16.12.22

Dolphin population rises in Gahirmatha sanctuary, Odisha

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The Population of dolphins in Gahirmatha marine sanctuary and its nearby areas within Bhitarkanika marginally increased in December last year. The count of dolphins stood at 550 including six Irrawaddy, 281, bottlenose, 208 humpbacks, 52 striped and three spinner species in the park during the annual census of 2022.

In 2021, 540 dolphins were found in the park, said acting DFO of Bhitarkanika Adhir Behera. The dolphin census was conducted from December 21 to 23, 2022. We had engaged ten teams to enumerate the dolphins. The census report depended heavily on sighting forms. Forest guards, locals, environmentalists and others were engaged in the exercise conducted in the water bodies of the sanctuary and its nearby areas. The enumerators used GPS to map the exact location of the dolphins during the census, he informed.

Gahiramatha was declared a marine sanctuary in 1997 by the State Government to protect the endangered Olive Ridley sea turtles at Gahirmatha beach. Every year, the state government imposes a ban on fishing in the sanctuary from November 1 to May 31 to protect the turtles. The seven-month-long fishing ban also helps maintain the population of dolphins in Gahirmatha.

Tamil Nadu seeks nod for 30 new nursing colleges

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Nadu on Friday sought the Union Government‘s permission to start 30 new Nursing colleges besides six new medical colleges for the newly formed districts in the state.

Health minister Ma Subramanian and a team of officials who met Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya asked the Centre to return the six vacant MBBS seats under the All-India Quota for admission through state counselling in 2022 admission and exemption from NEET for medical admissions as a part of 11 demands.

Plastic dominant litter type in Indias beaches

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Tourism and public littering are the main contributors to beach litter, says a pan-Indian litter density study of beaches in the country, including Kerala done in 2019 and 2021 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR).

A total of 33 beaches in 2019 and 30 beaches in 2021 were studied. Based on density, the national beach litter Average was 0.475 items per square metre in 2019 and 0.3 items in 2021. Plastic was the dominant litter type (65% in 2019; 74 % in 2021) and single-use plastics (SUPs) were predominant. Based on the clean-coast index, six beaches in 2019 and three beaches in 2021 are classified as extremely dirty.

Among the studied 33 beaches in 2019, data on litter density (number of litter items per square meter of area) from 22 beaches and data on litter weight from 33 beaches were deemed suitable for inclusion in the final analysis. A total of 3,26,424 litter items from 22 beaches and 36,519kg of litter from 33 beaches were collected during the 2019 international coastal cleanup (ICC) day. Whereas, in the 2021 ICC-day event, a total of 1,97,309 items and 11,809kg of litter from 30 beaches were collected.

Only 1 in 10 cops in Karnataka a woman; governments 25% target to take time

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Four years and 10 months after the government announced in its budget that at least a quarter of all Police personnel in the state will be Women in five years, only one in 10 members of the Karnataka State Police is a woman.

According to data from the Home department, as on date, the department has 90,539 personnel out of a sanctioned strength of over 1 lakh and only 9,007 of them are women. This does not include officers of the rank of inspector and above. Nationally, as per the bureau of police research and development and an India Report assessment, women make up 10.5% of the police force.

While women make up for nearly 50% of Karnataka’s Population they accounted for 49.3% of the 6.1 crore in the state as per the last decadal census their representation in the police department continues to remain abysmal. That is, theres only one woman police personnel for every 3,345 women! Although the situation is not unique to Karnataka, and is the result of several legacy issues, the state would do well in being an exception and hiring more women. That said, it is making a conscious effort and the move to reserve 25% of posts in all recruitments barring Class-1 officers is welcome.

State budget set to touch 2.2L cr: KCR

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Chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao said is a rich state, claiming that the state budget will soon touch 2.2 lakh crore. He said that when Telangana was formed in 2014, the state budget was just 62,000 crore.

he said when 33 districts were created, many had criticised his move. In neighbouring Chhattisgarh state, Bastar district was divided into six districts. When Rythu Bandhu scheme was launched, some people criticised it. We are helping 93% of farmers who own less than five acres of land. Only 1% owners got above 10 acres of land, the CM said.

KCR said even before Telanganas formation, he had said that Telangana would become the richest state.

Govt keen on strengthening health system at village level: Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan Mohan Reddy

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The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that his governments main focus is to strengthen the Health delivery system at the village level and concentrate on preventive health.

The gives the highest priority to providing health care facilities to the common man and has been spending 7.3% of the state budget on health care compared to the National Average of approximately 4%.

He said that state stands first in the creation of Ayushman Bharat Health Account numbers (ABHA id) for 72% of the Population and is successful in screening the population for Non-communicable Diseases. AP stands first in Tele-consultations with a video calling facility with an average of 60000 calls each day.

Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai seeks land in Goa to build Kannada bhavan

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Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai has written to his Goa counterpart Pramod Sawant seeking at least at least one acre of land to establish a Kannada bhavan for the promotion of Kannada Art and Culture.

Efforts to procure land in Goa by the Karnataka government have turned futile so far.

Therefore, the only possibility is that the government of Goa be kind enough to allot a minimum extent of one acre of land for the construction of the Kannada bhavan in Goa at a place where more Kannadigas reside. It is pertinent to mention here that government of Karnataka has established a Konkani academy long back, and our government provided Rs 3 crore for the construction of the Konkani academy at Mangaluru.

Maharashtra plans policy to let retired teachers helm 4,800 schools

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The state Education department’s officials are drafting a policy on re-employing retired teachers in schools with less than 20 students.

After the policy takes shape, it will be decided whether it will be contractual EMPLOYMENT or direct employment by advertising for the post.

There are many students in education colleges, many people who are qualified to become teachers waiting for an opportunity.With this new policy, the government must not cut down on recruitment numbers because that will be injustice to the young generation of teachers.

Implementation of POSH Act far from satisfactory: Women panel

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Expressing concern over rising incidents of sexual harassment at coaching/educational institutions, the https://exam.pscnotes.com/national-commission-for-Women“>National Commission for Women (NCW) has stated that the implementation of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, on the ground is far from satisfactory.

It has further said non-implementation of the guidelines/provisions of the Act amounts to violation of the Fundamental Rights of a woman under Article 14, 15, 19 and 21 of the Constitution of India.

She has also urged him to direct all coaching institutes to take steps to prevent sexual harassment of students attending coaching either from fellow students or teachers, besides ensuring that these coaching centres are registered with the authorities concerned and background of those running such centres be checked thoroughly.

Our priority is to make Punjab a leading state in education: CM Bhagwant Mann

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Ahead of the launch of Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) first major Education project, Schools of Eminence, on Saturday in Punjab, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said that the ‘s priority is to make “Punjab a leading state in the field of education nationwide.”

As per the government reports, under the project, the AAP government will upgrade existing government schools into ‘Schools of Eminence’ for classes 9 to 12. The government plans to upgrade nearly 110 government schools as ‘Schools of Eminence’ in Phase 1.

Meanwhile, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann recently had a war of words over the “remote control” jibe.