21.09.21

Naga peace talks commence in Kohima after over a year

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After over a year, crucial meetings between the Government of India envoy and Naga insurgent outfits began here on Monday to settle the long-pending Naga political issue involving various bodies, including the NSCN (IM). Officials in Kohima said that former special director of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Central government representative A.K. Mishra and the NSCN (IM) Leadership led by Thuingaleng Muivah held a meeting at the Police complex in Chumoukedima.

NSCN-IM leader Rh Raising told the media after the meeting that everything should be initiated on the basis of the Framework agreement signed with the government in 2015.

Assam govt decides to establish law collegesAssam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Wednesday said that his government was committed to set up law colleges to provide quality education at an affordable cost. The Chief Minister said this while laying the foundation of Jorhat Government Law College, according to a statement issued by the Chief Minister’s Office.The state government has decided to set up the colleges at Dibrugarh, North Lakhimpur, Rangia, Dhubri, Diphu, Silchar, Tezpur, Nalbari, and Nagaon, and all the institutions will have modern facilities, Sarma said. Earlier most of the law colleges in the state were established by private organisations, the chief minister said.

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In the wake of the National Education Policy 2020, the has decided to implement the provisions of the policy across the state to bring about a paradigm shift in the delivery of quality education in the state, he said. As a part of NEP 2020, 3,000 high schools in the state will be upgraded to senior secondary schools by 2022, he added. The state government would also increase the number of universities in the state and it has set a goal to establish one college in each development block to spread higher education among all sections of the youth of the state. The Jorhat Government Law College will be set up with a budgetary outlay of Rs. 14.74 crore and is scheduled to be completed within 24 months.

The States Economy grew by 5.72% faster than the national economy of 5.01% during the period from financial year 2012-13 to 2020-21.

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The size of the State economy has increased from ` 4 lakh crore in 2016-17 to `4.25 lakh crore in 2017-18 and `5 lakh crore in 2020-21 and nearly `6 lakh crore during the current financial year, sources said.

Similarly, the State Budget has also increased from `95,000 crore in 2016-17 to over `1 lakh crore in 2018-19 and `1.39 lakh crore in 2019-20 and `1.5 lakh crore in 2020-21.

Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the size of Annual Budget of Odisha in 2021-22 has increased by around 26% to `1.70 lakh crore. The public has also gone up even at a faster rate.

On September 17, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had said the State economy is bouncing back from the adverse impacts of the pandemic and is back to track.

Investors are expanding their existing projects in Odisha in spite of the impact of Covid pandemic. We have attracted investments to the tune of over Rs 4.5 lakh crore since the pandemic, the CM said.

The State has been consistently generating surplus revenue and containing Fiscal Deficit within the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management (FRBM) limit. The States GST collection in July this year also registered a 54% Growth over the corresponding period of the previous year.

In spite of the Covid-19 restrictions, the State recorded a growth of 72% in revenue collection till August 31 of the current financial year 2021-22. The State has collected revenue worth Rs 31,198.58 crore from various sources by the end of August while the collection during the same period of 2020-21 was Rs 18,149.38 crore.

The revenue generation from own-tax sources grew by 32.64 and the non-tax revenue increased by 130.44% by August 31. The expenditure of the State has also gone up by 27.72% by August 31. The total expenditure till end of August was Rs 40, 299 crore whereas the total expenditure up to the same period of last fiscal was Rs 33,769.84 crore.

Similarly, the debt stock of the State by the end of July 2021 stood at 17.6% against the FRBM limit of 25%.

The capital outlay is budgeted at Rs 25,788 crore, around 15% of the total budget of 2021-22, the sources said..

Reservation under the communal government order (GO) for backward classes in education and government jobs, ushered in by the Justice Party government in Tamil Nadu 100 years ago, has moved from an anti-brahmin provision into a fortress for vested interests, vote-bank politics and perpetuation of the very caste system that the Justice Party sought to fight.

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There is a need to return to the policy of reservation for classes and not castes, as envisaged in the Constitution and as followed by The Supreme Court to ensure a non-discriminatory policy, aimed to benefit the target sections.

The present DMK-led government has set up a panel to work out ways and means of ensuring social particularly in Education and EMPLOYMENT. But an effort should be made to look at issues and avoid pandering to casteism and vote banks.

Crime in India, 2020, the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) for the year 2020, showsKeralahas the highest charge-sheeting rate, at 92.5%, in the country for violent crimes. Kerala is followed by Gujarat (88.6%), West Bengal (88.3%) and Tamil Nadu (86.5%) in the category.

