02.12.22

Punjab sees 30% dip in farm fires; encouraging trend, says expert

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With the farm fire season coming to an official end for this year, the state reported 49,922 incidents of stubble-burning. The number is a lot less than the tally of two years. On the last day of the season, the state reported 15 cases of farm fire.

The state records stubble-burning data from September 15 to November 30 every year after the harvesting of paddy.

As compared to 76,755 farm fires in 2020 and 71,286 incidents in 2021, the state reported a sharp decline with only 49,922 farm fires this year.

With continuous efforts of all stakeholders, the area on which paddy stubble is burnt is expected to decline with a significant quantum in coming years. The trend of farm fires is declining. A comparison of data of the past three years shows that farm fires are on the decline in the state.

Cybercrime police stations proposed in10 districts of Himachal Pradesh

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Considering the exponential increase in online scams, the Himachal Pradesh Police have sought the setting up of cybercrime police stations in all districts, barring Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti.

The Hp Police have submitted a proposal to the for setting up cybercrime police stations in 10 districts. At present, there are three cybercrime police stations in Shimla, Mandi and Dharamsala. These police stations have succeeded in getting Rs 75.36 lakh refunded to the victims and put on hold a transaction of Rs 1.53 crore in cybercrime cases this year.

Govt floats bill for 30% domicile-based job reservation to Uttarakhand women

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In a surprise move, theUttarakhandgovernment tabled the Uttarakhand Public Services (Horizontal Reservation for Women) Bill, 2022 in the state assembly to provide 30% domicile-based reservation to women in government jobs.

The bill states, “In direct recruitment in public services and posts, in the vacancies to be recruited, 20% horizontal reservation shall be given till July 24, 2006 and 30 % after that in favour of concerned women candidates permanently domiciled in Uttarakhand.”

The Uttarakhand on August 24 stayed the 2006 State Government order that allowed 30% horizontal reservation to women in Uttarakhand Public Service Commission. Following this, the Dhami government approached The Supreme Court, which stayed the high court order.

The women of the state have not been able to achieve the expected social, economic and political status and their representation in the public service of the state is very less. Therefore in order to ensure social Justice, Equality of opportunity, improvement in living standards, Gender Equality in public planning etc., a bill is proposed to provide 30 percent horizontal reservation to the women of state of Uttarakhand in State Services.”

Yogi Adityanath to be first Uttar Pradesh CM to attend Davos World Economic Forum

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Chief MinisterYogi Adityanathwould be travelling to Davos city in Switzerland in January to attend theWorld Economic Forum(WEF). Yogi would be the first CM of UP to be attending the WEF meeting.

To be held between January 16 and 20, the WEF meeting will bring leaders from government, business and civil Society together to address the state of the world and discuss priorities for the year ahead.

UP is eying to attract of over Rs 10 lakh crore in the state through the global investors summit scheduled to take place between February 10 and 12.

Jharkhand demands extension in GST compensation period

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The Government of Jharkhand has demanded extension in Goods and Services Tax (GST) compensation period by five years and at the same time to clear the States outstanding dues of Rs 1.36 lakh crore with the Central Governments coal companies mainly subsidiaries of Coal India Limited (CIL) largely against non-payment of land compensation.

Speaking at the conference of states Finance Ministers chaired by Union Finance Minister, Nirmala Sitharaman in New Delhi, State Finance Minister, Dr Rameshwar Oraon said that the mining companies must ensure that they resort to proper mining closure in order to curb environmental pollution besides checking illegal mining because it is proving fatal for the people living around the mining areas. It is estimated that the State is likely to bear revenue loss of aroundRs 4,500 crore as the State has not been able to earn revenue as per the protected revenue and due to end of the compensation period since July this year. I demand that the compensation period be extended by another five years, he added.

The Minister also requested the Centre Government to provide an airport at Sahibganj where a multi-modal inland riverine port is being developed, besides reducing the contribution of the from 50:50 to 50:20 in construction of rail over bridges as the cost of the land is pay by the State Government. He said that in order to provide some relief to the farmers of the State, the Jharkhand Government also requested the Centre Government to process the request of the State Government to declare 226 Administrative Blocks as drought prone.

5 Bihar towns most polluted in country, Begusarai tops chart

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The deteriorating air quality in Bihar has become a cause for concern as the state is struggling in its efforts to improve the toxic air.

