RAJASTHAN

Out of the 581oxygen Plants that theDRDOand the NHAI plan to set up in thecountry, 16 units of 1,000, 500 and 200 LPM (litres per minute) capacity will come up in eight districts of Rajasthan including Jaipur and Ajmer.

While DRDO will set up 400 plants, NHAI will instal 181 with the help of HLL Infra Tech Service. With the help of DRDO and NHAI, work on the 12 plants in Rajasthan started recently.

Apart from this, four Oxygen plants of 250 LPM capacity will also be set up in the state. With setting up of 16 plants in Rajasthan, 2,400 Covid serious patients will be provided oxygen.

A traditional hub forayurveda, its raw materials, and practitioners,Rajasthanhas around 360 small industrialAyush(ayurveda, and unani, sidha, homeopathy) units. While in recent years, the highly unorganised sector is becoming organised, the potential remains unharnessed.

The national Arogya fair to be held in Jaipur for the first time this month, supported by the Central Ayush ministry and Rajasthan government, is looking to bridge the gaps and open new opportunities for all the value chain players, starting from the growers, manufacturing and supply of medicines and digital Services.

The Ayush Industry was estimated to be Rs 2,000 crore eight years ago and has now increased to Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

A 100-day action plan with 38 points will be implemented in the state for discouraging use of tobacco products in the state. It will be a major campaign run by the Health department along with NGOs to be implemented across the state from urban areas to rural areas.
A workshop was organised for implementation of the 100-day action plan at the State Institute of Health & Family Welfare(SIHFW).

One of the 38 points of the 100-day action plan was enforcement of provisions of Cigarette and Other Tobacco Product Act 2003. On April 30, the health department will launch a drive for enforcement of COTPA-2003 to prevent its violation. Soni said action would be taken for violating the provisions of COTPA.

Besides, the health authorities will ensure that school campuses would be declared tobacco-free. The focus of the action plan for discouraging tobacco products will be on schools and children. In the state, children start chewing tobacco much earlier in comparison to smoking. The Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS)-4 released recently showed that the Median age of initiation of smokeless tobacco among 13 to 15-year-old is 7.6 years and for cigarettes it is 13.4 years. Besides, 9.3% of children are exposed to second-hand smoking in the state. Now, the health department will organize various competitions at village, block and district level for school students focusing on discouraging use of tobacco products.

Accepting the demand of theJatcommunity, the constitutedRajasthanState Veer Tejaji Welfare Board.

The department of socialjusticeand Empowerment has issued orders for the formation of the board. The board will have seven members including the chairman and vice-chairman.

According to the officials, the board will aim to take stock of the condition of the farmers Society and suggest measures to remove the backwardness of the farmers class on the basis of certified survey reports.

Rajasthanproduces about 40% of cumin and isabgol and over 40% raw materials for ceramic in the country but the mandis of the agri commodities and the manufacturing units that use the Minerals tiles and sanitaryware thrive in Gujarat. Farmers and entrepreneurs said despite the state having such a large resource base, it is not only losing economic benefits, but depriving common people of potential livelihood opportunities.

Choudhary said its not always they make profits. The crop is susceptible to wind speed and rain. On Average, farmers lose 20-25% of crops to natural adversities. In the best conditions, they make a profit of Rs 8000-9000 in an acre. But thats occasionally. Being farmers, our voices do not count. So, we cannot form committees. In all these years, nobody has thought of establishing mandis, said Choudhary.

In fact, Rajasthan produces about 40% of the countrys cumin with large volumes coming from districts like Barmer, Jaisalmer, Nagore and Jalore. Gujarats production is higher than Rajasthan, though.

Morbi in Gujarat has become the leading centre for manufacturing of ceramic tiles and sanitary ware industry. According to research and consulting firm IMARC, the Indian tiles, sanitary ware and bathroom fittings market is valued at $7,516 million in 2021 and is expected to grow over 8% in the coming years.

CooperativeministerUdailal Anjanasaid that by March-2022, crop loans worth Rs 18,500 crore would be distributed to the farmers associated through . He said that crop loans of Rs 16,181 crore have been disbursed so far.

The co-operative Minister said that the election process in village service Cooperative Societies should be completed expeditiously.

He said that the remaining Elections of Dairy institutions should also be completed in a phased manner.Anjanasaid that in relation to the formation ofnew villageservice cooperative societies, the share amount should be reduced from 5 lakh to 3 lakh and the minimum number of members also be reduced to 300 from 500.

Powerpurchase agreements for solar and projects that expired in 2019 will be renewed and the producers can start supplying to the discoms, as per a statement by theenergy department.

In 2019, after the expiry of PPAs signed for five years for theRECprojects, the energy department did not renew the contracts citing that the rates of the energy has come down significantly. The producers had sought legal help.

The department expects the power producers to withdraw the court cases and ink fresh PPAs with the discoms.