Issue policy on transgender reservations: HC to Maharashtra government

Bombay on Monday directed the Maharashtra government to come back by June 7 with a policy on reservations for transpersons in EMPLOYMENT and Education.
Earlier this month, state Advocate General Birendra Saraf submitted the state was taking steps to issue a government resolution (GR) in a week to provide for a third window for transgender persons in all public employment and education enrolment, in addition to those for male and female candidates.

The HC was hearing a 2022 petition byVinayak Kashidfor the state’s compliance to a 2014 Supreme Court oder directing all states to issue pro-transgender policies. Kashid’s lawyer Kranti L C said Karnataka provides 1% reservation in all categories, and sought such a policy in Maharashtra.

11 Haryana dists among 37 pollution hotspots, NGT seeks action plan

As many as 11 districts of Haryana, including Gurugram and Faridabad, have been identified as air quality sensitive districts for being Air Pollution hotspots around the year.

The two districts, along with Palwal, Panipat, Sonepat, Bhiwani, Hisar, Jhajjar, Rohtak, Sirsa and Nuh, feature in the list of 37 districts in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) compiled by the (NGT).

The districts, including nine from Delhi and 13 from Uttar Pradesh, include Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar (Noida). The list was compiled based on the report of an expert committee that the NGT had appointed in 2021. The panel identified the districts through satellite observations on the basis of high PM2.5 concentration.

‘Ropeways to boost tourism in Punjab’

Tourism Minister Anmol Gagan Maan has applauded the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Himachal Pradesh for agreeing to jointly develop ropeway projects in the Anandpur Sahib-Naina Devi and Pathankot-Dalhousie regions.The project is expected to boost the socio- of both states and facilitate tourism.

The minister said the ropeway project would be a major attraction for tourists and was expected to bring a significant boost to the local economy. It would provide an easy access to some of the most scenic locations in the region, she said.

Water cess only on hydro projects in Himachal Pradesh: CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu

Punjabchief minister Bhagwant Mann had a breakfast meeting with his Himachal counterpartSukhvinder SinghSukhu on Wednesday following which Sukhu clarified that the hill states move to impose water cess would only be limited to the projects located in Himachal.

Last week, both Punjab and Haryana had passed resolutions in the Vidhan Sabhas to oppose the Himachal governments decision to impose water cess and Punjab Resources“>Water Resources Minister Gurmeet SinghMeet Hayerhad claimed the new levy would mean an additional annual burden of Rs 1,200 crore for partner states, a major portion of which would have to be borne by Punjab.

Ukhand to have pre-birth waiting rooms for pregnant women

In an example of inter-departmental cooperation the Health and Women Empowerment and Child Development (WECD) departments have decided to use the one-stop centres in the State as pre-birthing waiting rooms for the pregnant women.

These centres are being operated by the WECD department and the Health department would develop them as the waiting rooms for pregnant women where they can stay for a few days before child birth. The government of India has accepted the proposal of the health department and would provide the necessary budget for the endeavour. The health secretary R Rajesh Kumar told The Pioneer that the government of India has approved the amended Programme Implementation Plan (PIP) under the National Health Mission (NHM). He said that it is generally seen that the pregnant women visiting the district headquarters from the rural areas for check up and childbirth face problems staying in the cities. Apart from the facility of comfortable stay, the doctors would do regular health check ups of the pregnant women in one stop centre, he said.

In Uttarakhand the WECD department has a one stop centre in every district. The WECD secretary HC Semwal told this correspondent that the department has accepted the proposal of the health department in this regard and the step would be extremely beneficial for the women. The centres would also help in increasing institutional deliveries.

Uttar Pradesh tops with more than 49,000 cases of crimes against dalits since 2018

More than 1.9 lakh cases of crime against dalits were registered in four years from 2018, the Centre told Parliament earlier this week, citing National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data.

As many as 49,613 cases of atrocities and attacks on dalits were registered inUttar Pradesh(11,924 in 2018, 11,829 in 2019, 12,714 in 2020, and 13,146 in 2021). States and UTs such asManipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Lakshadweep and Andamans reported zero cases since 2018. Union MoS for Home,Ajay Kumar Mishra, shared the data on Tuesday in response to a query by BSP MP Girish Chandra, who asked if there was any mechanism to monitor such incidents.
A total of 1,89,945 cases of crime against the community were registered in four years (42,793 in 2018, 45,961 in 2019, 50,291 in 2020 and 50,900 in 2021) in the country. Chargesheet was filed in 1,50,454 of them with 27,754 convictions.

