• 05 Mar 2022

Trade Promotion Council

why in the news

On March 4, 2022, 'Madhya Pradesh Trade Promotion Council' under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan was constituted to increase the state's share in national and international trade, to promote exports and to formulate policy regarding employment generation.

key points

• The Trade Promotion Council will give acceptence and approval primarily on the agenda presented by the Working Committee. This council will also make policy regarding quality enhancement and value addition of selected products as per national and international trade.
• Ministers of Finance, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Forest, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion, Transport, Tourism, Science and Technology, Horticulture and Food Processing, Cottage and Village Industries, Agriculture, Technical Education and Skill Development and Labor Department Will be members of this council.
• Deputy Chairman and Chief Secretary of Madhya Pradesh State Planning Commission, Agriculture and Food Processing, Pharmaceutical, Textile and Garment, AutoMobile and Engineering and IT, Representatives of state level institutions and State Export Commissioner (Managing Director MPIDC) were also made members in the council.
• The principal secretary will be the member secretary of the Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion Council.

State Level Vigilance Monitoring Committee

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On March 3, 2022, the State Government has canceled the State Level Vigilance Monitoring Committee constituted on August 21, 2019 under the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Rules with immediate effect and formed a new committee under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan.

key points

• Ministers, MPs, MLAs and concerned officers have been made members in the new committee constituted under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Principal Secretary Scheduled Castes Welfare has been made the convening member secretary.
• According to the notification of the committee issued by the Scheduled Castes Welfare Department, the committee consists of Home, Jail, Parliamentary Affairs, Law and Legislative Affairs Minister Dr. Narottam Mishra, Scheduled Caste Welfare and Tribal Affairs Minister Meena Singh and 3 MPs – Gajendra Singh Patel, Himadri Singh and Mahendra Singh Solanki has been nominated as a member.
• Similarly, 9 MLAs- Kunwar Singh Tekam, Sulochana Rawat, Ram Dangore, Manisha Singh, Harishankar Khatik, Raghunath Malviya, Dr. Yogesh Pandagre, Gopilal Jatav and Rajesh Prajapati and Chief Secretary to Madhya Pradesh Government, Additional Chief Secretary/Principal Secretary Home, Police Director General and Director/Deputy Director National Commission for Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes have been nominated as members.

Asian Fencing Championship

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Recently, swordsman Pragya Singh of Madhya Pradesh State Fencing Academy has won a silver medal in Asian Fencing Championship held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.

key points

• The Asian Fencing Championship was held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan from February 24 to March 3, 2022.
• Pragya Singh achieved this success in the EP event of Fencing. She won the silver medal in the final with a score of 45-36 against a player from Uzbekistan.
• It is noteworthy that recently Pragya Singh has been a part of the Indian team in the Senior Grampy-2022.

Haryana Prevention of Unlawful Conversions Bill, 2022

why in the news

On March 4, 2022, Haryana Home Minister Anil Vij introduced the 'Haryana Unlawful Conversion Prevention Bill, 2022' in the budget session of the Legislative Assembly.

key points

• With the passage of this bill, Haryana will become the seventh state in the country to enact a law against forced conversions.
• In this bill, three categories of punishment have been created against those who forcibly convert.
• If conversion is done by allurement, use of force, fraudulent means or coercion, then there is a provision for imprisonment of one to five years and a fine of not less than one lakh rupees.
• A person who hides his religion with the intention of marriage, has been given a punishment of not less than three years and a maximum of ten years of imprisonment and a fine of three lakh rupees.
• Similarly, a provision of imprisonment of not less than five years and a maximum of ten years along with a fine of four lakh rupees.
• It is noteworthy that before Haryana, this law has been made in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh and Karnataka.

