24.07.21

TheArunachal Pradesh Governmentaims to innoculate 100 percent of the state’s population against Covid-19 by mid-August, chief minister Pema Khandu said.

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As many as 7,91,371 doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered in Arunachal Pradesh so far, including 6,42,785 first doses and 1,48,586 second doses, according to theUnion Health Ministry. As per the 2011 census, the state’s population is about 12.6 lakhs.

There are currently 4,384 active Covid-19 cases in the state. A total of 39,634 recoveries and 204 deaths have been reported so far.

Other major issues were discussed during the meeting, including petroleum and hydrocarbon extraction and exploration, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and System, CAMPA, construction of a road to Tali, multi-story parking in civil secretariat and elsewhere in the state capital, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna (both rural and urban), implementation of MGNREGA, etc.

The first phase of online sale of liquor inAssam, which came into force with immediate effect, has been limited to theGuwahati Municipal Corporation(GMC) area, the stateexcise departmentsaid on Friday. It will be extended to other parts of the state gradually.

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A notification issued by the excise department stated that the step has been taken due to the Covid-induced restrictions imposed by the government as well as theSupreme Courtand the Madras high court permitting non-direct sale to avoid overcrowding.

The online sale of all Indian Made Foreign Liquor (IMFL)/beer/country spirit in retail OFF shops in the Guwahati Municipal Corporation areas has been introduced, a government statement said. There are 306 IMFL OFF shops in Guwahati.

The state agriculture department has decided to promotejackfruit cultivation, its processing and value addition on a mission mode following a discussion at a recent high-level meeting attended by senior officials.

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“It was decided that the local elite landraces ofjackfruithaving desired quality for raw consumption as well as production of the value-added product will be identified by the horticulture directorate to meet the market requirement,” said an official source.

The meeting chaired by development commissionerP K Jenaand agriculture production commissioner R K Sharma decided to encourage grafted jackfruit plantation to reduce the gestation period once quality grafts are produced in horticulture farm.

The state government will also constitute an expert advisory committee for creating resource and knowledge base for the promotion of jackfruit cultivation and marketing of jackfruit products. Experts from national level institutes andKerala Jackfruit Missionare likely to be included in the committee.

As the state government has no definite data, the Agricultural Promotion and Investment Corporation ofOdishaLimited (APICOL) has been asked to bring out a status report on jackfruit cultivation, its marketing, processing, value chain and potential in Odisha. “The APICOL will also organize entrepreneurship development meet forjackfruit processingto promote entrepreneurship.OUATwill also be involved in the process.

TheTamil Nadugovernment on Wednesday decided to bestow veteran Communist leaderN Sankaraiah, who recently celebrated his 100th birthday, with the recently constituted Thagaisal Thamizhar (Venerable Tamil) award.

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The decision was taken at a meeting chaired by chief minister M K Stalin in which minister forIndustries, Tamil official language, Tamil culture and archeologyThangam Thennarasuand chief secretaryV Irai Anbualso participated.

Earlier, chief minister Stalin had ordered the institution of an award to honour those who worked for the growth and betterment of Tamil Nadu and Tamils. Sankaraiah, who entered public life at a young age, went on to become a student leader, participated in the nations freedom struggle, got elected to the legislative assembly and worked for the growth of Tamil Nadu and the cause of Tamils, would be the first recipient of the award, a statement from the Tamil Nadu government said.

World Bank sanctions $125 million loan to Kerala

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As part of the states ResilientKeralaProgram, the World Bank (WB) has sanctioned 125 million USD to the state to support the states preparedness against natural disasters, climate change impacts, disease outbreaks and pandemics.

The Resilient Kerala Program will focus on two key areas. First, it will incorporate disaster risk planning in the master plans of urban and local self-governments to ease financial constraints on the state government when faced with unexpected shocks. Second, it will help make the health, water resources management, agriculture and road sectors more resilient to calamities.
The program is part of a programmatic series of the bank-financed operations in the state.

The first Resilient Kerala Development Policy Operation (DPO) approved in June 2019 had undertaken several initiatives. It had helped the state draft a river basin conservation and management act, which will conserve and regulate water resources and ensure their sustainable management, allocation and utilization. It had also introduced climate-resilient agriculture, risk-informed land use and disaster management planning. The program laid the foundations for a five-year state partnership framework.

