01.10.21

Swachhta Pakhwada 2021 ends at Paradip Port Trust

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The Swachhta Pakhwada 2021 observance ends at Pradip with a playa and Prize distribution by Shri AK Bose, Dy. Chairman, PPT.

Highlights:

Observance of Swachhta Pakhwada ended at Paradip Port today with Shri AK Bose, Dy. Chairman, PPT making prize distribution to the winners of debate Competition held among the local school children to record the occasion.

The observations ended with a play EBE NUHEN TA KEBE NUHEN administered by the local cultural organisation CANMASS.

Dr Prahallad Panda, CMO and Secretary-in-charge, alongside other HODs and Dy. HODs were also present once in a while.

As a part of Swachhta Pakhwada, various activities like Awareness run among workers and staff of all Departments & Divisions of PPT, Swacchata Rath, Swachhata Awareness hoardings, Cleaning of Pump Houses and alphanumeric display at essential locations within the Township were undertaken.

Indian Institute of Technology Madras Pravartak Technologies Foundation, a technology innovation hub from IIT-M, will collaborate with five city startups to develop and commercialise space technologies including those needed for rapid launch capabilities, satellite design and future generation communication like 6G. The consortium is calledIndian Space Technologiesand Applications Design Bureau (I-STAC.DB) and will focus on developing next generation technologies.

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The consortium aims at developing an end-to-end atmanirbhar ecosystem for next-generation space technologies including rapid launch capability, satellite design and assembly, sensors, future generation Communication like 6G, security of satellites, ground stations, data processing, assimilation for communication and geo spatial application sectors.

Tourism department is mooting a plan to startcaravanparking hubs at prominent tourism destinations in and around Kochi. This will help launch caravan tourism, a new initiative of the state government, in the district.

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The department has already identified locations for setting up caravan parking hubs in the district. Caravan tourism is a new concept being introduced by the state tourism department with the support of motor vehicles department (MVD). Caravans will be provided by private tour and travel agencies.

The concept is that the vehicle can be used bytouristsfor reaching various destinations and at the same time accommodation can be provided when they want to stay at a particular destination or overnight stay.

There is also a plan to convert the boat yard at Thevara into a tourism centre. Unused KSRTC buses will be used for foodie wheels project. The buses will act as restaurants.

Tourism minister Anand Singhsaid the state government will organise aninternational tourism expoin February 2022 to attract investments to the sector, which has been battered by the pandemic.

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Stating that the tourism sector has suffered Rs 25,000 crore loss due to the pandemic, Singh said it would take two years for it to bounce back.

The government has taken several measures in this regard, which include 50% rebate on property tax for hotels/resorts besides cancelling licence fees. It also waived electricity bills of hotels for three months from April to June, he said.

Singh said the government aims to take the tourism sectors contribution to the states GDP to 20% by 2025.
To facilitate this target, we have already introduced a new policy which hopes to attract another Rs 5,000 crore and create 10 lakh jobs. The government has set aside Rs 500 crore to implement the policy by way of disbursing sops, he added.

He said a single-window system will be put in place where filmmakers will get permission from tourism, forest and archeological departments for shooting at a place.

He released a special stamp brought out by Indian Post on prominent tourist spots of the state, and distributed aid of Rs 5,000 among guides.

Indian Institute of technology, Hyderabad (IIT-H) developed a hydrogel from discarded corneas that can be used as an alternative to Corneal transplantation.

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Research team was led by Dr Falguni Pati, an Associate Professor at Department of Bio-medical Engineering at IIT-H.

Hydrogel was developed from discarded corneas of human and bovine sources using novel and simple method.

The team discovered the most significant feature of this tissue-specific hydrogel in order to prevent cells from scar tissue formation.

Tissue formation is attributed to micro-Environment which cannot be offered by any synthetic or other natural material.

Hydrogel is capable of being injected because of its two phases viz., liquid and gel on the basis of incubation temperature.

Notwithstanding the plans of IT companies to call their workforce to office, the state government has decided to set up Work from Home Townships to facilitate tech workers working from remote locations.

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The government has decided to set up 25 townships on pilot basis and go for expansion after studying the situation. The government will provide space, work stations, high-speed Internet and other in the proposed townships. The decision has been taken at the work from Home town committee meeting chaired by Industries and IT minister Mekapati Gautham Reddy.

The government advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy asked the officials to kick-start the pilot project within three months. He directed the officials to take appropriate measures for providing security, 24×7 internet, privacy and other facilities in the proposed locations.

