18-19.06.23

Study: Ranges most vulnerable in NCR, losses to rise to 22% by 2059 at current rate of damage

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Nearly 8% of the Aravali hills have disappeared between 1975 and 2019, says a study of the ranges across four states. Researchers from the Central University ofRajasthan(CURaj) studied satellite images and land-use maps between 1975 and 2019 to come up with estimates. Their paper titled Assessment of Land-Use Dynamics of the Aravalli Range was published in the journal Science Earth Informatics this January.

Data analysed by researchers showed that 5772.7 sqkm (7.6%) of the Aravali ranges was flattened in the 44-year period they studied. Of this, nearly 5% (3,676 sqkm) of the hills was converted into barren land and another 776.8 sqkm (around 1%) into settlements. The projected loss by 2059 of total Aravali area is 16,360 sqkm, according to the report.
In this time period, the Average deforestation rate was 0.57% annually, the studys lead researcher Laxmi Kant Sharma told TOI. If this continues, the landscape in swathes of north India will become arid and will set in, according to the study.

change from 1975 to 2019, which shows that the Aravali range is passing through significant deterioration, where Biodiversity loss is prominent These deteriorated hill gaps have opened a gateway for desertification in the northeast part of Rajasthan to Delhi, the study says.

The CURaj study says 1,852 sqkm of the Aravalis is currently being mined in nine areas Gurgaon, Faridabad, Rewari, Jaipur, Alwar and Ajmer. There are 4,150 mining leases, of which just 288 have environmental clearance, the study notes, citing data released by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) in a report in 2017.

Punjab mulls tweaking law

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Punjab mulls tweaking law on telecast of Gurbani from Golden Temple

The two-day special session of the Punjab Legislative Assembly, which is likely to be fiery as the government is planning to bring a resolution to add a new clause to The Sikh Gurdwaras Act, 1925. The decision is aimed at ensuring free-to-air telecast of Gurbani from the Golden Temple, Amritsar.

Giving details, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann said the agenda for this resolution would be cleared by the Cabinet at its meeting slated to be held here tomorrow. He said the resolution would be tabled in the Vidhan Sabha on June 20.

AI, data science among new-age courses to be introduced in Himachal tech colleges: CM Sukhu

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, data science and mechatronics engineering are among the new-age courses which will be introduced in technical colleges in Himachal Pradesh from the new academic session, Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said.

Presiding over a review meeting of technical institutions on Saturday evening, Sukhu emphasised the significance of staying at the forefront of technological advancements, according to a statement.

Uttarakhand to come up with ‘blood donor villages, colleges’

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The Health department officials announced that they will identify villages and colleges in each of the state’s 13 districts, where every eligible member would be encouraged to donate blood.

The aim is to get at least one village and one college ready for blood donation at any given point of time. Villages and colleges will be identified in every district for the project and all the eligible persons will be encouraged to register themselves for donation. Once a college or a village has 100% registration of eligible persons, it will get the tag of being a ‘blood donor’ village or college. It will be a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country.

Uttarakhand collected 8,171 units of blood from September 17 to October 1, 2022 in a statewide blood donation campaign, as per health officials. In the e-raktkosh portal, Uttarakhand has 81,188 volunteers registered for blood donation.

Satellite-linked digital crop survey in 19 dists

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The UP government has shortlisted as many as 19 districts for an ambitious satellite-linked digital crop survey project to determine the crop-sown data on a real time basis in the forthcoming Kharif season.
The districts which have been selected for the project include Varanasi, Ayodhya, Chandauli, Bhadohi, SantKabirNagar, Auraiya, Mahoba, Hamirpur, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Jalaun, Sultanpur, Jaunpur, Pratapgarh, Mirzapur, Moradabad, Farrukhabad, Basti and Hardoi.

The project is also proposed to be executed in at least 10 villages of different tehsils in the rest 56 districts on a pilot basis. The government would be geo-referencing the agricultural land before the 2023-24 Kharif and Rabi season, officials said. The State Government aims to cover the entire state by 2024-25. The development comes less than a month after the Centre signed an agreement with six states, including UP, Assam, Madhya Pradesh,OdishaandRajasthan, to begin the digital crop survey. The survey is essentially part of the governments `Agristack of India Digital Ecosystem and Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture (IDEA) that has been under development since 2020.

