28.07.21

The tiger population has risen to 200 inAssam, the state forest department said onGlobal Tiger Day even as three of the four tiger reserves in the state got the global Conservation Assured |Tiger Standards (CA|TS) recognition for good tiger conservation.

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As per the All India Tiger estimate, 2018, Assam has a total Population of 159 tigers, 104 in Kaziranga, 31 in Manas, 21 in Orang and 3 inNameriand the number increased to 200 in 2021, a forest official said.Kazirangahas 121 tigers as per phase IV tiger monitoring in 2020 while Manas has 48 tigers. Orang and Nameri have 21 and 3 tigers respectively.

Manas, Kaziranga and Orang are among the 14 in India which received the accreditation of the Global Conservation Assured | Tiger Standards (CA|TS) which have been recognized for good Tiger Conservation. CA|TS is a set of criteria which allows tiger sites to check if their management will lead to successful tiger conservation. Global Tiger Day was observed in the tiger reserves with officials, NGOs, individuals, wildlife activists and local communities underscoring the need for the conservation of the big cat to maintain a healthy ecosystem.

The population of tigers has shown a promising trend in the Brahmaputra flood plains. However, the Nameri and Pakke blocks have shown a decreasing trend of tiger population.

However, connectivity of this population to Kaziranga in the south and Nameri-Pakke in the north is being disrupted due to increasing human settlements and khutis (cattle farms), the report added. Suklabaidya said the increase in tiger count in Assam and other parts augurs well at a time when there has been a decline in the population of the big cats elsewhere.

AsCovid-19pandemic triggeredstressandpsychological ailmentsamong many,suicide casesrecorded a marginal increase in Bhubaneswar in the first half of 2021 as compared to the corresponding period last year.

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While altogether 142 people had committedsuicidein the capital city between January and June last year, 151 people ended their lives here during the same period this year.

The 151 deceased included 38 people, who died by suicide during thelockdownin May (16 suicides) and June (22 suicides) this year. The suicide figures of the lockdown in May and June 2020 stood at 49 (18 in May and 31 in June).

Police said overall suicide cases went up in Bhubaneswar in 2020 compared to 2019. While 220 persons had committed suicides in 2019, the figure rose to 310 in 2020.

Some experts said many people suffered from mental imbalance following negativity being spread through various sources of Communication, media and Social Media.

As the deadline July 2022 to make all infrastructure and public spaces inclusive is nearing, disability rights groups in the city have called for making all upcoming projects disabled-friendly. This comes at a time when theGreater Chennaicorporation plans to lay new roads, set up toilets along ECR road and renovate parks and other public spaces.

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Smitha Sadasivan, member,Disability Rights Alliance, Nadu, said the corporation should involve people with disabilities and disability right groups at the design stage itself. Chennai metro rail did the biggest mistake of not including any disabled right group at the planning stage, she said.

In 2014, the civic body had promised to make pavements disabled-friendly but bollards, lack of tactile markings and lack of proper gradient of the ramps have made them unusable, saidVaishnavi Jayakumar, member, Disability Rights Alliance (DRA). She added that by 2018, public transport should have been made disabled-friendly. We are yet to meet that deadline, she rued.

As per Rights of Persons With Disabilities Act, the requirements of disabled people should have been aligned with the building code. So the government doesnt have any excuse, any new Infrastructure should be inclusive, she said. She explained that basic infrastructure such as e-toilets are not accessible for the disabled. Even for parks, they should be planned in such a way that all parks have at least one equipment that is inclusive to ensure disabled persons mingle with everyone and can lead a normal life, she said.

Thecabinethas revamped the four missions that were launched during the previousLDFgovernment. It has been decided to launch a unifiedNavakeralam missionby includingRebuild Kerala Initiativealong with the other missions.

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As the goals under general Education protection mission has been achieved, the government decided scrap it and focus on quality education throughVidyakiranammission.

