Over 9,000 Utilisation Certificates of projects not submitted by Assam govt: CAG reportOver 9,000 Utilisation Certificates of various projects and schemes of 52 departments of the Assam government from 2001-02 to 2018-19 have not been submitted, a CAG report said. More than 68 per cent of the 9,379 outstanding UCs are of the last four years since 2015-16, the Comptroller and Auditor General of India said in its report on state finances, under the section of ‘Quality of Accounts & Financial Reporting Practices’.

At least 1,345 UCs amounting to Rs 7,197.84 crore are due for the 2018-19 fiscal, while 24 such documents worth Rs 1,607.23 crore in 2016-17 have not been submitted, according to the report which was tabled in the assembly on Friday. Utilisation Certificates of Rs 3,494.38 crore grants paid up to the financial year 2018-19 are pending from the Health department, followed by the Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes with UCs worth Rs 2,403.51 crore.

Centre lens on transport plan of Odisha

The Centre has expressed displeasure over theOdisha governments poor progress in implementation of the vehicle location tracking system in public transport vehicles.
Theministry of road transportand highways has been providing financial assistance from theNirbhayafund to states to implement the project for the safety of Women commuters. The has been asked to expedite the project.

Under the project, all passenger buses, school buses and cabs will compulsorily be equipped with vehicle location tracking devices and panic buttons near the seats for the safety of women travellers. Women travellers, when in distress, can press the emergency buttons and expect quick response from Police. A control room has been set up here to receive alerts from women commuters.

Paddy on 20,000 acres damaged by rain in Tamil Nadu: Officials

Besides this, 50,000 tonnes of paddy that was procured and stacked in an open stockyard of NaduCivil Supplies Corporation (TNCSC) at Sannapram near Kumbakonam got drenched in the rain.

Farmers said about 1,000 acres of samba paddy crop ripe for harvest has been submerged in Orathanadu, Pattukottai, Peravurani and Thanjavur taluks.

Paddy procured during the kuruvai season from 350 direct procurement centers (DPCs) by TNCSC has been stored in five warehouses and 24 open stockyards. Of these, the paddy bags stacked at Sannapuram stockyard have been drenched in the rain.

Kerala fifth in India in good governance index: CM Pinarayi Vijayan

Chief ministerPinarayi Vijayanhas said that Kerala stands fifth among the Indian states in https://exam.pscnotes.com/good-Governance“>Good Governance and also first among the southern states as per the latest Good Governance Index (GGI) released by the department of Administrative Reforms and public grievances, Government of India.

He said Kerala has recorded an impressive performance in the commerce and industrial sectors and also improved the score in the Ease of Doing Business implementation. Other thanPunjab, only Kerala has recorded an impressive performance in this sector, said the chief minister in a Social Media post.

The GGI says that the state has improved the implementation score of ease of doing business reforms points from 44.82 to 85.00 (in 2018 and 2020 respectively). The compound annual Growth rate of Industry has also improved from 1.00 in 2019 to 7.91 in 2021.
The state has bettered its own record compared to the GGI report of 2019 and leads in the overall ranking .

The state has also topped in the public Health-sector”>Health sector ranking as well as Environment sector ranking. It also came third in social welfare and development sector ranking. In the judiciary and public safety sector ranking, the state came second.
The chief minister said the rankings that have been received by the state is an indication of how the LDF government had brought in good governance by ensuring transparency and also with much populist schemes.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommais maiden budget looks to double GSDP by 2025

Chief minister BasavarajBommaihas set an ambitious target of doubling the statesGSDP(gross state domestic product) from the present Rs 17 lakh crore to Rs 34 lakh crore by 2025. He is likely to propose new policies to that effect in his maiden budget to be presented in March.

Experts, while seeing the potential in the states economy, have warned the government that the target cannot be achieved unless the chief minister brings much-needed reforms in terms of revenue mobilisation, Growth-oriented policies and plugging loopholes in the administration.

Prasad said the government is looking at policies to improve the contribution of all three sectors Services, manufacturing and Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture to the GSDP. The focus is on the service sector and plans are afoot to ensure its contribution is enhanced from 54% to 66% in three years, he added.

Nalgonda IT hub in 18 months: Telangana minister KT Rama Rao

Not just Hyderabad, thegovernment is taking IT to tier II towns across the state, IT ministerKT Rama Raosaid. He said the State Government had already set up IT hubs in towns such as Warangal, Karimnagar, Khammam andNizamabad.

Nalgonda IT hub will begin its operations in the next 18 months. It will generate 1,600 jobs to the local youth.

The minister said under the Leadership of KCR, both welfare and development were being taken up simultaneously. Apart from providing water underMission Bhagirathascheme, two medical colleges were sanctioned one each in Nalgonda and Suryapet, Yadadri temple development with Rs 1,800 crore and ultra mega power projects.

Visakhapatnam: Plots for middle class planned on 363 acres

The has accorded its permission to Visakhapatnam Metropolitan Region Development Authority to develop two MIG (middle income group) layouts in about 363 acres.
One layout will be developed in about 269.3 acres in GS Agraharam and Ramavaram villages, and the other one in Palavalasa (93.8 acres) in the Vizag suburbs.

The state government is planning to develop MIG plots in the Urban Local Bodies across the state under Jagananna Smart Towns. The demand survey for the MIG plots under this scheme received about 3.9 lakh applications from the prospective buyers.

As part of the same, theVMRDAidentified these different land pockets in the district. As per the preliminary guidelines of the scheme, the plots will be developed in three different sizes 150, 200 and 240 square yards.

10% cost escalation for power projects allowed without need for fresh sanction

As a special measure to address the rise inpowerproject costs due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the finance department has permitted the electricity department to acceptcostescalations from the contractor as long as it does not exceed10%of the original amount. The finance department said that if cost escalations exceed the expendituresanctionby more than 10%, a revised expenditure sanction will have to be sought from the finance department.
However, cost escalations will be permitted only if the cost of the project is more than Rs 2 crore and if the time frame for project completion is more than four months.

The relaxation and delegation of powers to accept revised expenditure sanctions comes based on recommendations of a special committee constituted by the to study the shortage of labour and non-availability of material as a result of the lockdown and the restrictions thereafter, due to the increase in Covid-19.

Maharashtra education department launches 100-day drive to restore reading habit in pupils

A 100-day campaign launched by the state Education department in government schools hopes to bring back the reading habit among students of standards I to VIII.

The campaign is planned to improve language development by creating an enduring interest in reading and writing with comprehension.

Visiting libraries to playing word games, reading poetry and finding information regarding Famous Personalities are among several efforts to boost the return to the habit that has been lost to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Maharashtra State Council of Education Research and Training has drawn up plans for each class to follow over the next three months to steer reading activities.

Dushyant Chautala: Ensure villager-friendly land pool scheme in Haryana

Deputy Chief Minister Dushyant Chautala on Tuesday advocated a land pooling under the Padma scheme, so that rural Population owning land get maximum benefit and EMPLOYMENT opportunities also get enhanced in villages.

These directions were given by the Deputy Chief Minister while presiding over the meeting of officers related to Padma scheme.

Dushyant said while taking forward the Centres Padma scheme, the Haryana Government was going to work on it expeditiously. He said about 50 acres would be picked in each block under land pooling to promote the MSMEs in the state.