20.01.22

Assam, Meghalaya cabinets okay formula to divide disputed land

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Assam andMeghalayacabinets on Wednesday approved the disputed land division formula for resolving the 50-year-old inter-state border row at six of the 12 points of differences, paving the way for the two CMs to submit the decision before Union Home ministerAmit Shah.
The six areas of disputes taken up for resolving in the first phase cover approximately a 36.8-sqkm area of which 18.51 sqkm is proposed to be under Assam and remaining 18.28 sqkm under Meghalaya.

A resolution to six areas of differences out of 12 along the Assam-Meghalaya boundary is expected to be arrived at by January 21 when Meghalaya would celebrate its 50th year of statehood.

Fall in eastern swamp deer count at Kaziranga National Park

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Floods have reduced the number of vulnerableeasternswamp deer inKaziranga andTiger Reserve(KNPTR), which has been counted for the first time in the whole KNPTR on January 10 and 11.

Prior to this, the process was only done in Kaziranga National Park.

The official said this is mainly due to two high floods in the intervening period, that is, 2019 and 2020. Territory wise, 786 undereastern Assamdivision, 62 under Biswanath wildlife division and 20 under Nagaon wildlife division have been recorded by experienced and trained wildlife experts from outside the forest department. In the field exercise for census of the vulnerable eastern swamp deer, 29 enumerators and 112 forest personnel were directly involved.
On the other hand in the fourth wetland bird estimation 2021-2022, carried out from December 21 to 27, encompassing the whole tiger reserve, a total of 66,776 birds of 126 species were enumerated using point count method.

Narcotics seizure increased manifold in 2020: Odisha police

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Seizures of ganja andbrown sugarhave increased manifold in the state in 2021 as compared to 2020, as per statistics, shared by theOdisha Police.
Total 1,675 quintals of ganja were seized last year compared 1,384 quintals in 2020. While about 34kg brown sugar was seized in 2020, the seizure stood at nearly 49.5kg in 2021. Market prices of 1kg of ganja and brown sugar are Rs 3,000 and Rs 1 crore respectively.

In Odisha, it is imperative to give a serious push to efforts to contain drug abuse and trafficking so that the emerging problem is nipped in the bud. The task force will formulate a state policy and coordinate with relevant agencies and central ministries, including the control bureau, ministry of Home affairs, ministry of social Justice and Empowerment, ministry of Health, drugs controller general of India and Central bureau of narcotics

Tamil Nadus defunct plans for welfare of differently abled

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The board set up to ensure the welfare of thedifferently abledin the state have held no meetings for three and a half years now, though it is supposed to meet at least twice a year.
Thewelfare boardfor the differently abled, which now has chief minister M K Stalin as chairman, last met in August 2017. It was set up in 2007. A second body called the state advisory board (SAB) was constituted two years after the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPWD) Act 2016 came into force. Experts in rehabilitation of the disabled are supposed to be members of the board.

The objective of the welfare board and SAB is to facilitate framing of policies for the Empowerment of the differently abled, implement welfare schemes and support them to improve their socioeconomic status.

IRB unit of Kerala police bags national-level recognition

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In a proud moment, the India Reserve Battalion (IRB) at Thrissur, a special unit of the state Police that also trains commandos, has been chosen by the Union Home ministry as the best in its category among those in the southern states.

The IRB, established in 2010, is a reserve unit as well as recruits and trains commandos – a concept that came very late to the state police when compared to several other states. The unit’s achievement is significant given that it competed in its category with established units like the Greyhounds of Andhra Pradesh and that was established at least two decades before IRB.

The unit set up with the Centre’s assistance two divisions -the commandos popularly known as Thunderbolts that have been engaging Maoists in the jungles of the state borders, and the Scorpions, which are regular members who are detailed for emergency law and order duties, VVIP security duties, anti-extremist duties, emergency natural calamity duties, etc. Presently, there are 960 members in the unit, which also includes 300 members under the special operations group (SOGs), 100 newly-carved urban commandos named Avengers and a 50-member team deployed for special security at Padmanabhaswamy Temple in the capital.

Survey on financial status of pourakarmikas to begin in Feb

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Karnataka State Safai Karmachari Commissionchairperson MShivanna said that a statewide survey on pourakarmikas who are socially, financially and educationally backward and who are deprived of minimum wages and basic facilities will commence in February.

Shivanna told reporters that the survey will be conducted to identify those working in gram panchayats and BBMP in order to bring them to mainstream of Society. National Law School, which has already conducted the economic and social conditions of pourakarmikas, will conduct the survey. It will be completed in three months, he said.

Telangana: Women’s University to be reality by 2023

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The proposal to convert the prestigious Koti Womens College into university was first floated in February, 2018. Now, with thechief minister K Chandrasekhar Raos nod to the proposal, the university is likely to be a reality by academic year 2022-23.

Currently, the college offers 19 undergraduate courses and 20 postgraduate courses, with 29 and 17 depart-ments respectively. Apart from this, some certificate and self-financed courses are also offered by the college. With the government planning to convert the college into a university, Telangana Education minister Sabitha Indra Reddy has instructed officials to explore the possibilities of introducing special Women-centric courses.

Once the Act is passed in the state Assembly, the established university can then approach various central funding agencies for funds.

Andhra Pradesh: Textiles minister launches Apco catalogue

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Stating that Apco management’s decision to enter into the wholesale market is a big leap to make its mark on the national and international footprint, industries, handlooms andtextiles ministerMekapati Gautam Reddy observed that it would help weavers grab a big market share across the country.

He said Apco’s innovative Marketing strategies will make it the destination for handlooms. He said the Apco management has done a commendable job by launching a special operation to capture wholesale business at the national level.

Mekapati said handloom workers would get full-time EMPLOYMENT if the marketing of handloom textiles is promoted with the support of wholesale markets.

Private forest at Vagheri being cleared for unauthorised project

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Work on an unapproved project is presently under way in the densely forested area in and around theVagheri hillin Sattari where large-scale clearing of bushes and trees has been undertaken. In addition, excavation work has been recently undertaken inside the forest leading to massive ecological destruction.

Officials of the town and country planning department said that no such proposal has been granted any approval in this area.
Environmentalists have urged the forest department to take stringent action against those clearing the forest.

The hill is located near theMhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, notified in 1999. Though the Union Environment ministry notified a 1km eco-sensitive zone around the sanctuary, ecologically destructive activities continue at Vagheri.

Since pre-Portuguese times, the Vagheri hill has been known as the abode of the tiger.

Fatal accidents in Maharashtra up 5% in 2 years, deaths by 4%

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Despite the pandemic-related curbs, fatal road crashes in Maharashtra surged by 5% and deaths by 4% in 2021 compared to pre-Covid times in 2019.

Over 12,300 fatal crashes were reported across the state last year in which more than 13,300 people died, according to latest data with the state traffic department. Nashik and Pune were the two districts that fared the worst in terms of fatalities. But a silver lining for Mumbai was that deaths dropped by 36% to 288 in 2021 from 447 in 2019.

The non-profit has also suggested redesigning Intersections to make them more conspicuous and installation of speed-calming measures so that vehicles can slow down before approaching the intersection.

For India to achieve its target of a 50% reduction in road crash deaths by 2030, its essential to take reviews every quarter and set action plans, experts said.

A safe systems approach involves taking into account human errors, sharing the responsibility for road safety between the public and decision-makers and proactively preventing fatal and serious crashes before they occur.