UTTARAKHAND

To set up newhydropower projectsand start the pending ones, theUttarakhand governmenthas decided to follow in the footsteps of neighbouring Himachal Pradesh (HP) as the state cabinet has approved a new policy on lines of HP’s model.

The new investors will now have to give Rs 1 lakh as development tax, which earlier was Rs 25 lakh. The new policy has also cleared the deck to hand over the pending projects to other companies. Under the project, the river bed material dug up for the project can be used to make the plant and permission has been provided to set up stone crushers.

According to the previous policy, the build, operate and transfer duration was for 40 years, out of which five years were for construction and 35 years for the operation. Now, according to the proposed amendment, the allocation would be for 40 years after the scheduled commercial operation date (SCOD). Owing to the objections raised by the court, several hydropower projects are yet to be started in Uttarakhand.

According to the new policy,UttarakhandPower Corporation Limited will purchase the electricity produced by the project up to 25MW on a tariff fixed by the State Electricity Regulatory Commission.

The policy defines the provisions for the state to come up with parking on government land, for people developing parking slots on private/government land and for the government using private land to develop parking.

After for tablet devices being released for the students of class X and XII and with money assured to be released for the students of the State Government-run degree colleges as well, the students of government-aided colleges have also raised the demand for their inclusion as well in the scheme.

The students demand that the government is planning to release Rs 12,000 into the bank accounts of around 2.59 lakh students which include both, board classes students as well degree colleges ones, therefore, the government should include them as well as their Population is quite low.

Two prestigious institutes – Dr RS ToliaUttarakhandAcademy of AdministrationNainitaland Indian Institute Of Management Kashipur – signed a MoU to coordinate and dedicate their Resources towards integrated development of Uttarakhand.

As per the MoU, both institutes agreed to coordinate and dedicate their resources towards integrated development of Uttarakhand. The possibility of helping each other through “faculty exchange programme” and “capacity building” was discussed at length. Both institutes also agreed to share their strategic resources.

The Sports Minister Arvind Pandey said that the government will be selecting 300 children aged between 8 to 14 years old from every district of the state every year.

A Physical and Aptitude test (PSAT) will be conducted to identify the sporting talent among them and sharpen it. These children will also get a Scholarship of Rs 1500 per month. Similar process will be followed for 200 players between 14 to 23 years of age in every district and they would be paid a scholarship of Rs 2000 per month. The selected youngsters will also get sports kits, tracksuits and other tools and equipment related to the games they play. All these facilities will be given under the Mukhya Mantri Udayiman Khiladi Unnayan Yojana.

With an objective to improve urban Health in the state the Uttarakhand government entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Population Services International (PSI) on Friday. The MoU was signed between, Chief Advisor, Population Services International (PSI) Dr Rakesh Kumar and Mission Director, National Health Mission (NHM) Uttarakhand, Sonika in the presence of Health Minister, Dhan Singh Rawat and Health Secretary, Amit Singh Negi.

Through this PARTNERSHIP, PSI will provide technical assistance on the urban health component under the NHM in the state. Its responsibility will primarily include the support to the in health systems strengthening such as developing health systems strengthening strategy and implementation plan, strengthening quality of data, HMIS and monitoring, identifying gaps in implementation of national programs, piloting innovations, support incapacity building and development of behaviour change communications strategy, documentation of best practices and research and Learning. It will also include public-private participation to develop health financing, service delivery models and support in Logistics and Supply Chain Management in primary healthcare. Another key focus area will be to identify state and city-level convergence issues to address social determinants of health, such as water, sanitation, gender and Nutrition. Talking about the initiative, health minister Rawat said, The urban population of Uttarakhand stands at 37 per cent and with addition of four municipalities, the population will increase to 41 per cent. With the growing population, there needs to be an increased focus on improving healthcare services in the public as well as private sector. This initiative should increase public awareness and aid in enhancing the demand for quality health services in the state.

The Delhi has requested the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) to reflect on consideration as illustration a petition to end the alleged illegal construction of bridges and partitions inside tiger breeding habitat of the Corbett Tiger Reserve.

About NTCA:

National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) is a statutory body . It is under the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate-change”>Climate Change.

It was installed in 2005 following the hints of the Tiger Task Force.

It was once constituted beneath enabling provisions of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, as amended in 2006, for strengthening tiger conservation, as per powers and features assigned to it.