01.07.22

During Cov, 40% NE kids lacked digital edu tools

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The National Achievement Survey (NAS) 2021 report, published on Wednesday, has painted a gloomy picture of digital education in schools in the northeast, where over 40% students spent their days at home during the pandemic without any digital device to aid their education.
The digital divide has been the sharpest in each Assam,ManipurandMeghalayawhere 48% of the students had no digital device at home. NAS 2021 was conducted for Classes III, V, VIII and X.

In Arunachal Pradesh, 43% of the students lacked a digital device at home. The corresponding figures for Mizoram andNagalandwere 39 and 37% respectively. InTripura, 46% of the students had no digital device.

In Assam, while 58% students of all the surveyed classes experienced worry, anxiety and fear during the pandemic, 61% experienced similar moods in Arunachal. A total of 59% students in Manipur and Meghalaya went through the same experience. The corresponding figures for other NE states where students experienced worry, anxiety and fear were Mizoram (54%), Nagaland (62%) and Tripura (59%).

Among the NE states, about 6,000 schools participated in the exercise from Assam, where 1.7 lakh students and about 27,000 teachers from the state were covered.

Assam govt and Spices Board join hands to develop sector

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The Assam government andSpices Boardhas joined hands to develop infrastructure in the spices sector in the state.

Chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarmainaugurated the International Buyer Seller Meet and Spices Conclave (IBSM) organised by Spices Board.

The CM said, The government of Assam and spices board will establish a quality evaluation laboratory and training centre for spices in Guwahati for further developing the spice industry in the region.

Odisha move up in Ease of Doing Business rankings

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From one of the bottom-ranked states in the last Ease of Doing Business ranking,Odishahas now been marked as an Achiever along with some of the industrially developed states like Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh in the Business Reforms Action Plan (BRAP) 2020 assessment report of the department for promotion of industry and internal trade (DPIIT), under the Union ministry of commerce.

Other states in the achiever category include Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh, read the report released by Union finance ministerNirmala Sitharaman.
The report is a boost to the state and comes a day after chief ministerNaveen Patnaikheld his first overseas investors meet in Dubai to showcase Odishas business ecosystem and manufacturing prowess and invited investors from the region to invest here. The state also received investment intents of more than Rs 21,000 crore from the meet.

States like Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka, Punjab,Tamil Naduand Telangana have been categorized as Top Achievers in the ranking.

Odisha had got 29th rank (placed among the bottom states) in the Ease of Doing Business ranking as per the previous BRAP evaluation report, released in September 2020. Odisha has shown remarkable progress in the current cycle by implementing over 90% of the 301 reforms suggested by DPIIT and achieving more than 80% positive user feedback, said state industries secretary Hemant Sharma.

‘Tamil Nadu to announce Samadhan scheme soon’

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The state government will announce the Samadhan scheme for value added tax (VAT) regime within two to three weeks, said minister for finance and human resources management Dr Palanivel Thiaga Rajan in Coimbatore.

Addressing the gathering at the special interaction session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry-Coimbatore here, he said that the Samadhan scheme will soon be launched to settle the pending dues under VAT and other legacy legislations.

Reacting to one of the questions claiming the executives deputed at the backend of GST helpline respond only in Hindi, the minister said he would escalate this issue to the Centre and claimed 80 per cent of the funds by the Union government are not reaching MSMEs properly.

Keralas total debt stands at 3,32,291 crore: state finance minister KN Balagopal

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The statefinance ministerinformed the assembly that the total debt ofKeralastood at Rs 3,32,291 crore; the liability doubled during the 2015-16 period. However, despite the pandemic situation here, the growth rate was 88.66% in 2020-21 compared to that of 2015-16.
In the absence of finance ministerKN Balagopal, ministerK Radhakrishnangave replies to queries. He said that despite all financial constraints, the state government did not compromise on development projects and welfare schemes.

The Centre had provided a loan of Rs 1,471 crore during the 2019-20 period and had increased the borrowing limit in the subsequent two financial years. The negative growth during the pandemic was the key reason for the present financial crisis. Earlier, the Centre had cut down the borrowing limit of the state and only during the pandemic a relaxation was given.

