• 04 Jan 2023

Chief Minister Launched the New Website of UPPSC

Why In News?

On January 3, 2023, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath launched the new website of UPPSC in Lucknow . The new website will be useful for the youth and there will be better coordination between the government and the commission.

Key Points

• On this occasion, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that now the details will not have to be given repeatedly in the Uttar Pradesh Public Service Commission. The Commission has introduced a system of One Time Registration (OTR), under which the details recorded in the OTR will be available in digital form from anywhere.
• Apart from this, registration will have to be done only once to apply under different notifications of government jobs and the information recorded in OTR will be digitally verified from the recruitment institutions, which will facilitate the candidates.
• The Chief Minister directed that appointments should be made on time and the system of e-superannuation should be implemented. Through this, better coordination can be established between the government and the commission.
• The Chief Minister said that the state government is very serious about the time-bound selection of teachers. For this, the Uttar Pradesh Education Service Selection Commission will be formed soon in the state.
• He said that teachers in basic, secondary, higher and technical colleges will be selected through a single commission in Uttar Pradesh. Guidelines for a Unified Commission have also been given. After this, now the new commission will conduct the TET exam.

'Rajasthan Homeless Upliftment and Rehabilitation Policy-2022'

Why In News?

• On January 3, 2023, Rajasthan's Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Tikaram Jully told in a meeting held at the Government Secretariat in Jaipur that the 'Rajasthan Homeless Upliftment and Rehabilitation Policy-2022' has been implemented, under which survey and identification of homeless persons will be done in the first phase.

Key Points

• In the meeting, it was agreed to complete the survey of homeless persons by the stakeholders under the Rajasthan Homeless Upliftment and Rehabilitation Policy 2022 in the next two months.
• Minister Tikaram Jully said that on the basis of the findings of the survey, the next outline of the scheme will be decided. The survey work will be done at the division level, district level and gram panchayat level. It was agreed by the stakeholders to conduct survey work at the village level by Panchayati Raj institutions and at the urban level by voluntary organizations.
• He said that to provide shelter to homeless persons with adequate housing system and to bring them into the mainstream of development, access to self-employment and social rights including education empowerment, adequate employment generation as well as training opportunities will be ensured.
• It is noteworthy that under the 'Rajasthan Homeless Upliftment and Rehabilitation Policy-2022', provisions have been made to provide roofs with a minimum space of 50 square feet per person, provide proper privacy and security to special category people.
• Apart from this, there are various provisions in the policy including providing basic necessities like drinking water, medical facilities, education, security etc. and operating shelter homes for homeless persons. With this decision, the homeless will be empowered by providing education, skills and employment opportunities.

Decisions of the Council of Ministers Headed by the Chief Minister

Why In News?

• On January 3, 2023, in the meeting of the Council of Ministers chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, along with approval of Rs 1807 crore 57 lakhs for 45 CM Rise schools, many other important decisions were taken.

