Covid: Eight oxygen plants in North East with Japan, UNDP aid

Three civil hospitals in Meghalaya were on Tuesday equipped with Oxygen-generation Plants with support extended by the government of Japan and the UNDP to help treat critically ill Covid-19 patients.

Japan and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have been supporting Indias response to the pandemic since June 2020 by strengthening the Health and social protection systems, most importantly reviving livelihoods, targeting the most vulnerable Population.

The eight oxygen plants have the capacity to serve approximately 1,300 beds. Each plant produces up to 800 litres of oxygen per minute.

Assam to give ‘Asom Ratna’, other awards every year

TheAssamcabinet approved setting up annual state Awards – “Asom Ratna”, “Asom Bibhushan”, “Asom Bhushan” and “Asom Shree” – in a replication of the country’s highest civilian awards and decided that photographs of President, Prime Minister and Assam’s first CM Gopinath Bordoloi will have to be displayed at all government offices.

Asom Ratna” award will be presented every year to a person who has made significant contributions to Society and will carry cash component of Rs 5 lakh. Similarly, “Asom Bibhushan” will be presented to three persons with Rs 3 lakh cash for each, “Asom Bhushan” to five persons with Rs 2 lakh each and “Asom Shree” to 10 persons every year with Rs 1 lakh each.

The recipients will also be eligible for other benefits like free medical treatment of critical illness, free stay at Assam Bhawans and free travel inAssam State Transport Corporationbuses.

To ensure smooth supply of fertilisers to farmers during ensuing Kharif season, the State Government urged the Centre to supply the entire allocated quantity of fertilisers to Odisha during the crop season.

State Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Farmers Empowerment Minister Arun Sahoo has written to Union Minister for Chemicals and Fertilisers DV Sadananda Gowda in this regard.

The Department of Fertilisers has supplied adequate quantity of Fertilizers to the State as per the allocation in the month of April-2021. However, in the months of May and June-2021, there is a short supply of different fertilisers to the State against the monthly allocation, Sahoo said in his letter. During May 2021, he said, only 34,340 metric tonne of urea has been supplied to Odisha against the monthly allocation of 48,950 MT. Also during the current June, only 18,690 MT of urea has been supplied against the monthly allocation of 70,830 MT as on June 18.

Similarly, during May and June-2021, only 37,519 MT of DAP, 8,803 MT of MOP and 46,902 MT of NPK have been supplied to the State against the allocation of 82,000 MT of DAP, 28,900 MT of MOP and 81,600 MT of NPK. During last Kharif, the State had experienced scarcity of urea due to short supply of 45,000 MT of urea as a result there was a law and order situation in most of district of State.

Tamil Nadu assembly will pass resolutions against farm laws and CAA: M K Stalin

Naduchief minister M KStalin announced that the state assembly would pass resolutions against the Union governments contentious farm laws and the Citizen Amendment Act (CAA) in the upcoming budget session.

Responding to the appeal made by Manamadurai MLA A Tamilarasi to pass resolutions against the farm laws, Stalin said theDMKhad registered its strong protest against the farm laws on several occasions. The party has been demanding that the Union Government revoke the Acts, which were against the interest of the farming community.

He added that the assembly would pass a resolution against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on the occasion. The act was against the interest of minorities across the country. It created panic among the minorities

60% of college students in Kerala suffer depression: Study

Around 60% college students in the state experience mental depression in varied degrees since the outbreak of Covid-19 and at least 55% youngsters pursuing UG and PG courses in arts and science colleges are too worried about their future.

The findings are in a study on the academic and psychological functioning of college students ofKeralain the times of Covid-19 carried out by the Psychological Resource Centre, Government College for Women, Vazhuthacaud, for the directorate of collegiate Education is a testimony to the ballooning discomfort the youngsters are facing in the Covid times.

According to the study, 28.4% college students in arts and science colleges in the state suffer from mild mental depression while 14.8% of them suffer moderate depression and 9.9% suffer from moderately severe depression. Around 6% suffer from severe depression. The findings, say experts should be an eye opener not only to the academic community, but to the state and the government.

