18-19.06.23

3-word mantra for devpt of NE: Guv

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Nine years of seva, sushasan and garib kalyan under theNarendra Modigovernment at the Centre was dedicated to bring about inclusive, progressive, and in the northeast, includingMeghalaya, governorPhagu Chauhanhas opined.

The three words seva, sushasan and Garib Kalyan define the journey of the nine years of the Narendra Modi government, said the governor in the course of his address at a vartalap or interactive media workshop organised by the Press Information Bureau here on Friday to mark the completion of nine years of Modis government.
Maintaining that the northeast has witnessed an unprecedented pace of progress from infrastructural development to enhanced connectivity, he lauded the Meghalaya government for taking forward the PMs vision of a developed nation in all spheres.


Assam cabinet nod to Olympics value-based education model

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TheAssamcabinets decision taken on Friday to roll out Olympic Values Education Programme (OVEP) in 250 government-run and private schools in and around Guwahati will address the challenges of a sedentary lifestyle, lack of concentration and adolescents dropping out of school.
State cabinet minister Jayanta Malla Baruah, on Friday evening said the state cabinet, headed by chief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarma, has given his assent to the signing of anMoUwith the International Olympic Committee andAbhinav BindraFoundation Trust to implement the programme.

OVEP is based on the Olympic Philosophy that Learning takes place through the balanced development of body and mind. Using Olympic Games symbols, the themes of Olympism, and drawing on the highlights of the ancient and modern Olympic Games, OVEP disseminates a values-based curriculum that helps shape character among children and youth.

Villagers seek tourist spot tag for Marada

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People of tinyMaradavillage in Ganjam districts Polasara block have urged the to declare it a tourist spot as it has connections with the Puri Jagannath Temple.

A 300-year-old Jagannath Temple stands in Marada, underMathura panchayat, sans the sibling deities. The temple, a marvellous example of Kalinga architecture, served as the hiding place for the deities of the Puri temple during 1733-1735, when temples were being targeted by invaders for destruction.

Sevayats and researchers of the Jagannath cult, who visited the place to study connection of Marada with the Puri temple about 15 years ago, had suggested to spread awareness about the significance of the village, known asSarana Srikhetra.

TN Wetland Mission plans to restore Ramsar sites, wetlands in trouble

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Restoration and management of Ramsar sites and other wetlands under the recently-founded TN Wetland Mission has run into trouble as the law department has raised concerns about violating procedure in selecting two agenciesAnna UniversityandSaconto draw up proposals and implement projects.

The mission was launched onWorld Environment Daywith much fanfare last year. Soon after, 14 crore was spent to create an inventory and to prepare integrated wetland management proposals. The two institutions were selected and were told to do the work to create management plans and to create Health cards of 13 Ramsar sites and 100 wetlands.
This is to assess water and quality, survey of lake boundaries, identifying encroachments, dumping of sewage and garbage.

However, the state law department has said that the Mission didn’t follow the rules under Tender Transparency Act. Instead of calling tenders, the authorities used the sections that allowed them to grant procurement of Services directly. Now, the officials said, they were hopeful that the approval will be received in a month.

Under section 16 B (b) of TN Tender Transparency Act, they need to justify why a tender was not called. Sacon and Anna University were paid about 4 crore for the proposals. However, officials from the mission confirmed this and said that it was an error in judgement as they wanted to speed up the process.

Govt sanctions 193 crore for sewage treatment plant

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Authorities are all set to start the work on sewage treatment plant (STP) at Elamkulam and a collection Network of around 40km under the second phase of Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (Amrut) scheme. Government has given administrative sanction of Rs 193 crore for the project.

With this, the government has given administrative sanction for projects worth Rs 345 crore for enhancing water supply and to set up sewage facilities in the city.

Once the 5 million litre per day (mld) sewage treatment plant and its collection network are completed, around 10,000 households in the divisions like Ernakulam South, Ernakulam Central and Ernakulam North will be connected to the facility. The government has given administrative sanction for the sewage project worth Rs 193 crore. The technical sanction for the project is expected soon.

Other major projects are Rs 19 crore project to construct an overhead storage tank at Kaloor and a Rs 14 crore overhead storage tank at Pachalam. Tenders have been invited for works to improve the water supply system at Pachalam, Edapally and Vennala areas. Replacement of old asbestos concrete (AC) pipes with ductile iron (DI) pipes in those areas are the major component of the work.

