21.07.21

The Arunachal Pradesh government has signed an MoU with IIM Shillong recognising the premier institute as its official think tank and knowledge partner.

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The MoU was signed on Friday between state chief secretary Naresh Kumar and Prof D.P. Goyal, director IIM Shillong, in presence of chief minister Pema Khandu in Shillong.

This is a first-of-its-kind collaboration between the institute and any state government in the Northeast, a move many feel could see more and more states tap into expert advice/services offered by institutes such as the IIM for holistic development.

According to the MoU, the government of Arunachal Pradesh will recognise Dr APJ Centre of IIM Shillong as an official think tank and knowledge partner of the government in the frontier state which suffers from connectivity issues and mainly dependent on agriculture.

This centre will help impart training to youths for entrepreneurship development and promoting start-up ecosystem, amongst others.

SKOCH Award for Cachar District

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Keerthi Jalli Deputy Commissioner of Cachar received the National Silver SKOCH Award a few days ago for Pushti Nirbhor (nutrition-dependent). Pushti Nirbhor is a convergence project on transformation & development entailing setting up Nutri-gardens at houses in Dinnathpur Bagicha village. Dinnathpur Bagicha village is near the India-Bangladesh border in the Katigorah circle of the Cachar district.

Thirty thousand seedlings of fruits, vegetables and herbal plants were distributed.

Each household of the village was given payment for 75 man-days for implementation of the project.

The objective was to train the villagers toward becoming self-reliant during the covid pandemic, grow enough for their own nutritional needs and to sell the surplus in the markets.

About the award:

The award was instituted in 2003. SKOCH Award salutes people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation

Chief minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday inaugurated a tea packaging unit ofTata Consumer Products Limitedat Gopalpur industrial park in Ganjam district through video conference. The Rs 100-crore plant commissioned in 18 months will create employment opportunities for over 900 people.

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The plant with present production capacity of 15 million kgs will be developed as the largest tea packaging plant in the country as the company has planned to enhance its capacity to 50 million kgs. It is one of the most modern units with all the state-of-the-art technologies, said an official statement. The unit will cater to the needs of Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu,Telangana and Central India. It is being operated by Amalgamated Plantations Private Limited, an associate of Tata consumers and the second largest tea producer in India.

Lauding the role ofTata Groupin Odisha, he said it has been playing a vital role in the states industrial development. He also appreciated Tata Groups support to the state government to handle the pandemic.

Tamil Naduchief ministerM K Stalinon Thursday urged Prime MinisterNarendra Modito remove capping of the central share of premium subsidy under the Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana scheme (PMFBY), a government-sponsored crop insurance scheme.

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In a letter to Modi, a copy of which was released to the media, the chief minister said the state witnessed a huge growth in terms of area insured and enrolment of farmers due to the best practices adopted by the state under the scheme. However, the states share of the premium subsidy has increased at a compound annual growth rate of 28.7% in the last five years. This has stymied the very purpose of the scheme as the state is finding it difficult to sustain the continuance of the scheme due to increasing financial liability that too during this pandemic period, Stalin said.

Initially, the pattern of sharing in 2016-17 was 49:49:2 (central, state and farmers share respectively). The central share has now been capped at 25% for irrigated area and 30% for rain-fed area, resulting in an increase of the state share of the premium subsidy by 12%. In all, the states share becomes 61%.

In Kerala, devotees take part in Attukal pongala festival from their homes

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In Kerala, amid the Covid-19 pandemic the devotees will take part in the Attukal pongala from their homes.

Pongala is the annual ritual of the Attukal Bhagavathy Temple in Thiruvananthapuram and holds the Guinness world record as the largest gathering of women.

Every year nearly 20 lakh devotees take part in the festival.

However, this time the authorities have decided to scale down the festival rituals by confining the ritual to the temple premises.

The devotees have been asked to offer the ritual at their homes to avoid crowding.

Resignation of BS Yediyurappa

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Chief Minister of Karnataka BS Yediyurappa announced his resignation from the top post on 26 July 2021, when his government completed 2 years in the state after being elected to power in the year 2019. The 78-year-old Yediyurappa, often called BSY, served as the 19th Chief Minister of Karnataka. BSY had served as the chief minister of Karnataka for four terms and was the only chief minister to serve 4 terms in Karnataka history.

Goldman Sachs opens new global competence centre in Hyderabad, to hire over 2,500 by 2023

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Financial services giantGoldman Sachsunveiled its new global competence centre (GCC) spread over nearly 1.6 lakh sq ft across three floors in Hyderabads IT hub of Madhapur on Monday and said it plans to hire over 2,500 techies by 2023.

The Hyderabad centre, which became operational remotely in March this year with around 250 techies (including internal relocations from Bengaluru and new hires), is expected to grow to 800 employees by end of 2021, of which about 70% would be new hires, said Gunjan Samtani, head of Goldman Sachs services in India.

Thenew GCC at Hyderabadis part of Goldman Sachs commitment to expand its global centre for engineering and business innovation in India, the US-based biggie said.

The new centre, which was inaugurated by Telangana IT & industries minister KT Rama Rao, will include functions like engineering, finance, human capital management and support for consumer banking.

Three Monuments in Adarsh Smarak Scheme

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Andhra Pradesh’s three monuments have been designated as “Adarsh Smarak” in order to provide additional services.

Highlights:

According to the Adarsh Smarak scheme, three monuments in Andhra Pradesh have been identified to provide additional facilities and make them more suitable for tourists.

The monuments are as follows:

Nagarjunakonda Monuments
Salihundam Buddhist Remains
Lepakshi’s Veerabhadra Temple

About the Adarsh Smarak Scheme:

The Ministry of Culture launched the scheme in 2014 with the goal of improving visitor amenities at historical and archaeological monuments/sites.
It also aims to improve monument preservation.
The monuments on the list will have all of the tourist amenities required by international standards, such as wi-fi, signage, security, encroachment-free zones, interpretation centres, and so on.

The scheme’s objectives are as follows:

To make monuments more accessible to visitors.
To improve/provide restrooms, drinking water, signage, a cafeteria, and wi-fi access.
To provide interpretation services as well as audio-visual centres
To improve wastewater and garbage disposal, as well as to instal a rainwater harvesting system.
To make the monuments accessible to people with disabilities.
To carry out the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan.

Goas mangroves have unique food and medicine, need management

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Mangrovesare popular as fish nurseries and natures defence systems. In Goa, they are a perfect setting foruniquecelebrations, crocodile worship and boat festivals even as their potential for honey, vegetables and medicinal benefits need to be explored.

Making a case for comprehensive mapping of mangroves and identifying their importance in various aspects with other activists, Fr Bolmax Pereira, a botanist and priest, suggested conservation status for the Kandella candel as a state mangrove species.

The study urged marking of mangrove sites with Avicennia spp, Aegicera and Sonneratia caseolaris species for mangrove honey, areas with Acrostichum aureum species (akur) a vegetable delicacy, and potential mangrove pharmacy sites.

MoU Between NABARD and Bank of Maharashtra

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Bank of Maharashtra and the National Bank for Agriculture & Rural Development (NABARD) has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)

Highlights:

The MoU is to boost ongoing developmental initiatives linked to priority sector lending in Maharashtra. It is on a collaborative approach to enhance rural prosperity through the convergence of institutional lending & ongoing development initiative. The MoU envisages joint initiatives for farmers, farmer producer organisations, joint liability groups, self-help groups, rural artisans, weavers, Agri-preneurs, Agri start-ups, micro, small and medium enterprises in the State.