23.06.21

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday directed soil testing of 25 lakh acres of land in the current financial year on priority basis in the state.

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Presiding over the review meeting of the Health Card Scheme here, Khattar said that soil health cards should be issued to farmers after checking every acre of agricultural land in the state so that farmers avoid unnecessary use of Fertilizers and add nutrients to the land as required. This will not only increase the fertility of the land, but it will also be beneficial for the farmers, he said.

He said that the Soil fertility map of every village would also be prepared, which would also facilitate giving advice to the farmers. The Chief Minister directed the officers of the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture Department to prepare a year-long calendar in which dates are fixed for making farmers aware through soil testing, Kisan Sabha and exhibition etc. He also directed to complete the work of soil testing of 75 lakh acres of agricultural land in the state in three years.

To create ecological balance, Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday asked the Forests and Wildlife Preservation Department to revive the original flora and fauna keeping in view the States natural climate and habitat.

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Capt Amarinder, reviewing the functioning of Forests and Wildlife Preservation Department through video conferencing, emphasized the need to undertake massive plantation of traditional trees including ber, kikar, saal, shisham etc besides katha amb an indigenous variety of Mango commonly prevalent in Kandi region and southern Punjab, which have eventually dwindled due to passage of time as revival of its plantation would obviously offer a natural habitat to old species of wild animals and birds which have now gradually extinct over a period of time.

The Chief Minister also complimented the Department for undergoing plantation of Chandan and high yielding Bamboo (Bamabusa Balcooa), which gives double the yield of traditional bamboo. He asked the Additional Chief Secretary (Forests) Anirudh Tiwari to encourage plantation of more indigenous species and motivate the farmers for plantation of Poplar, which is not only water efficient but also quite remunerative due to its huge demand in the wood .

The Department has also been asked to fully explore the potential of ecotourism and concerted efforts should be made to develop Siswan and Harike as preferred ecotourism destinations in northern India.

Himachal Pradesh awaits Centre approval for bulk drug park

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HimachalPradesh is eagerly waiting for the announcement of a bulk drug park by theCentre. State industries ministerBikram Singhrecently called on Union minister of chemicals and fertilizersD V Sadananda Gowdaat New Delhi and informed him that Himachal had submitted highly competitive proposals for bulk drug and medical devices parks to the department of pharmaceuticals. He also requested Gowda for early announcement of the results for these parks as it would stabilize the API prices and also result in import substitution.

Bikram Singh has also informed the Union minister that presently the state was Home to more than 700 pharma companies and had emerged as the largest pharma formulation hub in the country.

Pushkar Singh Dhami to be next Uttarakhand chief minister

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Pushkar Singh Dhamiwill be the new chief minister of Uttarakhand.
The MLA from Khatima seat in Udham Singh Nagar district was elected leader of the BJP legislature party at a meeting of the party MLAs in Dehradun.

Rawat, a BJP MP from the Garhwal constituency, had to get elected to the the state assembly via bypoll to continue as chief minister. The house currently has two vacant seats- Haldwani and Gangotri.

Uttar Pradesh: Manufacturers body to bolster defence corridor work

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The Society of IndianDefenceManufactures (SIDM), in PARTNERSHIP withConfederation of Indian , launched its first state chapter for DEFENCE inUttar Pradesh. The organisation is expected to work at fostering collaboration among the state, industry bodies and private players in the defence sector, crucial for UP in Light of the upcoming defence corridor.
More than 200 participants attended the event, including Larsen & Toubro,Mahindra Group, PTC Industries and MKU.

Chief Minister Hemant Soren directed officers of the energy department to ensure uninterrupted and quality power supply.He said that the department should take all appropriate steps towards making the State self-reliant in the field of power generation.

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The CM said that today the time has come to develop non-conventional sources of energy, in such a situation, possibilities should be explored in the field of power generation from solar power and hydroelectric projects in the state. He asked the department to serve all the reservoirs for hydroelectric projects and prepare an action plan regarding its potential generation capacity.