Key Points

• In the first phase of the CM Rise scheme, 275 schools are being developed by the School Education Department in the state. Out of these, DPRs were prepared for the construction of 45 schools and proposals were presented before the Project Testing Committee. In the sequence of the departmental proposal, it has been decided to construct 45 well-equipped schools on the recommendation of the Project Testing Committee.
• A total of 9 thousand 200 cm rise schools are to be constructed in the state. Its in-principal approval from the Council of Ministers has been issued in July 2021. Out of this, 370 schools are being constructed in the first phase, of which 275 schools are being constructed under the Education Department and the remaining 95 schools under the Tribal Affairs Department. In the past, 73 schools with a cost of Rs 2 thousand 660 crore have been approved by the Council of Ministers.
• The cabinet decided to increase 433 new PG seats in the medical colleges of Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Rewa. Administrative approval has been given for a total of Rs 438 crore 40 lakhs for all the three medical colleges.
• With the increase of PG seats for postgraduate courses in various departments of Medical College, Indore, Gwalior, Jabalpur and Rewa, additional number of subject-specialist doctors will be available to the state every year.
• The Council of Ministers approved the plan to provide coaching for national competitive examinations to tribal students from prestigious institutions at the divisional level and to conduct offline coaching every year and online coaching pilot project for the next 4 years. Financial burden 30 crores 54 Approved lakh 71 thousand rupees.
• In this scheme, 1600 students will be benefited from offline coaching for offline coaching from the year 2022-23 to 2023-24 (according to the 2-year course). According to the announcement of the Chief Minister, a total of 250 students are targeted to be benefited in 4 years from the value of 25 students from 10 special schools for online coaching from class 9^th to 12^th.
• New categories and prize money have now been fixed by the Council of Ministers while revising the plan to encourage consensus and unopposed elections in the election of panchayat representatives. 5 lakhs to such Gram Panchayat whose Sarpanch has been elected unopposed. Rs 7 lakh for the post of Sarpanch if the current election and the previous election are held continuously unopposed; Such Gram Panchayat whose sarpanch and all Panch's were elected unopposed, Rs 7 lakh; Gram Panchayat whose sarpanch and all Panch women have been elected Rs 12 lakh; It was decided to give 15 lakh rupees for the unopposed election of women on all the posts of Sarpanch and Panch in Panchayat.
• It was announced by the Chief Minister at the state-level orientation, training-cum-conference of Sarpanch's on December 7, 2022, that the honorarium of Sarpanch's would be increased from Rs 1,750 to Rs 4,250 per month. In this context, the order issued by the Directorate of Panchayat Raj was ratified by the Council of Ministers. With this, sarpanches of 23 thousand 12-gram panchayats of the state will get an honorarium of Rs 4,250 per month including telephone and hospitality allowance.
• According to the provision of the 'Grain Bank' scheme of the Tribal Affairs Department, the loss to the government due to non-receipt of foodgrains worth Rs 15 crore 75 lakhs, distributed to poor helpless tribal families through 2846 grain banks, amounted to Rs 15 crore. Approved the decision to write off Rs.75 lakh.
• Under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, there was a provision to give Rs 5,000 to eligible pregnant and lactating mothers for the first delivery. In the new guidelines of the scheme, the cabinet gave approval to give 5 thousand rupees on the first delivery along with 6 thousand rupees to the eligible beneficiary of the scheme on the birth of a girl child on the second delivery. Approval was also given to run Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana 2.0 in all the districts of the state as per the changed guidelines in the 'power' component of 'Mission Shakti'.

'National Clean Air Programme'

Why In News?

• On January 3, 2023, Jamshedpur Special Officer of Jharkhand Sanjay Kumar said that Jamshedpur has also been included in the 'National Clean Air Programme' related to environment under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Apart from this, Ranchi and Dhanbad from the state are also included in it.

Key Points

• Jamshedpur Axis Special Officer Sanjay Kumar said that under the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the central government has made an advance allocation of about Rs 50 crore for the National Clean Air Program in Jamshedpur.
• For this, Jamshedpur Axis, Mango Municipal Corporation and Jugsalai Municipal Council will prepare a joint action plan. Jamshedpur will be the access nodal agency in this.
• Sanjay Kumar said that the pollution control Councilor and the civic body will together take this scheme forward. Pollution measuring instruments have been installed at Jugsalai and Mango Chowk. In this scheme MoU has been signed with BIT Mesra.
• He said that under this scheme, BIT Mesra will find out from which source the pollution is happening. Dust particles flying on the roads will be controlled. Pavers block is being installed where there are maximum dust particles.
• The broken roads will be repaired immediately and there is also a plan to widen the roads. Under this, greenery will be increased by planting trees and work is going on at a rapid pace on the plan to plant about three thousand new trees.

Chhattisgarhia Olympics: State Level Competition From 8 to 10 January

Why In News?

• According to the information given by the Chhattisgarh Public Relations Department on January 3, 2023, the state level event of Chhattisgarhia Olympics 2022-23 will now be held from January 8 to January 10, 2023 at various sports grounds as well as indoor stadiums in the capital Raipur.

Key Points

• The inaugural ceremony of the state-level Chhattisgarhia Olympics will be held on January 8 at The Sardar Balbir Singh Juneja Indoor Stadium. The closing ceremony will be held at Swami Vivekananda Stadium Kota-Raipur on January 10.
• Competitions in all 14 sports disciplines of Chhattisgarhia Olympics will be held at Sardar Balbir Singh Juneja Stadium, Outdoor Stadium Budhapara, Pandit Ravi Shankar Shukla University Sports Complex and Swami Vivekananda Stadium Kota.
• Earlier, the date for the state-level sports competition was fixed from January 7 to January 9, which has been changed from January 8 to 10.

