Fall armyworm(FAW), the pest that attackedmaize cropin Ropar district, has left over 4,500 acres crop damaged from 50 to 100% in Nurpur Bedi block, a survey completed in one of the blocks in the district by theagriculture departmenthas revealed.

The Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture department has classified the damage in four different categories. It has found that crop on 2,053 acres has been damaged 75 to 100% whereas 2,508 acres has witnessed damage from 50 to 75%. The crop on 452 acres has witnessed 0 to 25% damage while around 858 acres witnessed 25 to 50% damage.

Drones will soon be pressed into service in the hill state of Himachal for monitoring of wildlife, generating human-wildlife conflict hotspots and to check instances of forest fires.

The states Forest Department has decided to deploy drones in the forest areas of Himachal for tracking and monitoring purposes with an aim of better management and conservation of the forest and wildlife Resources of the state.

Out of a total geographical area of 55,673 square kilometres, Himachal has a forest area of 66.52 per cent (37,033 sq km) and a forest cover of 27.72 per cent (15,433.52 sq km), as per the India State of Forest Report 2019.

As per the Departments plan, drone technology driven information will also be used to monitor the Growth and survival rate of plantations in the state.

The education Minister Arvind Pandey said that 600 more Government schools of the State would be linked with the virtual classes. At present, this facility is available in 500 schools.

The Minister said that 71,000 students of the Government schools of the State got online TEACHING during the pandemic period when the schools were closed. Pandey added that the BJP government has decided to provide tablets to the students of class X and XII in the state. Raising the issue under rule 58, Qazi Nizamuddin said that during the pandemic period the students of the private schools studied by online methods of teaching but the students of government schools were deprived from it.

He said the government schools teachers should be imparted training on online methods of teaching and suggested the poor students of the government schools should be given peer teaching or should be divided into small groups so that they can be taught.

In order to improve the quality of technical education, the Uttar Pradesh government is planning to implement a state-level ranking system — State Institutional Ranking Framework — on the lines of NIRF (National Institute Ranking Framework). It will be a data driven approach to analyse the performance of public and private technical universities.

The UPSIRF will be a pioneering attempt towards creating world class institutions in the state, using a highly credible and transparent framework wholly based on objective data. The clear focus will be on helping the institutes identify areas of improvements, bridge the gaps and achieve excellence regionally, nationally and globally.

The institutions will be rated on the basis of their performance and this will also provide a measure to the government to give grants accordingly. The SIRF will compel the institutes to strive hard in achieving a good rank and will create a healthy competition among the institutions.

Uttar Pradesh has three technical universities Dr APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University, Harcourt Butler Technical University, Kanpur and Madan Mohan Malaviya University of Technology in Gorakhpur.

Jharkhand chief ministerHemant Sorenwill launch an industrial policy that aims at attracting up to Rs 1 lakh core of investment, as the government is looking to establish the state as a hub of electronics system design and manufacturing.

With the launch of JIIPP 2021, the will promote business opportunities in the fields of textile and apparel, automobile, electric vehicles, Food Processing, pharma, electronic system design and manufacturing, tourism, Health, IT & ITeS, RENEWABLE ENERGY, breweries and distilleries, startup and incubation centres, Education and MSME sectors, he said.

Adityapur Electronic Manufacturing Cluster Ltd, a special purpose company, was established for its smooth functioning.

It is a greenfield project spread across 82 acre of land, he said, adding that the campus has 92 units with plug & play facilities.

The JIIPP promises investors up to 100 per cent relief from SGST for nine years and 75 per cent for large scale industries for 12 years.

The state cabinet sanctioned Rs67.13 crore as its share for expenditure on the construction of three road overbridges (ROBs) between two railways stations each in Bhagalpur, Rohtas (Sasaram) and Buxar districts.

The total expenditure on the three ROBs is to the tune of Rs145.56 crore to be shared jointly by the railways and the state. The state share for the ROB between Naugachhia and Kataria RAILWAY stations in Bhagalpur district is Rs2.92 crore against the total cost of Rs41.65 crore.

