The state government has appointedSherwin May Sungoh, head of the education department ofNorth Eastern Hill University, as the chairperson of a four-member education commission, officials said. It will recommend reforms and policy changes for quality education in schools, colleges and institutions of higher education
Sarma had recently said pending the decision on UCC, the government wants to take one of its segments, i.E. Polygamy, and ban it immediately.
According to the Family Health Survey (NFHS)-5 2019-21, only 1.4 per cent of the country’s population practice polygamy and on the basis of religion, the Muslims account for only 1.9 per cent, the Christians 2.1 per cent and the Hindus 3.1 per cent.
Polygamy among the Scheduled Tribes is 2.4 per cent, Scheduled Castes 1.9 per cent, the OBCs 1.3 per cent and others 1.2 per cent, he pointed out.
The Supreme Court collegium has recommended the name ofJustice Subashis Talapatraas the new chief justice of the Orissa high court. Currently, Justice Talapatra is serving as the senior-most judge of the Orissa high court. Justice Talapatra was elevated as a judge of theGauhati high courton November 15, 2011 and on establishment of a separate high court for the state of Tripura in 2013 he opted for the high court of Tripura as his parent high court. He has been functioning, on transfer, in the high court of Orissa since June 10, 2022.
On appointment, Justice Talapatra will become the 33rd chief justice of Orissa high court.
Theres a standing joke in thechipdesign industry that the IIT Madras corridor is the best route to a key role in the global ecosystem. One in five semiconductor chips designed at giants such as Qualcomm, Intel, Texas Instruments, and NXP Semiconductors has been through the hands of an Indian, mostly from IIT-Madras. Thats because these MNCs head to day 1 of placements at the institute to pick the cream of the talent.
Design and R&D of chips typically needs talent in device physics, computational algorithms, mathematics and data analytics.
Tamil Naduhas a vast network of engineering colleges offering electronics and communicationsengineering (ECE) programmes for this. The state also has more than 140 colleges offering VLSI (very large system integration) courses. The VLSI course helps train students in designing semiconductor devices and circuits. The states MSME ecosystem for PCB design and layout is also among the largest in the country.
All computer processors use an instruction set architecture (ISA) and currently there are two in the market -ARM and RISC-V. Before RISC-V arrived, ARM-based processors dominated giving the West a monopoly. But with advancements in RISC-V, India can take the fight to the American giants.
IIT-Madras, for instance, has been focused on indigenous chip and microprocessor design for over 10 years now. And a team led by current IIT-M director V Kamakoti made Indias first indigenously developed RISCV microprocessor SHAKTI.
Even when committed expenditures like payment ofwelfare pensionsandfinancial assistanceremain pending, the government has sanctioned an amount of Rs 10.72 crore for organising the Onam week (August 27 to September 2) celebrations in the state capital and all district headquarters, this year.
The highest amount of Rs 2.29 crore will be spent on paying the invited artists and conducting the Onam pageantry. While Rs 2.09 crore will be spent on creating temporary infrastructure, Rs 97.12 lakh will go towards branding and publicity. An amount of Rs 6.65 crore will be spent in the capital city alone.
Another Rs 3.20 crore will go towards the celebrations conducted by the district tourism promotion councils in the 14 districts.
The governments keenness for the Onam bash this year comes as a surprise as in 2016 the Pinarayi government had issued an order prohibiting government servants from participating in Onam celebrations during duty hours to save government time and money.
The government has plans to announce the state maritime policy for an overall development ofportsin coastal Karnataka, saidGaurav Gupta, additional chief secretary to energy and infrastructure development department.
The contributions of ports are significant in development of states like Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Goa and Kerala. Though Karnataka has a large number of ports, the state could not gain expected development. There is a need for improving connectivity from ports of the coast and other regions.
The central government has released Rs 1,000 crore under the Sagar Mala Project, he said, adding that 26 projects will be implemented under the scheme.
Telanganahas shown promising signs of recovery from the pandemic in the first couple of months of this fiscal, with the state recording a revenue surplus of 1,042 crore.
The state has also spent 18% of its budget on capital expenditure, which is the second highest in the country, as per the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) monthly report at the end of May.
As per the CAG reports for other states, apart from Telangana (18%), states which have spent more than 10% of the budgeted estimates on capital expenditure for April and May are Andhra Pradesh (29.7%), Haryana (13.7%),Rajasthan(13 %),Madhya Pradesh(12.6%) andKerala(10.7%).
The financial recovery of the state can also be gauged from the fact that while last year there was a general decline in the frequency of use of overdraft facility (special drawing facilities) by many states in India, Telangana and AP continued to use it, suggesting they may have been experiencing periods of low liquidity. But this year the high spend on capital expenditure is indicative of recovery in the two states.
Former special chief secretary Dr Manmohan Singh has been appointed as Pay Revision Commissioner (PRC) chairman. The 1985-batch IAS officer, Dr Singh, last served as Chief Commissioner Land Administration (CCLA) before demitting office in 2019.
The state government issued a GO appointing Dr Singh as one-man commission. He has been directed to submit his report within a year. Although, the state government constituted the 12th PRC as per the demands of employees unions, setting 12 months deadline for submission of reports would eventually means that the recommendations could be implemented only by the next government as the assembly elections are due in April-May.
Interestingly, the state government had initially decided to the practice of appointment of PRC at every four years keeping in view of the financial constraints of the state. The state government wanted to follow the Central PRC recommendations as the Centre had been revising the employees salaries once in a decade.
However, the state government, under pressure from the employees unions, reversed its decision and constituted another PRC. The salaries bill of employees in AP had touched 135 percent of the States Own Revenues by the time it implemented the previous PRC recommendations in 2022.
The state government has set up a green panel to raise Rs 5,000 crore ingreen bonds to fight climate change.
Termed theMaharashtra Green Finance Working Committee(MGFWC), it will be headed by the state finance secretary. All other seven members are also bureaucrats from the planning, energy, environment and climate change, revenue and forests departments.
The Centre had decided to raise Rs 16,000 crore as part of its overall market borrowings through green bonds in 2022-23. Deputy chief minister and finance minister Devendra Fadnavis in his budget speech had announced that the government will raise Rs 5,000 crore in green bonds by 2024. These funds will be used for renewable energy, green buildings, green hydrogen, electric mobility and charging facilities.
The Centre has also prepared a framework to be followed by those seeking to raise green bonds. It deals with four components and key recommendations of the International Capital Market Association Green Bond Principles. These principles recommend delineation of a clear process and disclosure by the issuer to enable the investors and banks and others to understand the characteristics of the green bond.
In a move aiming to promote tree conservation by spreading awareness about different tree varieties, trees planted in various gardens under the jurisdiction of Chandigarh municipal corporation will soon have a QR code-based informative boards.
The MC has written to thePunjabEngineering College (PEC) to start a pilot project in its major gardens and parks.