: "I am not going to react to that, because there are so many things involved."
Speaking earlier at the launch of the pilot project for Edusat, an exclusive education satellite for distance learning, he stressed on how the drop-out rate among children in schools across the state had substantially reduced since the introduction of the mid-day meal scheme. Karnataka''s literacy rate stands at 67 per cent and the government''s goal was to take it to 85 per cent in the next two years, he said.
Expressing concern over the lack of quality teachers in schools and colleges, specially engineering colleges, he said "If we have to keep pace with the changing world, we have to upgrade engineering college infrastructure and upgrade knowledge of teachers."
Saying engineering professors were difficult to hire these days as they took up jobs with MNCs, he said: "The state and Union government will have to find a solution to this problem."
Putting a ceiling on further opening of new engineering colleges was not the solution, he said. "We want more engineering colleges. If basic degree in engineering is not available, we can''t roll out teachers in vacuum," he said.