06-07.06.21

Mid-day meal workers pay hiked to Rs 22,000 a year

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Acceding to a long-standing demand of around 45,000 cook-cum-helpers of the Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme in government, government-aided primary and upper primary schools of the state, the School Education Department has increased the annual honorarium to these helpers from Rs 17,000 to Rs 22,000 per annum.

More than 80 per cent of cook-cum-helpers for the scheme are Women and they were being paid Rs 1,700 per month for 10 months a

year from May 1, 2021.

This payment has now been increased to Rs 2,200 per month, 10 months a year. As there is no cooking of meal in the schools during summer (June) and winter (December) vacations, the helpers are not paid for this period.

The scheme guarantees one meal for at least 200 days in a year to all 16,88,769 students in government, government-aided primary and elementary schools in the state under Samagra Shiksha, a programme of the Ministry of Human resource development. The helpers work in about 19,680 government and government-aided schools in the state.

Himachal Pradesh has been ranked as the second best state in the country for achieving the targets under Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index.

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on Thursday launched the third edition of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) India Index and Dashboard 2020-21.

The Chief Minister said that Himachal is ahead of Kerala in making achievements in the fields of Health and well-being, economic Growth and decent work, reduction in inequalities, sustainable cities and communities and production and consumption patterns.

Himachal is catching up with Kerala in all other fields related to remaining Sustainable Development Goals. Since goal number 14 pertains to marine life and Himachal Pradesh does not have an oceanic ecosystem, it has not been ranked in this respect.

Uttarakhand mulls climate budget, to sanction separate funds for environment-friendly activities

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TheUttarakhandgovernment is mulling to introduce the provision of Climate BUDGETING from next financial year in order to counter adverse effects of global environmental changes in the Himalayan state. If the proposal pitched by the forest and Environment department goes through, Uttarakhand will be among the first states to come up with separate funds for activities related to mitigation of adverse impact of .

To recall, the Uttarakhand government in March this year had presented a Rs 57,400 crore budget for the 2021-22 fiscal in which Rs 455 crore had been earmarked for the environment.

Jharkhand: CM Hemant Soren’s cabinet approves floating solar panel in Getalsud reservoir

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The state cabinet on Friday cleared the decks for the commissioning of the 100-MW floating solar panel grid in theGetalsud Damon the outskirts of Ranchi. When commissioned, it will be a one-of-its-kind solar power generation plant in the state.

The cabinet gave a post facto approval to the state Health departments proposal to provide an additional monthly honorarium to doctors, nurses and health workers who are involved in Covid-19 duty. Contrary to expectations, however, the cabinet did not take up the proposal to notifyMucormycosisas an epidemic disease.

The cabinet also approved the state energy departments proposal for a one-time settlement of the outstanding power bills of Jharkhand Bijli Vitran Nigam Limiteds (JBVNL) domestic customers in rural areas. The approval of the proposal will now allow the rural users to pay their outstanding electricity bills in four monthly instalments. However, they will be exempted from paying the delayed payment surcharge (DPS).

Interlinking of museums to help know Bihars rich past: Nitish Kumar

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Chief Minister Nitish Kumar said Bihar Museum, the countrys first international museum, was built inPatnaand the has decided to expand the existing Patna Museum to make it even better.

The two museums will be connected through an underground subway, which will be a unique concept in itself.

The total length of the subway connection will be 1.4km (approximetely 1.395km) and the tunnel itself will be a sort of art gallery, which will be decorated with different forms of artworks on wall, including murals and Madhubani painting.

Clear policy required to deal with fly ash problem: FICCI

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The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and , Chhattisgarh has suggested that increasing punishments or punishing the power plant alone is not a solution but clear policy to fix responsibility of every stake holder is also necessary to solve the problem of fly ash menace.

The state, which is among the leading states in thermal power generation, has been facing the problem of fly ash since the beginning. Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate-change”>Climate Change issued another notification on April 22, 2021 and made some more stringent provisions regarding disposal of fly ash. Since these provisions will come into effect from April one, 2022.

FICCI has suggested that before the new notification comes into force, a systematic solution to the problem can pave the way for Sustainable Development. In order to dispose of fly ash, the government must make a condition of using only ash and its products compulsorily in all the tenders of construction works and mandatory rules for transportation and disposal should be made, use of fly ash should be mandatory for end users.

Lockdown pulls down Madhya Pradeshs GST collection 37% in April

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Corona virus triggeredlockdowninMadhya Pradeshduring the second surge has badly hit tax collection in the state affecting the financial Health of the already cashstrappedShivrajgovernment.

Roughly, there has been a 37% decline in theGST collectionof Madhya Pradesh in the month of April, when lockdown was imposed from the middle of the month.

States othersourcesof revenue including income from liquor sales and petrol and diesel also dried up during the lockdown. While the liquor shops were completely shut down, petrol diesel sales went down by about 30% compared to the previous month.

There was a major dent in the revenue accrued to the state as settlement of the State GST (SGST) and the Integrated GST (IGST) of the state.

It went down from Rs 2,021 crore in March this year to only Rs 1,100 crore in April, a decline of almost 46% according to finance department figures.

Finalizing rules for Clinical Establishment Act soon: Gujarat government

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The submitted before theGujarathigh court that it is about to finalize the rules for implementation of the Clinical Establishments (Registration and Regulation) Act, which has been adopted to regularize healthcare facilities.

After the issue of fire safety at Covid-19 hospitals came to the High Court, the state government stressed on adopting theClinical Establishments Act. On February 26, a division bench insisted that the state government adopt the central law. The state assembly passed a bill in this regard five days later.

Rajasthan scores high in school education

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The Union ministry of Education on Sunday released the third edition of Performance Grading Index (PGI) 2019-20 in which Rajasthan got Grade1+ i.e., level 3. Compared to last year, the state has improved its performance significantly.

Rajasthan scored between 851-900 points in 2019-20 PGI, which is a significant improvement from the last two indices where state scored 751-800. The central government introduced the Performance Grading Index (PGI) with a set of 70 parameters to catalyse transformational change in the field of school education.

The PGI for states and Union Territories was first published in 2019 with reference year 2017-18. The PGI exercise envisages that the index would propel states and UTs towards undertaking multi-pronged interventions that will bring about the much-desired optimal school education outcomes.

More infectious Delta variant behind 2nd wave, says study

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TheDelta variantor B.1.617.2 strain, which was first detected in India, is more infectious than the Alpha variant or B.1.1.7, first detected in the United Kingdom, and is also the reason behind the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, reveals a study conducted by a team of scientists from different Indian institutions.

The scientists noted B.1.617.2 is capable of creating very fast-rising outbreaks, importantly with vaccination breakthroughs (infections after vaccination). We would re-emphasise that prior infections, high seropositivity and partial vaccination are insufficient impediments to its spread, as seen in Delhi, and strong public Health response will be needed globally for its containment