TELANGANA

Telanganagovernment’s move to grant forest land rights ahead of an election year is posing a grave threat to lakhs of acres of forest land in the state.

The tribal welfare department with the help of forest and revenue departments is currently doing a massive exercise to grant forest rights to the encroachers, which resulted in a spurt in fresh encroachments and conflict between foresters and Gutti Koya tribals and non-tribals as well.

Out of 11.5 lakh acres of forest land applications filed, only 1.6 lakh acres of encroachment before 2005 is eligible for the rights. Whereas 5.6 lakh acres encroached after 2005 and as per the Act, is ineligible for the rights.
Out of these encroachments, the forest department has retrieved 61,911 acres and raised plantations. One such is the area in which forest range officerCh Srinivasa Raotried to save the plantation in Bhadradri Kottagudem district and was killed by encroachers.

Around 3.6 lakh acres is still forest land and not encroached but yet claimed. Currently, there are attempts to chop this forest over which environmentalists have expressed deep concerns.

Professor Jayashankar State Agricultural Universitys (PJTSAU) recent study on dangerous emissions from paddy cultivation says that CO2 equivalent to paddy fields from Telangana is only 2.5 lakh tonnes but not in crore tonnes.

The university also said that rice cultivation has its own benefits like increasing the organic carbon in the Soil.

Through Photosynthesis, the rice plant also absorbs CO2 from the Environment. The degradation of Biomass adds organic carbon to the soil. Algal blooms in rice fields also collect a certain amount of carbon dioxide in the Atmosphere.

The recent Inter-governmental Panel on Climate-change”>Climate Change (IPCC) also made these remarks, and unlike many advanced countries, India and especially Telangana are performing considerably better in this regard.

While Gloster Limited (formerly Kettlewell Bullen & Co Ltd that was founded in 1872) will invest around Rs 330 crore in setting up a jute mill in Warangal district that will generate 3,348 direct jobs, MBG Commodities will pump in about Rs 254 crore to set up a modern integrated jute mill in Sircilla district that will create direct EMPLOYMENT for around 3400 people.

‘s Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture minister S Niranjan Reddy said the state will encourage farmers to take up jute cultivation to meet the requirements of the jute mills not just because agricultural produce is increasing but also because jute can emerge as a sustainable alternative to plastic.

From just 250 consumers who had solar panels six years ago,, the count has grown to over 10,000 now, show records. And these include government buildings, educational institutions, gated communities, apart from the homes of individuals. Some civic bodies such as the Karimnagar have also mandated rooftop solar on new buildings for procuring Occupancy Certificate (OC). The result: Lesser power outages and lower energy bills.

Rooftop solar can be used for domestic,, commercial and industrial purposes by simply installing solar panels and getting them connected to the grid. Also, once consumers use the required power, the balance power goes back to the grid and consumers are paid that amount from discoms.

Over 1,000 renovated government schools were inaugurated as part of Education Day in the ongoingTelanganaformation decennial celebrations. These schools were renovated under the Mana Ooru, Mana Badi scheme.
Education ministerSabitha Indra Reddyinaugurated Jillelguda Zilla Parishad School in Meerpet .

She also commenced distribution of two pairs of uniforms (136 crore), free textbooks (190 crore) and Ragi java weekly once (at an annual cost of 35 crore) to about 25 lakh students studying in government schools across the state. She also started the distribution of notebooks worth 56 crore for 12 lakh students and tabs worth 34 crore to 20,000 teachers.

The minister also launched 25 civic reading centres in Rangareddy district. These reading centres have been set up in areas with a Population of 2,500 approx and Rangareddy district has been selected for a pilot project. A total of 5,000 reading centres will be established in the state.

In a move that would be music to theTelanganagovernments ears theCentrehas transferred 64.464 acre of DEFENCE land to the state. This land, which is estimated to be around Rs 327 crore, is located at various places across the state.

According to a report submitted by the controller ofdefence accounts(CDA), Secunderabad to the controller general of defence accounts (CGDA), Delhi this land has been transferred to the state. When STOI approached the CDA office with a copy of this report, the officials said that they have submitted all the details to the Centre, based on which the land transfer has been done.

It may be mentioned here that government has sought about 185 acre defence land to build various Infrastructure projects. The worth of this defence land is around Rs 1,280 crore.

When compared toKarnataka(44 acre), a large chunk of defence land was sought in Telangana. Meanwhile, with regard to encroachment of defence land, Telangana stood third after Jammu & Kashmir (249 acre), andMaharashtra(145 acre), according to CGDA report.

Making the most of the massive campaign during the International Year of , theTelangana State Agro Industries Development Corporation(TS-Agros) has decided to set up millet stalls run by Women entrepreneurs across the state. As a first step, TS-Agros has joined hands with the Indian Institute of Millet Research (IIMR) and Akshaya Patra Foundation.

In the first phase, one or two centres in every district and 10 in Hyderabad will be established. Currently, selected women are undergoing training and awareness programmes on millets as well.

The Cabinet sub-committee on improving Education and in schools on par with corporate sector met and urged the officials to expedite the preparation of document for speedy implementation.

The committee was constituted as part of the governments efforts to enhance quality education by spending 2,000 crore every year. KTR said the government considered strengthening school education as a solid source for offering quality higher education and the new scheme was aimed at that. He said spending was a part of social obligation on the part of the government.

The new scheme aims at constructing additional classrooms, new buildings and creating digital classrooms apart from facilities like drinking water and toilets. The committee asked officials to submit the final document at the earliest.

The Forum for https://exam.pscnotes.com/good-Governance“>Good Governance has alleged violations in usage of funds granted under the constituency development programme (CDP) by MLAs and MLCs and said no audit of CDF was done since formation ofTelanganain 2014.

Under CDP, the government gives funds to legislators to recommend works in their respective constituencies with emphasis on creation of durable community assets based on locally felt needs. EachMLAandMLCis eligible to sanction development works worth 2.5 crore in their respective constituencies.

To implement the scheme, detailed guidelines were issued. One of the main guidelines is not to grant works on a nomination basis. Contrary to this, local engineers are splitting the works (in bits) worth below 5 lakh and allotting them on nomination basis to persons recommended by MLA or an MLC.”

TheTelanganagovernment has spent over 1.61 lakh crore on construction of major and medium Irrigation projects in the past eight years between 2014 and 2022. Of this, over 1 lakh crore has been spent on two major irrigation projects,KaleshwaramandPalamuru-Rangareddylift irrigation schemes (LIS). According to officials, the state would have to pump in another 1 lakh crore to complete pending projects in the state.

Irrigation officials claim no other state in the country has spent such huge amounts on projects to provide irrigation facilities. In the past eight years, over 40 lakh acres new ayacut has been created apart from stabilising the existing ayacut.

The has earmarked 26,000 crore in the 2023-24 budget and announced that it would provide irrigation facilities to another 50 lakh acres in the next two to three years to achieve one crore irrigated Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture land.