Gruha Jyothi scheme

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The registration process of GruhaJyothischeme, under which up to 200 units of free electricity is provided to all residential households inKarnataka, has been begun.

The energy department clarified that no documents or records are needed for Gruha Jyothi scheme registration. The consumer can register using his/her own mobile, laptop or in any Internet caf.

Forest fires wreck fertile land in Telangana, 80% infernos are man-made

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Forest fires continue to ravage fertile land inTelanganawith 9,520 hectares of forest land getting burnt this year alone. Senior forest department officials confirmed that 80% of these fires were man-made.
Worse still, out of the 11,657 fire alerts received by the officials, 11,202 were related to raging infernos in the reserve forests.

While forest fires in the state are majorly caused by careless beedi smoking by shepherds and cowherds, farmers taking to slash-and-burn Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and burning forest tracts for obtaining fresh tendu leaves and mahua flowers are also blamed for the frequent forest fires.

Though there was a 30% drop in the number of open fire incidents in

Punjaband a 48% drop in Haryana during last years paddy stubble burning season, the forest fires problem continues to be rampant across .
According to data from Forest Protection Management Information System (FPMIS), the incidence of over 9,000 hectares of land getting ravaged was marginally (2%) less than last year. The data was recorded between November and June, which is considered as the season for forest fires. The forest areas of Telangana are mainly dry deciduous in nature as leaves start drying up and falling on the ground from January onwards.

AP to launch coffee with ward education assistant initiative

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In a move to achieve the vision of the to have Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of 100% in primary and secondary levels, the Education department has decided to launch a novel programme coffee with ward education assistants.

All the mandal education officers have been directed to spend time with the ward education assistants while sharing the governments vision and make all the programmes successful. The State believes that education assistants in the ward/village secretaries must have significant roles in taking the education departments schemes and programmes to the door-steps of the people.

It is important that the education assistants of the village and ward secretariat should be totally integrated with the education department. The ward secretariat institution was created in 2019 where 10,000 young and dynamic persons were posted as education assistants.

Goa population 15.7 lakh, 75% concentrated in urban areas

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In the tiny Goa, more than 75% of the state’s Population is squeezed into urban areas, indicates the estimates of the National Commission on Population of the Union Health ministry. Goa’s population now stands at 15.7 lakh, the commission’s data shows.

The 2011 Census pegged Goa’s population at 14.6 lakh. The 2021 Census could not be carried out because of the pandemic.
As for the population density in urban areas, it “could pose significant risks on living conditions, the Environment and development, due to rapid Urbanization and the changing landscape of human settlement,” says the Economic Survey 2022-23 for Goa. The urban population in Goa is reaching the saturation level, the survey says.

Of Goa’s population of 15.7 lakh, 7.9 lakh (50.4%) are males and 7.8 lakh (49.6%) are females.

The Economic Survey says that the Growth of the state’s population has been much faster over the decade ending 2023, at 7.9%, as against the previous decade from 2011 to 2021 in which the decadal was 6.8%. “Goa has witnessed rapid Urbanisation undoubtedly due to high per capita GSDP,” the survey says. The survey adds that 75.8% of the projected population of Goa is reported to be urban for the year 2023.

As against 11.5 lakh living in Goa’s urban areas two years ago, today close to 12 lakh reside in the state’s city and towns.

Maharashtra govt pursuing corporate funds to build medical colleges and hostels

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The state’s medical Education department (MED) is actively looking for corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives to support the construction of medical college buildings and hostels. The state and the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences (MUHS) are in the final stages of discussions with a corporate to build a hostel in Nashik. If successful, this arrangement would be the first of its kind.

With a dozen colleges in the pipeline and limited funds, the MED started seeking CSR tie-ups recently, besides working towards securing a substantial loan from the Asian .

About Rs 18,000 crore is estimated to be required for the construction and operationalisation of these colleges by 2030. The State Government has already initiated the process of borrowing Rs 8,000 crore from the Asian Development Bank. According to a source from the department, the initial plan is to allocate a portion of the borrowed funds for constructing the new colleges in different districts, while the remaining amount would be utilized for upgrading the existing colleges.