17.11.22

Punjab Education Department has invited designs from the state government school students for the logo of the School of Eminence, being established in the State under the first phase. The best three student-designers, at the state level, will be awarded with cash rewards.

by

Sharing information, the state School Education Minister Harjot Singh Bains said that the students of government schools can send their designs till November 10, 2022, for the logo of ‘School of Eminence’; and all the school heads have been instructed through a letter.

For the same, the department has also given five key guiding points for depicting good facilities in schools, use of multimedia and other e-Resources for digital education, well-equipped libraries and laboratories, Sports facilities, and facilities for co-academic activities.

Chamba’s gaddi dance third in National Tribal Festival

by

The gaddi dance has got the third place in the category of crop harvesting in a competition organised during the National Tribal Festival at Raipur, Chhattisgarh.

The participants of 52 cultural troupes of the country participated in the competition and presented a glimpse of varied culture of their regions.

Lauding the cultural troupe, Rana said it was a matter of pride for Himachal that Gaddi dance of Chamba district had got the national recognition. He also asked the cultural troupe to enhance the talent.

Authorities plan States first gas-based crematorium in Haridwar

by

The Haridwar district authorities are planning to install the States first gas powered crematorium at the burning Ghat in Khadkhadi. This will reduce the dependence on wood for cremation and the smoke to a great extent. The Haridwar district magistrate Vinay Shankar Pandey has sought a report from officials concerned in this regard during a meeting he chaired on the subject.

The Haridwar municipal commissioner Dayanand Saraswati said that payment of electricity bills is a major problem in the operation of the electric crematorium.He further said that the electric crematorium has to be started 24 hours before the cremation of a body and consumes considerable electricity. Officials present in the meeting opined that a gas-based crematorium would be better than other procedures from the aspects of pollution and fuel consumption.

It is pertinent to mention here that Khadkhadi is the most used cremation Ghat along the Ganga in Haridwar where bodies from various parts of the State are brought for cremation. Considerable quantities of wood are used for the funeral pyres. The of Haridwar is also working on a plan to provide logs made from cow dung for cremation.

UP to generate 22,000 MW solar energy in next 5 years

by

With the aim to give an impetus to , the Uttar Pradesh government has approved the new Solar Energy policy that aims to generate 22,000 megawatt of solar energy within the next five years.

This includes the target of 14,000 MW by establishment of solar park, 4,500 MW from solar rooftop (residential area), 1,500 MW from solar rooftop (non-residential institution) and 2,000 MW power generation from PM Kusum Yojana components.

The new policy also talks about creation of posts called Surya Mitra, who will help in maintenance of solar Plants

The cabinet has approved (Kusum C-2) for the establishment of 2,000 MW capacity solar plants of separate agricultural feeders. Approval has been given to provide 70 per cent subsidy to Scheduled Tribe farmers and 60 per cent subsidy to other farmers and a total grant of Rs 1,000 crore in five years during the policy period, the minister said.

The cabinet has decided to provide 100 per cent exemption in stamp duty on purchase of land for solar units. In addition, all solar power generation projects are exempted from obtaining environmental clearance while grid-connected solar PV projects are exempted from obtaining no objection certificate (NOC) from Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board.

In the state, a target of 1,500 MW power generation has been set by setting up solar rooftop systems on the roofs of non-residential buildings such as government buildings and all Types of government or non-government educational institutions.

It has also been decided to provide net metering facilities on solar rooftop systems installed on the roofs of non-residential buildings of this category.

SOLAR CITY: Ayodhya city will be developed as a model solar city. Apart from this, 16 municipal corporations of the state and Noida will also be developed as solar cities.

A solar city means that a minimum of 10 per cent of the estimated total demand of conventional energy of the city is met from the solar power plants installed in the city area. For this, according to the 2011 Census of the municipal area, financial assistance will be provided by the State Government to the municipal corporations for setting up solar power plants at the rate of Rs 100 per person.

JOB CREATION: Additional manpower will be created for the maintenance of solar power plants. For this, 30,000 youths will be given training in maintenance of solar power plants and they will be named as ‘Surya Mitra’. In this way EMPLOYMENT will be created for these ‘Surya Mitras’.

Adanis edu project aids govt students, says study

by

The Adani Foundations ongoing Gyanodaya project across 314 government schools in Godda has managed to improve the performances of the students in their annual and board examinations and their overall attendances, a study by Bengaluru-based Azim Premji University published last month has claimed.

Under the project, the Adani Group, which is setting up a thermal power plant in the district, prepares and supplies content for digital Learning to over 60,000 students of classes VI to X across 314 schools from 2018 as a part of its corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives.

The company has also installed smart classes in the schools to facilitate digital learning.

