18.02.22

Industry dept using drones to lift Lakadong turmeric in Meghalaya

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The commerce and industry ministry on Saturday said it is promoting use of drones for transportation of Lakadong turmeric from Meghalaya to other parts of the country with an aim to resolve first mile connectivity issues of farmers from the hinterland. Lakadong turmeric has been identified under the One District, One Product (ODOP) Initiative of the Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) as a product with huge potential for growth and export from West Jaintia Hills, a district of Meghalaya.

The fly off event would not only give a fillip to the ODOP initiative but also leverage modern technology as a fundamental solution to overcome the bottleneck of transportation that acts as a barrier in realizing the optimal potential of this spice from Meghalaya, she said. Despite India being the world’s largest turmeric producer and exporter, turmeric imports had also been increasing.

The percentage of curcumin and oleoresin content in turmeric determines its demand by the industry and the price. India is the largest producer and exporter of turmeric. India exported USD 236.5 million worth of turmeric in 2018 from USD 182.53 million in 2017. India produces 78 per cent of the world’s turmeric. In 2018-19, turmeric production was 389 thousand tonnes.

Himanta urges investors to take advantage of customisable industrial policy & invest in Assam

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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urged leading industrialists and financiers in Mumbai to invest in diverse sectors in the state and assured them of total cooperation from the government in this regard. He held separate meetings with industry leaders at a roundtable organised by FICCI as well as with Tata Group and SRCC Children’s Hospital, among others, winding up his three-day visit to the financial capital of the country.

The chief minister urged Tata Group to come forward for investment in Assam, especially in health, education, green and renewable energy, tourism and hospitality sector. He assured that the state government will provide all necessary support, including certain policy changes and capital subsidy, to make the state a preferred investment destination of the country.

State govt seeks DRDO nod for airstrip launch

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With an aim to facilitate air-connectivity to the northern parts of Odisha, the state government has sought early nod of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) for operation of the Amarda Roadairstripnear Rasagobindapur in Mayurbhanj district.

Chief secretarySuresh Chandra Mohapatrahas written toUniondefence secretary Ajay Kumar, requesting him to give necessary instruction to DRDO over issuance of no objection certificate (NOC) for the airstrip to be used by the state government. Flight operation from the airstrip is being proposed under the Centres Regional Connectivity Scheme (RCS-UDAN).

The state government has requested DRDO several times to provide the NOC for the airstrip so that it could be used by commercial flights. However, there has been no response from DRDO so far for which the flight operation faces a stalemate, said Mohapatra in his letter.

The Union ministry of civil aviation has included the Bhubaneswar-Amarda road as a special RCS route under UDAN 4.1 on request of the state government. Gsec Monarch has been selected as the airline operator for the route where seven flights would ply per week.

Tamil Nadu to have exclusive press council soon

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Soon,Tamil Nadumight get an exclusive media body — thePress Council of Tamil Nadu— as chief ministerM K Stalinhas consented to make appropriate amendments in law to establish it.

The process of circulation and approval from the competent authorities for formation of Press Council of Tamil Nadu and issue of government order for the accreditation rules likely to be completed within a short time after the completion of the urban local body election, said a report filed by director of information and public relation V P Jayaseelan in the highcourt.
The amended Tamil Nadu State News Media Representative Accreditation Rules, 2021 has been issued as a government order. The decision was made following a Madras high court order.

Kochi corporation plans 15% cess on property tax

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In order to tide over financial crisisKochiCorporation authorities are planning to introduce 15% service cess onproperty tax. Opposition councillors slammed the proposal pointing out that it would add to the hardshipps of the public already burdened with the adversities stemming out of Covid-19.

The corporation is head-deep in a financial crisis which has evolved over the past several years. The local body owes the contractors a huge amount and lack of funds has impacted the implementation of many projects. It is against this backdrop the local body authorities have mooted the proposa. We discussed the proposal at a meeting of the finance standing committee. We provide the residents various services including waste clearance, streetlight and drainage cleaning.

