After takingsuggestions from various stakeholders, the state Education department has finalised its draft on “Fee Act” in Uttarakhand.
The draft for the Fee Act has been made after studying the acts implemented in Hindi-speaking areas of the country. The suggestions of district administrations of Uttarakhand were also considered.
The private schools have made several demands to form the act in such a way that it doesnt create a hostile Environment for them to operate their education business.
The Digital Refund System (DRS) scheme, which enables consumers to claim a Rs 10 refund by scanning a QR code on the wrapper of plastic bottles in order to help minimise plastic waste, has got a tepid response in the hill towns ofUttarakhandwhere it was introduced last month with the onset of theChar Dham yatra
The scheme was started in Kedarnath and Chopta (base for Tungnath temple trek) last year and expanded to Yaumunotri and Gangotri this year. Around 4 lakh QR codes were distributed under the scheme this year. Of these, an estimated 25% (around 1 lakh) bottles with the codes were sold. Around 47,000 (less than half of the bottles sold so far and around 12% of those given to shopkeepers) have been returned. Officials are hopeful that the scheme will gather steam as the Char Dham yatra progresses (the yatra has recently completed a month and has around five more months to go). According to pilgrims and officials, the major drawback of the scheme is the dependence on Internet connection, which is erratic in these high-altitude hill towns. Lack of information, with shopkeepers not conveying the workings of the scheme to pilgrims, is also a problem. In some cases, shopkeepers keep the wrappers, claim the profit and the plastic bottles get dumped down the hillsides as usual.
The Western Himalayan temperate forests of uttarakhand are Home to a large number of endemic bird species.
Six main types of land use were studied, including natural oak forests, degraded oak forests (Light use), lopped oak forests (heavy use), pine forests, agricultural planting areas, and places with buildings.
The results revealed that was low in Monoculture areas and urban areas.
It also observed a significant decline in some of the habitat guilds in areas where land-use change occurred.
Habitat guilds are groups of bird species that prefer similar habitats.
Uttarakhand director general of Police Ashok Kumar’s book on cybercrime – ‘Cyber Encounters-Cops Adventures with Online Criminals – was launched at an event in IIT-Delhi.
An Ips officer of 1989-batch and alumnus of IIT-Delhi, Kumar’s book gives an account of actual cybercrime related to fake identity on Social Media, ransomware, card cloning, sextortion and phishing among others.
The book was co-authored by former DRDO scientist OP Manocha and its foreword is written by iconic actor Amitabh Bachchan. At the event, Kumar highlighted the challenges faced by law enforcement agencies in combating cybercrime and the need for increased awareness and capacity building in the field.
The is all set to form the StateUrban DevelopmentInstitute (SUDI) for “the result-oriented study of various issues and challenges related to urban development.”SUDIwill be set up at theUttarakhandAcademy of Administration inNainital.
The governing body of SUDI will be headed by the chief secretary and officials from the urban development department will be part of it. Anand Bardhan, additional chief secretary in the Uttarakhand government, said that SUDI will focus on identifying the challenges of urban development and its management to conduct result-oriented studies. “It will also help and guide the urban bodies in strengthening their existing work capacity and research documentation,” he added.
The institute will also provide training to officers, technical experts and institutions associated with urban development.
With a huge turnout of pilgrims expected this year at the four Himalayan shrines of Gangotri, Yamunotri, Kedarnath and Badrinath — over 81,000 have registered for Kedarnath and Badrinath alone in past three days — the Uttarakhand government has taken to technology to facilitate a smooth pilgrimage.
Last year, during the peak of theChar Dham yatra season, there were instances of pilgrims waiting for hours in biting cold for darshan at the high-altitude shrines.
Uttarakhandchief ministerPushkar Singh Dhamion Saturday said that he has given instructions that all the symbols of colonialism in the state would be rechristened.
Chief Minister said, “After PM Narendra Modi came to power, all the symbols of colonialism are being changed in the country. The names of the roads and cities in Uttarakhand are from the British era and they will be changed. We have given instructions in the state that all symbols of colonialism be renamed.”
