RAJASTHAN

Rajasthanranks a lowly 29th among 33 states and Union Territories in tapwaterconnections in rural areas under the Centres flagship Jal Jeevan Mission Har Ghar Jal scheme as of May 31.

The countrys most water distressed state has added just 8.11 lakh tap water connections against 4.22 crore connections under the scheme since August 2019. For every 100 tap connections in villages, 0.6 were achieved in the state. Ideally, the figure has to be 5%. Since the beginning, the scheme has been embroiled in Centre-state trouble.

The Centre has allocated Rs 2,522 crore to the state under the scheme in 2020-21 while it is expected to give Rs 5, 500 crore under the head.

Baran secured the first rank in implementing free medicine schemes in the state, followed by Sriganganagar at number two and Bikaner at number three. Jaipur was positioned at 6th rank in implementing the scheme.
In the state ranking issued for implementation of thefree medicine scheme, tribal dominated districts, western districts in desert areas and underdeveloped districts such as Dholpur, Karauli are lagging in free medicine scheme.

The ranking was adjudged on the basis of parameters including stock availability of drugs, stock not available at hospitals, stock is less than three-month consumption, drug distribution counters not working, Average delay in drug district counter opening and drugs not available at drug distribution counters. The Health department has issued directions to districts to ensure that the scheme is properly implemented, and availability of the drugs should be ensured.

Rajasthan State Legal Services Authority(RALSA) has set up a 24x7Covid helplineat each district chapter of theauthoritywith a view to provide all possible advice and support to a common man during the catastrophic second wave of Covid.

The main objective of this initiative will be to act as a bridge between common man and Health service providers, to provide required medical aid and advice.

This helpline will ensure that appropriate action was taken by the service providers in response to the requirement of a caller.

Rajasthan kicked off its cashless’mediclaim’ schemeworth Rs 5 lakh for each family of the state, starting the registration for its ChiranjeeviHealth InsuranceScheme. With the start of the registration of people under the scheme, announced by chief ministerAshok Gehlotin the state budget 2021-22, Rajasthan has become the first state in the country to provide Health Insurance to all its residents.

Under the scheme, each family of the state will get an annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh.

Minister of state for energyBhanwar Singh Bhatiinformed the assembly that the is bearing the fuel charges for agricultural consumers while fuel charges are levied on all categories of electricity consumers.

He said that this charge is being taken from 2013 in compliance with the tariff regulation issued by theRajasthan Electricity Regulatory Commission. There is a provision to recover the difference between the fixed rate of power purchase and the actual price due to cost escalation as fuel surcharge from the consumers.
Bhati in response to a question said that from 2019 to December 2022, Rs 3,749 crore has been collected as fuel charges from electricity consumers other than Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture.

Indian Air Force (I.A.F.) will conduct the Exercise Vayu Shakti, which will happen at Pokharan Home in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

Indian Air Force (I.A.F.) will conduct the Exercise Vayu Shakti, which will happen at Pokharan home in Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, on 7 March.

PM Narendra Modi will be the Chief Guest of this event. A complete 148 aircraft of the Indian Air Force (I.A.F.) will participate in this exercise.

Rafale aircraft will participate for the primary time during this exercise. Exercise Vayu Shakti is organized by Indian Air Force once every three years.

In a bid to promote handicraft exports, theRajasthan Export Promotion Council(REPC) will hold the first-ever edition of the “Rajasthan International Expo” in Jodhpur.

This expo will be organized at theTrade Facilitation Centerat Boronada,Jodhpur, from March 20-23.Rajeev Arora, chairman ofREPC, said that approximately 25 foreign embassy ambassadors headquartered in Delhi have shown a willingness to send their trade representatives to participate in the exhibition. A few of the embassies that have already confirmed their participation are South Sudan, Zambia, the Republic of Fiji, and Nauru.

The textile sector battling competition and sharp increase in raw material costs has got a breather.

The finance minister in her Budget speech said for incentivising exports, exemptions are being provided on items such as embellishment, trimming, fasteners, buttons, zipper, lining material, specified leather, furniture fittings and packaging boxes that may be needed by exporters of handicrafts, textiles and leather garments, leather footwear and other goods.

The major difficulty the garment exporters are facing is rise in yarn and fabric prices. The cost of fabric has gone up by 40% in the past one year because of costlier yarn prices.

Chief ministerAshok Gehloton Monday directed the officials to complete the signing of memorandum of understanding (MoU) and letter of intent (LOI) for the Invest Rajasthan summit by January 15.

Gehlot was reviewing preparations for the summit Invest Rajasthan 2022 to be held on January 24-25 atJaipur ExhibitionandConvention Centre(JECC), Sitapura.

The CM said that theMoUsand LOIs signed till now should be implemented in a time-bound manner. He appreciated the successful signing of MoU and LOI with the investors at district level and said that the revenue department should work pro-actively in the matter of allotment of land for industries.