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Lakshadweep tops the list of UTs with100% charge sheeting in the category. The charge-sheeting rate is the Percentage of cases charge sheeted by Police out of the total number of cases disposed of in the year.
In total IPC cases, Kerala has the second-highest charge-sheeting rate at 94.90% behind Gujarat (97.10%). Nadu is third in this list with 91.70%.

Among metropolitan cities listed in the report,KochiandKozhikodeare from Kerala, and the charge-sheeting rate in violent crimes Kochi has a rate of 92.1% and Kozhikode has 94.1%. Only Chennai has a better rate with 96.2%.

In the case of total IPC cases, among metropolitan cities, Kochi has a charge-sheeting rate of 91.7 % and Kozhikode has 92.1%. In this category, the first three spots are Surat (96.7%), Coimbatore (96.6%) and Ahmedabad (96.3%).

Facing backlash over demolition of a temple in Nanjangud, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on Monday introduced a bill in the assembly to protect unauthorised religious structures facing demolition in a damage-control exercise by the government.

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The Karnataka Religious Structures (Protection) Bill 2021 envisages providing protection to all religious structures, including temples, churches, mosques, gurudwaras and other major religious constructions, in public places which have come up without the requisite sanction from competent authorities.

While the bill aims at protecting illegal religious structures built before the date of its enactment, it also seeks to prevent construction of illegal shrines in public places such as roads, streets, parks and playgrounds.

Finance ministerT Harish Raoon Friday sought 352 crore as integrated goods and services tax (IGST) settlement from the Centre toTelangana.

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In a letter toGST councilchairman and Unionfinance ministerNirmala Sitharaman, Harish Rao said 13,944 crore was left unallocated and held in the (CFI) for the fiscal year 2018-19, with Telangana‘s share amounting to 352 crore.

Harish Rao also demanded 50 crore in financial support under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act for each of the 10 undivided districts. “The assistance for 2019-20 is yet to be released. We request the Union Government to release the assistance for 33 districts as new districts were formed after 2014,” he said.

The FM said that it would be better to discuss the problem with Cotton-growing states like Maharashtra and Gujarat and address the concerns to the fitment committee in order to have a fresh perspective.

State Sports MinisterM Srinivasa Raosaid that AP has a vast coastline in the country and is comfortable for water sports training. He urged the central government to allot the necessary budget to create basic facilities for the sports and also encourage the sportsmen under the Khelo India Scheme.

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Around 90% of works of Rs. 6 crore Multipurpose Indoor stadium in Vizianagaram and 98% works of Rs. 8 crore Multipurpose Sports Complex were completed. Another project of Rs. 4.5 crore multipurpose indoor hall is at the basement level.

TheSports Authority of Andhra Pradesh(SAAP) has sent the proposals for 13 Khelo India centers in all 13 districts as per the central government’s new guidelines.
The state would host 38 sports tournaments for under 14, 17, and 19 in 2021-22 as part of the School Games Federation of India.

The state government has notified the TouristVillagesDevelopment Scheme2021for setting up infrastructure in rural areas through village panchayats with the objective of creating avillage tourismcircuit that acts as an independent and strongtourismproduct, to attract responsible visitors.

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Funds up to Rs 50 lakh will be allocated to a selected village to develop like kiosks for sale of local products, arts, crafts, multi-utility hall for organising local fairs and festivals, Home stays, Wi-Fi and solar streetlights, among others. Financial support over and above this amount in a financial year will be decided by the tourism department depending on the availability of funds.
The tourism department will not transfer or disburse funds directly to any village panchayat.
The scheme is part of the state governments economic revival plan to make villages self-reliant under the Atmanirbhar Bharat, Swayampoorna Goa initiative launched by the chief minister on October 1, 2020.

or the fifth consecutive year in a row, from 2016-20, Maharashtra recorded most corruption cases in the country though cases have been steadily declining over two years.

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The state had an abysmally low conviction rate of 7.8% in the pandemic year of 2020, according to data released by National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). It appears that senior government officers are not interested in acting against their corrupt subordinates caught for graft: Only 11 accused were removed from service and eight got minor punishments from department heads in 2020.

The state recorded 664 Corruption cases last year, which was a 26% decline from 891 in 2019. Officers attribute this to government offices functioning partially during lockdown and fewer people stepping out of Home to approach them.