This comes months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s statue and inaugurated the rechristened ‘Kartavya Path’ in Delhi which was earlier called Rajpath.
Scientists have identified a 2,291 sq km area in Uttarakhands Chamoli district as the most seismically active zone in Uttarakhand Himalayas after they found that it had the highest density of Earthquakes and landslides over the study period of eight years. The flash floods in February that killed 200 people in Chamoli had also occurred in an area within this zone.
Researchers at the Dehradun-based Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) studied the Main Central Thrust (MCT) zone, a 2,200 km-long geological fault along the Himalayan belt which demarcates the lesser Himalayas from the higher Himalayas. The zone has been touted as the geographically weakest part of the Himalayas since all earthquake-related activity in the Himalayas have happened in and around a 10km periphery of MCT, according to scientists.
For the study, researchers looked at the part of MCT which fell in Uttarakhand, a total area of 19,000 sq km. The study, published in Current Science journal, analysed data of earthquakes and landslides in the region between July 2007 and October 2015. Data from seismographs was collected to study earthquakes while landslide data was procured by high resolution satellite images as well as images on the Google Earth platform.
The study found 2,260 earthquakes of magnitude ranging between 1.5 and 5.1 in the study area. Among these, 769 tremors were of magnitude ranging between 1.5 and 2.0, 1,335 between 2.1 and 3.0, 129 between 3.1 and 4.0 and 27 between 4.1 and 5.0.
The data highlighted that smaller earthquakes of magnitude less than 3.0 which were leading to frequent landslides were clustered in certain areas. So scientists categorised them into three main clusters: Uttarkashi earthquake rupture zone (3,179 sq km), Chamoli earthquake rupture zone (2,291 sq km) and Munsyari zone cluster (4,220 sq km). These clusters were further studied.
The Uttarkashi earthquake rupture zone which had witnessed a massive earthquake in 1991 that had claimed over 700 lives had recorded 145 earthquakes and 300 landslides during the study period. The Munsyari cluster recorded 269 earthquakes and 401 landslides.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has said that better coordination is needed between the government and to run the Growth engine of the State in full steam. He was addressing Doon E- 3 Expo organised by Business Network International (BNI) here on Saturday.
Welcoming the entrepreneurs in the programme, the CM said that the entrepreneurs investing in Uttarakhand are harbingers of development and growth of the State. Terming the expo as the exhibition of the new mindset and Entrepreneurship skills of Uttarakhand the CM said that all types of businesspersons can demonstrate their skills and find opportunities in the State.
The CM said that the Indian economy has become the fifth largest economy of the world under the Leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said that the PM has taken a commitment to construct a new India which is getting fulfilled today.
He said that the State Government is committed to make Uttarakhand a partner in the growth story of India and make it one of the leading States of the country. The government is making efforts to make Uttarakhand the most favoured destination for Investment. He added that the State has better law and order situation, clean Environment, rail, road and air connectivity and cheap and uninterrupted power supply which make it good destination for industry, work in the field of automobiles, electric vehicles, Infrastructure, Ayush, Pharmaceuticals, bio technology, IT, tourism, green energy and service sectors in being done in Uttarakhand. The CM added that due to the industry friendly policies prominent companies are helping in the progress of the State.
The CM emphasised that the rural economy also needed to be strengthened for the all round development of the State and for this the government has started one district- two products scheme. The objective of the scheme is to encourage local products and make them an important mode of livelihood. He said that opportunities for every investor are increasing in Uttarakhand which has a positive and transparent environment for business.
The Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has appointed wicket keeper of Indian cricketer team Rishabh Pant as the brand ambassador of the state for promoting Sports and general Health. Dhami took to Twitter and shared the news of appointing Pant as the ‘State Brand Ambassador’ with the aim of encouraging the youth of the state towards sports and public health.
Pant was born on October 4, 1997 in Roorkee, Uttarakhand. He is primarily known for his swashbuckling batting and wicket-keeping skills. Currently Pant is in South Africa for a three-match test series which will begin from December 26.