31.12.21

HP notifies scheme for settling legacy cases

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The Himachal Pradesh government has approved and notified a new scheme, Himachal PradeshSwarn Jayanti(Legacy Cases Resolution) Scheme-2021, to settle all pending legacy cases and recover arrears stuck in cases under litigation. Himachal Pradesh Swarn Jayanti (Legacy Cases Resolution) Scheme-2021 will be available for the pre-GST taxpayers to resolve tax liability and disputes.

The scheme will be valid for six months from its publication in the official gazette of the Himachal Pradesh. It will come in two phases. In the first phase of four months, the dealer is required to pay due tax along with settlement fee at 10% and in the second phase of two months, 150% of the settlement fee as applicable in the earlier phase along with due tax.
Stakeholders or dealers can apply under the scheme by visiting the circle or district office of the department concerned. The dealers will have to deposit applicable settlement fee online in relevant head of account of subsumed enactment and no manual fee will be accepted.

Doon ranks poor inCSCAF,need to adoptclimate-sensitive approach

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Releasing its report on Dehraduns poor performance inClimate Smart Cities Assessment Framework (CSCAF), the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundationhasappealed to all to include the issue of sustainable Urbanisation in their manifestos ahead of the 2022 assembly Elections fora Climate-sensitive approach to urban planning and development in thestate.

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) developed CSCAF in association with the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) to provide a roadmap for cities towards mainstreaming climate actions within existing and future projects and policies. A total of 126 cities including 100 Smart Cities, capital cities and other cities were part of the assessment and Dehradun was the only city from Uttarakhand. The cities were given star ratings on the basis of the evaluation based on five parameters including 28 indicators- Urban Planning, Green Cover and Biodiversity, Mobility and Air Quality, Water Management, Energy and Green Buildings and Waste Management. Dehradun received one star in the first three parameters, two stars in the fourth one and three stars in the waste management category.

According to the SDCs report, not a single city out of 126 cities got an overall five-star ranking inthis assessment. Only nine cities includingAhmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Visakhapatnam and Indore got the four-star ranking while 22 cities got a three-star ranking. Dehradun and the other 63 cities got only a two-star ranking while the remaining 31 cities attained only a one-star ranking.

Namami Gange project gives new lease of life to Yamuna

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The Namami Gange project has finally succeeded in giving a new lease of life to Yamuna as a major work of purification of this river has been carried out in Mathura.

According to the data released by Jal Nigam, 20 drains have been tapped at a cost of Rs 460.45 crore. Also, a new sewage treatment plant (STP) of 30 MLD (million litres per day) has been prepared. Along with rejuvenating the rivers, the problem of sewerage falling in them is being solved with a state-of-the-art method.

On the other hand, the Ramganga sewerage scheme in Moradabad has brought about a big change under the Namami Gange project. In Mathura, sewerage from 13 drains has been stopped from falling into the river Yamuna at a cost of Rs 330.05 crore and an STP of 58 MLD has been set up.

Besides, a faecal sludge treatment plant (FSTP) of 10 KLD (kilolitres per day) has been set up at Chunar Nagar of Mirzapur at a cost of Rs 2.70 crore. In Firozabad, two big drains have been tapped by the I&D method at a cost of Rs 51.06 crore. In Kasganj, construction of 58 MLD STPs has been completed along with tapping of two drains at a cost of Rs 76.73 crore.

Azim Premji Foundation to set up university in Jharkhand

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CEO of Azim Premji Foundation, Anurag Behar, met Chief Minister Hemant Soren today and reiterated his resolve to ensure his participation in the development of Jharkhand. He told the Chief Minister that the Foundation would play an active role in the development of Education, quality education and improving the academic Environment in Jharkhand. The Chief Minister assured the Foundation of all possible cooperation from the Government.

The Foundation expressed to open a university in Jharkhand. Behar told the Chief Minister that about Rs 1200 to Rs 1400 crore would be spent on setting up the university. The campus of the university will be spread over an area of 150 acres. Here the students will be given employable and quality education. The intention of opening a university here has been expressed by the Foundation in the same series of topics that were discussed during the online conversation of Azim Premji of Wipro Company with the Chief Minister recently.

The CEO of the Foundation told the Chief Minister that the Foundation would cooperate in improving primary and secondary education. The foundation will extend all possible help in meeting the needs of the schools which are being developed as model schools by the government.

Odisha no. 1 contender for special status: Union Minister from Bihar

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Union Minister Ram Chandra Pratap Singh, considered close to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, said Odisha is the “number one contender” for the special status — an opinion completely different from his party colleague’s long-standing special status demand for the eastern state.

“As per the index of , Odisha is on the bottom. Hence, Odisha is the primary candidate for special status than Bihar,” the Union Steel Minister said while interacting with the media persons.

In the latest Niti Aayog report, Bihar fared poorly on the majority of parameters like Education, Health, road Infrastructure etc. Following that report, Chief Minister Nitish Kumar demanded special status for Bihar.

