GOA

In many casesbiodiversityconservation efforts tend to be viewed as being in conflict with economic interests. Turning this belief on its head, theGoa State Board(GSBB) has taken the first step to becoming the only government body in the country to begin production, along withlocalcommunities, of products derived from local bio-Resources.

Theboardis planning to set up five other centres mainly in the mining belt in Goa.

While a part of the income derived from the sales will be paid back to locals involved in the processing unit, the rest of the amount will go back into conservation of the local biodiversity and into funding other sustainability efforts.

Only sustainably harvested bio-resources are being utilized to make the products which are set to be marketed under GSBB brand name GoVan.

Amid unbridled demand for land by out-of-state buyers, the cabinet initiated crucial steps to protect Goa’s agricultural land by approving a bill that will effectively ban the sale of such land to non-farmers from outside the state. The bill is also expected to restrict the conversion of paddy fields to settlement land.

Goa has a little over 40,000 hectares of agricultural land, of which 28,000 hectares are cultivable and around 15,000 hectares are fallow.

Lossesfrompost-harvesthandling of foodgrains should be minimised through value-addition and processing. This issue was discussed during an event on processing and storage of foodgrains and pulses, organised by the ICAR central coastal agricultural research institute (CCARI) and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), North Goa.

In the technical session attended by 35 farmers and Women working on farms, senior scientist and head of the institute HR Chidananda Prabhu delivered a lecture on processing and storage of foodgrains and pulses.

A national-level training programme on cashew, recent advances in cashew production, processing and post-harvest management was also organised at the institute. Director at the directorate of cashew nut and cocoa development, Cochin, Kerala Dr Venkatesh N Hubballi spoke about the status of cashew production in the country and its scope for improvement.

The app for the public to report potholes across the state will be launched on Thursday by Union minister for road transport and highways,Nitin Gadkari, who will be inGoa.

PWDministerNilesh Cabralsaid that once potholes are reported, the first priority will be given to repair potholes which have been created due to deterioration of the road due to poor quality of work.

Goa has emerged as one of the top threestateswith efficient Governance models, ranking third in theCentres Index(GGI) 2020-21, which was released on Saturday. Goa scored 5.35 as against a score of 4.29 in 2019, indicating a near 25% improvement over the earlier exercise conducted by the department of Administrative Reforms and public grievances.

Amongthe 10 well-developed states, Goa tops the rankings in terms of public Infrastructure and service utilities. The index also indicates that Goa has taken strong strides to improve the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and allied sector industrial Growth, social welfare and Environment.

In the overall healthcare sector ranking, Goa was placed third, behind Kerala and Maharashtra. While Goa remains the leader when it comes to availability of doctors at PHCs, many other states have shown a worrying trend of decline in doctors at PHCs. The report has also found a marginal decrease in the Percentage of doctors available at PHCs in Goa.

The index also takes into account actions to mitigate Climate-change”>Climate Change such as polices, planning and initiatives taken by the government. In this aspect, Goa is firmly lodged at fifth place, suggesting that more needs to be done. In the evaluation of citizen-centric governance, particularly participation and transparency, Goa stands fourth, behind Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab.

The ranking for GGI 2020-21 is based on ten sectors and 58 indicators. The sectors are agriculture and allied sectors, commerce and industries, Human resource development, public Health, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, social welfare and development, judicial and public security, environment and citizen-centric governance.

Social welfare ministerSubhash Phal Dessaisaid that the state would come up with a new dump handling policy to start legal mining. Phal Dessai said that even if 20 million tonnes of iron Ore are exported,miningactivities can run for two years.

Phal Dessai said that the may abolish or give relaxation to truck owners regarding some taxes.
Truck owners are demanding relief on three taxes, including road tax. Phal Dessai said that 75% of the trucks were involved in mining and the remaining in other activities.

The social welfare minister said that the iron ore found in Goa is low grade iron ore, and that they welcome the Union governments decision to reduce export duty on this ore to zero.

Taking a step closer to build a 100 tonne per day (TPD) solid waste treatment plant at Bainguinim, the has formally moved to notify 1.7sqm of land atBainguinimas Waste Management area. The site will be used to establish a waste processing and disposal facility, which is projected to cost Rs 120 crore.

In June, theGoa Waste Management Corporationhadissued a draft proclamation specifying its intent to build a solid waste treatment facility. Stakeholders were given 30 days to submit objections and suggestions.
The department found that the objections were similar to the objections that were raised during the public hearing held on July 28, 2019 at the Old Goa village panchayat hall for environmental clearance (EC).

With an aim to achieve 100% electrification for households in Goa, the state cabinet on Friday granted approval for the appointment of an agency to install up to 150 additional solar PV systems for households that have no power.

Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) has been appointed to design, manufacture, supply, install and commission the systems with a comprehensive maintenance contract for five years under the remote village electrification programme.

The cabinet had, earlier in March, resolved to select CESL and award it the contract to supply, install and commission solar power packs of 500WP capacity each, solar Home lighting system and solar street lighting system.

CESL has already completed installations for 151 households and six solar streetlights.