GOA

For the first time ever, Goa is moving to make its heritage drink, feni, available across the country.
“The state excise department is in the process of writing to other states to make feni available there for sale, and also to make it available at all duty-free shops. At present, you cannot sell feni in other states,” Goa Forest Development Corporation (GFDC) chairperson Deviya Rane said

The GFDC chairperson also revealed a startling statistic: Of the seven cashew-producing states in the country, Goa languishes at the bottom of the list. She said that nationally, cashew production stands at 760kg per hectare, but in Goa, it is 454kg per hectare, putting it at the seventh and last spot among all states which produce cashew commercially – Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Odisha, and Nadu.

The cashew sapling first came from Brazil to Goa through its Portuguese colonisers, and the crop was then introduced to the rest of India from Goa.

Goa has become the first state in the country to initiate the setting up of a low carbon and Climate resilient green fund, with assistance from the, while NitiAayogis helping the state complete the required procedures.
The fund, once set up, will be operated by a dedicated project management unit, and will help Goa to submit projects before different national and international agencies to access finance for carbon and climate-resilient investments. To begin with, Goa has proposed to set up a $5 million fund to carry out the necessary studies for the project.

Without any liabilities to the state, the project will first involve carrying out a study by June 2024, which will assess Goas climate and development landscape, carry out a low carbon and climate resilient scenario analysis, and prepare a draft blueprint of a blended finance facility for the state.

The studies to be carried out will be baseline assessments (for Goa) of current climate risks and vulnerabilities, the states emissions profile and trends, its climate commitments, policies, and institutional framework.
Accordingly, a detailed scenario analysis across sectors will be developed with time frames, to identify ways to increase resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to estimate related financing needs to mitigate climate risks.

Goas utilisation of the management, monitoring and evaluation (MME) funds under the midday meal programme continues to be low at 20% for the academic year 2020-21. TheMME fundsare provided by the central government to states to be able to evaluate implementation of themidday meal schemein their respective states and to improve the programmes delivery accordingly.

A team of officials from the Union Education ministry, after reviewing implementation of the midday meal scheme in Goa for 2020-21, expressed concern over the low utilisation of funds. As against the allocation of Rs 73.2 lakh of central assistance as MME funds, Goa has utilised only Rs 15 lakh or 20%.

Goas utilisation of the MME funds has not been low only during 2020-21 due to the pandemic. The state has been found to be lax in evaluating the scheme right from the early days of its implementation from 2004-05.

Funds allotted to Goa under MME by the Centre have consistently remained underutilised. Of the Rs 19.5 lakh allotted to Goa during 2010-11 as central assistance towards MME, the state utilised only Rs 10.2 lakh.

The utilisation by Goa was only 52% against the Union ministrys expected utilisation of 75%. This was even lower than the utilisation of 58% of the MME funds during 2009. A similar trend has continued over the years.

The state cabinet resolved to demand the Union Government form Mhadei Water Management Authority to stop illegal diversion of water.

The chief minister said that the cabinet resolved to issue notice to the Karnataka wildlife board under Wildlife Protection Act that they cannot divert flowing water in the sanctuary.

INDIAN NAVY conducted the first sea trials for Indian Navys indigenously built stealth destroyer called Mormugao, in the Arabian Sea.

The maiden sea voyage of the warship has been built under the project P-15B.

Its development coincides with the 60th anniversary of liberation of Goa from Portuguese rule.

Mormugao is the second indigenous stealth destroyer, that is being built under Project P-15B.

It is likely to be commissioned in mid-2022.

Indigenous Destroyer construction programme of India was commenced in late 1990s with three Delhi class (P-15 class) warships. It was followed by three Kolkata class (P-15A) destroyers.

Under this project, a total of four warships have been planned namely, Visakhapatnam, Mormugao, Imphal and Surat. These Guided missile destroyers are under construction at M/s Mazagaon Dock Shipbuilders Limited, Mumbai. Contract for these ships was signed in 2011. These ships are counted among most technologically advanced Guided Missile Destroyers worldwide. It comprises of features like state-of-the-art weapon or sensor package, high degree of automation and advanced stealth features.

The Goa governments hopes of receiving the Centres nod for theSanguemland for permanent campus of theIndian Institute of Technology(IIT), Goa, seem to have been crushed.

The central government has turned down the 7 lakh sqm identified by Goa for the project, terming the area as inadequate.

As per procedure, once identifies a parcel of land, a team from the Centre visits for inspection, before approving or rejecting the site. However, this time around, the central government officials declined the site after going through the plans itself, and it was not found necessary to send an inspection team to Goa, sources said.

As per the Union Education ministrys requirement, 12 lakh sqm land is to be identified to establish a campus for an IIT. But former chief minister Manohar Parrikar had made it clear to central officials that given Goas land constraints around 6 lakh sqm could be provided for the campus.

The former IITian was of the view that 6 lakh sqm would be sufficient to meet the IITs requirements.

Goa tourisms plan to introduce seaplane service will take some more time to materialise since a three-month extension has been granted to the service provider to submit a detailed project report.

After re-tendering for introduction, operation and management of seaplane service in Goa,Air Mauryan Services Ltd Services, was selected in July.

The GTDC had floated the idea of launching a seaplane service about five years ago, when it introduced several new tourism services in the state to up the destinations potential.