MAHARASHTRA

CM Uddhav Thackeray on Friday asked the Centre to rush 3 crore additional Vaccines to the state to carry out full vaccination in 10 high-incidence districts on priority.

Thackeray said these districts — Pune, Satara, Sangli, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg, Raigad, Palghar, Ahmednagar and Solapur — have a high rate of infection and are continuing to keep the Covid graph high.

These districts have 2.06 crore adults and 87.9 lakh have been vaccinated so far. If additional three crore doses are given, the state will complete vaccination here, said Thackeray.

Maharashtrahas once again topped in Foreign Direct (FDI) in the country with a 29 per cent share, deputy chief ministerDevendra Fadnavissaid on Monday citing aDIPP reportfor the period between January to March 2023.

Fadnavis said Karnataka is in the second position with a 24 per cent share in attracting FDI and Gujarat is at the third spot with a 17 per cent share.

Notably, Maha Vikas Aghadi leaders including Aaditya Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nana Patole of Congress had claimed that several key projects went out of Maharashtra due to the failure of the Eknath Shinde-Fadnavis government of BJP and Shiv Sena, which came to power in June 2022.

The Gholvad Sapota, also known as Chikoo, is known for its sweet and distinct flavour.

Its GI certificate is held by Maharashtra Rajya Chikoo Utpadak Sangh

It is believed that the unique taste is attributed to the calcium-rich in Gholvad village.
Gholvad is a village in Palghar district of Maharashtra.

About 5000 hectares of land in the Palgahr district are currently under sapota plantation. Only 147 of the 5000 farmers who grow Sapota are authorised GI users.

The Dahanu Gholvad Sapota is another name for the Gholvad Sapota (Dahanu being the Taluk in which Gholvad is located).

Maharashtracontinues to report the highest GST collection in the country, accounting for almost 15% of the national figure in 2022-23. Its GST kitty is also growing the fastest, with its compound annual Growth rate (CAGR) between 2018-19 and 2022-23, outstripping all other states.

The latest data shows that Maharashtra’s GST collection for the financial year 2022-23 was Rs 2.7 lakh crore. This is more than twice the collection of Karnataka which reported 1.2 lakh crore, the second highest GST collection in the country.Gujaratwas placed third with Rs 1.1 lakh crore while Nadu reported Rs 1 lakh crore. The state CAGR between 2018-19 and 2022-23 was 12.3%, which is higher than that of Karnataka which is at 11.8% and Gujarat at 11.7%. The state’s growth rate was much higher than the national CAGR which stood 11.3%.

GST collections is a consumption-based tax and a key indicator of economic activity. It is the main revenue earner for the state and accounts for almost 60% of the state’s income.

The state’s e-way bill generations are also the highest in the country. The state’s e-away bills for 2022-23 amounted to 15 crore, which was a 27% rise from the previous year. By comparison, e-way bills for Gujarat amounted to 11.2 crore, which was a 19% rise from the previous year. E-way bills track the movement of goods above Rs 50,000 in the state.

In a first step towards making the historic Maharajbagh zoo autonomous, its operator the Panjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth (PDKV) has decided to form Maharajbagh Zoo Foundation (MZF) to overcome crunch of funds hampering its development.

The CZA has already sanctioned the layout plan of Maharajbagh in 2020. However, due to lack of funds, the plan is not being brought into shape. During Covid-19 times, the zoo woes have multiplied with no income and expenses remaining the same. There is no to pay wages to several daily wagers working for the upkeep of animals and the zoo.

The city became the first district inMaharashtrato administer one crore first doses of Covid-19 vaccine since the launch of the drive last January. Mumbai has administered a total of 1.8 crore vaccine doses so far, covering 108% with a single dose and 88% with both.

While the city has been ahead of most others by leaps and bounds in adult vaccination, it has been lagging in comparison to most big districts in the immunisation of teenagers. On Wednesday, the civic body tried a new approach by starting a camp atRuparel Collegein Matunga. A target has been set to vaccinate 2,800 college students between January 5 and January 15. On the first day, 170 students took the shot. It is likely to be started at Dadars Kirti College next.

While the Centre has set a target of 6.1 lakh to be vaccinated in the 15-17 bracket, the BMC has projected around 9.2 lakh beneficiaries from this age group based on the estimated Population of 2021.