29.01.22

Rs 1,500 crore will help youths, women: Northeast industry

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bodies in the northeast have hailed theUnion Budgetfor earmarking Rs 1,500 crore for development initiatives, which they said will enable livelihood activities for youths and Women in the region.

The Indian Chamber of Commerce (ICC) has termed it an extremely Growth-centric budget that they felt every industry needed amid a pandemic and to achieve fast recovery of their respective businesses.

As almost 99% of all enterprises in the northeast come under the MSME category now, AbhijitBarooah, chairman, Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), northeast, was hopeful that the budget will give a push to the MSMEs.

Move for cultivating multiple crops in rice-fallow places

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TheAssamAgricultural University (AAU), with technical support from the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), has successfully tested four systems by cultivating green pea, mustard, potato and lentil after sali (kharif) rice in six districts.

Field test demonstrations in rice environments were selected during rabi season in 2020-21 and 2021-22 for the four innovative cropping systems. Six districts, with an area of 20 bighas each,were selected for the demonstrations. Cultivation of these crops after paddy harvesting will help in increasing the net income of the farmers. In the long run, one of the cropping systems having highest return and system productivity can be promoted for wider adoption, saidKanwar Singh, senior associate scientist and resident coordinator at IRRI.

Geospatial technologies, including remote sensing, geographical information system (GIS) and global positioning system (GPS), are being used under the Assam Agri-business and Rural Transformation Project (APART) for identifying suitable areas where multi-cropping can be done after rice cultivation. The AAU targeted identification of the fallow land to increase the Cropping Intensity to bring a significant increase in agricultural output in low productivity areas and enhance system productivity.

Assam has an estimated 25 lakh hectares under paddy cultivation which accounts for almost 83% of the total cultivable land of the state. But most of this paddy cultivation is confined to the kharif season (sali) during when almost 19 lakh hectares is utilized.

Govt plans to reduce child marriages

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The has decided to prepare a concerted, multi-sectoral action plan engaging all stakeholders to prevent and prohibit the age-old practice of child marriage.
According to theNational Family Health Survey(NFHS) 2015-16, as many as 21.3% girls inOdishaget married before the legal age of 18 years. Along with the districts, the government will also focus on the urban poor in municipalities.

The government will prepare an inter-sectoral convergent action plan for each district for prevention and Prohibition of child marriages. This includes convergence of programmes across sectors and key line departments in districts, officials said.

District task force (DTF) meetings will be held regularly to review implementation of child marriage-free village initiative, rehabilitation and skilling opportunities for adolescents rescued from child marriage or at risk of child marriage, Child Labour and child trafficking.

Tamil Nadu: Indo-Korean ceramic, glass exhibition inaugurated in Chennai

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The Human Spirit: Propositions On Resilience In These Irregular Times, a virtual Indo-Korean ceramic and glass exhibition specially commissioned by InKo Centre, was inaugurated on January 21.

The exhibition looks at the artistic interpretations of the concept of resilience of the human spirit, especially post the pandemic, through the medium of ceramic and glass. Both are transformed through fire into new states of being. The exhibition examines the metaphor of rejuvenation, transformation, fluidity and permeability as attributes of both ceramics and glass through figurative, abstract and natural forms.

Union Budget: Tax incentives to help startups

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The startups in the state will benefit from the Union governments proposal to extend the period of incorporation of eligible startups by one more year till March 31, 2023, for providing tax incentives, saidKerala Startup Missionformer CEOSaji Gopinath.

He added that it normally takes three to four years for a new startup to start making profits.
Finance minister in herBudgetspeech said that the country has seen a manifold increase in successful startups over the past few years.

Startups will be getting one more year of tax benefit. It will make a huge difference for those into hardware units, which take around six to seven years to start making profits. Especially for those startups whose profit will come a little later, this is a huge benefit, Gopinath said.

State govt mulls Mangaluru-Goa inter-state waterway for tourism

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With all 11 inland national waterways (NWs) identified by Indias Inland Waterways Authority (IWA) not taking off, the government ofKarnatakahas embarked on the development of an ambitious inter-state waterway betweenMangaluruand Panaji in Goa, to promote tourism, and for affordable passenger and freight transportation.

Though techno-economic feasibility studies have been initiated for the 11 NWs in Karnataka, the has initiated the preparation of a detailed feasibility report (DFR) for the development of an inter-state waterway between Mangaluru and Panaji.

