25.05.21

Tripura jackfruit makes way to UK

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Prime Minister Narendra Modis appreciation of the jackfruit export initiative of the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) from Tripura has made the farmers happy here while the termed it arecognition of pro-people Governance.

Echoing the sentiment, agriculture minister Pranajit Singharoy said with the help of APEDA a maiden consignment of the best summer fruit of Tripura, jackfruit, was exported to London after exporting pineapple and lemon to the Middle East and UK for the last three years.

Tripura is the biggest producer of jackfruit in the country and the best quality jackfruits are available only for a month between the middle of May to the middle of June. However, the Horticulture department of Tripura has been working on increasing the shelf life of jackfruit through natural processes. Tripura jackfruits have been making their way to Bangladesh markets for decades through riverine routes. They are sold for over Rs 100 there, but here the producers get nothing worthwhile. In the local market too, the best quality jackfruit is sold for Rs 50-80.

Delayed hospitalisation linked to high death toll in Assam

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Delayed hospitalization of Covid patients from some of the designated governmentCovid Care Centres(CCCs) is among the reasons for the high death toll of 70-80 people succumbing to the virus or Covid-related complications every day inAssam.

This despite the Covid situation improving in the state marginally with the latest positivity rate further declining to 5.57% even as the total cumulative Covid tests crossed the one crore mark on Saturday, with 1,00,89,714 tests since last year.

The relatively high death count despite the falling number of cases is being attributed to the lack of timely Oxygen monitoring of patients in the CCCs.

Surprisingly, some of the cases came from CCCs managed by the .

Despite cases being reported from CCCs at the point of no return, the senior Health official said that in the institutional isolation (CCCs) the oxygen concentration is being checked at least three times a day.

With an aim to further strengthen the safety net and achieve the goal of making accident-free steel, the Rourkela Steel Plant (RSP) has introduced a unique incentivising scheme Rakshak based on reporting of the near-miss incidents inside the plant by the employees themselves. The objective is to bring to the record the near-miss cases that are the incidents occurring with no physical injury or property damage. Notably, reporting and analysis of the near-miss cases are considered to be an important tool to prevent accidents.The scheme provides a scope on the part of the employees to report about the incident to the HoD or the Departmental Safety Officer (DSO) within 24 hours of the incident.

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The DSO would make the entries in the RSP Intranet Portal and ensure implementation of the recommendations also. An assessment committee comprising members from Finance, Personnel, IED and Safety Departments would assess the near-miss cases on a quarterly basis and the employees would be awarded a prize worth Rs 300 for every reported near-miss case.

Besides, the scheme also has annual Awards in three categories, i.e., Rakshak Department, Rakshak DSO and Rakshak Karmi. The first award would be in the form of a trophy and a certificate to the department concerned while the latter two awards carry prizes worth Rs 1,000 each to the individuals concerned. The Safety Engineering Department of RSP is the nodal agency of the scheme for its effective implementation.

CII Tamil Nadu maps more than 10 lakh workers for vax drive

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The Confederation of Indian (CII)Tamil Naduchapter has mapped more than 10 lakh employees and workers of the CII member companies in the state to prepare them for vaccination. The employees and workers belong to 1,397 member companies of CII in the state and they include temporary and outsourced staff.

The mapping of employees is part ofCII Tamil Nadu’s plans to ensure 100% vaccination for all, as part of its support to the State Government‘s initiatives to contain the spread of Covid. CII’s vaccination programme began on Wednesday at Daimler India’s commercial vehicle plant at Oragadam with chief minister M K Stalin visiting the facility and appreciating the vaccination drive.

CII has devised a ‘hub & spoke’ model, where larger industrial units will hold vaccination camps and employees of smaller industries in the region could vaccinate themselves at such facilities. But the shortage in supply of Vaccines could cause a hurdle.

As per the ‘hub and spoke’ model, larger companies where vaccination camps will be held have be identified and they have assured 100% cooperation.

Kerala government includes foreign job & study aspirants in priority list of Covid vaccination

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TheKerala governmenthas included those who are going abroad for studies and EMPLOYMENT purpose, in the prioritised group under the 18-45 years age category for the Covid-19 vaccination.

