ODISHA

Encouraged with a high Growth in collection of Excise revenue in the past two years, the is eyeing for Rs 10,000 crore Excise and VAT collection from liquor during the Financial Year (FY) 2023-24.

Principal Secretary Excise Sushil K Lohani reviewed the Excise and VAT collection in the Excise sector. It came to the fore that the State had collected Rs 4,053.51 crore Excise and VAT of Rs1,346.71 crore from liquor during the FY 2020-21, which has been increased to Rs 5,528.40 crore Excise and Rs 2,100 crore VAT totalling to Rs 7,628.40 crore in 2021-22, thereby registering a growth of 41.26 per cent.

Similarly, the State has collected Rs 6,182.36 crore Excise and Rs 2585 crore VAT from liquor making a record amount of Rs 8,767.36 crore during the FY 2022-23 marking a growth of 14.93 percent against the collection of FY 2021-22.

While Rs 4,053.51 crore Excise revenue was collected during the FY 2020-21, it has increased to Rs 5,528.40 crore in 2021-22, thereby registering a growth of 36.39 percent. The excise revenue collection again increased by 11.83 percent to Rs 6,182 crore in 2022-23.

Moreover, the State collected Rs 1,346.71 crore VAT on excise items during 2020-21, which witnessed a growth of 55.93 per cent in 2021-22 and 23.08 percent growth in 2022-23. The State had collected Rs 2,100 crore and Rs 2,585 crore VAT from liquor during 2021-22 and 2022-23, respectively.

To achieve the ambitious Excise revenue target set for 2023-24, the State Government has come up with a comprehensive Excise Policy for the current fiscal.

The Indian Farmers Fertiliser Cooperative Limited (IFFCO) has decided to set up an Oxygen plant on the factory premises in Paradip. It will make oxygen available free of cost to hospitals treating Covid patients.

To help the governments efforts to augment availability of oxygen in the country, IFFCO has taken steps to set up oxygen Plants at its fertiliser units for meeting the requirement of patients affected by Covid. The cooperative body has already placed an order for setting up of one oxygen plant at its Kalol unit in Gujarat. This plant will be made operational within two weeks. It will have a capacity to produce 700 oxygen cylinders per day.

Each cylinder has capacity of 46.7 litres with medical grade oxygen of 99.5% purity.

Seizures of ganja andbrown sugarhave increased manifold in the state in 2021 as compared to 2020, as per statistics, shared by theOdisha Police.
Total 1,675 quintals of ganja were seized last year compared 1,384 quintals in 2020. While about 34kg brown sugar was seized in 2020, the seizure stood at nearly 49.5kg in 2021. Market prices of 1kg of ganja and brown sugar are Rs 3,000 and Rs 1 crore respectively.

In Odisha, it is imperative to give a serious push to efforts to contain drug abuse and trafficking so that the emerging problem is nipped in the bud. The task force will formulate a state policy and coordinate with relevant agencies and central ministries, including the control bureau, ministry of Home affairs, ministry of social Justice and Empowerment, ministry of Health, drugs controller general of India and Central bureau of narcotics

Amid reports of rampant elephant deaths due to man-elephant conflicts in Odisha, the Orissa has been informed that mapping of elephant corridors in the State has not been done properly. Noted wildlife expert Dr Raman Sukumar, who specialises in elephant movement, informed the court that elephant corridors have not been identified scientifically in Odisha.

The Tamil Nadu-born ecologist Sukumar participated online while the court was adjudicating a batch of writ petitions on the issue on

On the issue of elephant poaching, Nair assured that concrete action would be taken to take the criminal cases to their logical ends with timelines for the completion of an investigation, filing of charge-sheets and then pursuing the trial till completion.

Balasorewas awarded as the bestmarine districtin the country. For the first time, a district from Odisha got this award.

Union minister for , animal husbandry and dairyingParshottam Rupalagave away this award at theWorld Fisheries Daycelebration.

Andhra Pradesh was awarded the best marine state, while Best Inland State Award was given to Telangana. Balaghat inMadhya Pradeshreceived the Best Inland district award and best hilly and Northeastern state and district Awards were taken away by Tripura and Bongaigaon, Assam respectively.

Paradip is among the five major Ports in India being developed as major fishing harbours. Odisha had received best marine state last year. Even Kalahandi district had received the best inland district award last year.

Thehas told the Orissa High Court that it is not feasible to provide reservation for the third gender in the urban local body Elections.

No isolated decision is possible at the level of the housing & urban development department, when the Constitution of India in Articles 330, 332 and Section 9 (1) of the Delimitation Act, 2002, are silent about it. Hence the prayer for making 2% reservation of seats in favour of third gender in the urban local body election does not appear to be feasible.

Union Education minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Sunday wrote to his counterpart in the culture ministry, G Kishan Reddy, requesting him to include Odisha in the proposed Buddhist Circuit under the Centres Swadesh Darshan scheme. It aims to promote, develop and harness the potential of tourism in the country.

Under the Swadesh Darshan Scheme, the tourism ministry has sanctioned five projects worth Rs 325.53 crore for the development of Budhist Circuits in MP, UP, Gujarat, Bihar and Andhra Pradesh.

Highlighting the Buddhist heritage of Odisha, Pradhan wrote that during the Bhaumakara dynasty rule from the 8th to 10th century AD, was considered as a state religion here. It is believed that the first disciples of Lord Buddha, Tapasu and Bhallika, hailed from the modern-day city of Jajpur. Though Buddhism entered Odisha long before the Kalinga War, it spread under the patronage of Emperor Ashoka, he added.