27.01.22

Footfall dips by 50% in northeast airports after Covid test curbs

by

The state governments decision in the northeast asking for mandatory RT-PCR test reports of each passenger or Covid testing on arrival, has resulted in about a 50% decline in footfall in the NE since December last year.

InAssam, however, despite giving relaxation in testing to double-dosed vaccinated passengers, the number of fliers has dropped in the past month due to the intense third wave.

Data procured fromAirports Authority of India(AAI), stated that on December 19, a total of 228 passenger flights operated in the northeast, ferrying 27,600 passengers. Even though the flight operations remained unaffected till January 10 when the number of daily flights operating in the region went up to 242, the decline in passenger footfall was crystal clear at 20,500. However, afterMakar Sankrantifestivities when the third wave turned worse, both flight operations and passenger movement dwindled.

Assam Baibhav award for Ratan Tata

by

TheAssamgovernment is set to conferAssam Baibhav, the states highest civilian award to industrialist and philanthropist Ratan NavalTata, though he will not be present in the glittering ceremony to be held in Guwahati.

Though Ratan Tata wont be present at the event, he is deeply touched by the state governments decision. Thank you for understanding my inability to personally receive the award at the function to be held in Guwahati on January 24th and for your willingness to present it to me at a later date in Mumbai, Tata wrote to Assam chief minister Himanta BiswaSarmain a letter.

Odisha Open 2022 Bagged By Unnati Hooda And Kiran George

by

Hooda won the Women‘s singles title at the 2022 Odisha Open badminton competition, defeating Smit Toshniwal.

Highlights:

Unnati Hooda won the women’s singles title at the 2022 Odisha Open badminton competition, defeating compatriot Smit Toshniwal 21-18, 21-11.

Unnati, 14 years old, is the tournament’s youngest Indian winner. Kiran George, 21, of India, won the men’s singles event by defeating Priyanshu Rajawat 21-15, 14-21, 21-18.

Treesa Jolly and P. Gayatri won the women’s doubles title in another all-India final, defeating Sanyogita Ghorpade and Shruti Mishra.

The host, however, was disappointed in the men’s and mixed doubles finals, where Home-grown talent competed against international opponents.

The 2022 Odisha Open is a BWF Super 100 tournament held in Cuttack, Odisha, at the Jawaharlal Nehru Indoor Stadium.

With Rs 301 crore, Telangana Rashtra Samithi second richest regional party

by

The Rashtra Samithi is the second richest regional party in the country after Akhilesh Yadavs Samajwadi Party (SP) with assets of Rs 301 crore.N ChandrababuNaidus Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh is the fourth richest among the regional outfits with Rs 188 crore assets, trailing Tamil Nadu-based AIADMK which has assets of Rs 267 crore.

Among the 44 Regional Parties, assets of the top 10 parties, including TRS, TDP and YSRC, total Rs 2,028 crore, which is equivalent to 95 per cent of the total assets declared by all the regional parties for the financial year 2019-20. The SP leads the charts with Rs 563 crore assets.
The total assets declared by the seven national and 44 regional parties during the financial year amounted to Rs 6,988 crore and Rs 2,129 crore respectively, according to the ADR report.

State to get Graphene innovation centre

by

The Digital UniversityKerala(DUK), along with CMET-Thrissur, is gearing up to set up India Innovation Centre for Graphene, the countrys firstgrapheneR&D incubation centre in Kerala.

The ministry of electronics and IT has given approval for the Rs 86.41-crore-project. The centre, which will be implemented with the support of , has the potential to accelerate Keralas Growth in the knowledge Industry sector.Tata Steel Ltdwill be the industrial partner of the centre. Often referred to as the wonder material for its extraordinary electrical and electronic properties, graphene, as per latest research, could replace indium and thereby bring down cost of OLED (organic Light-emitting diode) screens in smartphones.

Graphene is the thinnest and strongest material in the world ever known and has good chemical stability, high electrical conductivity and a large surface area while being transparent and lightweight, the university authorities have said.

Sangoli Rayanna

by

Sangoli Rayanna, a military school in Karnataka, is being built at Rs 180 crores by the . The defense ministry will be in charge of the school.

Highlights:

Sangoli Rayanna was a princely realm of Kittur warriors. Karnataka’s present capital is Kittur.

He fought alongside Rani Chennamma against the Doctrine of Lapse until his death. The British assassinated the Kittur kingdom’s ruler and prince.