Cgarh has immense potential to produce Eri Silk

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Chhattisgarh has immense potential to produce Eri silk, Chief Executive Office of Central Silk Board Ranjit Ranjan Okhandiyar on Friday told Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel.

Okhandiyar said this while paying a courtesy call on Baghel. He was accompanied by Director, Vanya Silk Mill Pvt Ltd, D.S. Kasare.

Baghel assured them cooperation and said production of Eri Silk in Chhattisgarh would certainly provide new means of EMPLOYMENT to farmers, tribals, youths and Women.

Okkhandiyar said that Eri silk is obtained from castor plant and it is high on demand in the national and international market.

He told Chief Minister that mulberry and tussar silk industries have already been established in the state and now cultivation and production of Eri cocoon must be promoted.

This would further boost the income of farmers, make them self-dependent and improve their living standards.

He added that earlier the Eri silk industries in the country were completely dependent on the import of Eri cocoons for silk production.

Now, with the approval of Central Silk Board to produce Eri cocoons in Chhattisgarh, the country would not have to depend on imports.

Kasare said he has submitted a proposal for cultivation of Eri cocoon in an area of 10,000 acres in Chhattisgarh under Silk Samagra-2 of Central Silk Board.

Governor talks with Madhya Pradesh Blind Welfare bodies

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Governor Mangubhai Patel has said that every disabled has divine-powers and divya-ang. It is the responsibility of the Society to make them aware of their special abilities in their rehabilitation. Assistance should be given to enhance their competence and efficiency. He said that after Class XII, the differently-abled, society and government should contemplate together and take initiative to take up the challenge of making special arrangements for the higher Education.

Patel was addressing separate introductory meetings of Madhya Pradesh Blind Welfare Association Indore and Madhya Pradesh The Blind Relief Associations today. Officers of the institution, Additional Secretary to the Governor Manoj Khatri and other officers of Raj Bhavan were present in the meeting.

The Governor has said that proposals should be presented to the government by the institution regarding future action plan and expectations. He has told the need to do this work at the earliest, so that planning can be done according to the need and priority in the coming years plan. Governor Patel got introduced to the members. He sought point wise information about the work being done by the organization. The Governor discussed in detail about the achievements of the organization, available Resources, requirements and future plans.

Gujarat’s eagle eye project for crime control

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Just as the has begun several rounds of meetings to draft its own law mandating CCTV installation at all premises – cameras facing streets and providing its live feed to local Police, Gujarat’s Home department had prepared its detailed manual in 2018 — the Safe and SecureGujarat(SAS-Guj) project manual citing the depth of CCTV surveillance which aims at controlling crime.

The manual provides for integrating all live feeds from Internet protocol (IP) based cameras across the state to a central data farm where a powerful Artificial Intelligence (AI) based video analytics program will process the video feed and conduct 15 primary tasks apart from traffic offences,eGujcop, ‘Vahan’ and ‘Sarthi’that is mandated.

The SAS-Guj manual mandates that the AI program analysing the video feeds to conduct attribute search – collect all images or footage of objects, vehicles based on colour or make or registration across all video feeds for any given time frame.
Then specific functions like overcrowding, loitering, intrusion detection, abandoned object detection and even suspicious movements too will be reported by the AI program.

The state government is also mulling over aPPPmodel where the home department may partly fund CCTV installation in societies. The Gujarat law currently being drafted keeps two existing state laws in reference- the Karnataka Public Safety (Measures) Enforcement Act, 2017 and a similar law for Andhra Pradesh enacted in 2013.

Rajasthan govt to provide shelter to orphans, footpath dwellers

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In accordance with The Supreme Court, theRajasthanState Legal Services Authority (RSLSA) directed the to run a special drive to ensure availability of shelter homes for the orphans andfootpath dwellers.

Aiming to provide shelter homes at thePanchayatlevels, RSLSA has also been creating awareness about the same. The Supreme Court on December 12, 2011, had asked the state chief secretary to provide shelter homes for the orphans and other downtrodden people in the state.

RSLSA will also ensure timely benefits to the orphans and poor people through the social Justice department in the government schemes

Bina (MP)-Panki (UP) Multiproduct Pipeline Project

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The Bina (MP)-Panki (UP) Multiproduct Pipeline Project was inaugurated by Prime Minister Modi.

Highlights:

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated the 356-kilometer Bina Refinery (Madhya Pradesh)-POL Terminal at Panki (Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh) Multiproduct pipeline project.

It has a capacity of 45 million metric tonnes per annum, which cost Rs 1524 crore Rs. 1227 crores in UP and Rs. 297 crores in MP.

The project was completed and commissioned one month ahead of schedule, in December 2021 (3 years after PNGRB approval), and on budget.

It will allow for the safe and efficient evacuation of products from the Bina Refinery, as well as increased product availability in Eastern Uttar Pradesh, Central Uttar Pradesh, Northern Bihar, and Southern Uttarakhand.