11.11.21

Farm fires down by 64% in Haryana in 4 yrs: Agriculture Secy

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Urging farmers to resort to crop residue management, the Additional Secretary, Union Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture Ministry, Dr Abhilaksh Likhi, said there was a significant reduction of 64 per cent in the number of incidents of burning of paddy residue in Haryana in the year 2020 compared to the year 2016.

Interacting with farmers during his visit to the Northern Region Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute (FMTTI) in Hisar today, Dr Likhi called upon the farmers to adopt the management of their crop residue which helps bring down Air Pollution further. He also took farmers feedback while inspecting the machines and equipment used for in-situ and ex-situ crop residue management at Northern Zone Farm Machinery Training and Testing Institute.

He informed the farmers that the Agriculture Department had introduced a Central scheme on crop residue management in Haryana, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi in 2018-19 to addressing the problem of air pollution in Delhi and National Capital Region due to stubble burning.

He said under this scheme, financial assistance for the purchase of crop residue management machines was provided at 50% of the cost to individual farmers and at 80% of the project cost to of farmers, registered farmers societies, FPOs and panchayats for establishment of custom hiring centres of crop residue management machines.

Punjab Cabinet removes fee cap on courses under scholarship scheme

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Coming to the rescue of private educational institutions, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Chani-led Cabinet decided to remove the fee cap for different courses under the SC Post-matric Scholarship Scheme and bring it on par with general category students.

The decision would allow the private educational institutions to get fee reimbursement for the SC students on par with the general category students. Earlier, a fee hike by the Higher Education Department under the scholarship scheme for different self-financed courses had been halted by the Chief Ministers Office after it was found contradictory to the previous instructions on the capping of charges.

Increasing the fee under the self-financed courses means an extra financial burden on the state exchequer, as the charges of the SC students are reimbursed by the government. In the past, the private universities and Joint Association of Colleges had been quoting the fee structure of government and professional universities to seek the revision of fee for self-financed courses.

The Cabinet also deliberated on the hardships faced by SC students. It was highlighted that funding for the scholarship scheme was shared between the Centre and Punjab Government in the ratio of 60:40. However, the Centre stopped giving its share from 2016 onwards. Resultantly, the Cabinet decided that the would bear its liability of 40 per cent amounting to Rs 433.96 crore since 2017-18, to be released in two instalments during the financial years 2021-22 and 2022-23.

5-year age relaxation for women under Swavalamban scheme in Himachal

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The has made amendments in the Mukhya Mantri Swavalamban Yojana- 2019 (MMSY) by giving five-year relaxation in the upper age limit for Women applying under the scheme and adding new activities.

Small-scale service and business enterprises, such as silage units, Unnat Dairy Vikas Project (minimum 10 cows or buffaloes), cold storage facilities for milk and milk products, farm stay, agro tourism, farm tourism, construction of retail outlets for Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture, manufacturing of agricultural implements and equipment, raising of vegetable nursery, Tissue Culture laboratory, Warehousing and transportation of agricultural produce, vertical farming, petrol pumps, EV charging stations, ambulance, silk processing unit, silk reeling units, Oxygen cryogenic tanker Services, surveyor unit and drilling units had been added under the MMSY.

A target of benefitting 2,000 people was fixed in 2021-22, which had now been enhanced to 3,000 and 1,350 cases have been sanctioned under the scheme till date. Earlier, the state government was providing subsidy for 85 activities under the scheme, he stated.

The government had approved the proposed amendments in MMSY-19, recommended by a committee constituted under the chairmanship of Rural Development, Panchayati Raj and Agriculture Minister Virender Kanwar, in the recently held Cabinet meeting.

Uttarakhand Commemorates Statehood Day

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On November 9, Uttarakhand Foundation Day is commemorated. The day is commemorated every year to commemorate the founding of India’s 27th state.

Highlights:

Uttarakhand was formed in 2000 by combining some districts from Uttar Pradesh’s northwestern region with a section of the Himalayan Mountain range.

Uttaranchal was the previous name for this state. In 2007, it was renamed Uttarakhand.

The year 2021 marks the 21st anniversary of Uttarakhand’s foundation.

Uttarakhand is renowned as the “Land of Gods.” Glaciers, snow-capped mountain peaks, rivers, and lush forests are among its abundant https://exam.pscnotes.com/natural-Resources“>Natural Resources.

It also has the Char Dham of Uttarakhand, which consists of four of the most sacred and respected Hindu temples: Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, and Yamunotri. Uttarakhand’s capital is Dehradun.