They planned to assume control of the Kittur kingdom under the Doctrine of Lapse because there was no legal heir to the monarch.

Rani Chennamme adopted Shivalingappa as the monarch of the Kittur kingdom. Shivalingappa was to be the future emperor, according to Sangoli Rayanna.

Rayanna was a crucial figure in the 1824 uprising. The majority of the territory in Kittur’s realm was taken away. And the land that was left behind was highly taxed.

He formed a guerrilla force. He and his soldiers marched from town to town, torching government buildings and plundering coffers.

He enlisted the help of ordinary people to train and build an army. In 1830, the British apprehended him and imprisoned him.

Telangana likely to hike its welfare dole in this years budget by Rs 30,000 crore

by

With the assembly slated for next year, the State Government is set to focus its attention on welfare schemes and subsidies. Sources said budget allocations for welfare schemes are likely to see a quantum leap by at least another Rs 30,000 crore in the 2022-23 state budget.

The state government is already spending Rs 58,000 crore annually on various welfare schemes and subsidies. Following allocation of another Rs 30,000 crore,Telanganawill emerge as the only state in the country to spend about Rs 90,000 crore on welfare schemes and subsidies, sources said. Chief ministerK Chandrasekhar Raoand Industry ministerKT Rama Raohave often claimed that Telangana is the only state implementing various schemes by allocating huge funds in the budget.

In the next seven years, government wants to cover 17 lakh Dalit families in the state. In the current years budget, government had allocated only Rs 1,000 crore under CMs Dalit Empowerment programme. Another major programme on governments radar is second phase of sheep distribution programme. Though it was announced a few months ago, the second phase is yet to be kicked off.

Andhra Pradesh: IIPE walks away with Rs 150 crore, mixed bag for other varsities

by

The 2022-23Unionbudget makes a wide spectrum of allocations for the premier educational institutes ofAndhra Pradesh. A sum of 150 crore has been earmarked for Indian Institute of Petroleum and Energy,Visakhapatnam.

This is the highest ever annual allocation for the institute since its inception in 2016. Central University, Andhra Pradesh has been sanctioned 56.6 crore as budgetary support. Andhra Pradesh Central Tribal University, being operated from Vizianagaram, may get 22 crore as its share as 44 crore has been allocated for the tribal universities of Andhra Pradesh and .

The Indian Institute Of Management (IIM)-Visakhapatnam is already getting funds through the Higher Education Financing Agency (HEFA) as the Union ministry of education entered into an agreement with the HEFA for release of funds to the IIM-V in 2018. Thus, no separate allocation has been made for this premier business school.

As per the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014, the Union Government sanctioned about several national institutions to Andhra Pradesh, including IIM-Visakhapatnam, IIPE and Tribal University to north-coastal Andhra Pradesh. Permanent campuses of these institutions are in various phases of execution. IIM-Vizag is expected to move into its permanent campus in Gambheeram this year, while the IIPE has recently got land for construction of a permanent campus. A place for the permanent campus of tribal university is yet to be finalised in Vizianagaram district.

Goa House at 3/4 strength as quarter of its MLAs resign

by

The unprecedented resignations of over a quarter of Goas 40 MLAs, to switch sides even before parties declared candidates for the 2022 assembly election, reflects that the power has shifted from to representatives, signalling a new dimension of Democracy, experts say.

In the past, it was common for MLAs to join a new political party after the ticket was denied to them. But this time, threeCongressMLAs put in their papers and joinedBJPand TMC, four BJP MLAs joined AAP, MGP, Congress, and some decided to contest as independents. Two independent MLAs resigned to join BJP, and one GFP MLA quit to join BJP.

Most of the MLAs quit their parties considering their political future, and also fearing being denied ticket by their parties, which would lead to them being out of the race.

Maharashtra: School buses get 100% tax relief for 2 years

by

More than 44,000schoolbuses acrossMaharashtrafinally got the tax relief for two years. Thegovernmentissued a notification on Tuesday mentioning that all school buses whether owned by school orprivate contractors will get 100% relief in road tax for the period between April 1, 2020 and March 31, 2022.

The city bus operators said that some of the buses may restart operations from Monday. The city has around 8,000 school buses. School Bus Owners Association president Anil Garg said that a section of bus operators had paid tax which would be adjusted with the future payment of taxes in 2022-23.