26-27.09.21

Act now to save Punjab on the water front

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The Punjab Government has at last acknowledged that reckless abuse of groundwater, non-harvesting of rainwater and wheat-paddy would result in Desertification of the state in the next 15-20 years. However, given the track record of successive governments in Punjab, there is little hope that the problem will be addressed in an effective and sustainable manner. For the past about four decades, governments conveniently ignored the ever-growing problem of water scarcity in Punjab. They refused to read what was written on the wall. The only significant step taken to save groundwater was the Punjab Preservation of Sub-Soil Water Act, 2009, enacted by the Assembly. The effective implementation of this Act did postpone the extraction of groundwater from May 15 to June 15 a very hot and dry period during which there is a very high level of evapo-Transpiration.

The Vidhan Sabha panels report is not the first to highlight the depleting water table and impending water scarcity. Some expert committees and several experts have been pointing to the unsustainable overexploitation of groundwater since the mid-1980s. Johl Committee-1 (1986) and II (2002), constituted by the State Government for restructuring and diversifying Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture, made significant recommendations for shifting a substantial area (20 per cent) from under paddy, but these did not cut any ice. Instead, the area under paddy increased from 3.9 lakh hectares (9.62% of the net sown area) in 1970-71 to 31.03 lakh hectares (75.35% of the net sown area) in 2018-19. The Draft Agricultural Policies (2013 and 2019) prepared by the Punjab State Farmers Commission also recommended crop diversification by shifting a considerable area from under paddy. Unfortunately, these draft policies never fructify into an agricultural policy. Consequently, the state has neither an agricultural policy nor a comprehensive water policy. Even the Punjab Water Development and Regulatory Authority, constituted in 2020, has not included Irrigation under its purview. Unfortunately, successive governments of Punjab, instead of acting upon the recommendations of their expert committees, have been indulging in cheap, competitive political populism aimed at vote banks. This is a classic case of irresponsible Governance.

Set up API monitoring cell in Himachal: Bizmen

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Entrepreneurs stressed the need to strengthen in the industrial areas of the state during an interaction session of Union Commerce and Industries Minister Piyush Goyal with the stakeholders, investors and captains of the Industry on Economic Development of Himachal Pradesh here today. They also suggested that an API Monitoring Cell be set up in Himachal.

Goyal appreciated the steps taken by the Jai Ram Thakur government to make Himachal Pradesh as an investors paradise. He said that this week (from September 20 to 26) was being celebrated as Vanijya Saptah to acknowledge Indias rising economic strength.

Forest Minister Harak Singh Rawat inaugurated the Uttarakhand Adventure Fest being organised by Uttarakhand Tourism Development Board (UTDB) in collaboration with FICCI FLO on Sunday. He also launched the single window system for mountaineering related services in Uttarakhand on the occasion.

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He said, “Uttarakhand has immense potential for adventure tourism which can create immense buzz among tourists in India and globally. Today, I pledged to give all the necessary help to promote adventure tourism in Uttarakhand. The single-window portal launched today will also ensure ease to the tourists visiting the state.”

Uttar Pradesh sees 23% jump in juvenile crime, 1,282 booked in 2020

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Even as crime against children declined, the offences committed by juveniles shot up by 23% in 2020, according to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) statistics.

As many as 976 crimes were committed by children in 2019 which went up to 1,282 in 2020.
Data shows that 238 cases of crimes were committed by minors under the POSCO Act, followed by theft (219), burglary (75) and rape (54 cases).

Out of 1,282 minors booked in 2020, at least 575 had passed Class 10. As per the record of cities mentioned in NCRB report, Lucknow recorded 120 cases of crimes committed by juveniles in 2020, up from 63 reported in 2019. In Kanpur, 10 cases were committed by juveniles in 2019 which rose to 15 in 2020.

Jharkhand must do its own OBC/ST survey: Rameshwar Oraon

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Even as chief ministerHemant Sorenis leading an all-party delegation from the state to met Union Home ministerAmit Shahand demand a caste-based census,Jharkhandfinance minister and senior CongressmanRameshwar Oraoncalled for a state-funded headcount of the Other Backward Caste (OBCs) and Scheduled Tribes (STs) in case the outcome of the meeting is not fruitful.