Jharkhand Budget 2022-23

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On March 3, 2022, Jharkhand's Finance Minister Rameshwar Oraon presented a budget of Rs 1.01 lakh crore for the financial year 2022-23. There is a proposal to increase capital expenditure by 59 percent in this budget.

key points

• Earlier on March 2, the third supplementary budget of Rs 2698.14 crore for the financial year 2021-22 was passed in the Jharkhand Legislative Assembly.
• 76273.30 crore is proposed for revenue expenditure in the financial year 2022-23.
• An increase of 59 per cent on capital expenditure is proposed to be Rs 24827.70 crore.
• In the gross amount provisioned in the budget, Rs 31896.64 crore has been provided for the general sector, Rs 37313.22 crore for the social sector and Rs 31891.14 crore for the economic sector.
• In the financial year 2021-22, the growth rate is estimated at 8.8 percent at constant prices and 14.5 percent at current prices. While the growth rate in the financial year 2022-23 at constant and current prices is estimated at 6.15 percent and 10.72 percent respectively.
• The fiscal deficit is estimated to be Rs 11286.47 crore in the coming financial year 2022-23, which is 2.81 percent of the estimated GSDP of the coming financial year.
• In the social sector as a whole, a total growth of 11 percent is proposed in the coming financial year as compared to the financial year 2021-22. Under this, 27 percent increase has been made in health, 20 percent in drinking water, 6.5 percent in education and 21 percent in food distribution.
• Other key points provided in Jharkhand Budget 2022-23 are as follows-
• 'Guruji Credit Card Scheme' will be started to remove the obstacles being faced by the students of Jharkhand in higher education.
• In order to reduce the electricity burden on the poor and farmers, it has been proposed to provide 100 units of electricity per month free of cost to each such family.
• 50,000 per house will be available for the construction of an additional room from the state fund of the government.
• Para teachers will be known as assistant teachers. An additional provision of Rs 600 crore has been made under the state plan for the honorarium of these teachers for the coming year 2022-23.
• A budget of Rs 4,091.37 crore has been proposed for agriculture and allied sectors.
• Under the Go-Dhan Nyay Yojana, cow dung will be procured at a reasonable price with the aim of increasing the income of cattle farmers and farmers. Along with making biogas, organic manure will be prepared from this.
• Along with this, the target of distribution of livestock on grant in the financial year 2022-23 to 40 thousand beneficiaries has been set to produce 85 lakh liters of milk per day in the year 2022-23.
• In this financial year, a budgetary provision of Rs 30 crore has been proposed for the construction of a cold house.
• 25 crore has been proposed in the Corpus Fund to compensate for the economic loss in agricultural produce.
• It has been proposed to build a degree college at Gola under Ramgarh district.

State Level Awards for Persons with Disabilities, 2021

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On March 4, 2022, Chhattisgarh's Social Welfare Minister Anila Bhendia honored 8 individuals and institutions with the State Level Award for Divyangjan, 2021. On this occasion, 2 National Award winning institutions and 5 persons with disability, social service and special achievements were also honored.