An immediate decision has been taken in this regard as many foreign countries have madevaccination compulsoryfor those arriving there for study and job purposes,HealthMinister Veena George said.

Besides them, 10 othercategorieswere also included in the prioritised group and an order was issued for the same, she said. Field staff of various government departments including food and civil supplies, postal, social , Women and Child Development, Fisheries and teachers assigned for the valuation ofSSLC, Higher Secondary and Vocational Higher Secondary examinations were among those newly added to the prioritised group.

As many as 32 categories of people belonging to the age group were earlier included in the priority category after considering them as frontline fighters against Covid-19.

Indira Canteens will soon get CCTV cameras

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To bring discipline and have a close watch on Indira Canteens,Hubballi-Dharwad (HDMC) has decided to installCCTVcameras in the premises.

HDMC aims to monitor hygiene at the meals serving area, parcel packing, quantity and matters from its control room. Indira Canteens have been asked to provide breakfast, lunch and dinner to the needy. In Hubballi-Dharwad, there are nine such canteens. Many poor, lower middle-class people and labourers make use of the canteen.

Sources said officials have decided to install CCTVs, connect them to the control room in HDMC and deploy dedicated persons to keep a watch on the canteens. Currently, the canteens are reporting more than 4,200 footfalls for breakfast, lunch and dinner respectively per day.

Telangana: DLSA makes community kitchen call a huge success in Nalgonda

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In an effort aimed at helping the poor during this pandemic in general and lockdown period in particular, legal Services authorities inNalgonda districtcould successfully roped in NGOs, revenue, Police, and jail authorities to start community kitchens to serve the poor effectively.

This effort, according to Nalgonda district legal services authority (DLSA) secretaryG Venu, is saving several people from starvation. Nalgonda NRI.org NGO is helping the authorities with this task. They also came out with a new idea to request all those families in the city who can afford to prepare and give one food packet a day to do so.

Andhra Pradesh government spent Rs 85,000 crore on agriculture in last two years

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The has spent close to Rs 85,000 crore on theagriculturesector in the last two years as chief ministerYS Jagan Mohan Reddyis firm on providing full support to farmers. Setting up of over 10,000 Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs), a field-level one-stop support centre for farmers, is an initiative of the YSRC government.

The state government has so far disbursed Rs 17,030 crore to about 52.38 lakh farmers under YSR Rythu Bharosa PM Kisan Scheme in the last two years.

The government has made it a regular feature to deposit first installment of Rs 7,500 in May, second installment of Rs 4,000 in October and another spell of Rs 2,000 in January.

The government has already set up 10,778 YSR Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs) across the state to provide Services to farmers in their neighbourhood. RBKs will extend support to farmers from seed to crop sale.

Government-certified non-contaminated, quality seeds, quality fertilisers, quality pesticides, e-crop registration, crop Insurance, zero interest loans, crop purchasing center services, Soil testing, agricultural expert advice, agricultural prices monitoring at the village level, market details and weather forecasts are made available in the RBKs.

Biodiversity board to suo motu recognise conservation efforts

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This year, theGoa State Board(GSBB) has decided that it will take suo motu cognizance of exemplary and pioneering work carried out in Biodiversity conservation in Goa and confer Awards for the works. The awards are presented every year by the board by calling nominations. But this year, the board has decided that it will take note of any outstanding contribution at its level itself.

The Biodiversity Conservation Awards recognise efforts by individuals and biodiversity management committees formed at the village level by the GSBB. The awards are conferred for work carried out in the areas of biodiversity conservation and environmental sustainability across Goa.

Maharashtra: Not a single Covid case in 138 villages of badly hit Buldhana

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Buldhanadistrict in west VidarbhasAmravatidivision is one of the top three worst-hit districts in the region due to Covid-19. But, there is a silver lining.
Total 138 small villages in the remote parts of the district have not reported even a single case of Covid-19 right since the onset of the pandemic.

After almost 15 months and two waves, not a single native of about 1.5 lakh cumulative Population of these villages got infected. Authorities in the district said the credit goes to the villagers only as they followed Covid-appropriate behaviour and also made farm quarantine mandatory for any guests and visitors.