03.11.21

Silchar to host Northeast Green Summit from Nov 16

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and conservation strategies for the Northeast and its contiguous Biodiversity zones, a round table of forest ministers of the region, besides green art and green music events are on the agenda of the three-day Northeast Green Summit beginning here from November 16. The focus area of the sixth edition of the summit is ‘Greening after Covid: Regional Cooperation, Innovation & Entrepreneurship‘. Union Minister of State for Environment Ashwini Chaubey is expected to attend the summit, where delegates from Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar will also brainstorm on various issues.

Several stalls showcasing sustainable products from across the northeastern region will be part of the summit, which is organised by Vibgyor NE Foundation and supported by United Nations Environment (UNEP). As a run-up to the event, a green cyclothon is being organised on November 8 to create awareness among the public about the rapidly-depleting Resources. The rally also aims to promote the heritage points of southern Assam, also known as Barak Valley, and eco-tourism and create awareness on sustainable development.

Dholpur eviction ploy to encroach minority land

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An anti-displacement team of scholars from JNU andDelhi University, which visitedDholpurin Darrang district where a massive eviction drive in September had left hundreds of people homeless, said on Tuesday that the evicted minorities have become stateless within the state.

The Assam government has started a state Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture project in the Dholpur area involving local youths, but not the 1,000 odd evicted Muslim families who are now taking shelter in makeshift camps near the Brahmaputra.

The Brahmaputra and its tributaries have led to the erosion of vast tracts of land in different parts of the state resulting in forced voluntary internal Migration of the people within the state. The displaced Muslim farmers have found some solace in Dholpur.

Bhubaneswar: Ancient temple base found under Suka-Sari

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The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Wednesday discovered the base of another temple on the premises ofSuka-Saritemple in Old Town area of the city. The ASI is planning to excavate towards the north-eastern side of the 10th century temple complex to unearth more of the partially exposed temple.

The ASI recently resumed the excavation and scientific cleaning of the temple complex spread across two acres after a gap of a few months.

Sources said, ancient scriptures mentioned existence of over 1,000 temples in Bhubaneswar during the 15th century for which the capital was named the “Temple City”. But over the years, most of the temples were destroyed due to lack of preservation. At present, only 200 temples are there in the city. Of the total monuments, 23 are being preserved by the ASI and 15 by the state archaeology wing, sources said.
The ASI had alleged serious violation of the conservation and preservation laws over “mindless demolition” on the premises of the ASI-protected sites by agencies for the Ekamra Kshetra project.

90 reservoirs have combined storage of 88%

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Heavy rains lashing acrossTamil Naduhave yielded the 90 reservoirs in the state a combined storage of 88% of their total holding capacity. Half of the 14,138 Irrigation tanks in the state have more than 50% storage as on Monday. About 20,000 cusecs of water will be released from Mettur reservoir in Salem district on Tuesday morning. Initially about 5,000 cusecs will be released and it will be stepped up in due course, said officials.

The state received excess rainfall of 43% between October 1 and November 8, with 12 districts – Ariyalur, Coimbatore, Cuddalore, Erode, Karur, Namakkal,Pudukkottai, Sivaganga, Tirunelveli, Thiruvarur, Trichy and Villupuram – registering more than 60% increase compared to the corresponding period last year. The delay in the retreat of the southwest monsoon and continuous rainfall till October end had already brought copious inflow into most water bodies. The seamless entry of northeast monsoon is adding to the storage, said a senior official. Incidentally, some 527 irrigation tanks in certain parts of the state like Tirunelveli, Dharmapuri, and Namakkal have nil storage owing to diversion of water from supply channels, poor desilting and encroachments.

The combined storage of all the reservoirs stood at 197.5 tmcft water as against a total capacity of 224.297tmcft water. With an inflow of 27,600 cusecs of water into Mettur, the dam is fast filling up. Surplus water is being released from Kabini andKrishnarajasagarreservoirs in Karnataka as both are brimming. The storage in Mullaperiyar dam on Monday was 6.735tmcft water as against a total capacity of 10.57 tmcft water. Nadu has been drawing 1,867 cusecs through tunnels.

Integrated approach key during health emergencies

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Rather than a pluralistic approach, an integrated approach may be more viable in theKeralascenario in public Health emergencies, said a paper on ayurvedic response to Covid-19 and its impact on quarantined individuals.

The paper published in Frontiers of Public Health is the first of its kind that talks of strategies adopted by the in battling a public health issue using ayurveda as part of an integrated public health system to combat a disease that had no medical solutions initially.
It talks of how the state set up 1,206 Ayur Raksha Clinics and associated task forces in April 2020 to improve the reach of ayurvedic preventive, therapeutic and convalescent care strategies for Covid-19.