key points

• The distribution function of Divyangjan State Level Award, 2021 was organized by the Social Welfare Department of the state in the Directorate premises located at Mana Camp, Raipur.
• In the category of Best Visually Impaired Employee, Tejram Sahu, resident of Diabati village of Balod district was given the award for his distinguished and remarkable contribution. Even after being 100% visually impaired, he has been providing education in Braille script to visually impaired students for 16 years and making them self-supporting.
• Arvind Sharma, resident of Sorid Nagar of Dhamtari district was awarded the state level award in the category of best visually impaired employee. He has been providing technical education of computers to visually impaired students since 2013 at Residential Special Training Center Kachandur District Balod. He won the bronze medal representing Chhattisgarh in the National Paralympic Judo Competition of the year 2014-15.
• Saurabh Kumar Pandey, a resident of Danganiya, Raipur, was awarded the best hearing impaired employee for his efficiency and devotion to duty. He is working as Special Assistant in State Bank of India, Raipur.
• Rameshwar Prasad Sahu, a resident of Gudhiyari of Raipur district, has been awarded the best orthopedically handicapped employee for his dedication. During the Covid epidemic, he rendered his services by being present at work every day while serving the human beings as frontline warriors.
• In the category of Best Orthopedic Employer, Khemraj Jan-Kalyan Seva Samiti of Padkibhat of Balod district was awarded for exemplary work being done for Divyangjan. By providing self-employment training to disabled men and women, the committee is being made self-supporting.
• Fortune Foundation social service organization located in Saraipali of Mahasamund district has been awarded for the best visually impaired organization. The work of educational development and overall rehabilitation of visually impaired persons has been done by the institution since 2013-14. Children of the organization have won 5 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 7 bronze medals in the National Para Athletics Championships. Along with this, gold medals have been received by 2 boys and 2 girls in the state level para sports competition.
• The Premdhara Charitable Society (Nav Jeevan Mook Deaf Vidyalaya) of Janjgir-Champa district has been awarded the best institution for the hearing impaired. A special school for the hearing impaired is being run by the institution from the year 2018.
• Janjgir-Champa has been awarded the state level award for the best district for providing rehabilitation services to the differently-abled. An environment conducive to rehabilitation of persons with disabilities has been created in the district. Authentication and UDID registration of 12 thousand 861 Divyangjans have been done in the district and artificial limbs and assistive devices have been provided to 8545 Divyangjans.

Approval for 7 Khelo India Center

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Recently, on the proposal of the Sports and Youth Welfare Department of Chhattisgarh, the Sports Authority of India has approved the establishment of seven Khelo India Centers under Khelo India Scheme in Chhattisgarh. These seven centers will be opened for one game each in different districts.

key points

• Two centers each for Archery and Hockey, one each for Volleyball, Malkhamb and Football have been approved by the Sports Authority of India.
• The Sports Authority of India has given approval to start Archery Center at Shivtarai (Bilaspur) and Bijapur, Hockey Center at Rajnandgaon and Jashpur, Volleyball Center at Gariaband, Malkhamb Center in Narayanpur and Khelo India Center for football games at Surguja.
• In these centers, the players of Chhattisgarh of the respective sports will be selected and trained by national and international level coaches. The Sports Authority of India will also provide financial assistance for the establishment of these centers.
• Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel said that sports training would be strengthened in the state and the players of the state would now get a better opportunity to hone their sports talent.
• He said that this has proved to be another meaningful step in realizing the vision of 'Khelbo Jeetbo Garbo Nava Chhattisgarh'.
• Local senior players of each sport will be attached to the center, they will also be given honorarium for working as coaches. Equal representation of boys and girls players will also be ensured in all Khelo India Centers. These centers will be registered in the portal of Sports Authority of India.

Statue from the Indus Valley Civilization period

why in the news

Recently, on the initiative of Doon Library and Research Center of Uttarakhand, researchers of archeology and history have discovered a stone-made Mahish (Buffalo) face quadrangular human statue from Deval village located in Yamuna valley in Uttarkashi district.

key points

• On March 4, 2022, researcher and historian of Doon Library and Research Center Prof. Maheshwar Prasad Joshi gave this information to the journalists.
• Researchers are looking at connecting this statue with the statue of 'Adi Shiva' obtained from the Indus Valley Civilization. He says the statue underlines the traditional relationship between the Indus Valley Civilization and Uttarakhand.
• This rare statue has been published in the latest issue of the prestigious research journal 'East and West' published from Rome, which shows its archaeological importance.
• Pro. Maheshwar Prasad Joshi said that in the Yamuna Valley of Uttarakhand, the remains related to the Indus Valley Civilization have already been found. Here the inscriptions of Ashoka at Kalsi, the altars of Ashwamedha Yagya made of bricks at Jagatgram and Purola and the Devalaya group of Lakhamandal are famous.
• He said that on the initiative of Doon Library and Research Center, researchers associated with archeology have recently discovered many other important remains of archaeological importance from this area.