Yeshasvini scheme may be revived

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The government government is thinking of reintroducingYeshasvini, which was once regarded as Karnatakas flagship health scheme, especially focused on the rural population, including farmers.

The programme rolled out by the department of cooperation was discontinued on May 31, 2018 after the government initiatedArogya Karnatakascheme that later became the co-branded Ayushman Bharat-Arogya Karnataka (AB-ArK) scheme assuring Rs 5 lakh annual aid per BPL family. However, the mandatory referral letter to be obtained by government hospitals to avail treatment in private hospitals under AB-ArK is being seen as a major hurdle.

Yeshasvini, introduced in 2003, was initially meant for rural communities but extended to urban areas 2014 onwards. One of the largest self-funded healthcare schemes in the country, it required a person to be a member of a cooperative society and covered 823 surgical procedures, which could be availed in empanelled private and government hospitals. The scheme provided a cover of Rs 2 lakh per year per family for rural beneficiaries and Rs 2.5 lakh in urban areas. It was crafted in such a way that members ofYeshasvini trustcontributed a premium which was used as the capital to run it.

T-AIMs for data annotation clusters in state, inks MoU with Tika Data

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In a bid to position the state as a go-to destination for high quality data annotation services as part of its thrust on developing an Artificial Intelligence (AI) ecosystem, theTelanganagovernment has inked anMoUwith Bengaluru-basedTika Datafor setting up a data annotation cluster in the state.

As part of this agreement, Tika Data is expected to set up three centres, most likely in Jakranpalle, Armoor and Dichapalle mandals of Nizamabad district, and train and employ over 100 local people. Data annotation is nothing but the categorisation and labelling of data for AI (artificial intelligence) applications. The growth of the data annotation industry is driven by the growth of AI/ML based solutions because the quality of the AI/ML model is dependent on the quality of training data, Telangana government said on Thursday while announcing the MoU.

The partnership was the result of a data annotation roundtable conducted by the Telangana governments Telangana AI Mission (T-AIM) initiative that is powered byNasscom.

Andhra Pradesh: Covid positivity rate drops to 2.8%

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Andhra Pradeshreported 615 new Covid-19 cases recently, taking the cumulative caseload to 23,13,827. The toll increased to 14,702 as four more patients succumbed to the pandemic. One patient each died in Chittoor,Guntur,KrishnaandWest Godavaridistricts.

As many as 2,787 patients were declared cured. There are 12,550 active cases with 22,86,575 cumulative recoveries and 14,702 fatalities. From the peak of 1.16 lakh active cases on January 30, the active caseload has dropped to this range in just a fortnight.
The case positivity rate further dropped to 2.8% as the new cases were detected through tests conducted on 22,267 people.

Aurangabad to get 200 EV charging stations by year-end

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TheAurangabad Municipal Corporation(AMC0 has decided to set up nearly 200 charging stations for electric vehicles in the city by this year-end, a senior official said here inMaharashtra.

The charging stations will come up at fuel pumps, malls, bus stands, railway stations, business complexes and other locations.

This will encourage people to go for electric vehicles and help in reducing pollution. The fund granted under the 15 Finance Commission for Aurangabad city will also be used to buy electric cars for official use, another official said.
Notably, the Marathwada Auto Cluster recently launched theAurangabad Mission Green Mobilityinitiative with the people’s participation, under which 250 electric four-wheelers are set to be purchased by March this year.

Haryana anganwadi staff best paid in region, claims govt

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TheHaryanagovernment claims to be putting the highest monthly share of Rs 9,961 into theAnganwadiworkers honorarium, while the central share is Rs 2,700. This is a 60:40 partnership scheme of the central and state governments.

In Haryana during 2014, the Anganwadi workers used to get Rs 7,500 and the Anganwadi helpers Rs 3,500 as honorarium, which has almost doubled. The current monthly honorarium is Rs 12,661 to Anganwadi worker, Rs 11,401 to mini Anganwadi worker, and Rs 6,781 to sahayika, inclusive of the central share. A spokesperson of the state government claimed that this honorarium was highest in north India and second in the country.