25.12.21

Panel for Withdrawal of AFSPA From Nagaland

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In the aftermath of the killing of six civilians in an Army ambush on December 4, 2021, the Union Government formed a high-level committee to look into the withdrawal of AFSPA from Nagaland on December 26, 2021.

Highlights:

A Secretary-level officer chairs the five-member committee. Vivek Joshi, India’s Registrar General, and Census Commissioner will lead the committee.

Piyush Goyal, the Union Home Ministry’s Additional Secretary, will serve as the committee’s Member-Secretary.

The committee also includes the Nagaland Chief Secretary and Director General of Police, as well as the DGP of the ASSAM RIFLES.

Six civilians were killed in an Army ambush in Nagaland recently, prompting the formation of the committee.

Following the incident, calls to repeal AFSPA have become increasingly loud.

Assam most improved state in Niti Aayog’s health index

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Assamhas emerged as the top state which has made the maximum improvement among larger states in overall performance and is also among the top three most improved states in incremental performance insHealth indexfor 2019-20, which was released.

The report stated, Among the larger states, only four states improved their Base Year (2018-19) rank in the Reference Year (2019-20). The most significant progress was observed in Assam as it improved its ranking by three positions, from fifteenth to twelfth.

Assams total score has gone up from 43.39 in Base Year (2018-19) to 47.74 in Reference Year (2019-20).KeralaandTamil Naduoccupy the first and second ranks in the overall performance scores of 82.20 and 72.42 respectively.

Among the smaller states, Mizoram has jumped up by two places to capture the top slot. Meghalaya too has jumped by two places from 7th to 5th while Tripura, Manipur andArunachal Pradeshdropped their rank by one place each.

Odisha govt to submit fresh rural election quota to SEC soon

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minister Pratap Jena on Tuesday said the process for preparation of a fresh reservation list minusquota for backward classesin the panchayat polls has already been started and the list will be submitted soon to the State Election Commission (SEC).

The minister said that the fresh reservation list is being prepared in accordance with the observations of the Orissa High Court following The Supreme Court‘s order.

While the State Government had already submitted the reservation list with 27% seats reserved for otherbackward classesto the SEC, the Orissa HC, citing recent orders of the SC, observed that there can be no reservation for backward class candidates.

The issue of no reservation to backward classes is also at the centre ofOdisha‘s politics as the BJD announced to give tickets to at least 40% OBC candidates.

CM Dashboard Tamil Nadu 360

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In Chennai, the Nadu government unveiled the “CM Dashboard Tamil Nadu 360,” a monitoring system for the Chief Minister (CM).

Highlights

It will allow CM to keep track of all welfare schemes, including their implementation status, fund allocation, and a number of beneficiaries, as well as information on water storage in Dams and rainfall patterns.

This dashboard will provide real-time information on all State Government departments, storage levels of key reservoirs, rainfall patterns.

It also has a price mesh that monitors price stability across 25 foodgrains, vegetables, and fruits, as well as projections on potential price increases, allowing for government intervention.

Aside from that, the first set of dashboards will include information on current EMPLOYMENT trends, civil supplies, and the Chief Minister’s Helpline.

The dashboard also includes the status of CM in Your Constituency petitions, Health-related information, daily Police reports of major crimes in the State with reference to districts that require attention, housing progress for the urban and rural poor, and progress of water supply schemes, particularly tap connections to all households.

Kerala retains top spot in Niti health index

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Kerala, NaduandTelanganaemerged among the best three performers in terms of overall performance according to theNITI AayogsHealth index, whileUttar Pradeshtopped the table on incremental performance despite being at the bottom.

For the fourth consecutive round, Kerala emerged as the best overall performer. Among smaller states, Mizoram emerged as the best performer in overall performance as well as incremental outcome. Among Union territories (UTs), Delhi and Jammu & Kashmir ranked at the bottom in terms of overall performance but emerged as leading performer in terms of incremental performance.

A vast majority of the states and UTs have recorded a shift in their overall performance rankings from Base Year to reference year. Among the 19 larger states, four improved their rankings while five deteriorated and 10 retained their base year ranks.
Three out of the eight smaller states improved their rankings, four deteriorated while one retained its base year rank. Four UTs improved their ranks while three deteriorated. Assam made the maximum improvement, moving from 15 to 12 while Andaman & Nicobar went down the maximum, from 4 to 7.

Anti-conversion bill: Karnataka may take ordinance route

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After the government failed to get the anti-conversion bill passed in the legislative council in the recently concluded Belagavi session, it is now exploring the option of promulgating an ordinance to bring in the law.

