29-30.04.23

Power demand surpasses 9,400 MW in Punjab

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Ahead of paddy season, power demand surpasses 9,400 MW in Punjab

With the rise in mercury, states power demand crossed 9,400 MW today. In the past one week, an increase of 2,300 MW has been witnessed in demand.

Despite no office supply load on May 13 (Saturday), the power demand touched 9,418 MW. The power demand would likely touch 15,500 MW in July during the peak paddy season.

Now, three units each at Lehra Mohabbat and Ropar are fully operational. One unit at Ropar is non-operational due to less demand. All seven units at private thermal Plants are operating at full capacity.

Himachal to constitute committee for White Paper on state’s financial health

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The Himachal Cabinet in its meeting held here under the Chairmanship of Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu decided to constitute a Cabinet Sub Committee comprising Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri as Chairman and Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture Minister Chander Kumar and Rural Development & Minister Anirudh Singh as Members to formulate a White Paper on the financial position of the State.

It also decided to provide Rs. 1500 per month as Indira Gandhi Mahila Samman Nidhi to all the eligible Women of Spiti Valley including Chhomos/nuns from the age of 18 years and above.

The cabinet also gave its nod to introduce e-stamping in the State for the collection of stamp duty to promote Ease of Doing Business. It decided to stop printing physical stamp papers with immediate effect and to authorize Stamp Vendors as Authorized Collection Centres. It also gave its nod to continue with a dual system of stamps, i.e. physical stamp paper and e-stamp paper from 1st April, 2023 to 31st March, 2024 and after 1st April, 2024 physical stamp paper will be discontinued completely.

In another decision, the Cabinet decided to give Rs. 600 in lieu of school uniforms through DBT to all eligible students.It also decided to increase the honorarium of Nambardars in the Revenue Department from Rs. 3200 to Rs. 3700 per month as per the budget announcement, which will benefit about 3177 Nambardars in the State.

UP govt announces sops for EV manufacturers

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In its bid to promote manufacturing of electrical vehicles in Uttar Pradesh, the Yogi government has decided to provide various incentives and subsidies to the investors and will encourage those investors that carry out Skill development of the employees.

Provisions have been made in the EV Manufacturing and Mobility Policy in this regard. Information about financial incentives for skill development has been provided in the manual related to the implementation of the policy.

In a recent program, the chief minister had appealed to the companies investing in the state to also make efforts for skill development of the youth in order to create a skilled workforce, and had also assured of all possible help from the government in this regard.

Notably, skill development subsidy has been mentioned in the EV policy wherein a one-time subsidy at the rate of `5000 per employee per year will be provided to a maximum of 50 employees in the form of reimbursement of stipend for all defined manufacturing projects. Under this provision, a subsidy will also be paid for training a maximum of 10 employees in a particular year, the spokesman said.

However, it should be noted that this incentive will be applicable solely to employees who have been working in the applicant manufacturing unit for a minimum period of 12 months before joining the training program.

To be eligible for this subsidy, the training programme must be certified by either the National Skill Development Corporation, Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission, a Central/State University/College, or an ITI/Polytechnic institution.

All incentive benefits will be provided only after the commencement of commercial production as per the provision made in the EV policy. The aggregate of all financial incentives for manufacturing projects should not exceed 100 per cent of the fixed capital .

Quality seed production is BAUs first priority: Dr ON Singh

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In view of the requirement of certified seeds in the State and the demand for quality seeds by the farmers, scientists will have to pay prompt and special attention in the production of breeder seeds and. quality seed production program is the first priority of BIrsa Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture University (BAU), said BAU Vixce Chancellor (VC), Dr Onkar Nath Singh.

Addressing during 20th Seed Council Singh said keeping these things in mind, seed production programs will have to be implemented in the farms of all the centers under BAU at the right time in the upcoming Kharif season. ZRS and KVK should make good use of 100 percent land of the farm in mutual coordination, he added.

The Vice-Chancellor directed all the centers under BAU to cover the entire farm area by August 15. Also he stressed the need for MAU between BAU and NSC for seed production and supply. He said that BAU is a part of the ‘s Agriculture Department and there is a need to give first priority to the State’s only Agriculture University ‘BAU’ in seed supply and other programs by the Agriculture Department.
Former Principal Scientist, ICAR-National Rice Research Institute, Cuttack and Expert Dr SR Dhua praised the development of new improved crop varieties and successful seed production program of new strains by BAU. He praised the positive initiative of Directorate of Agriculture, Government of Jharkhand in the direction of seed production and seed lifting.

No funds for Central scholarship for SC/STs, Nitish govt raises aid for OBC-EBC students

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At a time when Bihars ruling coalition is trying to sharpen its caste strategy to take on the BJPs Hindutva agenda, it has raised the annual Scholarship amount for students from Other Backward Classes (OBCs) and Extremely Backward Classes (EBCs) pursuing professional courses from Rs 90,000 to Rs 4 lakh from the 2023-24 financial year. Fully funded by the Bihar government, it will replace a similar Central government scheme and will be known as the CM OBC/EBC Post-entrance Scholarship Scheme.

