GUJARAT

The Sagar Shakti Exercise was held from November 19 to 22, 2021 in creek sector of the Kutch peninsula.

The exercise witnessed participation of the Indian Army, Indian Air Force, INDIAN NAVY, INDIAN COAST GUARD, Gujarat Police, Border Security Force, and the Marine Police.

Southern Command of Indian Army organised high-intensity exercise with the aim of testing combat readiness of the agencies in real-time.

Exercise also involved the insertion of troops and complex manoeuvres by forces to deal with any possible security challenges simultaneously in land, water and air domain, in an integrated manner.

This exercise was held at the time when India has bolstered its maritime combat capability in Light of evolving security scenarios in Indian Ocean Region.

As many as seven Gujarati companies have seen their share prices rise by more than 200% from January to September. It was during this period that the sensex made its journey from 50,000 to its record closing of 60,048.47 points.

Buoyed by the increasing demand for digitisation and automation in the states Information Technology (IT) and IT-Enabled Services (ITES) sector, companies in Gujarat are looking to hire more people in the days to come. estimates by IT giants and other firms suggest that at least10,000 more people are expected to be hired in the IT sector of Gujarat in the coming two quarters.
For instance, Ahmedabad-based Outsourcing firm Analytix Business solutions (India), which provides technology solutions to US-based businesses, is looking to recruit more than 100-150 people in the coming months.

Gujarat is Home to at least 2,000 IT and ITES firms in addition to a slew of tech startups. With growing number of companies opting for automation, the demand for IT services has grown. Several businesses are undergoing cloud transition involving automation of basic business processes ranging from accounting to attendance and concierge management at break-neck speed.

As export volumes across varioussectorsdeclined in the pandemic year, only 62.11% of the export credit targets were met in the pandemic year. The export credit in 2020-21 stood at Rs 1,036 crore against a target of Rs 1,668 crore laid out in the service area credit plan (SACP) according to the latest report by state level bankers committee (SLBC).

Interestingly, barely 5% of the targeted accounts under SACP 2020-21 have sought credit, according to the SLBC report. Bankers said that export credit has gone down as exports across major sectors took long to recover in the subsequent quarters.

Wetlands inCharotar regionof Central Gujarat are Home to over 300 crocodiles. The latestcrocodilecount carried out by Vallabh Vidyanagar-based Voluntary Nature Conservancy (VNC) has revealed that wetlands in the lush green twin districts ofAnandand Kheda has as many as 303 crocodiles.

This is the highest number of crocodiles among all the counts carried out in these rural heartland so far. The previous count carried out in winter has recorded presence of 248 crocodiles in Charotar wetlands.
VNC (formerly known as the Vidyanagar Nature Club) carries out crocodile counts twice a year during winters and summers to know about the reptile Population in the wetlands.

Assuring all support from the central government to rebuild all that suffered severe damage by cyclone Tauktae, Prime MinisterNarendra Modi announced financial assistance of Rs 1,000 crore for immediate relief activities inGujarat.

The PM surveyed the Union territory of Diu, Una taluka of Gir-Somnath district,Mahuvataluka of Bhavnagar and Jafrabad taluka of Amreli. He was accompanied by CM Vijay Rupani, chief secretary Anil Mukim and additional chief secretary, revenue, Pankaj Kumar.

This assistance will be applicable to people from all states that have been affected by the cyclone. The central government will shortly send an inter-ministerial team to visit Gujarat and assess the extent of damage, based on which further assistance will be given.

Data tabled by the Union Government in the Lok Sabha on Monday shows thatGujarathas the third highest number of ‘out of school children’ (OoSC) at the elementary level. The only two states that have higherOoSCnumbers areUttar PradeshandBihar.

While UP has the highest number of OoSC at 3,96,665, Bihar is second with 1,34,252. Gujarat ranks third with 1,06,885 children not admitted in any primary class.Under the Samagra Shiksha scheme of the Union government, all states and union territories (UTs) need to conduct household surveys for identification of OoSC. The department of school Education and Literacy has developed an online module for compiling data on OoSCs identified by each state and UT on the PRABANDH portal.

Revenue officials of the Ahmedabad collectorate have identified several anomalies arising from the recently announced increase in jantri rates, which were doubled for all areas across the state.

At a meeting of stakeholders which included revenue officials, a real estate association placed on record their objections with regard to the jantri rates.

Revenue officials also said that in certain villages, the jantri rate for agricultural land is higher than for non-agricultural land. Another matter was that rates of plots next to 60-foot roads were 30% higher than commercial rates in the same area.

Officials have also demanded clear demarcation of jantri rates for residential, commercial and industrial plots, which is not the case right now.

Beginning as early as the next academic year, the Class X board examination could be done away with in the state. TheGujaratgovernment has initiated an exercise to adopt theNational Education Policy(NEP) 2020 which recommends doing away with the Class X board examination system with the rationale of reducing the burden of board examinations that students face in X and XII standards.

Although the implications of this exercise are huge – and involves engagement with a wide range of stakeholders who will get impacted, sources in the government said that beingPM Narendra Modi‘s Home state, Gujarat aims to take the lead in implementing recommendations of the NE.

Instead of the existing 10 + 2 system (10 years of secondary and two years of higher secondary), the new NEP envisages a 5 + 3 + 3 + 3 structure. According to NEP 2020, the first five years will be considered foundational and will include class nursery to class 2. The next three years class 3 to 5 will be preparatory, the next three years class 6 to 8 will be middle and the last four classes 9th to 12th will be secondary.

The NEP recommends that children who are minimum of 4 years old should be admitted to nursery class. This will mean that students who appear for class XII examination will be 18 years old.