GOA

Cops: 40% of deaths in road accidents in 18-35 age group

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Over 40% of those who died in road accidents last year were from the 18-35 age group, according to Goa Police statistics. The data also reveals that most accidents take place between noon and 9pm.

Road safety activists have flagged the worrisome consequences of so many road accident deaths in the productive age group. Goacan coordinator Roland Martins said people in this age group are usually bread-earners of their families, and therefore accidents bring a huge burden in terms of disruption in family life, new financial challenges, and mental Stress on dependents, who are caregivers.

He also said that there are many in this age group who have suffered grievous injuries resulting in them facing life-long disabilities.
Of the 271 persons who died in road accidents last year, 81 died due to not-wearing of helmets, Goa police data shows. The year saw 3,011 accidents, 2,560 of them on national highways. The data also reported 35 hit-and-run cases.

5 years after getting tag, Goa sets 2024 target to be ODF

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More than three years after Goa was declared an open defecation-free (ODF) state, panchayat minister Mauvin Godinho on Saturday set a new deadline.”Our efforts are on to declare Goa as an ODF state by 2024,” he said.

In September 2019, the government had declared Goa an ODF state without sufficient data, to meet a target set by the Union Government. To meet the Centre’s criteria, the state had to construct community and public toilets in urban and rural areas. In some areas, temporary toilets were erected in order to meet the deadline.

However, even after that declaration, many in Goa did not have access to toilets. Mere months earlier, Union government data showed that just 5.87% of Goa’s villages were declared ODF, the lowest coverage in the entire country.

Goa to ask central board to delist 5 river stretches from polluted list

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Goa will ask Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to delist five of the states river stretches from the polluted list, after these stretches were found to be now complying with the Boards prescribed standard.

CPCB had earlier classified all of Goas 11 major rivers as polluted. Taking note of this, the(NGT) had asked the Goa government to formulate a river rejuvenation plan.

The Goa government had accordingly formed a river rejuvenation committee, who drew the required plan and its implementation is in progress.

The river rejuvenation committee, therefore, proposed that CPCB should be requested to delist the rivers of Chapora, Assonora, Valvonti, Khandepar and Talpona from the polluted river list.
The State Government had submitted a Rs 15 crore performance guarantee to the NGT over implementation of the action plan.

The rejuvenation plans objective is to restore the water in the polluted rivers to bathing standards.

Based on data collected by CPCB, the Goan rivers were declared to be polluted due to low biochemical Oxygen demand (BOD). BOD measures the amount of oxygen needed to decompose organic material in a unit volume of water.

Since BOD levels vary widely in river stretches, the BOD is prioritised across five categories based on BOD concentration.

The highest priority refers to all locations which exceed BOD concentration of 30 mg/l (30 milligrams per litre) and this level is now considered similar to discharge of sewerage.

National Games projects to be ready soon, Rs 150 crore for organisation: Chief minister Pramod Sawant

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Chief ministerPramod Sawanthas assured theNational Gamesorganising committee that there would be no shortage of funds for the conduct of the much-delayed event, as and when it happens.

The 36th edition of National Games in Goa has been delayed since 2016 with no word yet on when the Games can take place. While initially the Games were delayed because theinfrastructurewas not ready, the coronavirus pandemic has made it worse.

The organising committee has drawn up a budget of Rs 202 crore for theorganisationof the Games and remain hopeful that the shortfall would be covered at a later stage.

The organisational costs include accommodation, ceremonies, Marketing, technology support, venue operations, transport, administration and volunteer management.

The has constructed several Sports facilities across the state, first for theLusofonia Games 2014and later the National Games. Most of the Infrastructure is out of bounds for regular training with the Sport Authority of Goa (SAG) incurring heavy expenditure on maintenance.

Port development projects launched

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Sarbananda Sonowal, Union minister of , shipping & waterways and minister of AYUSH, visited Mormugao Port Authority and opened various projects of the port and also launched virtually projects of New Mangalore Port Authority (NMPA), recently.

Sonowal virtually inaugurated the modernisation ofMallya Gate, construction of Solid Waste Management facilities and the design and development of the bilingual website of NMPA. The minister virtually laid the foundation for the construction of Pavement Quality Concrete (PQC) from the main gate to KIOCL Junction and the construction of the truck terminal near the Custom House adjacent to NH 66.

IT firms, startups hope for time-bound implementation of govts new policy

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The needs to implement the Goa Startup Policy 2021 in a time-bound manner with clear guidelines and clarity on the rollout of the incentives, said startups and entrepreneurs.