During the pandemic, the borrowing limit was increased to 5% from 3% of GSDP. The minister said the unscientific implementation of GST has severely affected the tax revenue of states and the state has been exerting pressure on the Centre to continue the disbursement of GST compensation to all states.

One Health’ pilot to begin in Bengaluru

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The dairying and animal husbandry ministry will on Tuesday launch ‘One Health’ pilot project in Bengaluru, bringing stakeholders from animal, human and environment health on a common platform to come out with solutions to prevent outbreak of zoonotic disease (such as coronaviruses) in future.

The success of the pilot will help the Centre develop a national ‘One Health’ roadmap, equipped with better response mechanism and management while incorporating global best practices.

The pilot will be launched in collaboration with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation andCIIas implementation partners. BesidesKarnataka, the department of animal husbandry & dairying is implementing the pilot projects inUttarakhandas well.

Plug-and-play EV Park launched in Telangana

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Telangana Minister for IT and Industries K T Rama Rao launched the state’s first plug-and-play EV Park and Two and Three-Wheeler Electric vehicles, produced byVayu MotorsandZero 21here. EV (Electrical Vehicles) Park is the first of its kind in Telangana state. It has an incubation centre for EV startups which can leverage MG’s manufacturing capabilities and infrastructure.

MG EV Parkis interacting with other EV Startups to help launch their businesses and wants to be a catalyst in developing fossil-free transport solutions.

Zaheerabad is emerging as the hub for not just automobiles but also EV vehicles.

Andhra Pradesh cabinet clears proposal to rename Konaseema district

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The state Cabinet on Friday cleared the proposal to renameKonaseemadistrict as Dr BR Ambedkar Konaseema district. The cabinet also cleared the four cash benefit schemes ofAmma Vodi, Vidya Kanuka,Vahana Mitra, Kapu Nestam and Jagananna Thodu schemes to be released in July.

The cabinet met at the secretariat, where chief ministerYS JaganMohan Reddy tabled the new schemes for the approval. The schemes included, the state governments agreement with Byjus for the school education and the 3,700 mw plant of green energy.

Briefing media after the cabinet meeting, minister for information and public relations Chelluboina Venugopala Krishna said the cabinet has approved Jagananna Amma Vodi where Rs 6594.6 crore will be disbursed benefiting over 43 lakh mothers for sending their children to schools.

Goa Board plans to convert textbooks into digital format

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TheGoa BoardOf Secondary And Higher Secondary Education is in the process of converting all subject textbooks into the ePub format in association with the state commissioner for persons with disabilities.

Guruprasad Pawaskar, the state commissioner for persons with disabilities, urged the Goa Board to make available the textbooks in accessible format within six months.
Subhash Phaldesai, minister for social welfare, said education is the right of every student with disabilities, and appealed to all educational institutes to take extra steps to understand the obstacles facing these students and to strive to create an inclusive learning environment for them.

The ePUB plaftorm is an electronic publication, a file format that is the current industry standard in digital publishing. EPUBs are a standardised format that can support the digitisation of traditional print books and make the best use of the flexibility of digital screens to resize, reflow and enhance text and media rich content.

Maharashtra tourism announces ‘Tourism Dindi’

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For the first timeMaharashtraTourism will be officially participating in the state’s religious extravaganza – the PandharpurWaripilgrimage procession by announcing its own Tourism Dindi along with it.

Wari, one of the most important festivals in Maharashtra is a beautiful and colourful sight to be witnessed. The journey, which spans three weeks on average and is traditionally undertaken entirely on foot, is a way for the Warkaris to affirm their faith and remember their saint-poets Saint Dnyaneshwar and Saint Tukaram.
An important feature of this festival is the Ringan ritual, a race between two horses. One has a rider while the other is left without one and it is concluded that the horse without a rider customarily wins the race for it is believed to be ridden by the saint himself. Ringan is performed in Malshiras, Velapur and Wakhri.