05.08.21

The Forest Department has proposed to take up plantations over an area of 1,50,000 hectares (ha) under different schemes including 50,000 ha under MGNREGS during the current planting season.

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This was known from the DFOs’ conference held under the chairmanship of Forest, Environment and https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change Minister Bikram Keshari Arukha on Wednesday

In view of deficit rainfall of 21 percent between June 1 and July 27, plantations have been undertaken in around 65,615 ha with planting of nearly 2.10 crore seedlings. In addition, nearly 76.6 lakh of seedlings have been distributed.

The department has kept a financial target of Rs 901 crore under MGNREGS. Proposals worth Rs 500 crore were submitted, out of which Rs 70 crore has been spent generating around 18 lakhs mandays EMPLOYMENT. It was informed about the launching of the Anukampa App with the aim of speeding up payment of compensation Money to the persons against the damage caused by the wildlife. While concluding the meeting, the Minister stressed that the peoples participation should be encouraged in all the activities going on in the Forestry sector. Mangrove plantations should be increased in the coastal areas as a shelter belt against natural calamities, he said. Further, the forest officers were directed to achieve all targets set for plantation including MGNREGS by the end of planting season.

Tamil Nadu to bring fresh legislation to ban online rummy, says law minister S Reghupathy

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TheTamil Nadugovernment will bring a fresh legislation to ban online rummy in the state. This follows a directive from chief minister M KStalin, state law minister S Reghupathy said here on Wednesday. While the development comes in the wake of the Madras on Tuesday quashing the existing legislation banning online rummy, the opposition AIADMK has asked the State Government to approach theSupreme Courtand get a stay on the order.

In a statement, minister Reghupathy said chief minister Stalin, when he was the leader of the Opposition, had demanded ban on online rummy.

The then AIADMK government had hurriedly passed a legislation on November 21, last year, to ban online rummy in the state.

Subsequently, a petition was moved against the legislation in the Madras high court. On Tuesday, the court ruled against the ban and quashed the legislation, citing lack of clarity on why the state introduced a blanket ban on online games. The court had however said there was no bar on the state from bringing a fresh legislation, Reghupathy said.

Kerala has most Covid deaths per million per week

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Keralanow has the highest deaths per million per week in the country. Between July 25 and 31, Kerala reported 24 deaths per million per week, whileMaharashtracame second with 12 deaths, followed by Odisha with 9 deaths. Indias Average is around 2 deaths per million per week.

Keralas seven-day average daily Growth rate is 0.61% while Indias is 0.13%. States R-naught (Reproduction rate) is 1.28, with its daily active cases and deaths becoming the highest in the country.

Keralas Covid-19 mortality rate is going up and it is a concern. States mortality rate during the second wave was bigger than its mortality rate during the first wave.

Cabinet nod for separate Scheduled Tribe Welfare Secretariat

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An hour after swearing-in ceremony of 29 Ministers, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai chaired a full-fledged Cabinet meeting on Wednesday and decided to establish a separate Scheduled Tribe Welfare Secretariat for faster approval of schemes and effective utilisation of funds meant for the community.

At present, there are separate secretariats for Other Backward Castes (OBCs) and Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The Cabinet decided to form the separate ST Welfare Secretariat for quick approvals, effective supervision, and faster implementation of schemes meant for the welfare of the community, the chief minister told media persons after the meeting.

At present, the different departments allocate funds for the Scheduled Tribe Plan (STP). Formation of the separate secretariat would help the government to allocate funds in one department. STs constitute around 7% of the States Population. With todays decision, the government has fulfilled a long-pending demand of the community, he said.

On the lines of Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan and Tribal Sub-Plans (SCSP/TSP), the Cabinet has taken a decision on forming a Mission headed by the CM for effective implementation of womens safety and welfare programmes in various departments. The Mission would function under the direct supervision of the CM, as announced in the Budget 2021-22.

ACT, Telangana govt set up over 3,000 Wi-Fi hotspots in Hyderabad

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In one of the largest publicWi-Fihotspot deployments in the country, Atria Convergence Technologies Ltd (ACT Fibernet) along with the has completed installing over 3,000 publicWi-Fi hotspots across Hyderabadover last three years as part of the Hy-Fi project.
These hotspots coverpublicplaces such as metro stations, malls, government schools, Police stations and Basti Dawakhanas, among others.

ACT Fibernet CEO, Bala Malladi, pointed out nearly four lakh people were using this service every month in the pre-pandemic period. The numbers dropped to around one lakh during the lockdown but eventually recovered to nearly three lakh. He said the company will review the usage of Wi-Fi Services in some of the busy areas and in the coming days, may add another 500 hotspots.

Andhra Pradesh: In 3 years, over 63 lakh tonnes rice ferried to other states

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As much as 63.5 lakh tonnes ofricehave been dispatched fromAndhra Pradeshto other ricedeficit statesby the (Fci) in the last three years.

Surplus stocks of wheat and rice from various states are moved to deficit states to meet the requirements under theNational Food Security Act, 2013 by the FCI.

