To increase the presence of the Control Bureau (NCB) in Punjab, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has approved the opening of a full-fledged regional office of the bureau in Amritsar. It will be headed by a Deputy Director-General of the rank of an IG or above.
Punjab will be the first state where drug-related cases will be pursued by two separate offices of the NCB the existing Zonal Division in Chandigarh and the upcoming regional office.
On the recommendation of the , Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), Shimla, has extended its jurisdiction to the entire state and will conduct exams in all 12 districts. The Department of Higher Education issued a notification in this regard.
The Tribune had highlighted the issue that the HPU, Shimla, would not open its examination centres in all those five districts for students studying through ICDEOL (International Centre for Distance Education and Open Learning) of the HPU, which come under the jurisdiction of Sardar Patel University, Mandi. Due to that the students of Mandi, Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, Kangra and Chamba districts were required to visit Shimla or some other districts to appear in exams, which will cost them time and Money.
According to the notification issued by the Department of Higher Education, the ICDEOL of HPU will conduct its examinations in all 12 districts. Therefore, students will be able to appear in exams in their respective districts as before.
With more tourists thronging the hill state after dip in numbers during Covid pandemic, tourism authorities are contemplating changes to attract moreforeign touristsand high spenders.
The number of tourists, including foreign nationals, witnessed a significant dip but things were back on track this year. In 2019, Uttarakhand attracted 3.9 crore tourists out of which 1.5 lakh were foreigners.
In 2022, the number of visitors in the first 10 months (till October) shot up to 4.7 crore and the number of foreign tourists was 45,163. In 2020, the number of foreign nationals was 38,763 and 15,410 in 2021.
Though the number of foreign nationals visiting Uttarakhand is still below the 1.5 lakh mark of 2019, authorities expect the number to go up significantly in the next few years with improved and facilities. With the increase in overall numbers, tourism authorities are contemplating moves to draw the attention of foreign and high-end tourists.
Wellness centres, homestays, better air connectivity, more ropeway projects, upgradation of Chaurasi Kutiya under Rajaji Tiger Reserve as per international standards, winter games and tourism, construction of museum at Rambara, a meditation centre at Chhoti Lincholi, development works around Tehri Lake are among the projects which are either underway or in the pipeline to boost tourism sector.
According to Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board data, the Himalayan state had 3.4 crore tourists (excluding Char Dham), which included 3.3 crore domestic and 1.4 lakh from foreign nations. Due to Covid, the number dipped to 78.7 lakh – 78.3 lakh national and 38,763 international visitors in 2020.
Land-locked Uttar Pradesh, aiming to become a trillion-dollar economy by 2027, will develop a Network of dry and freight container stations to boost exports. The State Government is planning to develop a modern Logistics ecosystem in PARTNERSHIP with private players.
A dry port is an inland inter-modal port directly linked to a seaport by roads or RAILWAY to facilitate faster movement of export cargo. Under the UP Warehousing and Logistic Policy 2022, the state will fast-track land allotments for logistics parks and offer a string of subsidies and incentives to attract private investments.
The state will support the private sector for the development of storage facilities, cold chains, multi-modal parks, container depots and container freight stations Infrastructure in the state.
The state targets to hike merchandise exports from Rs 1.56 trillion to nearly Rs 3 trillion in three years. The government has said it will also leverage the Varanasi-Haldia inland waterway to catalyse exports.
The state is planning to harness the comparatively cheaper cargo movement from Varanasi via the waterway to seaport in West Bengal to boost shipments of farm and Dairy products apart from micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME) items.
Under the new UP logistics policy, the state will also develop a network of transport infrastructure, upgrade existing warehousing and logistics infrastructure, pare logistics cost, and promote operational efficiency in logistics.
The Pradhan Mantri TB Mukt Bharat Abhiyaan was launched by President of India, Droupadi Murmu on September 9, 2022 to support patients undergoing TB treatment and accelerate the countrys progress towards TB elimination.
In order to provide additional patient support to improve treatment outcome of TB patients and leverage Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) opportunities, Government of India launched NI-KSHAY portal-A digital platform for community support for the persons with TB.
To augment its CSR support towards ending TB, Central Coalfields Limited (CCL) has registered as a Nikshay Mitra on NI-KSHAY portal in September, 2022 forproviding nutritional care support for patients with Tuberculosis (TB) in Latehar and Chatra district, Jharkhand.
Bihar Vidyapeeth, set up by Mahatma Gandhi in 1921 during pre-Independence era, has the potential to become an Education hub to fulfill the needs of youths of the state.
The sprawling 32 acres of Bihar Vidyapeeth land can be used for academic activities to impart regular and career-oriented vocational courses at the degree level to the students, who had attended a function at Bihar Vidyapeeth as chief guest earlier this week.
The Chhattisgarh cabinet on Friday decided to extend the distribution of fortified rice in all the districts.
The aim is to eradicate Malnutrition and anaemia among Women and children.
As per a cabinet decision, fortified rice will be distributed to ration card holders from April 2023 through fair price shops.
The priority ration card holders will get fortified rice in place of normal rice provided now.
The distribution of fortified rice started in Kondagaon district in November 2020 to ensure food as well as nutritional security under PDS.
