Primarily driven by tourism, Goa has become a much sought-after destination for second homes and luxury villas, particularly inAssagao, Anjuna, Porvorim and Siolim, show online search trends collated by Housing Research.
GOA
Class VI-VIII syllabus will have coding & robotics from 2021-22
The government notified the Chief MinistersCodingandRoboticsEducation in Schools Scheme or CM-CARES, as per the announcement made in this years state budget. Theschemewill be implemented from the upcoming academic year, 2021-22, in government and government aidedhigh schools. The implementation will be in phases, starting with students of Class VI, VII and VIII.
Each government and aided high school will get a lab to implement the scheme. TEACHING sessions for the scheme will be held during class hours and also outside of regular school hours, states the scheme, which will be implemented through the directorate of technical Education.
The scheme will be implemented through existing computer teachers and additional teachers appointed on fellowship or contract basis for advanced training in Robotics, , machine Learning, etc.
8th Science Film Festival concludes in Goa
The eighth edition of the Science Film Festival of India (SCI-FFI).
Additionally, it was announced that the Goa University is in the process to establish Research Park that would include a bio-incubation centre and an IT incubation centre.
At the valedictory ceremony, prizes for the Vidyarthi Vigyan Manthan (VVM) were distributed. VVM is a national program for popularizing science among school students of standard VI to XI. It is Indias largest science talent search examination for new India using digital devices as well as Indias first open book exam.
Centre launches rozgar scheme to create jobs
In a bid to stimulate job creation, the Centre has launched a new scheme calledAtmanirbhar Bharat Rozgar Yojana(ABRY), which will provide financial assistance to those companies that recruit unemployed people, especially those who lost their jobs between March 2020 and September 2020.
Under the ABRY scheme, the Centre will pay both the employees and employers share (12% of wages each) under the EPF and MP Act, 1952, or only the employees share, depending on the EMPLOYMENT strength of the establishment, directly to theUniversal Account Numberof eligible employee maintained by theEPFO.
The scheme is part of theAtmanirbhar Bharat3.0 package and will remain open up to June 30. The benefit shall be available for a period of twenty-four months from date of registration of new employee, not later than June 2023.
Traffic sentinel scheme to return in Goa, but only for cops
The is set to bring back thetraffic sentinel schemefrom April, but with a twist. Instead of citizen involvement and monetary rewards, only Police personnel will now be allowed to photograph and report violators. Instead of cash rewards, they will be given five-star stay and other gift vouchers provided under corporate social responsibility (CSR).
Violations likely to be reported under the scheme include driving against the flow of traffic, parking on footpaths or zebra crossings, triple-seat riding, improper number plates, driving without seatbelt, riding without helmet, using vehicle with tinted glasses, using phone while riding or driving, red Light jumping, and dangerous driving.
The scheme was introduced in 2017 to reduce traffic violations with the active participation of the citizenry and encourage community policing. “Sentinels” had to enrol on an app and then report violations, which fetched them points. A certain number of points made the sentinel eligible for a cash incentive.
Two MoUs inked to boost green ratings of Goa Inc
Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) signed two MoUs on Saturday at the closing of the 1st International Environment and Sustainability Summit Goa (IESSG) 2023. The MoUs will help industries in Goa get green ratings.
The first MoU was signed for CII GreenCo rating, which is a voluntary rating system promoted by CII and is a first-of-its-kind system. GSPCB chairman Mahesh Patil said that the rating holistically evaluates how green a company is and suggests the way forward in pursuing environmental excellence.
The rating guidelines cover energy, water, , greenhouse gas mitigation, waste and material management, green supply chain, product stewardship, life-cycle assessment and innovation, said Patil.
The second MoU was signed by the pollution control board with CII IGBC or Indian Green Building Council of the CII.
Postal dept unveils cancellation on endangered squirrel
Apermanentpictorialcancellationon theendangeredGrizzledSquirrelwas recently released in Goa as a part of the Goa@60 celebrations by the department of posts, Goa Division.
The department of posts, Goa Division has brought several facets of the birds, endangered birds, water birds, butterflies and moths diversity in Goa through picturepostcards.
The Indian giant squirrel or Malabar giant squirrel (Ratufa ) is a large multi-coloured tree squirrel species endemic to forests and woodlands in India.
It is a diurnal, arboreal, and mainly herbivorous squirrel.
This squirrel species is found in the Bondla Wildlife Sanctuary.
Poor infra, potholed roads mark industrial estates: Industries body
The government continues its step motherly treatment towards the statesindustrialsector with , particularly roads, being left in a bad state, said Goa State Industries Association (GSIA).
Chief minister Pramod Sawant had directed the PWD to repair all national highways, state highways and major district roads by November 1. However, roads in industrial estates were not repaired.
GIDC is harassing the industries at every possible opportunity to extract Money to pay their salaries and other administrative costs. Exorbitant fees are charged to issue construction licences. For extension of construction licence, three times of the fees are charged, which works out to more than erecting a simple industrial shed.
Goa severely lacks in quality data on water availability
Goa is not a water stressed state, however, all of the estimated water in the state is not available for human consumption. The state severely lacks reliable and quality data on water availability and discharge of its rivers. Rigorous studies are therefore needed to assess the actual availability of water in Goa from various sources and accordingly a water atlas for the state needs to be prepared, states the draft state water policy 2021 prepared for Goa by the Resources“>Water Resources department (WRD).
Per capita annual availability (in Goa) is 1,807CuM. If the amount of renewable water in a country is less than 1,700 CuM per person per year that country is said to be experiencing water Stress. By this yardstick, water availability in Goa seems to be well above water stress. However, all estimated water is not available for human consumption, the 2021 document reads.
RTDAS (Real Time Data Acquisition System) and SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) systems have been installed in some places for acquisition of hydro-met data. It has been recommended by the policy that these systems should be extended to all the water bodies across the state.
Goa to make strong push for sports tourism
Chief ministerPramod Sawantis keen on promoting Goa as a hub for Sports tourism.
Goa has successfully hosted several international sports events in recent times with Ironman 70.3 Goa and WTT Star Contender attracting the big names. The state is set to host theNational Gameslater this year, and the will be put to good use once the multi-sport event concludes.
The chief minister had with an Indian Olympic Association (IOA) delegation that included presidentPT Usha, joint secretary and acting CEOKalyan Chaubey, besides Games Technical Conduct Committee (GTCC) chairman Amitabh Sharma.
Given the infrastructure that has come up in the state, the idea of promoting Goa as a tourism destination was also discussed during the meeting.