A 3-member delegation ofPress Council of India(PCI) visitingTripurahas advised the state government to appoint a nodal officer to deal with media-related issues.
According to reports, all the media organisations here have expressed serious concern and sought action from PCI over the growing attack on journalists and media outlets. As many as 22 journalists in Tripura have been assaulted in the last six months.
TheAssamhealth and family welfare department notified Covid-19guidelinesfor the comingBohag Bihucelebrations andother festivalsin the state.
The event organizers will have to take permission from the district administration of the concerned district for organizing any event resulting in public gathering mentioning the number of people likely to gather at the proposed event and the maximum capacity of the place/site where the event is proposed to be held.
Odisha chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced that the annual grant of the Western Odisha Development Council (WODC) will be doubled. He said this while reviewing the programmes of the council through videoconferencing.
Naveen also announced that offices of the council will be opened at 10 districts and at Athamallik sub division in Angul district. He also directed the officials to create more job opportunities for the youths of the western Odisha.
Annual grant of the council was Rs 3 crore in the year 1999-2000, but now it has increased to Rs 100 crore per annum. After this announcement, the council will get Rs 200 crore for the financial year 2021-22.
Polling in 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu went off peacefully barring minor scuffles among cadres and glitches in electronic voting machines in some parts of the state. The state recorded 71.79% voter turnout at the end of 12-hour polling amid the Covid pandemic. The voter turnout was 74.24% in the 2016 assembly election.
Kallakurichi district topped the list with a voter turnout of 78%, followed by Namakkal (77.91%) and Ariyalur (77.88%). Chennai trailed with 59.4% turnout.
Theerraticbehaviour of twomonsoonsin 2020 has affected thegroundwater levelsin the state. According to a report by the state groundwater department, 80% of themonitoring wellsshowed afalling trendin November 2020 compared to the previous year.
The report points out that 81 % of observation dug wells, 84 % of bore wells and 72% of tube wells recorded a falling trend compared to the previous year which had recorded a slight rise in levels.
The report is based on the monthly recordings of selected wells in the state. The main recordings were conducted during the pre-monsoon period in April and the post-monsoon period in November.
While on paper, the state did not record high monsoon deficiency, it did not see the trend of heavy rains in June and July. Moreover, the rains tapered off off in August and September.
The state government has decided to cap thermal power production and not invest insuch plantshenceforth.
As per Government of India’s energy policy, power generation has been divided into three categories – base-load power, round-the-clock power and peak-load power. In Karnataka, It is expected that thermal power plants to continue providing base-load power until there are some kind of energy storage devices, which may be developed and utilised,
TheTelangana governmentwill set up 6,575 procurement centres in the state during Yasangi to procure 90 lakh metric tonnes of paddy.
In all, the civil supplies corporation procured 3.93 crore metric tonnes of paddy worth Rs 68,000 crore at minimum support price between 2014-15 and 2020-21 Vaanakalam.
The corporation chairman sought to advise farmers to cultivate crops that had demand in the market.
TheFood Corporation of India(FCI) may not purchase boiled rice in future and in Yasangi too, as it is not evincing interest to purchase boiled rice.
From Telangana, boiled rice used to be transported toWest Bengal, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha.
TheSimhadri unitofNational Thermal Power Corporationof India Limited (NTPC) launched the 25MW of floating solar power project at its unit premises in Visakhapatnam.
The project is being developed in its own resorvoir spread over 150 acres.
The first 5MW block was completed and inaugurated byDiwakar Kaushik, head of the unit.
It is expected to complete the balance works by June 2021 and full 25MW will be made available to the grid, Kaushik added.
Power flow of more than 2MW was witnessed with present solar irrdiance, he said.
This is going to be the single largest floating solar PV project ofAndhra Pradeshonce commissioned, he added.
Two numbers of solar inverters, each having a capacity of 2.5MW, were switched on through Control Monitoring and Control Station.
After a prolonged delay, finally, the state government has appointed retired Bombay high courtjusticeAmbadasJoshias new Goa Lokayukta.
The high court had directed the state to appoint a new anti-corruption ombudsman by December 2020. Advocate Aires Rodrigues had approached the court seeking a direction to the government to appoint a Lokayukta.
The term of the previous Lokayukta PK Misra ended on September17, 2020. Misra also held the position of chairman of GHRC before being appointed as the Lokayukta.
The amendments have omitted provisions enabling complaints against public functionaries on allegations of nepotism, lack of integrity, mal-administration and improper or corrupt motive.
Maharashtrahas the legislative competence for granting reservation quota to Marathas and its decision is constitutional as the 102nd amendment does not denude a state of the power to declare its list of Socially and Educationally Backward Classes (SEBC), the Centre told the Supreme Court.
The 102nd Constitution amendment Act of 2018 inserted Articles 338B, which deals with the structure, duties and powers of the National Commission for Backward Class (NCBC), and 342A dealing with power of the President to notify a particular caste as SEBC as also of Parliament to change the list.
The High Court, while upholding the law in June 2019, had held that 16 per cent reservation was not justifiable and the quota should not exceed 12 per cent in employment and 13 per cent in admissions.