The revamped Goastart-uppolicy 2021 which was approved by the state cabinet has set a target to generate employment for at least 6,000 Goans. The vision of the policy is to make Goa one of the most preferred start-up destinations in India, and make it feature in the top 25 start-up destinations in Asia by 2025.

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To encourage Women to launch their own start-ups, the new policy provides special incentives to women entrepreneurs.

Tech bodies have been pushing the government to roll out the new policy ever since the existing policy lapsed in 2020.

TheGoa Startup Policy2017 lapsed in September 2020 and was given two six-month extensions as the government dragged its feet in rolling out the revamped policy. The Goa Startup Promotion Cell (SPC) began work on the new policy in the first half of 2020 by taking the learnings from the then prevailing startup policy and inputs from startups.

For the new startup policy a single round of discussions with local startups and startup ecosystem stakeholders was held, while inputs were also sought from the Centres department for promotion of and of industry and internal trade (DPIIT). Discussions between local stakeholders and the IT minister Jennifer Monserrate and chief minister Pramod Sawant, though scheduled often, were cancelled repeatedly.

The new policy aims at evangelising creation of at least 500 innovative, technology enabled products and building sustainable Services and solutions start-ups in Goa by providing requisite assistance and support in the next three years, targeting generation of EMPLOYMENT for at least 6,000 Goans.

The start-up policy also aims at developing technology and innovation hubs, centres of excellence, research and development labs and incubation centres in the next three years.
The revised policy also states that for start-ups hiring local talent, 50% salary of the freshers will be reimbursed subject to a cap of Rs 15,000 per month per recruit. Earlier, the limit was Rs 10,000.

In a first, cultivators of Alphonsomango(haapus) from Thane district have latched on to geo-taggingtheir crops to access the wider and more financially viableglobal marketand to help customers tell the authentic haapus apart from its lookalike.

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Several mango orchard owners from rural Thane recently approached the state Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture department to get the geographical indicator (GI) tag for Thane mangoes along the lines of theRatnagirihaapus, said officials from the agriculture department. The officials said that GI tagging will ensure quality assurance to customers and give them priority to export to Europe and the US, thus maximising profits for cultivators.

This is the first time Thane mango farmers have evinced interest in getting their product geo-tagged.Konkan Alphonsois in high demand due to its flavour and aroma and has secured GI tag for last few years. Thane district, also part of Konkan region, was left behind and so we thought of giving it a push as the produce here is exactly the same as in the coastal belt,

In all, 118 cultivators recently approached the district agriculture department. Once registered, all farm produce will carry a unique code that will give details of the fruit, said officials. The farmers said they were reeling under losses due to the pandemic and drop in sales due to influx of the mango variants from Karnataka and Gujarat.

The tourists in Haryana will soon be able to stay with a local family to experience the local culture and relish the State’s authentic cuisines. For, the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in the State has chalked out a Home Stay Scheme 2021, allowing the house owners to provide home stays to tourists.

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The scheme is aimed at giving an impetus to tourism in the state after the impact of Covid-19 on the tourism sector. The Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is scheduled to launch the Home Stay Scheme 2021 at Tikkar Taal, Panchkula on September 29.

The scheme lays down the eligibility criteria for home stays, incentives for them, registration procedure, inspection and Police verification, Marketing and promotion, responsibility of proprietor among other parameters.

Under the scheme, any house located within the limit of any type of municipal body is not eligible for registration and consequential subsidy under the scheme. Existing OYO or Airbnb, or B&B proprietors will also be not eligible.

The Department of Tourism will publish on its website the list of all approved home stay units. Brochures, leaflets, amongst other publicity materials will also be developed and disseminated at suitable public places in this regard.

As per the scheme, any proprietor can register a maximum four fully owned accommodation rooms in the scheme. All rooms must be in the same house and all registered rooms should be available for letting out. At least one of the proprietors/owner must be physically staying in the same house.

Punjab Government on Wednesday waived power bills of those having electricity connection of up to 2 kW a move expected to put an estimated additional burden of Rs 1,200 crore on the State exchequer.

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As many as 53 lakh households are expected to be covered under the decision, taken during a Cabinet meeting held on Wednesday. The state Cabinet also decided that disconnected electricity connections of consumers, who could not pay their bills, will also be restored.

Maintaining that the Government would bear the burden for the sake of the poor, the Chief Minister said that the waiver would mean a burden of Rs 1200 crore on the state exchequer, which could even be more as these are just the estimates.