16.09.21

Three northeast states hit CAPEX target of finance ministry

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Three northeastern states Manipur, Meghalaya andNagaland are among 11 states in the country, which have achieved the target set by thefinance ministryfor (CAPEX) in the first quarter of 2021-22. As an incentive, they have been given permission for additional open market borrowings by the expenditure department.
The other states are Andhra Pradesh, Bihar,Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,Rajasthanand Uttarakhand. While the additional borrowing permitted for Manipur is Rs 90 crore, for Meghalaya it is Rs 96 crore and Rs 89 crore for Nagaland.

It said the capital expenditure had a high multiplier effect, enhancing future productive capacity of the economy and resulting in a higher rate of economic Growth. Accordingly, out of the net borrowing ceiling of 4% ofGSDPfor the states for 2021-22, 0.50% of GSDP was earmarked for incremental capital expenditure to be incurred by states during 2021-22. The target for incremental capital expenditure for each state to qualify for this incremental borrowing was fixed by expenditure department.

Black Tigers in Similipal Tiger Reserve

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Scientists have unraveled the mystery at the back of Odishas Black Tigers in Similipal Tiger Reserve (STR).

The STR is the only tiger habitat in the world with melanistic tigers, which have vast black stripes strolling throughout their bodies and thicker than those viewed on ordinary tigers.

Black Tigers are a rare shade variant of the tiger and are now not a wonderful species or geographic subspecies.

The coat colouration & patterning that make the wild cats show up darkish boil down to a single mutation in the Transmembrane Aminopeptidase Q (Taqpep) gene.

And the abnormally darkish or black coat in such tigers is termed pseudo melanistic or false coloured. If you pick out any tiger from Similipal, the chance that it carries the mutant gene is almost 60%.

Factors for Occuring Black Colour: Due to Geographic Isolation, genetically associated people have been mating with each other for many generations in Similipal, mainly due to inbreeding. It needs to be mentioned that this has essential implications for tiger conservation as such isolated and inbred populations are susceptible to extinction over even short intervals of time.

Death Anniversary of Subramania Bharati – 100th Year

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Nadu authorities commemorated the death anniversary of Subramania Bharathi, a firebrand poet and freedom fighter, as Mahakavi Day. Death anniversary of Subramania Bharati is on 11th September. The year 2021 will mark the 100th death anniversary of the poet.

Subramania Bharati:

His works ignited patriotism and left an indelible mark on Tamil literature. To mark the centenary, weekly activities will be held at the Bharathiyar Memorial House in the kingdom for subsequent 1 year.
Government of Tamil Nadu will also be conducting a state-level poetry competition for college and university students and Bharati younger poet Award will be presented along with a purse of Rs one lakh.
Women Livelihood Mission will additionally be renamed after Bharatiyar. This scheme is to be implemented by means of the rural development department.
To mark the centenary, authorities will deliver the Manathil Uruthi Vendum book. It will include a compilation of her poems and essays. Books will be introduced at the fee of Rs 10 crore and disbursed amongst 37 lakh college students. Government will also set up a separate wing Bharathiyar to bring together the books of Bharathiyar.

Government will be organising occasions below the theme parengum Bharathi (Bharathi everywhere), in collaboration with World Tamil Associations.

Renovation of Cheraman Juma Masjid

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The Cheraman Juma Masjid located in Kerala, the oldest mosque in the Indian subcontinent. The Masjid dates back to 629 AD, and the Holy Cross Church at Chendamangalam built by Jesuit clergymen in 1577 AD, were renovated under the Muziris Heritage Project.

Highlights:

The Kerala Government has initiated the Muziris Heritage Project to reinstate the historic and cultural magnitude of the legendary port of Muziris.
This Muziris Heritage Project is one of the largest conservation initiatives in India, where the state & the central governments have joined together to conserve a rich culture that is as historical as 3000 years or more.
The location is dotted with several monuments of a bygone era that conjure up a great and vivid past.
The complete venture is designed to contain and combine the local community in all intended developmental initiatives.

TheKarnataka governmenthas decided to protect all varieties of neelakurinji in the state, thanks to the national kurinji exhibition led by a Malayali neelakurinji expert and botanist. The neelakurinji exhibition was organized inKarnatakaon behalf of the 87th birth anniversary of Kuppali Puttappa Poornachandra Tejaswi, a prominent writer and environmentalist.

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In theWestern Ghatsthere are 64 varieties of neelakurinji and 20-25 varieties are found in Karnataka. InKeralawe know the importance and specialities of neelakurinji but Karnataka are yet to identify the same, said Augustine, continuing, In the programme, a detailed discussion was held on the importance of neelakurinji. Later, the minister announced that they will take steps to protect all available varieties of neelakurinji in their state.
He said that most people were unaware of the importance of neelakurinji, which is considered as one of the special Plants with blooming specialities. The government decision will be helpful to preserve the verities of neelakurinji in the state, he said.

