22.02.22

Pollinationof Moths Study

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A study has revealed that moths are essential for pollination in northeast India’s Himalayan Environment.

Highlights

The study established that 91 moths are pollinators of 21 different species of Plants in Arunachal Pradesh and within the northeastern Himalayas.

The results are significant as most pollination research focused on daytime pollinators like butterflies and bees, while the contribution of nocturnal pollinators received less scientific attention.

This research may be a part of a project which has been funded by the Ministry of Environment, Forest, and global Climate-change”>Climate Change, and it’s one among the few such large-scale studies during which the research team studied the effect of various altitudes also as various seasons on the ECOLOGY of pollination of the moths.

The study is predicated on field studies conducted in Himalayan terrains, starting from the foothills to elevations of up to 3000 meters, and laboratory investigations of over 1,800 moth proboscides, i.e., the mouthparts of moths.

Assams combined tree cover area lost in 20 years almost twice the size of Delhi

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Researchers have come up with the alarming find thatAssamhas lost around 269 thousand hectares (2,690 sqkm) of tree cover area in the last two decades (2001 to 2020), which is close to twice the size of Delhi having an area of 1,484 sqkm.

This has resulted in a significant rise in the minimum and maximum temperatures and human-animal conflict in the state.

According to a report of satellite data analysed by researchers at the University of Maryland,Karbi Anglongtops the list by losing over 97 thousand hectares followed byDima Hasaoover 63.2 thousand hectares, Sonitpur 17.4 thousand hectares, Tinsukia 13.2 thousand hectares and Kokrajhar 10.4 thousand hectares.

The state lost its highest tree cover in 2016 (25.4 thousand hectares) followed by nearly 23 thousand hectares in 2014 and 18.3 thousand hectares in 2020. The tree cover in Assam was 35% in 2000, which was 2.75 million hectares.

Guwahati lost 1.02 thousand hectares of tree cover from 2001 to 2020. Pointing to the felling of over 300 trees for the construction of flyovers and roads in the capital city and its adjacent Palashbari area, Das said “development at the cost of Environment is worthless”.

Govt to ink pact on gender parity

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TheOdishagovernment will sign a memorandum-of-understanding (MoU) with J-PAL, a research centre, to improve gender-based outcomes in the state.

The PARTNERSHIP aims to accelerate gender by changing stereotypical attitudes and behaviours among schoolgoing adolescents.

The programme will focus on integrating the gender equity curriculum into the school syllabi for classes VI to X.

The purpose of the gender equity program is in synchronisation with the goal of the 5TSchool Transformationprogram, which aims to help children dream big and move forward with confidence to face all challenges in life.

The program will be implemented in the academic year 2022 and onwards. The curriculum will come as a supplementary textbook for social studies and its allied subjects this year.

Tamil Nadu forms commission to help kids with dyslexia

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The Department for the Welfare of the Differently-Abled has formed a commission to compile a report on the adoption of specified policy reforms fordyslexiain the state of Nadu. The commission was formed after one of its members, animal welfare activistAntony Rubin, a person with dyslexia himself, submitted a requisition to the Department highlighting low awareness of the Learning disability and the complexity among school children that often left it undiagnosed.

Although concessions like extra time, scribes and second language exemptions make sense when these students with learning disabilities appear for their public exams, lack of sensitization and awareness in teachers and parents cuts out the possibility of early identification and intervention that could enable them to participate in school like their peers and grow up as confident students in the higher classes.

The objective of the commission is to form guidelines for identification and interventions for a comprehensive policy regarding dyslexia

NISH will be made a natl centre of excellence: Min

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The National Institute of Speech and Hearing (NISH) would be developed as an all-India centre of excellence in rehabilitation of disabled people, minister for higher Education and social R Bindusaid.

The minister said that the proposal to elevate NISH as a university is under active consideration.

The government would encourage and support NISH to come out with new projects. The institute has been provided with state-of-the art equipment and devices, including hearing and speech therapy aids, to enable it to effectively carry forward its activities. This has made NISH a national institution for early detection and correction of speech and hearing impairment among children, the minister added.

KDEM and SJCE-STEP will build a startup ecosystem

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TheKarnatakaDigital economy Mission (KDEM) entered into a memorandum of understanding with Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering-Science and Technology Entrepreneurs Park (SJCE-STEP) to build a startup ecosystem that will focus on Skill development, EMPLOYMENT generation and overall development across Karnataka.

