The thematic area of the Bodoland International Knowledge Festival is the achievement of social development priorities and key Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 2030 in contemporary BTR and the world.
18.02.23
State should aim futuristic revenue generation
Eminent financial analyst Rajib Sekhar Sahoo has advised the State Government to go for a futuristic revenue generation approach.
While the State Government has been able to receive wide appreciation for its Prudent Financial Management, it needs to revisit its revenue generation policy, Sahoo has opined.
Sahoo said Odisha is among the handful of States that have posted revenue surplus for several years. The State continuously strives to enhance its fiscal sustainability and improve budget performance by strengthening a medium-term fiscal framework and improving budgetary transparency.
The major source of Own Non Tax Revenue is from the mining sector, which is volatile. With market fluctuation and imposition of stringent export duty, there was contraction in mining revenue for last few months. Now, it has increased of late thanks to the decision of Government of India to withdraw iron ore export duty and the ease in market.
Most importantly, the mining sector is not a renewable one; so, more dependence on this sector for revenue generation is not advisable. Going for new sectors for generation of revenue and futuristic planning is needed for the State Government, which is pumping more and more resources for development programmes
Country’s largest debating forum is back for third season in Tamil Nadu
Speak for India, the country’s largest debating forum for college students is back. Registration has opened for the third season of the Tamil Nadu edition of Speak for India.
An initiative by Federal Bank in association with The Times of India, it provides a platform for college students across Tamil Nadu to voice their views and opinions on contemporary issues and become change makers of society.
It also gives college students an opportunity to explore and realise their awareness, insights and perspective on contemporary topics.
The forum also helps identify top debaters in the state through multiple levels of competitions. College students from across Tamil Nadu can participate in the competition.
Participants can choose between Tamil and English as their language of debate. All participants at every level will get certificates. The winner gets a cash prize of 2.5 lakh and the runner-up gets 1.5 lakh.The six finalists stand to win 35,000 each. Register online at www.speakforindia.in or scan the QR code.
39.21% of Keralas coast is eroding, reveals study
A time-series analysis study on the eroding shorelines from 1973-2021 shows that erosion is dominant in nearly 39.12% of the entire coastal length inKerala. The eroding length is highest in theNorthernregion at 44.04 percent followed by 38.67 per cent in the central and 33.8 percent in the south.
The study by researchers at the department of water resources engineering,NIT Karnatakaled by MMParvathyand officials of the state irrigation department, points out that unlike pre-2000, the results indicate that the past two decades have undergone a drastic transformation, which can be attributed to anthropogenic interventions and global climatic changes.
The coastal protection strategies adopted by the state can be observed to be the main conducive reason for the reduction in the eroding length and the subsequent increase in the stable coast. Seawalls have succeeded to an extent in limiting erosion by forming the boundary line.
MyMUL third most profitable milk union
In the past three financial years, excluding the current one, the Karnataka Milk Federation (KMF) has registered a cumulative profit of Rs 188.2 crore, with the Mysuru District Co-Operative Milk Producers Societies Union Ltd (MyMUL), one of the 14 unions associated with the federation, slotting in at the third spot on the list of most profitable unions in the state for 2021-22. With a profit of Rs 7.7 crore registered in 2021-22, MyMUL trails only Bengaluru, and Dakshina Kannada, while the union in neighbouring Mandya district has bagged the fourth spot, with a profit of Rs 7.1 crore. However, if one were to take the total profit registered by the unions over three years, Mandya pips Mysuru to take the third slot Mandya has earned a profit of Rs 20.1 crore, while Mysuru earned Rs 19.5 crore.
The Bengaluru union registered a profit of Rs 45.4 crore, Dakshina Kannada Rs 21.2 crore over the past three years. With a registered profit of Rs 17.4 crore over three years, Kolar union completes the top five list on the rankings table.
900 crore boost for road infra in tribal villages
Telanganawill spend Rs 900 crore towards providing connectivity with bitumen roads to tribal habitations with poor road infrastructure Another Rs 500 crore has been allocated for theRegional Ring Roadproject and Rs 498 crore for road netw- ork improvement programme in leftwing extremist-hit areas.
In all, Rs 6,859 crore has been allocated to roads and buildings department, includ- ing construction of the new secretariat (Rs 400 crore) in the statebudgetfor 2023-24.
Govt to rebuild 3,000 temples across Andhra Pradesh
Endowments department is focused on reconstructing 3,000 temples across the state on priority this year, for which the government has sanctioned 10 lakh for eachtemple.
Endowments minister Kottu Satyanarayana said 2,640 temples are already identified and will soon get 10 lakh each for their reconstruction. Reconstruction of another 1,568 temples are in the proposal state and Sri Vani trust of Triumala has given in principle approvals for this, he added.
He said the government is working on streamlining the land of Srisailam Devasthanams. “The revenue and forest departments have already demarcated the area and fencing work will start soon to separate temple land from forest land. The Srisailam temple will now have 4,700 acres of land,” the minister said.
Goa to become first state to set up carbon & climate resilience fund
Goa has become the first state in the country to initiate the setting up of a low carbon and climate resilient green fund, with assistance from theWorld Bank, while NitiAayogis helping the state complete the required procedures.
The fund, once set up, will be operated by a dedicated project management unit, and will help Goa to submit projects before different national and international agencies to access finance for carbon and climate-resilient investments. To begin with, Goa has proposed to set up a $5 million fund to carry out the necessary studies for the project.
Without any liabilities to the state, the project will first involve carrying out a study by June 2024, which will assess Goas climate and development landscape, carry out a low carbon and climate resilient scenario analysis, and prepare a draft blueprint of a blended finance facility for the state.
The studies to be carried out will be baseline assessments (for Goa) of current climate risks and vulnerabilities, the states emissions profile and trends, its climate commitments, policies, and institutional framework.
Accordingly, a detailed scenario analysis across sectors will be developed with time frames, to identify ways to increase resilience, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and to estimate related financing needs to mitigate climate risks.
Maharashtra govt tells departments to ensure suo motu disclosure under RTI Act
TheMaharashtraGeneral Administration Department (GAD) has directed all government establishments to make suo motu disclosure as mandated in the Right to Information (RTI) Act after the State Information Commission (SIC) expressed concerns over the lack of desired voluntary disclosure by public authorities.
The GAD issued a communication to this effect on February 16. The GAD also reminded public authorities about updating the official websites at least twice a year, preferably by January 1 and July 1.
As per the suo motu disclosures under Section 4 of the Act, every public authority is duty-bound to place a large amount of information in the public domain on a proactive basis to make the functioning of the public authorities transparent and also to reduce the need for filing individual RTI applications
The state agricultureminister JP Dalalchaired the district grievance committee meeting where around 25 issues of the people were taken up and 16 were resolved.
Dalal said the upcoming state budget would have several schemes and announcements for the welfare of farmers. The state budget, which will be presented by chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar on February 23, will follow the union budget in providing the welfare schemes.
The issue related to several illegal guest houses in HSVP sectors was also raised in the meeting. On being inquired about the action taken by the department, the minister was informed that HSVP had issued notices to illegal guest houses in sectors 38, 45, 46 and 57.