03.12.21

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Thursday said while realising Dr Mangal Sens dream of Antyodaya, the State Government has planned to increase the income of the poorest of the poor families and to bring them in the APL category for their economic upliftment.

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A scheme has been started by the for the upliftment of the families at the bottom of the pyramid. Under Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojna, about 3.5 lakh families with annual income less than Rs 1 lakh have been identified, and a target has been set to increase their income up to Rs 2 lakh by ensuring benefits of welfare schemes through special Antyodaya Gram Utthan Melas. Such Melas are being organized in the state till December 25, the Chief Minister during a programme organised on the 31st death anniversary of former Deputy Chief Minister of Haryana, Dr Mangal Sen at Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak.

The CM said the State Government is expanding facilities like Education, Health, etc. in the State. The State Government has decided to establish medical colleges in all 22 districts, under which medical colleges have either been established in 19 districts or their process is in progress, he added.

Punjab: 43 illegal rehabilitation centres come up in 1 year

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The had first notified The Punjab Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Counselling and Rehabilitation Centres Rules on January 16, 2011. However, there were many reports of irregularities and malpractices by centres.

To regulate the functioning and licensing of drug de-addiction and rehabilitation centres under Sections 71 and & 78 of the NDPS Act, and give more power to the department, the state government decided to amend the rules and notified amended rules as The Punjab Substance Use Disorder Treatment and Counselling and Rehabilitation Centres Rules 2020 on July 28 last year. However, the Health Department did not implement the amended rules for 16 months. In all these months, it kept issuing licences as per the rules of 2011, which had ceased to exist with the notification of the new rules.

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday said the State Government has succeeded in getting in-principle approval of Rs 2,095 crore in ADB infrastructure Development Project for the State.

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He said out of this, 90 per cent would be loan amount which would be supported by Government of India whereas 10 per cent would be State share, as Himachal Pradesh is a special category State. The Screening Committee, Department of Economic Affairs of Union Ministry of Finance has given its in-principle approval for funding from the ADB.

The Chief Minister said the project is aimed at giving a fresh impetus to tourism in the State through creation of new destinations, improving existing destinations besides ensuring maintenance and preservation of heritage. The project also envisages development of eco tourism by ensuring development of lesser known places to lower burden on already crowded tourist destinations, he said.

Thakur added he had personally taken up the matter with the Union Finance Minister and presentations were also made before the Ministry of Tourism, and Ministry of Finance.

The project would be implemented in two tranches. The first tranche would be worth more than Rs 900 crore while the second tranche would be more than Rs 1,100 crore. The work on formulation of DPR would be taken in hand at the earliest and the project would kick start from March next year, he added.

Uttarakhand to get the world’s longest road tunnel

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Uttarakhand may get the worlds longest road tunnel approximately 30 km in the next few years. The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) has invited bids for carrying out the feasibility study and preparing a detailed project report (DPR) for the tunnel, which would start from Jolly Grant Airport in Dehradun and end at Koti Colony near Tehri Dam in the poll-bound state.
Currently, the 24.5 km Laerdal tunnel in Norway is the longest road tunnel in the world.
The project will include a 7-10 km approach road at both ends.

Recently, Uttarakhand chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami had sought approval from the Centre for the construction of a double-lane tunnel from Dehradun to Tehri Lake. The central government decided to give this task to the NHAI.

Aiming to augment the rural health infrastructure in Uttar Pradesh, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath directed senior officials to complete the setting-up of over 5,000 sub-health and wellness centres (HWCs) on a priority basis.

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A total of 5,000 new Health sub-centres will be set up to cater to the needs of the rural populace. This will provide communities with comprehensive primary health care Services closer to their homes. Through these new health centres the schemes of government for villagers will also be implemented in a proper manner. The Health department will ensure the presence of necessary medical equipment, doctors, and paramedical staff at these new sub-centres, the chief minister said.

The new health and wellness centres (HWCs) will have arrangements for maternal health, child health, immunisation, adolescent health, diabetes, blood pressure check-up, and treatment for communicable and non-communicable diseases. Besides, activities like and exercise, counseling, health Education, emergency medical facilities will be available there. Apart from immunisation and maternal health check-up and treatment, people will also be made aware of ways to prevent the spread of seasonal diseases.

Cervical cancer screening in Jkhand better than Bengal

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The National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) for the first time has included certain new parameters in its survey, including screening forcancer, among Women in the age group 30 to 49 years.

InJharkhand, only 0.5% of the surveyed women have confirmed to have undergone screening forcervicalcancer. This figure of respondents is better than neighbouring Chhattisgarh and West Bengal where only 0.3% and 0.2% women have been screened.

In another neighbouring state Bihar, 0.8% women Population have undergone screening whereas in Punjab, infamous for cancer cases as many as 2.5% women confirmed to have undergone screening for cervical cancer. Though this figure, which is under 5% in most of the states, appears miniscule, health experts believe that not all women require scientific screening and only a certain faction of the women in reproductive age group, who are either symptomatic or in high-risk category are required to undergo screening (on diagnostic machine) for detection and treatment.