Uttar Pradeshs 10 cities among 15 most polluted in country

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Ten cities ofUttar Pradeshwere among 15 most polluted cities in the country on Tuesday. The Air Quality Index (AQI) was recorded in the severe category, according to the data compiled by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). Among the UP cities, the pollution in Firozabad and Agra rose to alarming levels at 489 and 472, respectively. However, the AQI levels in Delhi were recorded at 404.

Experts believe that the air quality might deteriorate in the coming days due to the current weather conditions and stubble burning.

The air quality in Agra continued to remain in the severe category despite the interventions of the apex court and the . A thick blanket of smoke and dust enveloped the region, reducing visibility to a few meters.

According to CPCB report, Firozabad recorded 489 AQI and most West UP and NCR cities also stayed in the severe zone Agra (472), Vrindavan (454), Ghaziabad (451), Baghpat (442), Meerut and Hapur (433), Noida (426), Greater Noida (412) and Muzaffarnagar (410).
Five other cities across the country also recorded worse air quality Jind (403), Delhi (404), Ballabhgarh (412), Kaithal (418), and Faridabad (430).

An AQI ranging from 0 to 50 is considered good, and satisfactory if it falls between 51 and 100. Similarly, from 101 to 200 it will be moderate, 201 to 300 is considered poor, 301 to 400 is taken as very poor, and above 400 its severe.

State capitals Birsa Munda Airport has bagged the first position in Eastern India and the fifth position in the country in customer satisfaction and basic facilities provided to passengers, airport officials said on Monday.

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Airport Council International (ACI), a global body involved in improving security, safety and sustainability of the aviation , conducted the survey by seeking feedback of at least 350 passengers who travelled to or from Ranchi. At least 60 Airports across India were reviewed during the survey.

The Ranchi airport, which also bagged the first position among airports in India in Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI) in 2020, currently has more than 20 flights connecting Jharkhand to Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Patna, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Bangalore and other important cities across India.

Seventh phase of Bihar panchayat polls on November 15

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Preparations were underway to conduct free, fair and peaceful 7th phase of panchayat in 63 blocks spread over 37 districts in the state on November 15.

The state Election Commission (SEC) officials revealed that the process to dispatch EVMs to altogether 12,786 polling booths would start after the Chhath festival. The election results would be announced on November 17.

According to information available from the SEC, 1,05,658 candidates are in the fray for 27,730 posts in this phase. The nomination papers of 694 candidates were cancelled during the scrutiny.

Altogether 99,863 candidates remained in the fray for the posts of ward member, mukhiya, panchayat samiti member, sarpanch, panch and district board member.

Chhattisgarh Food and Civil Supplies Minister Amarjeet Bhagat on Tuesday said a request will be made to the Centre to procure 23 lakh tonnes of usna (par-boiled) rice from the state.

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The Central government has in principle granted permission to procure 61.65 lakh tonnes of arwa rice to the central pool.

The state has 461 rice mills producing Usna (par-boiled) , having a milling capacity of 5.93 lakh tonnes. It will cause losses to millers and its workers.

So, a request will be made to procure 23 lakh tonnes of usna rice, the Minister said. The Central government’s pending subsidy of Rs 3,631 crores will be also sought.

This year’s target of paddy procurement is 105 lakh tonnes which will require around 113.00 lakh tonnes of bales of gunny bags.

The procurement will commence from December 1. He added that for 2020-21, paddy is being given Rs 32 per quintal.

Only 12 districts in Madhya Pradesh have satisfactory sex ratio at birth

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Less than 25% districts ofMadhya Pradeshhas satisfactory sex ratio of more than 950 females against 1000 males at the time of birth, shows an annual report of Health and family welfare department.

The report for the year 2021 shows that only 12 districts – Indore, Shajapur, Dewas, Mandsaur, Neemuch and Alirajpur, Raisen, Betul, Seoni, Balaghat and Dindori – have sex ratio of more than 950 females at the time of birth.

Sex ratio is number of females per 1000 males in the age group of 0-6 years. The sex ratio at the time of birth is defined as number of girls born against 1000 boys. A sex ratio of 952 girls against 1000 boys at the time of birth is satisfactory, defines the report.

The report further suggested that half of 52 districts in the state have sex ration between 920 to 950. There are four districts, Morena, Gwalior, Datia and Burhanpur, with sex ratio of less than 883 at the time of birth.

Gujarat gets five more mobile food testing labs

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Gujarat has been provided with five more food testing vans.

Sponsored by the central government, these mobile food testing laboratories have been allocated to the state under Food Safety on Wheels initiative of (Fssai).

The newly inducted food testing vans will move through various districts in the state to test food samples. Even food samples brought by common people will also be tested free of cost by these mobile units.

FSSAI had previously offered four such mobile units to Gujarat.