MAHARASHTRA

Chief ministerUddhav Thackeray assured the delegation led bySwabhimani Shetkari SanghtanaleaderRaju Shettithat a gazette notifyingcompensationto thefarmersas per the relief extended after the 2019 floods will soon be issued.

After the five-day protest by villagers along the Panchaganga river concluded on Sunday at Narsinhawadi, Thackeray invited Shetti for discussions.
The discussion was held at theCMs office for over an hour.

Shetti demanded that the farmers affected by floods in Panchaganga and Krishna rivers in July should be compensated as per the 2019 policy. Thackeray had earlier made an oral announcement that the compensation will be granted as per 2019 policy, but there was no official gazette notification issued regarding the same.

Shetti also demanded that the funds available with district collector to implementMahatma GandhiNational Rural EMPLOYMENT Guarantee Act (MNREGA) should be utilised for employing the daily wage workers to remove the damaged crops from the fields. For farmers to remove the damaged crops and level the fields around Rs 10,000 per acre will be required which is not available with them. In Kolhapur, Sangli, the funds forMNREGAremains unutilised, said Shetti.

The department divided orphans into A, B and C categories. Children completely orphaned and living in an orphanage and do not have information on whereabouts of parents, siblings, close relatives, village, taluka will be A. A child who lost both parents, has no caste certificate but is living in an orphanage will be B, and children who lost both parents before turning 18, but being brought up with relatives, especially paternal, will fall under C.

With the Central government pushing for implementation of the (UCC), members of All India Tribal Development Council, an organization championing the cause of tribals rights, has submitted a memorandum to PresidentDroupadi Murmustating that UCC should not be imposed on the tribals.

The memorandum mentioned that according to the Article 244 (1) of the Indian Constitution, tribals have special rights. Their customs are distinct from the personal laws for Hindus and Muslims. On these grounds, the UCC should be imposed only on persons following the respective personal laws, and not the tribals, the council demanded.

Since the 22nd Law Commission has sought suggestions and objections for the UCC, the tribals from Maharashtra have apprehension that even the tribal customs will be merged into a single civil code like the personal laws of other religions like Hinduism and Islam, says the memorandum.

Maharashtrasecured a I+ grade in the performance grading index (PGI) report released by the Union department of school Education and Literacy on Wednesday for 2019-20 academic year.
The grades were awarded on the basis of parameters such as , Learning outcomes, Equality in education, and access to schools and others. Maharashtra has improved its performance by nearly 5-10% over the previous academic year according to the report.
Educationists said that such reports should be used as a roadmap for future planning and bridging the gaps identified by the parameters.

The indicators in this domain mainly deal with the scores of students in language and mathematics in standards III, V and VIII of government and aided schools.
The report stated that the schemes initiated by the department of school education and literacy, along with the implementation of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, have resulted in significant improvement in accessibility. As a logical next step, the focus has now shifted from access to quality education.

groups and manufacturers in the automobiles and electric vehicles space have said the draft electric vehicles policy announced by the State Government this week would help boost demand, especially in the two-wheelers and commercial vehicles segment.

The draft EV policy includes sops such as road tax and registration charges exemptions, as well as subsidies for different classes of electric vehicles, which will substantially bring down the prices for some of the most sold models of e-vehicles, both in the private and commercial segments.

Manufacturers also emphasized that allied Infrastructure to EVs, which have been mentioned in the report, can boost last-mile connectivity and reduce range anxiety.

The NationalInstitute Ranking Framework (NIRF-2023) released on Monday witnessed a slide in overall ranking of institutes inVidarbha, including noted ones like Visvesvaraya National institute of technology (VNIT), Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management (RCEOM), GH Raisoni College of Engineering (GHRCE), Institute of Management Technology (IMT), and others.

Nagpur University maintained its dubious distinction of not figuring among top 200 institutions across India. Ever since the launch ofNIRFrankings, NU, celebrating its centenary year, has never broken into the top 200. On the other hand, Mumbai and Pune universities feature among the top 100, although their rankings too slipped this year.

The Government Institute of Science also broke into the top 100 for the first time and bagged 83rd rank. Last year, it was in the bracket of 101-150. The Wardha-based Kumbhalkar College of Social Work is a new entrant in this category featuring among 101-150 colleges. Shivaji Science College is the only one from Amravati to figure among top 150-200.

Encouraged by successful production ofoxygenby making slight alteration to theethanolmanufacturing unit inOsmanabad, a total of 20 distilleries from different parts ofMaharashtrahave expressed their interest in setting up Oxygen generation Plants on similar lines.

Impressed by the idea, the Uttar Pradesh government is also implementing the Osmanabad pattern at 15 ethanol plants for increasing the oxygen generation capacity ahead of third wave of Covid-19.

Already orders have even placed for getting the required equipment, including compressors, that are to be imported from Taiwan, Korea and the USA for two plants. There are 195 sugar factories out of which 137 have ethanol plants in the state. In addition to this, there are over a dozen standalone ethanol plants across the state.

Young Women athletes of the country have got a shot in the arm. TheIndian Armyhas approved the constitution of theGirls Sports Company(GSC) to recruit young athletes.
It will be on the lines of the Boys Sports Company (BSC) which was started by the Army Sports Institute (ASI) in 2005 to scout, recruit and train young and talented athletes at its campus which was set up in 2001 in Pune.

The ASI has already started training women athletes and will soon begin recruiting young girls in four disciplines.

Prior to this, women athletes have trained at the army establishment only once, when the Indian womens boxing contingent trained at the ASI ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

Pune-basedGennovaBiopharma, developing Indias first indigenous messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine against Covid-19, will receive government funding of Rs 100 crore, making it the first such large project to be funded under the `Mission Covid Suraksha. The company will receive up to Rs 100 crore under the Covid Suraksha scheme, upon successful completion of Phase 1 clinical studies.

The mRNA vaccine technology is synthetic in nature, and is being used for the first time ever to combat any disease. At present, globally two mRNA Vaccines of Pfizer and Moderna, have shown over 90% efficacy in preventing Covid-19 infection.

The gap in the basic between rural and urban Thane will be bridged in the next fiscal at a cost of Rs 618 cr which was approved by the state for the district recently, officials informed.

The allocation under the district planning funds has been approved by deputy chief ministerAjit Pawarrecently after elected representatives from the district led by guardian and cabinet minister for urban developmentEknath Shindeand cabinet minister for housingJitendra Awhadpursued the issue of more funds required for the district that is rapidly witnessing Urbanisation.

The district Planning Commission had got an initial allocation of Rs 475 crore, following which the elected representatives felt the need for increased funding and approached Pawar with a request.

Even as the rural pockets of the district are progressing, there is a growing disparity seen in the quality of infrastructure here which has to be made on par with the urbanised areas.