Andhra Pradeshchief secretary Aditya Nath Das has filed an affidavit in the National Green Tribunal asking for prosecution of the State ofTelanganafor allegedly producing fake evidence before it in connection with theRayalaseema Lift IrrigationScheme.The chief secretary, in his affidavit, a copy available with TOI, alleged that the State of Telangana submitted a video of Pothireddypadu project works and claimed it asRayalaseema LiftIrrigation works.

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Andhra Pradesh has filed its counter, stating that the works have undertaken only survey and investigation for preparation of Detailed Project Report as per the guidelines of the Central Water Commission.

The DPR was submitted to the Central Water Commission on June 30, 2021.

In an attempt to take digitalization to the agriculture fields, the union agriculture ministry signed an MoU with five top rated firms involved in marketing of agriculture produce through digital platforms. The move is aimed at increasing the revenues of the farmers by creation of better digital marketing infrastructure.

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e Markets Limited(NeML), the leading National Spot Exchange in India, will implement the project in Guntur district of AP, Nasik (Maharashtra) and Devanagere of Karnataka. NCDEX e Markets Limited (NeML) works with domain experts and offers trading platforms for trading in a host of commodities, both agricultural and non-agricultural to various market participants, primary producers including farmers, traders and processors. These trading platforms combine technological efficiency and market friendly trading features in a transparent Atmosphere to make trading a rich and rewarding experience. With a national presence, the company has pioneered breakthrough initiatives like Mandi Modernization Program (MMP), e-Pledge and e-Marketing. NeMLs proposed digital marketplace would help enhance the livelihood of farmers and promote inclusive development in the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture sector particularly in AP.

NeML’s four Services including market linkages, aggregation of demand, financial linkages and data sanitization will serve as a foundation to build innovative agri-focused solutions by leveraging technologies to contribute effectively towards increasing the income of farmers and improve farm efficiency/efficiency of the agriculture sector in the country with an overall goal of doubling of farmers’ incomes.

School enrolment from Classes I to VII dropped by around 3,000 during the academic year 2020-21, which was the first school year after the Covid-19pandemichit. From Classes I to IV, enrolment was down by over 2,700 since the previous academic year 2019-20, and students studying from Classes V to VII reduced by 512, as per the directorate of educations (DoE) educational statistics at a glance for the year.After the first lockdown was imposed in 2020 to control the spread of Covid-19, the state saw an exodus of migrants employed in Goa. This could be one contributing factor to the sudden drop in enrolment during the year 2020-21.

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However, it appears from the figures that a general fear of the pandemic could also have kept students across various sections of Society from entering the school system, as the biggest drop was seen in new enrolments that take place at the Class I level. The number of students registering for Class I came down by as many as 2,285 students in 2020-21 over the previous year.

In 2020-21, 895 fewer girls and 1,390 fewer boys entered the school system at Class I.
Also, the enrolment in schools show a dip at the primary school level from Classes I to IV across institutes runs by different managements government, aided and private.

Uttarakhandhas emerged as one of the safest states for senior citizens in the country in terms of crime against elderly population, as per the latest data released by theNational Crime Records Bureau(NCRB).

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Four cases of crime against senior citizens were registered in Uttarakhand in 2020, compared to six in 2019, the report said.

Maharashtrameanwhile has emerged as the most unsafe state in the country for senior citizens with 4,909 cases of crime in 2020, followed by Madhya Pradesh with 4,602.

In a bid to discourage sporadic development of farmhouses and encourage eco-friendly dwelling units in agriculture zones of the state, the Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana has come out with a new policy for change of land (CLU) use with mandatory conditions that such premises would not be used for commercial purposes and have tree plantation on at least 15 percent of its land.

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The policy notified by the Town and Country Planning Department, Haryana envisages the farmhouses as self sustainable units in the state. Under the policy for grant of CLU permission to set up eco-friendly farmhouse in Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture zones in Haryana, the eco-friendly farmhouse has been defined as a house constructed by the owner of a farm at his land for the purpose of main dwelling unit (residential) and ancillary use (farm/animal shed or ward/servant quarters).

It would be mandatory to install Rain Water Harvesting systems, ensure 100 percent treatment and reuse of waste water, 100 percent on site processing of all green/animal waste, tree plantation on at least 15 percent of farm land and installation of solar water heating systems in such premises.

The new CLU policy assumes significance in view of illegal farmhouses that have come up on agriculture zones in the state. The policy will be applicable in the agriculture zone of hyper, high, medium and low potential towns beyond 500 mtrs distance from the urbanizable zone of respective development plans.