The paper said that 1,206 life clinics covered all the 941 villages with a jurisdiction of over six million households. These clinics have been functioning adequately in tandem with the existing conventional medicine-oriented public health machinery. As of June 28, 2021, over 3.1 million people in Kerala received the benefits of different ayurvedic programmes for the pandemic.

Karnataka: ‘Udupi in a box’ explores tourism beyond temples, beaches

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With an innovative idea – Placexplore Lab a tourism incubator aimed at community-based tourism and experiential travel has been launched. The programme is being hosted by the Urban Vision, Red Dot Foundation Global,Udupi Tourismand Mangaluru City Corporation with support from Vital Voices Fortune Mentoring Program of the United States Department of state.

The experimental ‘Udupi in a box’ a memento consists of the products made from GI tagged items from the Udupi district or for that matter wellness shots and juices featuring local flowers like blue pea (Shanka Pushpa),hibiscusand Jasmine.

The box will also give a fillip to local jasmine cultivators, who often reel under arbitrary pricing and limited local market.

The launch and design hackathon was organised on October 31 and featured micro-entrepreneurs from the twin districts working on various initiatives.

There was a range of tourism microenterprise initiatives from surf schools, fishing tours, local artisans with coconut, and bamboo weaving crafts, Yakshagana, eco-tours to farm tours.

Telangana asks Krishna River Management Board to bring Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme under its jurisdiction

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TheTelanganagovernment on Monday asked theKrishna River Management Board(KRMB) to retainRajolibanda Diversion Schemeon Tungabhadra underKRMBs jurisdiction by incorporating the project under schedule-2 and complete modernisation of canalanicutat the earliest.

The RDS project was taken by the erstwhile Hyderabad state in terms of June, 1944 agreement between Hyderabad and Madras state to utilize Tungabhadra waters on par with KC canal. The length of the anicut is 819 mtrs and geographically half of the anicut is in AP and half of the anicut in Raichur of Karnataka. The project irrigates 5,879 acres in Karnataka and 87,500 acres in with an allocation of 17. 10 tmcft by KWDT-1,

Major portion of canal modernisation was completed but modernisation of anicut is being obstructed by AP government in the name of law and order problem. The Communication was sent by AP to Karnataka officials not to proceed with the works, which is unwarranted.

Andhra Pradesh govt to procure 7,000 MW solar power from SECI

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Refuting allegations against the state governments decision to procure power from the Corporation of India, energy ministerBalineniSrinivasa Reddy said there will be no burden on discoms due to the purchase fromSECI.

He said the government will procure about 7,000 MW ofsolar powerfrom SECI, starting 2024, in different tranches to meet the demand of 18 lakh farmers.

In a statement Friday, Balineni said the tariff proposed by SECI is considered to be the lowest and purchases will be transparent as it is a public sector undertaking. He said the tariff proposed by SECI has to be approved by theAndhra PradeshElectricity Regulatory Commission as per the electricity Act.

The minister said solar power purchased from SECI would be utilised to provide nine hours of supply to the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture sector in the day through a special discom that will ensure free power to farmers for the next 25 years.

Goa Maritime Conclave

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The Goa Maritime Conclave (GMC-21), now in its third year, began on November 7, 2021 in Goa.

Highlights:

The Navy Chiefs of 12 Indian Ocean Region states will attend the summit, which will be held in India.
GMC-21 would include a three-day conference on constructing working-level deliberations, which will take place in May 2021 at the Goa Maritime Symposium-21.
“Maritime Security and Emerging Non-Traditional Threats: A Case for a Proactive Role for the Indian Ocean Region,” is the theme of GMC 2021.
The Symposium was GMC-21’s Sherpa event.
The Indian Ocean region has become a focal point in the strategic landscape of the twenty-first century. GMC’s goal in this region is to bring together regional stakeholders and discuss collaborative implementation .

Units to process wild fruits will be set up in Kolhapur

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Theunitsto process the nuts, fruits, berries naturally grown in forest areas will beset upthrough the self-help groups in Kolhapur district.

The project is among several novel projects approved in the general meeting of district planning council chaired by guardian minister Satej Patil on Monday. The council approved total outlay of Rs 493 crore on various schemes and sectors for next one year.
The outlay for next one year is higher than last year. Last year, total outlay of Rs 448 crore was approved out of which Rs 443 crore have been spent.

The council has set aside Rs 1.42 crore to make finance available to the self-help groups to set up the processing units on a smaller scale.
The schools in Kolhapur district, which have completed 100 years, will be given incentives to encourage them to undertake infrastructural work.