Two Bridges of Uttarakhand Connecting China Border Dedicated to the Nation

Why In News?

• On January 3, 2023, the country's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh virtually inaugurated two bridges of the newly constructed Uttarakhand on the national highway connecting the China border. These bridges have been constructed by the Border Roads Organization (BRO) on the Tanakpur-Tawaghat-Lipulekh road.

Key Points

• A bridge on the Tanakpur-Tawaghat-Lipulekh road in the state is at Dhauliganga. The length of this super structure bridge built at the confluence of Dhauliganga and Kali Ganga is 80 meters.
• The second bridge has been built at Gumrodi in Kimkhola near Jauljibi on this national highway. The length of this bridge is 35 meters.
• It is known that these bridges were to be inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on December 27, but the bridges could not be inaugurated on that day due to some reason.
• Border Roads Organization (BRO) OC Ramesh Ganapathy said the two bridges have been constructed by 1447 BCC/47 BRTF under Project Hirak. The construction of strong bridges in the National Highway will make the movement of vehicles more convenient.

Chief Minister Released the Focus Report of NABARD

Why In News?

• On January 3, 2023, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami released the Focus Report of the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD), under which NABARD will provide a loan of Rs 30301 crore for development in various sectors including agriculture, infrastructure, MSME in the state.

Key Points

• Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami released the report while inaugurating NABARD’s State Credit Seminar 2023-24 .
• In the new financial year, NABARD will provide a loan of Rs 30301 crore to the state, which is 6.22 percent more than the previous year. Last year, NABARD had approved 4515 projects worth Rs 10,000 crore to the state.
• Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also directed the banks to do better work in these schemes and monitor everyone. It will prove to be effective in increasing the livelihood of farmers, people engaged in horticulture and small industries.
• He said that special attention should be paid to increasing the loan allocation in the three debt-starved districts of Rudraprayag, Bageshwar and Tehri.

The President Inaugurated the Constitution Garden in Rajasthan

Why In News?

• On January 3, 2023, the President of India Draupadi Murmu inaugurated the Constitution Garden at Raj Bhavan in Jaipur, Rajasthan, emphasizing the need to work to instill a sense of constitutional morality among the countrymen.

Key Points

• Speaking on the occasion, the President virtually inaugurated the transmission system set up by the Power Grid Corporation of India for solar energy sectors in Rajasthan. Apart from this, he also laid the virtual foundation stone of 1000 MW Bikaner Solar Power Project.
• Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra said that after the inauguration of the Constitution Garden by the President, Rajasthan has become the first state in the country where such a Constitution Garden has been prepared in Raj Bhavan.
• He said that it has been prepared by the Jaipur Development Authority under the Smart City Project of the Central Government. On January 26 last year, the foundation stone of the Constitution Garden was laid at Raj Bhavan.
• Initiatives have been taken to build constitution gardens in all the funded universities of the state and the tradition of reciting the basic duties has been started by reading the preamble of the Constitution before the address in the state assembly. In this sequence, the Constitution Garden has been constructed here with the aim of connecting all the general and distinguished people coming to Raj Bhavan directly with our ideal culture associated with the Constitution.
• The Governor said that the Constitution Garden is not only an art form of 22 parts of the holy Constitution of the country, but it is also a reflection of the ideals and culture associated with the Constitution. Here the original handwritten copy of the Indian Constitution is not only very artistic but also presents the ideal of culture. The preface is adorned with paintings of horse, elephant, lion and bull symbolizing the civilization of Mohan Jodaro in the golden border.
• It also presents drawings made by the great artist Nandalal Bose and his disciples, including the ashram of the Vedic sage performing yagna with the disciples, the statue of Nataraja, the artworks carved at the Mahabalipuram temple, the desert and Gandhiji's Dandi Yatra, Subhash Bose's Azad Hind Fauj, gods and goddesses, Mahatma Buddha etc.