Goa Shipyard Ltd (GSL) has bagged a Rs 6,200 crore contract to build seven Next Generation Offshore Patrol Vessels (NGOPV) for theIndian Navy. The contract is part of a Rs 9,781 crore order for 11NGOPVsthat theministry of defencefinalised.
Deliveries of the NGOPVs will start in September 2026, and once inducted into the INDIAN NAVY, the warships will be used for anti-piracy operations, search and rescue, maritime patrolling, and surveillance.
The state cabinet decided to denotify the Covid-19 relief scheme and dispose of all applications received under the scheme till date. Under the scheme, a one-time financial assistance of Rs 5,000 was being given to people from marginalised or unorganised sectors involved in carrying out traditional occupations or businesses of Goa and lost their livelihood due toCovid.
The state cabinet also granted approval to amendment to the Indian Stamp (Goa Amendment) Bill, 2023, in an article of Schedule-I-A of the Indian Stamp Act to include brother-in-law and sister-in-law within the ambit of gift deed execution.
In Goa, the Law of Communion of Assets is applicable and accordingly whenever any instrument such as sale deed, exchange deed or gift deed is to be executed, the respective spouses are a necessary party.
The state cabinet recently granted approval to the Bengaluru-basedInstituteof Wood Science and Technology (IWST) toprepareaworkingplan for North and South Goaforestdivisions. The plan will help evaluate the status of forests and Resources within a forest division, assess the impact of past management practices and help decide about suitable management intervention for future.
Periodical updating and revision of a working plan is essential to keep pace with the trends emerging out of forest-people interface and to address national and international obligations. Therefore, the Union Environment ministry has adopted a uniform code the National Working Plan Code in 2014 for the purpose.
The working plan for South Goa forest division expired in March 2021 and an extension for two years from 2021-2022 to 2022-2023 was granted by the. Union environment ministry. Further, the working plan of North Goa forest division is valid up to March 2022, following extension. Hence, the revision of workingplansof both the divisions is to be taken up immediately, the cabinet note said.
Union minister of state for Skill development and and electronics and IT,Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the Centre will take all measures to expand economic opportunities in Goa that will help diversify the states economy and turn it into a startup and innovation hub, especially in the fields of healthcare, medical electronics and Artificial Intelligence (AI), and also ensure its Sustainable Development.
Chandrashekharsaid that the ministries of electronics and IT, skill development and entrepreneurship along with the Goa government would explore the possibility of setting up a Centre of Excellence for startups at the South Goa district hospital, Margao. He also spoke of expanding skilling opportunities for young people through skill hubs and Atal Tinkering labs.
Earlier in the day, Chandrashekhar visited the South Goa district hospital and interacted with senior doctors and officials of the state Health department. He termed the hospital as among the best of government hospitals in the country and spoke of creating an ecosystem of startups around health and well-being.
Goaslendingpotential through priority sectors such asfarm credit,manufacturingandhousinghas been pegged at Rs 6,750 crore for the year 2022-23. Prepared by National Bank for Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Rural Development (), the state focus paper has projected that Goas Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSME) will requireloansto the tune of Rs 4,479 crore in the coming financial year, which is 66% of the loan projection.
NABARD officials said that the projections for 2022-23 have been moderated in order to project realistic targets for banks and in view of the economic slowdown caused by the pandemic.
Lending towards the agricultural sector through crop loans and agri term loans have been projected at Rs 515 crore and Rs 635 crore respectively.
Bankers and state policy makers agreed to work together to look into the issue of land ownership, which prevents many farmers from obtaining loans for agricultural purposes.
After the likes of mancurad mangoes, feni, Khola chillies andMoirabananas, another popularGoanproduct, the sausages aka chouriso, may soon get Geographical Indication (GI) status.
Fish and meat products tend to spoil easily, but studies by the ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (CCARI) show that some samples of Goan sausages can last without refrigeration longer than regular meats. The institute is now making efforts to obtain GI status for the Goan chouriso.
Sausages were brought to Goa by . Back in Portugal, they were preserved using wine.
Ironically though, while it is a popular and famed delicacy, the community of those into the production of Goan sausages is on the decline.
The ICAR-CCARI mapped 22 Goan villages and recorded 210 individuals involved in its preparation and sale. Salcete has the highest number of traders and most of them prepare the sausages in their Home kitchens.
A study of the socio-economic status of the community has revealed that most of them are from underprivileged homes and rated low on the food safety knowledge index.
In a bid to address the fluctuation inpowersupply duringpeakload periods, the is exploring RENEWABLE ENERGY storage technology, which will release power generated viasolarplants back into the states power gridduringpeak hours. The state electricity department is working with Solar Energy Corporation of India (SECI) to see if such a project can augment power supply particularly for the industries, said power minister Nilesh Cabral.
GCCI, which organised the virtual meeting, requested Cabral to focus on adequate, reliable, affordable and consistent power supply in the state.
The tourism sector is heavily dependant on quality power for operation, production, utilities and recreational facilities. Interruptions, fluctuations and power drops create a total disruption in this sector. Thus hoteliers are forced to depend on diesel Generator sets, which are expensive to run.
The bill provides for the creation of an administrative and operation framework for the GoaInvestmentPromotion and FacilitationBoardas asingle-windowclearance facilitation mechanism. The prime objective is to ensure that clearance, licences, permissions and approvals are granted in a time-bound manner under relevant state laws so as to provide an investor friendly Environment in the state.
The government had formulated the Goa Policy, 2014, which envisaged a legal framework to be established through an act.
The cabinet note said that the State Government felt a need to enact a new law that would result in investors choosing the Goa as a preferred destination for setting up their projects.
The state government had constituted a special task force committee to revive and suggest necessary amendments in the Goa Investment Promotion Act, 2014.
Less than 12% of Goa’s schools are unaided, but at least for the primary section, enrolment in these private institutions has surpassed the numbers in government and even government-aided schools. The directorate of Education‘s education statistics report has revealed that 21,568 children study in unaided schools, while 19,638 in government schools.
Of all the Class I students enrolled in the academic year 2022-23, 5,334 secured admission in 129 unaided schools, while 4,760 joined 712 government schools. For government-aided schools, 12,833 students joined 287 of these.
Data shows that private schools are most popular inSalcete,Bardez, andTiswadi. Also, the trend is more pronounced in urban areas, where 2,950 students sought Class I admission in unaided schools, as against 826 in government ones and 4,829 in aided ones.
While the cashewnut is already synonymous with Goa,macecandy is poised to become another of Goassignatureproducts.
The fruit from which nutmeg is derived comprises of the rind called javetri (pericarp) and the kernel called jaiphal (nutmeg). While nutmeg is used widely, the pericarp often gets discarded by farmers, this even as 70% of the fruit comprises it.
In 2017, however, Goa-based ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute (CCARI) developed a process to makecandyfrom this rind.
The process of preparing this candy has already begun at the two centres Curchorem in South Goa and Pale-Kothambi in North Goa established recently by the .
The candy will shortly be available for retail sale as aproductof the states own brand GoVan.
The GoVan brand was created by the state under the Goa State Biodiversity Board (GSBB) to produce products from locally derived natural ingredients.
The two processing centres are run entirely by local Women and the idea was to preserve local biodiversity by helping generate livelihood opportunities through it.