06-07.06.21

No border talks between Assam and Nagaland now

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The border talks between Assam and Nagaland to defuse tension along Mokokchung-Jorhat will take place only after the Covid-19 situation in Nagaland is under control.

Though Assam has not imposed lockdown, it has barred inter-district travel and extended curfew hours from 12 noon to 5am to break the chain of transmission. On Monday, Assam had 51,694 active cases with 3365 deaths.

Northeasts recovery rate is below the national Average of 91.60 per cent. Nagalands recovery rate is 74.90 per cent while that of Assam is slightly better at 81.41 per cent. Tripura has the best recovery rate in the region at 86.17 per cent.

Call for steps to restore ecosystem

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Environmental experts have called for immediate steps for ecosystem restoration, which was the theme for this years World Environment Day celebrated.

Guwahati city is a key example which is witnessing rapid ecosystem degradation, where surrounding hillocks with forest cover has been destroyed and altered from the original FOREST ECOSYSTEM. Deepor Beel, Assams lone Ramsar site situated adjacent to the city, now faces sheer magnitude of the challenges due to the human interventions. In the past 20 years, Guwahati lost key wetlands like part of Silsako Beel, part of Deepor Beel and Sola Beel in Paltan Bazar almost gone.

The blowout in Baghjan village last year had a significant negative impact on the ecosystem and the experts have continued to warn against human interventions in the environmentally sensitive areas and asked authorities to remain alert so that such incidents dont happen again.

Odisha records OGST collection of Rs 827.43 crore in May

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Despite the Covid-19 pandemic situation, the state has witnessed record collection ofOdisha Goods and Services Tax(OGST).

It has collected Rs 827.43 crore during the month of May this year against the collection of Rs 589.3 crore in May 2019 and Rs 440.67 crore in May last year.

Last months collection has recorded a Growth of 40.4% against the collection of May 2019.
This growth is witnessed despite the extension of return filing date by theGST Counciland poor filing of returns/payment of tax by dealers having turnover of less than Rs 5 crore, said the official sources.

The government has collected Rs 690.32 crore in Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST), Rs 1094.7 crore in Integrated Goods and Services Tax (IGST) and Rs 584.3 crore in Cess.
The total GST collection during May this year is Rs 3196.75 crore as against Rs 2140.37 crore collected during May 2019 and Rs 1724.26 crore during May last year.
This shows a growth of 49.34% against collection of May 2019.

Covid-19: Tamil Nadu plans genome sequencing lab

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When scientists across the globe sounded the alarm about new variants of the SARS-Cov 2, which they suspect carry mutations with a potential to offset vaccine efficacy, officials in the state public Health laboratory were busy drafting a proposal to set up a whole genome sequencing lab for the state.

If the proposal is cleared, the state will soon have its own lab to sequence genomic code of the virus by the end of June.

Information available with the public health department shows the most common strain seen in the state, like in most parts of the country, is the double mutant B.1.617, now named Delta.

Malabar to have literary tourism circuit

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The state has made its foray into literary tourism by announcing plans to set up a Malabar Literary Circuit, which is billed as the first literary tourism circuit in the country, in the budget. Literary tourism allows travelers with a literary bent of mind to trail their favourite authors and locales associated with their literary works. Countries like the United Kingdom have capitalized on literary tourism in a big way by showcasing a string of locales associated with literary giants like Shakespeares birthplace in Stratford upon Avon and Thomas Hardys Dorset, among many others.

The Malabar Literary Circuit will connect destinations like Thunchan Parambu in Tirur,the birthplace of Thunchanth Ezhuthachan, the father of Malayalam language, Beypore in Kozhikode, which houses the residences of Beypore Sultan, Vaikom Muhammed Basheer, Thasrak, the village in Palakkad on which the imaginary land of Khasak where O V Vijayans masterpiece novel Khasakkinte Ithihasam is set, and Ponnani, Thrithala and the banks of Bharathapuzha linked to the life and works of eminent writer M T Vasudevan Nair.

The government has earmarked Rs 50 crore for setting up two new tourism circuits in the budget, the other being the circuit connecting places such as Ashtamudi Lake, Munroethuruth, Kottarakara, Meenpidipara, Muttara Maruthimala, Jadayu Rock, Thenmala and Achancovil in Kollam district.

NHAI developing four national highways in Karnataka: Karjol

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The National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) in Karnataka has taken up 1,980 km of work at an estimated cost of 35,280 crore, according to Deputy Chief Minister Govind M. Karjol, who holds the Public Works Department (PWD) portfolio.

Briefing the media about ongoing works, he said the NHAI has taken up Bengaluru-Mysuru, Tumakuru-Shivamogga, Ballari-Hiriyur and Bengaluru-Chennai Expressway roadworks. Work on Bengaluru-Mysuru four-lane highway work was expected to be completed in 2022.

