05.06.21

Punjab to set up utility firm to supply water to rural areas

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The Cabinet today approved the creation of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) for operations and maintenance of large multi-village surface water supply schemes across the state.

The move aims at ensuring supply of potable water on a long term sustainable basis in rural areas of water quality-affected districts. This first-of-its-kind SPV in India will be a utility company, Punjab Rural Water (Utility) Company, under the Water supply and sanitation Department.

The Cabinet also accorded approval to opening an account in the name of the SPV, with seed of Rs 25 crore allocated from the World Bank funds (64 per cent) and state budget (36 per cent), to support its functioning in the initial five years of operations. The allocation will help meet the shortfall in revenue collection, if any, to fulfil the contractual obligations of the SPV and its administrative expenses.

Himachal Pradesh needs to keep an eye on glacier surface area change

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Himachal Pradesh, a Himalayan state with dense temperate and alpine forest reserve and rich environmental heritage, has undergone tremendous infrastructural change over the years with influx of tourists and construction projects in the name of development. All these activities have had or will have negative consequences, disturbing the natural homeostatic balance of the Environment beyond its re-entering capacity.

There has been rapid contractions inglaciersurface area, and on the other hand, expansions in over the past few decades. Since these are tell-tale signs of a looming disaster in the coming years, a watchful eye, sustainable and planned Infrastructure development is the need of the hour.

Since Himachal is a green-fuel (Hydro Power) surplus state, there is certainly no need for arresting large rivers as planned for the Chandra and the Bhaga in Lahaul-Spiti district. The recent Chamoli disaster in Uttarakhand should serve as a warning for undertaking such ambitious but highly unsustainable developments. High-rise constructions in a highly earthquake prone area of Zone-V are an invitation to mass annihilation any day, a making of pre-planned bomb.

Himachal has to focus on imbibing all possible Sustainable Development practices towards economy“>Green Economy. The level of environmental awareness needs to be raised along with drafting of new legislations to support the environment. Eco village is an emerging concept in the hill state. It focuses on treating village life being in absolute sync with nature by developing low impact lifestyles that reduce the Ecological Footprint by as much as 50% of the base assessment from launch of the scheme.

Uttrakhand gets Rs 900 crore for NHM projects, highest grant of all time

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With a focus on reducing maternal and infant mortality rates in Uttarakhand, the Centre has released Rs 894 crore forNational Health Mission(NHM) projects in the state the highest it has ever received. Besides hiring more staff and strengthening , the Centre plans on introducing transportation Services between hospitals and homes for mothers and children, setting up five blood storage units and gathering more data.

The state will appoint 400 auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs) and 158 staff nurses this year. It will also set up 54 delivery points and 29 first referral points for safe delivery. The operation and maintenance of 132 new ambulances under 108 emergency services has been provided for.

Jharkhand at bottom of SDG hunger index

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Jharkhandis among the three worst-performing states along with Bihar and Assam in this years Goals (SDG) index released by NITI Aayog. In terms of hunger reduction, the state fared at the bottom of all 28 states.

As far as the hunger situation is concerned, the State Government is at the forefront since the outbreak of the pandemic to help the people like running community kitchens and distributing advance ration among others.

However, Niti Aayog has put Jharkhand, with an overall score of 56, at 27th rank in the SDG, while neighbouring Bihar was in 28th position and Assam was placed just above Jharkhand. In 2019, the states overall score was 53. On the other hand, Kerala has retained its top slot in this years index.

Niti Aayog released the SDG index for the third consecutive year to evaluate the performance of the states on 16 different parameters comprising POVERTY, Health, Food Security, Environment protection and Industry among other Growth indicators.

According to the report, Jharkhand was rated on 15 parameters in which it showed progress in 10 indicators compared to 2019 but fared miserably in the remaining five.

For example, last year, the state scored 22 in the zero hunger indicator which slipped to 19 this year. Under the decent work & economic growth category, it scored 54 against 70 in 2019. In industry, innovation and Infrastructure, too, the score came down to 37 from last years 70.

With bleak chances of schools reopening any time soon, few government school teachers in Bihar have adopted an innovative method. These teachers have started conducting academic and extracurricular activities for students of classes V to X through Facebook Live.

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Besides limited , lack of awareness among parents is another issue.

Before lockdown this year, Bihar government had planned to conduct catchup course to address the Learning gap in 2020 among class II to X students.

