25-26.01.22

Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim excluded from WB project for bettering power system

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TheUnion Budgethas once again excluded the two northeastern states ofArunachal Pradeshandbordering China from the World Bank-funded project forpower systemimprovement in the northeast.

According to theBudgetdocuments explanatory note, the project is for power system improvement in six NER states viz. Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland. It is funded by the World Bank. Intra-State Transmission & Distribution projects for Sikkim &ArunachalPradesh have been segregated for implementation through budgetary support from Government of India in view of these states having sensitive borders.

Finance ministerNirmala Sitharaman, in her Budget for 2022-23, has proposed allocation of Rs 371 crore as programme component, Rs 273 crore as EAP component in rest of the northeast and Rs 1,700 crore as budgetary support for strengthening of transmission system in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim.

Segregation of externally aided projects in these two frontier states has its roots since 2009 when China objected to an Irrigation project in Arunachal that was planned by Asian Development Bank for $60-million. The project was subsequently scrapped.

Assam Baibhav Award Awarded To Ratan Tata

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Ratan Tata received Assam’s highest civilian award, the ‘Assam Baibhav,’ on 24 January.

Highlights:

Ratan Tata can’t attend the function personally owing to the Covid-19 crisis. His representative accepted the award during a ceremony in Guwahati.

Himanta Biswa Sarma, the Chief Minister of Assam, said on January 23 that the Assam Baibhav, Assam Saurav, and Assam Gaurav Awards would be conferred for the year 2021.

Professor Dipak Chand Jain, Lovlina Borgohain, Professor Kamalendu Deb Krori, Dr. Lakshmanan S, and Neel Pawan Baruah received the Assam Saurav prize.

Manoj Kumar Basumatary, Munindra Nath Ngatey, Dharanidhar Boro, Hemoprabha Chutia, Dr. Basanta Hazarika, Kaushik Baruah, Khorsing Terang, Akash Jyoti Gogoi, Namita Kalita, Dr. Asif Iqbal, Kalpana Boro, Boby Hazarika, and Bormita Momin received the Assam Gaurav award.

On the occasion of “Asom diwas,” it was declared (Assam Day). The prize for the award is Rs 5 lakh.

Furthermore, the recipient will be eligible for government-funded medical treatment for the rest of his life.

Upper Age Limit for Govt Jobs Raised In Odisha

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Odisha’s government recently raised the upper age limit for applying for State Civil Service Exams.

Highlights:

The age was raised from 32 to 38 years old. The State Civil Services Rules, 1989, were amended to do this.

The age limit has been raised solely for the tests in 2021, 2022, and 2023.

The age limit for people from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Socially and Educationally Backward Classes, Persons with Disabilities, and Women in Odisha has been lowered.

Odisha’s labor force participation rate is 48.3 percent. This matches the national rate of 48.3%.

The ratio of workers to Population is 44.9 percent. In addition, the national worker population ratio is 46.8%.

In metropolitan regions, the Unemployment rate is larger than the EMPLOYMENT rate.

Urban Wage Employment Initiative in Odisha: The initiative offered job possibilities in developing community centers, playgrounds, public parks, and water bodies, among other things.

MUKTA Mukhyamantri Karma Tatara Abhiyan was established to help the urban poor find work.

Tamil Nadu CM Stalin urges Kerala chief minister to increase water supply to Coimbatore from Siruvani dam

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Naduchief ministerM K Stalin wrote toKeralachief ministerPinarayi Vijayanrequesting him to increase the water supply from theSiruvani damto augment drinking water to Coimbatore city.

Stalin stated that the Kerala Irrigation department had been supplying less quantity of water in recent years than the stipulated quantity, resulting in water shortage in Coimbatore city. He stated that water quantity had come down due to lowering of water storage level in the Siruvani dam.

He stated that the department was maintaining storage level at 877.0 metre instead of full reservoir level (FRL) of 878.50 metre. Due to the lowering of the level by 1.5 metre, only 528 mcft could be stored against the capacity of 650 mcft, resulting in the storage loss of 122 mcft (19% of the total storage).

As much as 101.4 MLD of water has to be released to Coimbatore, not exceeding 1.30 TMC annually, as per the agreement with the Tamil Nadu government dated August 19, 1973. But over the past six years, water ranging only between 0.484 TMC and 1.128 TMC had been received.

Kerala: First-Ever Scientific Bird Atlas

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Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first State-level bird atlas in India, has solid baseline data about the distribution and abundance of bird species across all significant habitats.

