Arunachal Pradesh’s endeavour to establish all-weather connectivity got a shot in the arm in February, with the Centre approving road construction projects of 598 km at an estimated cost of Rs 1,100 crore. During the year, the ministry, as part of its Indo-China Border Roads (ICBR) project, also awarded six road stretches in Arunachal Pradesh to the National Highways Development Corporation on a nomination basis, entailing an expenditure of around Rs 5,000 crore.
28.12.21
Over 9,000 Utilisation Certificates of projects not submitted by Assam govt: CAG report
Over 9,000 Utilisation Certificates of various projects and schemes of 52 departments of the Assam government from 2001-02 to 2018-19 have not been submitted, a CAG report said. More than 68 per cent of the 9,379 outstanding UCs are of the last four years since 2015-16, the said in its report on state finances, under the section of ‘Quality of Accounts & Financial Reporting Practices’.
At least 1,345 UCs amounting to Rs 7,197.84 crore are due for the 2018-19 fiscal, while 24 such documents worth Rs 1,607.23 crore in 2016-17 have not been submitted, according to the report which was tabled in the assembly on Friday. Utilisation Certificates of Rs 3,494.38 crore grants paid up to the financial year 2018-19 are pending from the Health department, followed by the Welfare of Plain Tribes and Backward Classes with UCs worth Rs 2,403.51 crore.
After UP, Odisha has highest no. of mentally ill prisoners
The number of prisoners, suffering from mental illness, has been rising steadily in the state.
This was revealed in the Prison Statistics India 2020 released by theNational Crime Records Bureau(NCRB).
With 696 mentally ill inmates in 2020, Odisha stood second only to Uttar Pradesh, which had 1,507 mentally ill prisoners during the period.
In 2019, altogether 626 mentally ill inmates were lodged in different jails here, the NCRB report said.
The development assumes significance amid the last month assigning 15 psychiatrists and 13 clinical psychologists the task of screening the mental illnesses of jail inmates across the state and treating them.
The psychiatry department of theNational Institute of Mental Healthand Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bangalore was engaged by the Centre to prepare the advisory.
The state government has also constituted a three-member expert committee to find out the condition of inmates suffering from psychiatric ailments and the status of suicides in jails.
State sanctions fund for new turmeric research centre
The has sanctioned a sum of Rs 2 crore for establishment of a turmeric research centre in Erode district.
The centre has been approved following a request from the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University.
The centre would research on evolving high yielding varieties with high curcumin content, varieties resistant to rhizome rot and foliar diseases, find out improved scientific management practices and come up with post harvest management techniques.
Govt has no objection to single-sex schools becoming co-ed: Min
MinisterV Sivankuttysaid that thegeneral Education departmentdoes not have any objection to single-sex schools inKeralagetting converted toco-educational schools. Speaking at a news conference atKanhangadinKasaragodon Monday, he said that many boys-only and girls-only schools would like to become co-educational institutions.
It is not being decided by education department. The decision is being taken unanimously by Parents Teachers Association (PTA) of schools, teachers of the institutions and the local body institution concerned; the department is approving their decision. Education department does not have any objection to boys and girls Learning together, he said.
Meanwhile the minister said that the education department has not taken a decision to implement gender-neutral uniforms in state. He said that some organizations have a misunderstanding that gender-neutral uniforms are being imposed by the government and education department.
Ktaka govt to disburse scholarships via e-Rupi
:Karnatakagovernment has become the first state to initiate e-Rupi disbursement for scholarships of eligible students. e-Rupi will be used to ensure leak-proof delivery of Education fees by paying digitally to the college/institute. Karnataka government will get e-vouchers delivered to the mobiles of eligible students. The voucher code can be received on feature phones too. The students will be able to redeem the vouchers at the identified colleges/institutes for the purpose of fees payment.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), https://exam.pscnotes.com/state-bank-of-india”>State Bank Of India (SBI), and the state department of e-Governance have partnered to enable and implement e-Rupi.
Karnataka government has onboarded around 176 schemes of 35 departments on the DBT platform.
DPRs on Godavari river to be cleared soon, Centre tells Telangana
TheUnion jal shakti ministry assured that the detailed project reports (DPRs) of six IrrigationprojectsonGodavaririver submitted bygovernment would be cleared soon.
They would look into the issues raised by the State Government on the alleged illegal irrigation projects taken up by AP on Krishna river.
As per the decisions taken in the apex council meeting conducted on October 6, 2020, the jal shakti minister had requested chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao to withdraw the case from The Supreme Court to consider referring the matter to a tribunal under section 3 of Inter-State River Water Disputes (ISRWD) Act 1956.
Andhra Pradesh on gem of mission: To launch hunt for diamonds
Nearly three centuries after some of the worlds most famousdiamondsincluding the Kohinoor were discovered in the Krishna river basin, the AP government is now set to launch a massive search forgemstones.
To begin with, the has focused onUpparapalle, a nondescript village in Kadapa district. The move comes after a preliminary survey by the Geological Survey of India (GSI) hinted at the presence of diamonds in Upparapalle.
One of the blocks in Upparapalle spread over 37.5 sq km would be taken up for a detailed study to zero-in on the area where the diamonds are present. The state government has decided to grant a composite licence through competitive bidding to explore the area.
The survey spans three phases G-4, G-3 and G-2. The GSI has already conducted G-4 or preliminary studies. G-1 studies involve detailed exploration. The company that would win the bid would take up G-3 and G-2 studies that involve preliminary and general exploration respectively.
Goa among top 3 states in Centres good governance index
Goa has emerged as one of the top threestateswith efficient Governance models, ranking third in theCentres Index(GGI) 2020-21, which was released on Saturday. Goa scored 5.35 as against a score of 4.29 in 2019, indicating a near 25% improvement over the earlier exercise conducted by the department of Administrative Reforms and public grievances.
Amongthe 10 well-developed states, Goa tops the rankings in terms of public Infrastructure and service utilities. The index also indicates that Goa has taken strong strides to improve the Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture and allied sector industrial Growth, social welfare and Environment.
In the overall healthcare sector ranking, Goa was placed third, behind Kerala and Maharashtra. While Goa remains the leader when it comes to availability of doctors at PHCs, many other states have shown a worrying trend of decline in doctors at PHCs. The report has also found a marginal decrease in the Percentage of doctors available at PHCs in Goa.
The index also takes into account actions to mitigate Climate-change”>Climate Change such as polices, planning and initiatives taken by the government. In this aspect, Goa is firmly lodged at fifth place, suggesting that more needs to be done. In the evaluation of citizen-centric governance, particularly participation and transparency, Goa stands fourth, behind Haryana, Gujarat and Punjab.
The ranking for GGI 2020-21 is based on ten sectors and 58 indicators. The sectors are agriculture and allied sectors, commerce and industries, Human resource development, public Health, public infrastructure and utilities, economic governance, social welfare and development, judicial and public security, environment and citizen-centric governance.
Maharashtra: Nod to 2 bills to increase seats in local bodies
TheMaharashtralegislative assembly cleared two bills to increase the number of seats in local bodies.
The assembly cleared a bill to add nine electoral seats in the BMC, taking the total seats to 236 from 227 despite theopposition raising certain objections to the process followed by the BMCwhile redrawing the ward boundaries. The assembly also passed a bill to increase the number of electoral seats in zilla parishad and panchayat samitis. The minumim number of seats has been hiked to 55 from 50, and the maximum to 85 from 75.