13.07.21

India has consistent policy to treat Dalai Lama as an honoured guest: MEA

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India has a consistent policy of treating the Dalai Lama as a respected religious leader and an honoured guest in the country, theministry of external affairssaid.

The assertion, in response to a question, came two days after Prime MinisterNarendra Modicalled up the Tibetan spiritual leader and greeted him on his 86th birthday.

The 14th Dalai Lama has made India his Home since fleeing China in 1959. The Chinese government officials and the Dalai Lama or his representatives have not met in formal negotiations since 2010.
Beijing has in the past accused the Dalai Lama of indulging in “separatist” activities and trying to split Tibet and considers him as a divisive figure.

50% of Assam’s adult popn yet to be given vaccines

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Erratic supply of Vaccines has slowed down the pace of immunisation to the extent that if the third wave were to hit the state in August, about 50% of Assam’s adult Population would be vulnerable as they have not been fully vaccinated.

Amid third wave concerns, the Meghalaya government upped its vaccination drive by roping in community and religious leaders in the hill state to overcome hesitancy. Tripura is in a better position because it has the highest vaccination record of its targeted population. Assam being the gateway to the northeast, the shortage of vaccines has become a matter of concern.
Statistics furnished by the immunization office in Assam showed 87.58lakhpeople have been vaccinated. By Saturday evening, a total of 72.32 lakh of the 2.37 crore 18+ population got the first shot. This accounts for 31% of the eligible population. On the other hand, only 15.26 lakh beneficiaries have received the second shot.

In Meghalaya, chief minister Conrad K Sangma, who had flagged the shortage as a ‘big concern’ for the state during the video-meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has urged all eligible citizens to take the vaccine even as the has been strengthening and upgrading Health Infrastructure to deal with a possible third wave.

Odisha: Genome sequencing of mangrove to help develop saline-tolerant crops

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Mangrove, which is found in Bhitarkanika and some other parts ofOdisha, besides Sundarbans in West Bengal and marshy intertidal estuaryne regions of the country, can survive a high degree of salinity.

Amazed by this adaptive mechanism, scientists have conducted a thorough study on a mangrove species and found that its genes can help in developing drought and salinity-tolerant crops in future.

This species grows optimally in 75% seawater and tolerates more than 250% seawater. It is capable of a rare phenomenon of excreting 40% of the salt through the salt glands in the leaves.

Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture productivity is affected globally owing to limited water availability and salinisation of and water.

Salinity is prevalent in roughly 900 million hectares globally (with an estimated 6.73 million ha in India). It causes an annual loss of 27 billion US dollars.

Tamil Nadu govt will build flyovers in congested towns: Minister Velu

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Nadu PWDand highways minister E VVelu said thehighways departmentwould take up construction of flyovers across the state, especially in heavily congested towns as directed by chief minister M K Stalin.

The minister was reviewing the department projects at Kancheepuram district collectorate with the officials of Kancheepuram, Tiruvallur and Chengalpet districts.

The highways department has no jurisdiction over panchayat union roads and panchayat roads. Following the chief ministers direction, the highways department will strengthen10,000-km-long panchayat unionroads identified by the district collectors. The work will be taken in a phased manner in the next five years underNABARDscheme.

The investor-friendly Kerala

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For new industries minister P Rajeev, the job at hand is not easy. His aim is to take Kerala from the 28th spot in Ease-of-Doing-Business (EoDB-2019) index to within the top 10 in the country and it begins at a time when the ongoing Kitex debacle is making an impact in the minds of investors who already view Kerala as a graveyard of industries.

Kerala government has implemented K-Swift (online single-window clearance mechanism) and all top officials across departments know this system. But, local-level officers in departments, including LSGD, should be equally wellversed in the new system. This can significantly improve EoDB in state, said chairman of CIIs Kerala State Council Sreenath Vishnu.

He said the best way to create awareness among panchayat-level officers is to set up a rewarding system for each local self-government, based on the number of jobs created and the direct and indirect taxes generated by new companies there. This will result in a healthy competition between panchayats to help set up businesses in their area. he added.

Considering the Geography, Small and Medium Enterprises are more suitable here, Vishnu added. Kerala has great potential in electronic products (including electronic chip) and Food Processing. Perhaps we got the best water quality in the country, making the state the best location for food industries, he said.

We have an E-Commerce platform. Improve it by transforming it into a fullfledged e-commerce portal, developed and maintained by one of the leading tech companies. Also, government should rate the products offered on the platform, he added.

