The state has come out with a government resolution to set up a panel to offer incentives to prospective buyers of electric vehicles (EV) in the state in the coming months, under Electric Vehicle Policy, 2021.

State transport commissionerVivek Bhimanwarsaid on Monday that a budget of Rs 25 crore is to be disbursed to offer incentives to e-two wheeler and e-car buyers across the state by March 31. “The panel will decide on procedures for disbursal of budgetary provision for incentivising electric vehicles. Another budget of Rs 100 crore is in the pipeline and will be decided for disbursal in the coming months,” he said.
Bhimawar is a member in the new panel that is being headed by principal secretary (transport) Parrag Jaiin Nainutia.MSRTCmanaging director Shekhar Channe is also a member of the committee. The GR, however, mentioned that when it comes to MSRTC e-bus procurement, its managing director will not be part of this decision-making process.

with government push for e-charging infra at petrol pumps, highways, malls and a latest circular by registrar of housing societies, making it mandatory for managing committees to grant NOC for e-charging facility in seven days, a huge rise in EV Population was expected in 2023.

class="table-cell">ODISHA (523)

Gujarat has more than 10,000 5G base transceiver station

Gujaraton Tuesday achieved a major milestone of more than 10,000 5G base transceiver station (BTS) across various districts.

BTS is a piece of equipment that facilitates wireless Communication between user equipment (UE) and a Network. UEs are devices like mobile phones (handsets) or WLL phones.

Gunjan Dave, head of DoT Gujarat, told TOI that as on date there are 10,189 5G BTS on air in the state.

Gujarat was the first state in India to have 5G Services in all the 33 districts. The UT of Dadra &Nagar Haveliand Daman & Diu has also achieved a milestone of more than 100 5G BTS with a total 106 on air 5G BTS covering all the 3 districts.

NGT panel calls for Indian Council of Medical Research study of cancer in Gang canal catchments

Failing to find the source of a cancer epidemic in theGangcanals catchments, a joint committee formed by theNational Green Tribunal(NGT) has recommended engaging the Indian Council of Medical

Research (Icmr) or a similar institute to check the canal water, farm , and pesticides for possible reasons.

This Irrigation canal inRajasthans Sri Ganganagar district is fed by the Satluj river passing through Punjabs Ferozepur, Faridkot, and Muktsar districts.

The raw water stored in the sedimentation tank is filtered and distributed to the public through

after disinfection by chlorination. The water samples taken from January 2022 to February 2023 had no heavy Metal content, while the Bureau of Indian Standard (Bis) also found the chemical and bacteriological parameters to be within the permissible value.

Rs 1,500 crore will help youths, women: Northeast industry

bodies in the northeast have hailed theUnion Budgetfor earmarking Rs 1,500 crore for development initiatives, which they said will enable livelihood activities for youths and Women in the region.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has termed it an extremely Growth-centric budget that they felt every industry needed amid a pandemic and to achieve fast recovery of

their respective businesses.

As almost 99% of all enterprises in the northeast come under the MSME category now, AbhijitBarooah, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), northeast, was hopeful that the budget will give a push to the MSMEs.

Move for cultivating multiple crops in rice-fallow places

TheAssamAgricultural University (AAU), with technical support from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), has successfully tested four systems by cultivating green pea, mustard, potato and lentil after sali (kharif) rice in six districts.

Field test demonstrations in rice environments were selected during rabi season in 2020-21 and 2021-22 for the four innovative cropping systems. Six districts, with an area of 20 bighas each,were selected for the demonstrations. Cultivation of these crops after paddy harvesting will help in increasing the net income of the farmers. In the long run, one of the cropping systems having highest return and system productivity can be promoted for wider adoption, saidKanwar Singh, senior associate scientist and resident coordinator at IRRI.

Geospatial technologies, including remote sensing, geographical information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS), are being used under the Assam Agri-business and Rural Transformation Project (APART) for identifying suitable areas where multi-cropping can be done after rice cultivation. The AAU targeted identification of the fallow land to increase the Cropping Intensity to bring a significant increase in agricultural output in low productivity areas and enhance system productivity.

