ODISHA

Thestate government sanctioned Rs 20 crore fordevelopmentof Gupteswar, the cave shrine of Lord Shiva, around 80 km from here in Boipariguda block. Official sources said the cave shrine will be transformed into a famous religious, historical and tourism spot of the state without disturbing the natural ECOLOGY. According to a government release, the fund was sanctioned following the visit of 5T secretary V K Pandian to the cave shrine on February 3, during which he held discussions with the temple priests, committee members and locals regarding the shrines expansion for betterment of the devotees.

Later, Pandian asked the District Administration to submit a master plan for renovation of the temple and its adjoining areas. According to the master plan prepared by the administration, while the road leading to the temple will be developed, beautification of the entrance Gate of the temple and the banks of the Saberi river flowing adjacent to the temple will be carried out too.

Mangrove, which is found in Bhitarkanika and some other parts ofOdisha, besides Sundarbans in West Bengal and marshy intertidal estuaryne regions of the country, can survive a high degree of salinity.

Amazed by this adaptive mechanism, scientists have conducted a thorough study on a mangrove species and found that its genes can help in developing drought and salinity-tolerant crops in future.

This species grows optimally in 75% seawater and tolerates more than 250% seawater. It is capable of a rare phenomenon of excreting 40% of the salt through the salt glands in the leaves.

Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture productivity is affected globally owing to limited water availability and salinisation of and water.

Salinity is prevalent in roughly 900 million hectares globally (with an estimated 6.73 million ha in India). It causes an annual loss of 27 billion US dollars.

After several protests, chief ministerNaveen Patnaik approved a welfare scheme for motor vehicle drivers and workers in the state. The CM also approved the formation of a welfare board to implement the scheme.
This welfare scheme will be implemented in view of the welfare of motor vehicle drivers and other workers. The board will be initially funded by the government, official sources said.

As per the scheme in case of death due to road accidents, Rs 4 lakh will be paid to the nominee of the deceased driver or employee, while in case of severe injuries, Rs 80,000 will be provided Rs 1.5 lakh will be paid to the motor transport driver or employee in case of permanent disability. In case of ordinary death, Rs 2 lakh will be paid to the nominated person.
Apart from this, the drivers and other workers will be eligible for inclusion in various welfare schemes likeBiju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana(BSKY),Madhu Babu Pension Scheme.

More than 5 lakh motor vehicle drivers and other workers will benefit from the implementation of this scheme. The welfare board will be constituted for this purpose, which will have government members as well as representatives of motor transport drivers and other workers.

Construction of the Jhartarbha-Sonepur section ofKhurdaRoad-Balangir new line will be over by August-end. This 21.7 km section will bring this western Odisha town on the RAILWAY map. FromBalangir, the railway line has been completed tillJhartarbha.

The project sanctioned in 1994-95 has been delayed due to several reasons, including court cases and lack of forest clearance. So far, the railways has commissioned 115 km of railway line out of 301km. It has completed 90.4km from Khurda Road toNuagaonand 24.9km from Balangir to Jhartarabha.

The government-runIndustrial Training Institute(ITI) has developed a trolley-cum-lifter to carryoxygen cylindersnear the beds of Covid patients inhospitals. It can easily transport Oxygen cylinders up to 160 kg in weight.

Transportation of oxygen from production units to the hospital involves various logistical issues. After the cylinders are transported to hospitals and Covid care facilities, these are manually shifted.

With the beginning of the new financial year, the has revised minimum daily wages of unskilled, semi skilled, skilled and highly-skilled labourers.

According to an official notification issued by the State Labour Commissioner Dr N Thirumala Naik, the daily wages of the labourers have been increased by hiking their Variable Dearness Allowance (VDA) by Rs 12.

With the hike in VDA, the minimum daily wages for unskilled, semi skilled, skilled, and highly skilled workers have been increased to Rs 345, Rs 385, Rs 435 and Rs 495, respectively, with effect from April 1, 2023.

The State Government has been revising the daily wages as per the advice of State Minimum Wages Advisory Board, which had asked the State to adopt a system of revision of the special allowance called VDA @ 0.90 per point rise in the Consumer Price Index Number for industrial workers (base 2001-100) as admissible and shall be declared at half yearly interval (April 1 and October 1) from the date of notification of revised wages, starting from April 1, 2019.

TheOdishagovernment has asked the commissionerate Police to revive pink auto-rickshaw service, which has been lying in moribund stage for the last four years in Bhubaneswar.

The pink auto service was introduced in Bhubaneswar in the wake of harassment of Women by several auto-rickshaw drivers here in the past. A number of drivers were arrested in Bhubaneswar in 2013-14 on charges of molestation, eve-teasing, theft, harassment of passengers and forging identity cards. Working women had been alleging that it became risky to pass by auto-rickshaw stands in the evening as most of the drivers remained drunk and passed lewd comments.

A study is being conducted to find out the routes that would be viable for successful plying of the pink auto service.

The expenditure on social sector should be increased to 50% of the total budget to take care of emerging needs, panellists and peoples representatives said during a webinar on Pre-budget Consultation Peoples Priorities in Odisha State Budget 2022-23.

Panellists said the public Health expenditure should go up to 7-8% of the total state budget, with increased emphasis on primary healthcare. They put emphasis on an umbrella scheme both for diagnosis and treatment.

They emphasised that the state should suggest the Centre for imposition of a on super-rich individuals and entities and use these funds for targeted development of backward regions.