GUJARAT

In a move to usher in uniformity in medical Education in the state, theGujaratgovernment is set to introduce in the state assembly the Medical University Of Gujarat bill, which proposes to bring 400-odd medical and allied colleges under one university, which will exclusively oversee the functioning of medical colleges.

The move will bring drastic changes to medical education as it proposes that all MBBS, dental, physiotherapy, ayurveda, homoeopathy and Nursing colleges have common syllabi, academic calendar, examination and most importantly, a uniform pattern of processes and assessment.

If the proposed bill is ratified in the budget session of the Gujarat assembly, students who secure admission in the first year of medical, paramedical, ayurveda, homeopathy and nursing courses in the 2022-23 academic year will be inducted into the new medical university.
The proposed new medical university will follow the same procedure as the Gujarat Technological University (GTU).

Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture ministerRaghavji Pateltold the assembly that Gujarat is likely to produce 19.28 lakh metric tonnes of onions, of which 7 lakh tonnes of red onions are likely to arrive in markets during the rabi crop.

This would mean that a farmer could get a maximum of Rs 50,000 if he sells the onions in APMCs. Also, thefarmerswill get aid of Rs 20 crore for transportation (of the produce) to other states and abroad.

The minister said that the government has also decided to provide financial aid of Rs 240 crore to potato growers affected by a fall in prices due to high production. He said the production of potatoes exceeded by 2 lakh metric tonnes, and the total output is estimated to be around 40.26 lakh metric tonnes.

Yet another common crane was GPS-GSM tagged by theGujaratForest department and theWildlife Institute of IndiainThol-Ramsarsite on World Wetlands Day on Wednesday.
This was done to study the migratory pattern of the bird.

The crane first went to the nearby fields in search of food and returned to the same spot at Thol lake.

The bird was named Vadla and after spending a month in Gujarat departed for its northward Migration on April 10. It arrived in Northern Kazakhstan covering a distance of 4,800 km in 15 days. Thereafter, Vadla spent five months in the area which is likely to be its breeding site.

WithIndonesiabanning export of coal in January, industries using coal are feeling the heat. Indonesia, worlds largest exporter of thermal coal, has suspended exports of the fossil fuel due to concerns over dwindling supplies for its domestic power Plants.

The export ban has already led to coal prices both domestic and imported categories going up by Rs 1,000-3,300 per tonne in the local markets, depending upon the calorific values of the coal, said players on Monday. According to trade estimates, around 40,000 tonnes of coal is supplied every day to various industries across southGujaratfrom local Ports.
However, industries using coal claimed that they have stock of the fuel for a couple of weeks and they will not be affected by the price hike if the issue is resolved within a week.

Gujarat has fared poorly as compared to states like neighbouring Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in the retention rate of school students in higher secondary classes.

Gujarat has a low retention rate of 40.82% in higher secondary Education for the year 2019-20. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have fared better with 62.69% and 42.09% respectively.
Even other states like Karnataka (46.39%), Haryana (64.15%) and Himachal Pradesh (69.11%) have been better performers in this category.

Gujarat has done slightly better than Rajasthan where the retention rate is 39.33%. In the case of primary education, the retention rate in Gujarat is 95.04% while for elementary education its 89.82% before further dropping to 65% at secondary level. Kerala and Chandigarh have seen 100% retention at higher secondary level.

The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), ministry of education has developed the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) system to record data on indicators of school education provided by all the states and Union territories.

Call it the positive side effect of Covid-19 pandemic, but the lockdowns and subsequent restriction on movements drastically reduced the road fatalities inGujarat.

In fact, with drop of 20.7% compared to the cases in 2019 (8,440), it was the decades lowest death number for the state at 6,693. The data was shared in National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) publication Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2020.

While it was the lowest fatalities at least since 2011 for Surat and Vadodara that recorded drop of 36% and 7.5% respectively, Ahmedabad and Rajkot recorded drop of 20% and 22% – their lowest since 2013. However, on the other hand, the state recorded increase in pedestrian deaths from 728 in 2019 to 824 in 2020, rise of 13%. Moreover, analysis of the vehicles involved reveal that two-wheelers, which were involved in 35% of the fatal accidents in 2019, rose to 41% in 2020. On the other hand, cars share remained the same at 14%.

According to the report, 75% or three-fourths of the fatal road accidents were attributed to over-speeding. The rural and semi-urban areas accounted for 77% of the fatal accidents, whereas the rest 33% were recorded in the urban areas according to the report. City-based road safety experts said that apart from the higher speed of vehicles, lack of quicker medical attention after the incident could also be the reason for higher fatality in areas outside cities.
In terms of accidental deaths, Gujarat recorded 13% drop in numbers, from 23,770 in 2019 to 20,644 in 2020.

The nextDefence Expowill be hosted byGujaratin 2022. This was announced by chief ministerVijay Rupaniin Kevadia after the Gujarat government signed an MoU to this effect with ministry of DEFENCE in presence of defence minister Rajnath Singh.

Rupani said that the 4-day expo will be held between March 10 and 13 in Gandhinagar next year. While the seminars will be held at Mahatma Mandir, the helipad exhibition centre will serve as the exhibition site for the expo.

This is for the first time the Gujarat BJP has organised a paperless meeting, wherein invitees have been given tablets with all the required information and links related to the event.

All capital towards setting up the schools will be borne by project partners, who will provide land and invest in the civil and digital Infrastructure required from time to time.

While the entire capital cost will be borne by project partners, the Education department will assist in meeting the recurring cost by paying a lump-sum amount for each student to the project partners each year. A lumpsum amount of Rs 60,000 per child per annum for the financial year 2021-22 with an annual increase of 7% every year has been proposed.