Home minister Araga Jnanendra, who is piloting The KarnatakaProtection of Right to Freedom of Religion Bill, 2021, said, We will bring the ordinance to the cabinet next week. We are planning to promulgate it in early January after getting the governors assent.

However, law ministerJC Madhuswamysaid the government will consider the timing of the joint session before pushing for the ordinance. However, law and parliamentary affairs minister JC Madhuswamy said it will also consider the timing of the Karnataka joint legislature session before pushing for the ordinance.

According to parliamentary rules, the government can promulgate an ordinance of the pending bill if it is not rejected in any one of the two houses. But it must get the approval of the legislature for the bill in the immediate next session after promulgating the ordinance.

Telangana excelled on health front, says Niti Aayog report

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A newNitiAayog report has praisednot just for attaining universal immunisation of children, but also for its Health centres, modern operation theatres and labour rooms.

The health index of states titled Healthy States, Progressive India, has listed Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Assam as the top three ranking states in terms of annual Growth performance.
The report analysed the health conditions in the states between 2018-19 and 2019-20 and has said that Telangana is a top performer in many aspects.

While stating that all district hospitals certified underLaQshyaandKayakalpscored more than 70%, the report added there were no vacancies of auxiliary nurse midwifes (ANMs) in sub centres and medical officers in primary health centres (PHCs).

In terms of incremental performance, Telangana made major gains with nearly half the indicators in the fully achieved, most improved or improved category.

It further said that only five larger states and two smaller states, showed good overall performance and continued to improve on their health index score from the Base Year (2018-19) to reference year (2019-20) for the analysis.

Cases of crimes against women up 25% in Andhra Pradesh in 2021: DGP says awareness has increased

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Crimes against Women (CAW) cases has gone up by over 25% inAndhra Pradeshin 2021, while the Average days taken for investigation was considerably down to 42 days from 102 in 2020.
The overall crime rate was up by three per cent, a presentation by the state Police said.

As many as 1,27,127 cognizable crimes took place in the state as against 1,22,987 during 2020, it said.

The cases of crime against women, which constitute 14 per cent in the overall crimes in the state, were at 17,736 in 2021 while it was 14,603 in 2020.

Director general of police Gautam Sawang said the rise in the number of cases in crimes against women should not been seen in a negative sense as the number indicates the access to the police and criminal system and awareness that the government is creating among women.

NIO scientists push for geo-engineering to enhance Arabian Seas iron levels

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There is so littleironin the ocean that even a bit of rust from an iron-made ship significantly throws measurements off. To avoid any such contaminations,scientistsfrom the National Institute of (NIO) studied samples of seawater from theArabian Seaand found that a large part of it in the south and northwest are iron-deficient, leading to lower productivity.

To remedy the situation, they have suggested seeding the waters of the Arabian Sea with an ample amount of iron toenhanceits biological pump, thereby increasing its capacity to sequester atmospheric CO2, which will help diminish the atmospheric CO2levelsintroduced into the Biosphere. ThisGeo-Engineering, they said, would also enhance biological productivity, leading to an increase in fish production.

As a part of the Geotraces-India initiative, a major oceanographic programme supported by the Union ministry of earth sciences, dissolved iron-cycling in the Arabian Sea and subtropical gyre region of the Indian Ocean have been studied.

E-vehicles in Maharashtra up 153% in 1 year, more than double in Mumbai

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It’s boom time for electric vehicles inMumbai and Maharashtra. While the state saw a phenomenal 153% rise in new e-vehicle registrations in the first nine months of the financial year 2021-2022, the city recorded a Growth of 112% in the same period, the latest transport statistics show.

Compared to 9,415 e-vehicles registered in 2020-21, the number of registrations skyrocketed to 23,786 in just nine months of 2021-22 (April 1 to December 27 this year).

The total e-vehicles registered so far in Maharashtra is 57,386 and there are indications that it will cross a lakh-mark in a few months, officials said.

The growth in e-vehicles was also a good 112% in Mumbai, the statistics showed. From just 48 new e-vehicles registered in 2017-18, the numbers grew to 132 in 2018-19, 642 in 2019-20 and 1,442 new registrations in 2020-21. In the nine months of 2021-22, the registrations have more than doubled at 3,059 new e-cars /e-two wheelers. The total electric vehicles in Mumbai now stand at around 6,000. The registrations were maximum in the island city, with Tardeo registering 1,920 e-cars/scooters so far.