The agreement will help KDEM and SJCE-STEP to create a symbiosis of support, mentorship, start-up incubation, and rural Entrepreneurship. KDEM will function as a knowledge bridge between the State Government and the Industry and will facilitate the setting up of a Global Entrepreneurship Centre in order to accommodate more than 100 startups.

T-AIMs for data annotation clusters in state, inks MoU with Tika Data

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In a bid to position the state as a go-to destination for high quality data annotation Services as part of its thrust on developing an (AI) ecosystem, theTelanganagovernment has inked anMoUwith Bengaluru-basedTika Datafor setting up a data annotation cluster in the state.

As part of this agreement, Tika Data is expected to set up three centres, most likely in Jakranpalle, Armoor and Dichapalle mandals of Nizamabad district, and train and employ over 100 local people. Data annotation is nothing but the categorisation and labelling of data for AI (artificial intelligence) applications. The Growth of the data annotation Industry is driven by the growth of AI/ML based solutions because the quality of the AI/ML model is dependent on the quality of training data, Telangana government said on Thursday while announcing the MoU.

The PARTNERSHIP was the result of a data annotation roundtable conducted by the Telangana governments Telangana AI Mission (T-AIM) initiative that is powered byNasscom.

FICCI to help A.P. achieve energy efficiency targets

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Appreciating the efforts of the Government of Andhra Pradesh (AP)in implementing Energy Efficiency measures in Industrial Sector through the Perform Achieve & Trade (PAT) scheme, the Bureau of Energy Efficiency (BEE) of the Union Ministry of Power nominated the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & (FICCI) as the expert agency for the State to identify the potential for energy Savings and develop monitoring and support mechanisms for the PAT activities in order to achieve the energy efficiency targets.

To achieve this goal, the BEE has focused on implementing the PAT scheme in fast-track mode in proactive States like Andhra Pradesh. A release issued by the State Energy Conservation Mission (SECM) stated that Andhra Pradesh had saved around 0.295 Mtoe, which was equal to 3,430 Million Units worth around 2,356.41 crore in the Cycle-2 of the PAT Scheme. The FICCI will support the SECM in making the designated consumers adopt the best practices and new technologies for achieving the targets.

Now, Goa finance dept starts work on vote-on-account

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In view of the and given the paucity of time, indications within the finance department suggest that avoteonaccountwill be introduced instead of a full-fledgedbudgetbeing placed for the 2022-23 fiscal. The finance department has already started working on a vote-on-account budget in anticipation of a new government being formed.

With the term of the current government at its fag end, the administration has opted not to table a full-fledged budget and has left it to the new government that is sworn in after March 10 to outline its own financial roadmap.
A similar practice was followed in March 2012 when the state faced elections for the 40-member House. In 2017, within 10 days of being sworn in, then chief minister Manohar Parrikar had presented a full budget for the state.

While the financial estimates are being prepared, the projections for Capital Expenditure will be left up to the new government that is sworn in, said finance department officials. They also pointed out that 10-year state development loans taken from 2012 onwards, when mining came to a halt, will come up for repayment in the current financial year. The repayment will weigh down the states finances and budgetary allocations.

Supreme Court On Gender Cap In Orchestra

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The Government of Maharashtra had placed a restriction limiting the amount of female and male performers in orchestra bars to four each, but The Supreme Court (SC) overturned it.

Highlights:

The SC said the limit of performers shouldn’t exceed the amount of 8, but there shouldn’t be any restriction on gender composition.

The bench that passed the order consists of S. Ravindra Bhat and Justice K.M. Joseph.

The SC said that this gender cap breaks the performers’ Fundamental Rights also as those of the license owners under Article 19 (1) (g) and Article 15 (1) of the Indian Constitution.

Orchestra performances are a standard feature that a license has to be procured, namely the Premises and Performance licenses under the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951’s Licensing and Performance for Public Amusement, including Melas Cabaret Performance, and Tamashas Rule, 1960.

Conditions Challenged

The Commissioner of Police, Brihan Mumbai, added several conditions to the prevailing ones.

On the opposite hand, the appellant challenged two significant conditions that contributed to the gender difference.

Only four female singers/artists and 4 male singers/artists are permitted to stay on the permitted stage by the licensee.

Only eight musicians are allowed to stay on the stage at any given time (four male and 4 Women).

The supreme court had dismissed the appeal to the Commissioner of Police’s conditions, ruling that the proper to impose them was obtained from the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951, and therefore the rules framed thereunder. Later, these conditions were overturned by the Supreme Court.