PUNJAB

The Cabinet chaired by CM Charanjit Channi today approved setting up of Punjab State General Category Commission for unreserved classes.

The commission would go a long way in safeguarding the interests of the unreserved classes, besides effective implementation of various welfare schemes for the benefit of the poor. The commission was a long-standing demand of employees belonging to general categories (unreserved classes) that their interests were not being protected and that the must constitute a commission on the pattern of Gujarat.

Besides, the Cabinet gave a go-ahead for exemption of the Motor Vehicle Tax for Stage carriage buses (Big & Mini Buses) and Contract Carriage vehicles less than 16-seater vehicles, relieving the transport sector from financial loss. Various representations were received from private transporters through which they highlighted that rising diesel prices had further deteriorated their condition.

To ramp up while utilizing natural sources optimally, Punjab Government has decided to install Solar Power Photovoltaic (PV) projects with a total capacity of 300 megawatt (MW) in the State, including 200 MW canal top solar PV power projects and 100 MW floating solar PV power project on the reservoirs and lakes.

The state New and Renewable Energy Sources Minister Aman Arora, taking the decision in a high-level meeting, said that the proposed 200 MW Canal Top Solar Project would be installed in a phased manner, under which 50 MW would be installed in the first phase, while projects of remaining capacity would be installed in subsequent phases.

These projects will be executed in Build, Operate and Own (BOO) mode by Punjab Energy Development Agency (PEDA), he added.

The canal top solar power projects will be installed on small distributaries having less width, which will involve less civil works. The cost of the Canal Top Solar PV Projects is expected to be around Rs five crore per MW after taking in consideration of 20 per cent VGF. The 200 MW Canal Top Solar PV Projects will save at least 1000 acres of precious agricultural land, besides, generating local EMPLOYMENT and preventing water Evaporation from canals, he added.

Similarly, Floating Solar PV Projects are also a new emerging idea being implemented in the country for using the potential area on lakes and reservoirs, which will also lead to saving thousands acres of precious agricultural land. The cost of Floating Solar PV Projects would be around Rs 4.80 crore per MW after considering 20 per cent VGF.

To promote the nascent sector of renewable gas in Punjab,Invest Punjabon Monday signed an MoU (Memorandum Of Understanding) with the Punjab State Office-Renewable Gas Association of India (PSO-RGAI), for the promotion of setting up biofuel projects and compressed biogas Plants (Bio-CNG) in Punjab.

Renewable Gas Association of India (RGAI) has been set up to offer expertise and guidance to the Society to find the best solutions for improving and maximizing renewable gas production and usage and thus encouraging green and sustainable Growth.

Renewable gas could emerge as one of the most promising industrial sectors with sustainable and an all- for Punjab. With an annual surplus volume of 20-25 mio tons of agricultural residue, most of which is burnt, leads to 31 MMT of GHG emissions in a span of less than 75 days (mid-Sep to end-Nov)

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann batted for strong collaboration between Nigeria and Punjab in varied fields.

Interacting with Nigerian High Commissioner to India Ahmed Sule, Mann said that there was a huge scope of mutual benefit for both Nigeria and Punjab. He said that strengthening ties between Nigeria and Punjab is the need of the hour to ensure that both script a new success story. He advocated that Nigeria and Punjab should explore more feasibility of opening new vistas of mutual cooperation amongst them.

The Chief Minister said that Punjab is an agrarian economy and his single point agenda is to make Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture a profitable venture by reducing the input costs. He said that his government is already making strenuous efforts to supplement the income of farmers adding that no stone is being left unturned for this noble cause. Mann said that efforts are also afoot to reduce the ever increasing costs of agriculture so as to bail farmers from the crisis.

Williamjeet Singh said the application had been developed with an aim to provide easy access to Education and training of hearing impaired people. The creative interface of the application allows the users to map three spoken languages English, Hindi and Punjabi with Indian Sign Language.

After Kerala andPunjab, Chandigarh is leading in private hospitals empanelled under Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana ABPMJAY for universal Health scheme coverage in the country. Out of 26 empanelled hospitals under universal health coverage, 18 are private hospitals, while the remaining are public hospitals. Across the country, 41.2% are private empanelled hospitals, while 58.8% are government hospitals.

In Punjab, out of 878 empanelled hospitals, 72% are private, quite like Kerala, where, out of 712 such hospitals, 73% are private. Latest figures indicate that more than 2 crore hospital admissions worth Rs 24k crore have been authorised under the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana. Also, around 23,000 hospitals have been empanelled under the scheme.

Ayushman Bharat was launched in Chandigarh on September 23, 2019.
Apart from the financial cover, the scheme focuses on prevention of diseases, mainly non-communicable ones like diabetes, hypertension and lifestyle-related conditions.

The scheme is aimed at reducing out-of-pocket expenditure. AB-PMJAY is a flagship scheme ofGovernment of India, which provides health cover of Rs 5 lakh per family per year for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation to those below https://exam.pscnotes.com/POVERTY-line”>Poverty Line. The data was shared during a recentRajya Sabhasession.

The farmers have rejected the meager compensation awarded by the District Revenue Officers (DROs), who have been designated as CALAs (Competent Authority for Land Acquisitions).

The issue relates to 25,000 hectares of land in 15 districts across the State. The land is under process of acquisition for the project covering multiple expressways, viz Delhi-Jammu-Katra, Jamnagar-Amritsar, Ludhiana-Ropar, Bathinda-Dabwali, besides bypass for Jalandhar and Ludhiana.

Taking forward the commitment of Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to treat every drug addict like a patient and deal with them sympathetically, the government is mulling to bring a policy for decriminalisation of the drug use, said Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Balbir.

Decriminalisation doesnt mean that drugs will get legalised, it will continue to remain illegal. Under this policy, drug addicts or patients of substance use disorders caught with meagre amount of drugs will be sent to de-addiction centres for treatment and rehabilitation instead of putting them into the jails, he said, while maintaining that drug smugglers/peddlers would be dealt by the Police with iron hand.

Dr Balbir Singh further said the problem of drug abuse had affected a large number of Population and created a barrier in the progress of the state. Our government is committed to making Punjab a Rangla Punjab as desired by Bhagwant Mann, he said.

He said the government had been working on formulation and implementation of a policy under which a multi-pronged and multi-disciplinary approach would be adopted to tackle the situation on utmost priority.

The information was shared during the meeting of State Supervisory Board, consisting of 22 members, under the chairmanship of Health and Family Welfare Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu.

Stating about the importance of the first Ante Natal Checkup (ANC), the Minister stressed on the need to carry out first ANC as soon as possible or within the first trimester so that any misdemeanour can be tracked by the ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activist) worker and consequently by the senior health officials.

In a bid to make Punjab frontrunner in non-conventional energy production across the country, the government will soon come up with green hydrogen policy, said New and Sources Minister Aman Arora here on Wednesday.

Concerted efforts are also being made to increase the share of renewable energy up to 30 per cent by 2030, he said, adding that the goal was to make every energy consumer a producer.

He said around 3,200 MW capacity renewable energy projects, including the 2,000 MW capacity of solar Plants, had been installed, which is about 21 per cent of the total installed capacity in Punjab.