As part of its latest move, the government has also decided that students whose annual family income is less than Rs 3 lakh, as against Rs 2.5 lakh earlier, will be eligible to apply for the scholarship. The Department of Education will be the nodal agency for the implementation of the scheme that applies to students in Class 12 to those pursuing Masters degrees or professional and technical courses such as management and engineering in government or private institutions in the state. Only those with Bihar domicile can apply for the aid.

Speed up land allotment to capital project farmers

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The Nava Raipur Atal Nagar Development Authority, Housing and Environment and Revenue Department in Chhattisgarh will jointly ensure allotment of land to eligible families as per a decision taken on Tuesday.

Housing and Environment Minister Mohammed Akbar chaired the meeting. Urban Administration and Development Minister Shiv Dahariya was also present.

The cabinet ministers asked the Development Authority to coordinate with the Housing and Environment and Revenue Department to ensure early allotment of land to the eligible families affected by Nava Raipur development project.

The Nava Raipur-hit farmers of 27 villages had organized a sit-in demonstration in April 2022 for more than 100 days seeking compensation and rehabilitation.

Rs 2,123 cr Interest of more than 11 lakh defaulter farmers waived

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The State Cabinet here on Tuesday approved the interest waiver scheme for the waiver of the outstanding interest up to Rs 2 lakh of 11 lakh 19 thousand defaulter farmers of Primary Agricultural credit (PACS) to waive the amount of Rs 2 thousand 123 crore.

The scheme was approved by the Cabinet in accordance with the announcement of Chief Minister Chouhan “Farmers who have become defaulter due to loan waiver, their interest amount will be paid by the government”. The State Government will compensate the defaulter farmers who have outstanding loans of up to Rs 2 lakh including principal and interest as on March 31, 2023 from Primary Agricultural Credit Cooperative Societies (PACS).

According to the scheme, the farmer should have a loan of up to Rs. 2 lakh including short-term crop loan and medium-term converted loan with interest till March 31, 2023. Defaulter farmers will have to apply in their committee to avail interest waiver. The list containing the details of outstanding loan and interest etc. on the defaulter farmers will be made public through a portal at the bank level. Along with this, special facility has been given to the farmers to provide fertilisers for agricultural work. The amount deposited by the farmer in cash in his loan account, he will be able to get fertilizer up to that amount in the form of loan from the committee. The last date of the scheme has been fixed as November 30, 2023. Detailed instructions of the scheme will be issued by the Cooperative Department.

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Gujarat second from bottom in infant mortality

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Gujaratwith 12,119 infant deaths was ranked second from bottom in the country, only better than Maharashtra with 13,807 deaths.
This was the fourth consecutive year when the state was ranked among the bottom five in the country.

The Union Government in its report ‘Vital Statistics of India based on The Civil Registration System-2020’ has stated that in 2020, the state accounted for 8.5% of the total infant deaths in the country. The total infant deaths in the country in 2020 was 1.43 lakh.The Gujarat Health department officials said that in 2020 there was a decline of 22% as compared to 2019. In 2019, 15,602 infant deaths were reported in the state. This was more than the decline in the death across the county where the decline in infant deaths was 13.24%. However, the infant deaths in Gujarat were more than Rajasthan (11,187), Madhya Pradesh (11,585), Uttar Pradesh (10,726), and Bihar (2,299).

The data reveals that of the 12,119 deaths, 1,845 were in rural areas, and of these 1,066 were males. The remaining 10,274 deaths were in urban areas – 6,063 males and 4,211 females.

The state government is set to auction islands inside theJawai Leopard Conservation Reserve(JLCR) inPali districtto private players for 50 years to develop and operate tourism projects in alleged violation of green norms. The plan, which aims to attract around Rs 25 crore, has raised the hackles of environmentalists and forest officials.

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The state-runEastern Rajasthan Canal Project Corporation Ltd(ERCPC) is slated to open technical bids for a Rs 8.26-crore project on May 4 and 5, followed by financial bids from the qualified players later.

Jawai dam, the largest in western Rajasthan amid the Thar, is also Home to more than 200 crocodiles and other aquatic creatures.
The planned projects will fall inside theleopard reserve, which also hosts sloth bears, wolves, chinkaras and other animals.

The project’s critics claim the government is going about the move “secretly” and constructions on such a “massive scale” inside the reserve will pose a serious threat to leopard conservation.
According to Shatrunjay Pratap, a wildlife conservationist, the declared Jawai a leopard reserve in February 2010 with an area of 19.78 hectares. Later, in May 2016, the state regulated commercial and industrial (including mining) activities within 1km of the zone.