GUJARAT

PM Narendra Modi has inaugurated and laid the foundation stone of more than one project in Somnath, Gujarat on August 20, 2021, by way of video conferencing. Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Minister of State (MoS) for Tourism Shripad Naik had also been present at the tournament through video conferencing.

Projects inaugurated:

Somnath Promenade: This mission is developed underneath PRASHAD (Pilgrimage Rejuvenation and Spiritual, Heritage Augmentation Drive) Scheme, at a price of over Rs. forty seven crore.

Somnath Exhibition Centre: This centre has been developed on the premises of Tourist Facilitation Centre. It shows the famous dismantled parts of the ancient Somnath temple and its sculptures having Nagar style temple structure of historical Somnath.

Reconstructed temple precinct of Old (Juna) Somnath: This temple is also known as Ahilyabai Temple due to the fact it was once built through Queen Ahilyabai of Indore. The reconstructed assignment has been achieved via Shree Somnath Trust with a total outlay of Rs 3.5 crore.

Foundation Stone: The task for which the foundation stone was laid was Shree Parvati Temple. Total outlay of the mission is Rs. 30 Crore. The challenge includes the construction of the temple in Sompura Salats Style, improvement of Garbha Griha and Nritya Mandap.

The Average generation was just 552 MW (13 MUs) on Wednesday last week. According to the Western Regional Load Dispatch Centre (WRLD), a central government entity, the daily peak of wind power generation in Gujarat was recorded at 4,712MW on Wednesday, when the states maximum electricity demand was recorded at 14,758 MW.

In fact, the state produced more power from wind farms than conventional thermal power Plants. Electricity generation from sources is growing at a faster rate with new projects coming up across Gujarat, which is the second largestproducerof wind power (with total installed capacity of 7,542 MW) in India afterTamil Nadu.

Despite challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, Gujarat witnessed the highest addition of wind power generation capacity in the country during 2020-21.
Wind power projects having cumulative generation capacity of 1,020.3 MW were installed and commissioned in Gujarat from April 2020 to March 2021, shows data compiled by Indian WindTurbineManufacturers Association (IWTMA).

The (I-T) collection in the financial year (FY) 2022-23 rose by 13% compared to FY 2021-22, indicated the income tax department data. The collection rose from Rs 36,800 crore to Rs 41,700 crore.

The amount included Rs 24,800 crore in tax deducted at source (TDS), Rs 17,300 crore in advance tax, Rs 7,800 crore in self-assessment and Rs 1,000 crore in regular assessment. The income tax payers also received Rs 10,000 crore in refunds, nearly double from Rs 5,100 crore in FY 2021-22.
The income taxpayers contributed to half of the Rs 82,900 crore directtax collectionfromGujarat, indicated data. The other half came from the Corporate tax.

The rise is seen as the impact of Covid pandemic receding and corporate entities and individuals finding their feet again.

Recently, CBDT figures for direct collection for financial year 2023-24 showed collection of Rs 3.79 lakh crore till June 17 for India compared to Rs 3.41 lakh crore in FY 2022-23, showing an increase of 11%. The gross collection rose by 13% from Rs 3.71 lakh crore to Rs 4.19 lakh crore for the same period. The figures included corporation tax, and personal income tax.

TheGujaratgovernment plans to start a new scheme to found modern residentialschoolsin PPP(public private PARTNERSHIP) mode, in which selected promising children can study and the government will fund such schools on a per child basis. The state Education department has prepared a draft scheme to promote competitiveresidential schoolswhich can provide a good education to students from humble backgrounds studying in government schools.

The government expects to set up around 100 new PPP model residential schools. Each is expected to have 15 to 20 acres of land. The government aims to select the best students from tribal and backward areas and provide them competitive education and opportunities in civil Services, medical education, IITs and other opportunities.

Gujarat has earned the title of themilkcapital of the country for the strides it has made in the organized sector, but neighbouring Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh have outpaced Gujarat in terms of the value of milk output over the past decade.
A report compiled by the Union ministry of statistics and programme implementation (MoSPI) which compares the value of milk output of all states over the past decade (2011-12 to 2020-21) says that while the value of milk output in Gujarat rose by 54.8% in the last decade, Rajasthan registered an increase of 129.6% and MP a 120.6% rise.
The report states that Gujarat maintained its fourth position in the country in terms of milk output value. According to the report, Rajasthan ranks first, followed by UP, Maharashtra, Gujarat and MP. The report has used constant prices to compare milk output value.

According to the preliminary assessments of the Gujarat government,Tauktaehas caused a loss of overRs 1,085 crore tohorticultureand Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture in the state. The bulk of the damage to agriculture and has occurred in four districts of Saurashtra Gir-Somnath, Junagadh, Amreli, and Bhavnagar. However, other districts have also reported significant losses.

The crops damaged are mango, coconut, banana, and vegetables. Papaya, sapota, date palm, and other fruit crops have sustained damages too. Horticulture crops have been damaged across 1 lakh hectares.

The number of electric vehicles in the state is nearly one lakh. According to data provided by the Union Government in Parliament on Wednesday, Gujarat ranks eighth in the country in terms of total number of electric vehicles (EVs). As of March 6, the number of EVs in Gujarat was 99,236, which is, however, only 0.44% of the total vehicles registered in the state.

According to the data tabled in the Lok Sabha,Uttar Pradeshhas the highest number of EVs (4.65 lakh) of all states and union territories, followed by Maharashtra (2.26 lakh) and Delhi (2.03 lakh). , with 21 EVs, has the lowest number in the country. As of March 6, the total number of EVs in the country was 21.70 lakh.
With a total of 2.22 crore vehicles registered in Gujarat, the Percentage of electric vehicles compared to total vehicles is about 0.44%, slightly lower thanthe nationalaverage of 0.6%. States such asRajasthanandBiharhave more EVs than Gujarat.

The pilot project to live-stream proceedings in thelower courtsinGujaratwas launched

. The proceedings at the courts of 32 principal district judges and the court of principal judge of Ahmedabads city are now available on a YouTube channel.

Launching the project, the judicial officers lauded the Gujarat high courts initiative for making Gujarat the first state to live-stream the proceedings of its lower courts, calling it another step towards transparency. It was the Gujarat HC that first live-streamed its proceedings and now all the benches live-stream their proceedings.

TheGujaratforest department has developed an (AI)-based photo-identification Software, specially designed to distinguish patterns/marks to identifyAsiaticlions individually. The software is namedSIMBA(Software with Intelligence Marking Based identification of Asiatic lions.)

According to the forest department, computer-assisted photo-identification is a helpful tool for understanding Population demographics and expanding conservation and management efforts. The persistent identification of individuals significantly enhances conservation and management efforts and ecological aspects of the species.

Natural marks are used for non-invasive individual identification in several species, often through photographic comparison. Such identifications recognise unique marks, patterns, shapes of particular body parts or scars.

The software also extracts the uniqueness from the photograph and can cluster similar patterns. The SIMBA is trained with data. So, the identity is estimated by the uniqueness within the whisker spot patterns or other marks on the Asiatic lion’s face or ear.