Confined to their villages due to Covid, many farmers have been attending webinars and online training programmes on latest techniques of direct seeding of rice (DSR) and other things related to farming.
Apart from online interaction, digital pamphlets shared by experts through WhatsApp groups and Social Media are also proving to be of great help to them.
Punjab governments effort to save groundwater by makingfarmersquit tubewell-based Irrigation in favour of canal water is marred by gaps in the existing Network of irrigation lines. Besides, the farmers reliance on the convenient use of tubewells makes them reluctant to switch over. Canal water usage has picked up in some areas where underground pipes have been laid, instead of temporary concrete irrigation lines.
Despite concerns over depleting groundwater, figures of canal-based irrigation in Malwa region, where there is a sizable network of canals, are not too encouraging. Only 21% water of Bhakra Main Line (BML) canal, 31% of Ghaggar branch and 45% Patiala feeder are being used for irrigation purposes by farmers.
A state-wide drive is underway to restore water courses which had been abandoned or demolished in the past two decades. Concrete and temporary irrigation lines constructed for supplying water to fields from the canal get damaged over time.
As part of Mission Fateh, Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh launched a Punjab Covid Care WhatsApp chatbot for self-care during Home isolation, information on bed availability and vaccine centres, etc.
Patients in home isolation will be required to input their vitals and their condition would be monitored by experts who will advise them on the course of treatment. The service will be available in three languages English, Punjabi and Hindi. The announcement was made after a high-level virtual Covid review meeting chaired by Chief Minister.
The wheat procurement during the current Rabi https://exam.pscnotes.com/Marketing“>Marketing Season (RMS) was of 121.7 lakh tonnes on Sunday compared to 5.2 lakh tonnes during the corresponding period of last year. Procurement had suffered last year because of the Covid-induced lockdown.
The food ministry said the procurement of wheat has so far benefited 11.6 lakh farmers with an MSP value of Rs 24,037.6 crore. It said this is for the first time, Punjab farmers have started receiving payments directly into their bank accounts against sale of their . In the last one week, about Rs 202.7 crore has transferred directly into Punjab farmers accounts.
The information was shared by Pspcl chairman-cum-managing director A Venu Prasad after the Board of all directors approved the PSPCLs annual accounts for the year 2020-21 in its meeting, which was also attended by Additional Chief Secretary (Power) Anurag Aggarwal, Principal Secretary (Finance) KAP Sinha.
At the same time, Prasad hoped that on financial side and improvements in operations side have their ultimate impact during tariff fixation and PSPCL would keep on serving the electricity consumers with more passion in future and keep on providing quality power supply in the State.
Sharing details, PSPCL CMD said that the main reasons of profit mainly include reduction in finance cost of Rs 1,306 crore due to UDAY scheme, increase in carrying cost of Rs 577 crore for delayed payment of subsidy, increase in grant by Rs 570 crore on account of loss funding of previous years and increase in delayed payment surcharge of Rs 156 crore from consumers.
Punjab Government has provided subsidy of Rs 6,057 crores towards its commitment of free power to Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture sector, Rs 1,990 crores towards keeping the per unit energy rate to Rs five for Industrial Sector, and Rs 1,610 crores towards full bill waiver (400 units for a bill of two months) of eligible SC, BC and BPL families, he added.
The achievements of the one-year-old AAP government on the front have been mixed. The unveiling of the new Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2022, after extensive consultations with experts and stakeholders was lauded by many. However, the imposition of high water charges on industry, poor Infrastructure at focal points and dharnas by farm unions that disrupted Logistics have proved to be a stumbling block.
To attract industry, the Cabinet approved a new policy for industries and electric vehicles last month after the Industrial and Business Development Policy, 2017, lapsed in October last year. The policy focuses on Ease of Doing Business, support for MSMEs and attracting Investment in key sectors. With this policy, the state aims to provide a supportive and conducive Environment for businesses to flourish, attract investments and spur innovation. It outlines various incentives, subsidies and Infrastructure Development plans to facilitate ease of doing business.
The State Government is of the view that the new policy will be a game-changer for the economy, but experts are of the view that it’s too early to comment. The state also organised Progressive Punjab Investors Summit last month to attract investment. During the meeting, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the focus of the summit was not signing MoUs, but to showcase opportunities.
As far investment is concerned, in the last 11 months, the state has received 2,295 proposals amounting to Rs 41,043 crore, with Tata Steel investing Rs 2,600 crore in setting up a plant in Ludhiana.
As per the mandate given by the Chief Minister, PSeGS has been tasked with bringing major reforms in service delivery and will cover all the Services notified under Punjab Act, said the spokesperson.
The Executive Committee also decided to engage the services of a consultant on an Outsourcing basis for bringing reforms in Government processes for the ease of citizens as well as to work on the reduction of compliance burden in line with directions given by the Government of India.
Cheema, sharing the details, said that apart from preventing , the newly-established wing would help in increasing the Governments income.
Available information suggests that the tax intelligence wing will be headed by an Additional Commissioner. Apart from one centralized unit, two more units will be established.
Reiterating Punjab Governments commitment to improving the states fiscal Health, Cheema said that the State Government has received more than Rs 250 crores through enforcement actions by way of inspections and checking of vehicles; using data mining for recovery of pending dues from tax evaders and conducting an audit of selected high-volume taxpayers, whereas, during the regime of the previous government the department had received only Rs 600 crores in the past two years.
AfterPunjabchief minister Charanjit Singh Channis announcement to soon introduce a law to provide reservation to locals in government and private jobs, Punjabcabinet constituted a cabinetsub-committeeof five cabinet ministers to finalise details of the proposal.
In a move aimed at increasing enrolment, reducing dropout rate and attracting students to the government schools, the Punjab cabinet. led by chief minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday decided to provide free uniforms to nearly 2.66 lakh boys of general category studying in the government schools from classes I to VIII. The Punjab government will spend around Rs 15.98 crore in the current financial year.