Bagless’ Saturday in all govt schools in Bihar

by

Children studying in government-run schools inBiharwill now have to carry school bags only five days a week, as the introduced ‘Bagless Safe Saturday’ scheme on the occasion of ‘Shiksha Diwas’, which is observed since 2007 on the birth anniversary of the country’s first Education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad.

CM Nitish Kumar formally launched the ‘Bagless Safe Saturday’ scheme and also unveiled a book of its guidelines at an event on the occasion. He also launched a ‘Best Plus App’ which will be used by education department officials for real-time monitoring and tracking of activities and presence of teachers in over 80,000 primary and upper primary schools across the state. The CM also transferred the amount of incentives in the bank account of students through DBT under different schemes of the education department for FY 2022-23.

Farmers to get zero interest loan for lac cultivation

by

The Chhattisgarh government will encourage farmers to go for lac cultivation and provide them lac crop loan with zero interest through the District Cooperative Bank.

A loan limit of Rs 5,000 has been fixed for rearing lac on Kusum tree, Rs 900 for Ber (Indian Jujube) and Rs 500 for Palash (Tesu) tree, an official Communication said on Saturday.

The Chhattisgarh State Minor Forest Produce (Trading and Development) Cooperative Federation has taken the initiative to increase lac production.

Chhattisgarh is one of the highest producers of lac in the country. It produces 4,000 tonnes of lac at an estimated value of Rs 100 crore.

The production target is 10,000 tonnes, which will generate an income of Rs 250 crore to the farmers.

The rates for procurement of Bihan lac (seeding lac insects) have been fixed. The farmers can procure Kusumi Bihan lac (obtained from Ber tree) at Rs 550 per kg and Rangini Bihan lac (obtained from Palash tree) at Rs 275 per kg.

Lac production clusters have been formed with three to five primary committee areas in 20 districts.

Lac production occurs twice a year — in summer and winter.

PESA Act will enable economic-social empowerment of tribal community

by

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has said that the has been implemented for the economic and social progress of tribals and to make them empowered. This act is in the interest of all the citizens of the Society. It is not against any citizen of non-tribal society. The PESA Act will be applicable in the villages in the Scheduled Areas, this Act will not be applicable in the cities. The PESA Act will strengthen tribal brothers and sisters who have been left behind in the race for development.

Chief Minister Shri Chouhan said that there is a provision in the rules of the PESA Act that the permission of the Gram Sabha will be necessary for the survey and land acquisition to be done in any project of the governments plan. Now no one will be able to grab the land of any tribal citizen by deceit and force. If someone does so, the Gram Sabha will have the right to get it back. He said that attempts to convert people by Persuasion and then to grab the land of tribal community will not be allowed. Chouhan said that the Gram Sabha will decide whether or not to award contracts for mineral mines, which include sand, ballast and stone mines. The society will have the first right on the mine, then the Women of the village and then the men.

The Chief Minister said that the State Government has made ponds in every village. The complete management of these ponds will be done by the Gram Sabha. The Gram Sabha will decide whether to rear fish in the ponds or not. The income from the pond will be given to the Gram Sabha. The management of the pond which irrigates 100 acres of agricultural area will now be done by the Gram Sabha, not the Irrigation Department.

FinMin finalises framework for sovereign green bonds

by

The Finance Ministry has finalised the framework to issue sovereign green in line with global standards, according to sources. The government intends to mobilise Rs 16,000 crore from the issuance of green bonds during the second half of the current financial year. It is a part of the borrowing programme for the second half of this fiscal.

These rupee-denominated papers will have long tenure to suit the requirement of green Infrastructure projects.

The government is planning a total borrowing of Rs 5.92 lakh crore during the October-March period of the current fiscal.

The government had in the Budget for 2022-23 projected a gross market borrowing of Rs 14.31 lakh crore.

MoHUA launches the Transport 4 All Challenge Stage-2 and Citizen Perception Survey-2022

by

The Transport4All Challenge is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, that aims at enhancing the mobility experience of citizens. The Challenge focuses on digital innovation and invites cities, citizens, and innovators to join hands to develop contextual digital solutions to improve formal as well as informal public transport to better serve the mobility needs of all citizens.

Three Stages of the Challenge

The Transport4All through Digital Innovation Challenge comprises three stages:

Stage I PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Cities, with the support of NGOs, identify key recurring problems that citizens and public transport operators face

Stage II SOLUTION GENERATION: Startups develop prototypes of solutions to improve public transport with inputs from cities and NGOs

Stage III PILOT TESTING: Cities engage Startups for large-scale pilots and refine the solutions based on citizen feedback.

MoHUA launched the Urban Outcomes Framework 2022 in April, 2022 as an initiative to undertake a transparent and comprehensive assessment of cities based on cross-city outcomes across major sectors. The Framework also includes the third round of Ease of Living Index. The Ease of Living Index, as a 360-degree assessment, aims to evaluate cities across India based on the Quality Of Life, Economic Ability, and Sustainability.