The fortified rice is also distributed in all the districts under the Mid-Day Meal and the Supplemental Nutrition Scheme.
It is also being distributed in 10 aspirational districts (Korba, Rajnandgaon, Mahasamund, Kanker, Narayanpur, Dantewada, Bijapur, Bastar, Kondagaon and Sukma) and two high burden districts (Kabirdham and Raigarh) under the .
The State Cabinet approved Rs 1807 crore 57 lakh for 45 CM Rise schools. In the first phase of the CM Rise Yojana, 275 schools are being developed by the School Education Department in the state. Out of these, DPRs were prepared for the construction of 45 schools and presented before the Project Testing Committee on December 7, 2022.
In this sequence of departmental proposals, decision was taken for the construction of 45 well-equipped schools on the recommendation of the Project Testing Committee. A total of 9 thousand 200 CM Rise schools are to be constructed in the state. Its in-principle approval from the Council of Ministers has been issued in July, 2021. Out of this, 370 schools are being constructed in the first phase, of which 275 schools are being constructed under the Education Department and the remaining 95 schools under the Tribal Affairs Department. Earlier, approval has already been given by the Cabinet for construction of 73 schools costing Rs 2 thousand 660 crore.
The Cabinet took the decision to increase 433 new P.G. medical colleges in Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Rewa. Administrative approval has been given for Rs 192 crore 24 lakh for Medical College Indore, Rs 62 crore 82 lakh for Medical College Gwalior, Rs 100 crore 66 lakh for Medical College Jabalpur and Rs 82 crore 68 lakh for Medical College Rewa that is a total amount of Rs 438 crore and 40 lakhs. With the increase of PG seats for postgraduate courses in various departments of Medical College, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Rewa, additional number of subject-specialist doctors will be available to the state every year.
The Cabinet approved the plan to provide coaching for national competitive examinations to tribal students from prestigious institutions at the divisional level and approved finance of Rs 30 crores 54 lakh 71 thousand for offline coaching every year and online coaching pilot project for the next 4 years. In this scheme, 1600 students will be benefited from offline coaching from the year 2022-23 to 2023-24 (according to the 2-year course) for offline coaching. According to the announcement of the Chief Minister, a total of 250 students are targeted to be benefited in 4 years that is 25 students from 10 special schools for online coaching from Class 9 to 12.
In the plan to encourage consensus and unopposed election in the election of Panchayat representatives, the Council of Ministers has so far given Rs 1 lakh to the Gram Panchayat whose Sarpanch was elected unopposed, Rs 5 lakh was being given to the Gram Panchayat whose Sarpanch and all Panchs were elected unopposed and such gram panchayats whose sarpanch and all panchs are Women were given Rs 10 lakh. While revising the scheme, now new categories and prize have been fixed. Rs 5 lakh to such Gram Panchayat whose Sarpanch has been elected unopposed. Rs 7 lakhs for the post of Sarpanch, if the current election and the previous election are held continuously unopposed. Gram Panchayats whose sarpanch and all panchs were elected unopposed to be given Rs 7 lakh. A decision was taken to give Rs 12 lakh to a Gram Panchayat whose sarpanch and all panchs elected are women, and Rs 15 lakh if ??women are elected unopposed to all the posts of sarpanch and panch in the panchayat. A provision of Rs 55 crore 60 lakh has been made in the budget for the financial year 2022-23 for conferring these Awards.
ased on GSDP places Gujarat at the fourth position with Rs 16. 4 crore.
Based on the data collated by Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) for across India, Karnataka had the richest assembly with Average value of assets of its MLAs at Rs 34 crore after the 2018 election. It w as followed by Andhra Pradesh (2018 election) and Maharashtra (2019 election) at Rs 27 crore and Rs 22 crore. The top five list was completed with Tamil Nadu at Rs 12 crore after the 2021 election.
The financial progress of state-run schemes likeMEWAT,MAGRAand DANG has been quite poor, arural development departmentreport has revealed.
According to the report, only 5.14% (Rs 1.68 crore) of the total available funds – Rs 32.85 crore – was utilised under MEWAT (up to October 2022). While 5.22% of the total available funds was utilised in Alwar, 4.89% was used in Bharatpur district.
Under DANG, only 8.37% (Rs 2.08 crore) of the total available funds – Rs 24.94 crore – was utilised by the department up to October this year. According to the report, there was zero spending in Bharatpur and Bundi districts under the scheme. While just 0.23% of the total available funds was utilised in Baran, 0.76% in Kota, 1.95% in Jhalawar, 5.59% in Karauli and 9.42% of the total funds was utilised in Dholpur. However, in Sawai Madhopur, the utilisation of funds was 49.12% till October.
Meanwhile, under MAGRA scheme, 14.67% (Rs 3.93 crore) of the total available funds – Rs 26.81 crore – was utilised by the rural development department up to October this year. The report further stated 10.40% of the total available funds was utilised in Rajsamand, 11.29% in Pali district, 14.23% in Bhilwara and 22.91% in Ajmer district. However, Chittorgarhs financial progress exceeded the use of its available funds, having utilised 117% of the total funds, the report mentioned.
However, the financial progress of schemes like BADP (42.20% expenditure) andSPMRM(78.47% expenditure) has been comparatively much better, the report stated.