A Navakeralam mission cell will be formed with CM as its president, chief secretary as convener, Navakeralam mission coordinator as joint convener and the concerned ministers and secretaries as its members. For three years, 88 new posts will be created for implementing the second phase and a coordinator will be appointed for its smooth implementation.

Government pleaders: The cabinet cleared the appointment of government pleaders. There will be 20 special government pleaders, 53 senior government pleaders and 52 government pleaders.

BJP leaderBasavaraj Bommai took oath as the new chief minister of Karnataka. The Shiggaon MLA was sworn-in by governor Thaawarchand Gehlot atRaj Bhavan.

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The Karnataka BJP legislature party on Tuesday evening had elected Basavaraj Bommai as its new leader to succeed outgoing chief ministerB S Yediyurappa.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Yediyurappa took to twitter to congratulate the new chief minister.

The swearing in ceremony was attended by the Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Kishan Reddy, appointed as observers by the BJP parliamentary board, outgoing chief minister BS Yediyurappa, all top leaders of the state. Barring senior Congress leader RV Deshpande, opposition leaders remained absent.

Over three lakh families will now get the cards on Monday following scrutiny of documents and field verification by civil supplies and revenue department officials.

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With this, the total number of ration cards would go up to 90.5 lakh in . The total number of beneficiaries would rise to 2.88 crore following addition of 8.65 lakh more members. The new cards will be issued between July 26 and July 31.

All these new beneficiaries can avail subsidised rice in fair price (FP) shops from August 1. Every member enrolled on the ration card is eligible for 6 kg of rice at a subsidised price of Re 1 per kg.

The State Government will have to spend an additional Rs 200 crore per annum to supply nearly 6,000 metric tonnes of rice to the 8.65 lakh new beneficiaries. The total expenditure of the state government on subsidised rice would go up to nearly Rs 2,800 crore per annum.

Consequent on its decision of permittingengineeringeducation in regional languages, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) gave its consent for the NRI Institute of Technology, a private autonomous engineering college in Krishna district, to introduce the programme inTelugu.

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The move is expected to provide a level playing field for the students, particularly from the rural and tribal areas who have studied in their native languages since childhood.
One of the major recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020 is to promote regional languages in education.

Maharashtrahas become the first state in the country to fully vaccinate over one crore people against Covid-19. As on Monday, the state had given two doses to 1,00,99,524 peoplenearly 11% of the total 9,37,98,052 fully vaccinated across Indiawhile 2.15crore have got the first jab. Considering the states total adult population of 8.5crore, it means barely 12% people are fully vaccinated and 25% have got one dose.

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While UP remains at the top of the chart having administered most doses among states at 4.52crore, the number it has managed to fully vaccinate is barely a little over 73lakh.

The maximum vaccinations have been in the age group above 45 years where 74.28lakh have got both doses while 1.01crore have got one dose. In the 18-44 bracket, about 4.5lakh have got vaccinated with both doses while 99.56lakh have got the first dose. Among healthcare workers, 8.97lakh have been fully vaccinated while 3.88lakh have taken a single dose. And over 11lakh frontline workers have been fully vaccinated while a little over 10 lakh have taken the first shot. Among districts, Mumbai has administered the highest doses at 69.66lakh followed by Pune with 59.12lakh doses.

Haryana Additional Chief Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Department, Sanjeev Kaushal on Sunday said that the Swamitva Yojana will be implemented in the state by September 15, 2021.

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He said that the drone survey has been almost completed in the state and the work of drafting maps in Svamitva Yojana is under process.

Kaushal while talking to the mediapersons here said that all the Deputy Commissioners of the state have been directed to complete all the work to implement Svamitva Yojana in their respective districts by September 15.

He said that the work of conducting drone surveys is almost completed in Haryana. The drone survey that was pending in two districts namely Sonipat and Yamunanagar has also been completed now. The work of drafting maps is underway as per Svamitva Yojana, he said.