15.07.23

DREAM to make Meghalaya drug free

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In a significant milestone in Meghalayas fight against drug abuse and trafficking,DREAM(Drug Reduction, Elimination & Action Mission) was launched by chief ministerConrad K. Sangmaduring a function organised by theMeghalaya Policeand social welfare department on Monday. The theme of the programme was People First: Stop Stigma & Discrimination, Strengthen Prevention.

The vision of the targeted mission is to build a drug- free Meghalaya that leverages culture and communities through a multifaceted coordinated strategy to eliminate the incidence of substance use in the state.


Aasu hails 2001 as base year for delimitation

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The AllAssamStudents Union (Aasu) has welcomed constituency delimitation draft byECIfor Assam, when scores of organisations and are up in arms against it.
After being silent since publication of the delimitation draft last month, the Aasu Leadership, in a news conference here on Wednesday, called the draft publication a positive beginning.

Contrary to the objections put forward by the opposition parties on the decision to carry out the ongoing delimitation exercise based on the 2001 census, Aasu said 2001 as thebase yearis welcome for the ongoing delimitation. But in future delimitation exercises, Aasu said it should be based on the 1991 census.

The demographic pattern of the constituencies has changed in Assam over the years due to illegal infiltration. Had the delimitation exercise been carried out based on the 1991 census figures, we could have expected better representation of the indigenous people from the constituencies. Delimitation based on 2011 is totally undesirable as in many constituencies the demographic pattern has changed due to illegal infiltration, Aasu president (in-charge) Utpal Sarma said.

State announces fresh insurance cycle for farmers

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Thestate governmenthas decided to continue with afresh Insurance cycleunder the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY) to protectfarmersfrom any crop loss due to weather uncertainties.
A resolution in this regard has been passed by the department of cooperation on Wednesday intimating the continuation of the insurance cycle for farmers from this kharif season to the rabi season of 2025-26.
Under PMFBY, the final yield of the farmer is insured along with losses due to prevented sowing, mid-season adversity, localised calamity and post-harvest damages. The scheme is implemented by insurance companies selected once in every three years by the state.

Farmers usually pay premium at two per cent of the sum insured for kharif and 1.5 per cent for rabi for all crops except commercial crops. The differential amount of the premium in the meantime is equally paid as subsidy by Centre and the .

This year, a fresh insurance cycle from kharif-2023 to rabi 2025-26 has been started and the state government has decided to continue with crop insurance. Four insurance companies have been selected through e-tender for this cycle, reads the resolution.

7,294 govt schools benefited under Namma Ooru Palli scheme: Minister

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As many as 7,294 government schools in the state have benefitted under the Namma Ooru Palli scheme since its launch in December 2022, minister for school Education AnbilMaheshPoyyamozhi said.

The scheme is aimed at improving the standards of government schools with the participation, contribution, and PARTNERSHIP of private companies, alma maters, and the public.

Initially, 12 companies were associated with the scheme. In six months, the association has grown with a staggering 133 companies whose contributions to the welfare of government schools have now crossed Rs 100 crore, the minister said.
At the conclave, the Confederation of Indian (CII) partnered with the Namma Ooru Palli scheme, and its members contributed Rs 13.95 crore.

The scheme is for the children of migrant labourers. The scheme has been launched in Tirupur because the district is Home to many migrant labourers. And they are one of the supportive reasons for the Growth of Tirupur. There are about 34 lakh migrant labourers in the state, he said.

Constitution did not envision uniformity: IUML to law panel

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IUMLhas written to 22nd Law Commissions chairman expressing its opposition to implementingUniform Civil Code(UCC) and said that the Constitution didn’t envision uniformity.

In the letter, party national general secretary PK Kunhalikutty said compromising diversity for uniformity will hamper the territorial Integrity of India as rightly observed in the consultation paper issued by the 21st Law Commission.

IUML said the preservation of India’s composite culture, which encompasses myriad traditions, customs, practices, languages and beliefs, is sacrosanct to the Constitutional duty of preserving the unity and integrity of India.