Assam has an estimated 25 lakh hectares under paddy cultivation which accounts for almost 83% of the total cultivable land of the state. But most of this paddy cultivation is confined to the kharif season (sali) during when almost 19 lakh hectares is utilized.

class="table-cell">HIMACHAL PRADESH (514)

Govt plans to reduce child marriages

The has decided to prepare a concerted, multi-sectoral action plan engaging all stakeholders to prevent and prohibit the age-old practice of child marriage.
According to theNational Family Health Survey(NFHS) 2015-16, as many as 21.3% girls inOdishaget married before the legal age of 18 years. Along with the districts, the government will also focus on the urban poor in municipalities.

The government will prepare an inter-sectoral convergent action plan for each district for prevention and Prohibition of child marriages. This includes convergence of programmes across sectors and key line departments in districts, officials said.

District task force (DTF) meetings will be held regularly to review implementation of child marriage-free village initiative, rehabilitation and skilling opportunities for adolescents rescued from child marriage or at risk of child marriage, Child Labour and child trafficking.

class="table-cell">Current Affairs (2664)

Tamil Nadu: Indo-Korean ceramic, glass exhibition inaugurated in Chennai

The Human Spirit: Propositions On Resilience In These Irregular Times, a virtual Indo-Korean ceramic and glass exhibition specially commissioned by InKo Centre, was inaugurated on January 21.

The exhibition looks at the artistic interpretations of the concept of resilience of the human spirit, especially post the pandemic, through the medium of ceramic and glass. Both are transformed through fire into new states of being. The exhibition examines the metaphor of rejuvenation, transformation, fluidity and permeability as attributes of both ceramics and glass through figurative, abstract and natural forms.

Union Budget: Tax incentives to help startups

The startups in the state will benefit from the Union governments proposal to extend the period of incorporation of eligible startups by one more year till March 31, 2023, for providing tax incentives, saidKerala Startup Missionformer CEOSaji Gopinath.

He added that it normally takes three to four years for a new startup to start making profits.
Finance minister in herBudgetspeech said that the country has seen a manifold increase in successful startups over the past few years.

Startups will be getting one more year of tax benefit. It will make a huge difference for those into hardware units, which take around six to seven years to start making profits. Especially for those startups whose profit will come a little later, this is a huge benefit, Gopinath said.

State govt mulls Mangaluru-Goa inter-state waterway for tourism

With all 11 inland national waterways (NWs) identified by Indias Inland Waterways Authority (IWA) not taking off, the government ofKarnatakahas embarked on the development of an ambitious inter-state waterway betweenMangaluruand Panaji in Goa, to promote tourism, and for affordable passenger and freight transportation.

Though techno-economic feasibility studies have been initiated for the 11 NWs in Karnataka, the has initiated the preparation of a detailed feasibility report (DFR) for the development of an inter-state waterway between Mangaluru and Panaji.

Three firms had expressed interest in the request for proposal from the Karnataka government, floated by the Ports & inland water transport department, directorate of ports and inland water transport. Kalinath Advisors Pvt Ltd have been selected as consultants for the project.

There are seven critical river systems in Karnataka, with a lot of tributaries, but not much progress has been seen in the development of inland waterways for transport, tourism or cargo movement.

The chamber has said the inland water connection of Nethravathi River from Thumbe, that connects Maravoor Bridge via OldPort, and the Mangaluru International Airport, will catalyse Economic Development along the riverbank.

Telangana saw 21,000 excess deaths in first two waves: Study

had 190 percent excessCovidmortality rate during the first and second wave, according to a research study.

It also revealed that the all-India excess mortality was six to seven times higher than official figures.

The research study published in the eminent scientific journal, Science, showed that there were 21,000 excess deaths during 2021 as against 11,000 excess deaths in the year preceding the pandemic in Telangana. This showed that there were 10,000 excess deaths, which stands at 190 per cent.

Hyderabad had reported most number of Covid-19 deaths, only due to serious cases from districts and other states being referred to tertiary care hospitals in the city. However, the study did not mention

the figures city-wise. The data provided was only of state-wise figures and national Average.

In case of another Telugu-speaking state, Andhra Pradesh, there were 51,000 excess deaths during 2021 in comparison to 36,000 excess deaths during 2018-2019. This in other words mean AP has recorded 140 percent relative excess deaths. However, Andhra Pradesh had less number of excess deaths during the Covid-19 period, compared to Telangana.

Telangana stood third in the country in terms of relative excess deaths, below Gujarat (230 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (215 per cent).