Three firms had expressed interest in the request for proposal from the Karnataka government, floated by the Ports & inland water transport department, directorate of ports and inland water transport. Kalinath Advisors Pvt Ltd have been selected as consultants for the project.

There are seven critical river systems in Karnataka, with a lot of tributaries, but not much progress has been seen in the development of inland waterways for transport, tourism or cargo movement.

The chamber has said the inland water connection of Nethravathi River from Thumbe, that connects Maravoor Bridge via OldPort, and the Mangaluru International Airport, will catalyse Economic Development along the riverbank.

Telangana saw 21,000 excess deaths in first two waves: Study

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had 190 percent excessCovidmortality rate during the first and second wave, according to a research study.

It also revealed that the all-India excess mortality was six to seven times higher than official figures.

The research study published in the eminent scientific journal, Science, showed that there were 21,000 excess deaths during 2021 as against 11,000 excess deaths in the year preceding the pandemic in Telangana. This showed that there were 10,000 excess deaths, which stands at 190 per cent.

Hyderabad had reported most number of Covid-19 deaths, only due to serious cases from districts and other states being referred to tertiary care hospitals in the city. However, the study did not mention the figures city-wise. The data provided was only of state-wise figures and national Average.

In case of another Telugu-speaking state, Andhra Pradesh, there were 51,000 excess deaths during 2021 in comparison to 36,000 excess deaths during 2018-2019. This in other words mean AP has recorded 140 percent relative excess deaths. However, Andhra Pradesh had less number of excess deaths during the Covid-19 period, compared to Telangana.

Telangana stood third in the country in terms of relative excess deaths, below Gujarat (230 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (215 per cent).

AP Seva Portal 2.0 Launched By AP CM

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The AP Seva Portal 2.0 was recently unveiled by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Jagan Mohan Reddy.

Highlights:

Citizens will benefit from the portal’s improved Services. Citizen Service Site is another name for the portal. The platform will provide citizens with transparent digital services.

The platform would make it easy for the public to follow their applications. The applications’ updates are also sent to users via SMS. Thirty services are available through the site.

This includes six civil supply services, 25 municipal administration services, 30 revenue and land administration services, three rural development services, and additional 53 energy department services.

Applications can now be approved online in version 2.0. Officials can also give certificates and documents online through the platform. Digital signatures are supported by the portal.

Approximately 90% of government services are now accessible through the platform.

To gain access to paid services, gateways have been included.

The platform would make it simple for citizens to obtain government services.

They can use the services from the comfort of their own homes, rather than running from pole to pole.

The platform will also allow secretaries to keep track of the status of their applications.

More than four lakh persons are currently a part of this system.

They provide 540 services to the general public. 3.46 crores government services were available to the public as of January 2020.

Need to reduce post-harvest losses while handling foodgrains

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Lossesfrompost-harvesthandling of foodgrains should be minimised through value-addition and processing. This issue was discussed during an event on processing and storage of foodgrains and pulses, organised by the ICAR central coastal agricultural research institute (CCARI) and Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK), North Goa.

In the technical session attended by 35 farmers and Women working on farms, senior scientist and head of the institute HR Chidananda Prabhu delivered a lecture on processing and storage of foodgrains and pulses.

A national-level training programme on cashew, recent advances in cashew production, processing and post-harvest management was also organised at the institute. Director at the directorate of cashew nut and cocoa development, Cochin, Kerala Dr Venkatesh N Hubballi spoke about the status of cashew production in the country and its scope for improvement.

Mashelkar panel stresses on 70% school enrolment in Maharashtra

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ocus on research that would help people and Society, public-private PARTNERSHIP model to generate finance in Education, introducing phygital education which would essentially be a blend of physical and digital education are some of the important recommendations made by theMashelkarcommittee with respect to implementation of theNew Education Policy in Maharashtra.

The recommendations were discussed during the state cabinet meeting on Thursday. Eminent scientists and educationistRaghunath Mashelkar, who chaired the committee, told that the emphasis of the report was to improve the gross enrolment ratio from 32% currently to 60-70%.

The report has stated that all learners should be eligible for free digital devices and for students that can reach even the remotest part.
The report has stated that every student in the state must get end-to-end digital access as the lockdown had shown how digital and physical education both go hand-in hand.