10.07.21

Despite Haryana Government’s push for incentivizing water conservation, the groundwater crisis is deepening in the agrarian state.

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The decadal data shows a worrying trend with 76 percent areas in Haryana witnessing a decline in groundwater level, according to the latest report of Central Ground Water Board.

The interpretations of decadal fluctuations from 2010 to 2020 shows that groundwater level declined in 66 percent of wells which covers about 76 percent area of the state falling in all 22 districts. Water level decline in the range of 0-2m has been reported from 40 percent of the wells covering 34 percent of area of the state, as per the report.

Water level decline between 2-4m has been reported from 12 percent of wells covering 16 percent area of Haryana while decline of more than 4m has been observed in 14 percent wells and 26 percent of the area of state covering parts of Kurukshetra, Kaithal, Karnal, Panipat, Sonipat, Bhiwani, Charkhi Dadri, Palwal, Rewari, Gurugram and occurring dominantly in Mahendragarh, Mewat and Faridabad districts.

In the past few years, the Manohar Lal Khattar led Haryana Government has announced lucrative schemes to encourage farmers in paddy-rich areas to grow less water-consuming crops like maize, pulses, in a bid to address the consistent decline in the water table.

However, the farmers have stuck to the entrenched paddy-wheat cycle in the state, and paddy, being a water guzzler, is often blamed for the rapid decline in groundwater across the state.

The decadal data also indicated that there is not a very encouraging rise in groundwater level in the state. The water level rise has been observed in 34 percent of wells and just 24 percent area in the state. The water level rise in the range of 0-2m has been observed in 27 percent wells covering 21 percent area of the state, rise of 2-4m observed in four percent wells and less than two percent area of the state, rise of less than 4m has been observed in just three percent wells covering just one percent area of Haryana.

To further improve health conditions of soil of the state, Punjab Government announced to provide 20,000 MT Gypsum on 50 percent subsidy to the farmers.

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Appealing the farmers to get Gypsum at subsidized rates, Brar said that the farmers should contact the concerned Chief Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture Officer, Block Agriculture Officer, AGRICULTURE DEVELOPMENT Officer of district or block or Punjab Agros Regional Managers at Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Sangrur, and Kotkapura and get Gypsum worth Rs 340 per bag of 50 kg at subsidized rate, that is Rs 170 per bag thus help to improve the Health of Soils of Punjab.

He said that the farmers should fulfil the criteria of various documents including prescribed form filled and duly attested by Sarpanch, Panch, Lambardaar or MC of their village or city, Photostat copy of Aadhar card and Photocopy of Bank Passbook.

Pointing out the benefit of usage of Gypsum, Brar said that the PH of approximately 2.30 lakhs hectare of land in Punjab is above 8.5, which means alkaline and sodium is present in these soils which is insoluble in water that hinders the availability of required nutrients to the Plants.

In a first, Himachal to hold census of Asiatic black bear, leopard

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Considering the increase in attacks on human beings, the wildlife wing of the Forest Department will hold a census of Asiatic black bear and common leopard with the help of the Zoological Survey of India, Kolkata, and formulate a strategy to combat the issue.

The wildlife wing of the Forest Department will soon sign a memorandum of understanding with the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), Kolkata, for undertaking the Population estimation so that there is an idea about the population of black bears and leopards. A major part of this will be as study on human-wildlife conflict, which will primarily focus on these two species.

Though a census to ascertain the population of common leopards had been undertaken in 2004, it was not done scientifically and its figures were highly doubtful. The Forest Department has undertaken the census of monkey and langur thrice and of the highly endangered snow leopard once. However, it will, for the first time, collect data on Asiatic black bears which are found in the higher reaches of Chamba, Shimla, Kullu and Sirmaur.

Affecting the first of the expected major changes a day after assuming charge as the Chief Minister, the State Government under Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami appointed SS Sandhu as the States new Chief Secretary on Monday. Previous Chief Secretary Om Prakash has been posted as the resident commissioner in Delhi.

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A 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (Ias) officer, Sandhu was on deputation to the Centre as the chairman of the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI).

He has served earlier in the Uttarakhand as the vice chairman of Mussoorie Dehradun Development Authority (MDDA) and the principal secretary in Uttarakhand before going to Delhi on deputation.

Uttar Pradesh will be the first state in the country to have a stadium for the differently abled (divyang) players in Lucknow to ensure these sportspersons ample opportunity to hone their talent and showcase it at international level.

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Besides, the government is also mulling to organise competitions on the lines of Asiad and Paralympics of international level for them.

A grand stadium has already been prepared for the differently abled sportspersons at Shakuntala Mishra Divyang Rehabilitation University and Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will inaugurate the complex. This stadium for the special athletes will be the first of its kind in the entire country. International level Sports events like Paralympics and Asiad can also be organised in this stadium.