In Jharkhand, OBCs are roughly 46% of the Population while STs form about 26% as per the 2011 census. Oraon conceded that OBCs are a larger chunk in the state while the population of STs has dwindled because of unchecked Migration and faulty census patterns.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar reiterates demand for caste census, says this is in national interest

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Biharchief ministerNitish Kumar reiterated his demand for a castecensus, saying it is in national interest and will facilitate development of the communities lagging in development.
Asked about the Centre’s affidavit in The Supreme Court that virtually ruled out census on the caste lines, he told reporters that it was “absolutely not correct” but added that the matter was not directly related to the issue of caste census.

In the national capital to attend Home ministerAmit Shah’s meeting with the chief ministers of naxal-affected states, the JD(U) leader also rejected arguments against caste census and asserted that the demand for it has been coming from not only Bihar but many states.

Making a call to all the pharmacists and pharmaceutical manufacturers, Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel on Saturday said that they should come forward to set up industries related to medicine and herbal medicine in the state.

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Addressing the conference organized by Indian Pharmacist Association, Chhattisgarh on the occasion of World Pharmacist Day at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium, Raipur, Chief Minister said that Chhattisgarh has abundance of herbal medicines with 44 percent of the forest land area different types of medicinal Plants are found.

He said utilising the opportunity, the individuals or groups, whether from the state or outside, wanting to set up the pharmaceutical , the government will provide them with all the necessary Resources, facilities and exemptions.

Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan will transfer an ex-gratia assistance amount of Rs321.35 crore in the account of 14 thousand 475 workers through single click on Monday, September 27, 2021, from Jhiranya in Khargone district under the Mukhyamantri Jan-Kalyan Sambal Yojana and Anugrah Sahayata Yojana for construction workers. The amount to be transferred includes Rs 307.23 crore in 13,769 cases of Sambal Yojana and Rs 14.12 crore in 706 cases of ex-gratia assistance to construction workers.

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It is noteworthy that on May 4, 2021, Chouhan transferred Rs. 379 crore ex-gratia amount as death assistance to 16,844 labor families of unorganized sector under Mukhyamantri Jan-Kalyan Sambal Yojana.

Labor Minister Brijendra Pratap Singh informed that many schemes are being conducted from birth to death for the workers and their families working in the unorganized sector of the state by the MP Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board and MP Urban and Rural Unorganized Workers Welfare Board. Minister Singh informed that under the Anugrah Sahayata Yojana, assistance of Rs. 2 lakh is provided on normal death, Rs. 4 lakh on accidental death, one lakh for partial permanent disability and Rs.2 lakh on permanent disability.

Two crucial studies on the increasing soil salinity inGujarathave raised concerns. Of the 6.73 million hectares of land affected by salinity in India, Gujarat constitutes 2.23 million hectares, followed by UP 1.37 million hectares, whileMaharashtrahas 0.61 million hectares affected by soil salinity. In fact Gujarat, UP, Maharashtra, W Bengal andRajasthanconstitute 75% of saline soils of the country. This has been claimed by the department of botany of Banaras Hindu University in September this year.

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salinity also leads to large agricultural production loses. Another study by department of soil science of Chaudhary Sarwan Kumar (CSK),Himachal Pradesh, Krishi Vishvavidyalaya (HPKV), Palampur, India and Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agricultural Sciences and Technology, Jammu has claimed that Gujarat state suffers 4.83 million tonnes of production loss because of soil salinity. In terms of monetary loss, Gujarat tops the list with Rs 100.63 billion, followed by Uttar Pradesh with Rs 81.29 billion.

The study further adds, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh have the largest salt-affected area which is more than 50% of cultivated area in the country. The two states alone share around 79% monetary losses in the country. All these states deserve policy attention for management of salt-affected areas to reduce the crop production and monetary loss, the study states.
One of the major reasons for rising soil salinity is the use of brackish groundwater Irrigation waters that is causing secondary Salinization in about 17% of irrigated lands in the country. Good quality irrigation water is scarce in the country. Increasing pressure of producing more food per unit available arable land forces for extensive use of brackish groundwater for irrigation claims the study.

Midday meals at most government schools in the state have been affected due to inadequate supply of dry ration.

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The most recent cases are from government schools in Jaipurs Jamwa Ramgarh block. The number of ration packets received by these schools was less than that of the number of students enrolled. This has resulted in irregularities and parents have started complaining.

Ration is being supplied for July 2020 to March 2021. Students who were enrolled in July 2020 were taken into consideration, but the ones who took admission later are yet to be considered for the distribution.