The cabinet also approved the allotment of Rs97 crore for the establishment ofcentres of excellenceat the state industrial technology institutes (ITIs), besides nominating the ITIPatnaas the project executing agency.

The is to be utilized between 2021-22 and 2025-26.

The Chhattisgarh Government has engaged people of rural areas with economic activities by utilizing locally available resources, thereby empowering them.

Schemes such as Suraaji Gaon Yojana and Godhan Nyay Yojana have brought prosperity to villages, an official statement said on Friday.

Till date, cow dung worth nearly Rs 100 crores has been procured in the state under Godhan Nyay Yojana. This has helped many. Success stories have come from every corner of the state.

Godhan Nyay Yojana has provided new means of livelihood to self-help groups and landlless people.

In Korea district, nearly 233,903 quintals of cow dung have been procured and Rs 5.34 crores paid to the sellers.

Madhya Pradesh ranks first among the States to get the accreditation certificate from the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) for water testing laboratories. The Ministry of Jal Shakti, Government of India directs that all States should obtain NABL certification for their water testing laboratories at regular intervals from the Board of Accreditation in order to maintain the credibility of the high quality of this service.

State and district level 51 laboratories of Public Health Engineering Department have been granted recognition certificates by the Accreditation Board (NABL). Among the states that have received recognition of various water testing laboratories in the country, Madhya Pradesh is on the top and Maharashtra state is second in getting the recognition certificates of 30 laboratories.

The quality of water being supplied to the common citizen is tested from time to time. For this, one state level and 55 district level (in which upgraded Khurai, Mauganj, Sardarpur and Parasia) laboratories are run by the PHE department in the state. Apart from this, 100 subdivision level laboratories are also operating.

Even asCovid-19cases in the state are hovering at a bare minimum for the past few weeks, economic activity is registering an impressive growth. The state governments income from various sources has increased by 36% in the period from April to July this year, as compared to the same period last year.

Significantly, compared to the corresponding period last year (2020), the revenue fromstamp dutyand property registration has spiked 148% in the period from April to July this year, reflecting a huge spurt in real estate transactions since April this year.

In the month of July, 2020 which was just after the lockdown, the income from stamp duty & registration fees was Rs 588 crore. In July this year, the income from stamp duty and registration touched the Rs 968 crore mark. Considering the April to July period, the revenue from stamp duty and registration in 2020 was Rs 1,234 crore. This year, the income from stamp duty and registration between April and July stands at Rs 3,061 crore.
Such impressive has been the stamp duty and registration revenue that the has earned 34% of its annual budgetary target of Rs 8,700 crore in the first four months of the financial year.

According to official figures of the state government, the number of property documents registered in the first four months of 2020-21 were 1.94 lakh, which increased to 4.07 lakh in the first four months of 2021-22, reflecting a whopping 110 % jump in total number of registered sale deeds in the state.

However, the states major Source Of Income – Goods & Service Tax (GST) income has grown by only 6% in the first four months of the ongoing fiscal year as compared to the same period last year. Revenue from stamp duty and registration grew by 148% in the first four months of the present fiscal year as compared to the same period last year. Motor vehicles tax has registered a Growth of 110% in the first four months of the financial year as compared to the corresponding period last year.

VAT (value added tax) on petroleum products showed a 81% jump in revenue in the first four months of the ongoing financial year as compared to the corresponding period last year. Government revenue from sale of liquor (Prohibition & excise tax) has registered a 61% hike in the April-July period this year as compared to the same period last year.

Although the overall income of the government from all sources showed a marginal drop in the year 2020-21 (Rs 79,793 crore) as compared to the previous financial year 2019-20 (Rs 86,534 crore), the government is upbeat that it will be able to cross the Rs 1,08,035 crore revenue target this year.

The state government has appointed gold medalist Avani Lekhara as the brand ambassador for Beti BachaoBeti Padhaocampaign in Rajasthan. State minister for women and child development Mamta Bhupesh wrote a letter to Lehkara in this connection.

The 19-year-old shooter won the gold medal in the womens 10m air rifle standing (SH1), defeating reigning champion Zhang Cuiping of China and Ukraines Iryna Shchetnik, who won silver and bronze, respectively.