The handicrafts made by the artisans of Jharkhand have received national recognition because of such association. The products of Jharcraft have been highly appreciated for their beauty and artistry.

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Through Jharcraft, the is engaged in promoting the States regional and traditional handicrafts like Lacquer products, Bamboo products, Dokra art, sohrai, kohbar, jadupatia painting, terracotta art, jute wares, leather purses, traditional instruments like Mandar, Nagada, and Dholak. Along with these, some unique things made of paper like the Chhau mask, artistic items like idols are also being promoted through Jharkraft.

Under the handicrafts ambit of Jharcraft, approximately 30,000 families are associated. Jharcraft is helping these artisans in one way or the other. Initiatives have been taken to train these artisans and connect them with the market. Jharcraft is also working on the protection and promotion of the unique handicrafts of Jharkhand.

According to the prevailing art form of the respective region, Jharcraft went to villages and provided training to the artisans. During the process, they were trained to manufacture handicraft products as per the market demand and launching of products in the market.

Fly ash from power plants remains a worry for human health, crops

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Villagers and farmers residing around Kahalgaon super thermal power station in Bhagalpur district are living in constant fear of Health hazards and damage to their standing crops due to improper management of fly ash generated at the plant in course of production of electricity, a study has claimed.

Apart from the health hazard caused due to heavy concentration of small particles in ambient air, standing crops on around 80 hectares field near the plant was damaged last year and early this year as the ash dyke breached its embankment and pipe of ash slurry burst owing to technical fault near Chaitola and Masdaha near Kahalgaon.

The plant is owned and run by National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC), a central public sector enterprise.

Similarly, several houses were flooded with ash slurry in Bokaro after a pond built to store the fly ash near the Bokaro thermal power station, also run by NTPC, overflew in September 2019. Power station authorities attribute the accident to excessive rains.

These are a few incidents of fly ash management at coal-fired power stations in Bihar and Jharkhand featured in a study carried out jointly by advocacy groups like Asar Social Impact Advisors, Research on Energy and Clean Air and Manthan Adhyay Kendra recently. The study, titled Lest we Forget – A status report of neglect of coal ash accidents in India (May 2019-May 2021), was released recently.

The report says penalties being levied on coal-based power plant operators have hardly improved things. Despite clear rules for fly ash management, villagers and farmers are exposed to suffer, it says.

Power Plants have failed at not only removal of ash, remediation of sites, addressing health impacts but also in paying full compensation to affected villages, report said.

The Raigarh forest division has done exemplary work by sowing two lakh seed balls and 1,200 kgs of seeds of fruit bearing trees on a single day.

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Raigarh Divisional Forest Officer Dr Pranay Mishra said on Monday that the contribution of local public representatives and forest management committee helped sow double the given target of 1 lakh seed balls.

He said ber (Jujube), jamun (Jambul), Bel (wood apple), sitaphal (custard apple), karaunda (gooseberry) and munga (drumsticks) were planted or sprayed or sown through seed balls.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that employment promotion is necessary to make Madhya Pradesh self-reliant. Today the sunrise of new-industry is happening in the city of Lord Mahakal.

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Now continuous industrial development will go on here. Madhya Pradesh government is committed to provide EMPLOYMENT to the local people. He appealed to the public to cooperate with the industrialists to maintain a good industrial Environment.

Chouhan said that the textile unit which is being set up in Ujjain today with an of Rs 60 crore is coming from Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, which is the hub of textiles. He had started this effort 4 years ago, when he went to Tiruppur, which has been successful today. This plant will start its work by 2022. Four thousand Women will get direct employment from industries coming to Ujjain.

Chouhan on Sunday performed bhumi pujan of the ultramodern textile unit to be set up by BEST Corporation of Tamil Nadu on the land of soybean plant in Ujjain.

Gujarat: At Rs 20,132 crore, fresh loans to women entrepreneurs up 32%

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Even as businesses battled revenue shortfalls and faced WORKING CAPITAL issues, fresh loan disbursals to Women entrepreneurs surged 32% in the pandemic year of 2020-21. This Growth rate was much lower at 8.2% in 2019-20, shows the latest data compiled by the State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC)-Gujarat.

Fresh loans worth Rs 20,132 crore were extended to women entrepreneurs in 2020-21 as compared to Rs 15,252 crore in 2019-20. The disbursals grew noticeably but the number of beneficiaries declined to 7.87lakhfrom 8.57 lakh during the period under review.

The pandemic caused a major disruption across businesses in most sectors. As a consequence, the requirement for working capital went up. People who had registered businesses in the name of their wives availed these loans. At the same time, many were compelled to diversify their business and they did so in the name of the women in their family for easy credit availability.