UTTARAKHAND

Improving its ranking by 95 points from 2020 to 2021,Uttarakhandhas emerged the best among the 10Himalayan statesin the sixth edition of the Swachh Survekshan, whose results were declared on Saturday.

For states with less than 100 cities, Uttarakhand ranked fourth nationally. But among theHimalayanstates, it was on top followed by Himachal Pradesh and Nagaland. However, according to experts the comparison is not a fair one because of differences in the Population margins of these states.

Among the 720 cities with less than 25,000 population, Uttarakhands Muniki Reti ranked 11 but experts believe that several state cities are at a very bad position for this to be a significant achievement.

In view of the good response it is generating and the ongoing festival season, the One Time Settlement Scheme (OTS) for the loan defaulters of the of the state has been extended by the State Government till November 15 this year.

Giving details he said that Rs 40.53 lakh by 69 people in Haridwar, Rs 85.81 lakh by 59 persons in Kotdwar, Rs 23.14 Lakh by 26 persons in Dehradun, Rs 4.28 Lakh by 11 in Chamoli, Rs 132.62 lakh by 47 in Tehri, Rs 82.40 Lakh by 53 persons in Uttarkashi, Rs 63.38 lakh by 36 in Almora, Rs 25.43 Lakh by 25 in Nainital, Rs 33.78 Lakh by 3 in Pithoragarh, Rs 1.61 Lakh by five in Udham Singh Nagar and Rs 84.5 lakhs by 15 persons in State Cooperative Bank Haldwani in OTS so far.

India’s highest-altitude herbal garden with 40 species of Himalayan herbs, including some that are extremely rare and endangered, has come up at a height of 11,000 feet in Mana the last Indian village near Indo-China border.

The garden spanning three acres was built on van panchayat land by the forest department and inaugurated by Mana village pradhan.

It took the forest department three years to gather the herbs many of which are found in remote, inaccessible areas that remain snowbound for several months and grow them in Mana. The harsh weather in the village posed challenges it experiences snowfall for four months and severe rainfall for at least three months.

The park is divided into four zones. The first zone has Plants that generally grow at an altitude of 13,700 feet and above and have high medicinal value. It contains endangered Himalayan alpine species like Van Kakdi (podophyllum hexandrum) which is the only surviving species in its genus.

The scheme has seen quite a few twists and turns since it was announced by formerCM Trivendra Rawata couple of months ago. He had named the scheme Soubhagyawati Yojana and was all set to inaugurate it when he had to step down.

His successor,Tirath Singh Rawatchanged the name of the scheme to Mahalaxmi Yojana and was gearing up to launch it. But on the very day he was to inaugurate it, he was summoned to Delhi and subsequently had to let go of the CMs chair.

Under the scheme, the new mothers and newborns would be provided with clothes and other accessories by the Women and child welfare department.

A total of 16,929 women have been initially identified to be benefitted across the state as part of the scheme. The Mukhyamantri Mahalaxmi kit is being provided to the mother and the newborn girl child on the birth of the first two girls or twin girls.

For mothers, the kit has dry fruits, two pair of socks, one scarf, two towels, one blanket or sheet, two bedsheets, two packets of sanitary napkins, nail cutter, four bathing soaps, four detergent soaps and 500ml mustard oil.

The Education minister Dhan Singh Rawat has directed the officers of the department to expedite the process of setting up cluster schools in the State. The Education department has taken up a plan to set up two cluster schools in every block. The minister gave the order while taking a meeting of the officers of the department.

Apart from the senior officers of the department all the block education officers (BEOs) of the State attended the meeting. In the three -hour long meeting Rawat reviewed the progress of cluster schools, PM Shri schools, performance of the students in the board examinations, distribution of textbooks and the number of teachers and students in the schools. The minister said that the officers of the department should take the parents and public representatives into confidence for merging the schools coming in a perimeter of 10 kilometres of a cluster school. After this the officers should get the DPRs of the cluster schools prepared from the work executing agency, he said.

The minister added that anti-tobacco and anti-drug campaigns should be undertaken in every school. On a stern note Rawat said that the rule of conduct regulations should be followed and students should be imparted moral education. The minister said that action should be taken against the teachers and employees who are absent from a long period of time from their duties. He added that the process of giving compulsory retirement to these absentee employees should be initiated.

Uttarakhandgovernment has launched an anti-encroachmentdriveon its land, even enlisting the help of the state intelligence unit, to identify areas whereencroachmenthas been done with the intention of changing thedemography. Thegovernmenthas asked for daily reports from the task forces, consisting of DMs and SSPs/SPs.

The development follows a high-level meeting on Friday evening between chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami and officials of the Home department and state Police, who were asked to accelerate the anti-encroachment drive on government land.

The Uttarakhand government had launched CM Swarozgar Yojna during last years lockdown with an aim to encourage migrants to stay back in Uttarakhand by helping them start their own ventures. Close to 10,000 people had applied under the scheme. With 1.25 lakh migrants back in Uttarakhand in the last two months, officials said that the government plans to invite fresh applications under the scheme.

According to the official data provided by the industries department, last year a total of 9,310 applications with the maximum of 1, 273 from Uttarkashi and 911 from Pauri were received for registration under the CM Swarozgar Yojna.

Of these, the loans have been approved for 3,904 projects. While the bank has rejected 3,265 applications, 168 applications are still under process.

Any person who has returned during the lockdown is allowed to register under the scheme. Under the scheme, one can start a project up to Rs 10 lakh in the service sector and up to Rs 25 lakh in the construction sector. For projects above Rs 25 lakh, the would provide the relief through MSME policy. A subsidy ranging from 15% to 25% in accordance to the project cost is given to the applicants. The maximum applications were received for homestays, agri-related projects, processing units and setting up private works.

Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami has stressed the need to provide a special recognition to the apple of Uttarakhand by the use of natural farming. He opined that the State can bring about a new revolution in the field of apple production.

He was addressing a programme celebrating five years of excellence- Sankalp se Parivartan ki Aur at Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology on Wednesday. The programme was organised under the joint aegis of the Indo Dutch technologies private limited and Coca Cola India.He said that a new policy which is in accordancewith horticulturedevelopment is being formulated. The CM expressed hope that the scientists working in the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Horticulture universities would focus on research in horticulture which is in accordance with the geographical conditions of the State.

The CM said that under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi more and more farmers are getting associated with the Apple Mission. He said that special focus is being made on quality and packaging to ensure that the apple of Uttarakhand apple gets a special recognition like that of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh (HP).

Uttarakhand forest department on Tuesday formed a nine-member committee, headed by principal secretary (social welfare department) and chief conservator of forest and wildlife, to tackle the issues related to Van Gujjar community in Uttarakhand.

This came a month after the Uttarakhand directed the State Government to reconstitute the committee formed to look into the problems faced by this tribal community living in the hill state.