07.06.23

Meghalaya finally sets up expert panel to study 51-year-old reservation policy

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Amidst the demands and agitations of various parties including the Voice of the People’s Party (VPP), the Meghalaya government on Thursday announced the constitution of an expert committee to review the 1972 reservation policy.

Chief Secretary D. P. Wahlang issued a notification saying that the expert committee would review the state reservation policy by obtaining views from all stakeholders including the , NGOs, and civil Society organisations (CSOs).

The Chairperson and members of the committee shall consist of experts in constitutional law, economics, Sociology, demographic Studies and related fields which shall be notified by the State Government.

The expert committee shall undertake a review of the State Reservation Policy by obtaining views from all stakeholders and by conducting field visits to all parts of the state, the notification said.

An all-party committee on reservation roster system and reservation policy on Wednesday also suggested appointing an expert committee to review the 51-year-old reservation policy.

According to the 2011 Census, Christians constitute 74.59 per cent of Meghalaya’s 29.67 lakh populations, while Muslims and Hindus constitute 4.4 per cent and 11.53 per cent, respectively.

Meghalaya’s 51-year-old job reservation policy entails 80 per cent quota for three matrilineal communities – Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia. The quota is divided equally between the Garos and the Khasi-Jaintia people together. Another 5 per cent is reserved for ‘other minor tribes’, while 15 per cent is reserved for people in the unreserved categories.

The Garo tribals are educationally more backward and numerically lower than the Khasi-Jaintia people, and they have hardly been able to get the full benefit of the reservation of 40 per cent.


IIT-Guwahati retains 7th rank in NIRF, scores over IIT-Madras on 1 count

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The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) has retained the seventh rank in the ‘Engineering’ category in the National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) released by the Union minister of state for Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh.

IIT-G has scored even better than top-ranked IIT Madras in ‘Graduation Outcomes’ assessment, as the former retained the previous year’s ranking (7th) in engineering. However, IIT-G’s rank slipped to the ninth position from eighth in the ‘Overall’ category this time. It also secured the 9th rank among the 50 entries in the ‘Research Institution’ category and is the only institution listed in this category.

In graduation outcomes (GO), which measures the proportion of enrolled students graduating finally, IIT-G fared better with 85.01 points compared to 79.89 scored by IIT-Madras under the ‘engineering’ category.

In the ‘Overall’ category of NIRF, where assessment of all institutions including universities, engineering and medical institutions were done, IIT-G (9th) and National institute of technology (NIT) Silchar (83rd) are the only two institutions to figure from the northeast.
In the ‘Engineering Institutions’ category, apart from IIT-G, NIT Silchar (40th), NIT Manipur (95th), NIT Meghalaya (72nd) and NIT Agartala (91st) have been ranked in the top-100 engineering institutions.
In the ‘University’ category, TU and GU have been ranked 69th and 88th this year, down from 59th and 36th last year. While Mizoram University improved its ranking to 76th from 78th, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong slipped from 66th to 80th rank.
With a 34th rank, Pachhunga University College, Aizawl (Mizoram) is the only college from the northeast to get a berth in the listed 100 institutions in ‘college’ category.

In the ‘Management’ category, Indian Institute Of Management Shillong secured the 26th position, while TU stood 93rd .

The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Guwahati with a 12th rank and Dibrugarh University with a 33rd rank are the only institutions from the northeast in the ‘Pharmacy’ category.
In ‘Law’, National Law University and Judicial Academy, Kamrup (Assam) stood 28th and is the only ranked institute from the region.

KALIA Centre in every district soon

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The has decided that a KALIA Centre would be made functional in every district of the State for the welfare of farmers.

The centre would encourage agri innovation and serve as a one stop resource centre. The centre would be equipped with adequate technical man power to resolve different issues of farmers related to different agricultural programme/activities like MKUY, SAFAL, GO SUGAM, Krushak Odisha and KALIA, said Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Minister Ranendra Pratap Swain here on Saturday.

A nodal officer from the office of Chief District Agriculture Officer would monitor the day-to-day functioning of the Kalia Centre at district level, he said.

In this context, a letter has been issued by Agriculture Principal Secretary, Arabinda Kumar Padhee to all Collectors to arrange a suitable building for functioning of Kalia Centre in and around the district headquarters.

The Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) scheme has been introduced in 2018 to provide support to cultivators for cultivation for small and marginal farmers and livelihood support for landless agricultural households for taking non-farm activities.

The scheme of the State Government is perhaps the first Universal Basic Income (UBI) scheme of the country.

The scheme has been universally acclaimed not only for its conceptualisation but also with respect to its implementation. A unique aspect of the scheme has been the inclusion of landless agricultural households and sharecroppers.

Since the launch of the scheme, 43,04,876 small marginal farmers/actual cultivators(Sharecroppers) and 17,71,756 landless Agricultural Households (LAH) have been disbursed financial assistance. Financial assistance of more than Rs 11,600 crore has been extended for the purpose.

TNAU gets patent for agriculturalequipment

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TheTamil Nadu Agricultural University(TNAU) has received a patent from the office of the controller general of patents, designs, and trademarks of theministry of commerceand for Dual-purposeAgricultural Implement.

The implement is designed for weed management and earthing-up operations. The equipment includes ground wheel, blade, prong, main frame and smooth handle. There are two ground wheels for smooth movement of the machine, a press release from TNAU said. The working blade is at the bottom of the equipment to cut Weeds and provide sliding action, so that the root may not stick to the blade.

