NORTH-EASTERN STATES

Asked if the cabinet has decided on any package for the ENPO areas, he said the discussions between the Centre and ENPO have to be made known to the and only after that, some decision can be taken by it.

The 46^thedition of the Wangala Festival commenced on November 10 this year.

Wangala Festival is a popular festival of the Garo community in Meghalaya. It is also known as a 100 drums festival. It is a harvest festival that honors the Garo tribes main deity, Saljong the Sun god of fertility. The celebrations of this festival mark the start of the winter season and the end of the period of toil, which brings profitable outputs.

Presently, this festival is seen as a means to preserve and promote the cultural identity of the Garo tribe in Meghalaya. It provides the opportunity for Garos to showcase their culture and traditions. During the 2022 celebrations, tourists from France, Gujarat, Bengaluru, Kerala, Assam, , and other places witnessed this festival.

CM NBirenSingh congratulated the authorities ofState Bank of Indiaand people ofKakchingafter the district was included in the 75 digital Banking units across 75 districts, dedicated to the nation by P M Narendra Modi on Sunday.

Kakching was included in the 75 districts for achieving banking digitisation in October 2020.

Banks are now providing loans to various farmers, entrepreneurs and other individuals without hesitation, to enlarge their businesses and improve earnings, he said, while appreciating the PM for his far-sighted vision to ensure welfare of people.

Three northeastern states Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland are among 11 states in the country, which have achieved the target set by the finance ministry for Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) in the first quarter of 2021-22. As an incentive, they have been given permission for additional open market borrowings by the expenditure department.

The other states are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand. While the additional borrowing permitted for Manipur is Rs 90 crore, for Meghalaya it is Rs 96 crore and Rs 89 crore for Nagaland.

It said the capital expenditure had a high multiplier effect, enhancing future productive capacity of the economy and resulting in a higher rate of economic Growth. Accordingly, out of the net borrowing ceiling of 4% of GSDP for the states for 2021-22, 0.50% of GSDP was earmarked for incremental capital expenditure to be incurred by states during 2021-22. The target for incremental capital expenditure for each state to qualify for this incremental borrowing was fixed by expenditure department .

Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Monday launched a helpline to receive and fast track addressal of citizens’ grievances. The helpline, which has code number 1905, is a dedicated call center where citizens will be able to call to record their grievances. The helpline will then refer it to the concerned departments through integrated task monitoring system, officials said.The departmental nodal officer will receive citizen’s grievance tasks from the CM helpline and he will take necessary action to address them or transfer it to field level officers for its addressal in a time bound manner, they said.

The citizen grievance redressal through the helpline will be regularly monitored by the chief minister’s office. Deb in his address after the inauguration said the government had earlier launched the Jagaran Tripura app through which citizens can get information about various schemes of the Centre and the state. 193 schemes are on board of this app, he said. Deb said under the CM Yuva Communication scheme, the government gave 7,274 mobile phones to the final year of graduation students in 2020. The number of mobile phones to be given away will increase this year.

After Chotu,Indian Oilis all set to launch Munna in the northeastern region soon, a top official said.

The Psu is also focusing on development in the region, including setting up of LPG bottling units in all the seven states, he added.

These lightweight LPG cylinders are catering to migrant populations in urban and semi-urban areas who do not have local address proof, people with lower gas consumption and commercial establishments with limited space. It will be particularly helpful for people in hilly areas as it will be easy to carry, he added.

The perkgprice of Munna is nearly the same as the regular domestic cylinder, while non-domestic Chotu is a little higher.

Researchers at the Botanical Survey of India (BSI) have rediscovered arare plant, which is sometimes called the Indian lipstick plant, from remote Anjaw district inArunachal Pradeshafter more than a century.

The plant (Aeschynanthus monetaria Dunn) was first identified by British botanist Stephen Troyte Dunn in 1912, based on the plant samples gathered from Arunachal Pradesh by another English botanist,Isaac Henry Burkill.

Tripura Lok SabhaMP Pratima Bhowmik is among the 16 first-time members ofParliamentto take oath as a minister in theUnion Council of Ministers.

ABJPmember since 1991, Bhowmiks induction is a clear indication that BJP is preparing to retain the state it won for the first time in 2018, given that Chief Minister Biplab Deb is facing some dissent from within.TMCs victory in Bengal and Mamata Banerjees attempt to revive the partys fortunes in Tripura is seen as threat.

Bhowmik is the second woman from the Northeast to make it to the Union Council of Ministers after Bijaya Chakraborty of Assam who was a minister in theAtal Bihari Vajpayeegovernment.

To ease the chronic traffic snarl in the state capital, public transportation vehicles would ply on an odd even basis in between Kachari and Mothpran (Bara Bazaar).

East Khasi Hills Deputy Commissioner RM Kurbah informed that all public transports – government buses, maxi-taxis and local taxis would ply on an odd even basis from Monday from Kachari point to Mothpran.

Kurbah stated that plying of these public transports is causing substantial congestion in these busy business areas and also in view of the recent direction to take immediate steps to ease traffic congestion, this decision of odd-even vehicles plying was taken.

Moreover, all vehicles should have high security registration plates and a copy of the vehicle’s registration should be made available whenever there is an inspection by the authorities.

Local wildlife lovers saw two marmosets at the same time in the Siang district in central Arunachal Pradesh. Monals is a colorful pheasant.

Highlights:

One discovered species is While Himalayan monal also known as Lophophorus impedance. Widely distributed from Afghanistan to northeastern India

The other is Sclater’s monal, also known as Lophophorus slateri. Distributed in southern China and northern Myanmar. Monal is listed as a vulnerable species by (International Union for Conservation of Nature). It was found near Komji Lipik at a distance of 2,850 meters. Birds have been found on Mount Eko Dumbing, 4,173 meters above mean sea level.

Monal birds belong to the Lophophorus genus of the Pheasant family. The male bird has colorful iridescent feathers and a plump body. They prefer rhizomes, bulbs and insects as a diet. Males are polygamous when they mate. They mate with several females. The female only mates with selected males and enters a monogamous relationship.