Begusarai, Siwan, Bettiah, Buxar and Motihari were the most polluted towns in the country on Monday with “severe” AQI of 457, 439, 434, 418 and 402, respectively, according to the daily bulletin released by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB).

Patna’s AQI has also reached the lower end of the “very poor” category at 364 on Monday. On Sunday, the pollution level in Patna was recorded at 351. The AQI of all the monitoring stations in different areas of the city was recorded in “very poor” zone, which can cause respiratory illnesses to the people on prolonged exposure. BIT-Mesra witnessed the maximum AQI of 394, closely followed by 378 at SK Memorial Hall, Planetarium (372), Eco Park (360), Patna City (351) and DRM office-Khagaul (332).

Private sector fish research center comes up in Cgarh

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The Aqua Genetic Centre is a joint venture of M Hatchery of Raipur and Manit Group of Thailand.

Spread over 100 acres, the centre is engaged in research on genetics of fish as well as production of tilapia fish seed. The farmers will be trained in the latest techniques of fish farming.

She inspected the fish farming done by cage culture method in closed mines by the Kherwari womenself-help group. Twelve cages have been prepared by the group for fish farming.

Chief Minister to distribute the benefits of Tantya Mama Economic Welfare Scheme

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Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that various government schemes like providing Scholarship, assistance in studies and career counselling are being implemented for the youths to move ahead in life.

Many youths have changed their lives by taking advantage of these schemes. These youths should share their experiences with the students in government programmes.

This will provide inspiration and guidance to the students of the state. Conducting public welfare schemes on the martyrdom day of Jannayak Krantisurya Tantya Mama and providing help to people living in difficult circumstances to change their lives would be a true tribute to him.

It was informed that programmes have been organised at Patalpani, Bhawarkua and Nehru Stadium in Indore on the occasion of the martyrdom day of Jannayak Tantya Mama. Chief Minister Chouhan will offer prayers at the Tantya Mama temple located at Patalpani and garland the statue there and address the gathering after planting trees. CM Chouhan will also address the meeting after unveiling the Tantya Mama statue at Bhawarkua.

Chief Minister Chouhan will also interact with the beneficiaries of Tantya Mama Economic Welfare Scheme after distributing benefits to them in the programme to be held at Nehru Stadium. Beneficiaries of Dhar, Khargone, Barwani, Jhabua, Alirajpur, Khandwa, Burhanpur, Dewas and Ratlam, along with Indore, will participate in the programme.

India has emerged as a net security provider in Indo-Pacific: Defence Minister

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India has emerged as a regional power and net security provider in the Indo-Pacific as its capacity to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to its citizens as well as regional partners has grown in recent years. This was stated by Raksha Mantri Shri Rajnath Singh at the multi-agency Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise Samanvay 2022 in Agra.

The Raksha Mantri highlighted that prediction of natural disasters has to be accompanied by dissemination of information to a larger Population and shifting people to safer locations, which requires an empowered machinery. As nations have different capacities, collaborative preparation to deal with disasters is required, he stressed. Shri Rajnath Singh called upon the nations to come together in dealing with natural disasters by sharing Resources, equipment and training. In HADR, there is a need to share information for regional cooperation and best practices

ITI Aayog releases study report on Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) Policy Framework and its Deployment Mechanism in India

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CCUS is key to ensuring and Growth in India, particularly for the production of clean products and energy, leading to an Atmanirbhar Bharat

A study report, titled Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage Policy Framework and its Deployment Mechanism in India, was released today. The report explores the importance of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage as an emission reduction strategy to achieve deep decarbonization from the hard-to-abate sectors. The report outlines broad level policy interventions needed across various sectors for its application.

As, India has updated its NDC targets for achieving 50% of its total installed capacity from non-fossil-based energy sources, 45% reduction in emission intensity by 2030 and taking steps towards achieving Net Zero by 2070, the role of Carbon Capture, Utilisation, and Storage (CCUS) becomes important as reduction strategy to achieve decarbonization from the hard-to abate sectors.

The report indicates that CCUS can provide a wide variety of opportunities to convert the captured CO2 to different value-added products like green urea, food and beverage form application, building materials (concrete and aggregates), chemicals (methanol and ethanol), polymers (including bio-plastics) and enhanced oil recovery (EOR) with wide market opportunities in India, thus contributing substantially to a circular economy.