29.03.23

Assam, Meghalaya race against time to meet tap water deadline

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Even as the Centre has set a target of connecting all rural households in the country withtap waterunder the ambitious Jal Jeevan Mission

The deadline under the JJM to connect every household with tap water ends in 2024.
Assam being the most populous state of the northeast has set a target of covering 67 lakh rural households under JJM. Despite claims of JJM implementation success by the Meghalaya government, data shows the hill state is just marginally ahead of Assam in terms of providing tap water.

As per Jal Jeevan Mission-Har Ghar Jal dashboard, as on Wednesday, Assam is at the bottom among northeastern states with 46.20% households having tap water supply. Meghalaya is marginally ahead with 46.89% coverage.

No mobile connectivity in 5,770 Odisha villages

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As many as 5,770 villages in Odisha do not have mobile Network connectivity. The information was provided by Union Minister of Communications, Electronics and Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, while replying to a question in the Rajya Sabha on March 24, raised by Sulata Deo.

45,406 villages out of total 51,176 villages of the State have mobile network connectivity facilities till December 2022.

As per the reports, less than 20 villages in Jagatsinghpur, Jharsuguda, Puri, Baleswar, Dhenkanal, Subarnapur, Bolangir, Bargarh and Kendrapada districts do not have mobile network connectivity.

Tamil Nadu: New policy to minimise loss of lives, property during disaster

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With a view to minimising impact on lives, livelihood, critical , and Environment during disasters, chief ministerM K Stalinon Friday rolled out state Disaster Management plan and state disaster management policy 2023.

The plan aims at makingTamil Nadua disaster resilient state by enhancing the capacity of all stakeholders to respond to disasters. The plan aims at minimising impact on critical infrastructure like Health and Education and socio-cultural status of people.
The policy said inclusive development and mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) into the Sustainable Development ethos of the state were the need of the hour.
Over the past century, more than50 cycloneshad battered the Tamil Nadu coast at various locations, posing a constant threat to people living in the coastal districts.

On the implementation of the plan, Tamil Nadu disaster risk reduction agency says that the disaster management (DM) Act 2005 enjoins state governments to make provisions for the implementation of the disaster management plans.

The Act also mandates that every department of the State Government prepare a departmental disaster management plan in accordance with the state disaster management plan (SDMP).

Crops on nearly 41,000ha lost to natural calamities in Kerala

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Kerala, which depends on other states for Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture products, has been losing crops on huge tracts of land natural calamities every year, shows data procured under the RTI Act.

Crops on around 40,960 hectares (ha) of agricultural land were lost to calamities in the state in just three-and-half years from June 2019 to December 2022, as per data from the agriculture department. Crops on 18,899.79ha were destroyed due to heavy rain. Crops on around 186ha were lost due to drought during the same period.Landslidesalso washed away crops on 183ha.

Alappuzhaand Kottayam districts were the worst affected by the extreme weather events. Alappuzha reported crop loss of 5,939ha in just from April 2021 till December 2022 and it was 2,957ha in Kottayam. Kasaragod reported the lowest crop loss of 119ha in the same period.

The crop loss affected 3,15,013 farmers in the state with banana cultivators being the worst affected. Banana crops of around 1,12,643 farmers were destroyed in three-and-half years due to the calamities. They are followed by paddy and coconut farmers.

NITK inks MoU with NJB to develop geo-cell products from Jute

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TheNational Institute of Technology Karnataka(NITK) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with theNational Jute Board(NJB), Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, to develop technology to make Geo-Cell products from jute and standardize them for variousengineering applications.

The commercially available polymer-based geo-cells are costly and not readily available in rural areas and small towns. This navigates towards inventing an eco- friendly, cost-effective cellular confinement product that satisfies engineering strength requirements. Jute is a natural material that is plentifully available in India.

Almost 85% of the world’s jute cultivation is concentrated in the Ganges Delta. It is high time that India explores its diverse applications and widens its usage in the form of different products. The project by NITK, Surathkal, proposes a very affordable and eco-friendly method of ground improvement using jute in the form of cells.

No to Centres ToD power tariff policy

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Energy ministerG JagadishReddy on Sunday said theBJPgovernment at the centre was pushing to implement time of day (ToD) power tariff policy, which would overburden commercial and domestic consumers in the states.

As per the ToD tariff system, consumers will need to pay more for power consumed during peak hours, and pay less for non-peak hours. This ToD policy is aimed at discouraging high power consumption during peak hours.

Andhra Pradesh CM to present pattu vastrams at Vontimitta temple on April 5

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Andhra Pradesh chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will present pattu vastrams at the ancientVontimitta templeinKadapadistrict on April 5.

Ever since the bifurcation of the state in 2014, theSita-Rama Kalyanotsavamheld on the sidelines of the Srirama Navami annualBrahmotsavamsat the Vontimitta temple has been observed as a state festival and the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams in coordination with the state endowments department is entrusted with the responsibility of carrying out this annual state festival in an utmost grand manner.

This year too the TTD has been making elaborate arrangements for the Sita-Rama Kalyanotsavam and for the Vontimitta annual Brahmotsavams.
The Kalyana vedika has been spruced up and arrangements related to setting up galleries for the devotees, queue lines, parking, mobile toilets etc are being completed.

Agriculture land to be out of bounds for non-Goan non-farmers

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Amid unbridled demand for land by out-of-state buyers, the cabinet initiated crucial steps to protect Goa’s agricultural land by approving a bill that will effectively ban the sale of such land to non-farmers from outside the state. The bill is also expected to restrict the conversion of paddy fields to settlement land.

Goa has a little over 40,000 hectares of agricultural land, of which 28,000 hectares are cultivable and around 15,000 hectares are fallow.

Maharashtra to frame labour policy for migrant workers

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The state labour department has said that a detailed policy would be drawn up for migrant workers, offering them social security as well as other benefits.
The demand was made by the construction and manufacturing , with a slew of Infrastructure projects lined up in the state.

Only 13 lakh construction workers in the state are registered with the Maharashtra Building and Other Construction Workers Welfare Board. Workers not registered with the board will not get benefits like Health andaccidentinsurance, besides Education benefits for children

Haryana civic bodies to get Rs 4100 cr for development works

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To complete the works at the local level in a time-bound and expeditious manner, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on Wednesday said that the Government is committed to give full autonomy to the local governments, that is the municipal bodies.

For the year 2022-23, out of the State’s Own Tax Revenue (SOTR) of about Rs 65,000 crore, about Rs 3,600 crore will be given to the municipal bodies. Apart from this, an additional Rs 500 crore will be given for the previous dues. In this way, the municipal bodies will get Rs 4,100 crore to get development works done at their own level, said Khattar, adding that a total amount of Rs 5,000 crore is already available in all the municipal bodies.

Khattar said that a state-level committee should be constituted for restructuring and rationalization in the municipal bodies, which would conduct a complete study by visiting the municipal bodies. Instructing the officers, he said that a common portal should be made for auction of properties in all municipal bodies.