03.06.23

Modi govt increased railways budget for NE, helped expedite projects: Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw

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Rail Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Monday said before 2014, the allocation for the railways for the northeast was Rs 2,000 crore but, under the Modi government, it has increased to Rs 10,200 crore, helping expedite projects in the region.

Connecting Guwahati in Assam with New Jalpaiguri in West Bengal, the train will help save about an hour of journey time, compared to the current fastest train connecting the two places. It will cover the journey in five-and-a-half hours while the current fastest train takes about six-and-a-half hours to cover the distance, the PMO said in a statement on Sunday.


Assam to retest traces of chemicals in fish procured from outside state

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After preliminary tests conducted by four major institutes revealed heavy traces of formaldehyde in fish bought from outside the state, the department said a detailedtestregarding the presence of harmful chemicals in fish sold across the state is the need of the hour .

The samples for the tests were collected from only a few districts, including Nagaon and Kamrup (M). The department will takelegalaction against sellers found selling or storing such fish. The guilty will face up to five years in prison, as per report.

Govt to provide funds to DRSCs for road safety measures

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The Odisha Government has decided to provide funds to the District Road Safety Committees (DRSCs) to undertake various road safety activities in view of the significant rise in road accidents across the State.

Departmental Principal Secretary Usha Padhee has written a letter in this regard to all Collectors and SPs/ DCPs.

As reported by the CID & Crime Branch, during the year 2022 in Odisha, 5,467 persons were killed in road accidents at a Growth of 7.6% compared to 2021. The situation has further worsened during the months of January and February 2023. There is growth in fatalities by 24.91% compared to the months of January and February of the year 2022. It is observed that there is growth in fatalities by more than 50% in the districts like Deogarh, Gajapati, Jagatsinghpur, Jajpur, Jharsuguda, Kendrapada, Khordha, Malkangiri and Nuapada, the official said in the letter.

All the district authorities are being impressed upon from time to time to initiate Education, engineering, enforcement and emergency care measures for reduction of road accidents and fatalities in the districts. Also, all districts have been requested to hold a meeting of the District Road Safety Committee (DRSC) once every month to review the road safety scenario, said Padhee.

500 clinics in Tamil Nadu to offer free health services to needy

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Chief ministerM K Stalininaugurated 500 urban public Health centres that will offer free healthcare Services, including Vaccines for pregnant Women and children, tests for diseases such as tuberculosis, hypertension and diabetes, and medicines for ailments to urban poor.

The 500 urban primary healthcare centres 140 under the Greater Chennai Corporation, 50 for Coimbatore, 46 for and 25 each for Salem, Trichy, and Tiruppur in addition to 189 UPHCs in municipalities were inaugurated from the new centre on Vijayaraghava Road in T Nagar. Inspired by the Aam Aadmi Mohalla clinics in 2022,Stalinmade the announcement in the assembly that the state would also have 708 urban primary health centres to cater to the needs of the people living in the cities. Three decades ago, when young doctors graduated, they would set up small clinics near their houses, benefitting people in their neighbourhood. However, such clinics have vanished, said health minister Ma Subramanian. Now these urban centres will work for the urban poor, just like how primary health centres have worked for the people in rural areas, he added.

Each of these clinics, built at a cost of 25 lakh, will have a doctor, nurse, health inspector and an assistant recruited through the district health societies.

These UPHCs will offer telemedicine facilities for e-consultations and utilise the e-sanjeevani app to refer patients visiting these clinics to higher levels of care, such as peripheral hospitals, district headquarters, or government medical college hospitals

Drone mapping to assess quantity of waste

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TheKeralasolid Waste Management project (KSWMP) has identified four waste dumping sites inErnakulamto conduct drone mapping to assess the quantity of waste piled up at the sites and prepare a project to clear it scientifically.