Stakeholders and beneficiaries of the policy incentives point out that while the department of Information and Technologys claims that startup scheme applications will be processed in 45 days, most applications under the earlier policy, which lapsed in September, were pending for 12-18 months.

Startups and IT firms let out a sigh of relief after the state government cleared the long delayed Goa Startup Policy 2021, but said that a sluggish implementation of the scheme and its incentives will prove to be a dampener.

Goa slides sharply in Centre’s school education performance index

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In the Union Education ministry’s annual performance grading index (PGI) to evaluate the quality ofschool educationoffered in states and UTs, Goa has slid from the 750-800 points bracket to the 521-580 bracket (out of a total 1,000 points) in the latest assessment for 2021-22 released.

Daksh’ is the highest level to be attained in the PGI, reserved for those who score between 941 to 1000 points, but no states have made it to the first five categories of the index.
Chandigarh and Punjab have the highest score in the range of 641-700, making it to the ‘Prachesta-2’ level, which is the fifth-best category.

Goa scored best on teacher training, edu
Goa found itself in the eighth category in the index of Akankshi1, in which category 12 other states have also been placed.
Goa was placed in the sixth category last year, but the order of levels to be attained has been altered this year due to some changes.

Goa scored 555.8 points out of a 1,000, with the state scoring the lowest on the parameter of Learning outcome and quality. For this parameter, the data was drawn from the national achievement survey, 2021, conducted by NCERT. Goa scored a mere 61.4 out of 240 on this parameter. In the survey, the states students performance was found wanting in mathematics and science.Goa scored the best on the parameter of teacher training and education, with 74.4 points out of 100. The state also did well in access and parameters, with a score of 66.3 out of 80 and 220.7 out of 260, respectively.

The objective of the recently-introduced PGI is to get states and UTs to undertake interventions to achieve better education outcomes in terms of improving quality. The index is also to motivate states and UTs to adopt the best practices followed by the top performing regions.
The new parameter of teacher education and training was added for the first time this year.

Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Haryana, and Sikkim were some of the other states which were in the same category as Goa.

Govt committed to enhancing green cover, says CM Pramod Sawant

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In the wake of the recent fire incidents in the forests of the state, chief ministerPramod Sawanton Friday said that the is committed to enhancement of forest cover and strengthening Biodiversity in the state.

The Indian State of Forest Report (ISFR) 2021 denotes an increase of 7sqkm of forest cover in Goa compared to ISFR 2019, Sawant said.
Goa is committed to implementing various programmes to enhance forest cover and strengthen biodiversity in the state. As much as 60.6% of the land in Goa is under forest cover and with the implementation of CAMPA (Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority) scheme and various initiatives of the state government, it is increasing consistently, the chief minister said.

The state government has estimated that around 418 hectares have been affected in the recent forest fires fromSattarito Canacona.

Govt to tie up with agency for stroke-related cases

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With the state witnessing an increase in strokecases, the cabinet has granted permission to collaborate with HLL Lifecare Limited, a government of India enterprise, to develop a hub and spoke model at various primary Health centres (PHCs), community health centres (CHCs) and the super specialty block of Goa Medical College (GMC) and Hospital for the required treatment.

The health minister said that the has written to the chief electoral officer to relieve health workers from election duty, for which the commission has agreed. Health workers cannot work during Elections when there is an ongoing pandemic, he said.
Rane said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the proposal to increase the number of doctors at South Goa district hospital.

Centre OKs Karnatakas DPR on Kalasa-Bhandura canal

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Months before the Karnataka polls, the Centre has approved a modified detailed project report (DPR) of the Kalasa-Bhandura (canal) drinking water project, which was one of the key poll promises made by BJP in Karnataka during the 2018 assembly . The DPR, which was approved despite objections from Goa, comes as a setback to Goas efforts to stop Karnataka from diverting Mhadei water.

While Goa CM Pramod Sawant tried to make Light of the latest development, his political opponents and environmentalists see the development as a fresh hurdle in the states efforts to contain the neighbouring states claim on the Mhadei.

According to Bommai, 1.72tmcft of water will be diverted from Kalasa stream and 2.18tmcft from Bhandura stream. The project will end the water crisis in Dharwad, Belagavi, Gadag and Bagalkot districts in North Karnataka.

Karnataka accordingly submitted the pre-feasibility report of the Kalasa and Bhandura diversion schemes on June 17, 2022, to the Cwc for technical appraisal. The DPR of the Kalasa project was submitted on November 23 and that of the Bhandura project on November 28, 2022.