Andhra Pradesh produces an Average 130 lakh tonnes of paddy every year. According to official statistics, the production of paddy in the state is estimated at 134.15 lakh metric tonnes in 2020-21 as against 137.10 lakh MTs in 2019-20.

The FCI, in the draft report of the Committee on Public Undertakings (2020-21), mentioned that Punjab, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh are surplus states in terms of wheat procurement vis-a-vis their own consumption. Punjab, Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Chhattisgarh and Odisha are surplus states in terms of rice procurement vis–vis their own consumption.
According to the report, about a decade back, nearly 90% of stocks were moved from the north, mainly from Punjab and Haryana, which has now come down to 72%. This is due to an increase in procurement of rice in Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and West Bengal, and wheat in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan.

The area under paddy in kharif 2020-21 in Andhra Pradesh was 16.90 lakh hectares against 15.26 lakh hectares in 2019-20, representing an increase of 10.7%. Similarly, the production of paddy in kharif 2020-21 was 71.37 lakh tonnes compared to 80.13 lakh tonnes in 2019-20, marking a decrease of 10.9%.

The area under paddy in rabi 2020-21 was 8.81 lakh hectares compared to 8.3 lakh hectares in 2019-20, translating to an increase of 6.1%. Similarly, the production under paddy in rabi 2020-21 was 61.89 lakh tonnes against 56.97 lakh tonnes in 2019-20, showing an increase of 8.6%.
Andhra Pradesh, on its own, procured 34,49,067 MTs of paddy with a value of Rs 6,286 crore from 2.22 lakh farmers in 2019-20. Similarly, in kharif of 2020-21 (October 1, 2020 to March 31, 2021), a quantity of 47,49,844 MTs of paddy, valued at Rs 8,900 crore, was procured from 5.18 lakh farmers.

The gross area irrigated in Andhra Pradesh increased to 38.13 lakh hectares in 2019-20 from 36.35 lakh hectares in 2018-19.

Steps, funds needed to contain cattle dying in road accidents

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Goa Pradesh Congress Committee (GPCC) state general secretary Janardhan S Bhandari demanded that the government release funds for the cattle management scheme and also called for a legislation to contain the killing of bovines by vehicles along national highway 66. He was referring to the recent incident when a vehicle ran overstray cattlekilling 11 cattle on the spot and injuring three others.

Bhandari demanded that the government initiate the Goa stray cattle management scheme, 2013 through the Department of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Services (DAHVS). He said that the provision of finance under this scheme is insufficient and more funds as well as manpower was required to handle stray cattle. He also said that due to lack of funds the scheme is not effectively implemented in Goa.

Mumbai and Bangalore Loss Top 100 in QS Ranking

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Mumbai and Bangalore are out of the global top-100 listing and are presently rating at 106 and 110, respectively, in today’s QS Best Student Cities Ranking edition. While Mumbai misplaced 29 places, Bengaluru fell with the aid of 21 sites in the ninth edition of the rankings added out by way of global more excellent schooling analysts QS Quacquarelli Symonds.

Globally, the results, which allow students to evaluate one hundred fifteen premier instructional destinations, see London retain its reputation as the worlds exceptional pupil town for the 0.33 consecutive edition. It is accompanied by Munich, which rises from Fourth to Second. Seoul, which jumps from Tenth to joint Third, the bronze-medal position with Olympic hosts Tokyo.

QS ranks cities with people of at least 250,000 and at least two universities in the QS World University Rankings.

Online transfer policy in Haryana

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The state has decided to implement the online transfer policy for posts having cadre strength of 80 or more. In a letter issued by the General Administration Department, all administrative secretaries and heads of departments have been asked to execute the policy soon if it had been notified.

The also signed an MoU with Walmart Vriddhi and Haqdarshak in the presence of Deputy CM Dushyant Chautala. With the help of E-Commerce companies such as Walmart, the state government will be able to showcase the products of traditional weavers and handicraftsmen at the international level.

Direct seeded rice area up in Punjab

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Punjabs area under direct seeding of rice (DSR) has increased to 6.01lakh hectares(12.02 lakh acres) or close to 20% of its total under the water-guzzler crop, yet fallen short of the target of 10 lakh hectares.

The only consolation for the farmers is that paddy transplanting by DSR has increased almost 20% from last year. Otherwise, total paddy (which includes parmal and basmati) was grown in 30.48 lakh hectares this year, a decline from last years 31.49 lakh hectares. Those 1 lakh hectares shifted to , maize, and other crops, 53,000 hectares to cotton alone, which now covered 3.04 lakh hectares against last years 2.51 lakh hectares.

Given the availability of cheap labour and rain, thestate Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture departmentclaimed that the goal of bringing 10 lakh hectares under DSR by weaning the farmers away from conventional method was always unrealistic. Transplantation done, the department on Wednesday released the figure of 6.01 lakh hectares under DSR (19.70%of the area under paddy and basmati), which is the highest ever that Punjabs remote sensing centre has measured. This saved 15% water.