The CM said that there is a lot of potential in the field of solar power energy in the State. But, for this a huge amount of land is required. In such a situation, a land bank will be created to install the solar power plant. In this direction, he asked the department to prepare the details of the land requirement while assessing the production capacity of the solar power plant. The aim of the government is to focus on installing more and more solar power Plants in the State.

The Average power demand in the state at present is 2050 MW. Whereas there will be a demand of 2900 MW in the next five years and 3440 MW in the coming ten years. The Energy Department has set a target to reduce the transmission and distribution loss from 45 per cent to 20 per cent in the coming days.

Bihar Agricultural University develops black guava rich in minerals, vitamins

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A unique variety of guava developed by the scientists atBihar Agricultural University(BAU) is not only drawing attention of denizens but also the researchers due its anti-ageing factors and rich nutritional value to combat besides extraordinary external appearance.

The exclusive variety of black guava with red pulp inside is claimed to be rich in antioxidants, Minerals and VITAMINS. It has been developed with more than three years of scientific research at BAU and is likely to be launched for commercial farming soon following some improvement in its size, fragrance and longer shelf life.

The newly developed black guava has drawn the attention of medical and needs further exploration in view of its antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and can be helpful in combating human diseases.

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel has told officials to increase the income of self-help groups working in minor forest produce and to establish the maximum number of processing units.

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Baghel was holding a review meeting on Saturday, an official Communication stated.

The Chief Minister said the state has abundant valuable minor forest produce. It also has human Resources and land to set up the processing units. Some districts have done good work, hesaid.

Citing an example, he said Safed Amchur (mango powder) is being produced at Dantewada and is now sold at Rs 600 per kg. In districts where there is mango production, such a processing unit can be established.

The state has set up 139 Forest Produce Centre as primary processing centres. A total of 17,424 Women are employed at these centres. These units have generated Rs 1.91 crores as income.

Madhya Pradesh government to set up 9,200 schools with smart classrooms, labs

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The state cabinet decided to start 9,200 fully-equipped, high quality schools in the state. Briefing the media after the cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Home minister Narottam Mishra said, The cabinet has taken a decision that could prove to be a milestone in the field of Education. It gave nod to start a fully-equipped school of excellence in a radius of 15 kms from every habitation.

Mishra said that the government wants to improve the quality of education in the state and hence these schools upto Class XII, will be started in the next three years. He said that in the first phase 350 schools will be started at district headquarters and block development headquarters. The school education department will start 254 such schools in the first phase while the department of SC/ST welfare will start the remaining 96 schools, the home minister said. The rest 8,850 schools will be started in the coming years.

These schools will have smart classrooms, laboratories and libraries. Students will get education in art, singing, Sports and each school will have transport service. School buses will pick up students within the 15 km radius. The cabinet also approved Rs 6,952 crore for setting-up of these schools.

The government has decided to lift the on transfers of state employees from July 1. Narottam Mishra said that transfers will be allowed on administrative and humanitarian grounds. In another decision, cabinet approved extending six posts of inspector general of Police for two years. The cabinet also agreed to have 33 new posts of assistant prosecutors in the special courts under the SC/ST Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989.

Exports of marine products down 17% in fiscal 2021

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Exports ofmarine products from Gujarattook a beating in fiscal 2020-21 due to the disruption in export markets, especially China.

The states marine exports declined by 17% to Rs 4,137 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 4,985 crore in the previous financial year, shows data from theSeafoodExporters Association of India (SEAI).

Exports in volume terms dipped by about 20% to 2 lakh tonnes in 2020-21 compared to 2.51 lakh tonnes. Seafood exports from Gujarat have declined due to Covid-19 induced disruptions in export markets, especially China, loss of fishing days on account of the pandemic as well as depleting catches, said Jagdish Fofandi, national president, Seafood Exporters Association of India (SEAI).

The decline in exports to China pulled down overall exports from the state, which is among the top seafood exporters in India.

Seafood exports to China plummeted by 41% to Rs 1,287 crore in 2020-21 from Rs 2,197 crore in 2019-20. Exports in volumes dropped to71,637 tonnes from 1.26 lakh tonnes during the same period. Exports to Southeast Asia and the Middle East also declined. However, the reductions were not as steep as China.