03.05.23

At 168 LMT, Punjab exceeds last years wheat production

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Punjab has recorded a wheat production of around 168 lakh metric tonnes this year, which is 13.5 per cent higher than the previous years wheat yield of the state.

Last year, the total yield was around 148 lakh metric tonnes in Punjab. The Union Government had relaxed quality norms for wheat procurement following the request of the Punjab Government after inclement weather had hit the standing crops.

According to the Union Government, they had already procured over 121 lakh metric tonnes of wheat which is higher than the previous years figure of 96.48 Lakh metric tonnes.

In fact, Punjabs per acre wheat yield as per the state Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture department rose from 42 quintal per acre last year to 47.25 quintal per acre this year. Chief Minister Bhagwant Manns Home district Sangrur has had highest per acre yield with 53-55 quintal.

The Himachal Cabinet in its meeting held here under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu decided to constitute a Cabinet Sub Committee comprising Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri as Chairman and Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar and Rural Development & Panchayati Raj Minister Anirudh Singh as Members to formulate a White Paper on the financial position of the State.

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It also decided to provide Rs. 1500 per month as Indira Gandhi Mahila Samman Nidhi to all the eligible Women of Spiti Valley including Chhomos/nuns from the age of 18 years and above.

The cabinet also gave its nod to introduce e-stamping in the State for the collection of stamp duty to promote . It decided to stop printing physical stamp papers with immediate effect and to authorize Stamp Vendors as Authorized Collection Centres. It also gave its nod to continue with a dual system of stamps, i.e. physical stamp paper and e-stamp paper from 1st April, 2023 to 31st March, 2024 and after 1st April, 2024 physical stamp paper will be discontinued completely.

In another decision, the Cabinet decided to give Rs. 600 in lieu of school uniforms through DBT to all eligible students.It also decided to increase the honorarium of Nambardars in the Revenue Department from Rs. 3200 to Rs. 3700 per month as per the budget announcement, which will benefit about 3177 Nambardars in the State.

CAMPA funds must be used for forest: CS

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Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management (CAMPA) must be used for forest and research oriented works, said chief secretarySS Sandhuat the 7th steering committee meeting of CAMPA held on Monday. Sindhu stressed on finding ways to tackle forest fires and human-wildlife conflict, both major challenges in Uttarakhand.

The meeting was attended by head of forest forceAnup Malik. “Authorities must hold research works on mitigating losses to crops by raids by wild animals like bores, monkeys and jumbos,” the chief secretary said. The Wildlife Institute of India (WII) has been tasked with the study to find ways to mitigate human wildlife conflict.

UP ethanol production hits billion litre mark

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The ethanol production in the current sugarcane crushing season (2022-23) has hit the billion litre (bl) mark and is counting. At present the sugarcane area and sugarcane output is estimated at 2.85 million hectares and 235 mt respectively.

Rising ethanol production is helping the sugar mills in making faster payments to farmers, said Additional Chief Secretary (sugarcane and excise) Sanjay Bhoosreddy.

The mills have settled nearly 75 per cent of their cane arrears in the current season, he added.

Uttar Pradesh is the countrys biggest ethanol producer. A sugar by-product, ethanol is used for a variety of purposes ranging from mixing in fossil fuel to pharmaceutical and chemical industries. The state has about 85 operational ethanol distilleries, while the annual capacity is estimated at 2.45 bl.

Sources say the UP distilleries have already received ethanol orders to the tune of 1.58 bl, thereby implying that the seasonal production would match the same and go further up based on prospective orders.

Ethanol produced in the state is exported to oil Marketing company depots, both within and outside the state, for the Centre mandated 10 per cent blending in fuel. UP sugar production has crossed the one crore MT mark and is expected to exceed 1.10 crore MT by the time the states crushing operations conclude by the end of this month.

At present, about 49 of the total 120 sugar mills in UP are crushing sugarcane, while the remaining have closed for the season. Of the total 120 mills, the private sector leads the tally with 93 Plants, followed by the cooperative sector with 24 units and UP State Sugar Corporation with three units.

UP has 75 distilleries with a production capacity of 2.49 crore litres per annum. UP is the largest producer of ethanol in the country. Establishment of 17 new distillery units is underway and new units are expected to be commissioned by the end of 2024.

Enrollment begins in 80 schools of excellence for new session

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Enrollment process has started in the 80 schools of excellence inaugurated by Chief Minister Hemant Soren. Children will be able to enroll in class I, VI and IX. The date for submission of application for this is fixed from May 2 to May 15. The date of test for enrollment is fixed on May 19. While the first merit list will be published on May 22. The date for taking enrollment of the children included in the merit list has been made from 23 May to 08 June 2023.

Enrollment can be done in class 9 in excellent schools running from class 9 to 12 and in class 6 in schools running from class 6 to 12. The application form will be free of cost. Children taking enrollment in the above class will be given Education in NCERT syllabus through CBSE medium.

