12.06.21

The Centre will soon write a letter to Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh for a joint meeting with Haryana to resolve the contentious issue of construction of Sutlej-Yamuna Link Canal project.

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On the issue of SYL canal, the Chief Minister said that a meeting which Punjabs Chief Minister had scheduled regarding the construction of SYL has not been held yet. In this direction, a letter will be written by the Union Minister to the Punjab Chief Minister.

Notably, the sharing of the Ravi-Beas waters has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for decades. While Haryana has been seeking its rightful share, the successive Punjab Governments have refused to share water and complete the SYL canal, stating that it has no water to spare.

The Center has assured to provide Rs 500 crore for the development of Saraswati under the National River Conservation Scheme, he added.

The Chief Minister further said that under the ‘Nal Se Jal’ scheme, eight districts of Haryana have been completely covered and soon, Haryana will be the first state in the country to cover all the districts under this scheme.

Haryana is not able to discharge more water in the Yamuna. After the completion of Renuka, Kishau and Lakhwad dam projects on the upper Yamuna basin, the water situation will be assessed again and will be considered according to the situation.

Ludhiana: MSME units say unjustified price hike of 20-100 % of steel killing industry

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In the last one year, steel manufacturers have suffered a big blow due to uncontrollable rise in the rates of steel. According to them, there has been 20 to 100% increase in the rates of different types of steel products since July 2020, despite a huge fall in the demand for steel.

As a result of this, every singleMSMEunit is suffering huge losses and several units have closed down their operations temporarily. If the government fails to take steps to counter the situation, it is certain that a large number of factories will close down permanently.

More than 4.38 lakh people, which is over five percent of the total population, have been completely vaccinated against COVID-19 in Himachal after getting the second dose of Covishield.

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As many as 9,83,580 persons above 45 years of age and 7,36,647 persons above 60 years of age have received doses of Covishield vaccination in the state. Out of these, 70693 of 45 plus and 255966 of 60 plus have received their second dose of Covishield vaccination, said an official spokesman.

Himachal has an estimated Population of 75 lakh.

The spokesman said that as per recommendation by the national expert group on vaccine administration for Covid-19 , the schedule of Covishield vaccine under national Covid-19 vaccination strategy is to administer the second dose at 12-16 weeks (i.e. 84 days) interval after administration of first dose.

Uttarakhand education department plans tablets for students

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Uttarakhand Education departmentis mulling over distributing tablets to students of classes 11 and 12 so they can attend online classes.

A proposal is being prepared and it will be forwarded to the chief ministers office for the final nod, officials said.

It is estimated that around 1.36 lakh students will receive the tablets.

In regions with poor Internet connectivity, offline study material which will already have been uploaded on the device, will ensure the students studies are not hampered.

Jharkhand to extend tenure of panchayats: Alamgir Alam

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The Jharkhand government is mulling to bring in a special ordinance to extend the tenure of the panchayat bodies in the state for another six months considering the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic which has prevented the election, state rural development cum parliamentary affairs ministerAlamgir Alamsaid.

Alam said, The panchayatpollsare overdue as we couldnt hold it in December last year because of the pandemic. In January this year, the gave a six-month extension to the panchayat bodies to keep them operational. But with the second wave of Covid-19, we cannot hold the election this time, too. As per the rules of the Panchayati Raj Act, there is no provision to provide another extension. Therefore, we are considering to provide another extension through a special ordinance.

Nitish Kumar asks officials to reserve minimum 33.3% seats for women in Bihar’s first sports university

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Minimum 33.3% seats in the Bihars firstsports universitywould be reserved for girls.
Chief ministerNitish Kumar asked the art, culture and youth departments officials to make necessary statutory provisions in the rules of the proposed Sports university to reserve minimum 33.3% (one-third) seats for Women at the time of admission in the varsity.

Once started, the Bihar Sports University would be the first sports university in the state and the eighth such university in the country. The states likePunjab,Rajasthan,Gujarat,Madhya Pradesh, Assam and Nadu already have sports universities while Manipur has the countrys first central sports university, named as National Sports University.

Chhattisgarh: FICCI urges to implement pre-emption right of iron ore for state-based end plants

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Chhattisgarh-based sponge and steel industries are facing acute shortage of iron Ore, the Federation of Indian Chambers Of Commerce and Industries (FICCI) Chhattisgarh said urging the to implement pre-emption or first right of the iron ore for state based end Plants.

Chhattisgarh based plants are at a competitive disadvantage being situated in hinterland areas, with muted demand for finished steel and iron products compared to other states likePunjab, Uttar Pradesh,Maharashtra, Karnataka, Gujarat, and West Bengal.

FICCI has urged the state government to pro-actively implement pre-emption of iron ore for State based end-use plants who are solely dependent on MMDC for meeting their iron ore requirement. The Industry body has asked states to consider the issues of improving the production in state based iron ore mines so that they consistently achieve rated capacity and endeavor to first fulfill the iron requirement of state based plants before allowing merchant miners such as NMDC to engage in outside state exports.

Madhya Pradesh set to lose soya state tag; government discourages its farming

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Madhya Pradeshmight lose its soya state tag as poor quality seeds have hit cultivation and yield.

The is also advisingfarmersto switch to alternate cash-rich crops like pulses and corn among others.Ahead of kharif season, the farmers in the state face an acute crisis of quality soya seeds which are available at apriceof Rs 10,000 per quintal to Rs 12,000 per quintal. And despite this high price, there is no guarantee of germination, farmers said.

The state governmentsUturnhas surprised the soya processing Industry in MP including the SOPA (Soyabean Processors Association of India).

Govt undertakes EIA study for semi high-speed rail project

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The semi-high speed rail project between Ahmedabad and Rajkot moved up a notch afterGujaratRail Development Corporation Limited (G-RIDE) called for consultants to prepare an Environment and Social Impact Assessment study for the project. G-RIDE is planning to reach out to various multilateral financing agencies like World Bank and Asian Development Bank to fund the project.

At present, G-RIDE is undertaking alignment studies of the project. It is estimated that a majority of the alignment will be along national highway (NH-47) connecting Ahmedabad and Rajkot. The take-off point in Ahmedabad is being planned at Sabarmati.

The EIA study will entail a comprehensive environment and social impact study along the route corridor. The consultants will identify mitigation measures, conduct public consultations, prepare a resettlement action plan as well as an environmental and social management plan. The project will act as a high-speed rail feeder for the Ahmedabad-Mumbai bullet train and reduce travel time from Rajkot to Mumbai, which, currently takes more than 12 hours, to less than 5 hours.

Rajasthan: 53 lakh to 13 lakh per day, MGNREGA labour work dips in 2nd wave

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Compared to last years engagement of over 52 lakh labourers underMGNREGAat the height ofCovidpandemic on June 14 (2020), the numbers dipped to 13.48 lakh on the corresponding day this year (2021) at a time when the state was reeling under second wave. The highest labour engagement per day in the state last year (2020) was on June 15 at 53.45 lakh.

According to officials and volunteers of Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS), lakhs of labourers are not getting work under the scheme despite a huge demand for it. They said while there was a huge demand for EMPLOYMENT under the scheme last year due to large-scale labour movement at the peak of first wave, this year the numbers (in terms of labour movement) are low because either most of them have not returned to their previous workplaces or they have come back again (in small numbers) and are still demanding for work under the scheme.

According to ‘sRaj Kaushalportal, 12.81 lakh migrant workers had returned to the state last year.