Jharkhand tops country in desertification

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Jharkhand tops the list of states in terms of . As many as 69% of the total land area of the state is considered a desert which is even more thanRajasthan(62.06%), literally known as the desert state. Interestingly, Jharkhand also could not make it to any of the list in the 11 categories of the fourth National Water Awards instituted by the Union jalshakti ministry.

The presentation focused on the increasing number of desertification in Jharkhand, which is among the top five states with a higher rate of desertification at 68.77%. Kumar pointed out the key indicators and drivers causing the problem and the current actions required to overcome it.
The issues of desertification were also discussed from an industrial standpoint by Sangita, the general manager (Environment) at Central Coalfield Limited (CCL). She spoke about the importance of reclaiming the land biologically and building new eco-parks in the state while also taking up a green venture on the overburdens of coal mines. Later, the principal chief conservator of forests, Siddharth Tripathi, engaged the gathering with appeals for their input on the necessary actions needed to be taken to address the issue.

Bihar ranks 3rd in saving water

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Bihar was jointly awarded the third prize with Andhra Pradesh in the category of ‘Best State’, in the fourth National Water Awards by the Union Jalshakti Ministry on Saturday. Madhya Pradesh was adjudged the first and Odisha bagged the second prize.

Bihar got this award for its efforts towards conservation and management of Resources“>Water Resources under the ‘Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Abhiyan’ (JJHA).

The project is a collaborative effort of 15 departments and being monitored by Jal-Jeevan-Hariyali Mission under the rural development department.

Under the campaign, 11 target interventions are being implemented, including removal of encroachment from public water bodies, rejuvenation of public water storage structures, rooftop rainwater harvesting, massive afforestation, promotion of and Solar Energy.

Besides, approximately 1.5 lakh soak pits have been constructed near public wells and hand pumps. The State Government has extended the JJHA till 2024-25.

Monsoon session of Cgarh Assembly to begin July 18

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The monsoon session of the Chhattisgarh Assembly will begin on July 18 and end on July 21.

A notification from the assembly stated that the session would undertake some financial issues apart from government works.

The short session will have four sittings.

It will be the last session ahead of assembly polls in November.

The session is expected to be a stormy one as the opposition will try to make every possible effort to grill the Congress government on various issues.

IIT-Indore ranked 21, no MP varsity in top 100

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None of the universities from Madhya Pradesh managed to make it to top 100 in India in the NIRF rankings.

However, some of the top institutions from the state made a slight improvement in their rankings over the last year.

Yet again,IIT Indoresecured a place among the top 50 institutes in the country. It has improved its rankings by three places and secured 28th place overall. Universities and colleges ofMPcontinued to perform poor, as this year also none of them managed to secure a place in the top 100.

Indore’s IIT secured 28th place with a score of 58. It has secured highest individual points in graduation outcome (GO) parameter. It has secured 72.96 in the GO parameter. The GO parameter forms the ultimate test of the effectiveness of the core TEACHING/Learning.

Bhopal’s IISER secured overall 60th rank in the country with a score of 50.58. Its best score was registered in TLR parameters as it secured 69.05. In 2022, IISER was at 61st place. The TLR parameters are related to the core activities of any place of learning.

Besides overall ranking, NIRF declared individual rankings in 12 other fields including engineering, law, top universities, colleges, law, pharmacy and others. MP’s educational campuses failed to secure a place in the section of top 100 universities and colleges of the country.

Industrial production losses pegged at Rs 5k cr

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Along with everyday activities, the “very severe cyclonic storm” Biparjoy, which made landfall on theGujaratcoast,wreaked havoc on and left a trail of devastation.
While Ports shut operations,heavy rainin seven districts hampered industrial production, uprooted trees and flooded highways and roads bringing Logistics to a standstill. Industrial trade worth about Rs 5,000 crore has been halted, according to estimates by the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry (GCCI).

Power disruptions due to fallen electricity poles and transmission pylons are clouding the resumption of industrial activity in affected areas. The Saurashtra-Kutch region has clusters of several industries such as textiles, ceramics, brass parts, engineering, ports, logistics, industrial salt manufacturing and others.