Mapping will be done at the dump sites at Kothamangalam, Kalamassery,North Paravurand Muvattupuzha. Identifying the quantity of waste will help formulate projects for clearing the waste and reclaim land by the local bodies. Regarding Brahmapuram, the has taken up the matter. The drone mapping is conducted at dump sites with more than 10,000 square metres of garbage piles, said a KSWMP official.

In Kalamassery, the dump site is functioning in the heart of Kalamassery town itself. The waste is piled up on 0.75 acres there.

The dump site at Kothamangalam Municipality is functioning at Kumbalathumuri area on 2.60 acres. While the dump site at Muvattupuzha municipality is functioning on 5.47 acres atKurianmala, the one at North Paravur is spread across 2.40 acres at Vedimara.

Hrudaya Vaishalya to monitor rural heart health

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Probably for the first time in the state, doctors from the Cardiologists at Doorsteps (CAD) will be visiting primary and community Health centres of Dakshina Kannada district to provide cardiac care to patients under the soon to be launched cardiac care programme (pilot project) Hrudaya Vaishalya.

The programme will be launched jointly by theDKzilla panchayat, department of health and family welfare and CAD at the Moodbidri Community Health Centre on Wednesday. CAD was set up with the mission of providing health care by supplying ECG machines and other ancillary machines to PHCs at remote places.

Haritha Haram helps state top green-cover list

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On the eve of theWorld Environment Day, HarithaHaram programme received laurels, as a report published by Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), gaveTelanganathe highest score of 7.21 on a 10-point scale for improving forest cover.

It stood on top among 29 states, while Gujarat was second with 6.5 score.
The report titled State of Indias Environment 2023 for this particular category of environment and green cover used criteria like change in forest cover from 2019 to 2021, share of municipal solid waste, total sewage treated etc.

, which leads the ranking, has made good progress in the indicator change in forest cover and remains among the top states for municipal waste treatment, the report said.

5th century Mahishasura Mardhini plaque found

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Archaeologists found aMahishasura Mardhiniplaque, said to be dating back to 5th century CE, in Deerghasi village in Srikakulam district on Tuesday. The sculpture was designed in such a way that the Goddess was seen holding the tail of the buffalo demon, piercing a spear into its body, and holding shield and sword with the other two. According to the archaeologists, it is interesting to notice the demon in animal form.

Archaeologist andPleach India FoundationCEO Dr ESivanagireddysaid he was on a visit to a 1075 AD inscription and loose sculptures lying uncared near the temple on Tuesday. While I was going round the temple, I noticed the plaque towards the north side as a chance find, he said

University to implement NEP from 23-24 session

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After a delay, Nagpur University decided to implementthe NationalEducation Policy (NEP)-2020 from the academic session commencing from June 16. The important decision was taken during a meeting of NUs Academic Council.

A statement issued byNU PRO departmentsaid the directives in this regard came fromMaharashtragovernment on April 20 to implement NEP across all traditional universities from the forthcoming academic year.

The statement mentioned that all Board of Studies (BOS) had made efforts on a war scale to prepare the new curriculum as per NEP

Punjab to forge strategic partnership with Israel for better water management

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Punjab Government will forge a strategic PARTNERSHIP with Israel for developing a better water management system in the State. Punjab Government will work on making effective use of Israeli technology and indigenous innovations to develop a cost-effective and sustainable water supply and sewerage in the State, said the state Water supply and sanitation Minister Bram Shanker Jimpa on Wednesday.

Jimpa, while speaking at the Roundtable with Dr Lior Asaf, Water Attache, Embassy of Israel; Neeraj Gahlwat, Senior Resources“>Water Resources Specialists, International Development Cooperation (MASHAV), Embassy of Israel; and Dr Amit Dhir, Professor, Thapar University, appreciated the role played by Israel in supporting India in addressing water and wastewater challenges.

Punjab Government has been very concerned with the depleting groundwater levels in the state and efforts are being made to improve the water quality of chappars (ponds) in rural areas, he said.

Accentuating rainwater harvesting as one of the important aspects of groundwater recharge, the Minister said that the Punjab Government has made it mandatory for all buildings in the State.