Among the districts, Giridih with 1.9% responses is at the top whereas in Jamshedpur and Dumka, not a single woman in the sample survey responded to have undergone screening for cervical cancer ever. In Ranchi, 0.3% women have undergone screening where the sample size was 979 households comprising 1,182 women and 156 men respondents for the entire NFHS-5 survey.

CAG report flags Bihars rising debt

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The outstanding ofBiharwhich mounted to Rs 1.93 lakh crore in 2019-20 has put strains on the states finances as it has led to debt repayment burden and the shrinkage in Capital Expenditure that is otherwise made to create assets as part of the Infrastructure development, according toComptroller and Auditor General(CAG) report for the 2019-20 fiscal tabled in the state assembly.

According to the report, the outstanding public debt of the state had increased from Rs 1.16 lakh crore in 2015-16 to Rs 1.38 lakh crore in the next fiscal, followed by Rs 1.56 lakh crore in 2017-18, Rs 1.68 lakh crore in 2018-19 and Rs 1.93 lakh crore in 2019-20. The Growth rate of the outstanding public debt was in the range of 17.69% in 2015-16, 18.99% in 2016-17, 13.02% in 2017-18, 7.75% in 2018-19 and 14.48% in 2019-20, the report added.

The growth rate of the states gross state domestic product (GSDP) in the corresponding financial years was 8.35%, 13.31%, 11.33%, 13.15% and 15.36%. The growth rate of public debt is higher than the growth rate of GSDP during the year, which is not a good fiscal indicator, the report noted.

In what could increase the anxiety of the stakeholders, the volume of capital expenditure also showed decreasing trend during 2018-19 and 2019-20. The capital expenditure was Rs 23,966 crore in 2015-16, Rs 27,208 crore in 2016-17 and Rs 28,907 crore in 2017-18, and then began to show falling trend in the subsequent two fiscals Rs 21,058 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 12,304 crore in 2019-20. Implicitly, the state had been spending less on the creation of assets.

The CAG report also noted that the states debt has become unsustainable in the backdrop of the Revenue Deficit for the first time since 2008-09 and this has been compensated from public debt.

In between, the debt repayments went on increasing Rs 38,508 crore in 2015-16, Rs 50,701.29 crore in 2016-17, Rs 41,357.18 crore in 2017-18, Rs 61,666.46 crore in 2018-19 and Rs 69,732.59 crore in 2019-20. The amount spent on interest repayment has also shown a similar trend.

Chhattisgarhs total fertility rate (TFR) or the average number of children a woman gives birth in her lifetime has come down from 2.2 to 1.8, an important factor in population stability, states the National Family Health Survey-5 (2019-21) (NFHS-5).

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The report states that there has also been an increase in the Contraceptive Prevalence Rate, which has increased from 57 percent (2015-16) to 67 percent now.

But there is drop in sex ratio of the total Population (females per 1,000 males), with Average 1,015 as compared to 1,019 of NHFS-4.

The average total females per 1,000 males born in the state is 960, compared to 977 in the last survey. The drop is higher in urban areas (933) as compared to rural (967).

The state has also performed better in terms of marriage of girls below the age of 18 years. In NFHS-5, the rate is 12 percent as compared to NFHS-4 rate of 21 percent, a decrease of 9 percent.

There was also a decrease in the neonatal and infant mortality rate.

The neonatal mortality rate (1-28 days old infants) has come down from 42 to 32 for 1,000 live births while the infant mortality rate (infants from 1 month to one year) has fallen from 54 to 44 per 1,000 live births.

The mortality rate of infants below 5 years has slid from 64 to 50, a decrease of 14 points.

Apart from it, institutional deliveries in the state have reached 80 percent. It was 70 percent in NFHS-4. Similarly, complete immunization has increased from 76 percent to 79 percent in children.

The NFHS-5 data indicates that children under 5 years of age in urban areas are more likely to be obese or overweight than those in rural areas. The Percentage of obese children is 5.7 percent in urban and 3.6 percent in rural areas.

The medal distribution of some matches of the 64th National Rifle Shooting Championship-2021 was held recently.

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Olympian Aishwarya Pratap Singh Tomar Goldie Tomar of Madhya Pradesh Shooting Academy continued her stellar performance and won two gold medals each in the 50m rifle prone category of the 64th National Rifle Shooting Championship-2021.

Madhya Pradesh won a total of 8 medals including 3 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze in the 50m Rifle Prone event. In this championship, players of MP Academy have won a total of 21 medals so far.

Student retention in Gujarat merely 40.82%

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Gujarat has fared poorly as compared to states like neighbouring Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh in the retention rate of school students in higher secondary classes.

Gujarat has a low retention rate of 40.82% in higher secondary Education for the year 2019-20. Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh have fared better with 62.69% and 42.09% respectively.
Even other states like Karnataka (46.39%), Haryana (64.15%) and Himachal Pradesh (69.11%) have been better performers in this category.

Gujarat has done slightly better than Rajasthan where the retention rate is 39.33%. In the case of primary education, the retention rate in Gujarat is 95.04% while for elementary education its 89.82% before further dropping to 65% at secondary level. Kerala and Chandigarh have seen 100% retention at higher secondary level.

The Department of School Education and Literacy (DoSEL), ministry of education has developed the Unified District Information System for Education Plus (UDISE+) system to record data on indicators of school education provided by all the states and Union territories.