The support to key sectors under the program include sustainable fiscal and debt management through establishing a debt management unit in the finance department to support the states efforts to scale down its debt-to-GSDP ratio to a sustainable trajectory, providing timely and adequate assistance to vulnerable households, disaster and climate-resilient urban development, create resilient public health systems, ensure an integrated and sustainable water resources management, ensure sustainable and resilient food systems and create a climate-resilient road infrastructure.

The number of Indian students choosing to study abroad has steadily increased since 2017, barring the pandemic-triggered slump. Karnataka, however, has been sending fewer students compared to other southern states, according to government data.

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In 2019, 29,314 students from Karnataka flew out as against 69,465 from Andhra Pradesh, 41,488 fromTamil Naduand 30,948 from Kerala. This year (till February 28), around 4,176 students have gone abroad from Karnataka, 11,790 from Andhra and 5,040 from Kerala.

Though Karnataka has been observing a rise in the number of students enrolling in foreign universities and colleges, it has not been able to catch up with its neighbours. The figures are based on passports issued in each state.

According to the Bureau of Immigrations data, the number of Indian students who went abroad increased from 3,71,506 in 2016 to 5,88,931 in 2019. It fell to 2,61,406 in 2020 because of Covid-19.

Transportsector, like every other sector, was hit by the pandemic-induced economic downturn in the state. For the first time, the sectors income fell sharply from year to year, registering a negative growth. When compared to the previous year, the income decreased by 8.17 per cent in 2020-21. This year, thetransport departmentearned Rs 3,228 crore while in 2019-20, the income was Rs 3,515 crore.

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Officials attribute the drop in income to the lockdown and work from home situation in many industries. Though automobile sales are high, other services have taken a hit. We hope to return to a positive growth rate next year,

The highest growth rate of 23 per cent was registered during 2015-16 and 2016-17. From 2014-15 to 2015-16, the state saw a 20 per cent rise in income. Between 2016-17 and 2018-19 financial years, the growth rate was 23 and 19 per cent respectively.

The first signs of a declining trend in growth rate were seen between 2017 and 2018 when it stood at 8 per cent. Between the following fiscal years, the income growth rate fell below 1 per cent, eventually reaching a negative growth rate of 8 per cent in 2020-21.

TheCentrehas nominated Andhra Pradesh as a member of the task force for National DigitalTourismMission. The task force has been formed by the ministry of tourism for augmentation of digitalization in the tourism sector and to enhance opportunities for tourism enterprises to expand their market reach, growth, operational efficiencies, and sharpen their competitive edge.

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He saidNDTMwould be able to harness digitalization in tourism sector which will facilitate exchange of information and services in the tourism sector spreading across national and state tourism organizations, tourism service providers, tourism destinations, products, experiences and tourists.

t would also list domain areas of high priority and of high impact, study the standards and regulations governing travel, tourism andhospitality. The task force would propose architecture, principles, roadmap, strategies, and shared platform for promoting digitalization in the tourism sector.

The Union ministry for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) is working on a pre-feasibilitystudyfor the proposed multi-modallogisticspark, which is expected to come up around the state capital. Theparkwill be developed by a private player and the model concession agreement and request for proposal is in the pipeline.

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MoRTH and theGoa governmenthave yet to identify a location for the logistics park, which is one of the 35 being planned by the Centre across the country.

These logistics parks will enable optimum and efficient vehicular movement in the country and thus lead to reduction in vehicular pollution and congestion, and enable the reduction in warehousing cost.

As part of a 2030 plan, the Centre has been promising to setup a multi-modal logistics hub inPanajisince January 2019, but state government officials said that a logistics park in Panaji will be counter productive.

A multi-modal logistics park will require a vast container terminal along with a rail link to quickly move containerised cargo. The closest rail link to Panaji is the Karmali railway station.

The state government will explore the option of building retaining walls near rivers to protect residents living along the banks from floods.

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Chief ministerUddhav Thackeray, while chairing a meeting on flood relief measures, told the irrigation department to draft a proposal in this regard.

The residents of Vadgaon, Satara Road, Pune-Mumbai highway, and central parts of Pune face flooding after heavy rainfall and have asked for retaining walls to be built.

Those affected by the September 2019 floods have also pushed for better river and nullah cleaning work.
Residents said floodwater enters the parking lots after heavy rainfall, damaging vehicles. Houses on the ground floor in societies face more problems, residents said, wondering why the issue of flood lines was never considered at the time of issuing building permissions.