Work on a bridge connecting Sigandur-Chowdeshwari temple in Shivamogga district was progressing at an estimated cost of 482.84 crore.

Under the Karnataka State Highway Improvement Project, it was proposed to develop 418 km of highways and so far 126 km had been developed. The total cost of the project was 5,334 crore.

Andhra Pradesh CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy launches 56,000 crore housing scheme for the poor

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Chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said the is committed to realise the dreams of every poor family to own a house. He said the government will ensure that no eligible poor family will be left without a house in the state by 2023. He said 17,000 housing colonies are coming up in the state to provide shelter to 31 lakh families at a cost of Rs 56, 000 cr.

Jagan said that the government has set June 2022 as the time frame to complete about 15.6 lakh houses across 175 assembly constituencies in the state and complete remaining 14 lakh houses by 2023 in the second phase.

Goa government plans to revive, create 100 water bodies in forest areas

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Seeking innovative ways to reduce man-animal conflicts, the forest department plans to create and revive around 100 newwater bodiesin forests that dot the state. The move, along with plantation of scores of fruit-bearing trees in the jungles will help prevent wild animals from straying into human habitations.

The theme for this World Environment Day is Restoring the Ecosystem, and Sawant called on all stakeholders to help preserve and protect forests, wild animals and other https://exam.pscnotes.com/natural-Resources“>Natural Resources. Ironically, Sawant has vehemently refused to engage with wildlife activists and environmentalists who waged a long campaign to stop trees from being felled in the Mollem wildlife sanctuary.

WII report on radio collar data shows tigers use farm lands to travel

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A report by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) and Maharashtra Forest Department (MFD) calls for enhanced protection of over 37,067 sq km tiger corridors identified in the Vidarbha landscape.

This is the first corridor study based on tiger telemetry data in India. It reveals that the agricultural landscape in Vidarbha is still conducive for tiger movement and is hope for long-term conservation of tigers.

Between 2015-2020, WII and MFD radio-collared 15 tigers under the Long-term research projects in Maharashtra. The report Telemetry-based tiger corridors of Vidarbha landscape, which is ready for release, identified 37,067 sq km of tiger corridors of the total area of 97,321 sq km landscape, which harbours 331 tigers.

The study categorized tiger corridors into 5 classes: very low (10,289 sq km), low (18,728 sq km), medium (5,690 sq km), high (1,418 sq km) to very high (942 sq km).

The report notes the Vidarbha landscape is dissected by 84,202 km of roads, which need pre-emptive mitigation where the roads cross important tiger corridors. Such habitat connectivity is increasingly used to mitigate effects of habitat fragmentation, land-use dynamics, and https://exam.pscnotes.com/Climate-change”>Climate Change.

Haryana, which is known for its rigid patriarchal order, continued to remain a poor performer in Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) towards gender equality, as per the Niti Aayog’s SDG India Index 2020-21.

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Even as Haryana recorded an overall score of 67, an improvement of 10 points and 14th rank among states this time, as compared to 18th in 2019-20 index, the performance of the state on two parameters i.e gender (SDG 5) and life on land (SDG 15) remains poor.

NITI Aayog on Thursday released the third edition of the SDG India Index 202021, which is developed in collaboration with the United Nations India to track the progress of all states and union territories (UT) towards achieving 17 SDGs. The index for SDGs evaluates progress of states and union territories on social, economic and environmental parameters.

In Gender Equality, Haryana was placed at 21st rank among states recording a poor score of 43. For this, NITI Aayog had considered nine criteria, including crime against Women, sex ratio, female labour force participation, family planning, domestic violence, operational landholdings, women in Leadership, women in managerial positions and wage gap among regular employees.

Similarly, in life on land (SDG 15), Haryana was ranked 25th among all states with a score of 48. The ranking was based on forest and tree cover, Desertification, wildlife crime cases, area covered under afforestation schemes and land degradation. Haryana has less than 10 percent of their geographical area under forest and tree cover.

While Haryana jumped from 18th to 14th rank in NITI Aayog’s latest SDG India Index, the state continues to remain behind the neighboring states of Punjab and Himachal.

Himachal retained the second spot with an overall score of 74 and Punjab, with a score of 68 was placed at 13th rank, while it was placed at 12th rank in 2019-20.

However, Haryana was among top three states named as top gainers in 2020-21, in terms of improvement in score from 2019. While in 2019-20, 10 states or UTs belonged to the category of front runners (score in the range 65-99, including both), 12 more states or UTs including Haryana find themselves in this category in 2020-21, the NITI Aayog’s report stated.

In the case of Haryana, the five goals with biggest improvement are SDG 1 no POVERTY (+22), SDG 7 affordable and clean air (+23), SDG 10 reduce inequalities (+14), SDG 11 sustainable cities and communities (+32) and SDG 12 responsible consumption and production (+38).

The country’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points – from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020-21.