It said that the freedom of conscience guaranteed under Article 25, the guaranteed under Article 29(1), the special provisions enshrined in Part XVI for the protection of SCs, the special protection guaranteed to Nagaland, Assam, Manipur, Sikkim, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh and the provisions in Article 244 and Schedule VI for the enactment of special laws for the administration of tribal areas in Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram are a testament to the Constitution’s recognition of the need for preservation of diversity.

Kodihalli calls state budget anti-farmer

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KodihalliChandrashekhar, president ofKarnatakaRajya Raitha Sangha andHasiru Sene(KRRSHS), has urged the to revoke the amendments to laws on Land reforms and APMC introduced by the previous BJP government because they are detrimental to the farmers.
Chandrashekhar told reporters here on Tuesday that Karnataka Land Reforms Act-2020 paves the way for non-farmers to buy agricultural land for non-agricultural purposes, while the APMC (Amendment) Act 2020-allows for selling agricultural produce outside the ambit of APMC.

However, CMSiddaramaiahclarified that he will verify the act. There is no need to verify because agricultural land shouldnt be commercialised. The government should revoke the act in this session, else we will teach a lesson to Congress, like how we taught BJP, he said.

Dry spell in Telangana leads to poor water inflows for dams

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The dry spell in continued on Thursday, as the state, barring Kothagudem, Khammam, Nizamabad, Kamareddy, Mahbubabad, Nirmal and Medak which received 5 cm to 11 cm of rainfall on the day received scanty rainfall.

All major reservoirs in Telangana, under the Godavari and Krishna basins, are witnessing poor inflows due to the conditions.

While in 2022, major projects under the Krishna and Godavari had water of 389 TMC ft, the figure is down to 285 TMC ft, during the same period, this time around. This has had a critical negative impact on Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture operations in the state as well.

In the Godavari basin, the Sriramsagar project clocked a water level of 1066.6 feet and storage of 22.924 TMC ft on Thursday. On the same date in 2022, it had 73.54 TMC ft gross storage and a water level of 1087.1 feet. Inflows reached 10,429 cusecs on Thursday, with Godavari River accounting for 4,629 cusecs from catchment areas and 5,800 cusecs from the flood flow canal in reverse-pumping mode.

The water storage level of the Yellampalli reservoir was recorded at 13.935 TMC ft, against its full capacity of 20.175 TMC ft.

Rains push up kharif sowing in coastal AP

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Moderateto heavyrainslashed many parts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh and Light to moderate rains lashed a few parts of Rayalaseema region on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The showers brought some relief to the people and the farming community.

Pathapatnam in Srikakulam district and Bheemili in Vizag district recorded 7 cm rainfall each which brought down the day temperature by 4 to 5 degrees Celsius.

The heavy rains in north coastal Andhra Pradesh have pushed up the sowing ofkharifcrops – paddy and pulses. The farmers said the erratic monsoon was the reason for the delay in farming activities in the kharif season.

State sets up panel to push stalled SRA projects

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The has set up a committee under the secretary (housing) to give a fresh impetus to redevelopment of stalled slum rehabilitation projects.

A new scheme to restart stalled projects had been announced by the government in May last year. In response to the new scheme, 31 proposals were received from developers by theSlum Rehabilitation Authority, said a Government Resolution issued on Wednesday.
The SRA empanelled these developers based on their financial Health and has divided them into three categories. Developers who have completed 10 lakh square feet of construction which is RERA registered in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and whose projects have received occupancy certificate have been marked in the A category. Those in categories B and C were required to have completed 5 lakh sq ft and 2.5 lakh sq ft of construction registered with RERA.

State govt to set up standardisation cells

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Haryana Chief Secretary Sanjeev Kaushal said the will establish standardisation cells in government departments that are associated with improving and monitoring the quality of goods that are used and procured. These cells will coordinate with the state government, industries and the Bureau of India Standards (Bis).

Kaushal presided over the state-level committee meeting on Monitoring Standardisation and Quality System here today. He directed the departments to actively participate in the training programmes organised by the BIS at the level of nodal officers. He also emphasised the procurement of the BIS-certified products and Services by the government departments. It was proposed that activities aimed at creating a robust quality ecosystem in the state would be part of this objective.