Four categories of schools have been included in 80 schools of excellence. On the lines of district school, there are 25 centres of excellence, one girls secondary plus two school at district headquarters, 24, one KGBV at district headquarters, 24 and one model school of division, 7. The current level of operation of these 80 excellence schools is different. Under this, the number of schools from class 1 to 12 is 04, the number of schools from class 09 to 12 is 27, the number of schools from class 06 to 12 is 48, and the number of schools from class 01 to 08 is 01.

Patna airport drops four places in service rankings

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Despite registering a steep Growth in passenger traffic, the Jayaprakash Narayan International Airport in Patna dropped four places, from 70th to 74th position, in the first quarter (January-March) of Airport Service Quality (ASQ) survey for 2023, compared to the fourth quarter (October-December) last year.

As per the latest rankings released by the Council International (ACI), the overall scoring ofPatna airportstood at 4.67 points, compared to 4.68 points earlier.

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) officials said out of the 15 airports surveyed between January and March this year, Patna airport ranked 13th on 33 parameters to assess the satisfaction level of passengers.

The parameters on which the airport gained were value for Money of the selected mode of transport (4.56 points), courtesy and helpfulness of staff in the check-in area (4.64), courtesy and helpfulness of security screening staff (4.63), shops (4.44), Wi-Fi service quality (3.92), availability of charging stations (4.12) and Health safety (4.58).

Results of National Lok Adalat in Chhattisgarh better than expectations of results in UP: High court chief justice

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Chhattisgarhhigh court chiefjustice Ramesh Sinhacommended the joint efforts of everyone involved in the success of the in Chhattisgarh and said that the results in the state were better than the expectations of the results in Uttar Pradesh. Sinha was Senior Judge inAllahabad High Courtbefore his appointment as chief Justice of Chhattisgarh High Court in March this year.

The chief justice further emphasized that the success of Lok Adalats is everyone’s contribution, and everyone’s contribution is essential to achieve this goal so that good results can be achieved.
He highlighted the importance of this event for the resolution of disputes through the legal system and urged everyone to participate actively in the National Lok Adalat to achieve the same level of success as seen in Chhattisgarh.

When small disputes are resolved through local courts, the burden on higher courts is reduced, and they can focus more easily on serious cases, the Chief Justice said.

Govt hackathon to make gaushalas self-reliant

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In a bid to enable gaushalas to become prosperous by earning from waste like cow dung and cow urine,Madhya Pradesh Pollution Control Boardis conducting a hackathon named Self-reliantGau-Shala-WasteTo Wealth.

In this hackathon, online suggestions are being taken from students, people and organisations associated with cow-rearing and management regarding maximum income from cow-waste. Rs one lakh will be given as first prize and second prize of Rs 50,000 rupees will be given on best suggestions.

The State Government is also mulling a scheme to purchase cow dung from farmers. The plan is to make PROM fertilizer with cow dung. A state government team visitedChhattisgarhearlier this year to study the model of buying cow dung in the bordering state. The MP model would be slightly different.

Gujarat gets seven awards for PM Awas performance

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Gujaratis leading India in the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. According to a press statement by the , more than 11.56 lakh houses have been constructed in the state. This includes 7.50 lakh houses under thePM AwasYojana (Urban) and more than 4.06 lakh houses under PM Awas Yojana (Rural).

The state got Awards for being the Best Performing State for Implementation of CLSS, the Best Performing State for Implementation of ARHC under model-1, the Best AHP Project under PPP model, the Best State for Convergence with Other Missions, State with Maximum Technical Visits at LHP Sites, the Best Performing SLTC under PMAY (U), and the Best Performing Municipal Council (Una Municipality).
Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Urban), a target of 7.64 lakh houses was earmarked for Gujarat. A total of 9.54 lakh houses have been sanctioned till date.

Under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural), more than 4,06,000 houses with Infrastructure have been constructed, till date. A total of Rs 4,877.72 crore has been spent for the same. A target for construction of 1,84,605 houses has been set under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (Rural) for 2022-23. An assistance of Rs 2,215.26 crore will be disbursed to the beneficiaries for the same.

The state also leads in the Credit Link Subsidy Component (Urban). More than 5.20 lakh got benefits from the scheme.

Baran tops, Jaipur ranks 6th in implementing free medicine scheme

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Baran secured the first rank in implementing free medicine schemes in the state, followed by Sriganganagar at number two and Bikaner at number three. Jaipur was positioned at 6th rank in implementing the scheme.
In the state ranking issued for implementation of thefree medicine scheme, tribal dominated districts, western districts in desert areas and underdeveloped districts such as Dholpur, Karauli are lagging in free medicine scheme.

The ranking was adjudged on the basis of parameters including stock availability of drugs, stock not available at hospitals, stock is less than three-month consumption, drug distribution counters not working, Average delay in drug district counter opening and drugs not available at drug distribution counters. The Health department has issued directions to districts to ensure that the scheme is properly implemented, and availability of the drugs should be ensured.