Chhattisgarh government launches scheme to deliver driving licenses, vehicle documents at home

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Chhattisgarh governmenton Tuesday has introduced an advanced centralized system under its ‘Tunhar Sarkar Tunhar Dwar’ (Your government at your doorstep) banner, to facilitate ‘contactless Services‘ for issuance and delivery of smart-card baseddriving licenses, vehicle registration and related documents at the doorstep of people.

Aiming to prevent risk of spreading infection during the pandemic among people waiting in the queue at transport offices,state transport departmenthas gone hi-tech and is all prepped up with its 22 such services that can be availed from the comforts of Home.

Chhattisgarh is the first state to have launched a centralized system for issuing smart card basedAadharintegrated driving licenses, registration certificates and many such services via online system for home delivery.

Indian Railways working in mission mode to become the largest green railway in the world and is moving towards becoming a ” zero carbon emissions” before 2030 and for protection of the environment is of great importance and for this rail electrification, head on generation technic and maximum use of electric locomotives is done.

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Conversion of Indian Railways into Green Railways and Electricity in order to quickly reap the economic benefits of traction, the railways had planned 100 percent Electrification of broad gauge routes by December 2023 and this will help eliminate diesel traction.

West Central RAILWAY has become the first zone on Indian Railways whose entire route is lectrified. Electrification has been done for 3012 kms.

Silver imports surged 618% in Gujarat

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Fuelled by industrial demand riding on slight reduction in prices,silver demandsurged by 618% in May this year.Silver importsinGujaratstood at 4.74 metric tonnes (MT) according to data provided by Ahmedabad Air Cargo Complex, which even though much lower than earlier years, was at an 11-month high. Against this, silver imports in April stood at 0.66 MT. Analysts said that as silverpricesreduced slightly to Rs 70,800 per kg when markets resumed operations in the end of May after a three-week shutdown imposed to curb Covid-19 spread.

Due tolow pricesand pent-up demand over past 11 months, silver imports surged significantly. But the volume of imports is very low. On an Average, the annual consumption used to be around 100-150MT. Currently, a few refineries have imported silver for routine demand, said Haresh Acharya, director, India Bullion and Jewellers Association (IBJA).
Silver imports were nil in May last year, the data further suggests. Precious Metal imports saw a steep decline in the pandemic year. According to data by Ahmedabad Air Cargo Complex, silver demand plunged 66.2% in 2020-21 at 30.35MT against 90.39MT in 2019-20.

According to estimates by bullion traders and analysts, at least 25% of the total imports of silver accounts for industrial usage whereas the rest is diverted towards retail demand in the form of jewellery, artefacts, coins and bars.

Water in 20% wells of Rajasthan unsuitable for drinking

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Groundwater table in every fifth well (20%) in the state has gone below the alarming level of 40 metres, making it largely unfit for drinking. The water below 40 metres contains sulphur, chlorine and fluoride more than the permissible limit, posing Health hazards when consumed constantly.

Ministry of Jal Shaktis latest groundwater report on Rajasthan 2019-2020 says that five districts had more than 40% of their wells recording water level below 40 metres in January 2020. The figure comes in stark contrast with the fact that annual rainfall in the state increased by 29.5% in 2019 from 2010-2018 (Average).

Jhunjhunu is leading, with 91% of the wells that had gone 40m and above in January 2020 (post monsoon) while in monsoon, the arid city received 32.81% more rain than the previous years. The report says that Jaipur alone had 41% of the wells with water table below 40 metres, despite receiving 744MM rain, which was 29.21% more than the average of the previous 8 years. Experts have said that wells are being overused and are thus not recharged even after sufficient rain.

Health Ministers Discretionary Grant (HMDG):

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According to HMDG, a subsidy of up to Rs 1.25 lakhs is provided to patients with an annual income of less than Rs 1.25 lakhs

By providing their Ration Card number, beneficiaries can apply for financial assistance under both schemes.

In a virtual ceremony, Union Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas launched a number of initiatives to give a major boost to the SATAT initiative.

The goal of the SATAT scheme is to establish Compressed Bio-Gas (CBG) production Plants and make CBG available on the market for use as a green fuel.

By 2023, SATAT aims to produce 15 MMT of CBG from 5000 plants.

It has the potential to increase the availability of low-cost transportation fuels, as well as make better use of agricultural waste, cattle dung, and municipal solid waste.

It will also provide an of 175,000 crore rupees, which is an additional Source Of Income for farmers, as well as 75,000 direct jobs and 100,000 indirect jobs.

The Union Cabinet has approved the MoUs/agreements signed by India.

Highlights:

Cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development between India and the Maldives.

All Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) member countries have reached an agreement.

Cooperation in the field of mineral Resources between India and Argentina.

Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between India and Japan on sustainable urban development.