Highlights:

Kerala Bird Atlas (KBA), the first State-level bird atlas in India, has assembled solid baseline information about the distribution and quantity of bird species across all significant habitats, giving momentum to futuristic studies.

It is being executed as a citizen science-driven routine with over 1,000 volunteers of the birdwatching community KBA has been prepared supported by systematic surveys held twice over 60 days a year.

Conducted as a citizen science-driven exercise with over 1000 volunteers of the bird watching community.

KBA was prepared supported systematic surveys held twice over 60 days a year during the wet (July to September) and dry (January to March) seasons between 2015 and 2020.

Kerala’s capital is Thiruvananthapuram.

Kerala Governor is Arif Mohammad Khan, and Chief Minister is Pinarayi Vijayan.

Karnataka’s Yadgir stands top in inland fish production

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Yadgir, otherwise a backward district, has emerged top in the state in inlandfishproduction. It is followed by Vijayapura and Dakshina Kannada.

Inland fishing is nothing but fishing in ponds, lakes, and streams. The district has surpassed the related target set by the . Yadgir has produced 7,416 tonnes of fish as against the targeted 6,904 tonne three months prior to March, when the period set for the target ends.

The district has 250 lakes, of which 175 are spread within 100 acres, while 75 are spread over 100 acres. Apart from lakes, Yadgir also boasts of two major rivers Bheema andKrishna which have helped the district achieve the target.

Around 500 farmers in the district are involved in fish production. While many of them have their own ponds, some make use of lakes and rivers.

Property registration rates in Telangana may go up by 20%-50%

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Thegovernment is considering hiking property registration charges by 20% to 50% for both agricultural and non-agricultural properties. If the cabinet approves the proposal, the revised charges will come into effect from February 1.

The proposal comes just six months after the State Government increased property values for registration of all properties. The registration and stamps (R&S) department, which is expected to get Rs 10,000 crore revenue in the current financial year, will get another Rs 3,000 crore to Rs 4,000 crore after the hiked charges come into effect.

Official sources said the government is focussing on the agricultural properties as land rates have gone up in the state since the formation of Telangana, especially after completion of various Irrigation projects.

After an earlier revision, the minimum value for agricultural land was fixed at Rs 75,000 per acre and the minimum value was fixed at Rs 1,000 per sq ft for flats. For open plots, the minimum rate was decided as Rs 200 per sq. yard. All the rates came into effect from July 22, 2021.

Andhra Pradesh New District

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Andhra Pradesh’s Jagan Mohan Reddy government just established 13th new districts.

Highlights:

Parliamentary constituencies were used to construct the districts. With this, the state of Andhra Pradesh now has a total of 26 districts.

In Visakhapatnam, the Araku Lok Sabha seat was split into 2 districts. In an undivided Andhra Pradesh, a new district was established in 1979.

The district was Vizianagaram.

The has the authority to create a new district. This is accomplished by either adopting a bill in the State Legislature or issuing an executive order.

State governments can also publish an announcement in the official gazette. It is easier to administer if the districts are smaller, according to state governments.

Smaller districts with more officers mean more officers for a smaller Population. The people’s grievances will be easily addressed.

The implementation of the scheme and the transfer of funds becomes simple. The creation of new districts is not the responsibility of the central government.

Goas R-day tableau to feature heritage symbols, culture, Iffi

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The cultural treasures of Goa depictingsymbolsof Goanheritage, Fort Aguada, the martyrs memorial at Azad Maidan,Iffi, the Shigmo festival and Kunbi folk dance will be featured on thetableauto be paraded at theRepublicDay celebration at New Delhi. The tableau has been designed by Ponda-based artist Sushant Khedekar.
This year, the Union ministry of DEFENCE has selected tableaux of 12 states and eight tableaux of various departments for the parade. The other states which will present their tableaux are Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chattisgarh, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
Accompanying the Goan tableau will be 18 traditional performing artistes from various parts of the state.

Shivaji varsity wins district green championship award

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TheShivaji Universityhas won the Kolhapur District Green Championship award for 2021-22. The competition is organised annually by the Mahatma Gandhi National Council for Rural Education, under theUnion ministry of highereducation. Educational institutes are selected from district level to central level on the basic criteria of cleanliness and greenery.

Shivaji University had participated in this competition for the first time this year and received the first prize at the district level for its work in the field of water management and environmental conservation carried out in the past few years.

The university is also implementing a project to develop the Miyawaki forest area. Shivaji University successfully manages an Average of 575kg of solid waste per day. Biomedical solid waste is also managed according to prescribed criteria