Setting up a hub that can easily transport products out of Kerala is an urgent necessity, Vishnu said. At present, logistics cost of bringing a truckload from Rajasthan is Rs 1 lakh, which is high because they dont get cargo while returning. So, we need a comprehensive logistics plan to take care of this. We should give focus to exports too once the container availability improves, logistics cost in shipping will also come down, he added.

Karnataka to soon adopt new Model Tenancy Act

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The Karnataka government is planning to introduce the Model Tenancy Act in the state, aimed at ending tenant-owner disputes within two months and aiding the rental housing sector.

Revenue minister R Ashoka told reporters here on Thursday that 2-3 lakh houses in Bengaluru are vacant as on date and said the tweaked tenancy law once brought in will help owners get tenants and rentals will soften a bit.

The Centre sent the law to states either to enact fresh legislation based on the template or suitably amend the existing laws.

Halt power generation from irrigation water: KRMB to Telangana

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A day after Andhra Pradesh moved The Supreme Court on drawal of Krishna waters by , the Krishna River Management Board (KRMB) wrote to Telangana Genco director (hydel) to stop water drawals from Srisailam Left Bank Canal, Nagarjuna Sagar and Pulichintala projects for hydel power generation.

Both Telangana and AP have been at loggerheads over water sharing and hydel power generation for the past one month. AP had earlier complained to the KRMB to restrain Telangana from generating hydel power from projects on Krishna river. AP CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy wrote letters to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union jal shakti minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat in this regard.

But, the Telangana government directed the Genco to generate power at full capacity. Genco started generating 1,400 MW from all its units. The government has been arguing that the state had been drawing its rightful share of water from the Krishna and said Srisailam is primarily a hydel power generation project.

The Telangana cabinet also insisted that water allocation should be 50:50 for Telangana and AP. With tensions rising, Police forces were deployed at the hydel power generation units at various projects.

Andhra Pradesh govt sanctions final fee for shelved project DPR

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The on Tuesday sanctioned the remaining 55% professional fee, i.e., Rs 38,94,000, as a final payment to Master & Associates, Architects, Interior Designers & Project Management Consultants, Mumbai.

The firm was appointed in 2017 as the consultant for preparation of detailed project reports and detailed cost estimates for refurbishment and conversion of INS Viraat into a multipurpose tourism destination with a hotel-cum-convention centre and naval maritime museum.

However, the project was shelved due to various reasons. The state government already paid Rs 31.86 lakh out of the Rs 70.8 lakh professional fee (including 18% GST) and has sanctioned the remaining amount.

The state government showed keen interest to turn INS Viraat into a major tourist hub by placing it in Visakhapatnam or some other coastal city. But due to various reasons, the project has not made any headway. INS Viraat, the second Centaur-class aircraft carrier in service which spent 30 years in the INDIAN NAVY and 27 years in the Royal Navy, was decommissioned in March 2017. A private organisation purchased the ship for Rs 35 crore and started dismantling it.

The state government showed a keen interest to turn INS Viraat into a major tourist hub by placing it in Visakhapatnam or some other coastal city.

Centre selects Goa incubator for startups

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The Department for Promotion of and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which reports to the Union Ministry of Commerce and Industry has picked Margao-based Forum for Innovation Incubation Research & Entrepreneurship (FiiRE) as one of the two incubators for the Startup India Seed Fund scheme, the other being Keralas IIM Kozhikode.

DPIITs Start-Up India mission held a meeting in Delhi to select the incubators after which FiiRE was selected as an incubator to disburse seed funds to startups.

The Centre started the Startup India Seed Fund Scheme (SISFS) to provide financial assistance to startups for proof of concept, prototype development, product trials, market entry, and commercialization with an outlay of Rs 994 crore.

In April, then Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal had unveiled the Startup India Seed Fund scheme and had said that early-stage startups across 300 incubation centres, particularly in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities would be supported.

Under Apartment Act, maintenance charges as per flat area: Maharashtra department order

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Maintenance charges are applicable according to the area of a flat under the Maharashtra Apartment Ownership Act but not to one registered under the Act.

The state department of cooperations recent order related to a Society in south Pune had caused confusion among cooperative housing societies with members seeking a clarification from the department.

Under the Apartment Act, one has to pay maintenance as per the Percentage of ownership in proportion to the common areas and pay as per square feet. In cooperative housing societies, the land and building are owned by the society, not by individuals, and most of the maintenance charges are divided equally, irrespective of the area. These charges include sinking fund, repairs and maintenance fund as per cost. It is as per the model bye-laws of cooperative housing societies.