UTTARAKHAND

Anger is simmering among farmers of the Kumaon region after the Uttarakhand government decided to give away 4.4 acres of Ramgarh orchards situated nearNainitalthat span across 165 acres, once famous for its peach, plum, avocado, and apple cultivation, to the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited (SIDCUL). SIDCUL will allegedly set up hotels, wellness centres, and industrial units in the area.
According to the locals, the government’s order on the matter was issued nearly three months ago, but locals started opposing it earlier this month.
The farmers’ protest in Nainital marked its 22nd day on Sunday, under the banner’Save Orchards Association'(Udyaan Bachao Samiti).

Uttarakhand has around 94 government gardens and orchards but they are affected by various issues including scarcity of Irrigation water, animal attacks, agro-climatic issues, Urbanisation, etc., according to experts

With more tourists thronging the hill state after dip in numbers during Covid pandemic, tourism authorities are contemplating changes to attract moreforeign touristsand high spenders.

The number of tourists, including foreign nationals, witnessed a significant dip but things were back on track this year. In 2019, Uttarakhand attracted 3.9 crore tourists out of which 1.5 lakh were foreigners.

In 2022, the number of visitors in the first 10 months (till October) shot up to 4.7 crore and the number of foreign tourists was 45,163. In 2020, the number of foreign nationals was 38,763 and 15,410 in 2021.

Though the number of foreign nationals visiting Uttarakhand is still below the 1.5 lakh mark of 2019, authorities expect the number to go up significantly in the next few years with improved and facilities. With the increase in overall numbers, tourism authorities are contemplating moves to draw the attention of foreign and high-end tourists.

Wellness centres, homestays, better air connectivity, more ropeway projects, upgradation of Chaurasi Kutiya under Rajaji Tiger Reserve as per international standards, winter games and tourism, construction of museum at Rambara, a meditation centre at Chhoti Lincholi, development works around Tehri Lake are among the projects which are either underway or in the pipeline to boost tourism sector.

According to Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board data, the Himalayan state had 3.4 crore tourists (excluding Char Dham), which included 3.3 crore domestic and 1.4 lakh from foreign nations. Due to Covid, the number dipped to 78.7 lakh – 78.3 lakh national and 38,763 international visitors in 2020.

Carrying on with the extended scheme of free ration distribution across the state, the Uttar Pradesh government has so far provided free ration to more than 82 per cent of the beneficiaries for December.

Commissioner, Food and Civil Supply, Saurabh Babu said, The department has distributed 6,88,690.741 metric tons of ration among ration card holders of Antyodaya and eligible household category till December 9. Along with this, free of cost distribution of 29,276.142 MT of three other commodities — gram, salt and oil has also been undertaken.

The is running its next phase of the biggest campaign of free ration distribution, other than PM Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PM-GKAY) under which along with wheat and rice, ration card holders across Uttar Pradesh have been receiving a litre of refined oil and a kilo each of salt and pulses, free of cost.

While distribution through ePoS devices ensured that the subsidised food grains were provided to the rightful beneficiary through biometric authentication, the integration of ePoS devices with electronic weighing scales has ensured that the beneficiary are given the right quantity of food grains by the fair price shop dealers.

Chief minister (CM) Pushkar Singh Dhami on Sunday said that the government has set a target to makeUttarakhand“drug freeby 2025”. He was speaking at theDehradun Marathon event, “run against drugs”, organised by the state Police in association with a social welfare organisation Hans Foundation in the presence of state director general of police Ashok Kumar, additional chief secretary Radha Raturi and other dignitaries.

Around 15,000 people had registered themselves for the marathon till Friday. Among them there were at least 112 athletes from over 10 foreign countries, including UK, US, Japan and Nepal etc.

With the launch of the new Software by next week, the eligible applicants in Uttarakhand will be able to apply for a new form of number plates called Bharat (BH) series for the seamless transfer of vehicles across the country.

On August 28, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a notification stating that the owners of the vehicles bearing the BH registration number plate will not have to re-register their vehicles after shifting to a new State.

A BH series number plate will comprise four components in the format YY BH #### XX where YY indicates the digits of the year when the vehicle was first registered, BH indicates series code, #### represents four random numbers and XX indicates two English alphabets. As per the rules, the vehicle owners who have to shift to new states frequently due to the nature of their jobs are required to register their vehicle in the new states too.

He asserted that only up to five per cent of the owners of the registered vehicles in the State apply for vehicle transfer every year but added that the new format will certainly help people.

The General Officer Commanding (GOC), Uttar Bharat Area Lieutenant General S S Mahal addressed the gathering and exhorted the contingents to train and strengthen mutual confidence, interoperability and also to share best practices.

The Nepali Army contingent arrived at Pithoragarh and was accorded a traditional military reception. Around 650 DEFENCE personnel from both the Armies are participating in the event. In the exercise, an Infantry Battalion each from the Indian Army and the Nepali Army will be training together to develop inter-operability and share their experience of counter terrorism operations and disaster relief operations.

In Uttarakhand, the Chief Minister, Shri Trivendra Singh Rawat has launched Gharoki Paachan, Chelik Naam (daughters name is a homes identity) programme and development schemes.

Initially, the scheme has been launched in Nainital and will be extended to entire Uttarakhand in the coming weeks.

The government has allocated Rs 42 crore for this scheme.

This scheme is in line with the effort of the towards promoting Women Empowerment.

Around 32,000 women groups of the state are being linked with self-EMPLOYMENT to make them self-reliant.

Union DEFENCE minister Rajnath Singh said that India will become the worlds third largest economy by 2027. This scenario has been analysed by various foreign economists. He said that the nation is becoming self reliant in defence and other sectors. Important defence equipment like tanks, armament and other items are being exported to 25 nations. The value of defence exports has reached Rs 16,000 crore.

Addressing the gathering, the Defence minister said that Uttarakhand is a small State but the vision of the Central government regarding its development is clear. Referring to ambitious schemes in the State, he mentioned the Rs 1,300 crore reconstruction works in Badrinath and Kedarnath, the Gaurikund-Kedarnath and Govindghat-Hemkund ropeway projects worth Rs 2,500 crore, the Manaskhand Mandir Mala mission in Kumaon region, encouraging homestays across the State, development of 16 eco tourism destinations and the expansion of Health Services in the State. Singh also referred to the planned establishment of Aiims satellite centre in Udham Singh Nagar, Tehri lake development project worth Rs 2,000 crore, development of Rishikesh-Haridwar as the capital of adventure tourism and capital, Tanakpur-Bageshwar rail project and the Rishikesh-Karnprayag rail project.

He said, The global prestige of the nation has increased under the dynamic Leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Indias view is being considered seriously in international fora. The respect being accorded to our Prime Minister is honour being accorded to all Indians.