Enrolment in higher education improves, Karnataka still trails neighbours

The gross enrolment ratio (GER) in higher Education rose to 32% inKarnatakain 2019-2020, against 28.8% in the year before that, but the state continues to lag behind its neighbours, especiallyTamil Naduand Kerala which are far ahead.

GER is a statistical measure used to determine the Percentage of students enrolled in different levels of education from the total Population of the corresponding age group.

The All India Survey of Higher Education released on Thursday showed the GER among girls in the state was 32.7, against 31.2 in boys.

While Karnatakas GER is higher than the national figure of 27.1% in the 18-23 age group, it ranks 15th among other states and UTs. The highest GER is in , at 76%. Karnatakas neighbours are ahead: TN (51%), Kerala (39%),Telangana(36%), AP (35%) andMaharashtra(32.3%).

Karnataka has been the laggard despite having the third highest number of colleges in the country (4,047), after Uttar Pradesh (7,788) and Maharashtra (4,494). It also has the highest college density: 59 colleges per lakh eligible population in teh 18-23 age group. Interestingly, the state established the highest number of new colleges in 2019 181 and 18 of them were in the government sector, but the enrolment is below that of many other states.

Defence ministry tweaks policy for educational institutions in Telangana

As part of its renewedpolicyof monetising unused land, the defenceministryhas also tweaked the policy of leasing land for educational purposes.

Accordingly, theministry of DEFENCE(MoD), has communicated to the Cantonments Boards about framing new rules and regulations.

According to the details available with STOI, recognised charitable educational institutions will be benifited with the new policy.

The MoD is coming with this policy as it noticed several irregularities. In many cases, the land leased for educational purposes is being miused and in some instances the leases have expired long back.

Andhra Pradesh sets national record by giving 13.2 lakh Covid-19 vaccines

Andhra Pradeshachieved a major milestone in its Covid-19 vaccination effort by administering jabs to more than 13.2 lakh people in the mega vaccination drive conducted.

This is the highest-ever single-day vaccination total not only for Andhra Pradesh, but for any state in the country, since the roll out of the mass inoculation drive for the healthcare workers in the first phase on January 16.

Apart from the 45+ age group, special focus has been laid on vaccinating mothers having kids aged below five years on Sunday. The Covid-19 Paediatric Task Force has earlier recommended preferential vaccination to mothers as they may have to accompany the Covid-19 positive kids during their hospitalisation.

Minimum 71L jabs per day a must for eco recovery: CII

Indias economic recovery hinges on an accelerated vaccination with at least 71.2 lakh individuals being vaccinated on a daily basis, said Confederation of Indian (CII) on Thursday as it urged the government to put in place a multi-pronged strategy to stimulate economic Growth.

Vaccination is a key factor that will aid Indias recovery and the Centre needs to increasevaccineproduction in order to ensure that a majority of the countrys Population is vaccinated by December end.

Indias GDP growth rate for 2021-22 could touch 9.5% if public expenditure, reforms and vaccination are accelerated, said CII president T V Narendran in an online media interaction.

CII has suggested a range of measures to speed up the vaccination drive.

It estimates that an Average of about 71 lakh daily vaccinations are required between June to December to administer at least a single dose to all adults in the country. CII has also recommended that an empowered minister of vaccination needs to be appointed to accelerate the vaccination programme, Procurement and Distribution of Vaccines to states.

Karnataka to monitor dam water levels too: Maharashtra minister

Maharashtra Resources“>Water Resources minister Jayant Patil attended a high-level meeting withKarnatakachief ministerBS Yediyurappa in Bengalurufor better flood-management between the two states.

After the meeting, Patil said the Karnataka government has decided to set up a real-time data acquisition system (RTDAS) at its Almatti and Narayanpur Dams to monitor water levels, which will help prevent 2019-like floods in Kolhapur andSangli districts, in which 60 people lost their lives.