Centre slashes state’s borrowing capacity again

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The state, once again, is staring at a major financial crisis after the Centre slashed Kerala’sborrowingcapacity by almost Rs 8,000 crore for the ongoing financial year.

With the Centre’s latest decision, the state can borrow only a maximum of Rs 15,390 crore for the first nine months of the ongoing financial year. Kerala has already borrowed Rs 2,000 crore for disbursing salaries and pensions, which forms the state’s biggest expenses. In effect, the state can borrow only up to Rs 13,390 crore for the stated period for meeting various expenses. Last year, the state was allowed to borrow Rs 23,000 crore.

The state has been maintaining that the Centre’s discriminatory approach towards Kerala has been smothering the state. In February this year, the state had received a communique from the Centre that its borrowing limit for the last quarter of the last financial year has been limited to Rs 937 crore, by cutting down the expected limit by Rs 2,700 crore. Though the norms say that the state can borrow up to a maximum of 3% of the GDP, the Centre had also included the Resources raised through KIIFB and the Kerala social security pension limited under the state’s borrowings, thereby reducing the limit of state’s further borrowing capacity.

As per article 293 (3) of the Constitution, the state cannot, without the Union Government‘s Consent, raise any loan if there is still any outstanding part of a loan which has been made to the state by the Centre or in respect of which a guarantee has been given by the Centre.

7 institutions from Karnataka among top 100 in NIRF rankings

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The latest rankings for higher Education institutions in the country, released by the National Institute of Ranking Framewok (NIRF), present a not-so-encouraging picture forKarnatakainstitutions with just a handful of universities making it to the list and only two colleges from the state finding a place in the top 100.

The silver lining came in the form of Indian Institute of Science (IISc) that managed to retain its top position among the state’s universities for the eighth consecutive year, even as the number of universities from Karnataka in the top 100 dropped from 12 to ten.

The rankings were done on the basis of TEACHING, Learning and Resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity, and perception.

NLSIU retained its first position in law for the sixth consecutive year. While Christ University improved its ranking from 16 to13, Alliance University stood at 87th in management studies.

Telangana to house world’s first 3D printed temple

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Telanganais all set to house what is being claimed as the worlds first 3D printed place of worship with Hyderabad-based construction playerApsuja Infratechjoining hands with Mumbai-based additive manufacturing solutions providerSimpliforge Creations.

The3D printed temple, which is coming up at Apsuja Infratechs upcoming project at Siddipet, is a three-part structure spread over 3,800 sq ft and 30 feet in height and is slated to be completed by July. The 3D structure is expected to take 2-3 months from start to finish vis a vis a conventional construction which would have taken more than double the time.
The structure is being 3D printed by Simpliforge, which claims to have Indias first and South Asias largest Robotics construction 3D printing facility, with the help of their in-house developed system and indigenously developed material and Software.

The 3D printed temple will have three sanctums a modak dedicated tolord Ganesha, a square Shivalay devoted to Lord Shankar and a lotus-shaped one for Goddess Parvati. While the Shivalay and Modak have been completed, the construction of the lotus and tall spires (Gopurams) are already underway.

Manyam district gets NITI Aayogs pat, Rs 3 crore additional funding

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Parvathipuram Manyamdistrict has secured a good rank in the basic theme among all the aspirational districts. For this, the district is entitled to receive an additional Rs 3 crore allocation. Under the aspirational districts programme,NITI Aayogmonitors the districts’ progress on key performance indicators and providesperformance-based additional allocation.

The additional secretary informed that as per the scheme guidelines, the district has to prepare a plan of action/project proposal for the allocated funds and send the same to NITI Aayog for final approval of the empowered committee of secretaries constituted for the aspirational districts programme.

Goa: Soon, give single-use cans, bottles to deposit stations, get a refund

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To control the rising waste in Goa caused by disposable plastic and beerbottlesand aluminum cans used by locals and tourists, the Goa State Pollution Control Board (GSPCB) is mulling an idea implemented at the pilgrimage site of Kedarnath, Uttarakhand. The board is already in talks with the company Recykal, which has introduced the programme at Kedarnath.

Once implemented in Goa, anyone purchasing a product in a disposable bottle will be charged an extra ‘deposit’ amount. The consumer will be able to recover the amount after scanning a unique QR code when depositing the bottle at one of the predesignated collection centres.

Vidarbhas colleges slide in this years NIRF rankings

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The NationalInstitute Ranking Framework (NIRF-2023) released on Monday witnessed a slide in overall ranking of institutes inVidarbha, including noted ones like Visvesvaraya National institute of technology (VNIT), Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management (RCEOM), GH Raisoni College of Engineering (GHRCE), Institute of Management Technology (IMT), and others.

Nagpur University maintained its dubious distinction of not figuring among top 200 institutions across India. Ever since the launch ofNIRFrankings, NU, celebrating its centenary year, has never broken into the top 200. On the other hand, Mumbai and Pune universities feature among the top 100, although their rankings too slipped this year.

The Government Institute of Science also broke into the top 100 for the first time and bagged 83rd rank. Last year, it was in the bracket of 101-150. The Wardha-based Kumbhalkar College of Social Work is a new entrant in this category featuring among 101-150 colleges. Shivaji Science College is the only one from Amravati to figure among top 150-200.