01.12.21

Arunachal Pradesh: Indias 1st Certified Organic Fruit Kiwi Launched

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On November 28, 2021, Indias only certified organic kiwi from Ziro Valley Farms of Arunachal Pradesh was launched at a mega National Tribal Festival called Aadi Mahotsav. This festival is being held in Dilli Hat, INA in New Delhi.

The launch ceremony was held in association with support from Arunachal Pradesh Government and National Agricultural https://exam.pscnotes.com/cooperative-Marketing“>Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd (NAFED).

This initiative was undertaken as part of the vision with the aim of transforming India into a self-reliant nation under Atma Nirbharta campaign.

Arunachal Pradesh is the 1st Indian state, that obtained organic certification of kiwifruit under the Mission Organic Value Chain Development for North East Region (MOVCD-NER), which is a Central Government scheme launched for North-eastern states.

Assam CM launches construction work for bridge to Majuli

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Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Monday ceremonially launched the construction work of a 8.25-km-long bridge over the Brahmaputra that will connect Jorhat withMajuli.
The CM’s office informed that the ministry of road transport and highways has sanctioned Rs 925.47 crore for the construction of this bridge project, which will be executed by UP State Bridge Construction Corporation Limited, Lucknow. The targeted period for completion of the project is 48 months.

The CM added that the has already constituted a cabinet committee to regularly monitor progress of the project and that the government aims to inaugurate this bridge by November, 2025. Around Rs 200 crore would be spent by the state government from its side for this bridge, he said.
Sarma also announced that the government of Assam would take up construction of a new bridge connecting Majuli-Lakhimpur at Dhunaguri from its own Resources amounting to Rs. 750 crores.

Odisha government completes phase one of 5T school transformation program, 3,300 more to be transformed by March 2022

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With the inauguration of 239 transformed schools on Monday, theOdishagovernment has completed the first phase of its “5T school transformation program”. The aspires to transform as many as 3,300 more schools to reach its target of transforming 4,375 schools by BijuPatnaik’s birth anniversary in March 2022.

After inaugurating the last set of transformed schools in Koraput, Gajapati,Dhenkanal,Anugul, Bargarh and Jajpur districts at last day of the first phase, chief ministerNaveen Patnaiksaid, “It is the common responsibility of all of us to help the children realize their dreams and it is dreams that chart the way forward in student life.”

CRY lauds Tamil Nadu new child policy

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Child Rights and You (CRY) has welcomed the state child policy released by theTamil Nadugovernment.

Calling TN one of the few states in the country to have an individual child policy, a press note from CRY said the policy recognises the fact that children should not be subjected to any discrimination, based on their place of birth, sex, religion, caste, class, language, disability, and social and economic status.

CRY made recommendations to the policy, such as inclusion of early Education for three to five-year-old children; a renewed perspective on education considering the geographical Variance; data on teenage pregnancy and child marriage; and convergence of Health, social welfare, social DEFENCE, AD, BC and tribal welfare, SDAT andICDSdepartments – among a few.

Kerala’s Kottayam only district in India with no poor residents: Niti Ayog index

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Kottayamhas become the only district in the country without anypoor residentsas per the latestMultidimensional POVERTY Index(MPI) released by theNiti Ayog. The headquarters of the district Kottayam was the first town in the country to be declared as 100% literate town way back in 1989.

The MPI has three equally weighted dimensions-Health, Education and standard of living. The three indicators under health are Nutrition, child and adolescent mortality, and antenatal care. The indicators under education are schooling years and school attendance. Under the standard of living comes indicators – cooking fuel, sanitation, drinking water, electricity, housing, assets and bank account.

The MPI measure is based on the reference period of 2015-16 of the National Family Health Survey (NFHS).

The government medical college hospital in the district had recently received the national award for the hospital that provided the highest number of free treatments and is one of the best hospitals in the government sector. During the pandemic, the hospital also started an Oxygen parlour. The district has 912 schools in the government, aided and unaided sectors. Around 1,58,712 students are there from Class 1-10. There are also 135 higher secondary schools in the district.

Karnataka: Chitradurga to get 210ft Basavanna statue

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A 210-foot-tall bronze statue of 12th -century socialreformer Basavannais set to come up on a 16-acre land at Sri Jagadguru Murugharajendra Brihanmutt inChitradurga, about 200km from Bengaluru.

A team of artists from West Bengal are working on the project under the guidance ofTejendra Singh Baoni G, principal ofKarnataka Chitrakala Parishat, Bengaluru. The project, along with a theme park that captures the essence of India, is expected to be ready by 2024.
As per the plan, the statue will be installed on a platform built above an eight-storey building at a height of 170ft from the ground. According to BM Jagadish, the projects senior engineer, the basement of the ground floor is designed in the shape of a star (called Shatsthala) and its size gradually decreases towards the top.

Andhra Pradesh, Telangana yet to deposit Rs 200 crore seed money with river boards

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Union Jal Shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Monday informed the Rajya Sabha that the Centre is yet to enforce the gazette notification on Krishna and Godavari river management boards due to the non-cooperation from both AP andTelangana.

As per the schedule mentioned in the gazette notification, both KRMB and GRMB should have taken over all projects on Krishna and Godavari from October 14. The Centre had issued the draft notification on July 15, giving a time of 90 days to both the state governments to hand over the installations, including power stations, to the respective boards.

Facial recognition to aid pension disbursal

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In a move to avoid trouble in gettingbiometricauthentication from the elderly during the disbursement of pensions, the has decided to use a mobile application forfacial recognition.

The government had directed district collectors to complete the disbursement of pensions in three days.

Panchayat raj minister Peddireddy Ramachandra Reddy reviewed the issue of disbursement of pensions with senior officials on Tuesday. He asked the officials to monitor the disbursement to ensure that all beneficiaries receive pensions without any delay.

The decision is expected to benefit the elderly and the physically challenged who face difficulties in getting their identities authenticated through biometric devices.

Goas GST collection for Nov up by 63%

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The grossGSTrevenue collected in Goa for the month of November shot up by 63% as against a month earlier. The tax mop-up also surpassed November 2020s GST collections by 73%, largely driven by festive purchases and revenge tourism.

The mop up includes CGST, SGST and IGST with Goa getting only the SGST component.
The Growth in the states gross GST earnings beat the national figures where GST revenues were 25% higher than the GST revenues in the same month last year and 27% over 2019-20.

In October, GST collections stood at Rs 317 crore and also above the pre-pandemic levels.
The recent trend of high GST revenues has been a result of various policy and administrative measures that have been taken in the past to improve compliance.

Kirloskar Vasundhara film festival to be held virtually

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The 2021 edition of the environmental film festival Kirloskar Vasundhara International Film Festival(KVIFF) will be held virtually from December 14 to 17.

The theme will be nature and Nutrition and the festival will have festival honours. While the festival will be held online, a limited number of events will be held for the press offline with limited attendance. For the broader festival theme, the organizers have decided on examining food systems and its link on Environmental Degradation and measures to mitigate them.

The organizers of the festival will present theVasundhara Sanmanfor this years festival to the Israeli ornithologist Reuven Yosef, who immigrated to Israel in 1974. Yosef has worked on a variety of bird conservation projects in Israel, as well as in India.