Birsa Harit Gram Yojna gives new dimension to rural livelihood

Apart from mango , other fruit bearing Plants like guava, lemon, pear, custard apple, ber, jackfruit, drumstick horticulture have to be promoted. Horticulture of mixed fruit plants is to be encouraged. Under MGNREGA, mango horticulture, guava horticulture, shady tree plantation will be done through Birsa Green Village Scheme, said Secretary, Rural Development Department, Prashant Kumar while addressing the meeting of the State Horticulture Advisory Committee organized in the auditorium of FOFP building here on Monday.

Kumar said that tree plantation work is being done in all the districts of the state under Birsa Harit Gram Yojana. He informed that for the successful implementation of Birsa Green Village Scheme, all the representatives of MGNREGA and JSLPS will be re-trained for the horticulture scheme to be held in the year 2023-24.

It was decided in the meeting that Didi Bagiya Yojana, run by the sisters of SHG, training and other assistance should be provided to the entrepreneurs to prepare fruit plants so that quality plants can be produced in the nursery. It was also decided to consider getting the nurseries established under the Didi Bagiya scheme registered with the National Horticulture Board through JSLPS.

It is necessary to train Horticulture Sakhis for the purpose of timely capacity building and to make them technically more capable, as continuous technical advice is given by them in the horticulture being done by the beneficiaries. Therefore, after training them, timely payment of wages should be ensured in lieu of the work done by them under horticulture.

Under the Birsa Green Village Scheme, besides mango plants, other fruits like pear, orange, lemon, guava, jackfruit, dates, custard apple, etc., which can be grown according to Jharkhand’s Climate, have also agreed to include bamboo, drumstick. Along with this, it was also decided that mixed fruit horticulture should be ensured in at least 25 percent of the total horticulture area under each district in the financial year 2023-24.

E-governance award for Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali mission

The ‘s ambitiousJal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyanreceived the ‘award of excellence’ for e-Governance in the 20th CSI-SIG e-Governance Awards ceremony held in New Delhi.

It was presented to the Abhiyan portal under the ‘project’ category. The Computer Society of India (CSI) gives out the award each year to projects for their contributions to the field of e-governance.

The campaign was launched by CM Nitish Kumar in 2019 to combat the adverse effects of Climate-change”>Climate Change and protect the Environment.

The campaign has 11 target initiatives that are being put into practice, such as rooftop rainwater harvesting, massive afforestation, promotion of Organic Farming, and Solar Energy.

Under the Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan, about 30,000 public ponds, puddles, and dug wells have been made encroachment free across the state so far, and more than 68,000 public water harvesting structures have been rejuvenated.
With the objective to increase the groundwater level, approximately 1.5 lakh soak pits have been constructed near public wells and hand pumps under the campaign.

Solar power bringing positive changes in tribal life

Farmers of the North Bastar’s Kanker district are seeing positive changes in their lives by using modern techniques in Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture.

Tribal farmers living in villages located in interior regions face difficulties while irrigating their fields due to the absence of regular electricity supply.

Solar pump installation in fields without electricity provides pollution-free and obstacle-free Irrigation facility, that too for free.

With the help of the government schemes, farmers living in interior regions are being encouraged to embrace agriculture even in harsh geographical conditions.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that micro, small and medium scale industrial units are the soul of Madhya Pradeshs economy. These units create many employment opportunities for the youth along with value addition of agricultural products and other materials at the local level. These units have an important role in boosting the economy. Entrepreneurs are our development partners.

The gives top priority to micro, small and medium scale units. We want to spread a Network of these units in the state. Every possible effort will be made to remove the difficulties coming in this direction.

Chief Minister Chouhan was addressing 1450 MSME industrial units after transferring subsidy of Rs 400 crore with a single click. Micro, Small and Medium enterprises Minister Omprakash Sakhalecha, Secretary P Narhari and other officials were present in the programme held at the Chief Ministers residence office building Samatva. Entrepreneurs from all the districts of the state, representatives of Industry organizations participated virtually in the programme. The Chief Minister also interacted virtually with representatives of industry organizations and entrepreneurs.

Chouhan said that Indias economy is progressing under the Leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Activities are being carried out by developing a road map for Atmanirbhar Madhya Pradesh, in line with the Prime Ministers resolve to build an Atmanirbhar Bharat. Madhya Pradesh is the fastest growing economy of India. The GSDP of the state has become 13 lakh crore. But the capita income is Rs one lakh 40 thousand. We have also increased our Irrigation capacity to a great extent. Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture is the backbone of our economy. A large number of EMPLOYMENT opportunities are being created for the youth by skill upgradation in value addition of agricultural products.