• 07 Mar 2022

Speedy Trial: Right of Every Accused

Why in News

• Recently, the Supreme Court has issued a notice to Uttar Pradesh on the petition of 12 life prisoners lodged in Agra Central Jail for 14 years. In such a situation, the issue of the right of speedy hearing and judicial delay has come up again in the discussion.

Key Points

• Supreme Court Justices Indira Banerjee and J.K. Maheshwari's bench has issued this notice.
• It is noteworthy that 12 life prisoners, who have been sentenced to more than 14 years lodged in Agra Central Jail of Uttar Pradesh, had approached the Supreme Court for release and bail. The appeals of these prisoners have been pending in the High Court for years.
• This is not the first case of life-imprisonment convicts in Uttar Pradesh having served more than 14 years of imprisonment and the appeal has not been heard.
• On February 25 also, a bench headed by Chief Justice NV Ramana granted bail to the accused Ritu Pal, taking cognizance of the fact that he had served more than 14 years in a similar case and the bail application and appeal was pending in the High Court for 10 years.

Bihar will get 559 MW power from Navinagar

Why in News

• On March 6, 2022, the 3rd unit of 660 MW of Navinagar Power Station at Aurangabad completed a continuous 72-hour trial run. Now Bihar will get 559 MW power from this third unit.

Key Points

• The power plant will get approval for commercial production from this month. Now all the three units of Navinagar have become operational, due to which Bihar will get 1680 MW of electricity from here instead of 1122 MW.
• Any unit has to run continuously for 72 hours at full load before commercial production from a power plant. The Navinagar unit has been successfully commissioned following the norms of Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC).
• This coal based project of total 1980 MW with three units of 660 MW each based on supercritical technology at a cost of Rs 19,412 crore is located in Barun block of Aurangabad district of Bihar.
• The Ministry of Power has allocated 84.8 percent of the power for this project to Bihar. The rest of the power has been allocated to Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Sikkim.
• The first unit of Navinagar became commercially operational on 6th September, 2019 and the second unit on 23rd July, 2021.
• At present NTPC has achieved 8410 MW of installed power generation capacity by 6 plants in Bihar with a total investment of Rs 76,246 crores while 1320 MW of Barh Thermal Project is under construction.
• Bihar has a power allocation of 5362 MW, which will increase to 5921 MW after 559 MW from the third unit of Navinagar.

Launch of MPT Southern Spices

Why in News

• On March 6, 2022, Usha Thakur, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Religious Trust and Endowment of Madhya Pradesh launched 'MPT Southern Spices' at Hotel Palash Residency.

Key Points

• On this occasion, Minister Usha Thakur said that this innovation of Tourism Corporation will give authentic taste of South Indian cuisine to the tourists and general public visiting Bhimbetka, Sanchi and Bhopal, as well as increase the business of the corporation.
• On the success of the cafeteria, it will be extended to other hotels of the corporation as well.
• The cafeteria has been specially refurbished for South Indian cuisine with a South India theme.
• All state-of-the-art and useful kitchen equipment has also been installed in the cafeteria to specially prepare the South Indian cuisine. The MPT Southern Spices has a capacity of 40 persons, built on an area of about 1200 square feet. The capacity can be increased as the number of guests increases.
• The main attraction of 'MPT Southern Spices' is the South Indian thali, which is available in both veg and non-veg menu. Along with this, the visiting tourists and general public will also get the delicious taste of Appam, Poote, Idiyappam, Kerala Paratha, Paruppu Vada, Podi Idli, Vadai, Banana Bajji, Mirchi Bajji and Payasam Kheer from South India.

Budhni: Country's First Water Plus and Wonderful City

Why in News

• On 6th March, 2022, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan while inaugurating various development works and performing Bhoomi-Poojan on the occasion of Pride Day of Budhni town of Sehore district said that Budhni would be made the country's first water plus and wonderful city.

Key Points

• Indore has become the first water plus metropolis of the country. Budhni will also be made the first water plus city in the category of small cities of the country. Apart from making the city of Budhni clean and beautiful, excellent work will also be done here in the field of health, environment, education and employment.
• Earlier in Budhni, the sewerage system built at a cost of Rs 44 crore 56 lakh and construction and development works worth Rs 59 crore was inaugurated and Bhumi-Poojan was done.
• Bhoomi-pujan of private sector 'Vihaan Food Industry' was done in Jarrapur of Budhni. This agro-based industry will give better prices to the farmers of the region and increase employment opportunities. 900 people will get employment from the food industry.
• The Chief Minister honored citizens, businessmen and representatives of social organizations who became partners in the development of the city, as well as distributed benefits in various schemes of the government.
• The Chief Minister also announced to organize a 3-day program on Budhni's Pride Day from next year, to give national recognition to Budhni's toy business and to open CM Rise School at Budhni.
• He said that in a month the water of all the houses would be connected to the sewerage plant. The Chief Minister appealed to the citizens to take a pledge to give up open defecation, throwing garbage on the road and use of polythene etc.

'Milawat Se Mukti Abhiyan'

Why in News

• On March 6, 2022, on the birthday of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, MP State Cooperative Dairy Federation Limited launched the facility of milk testing at 1600 Sanchi milk parlors in the 'Milawat Se Mukti Abhiyan'.

Key Points

• Testing kits have been made available at all Sanchi parlors to check adulteration in milk. Strips to test for Urea, Detergent/Soap, Maltose, Glucose, Sucrose have been provided in the testing kit, so that consumers can get information about adulteration in milk immediately.
• It is noteworthy that Chief Minister Shivraj Singh and Health Minister Dr. Prabhuram Choudhary had started the ‘Milawat Se Mukti Abhiyan’ (Freedom from Adulteration Campaign) in the state on November 11, 2020 from the capital Bhopal.
• Presently 15 mobile laboratories are being run under this campaign. On February 8, 2022, State Health Minister Dr. Prabhuram Chaudhary had given the gift of three new mobile laboratories for Chhindwara, Neemuch and Bhind.
• In these mobile laboratories, citizens can easily get food items tested for a fee of Rs.10.

Portal for People Seeking Financial Assistance on Medical Grounds

Why in News

• On March 5, 2022, Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar launched Saral Portal for the convenience of those receiving financial assistance on medical grounds under the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.

Key Points

• Now applicants for financial assistance can get the benefit of this facility through Saral Portal. Applicants can apply through their PPP ID on Saral Portal.
• The amount of financial assistance received from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund will be directly transferred to the bank account of the applicant or the beneficiary, along with it has been decided to include 22 more serious diseases in the Chief Minister's Relief Fund.
• Applicants can apply for financial assistance on medical basis from the Chief Minister's Relief Fund by uploading other related documents like their medical bills, OPD bills etc.
• As soon as the applicant will put his application on the portal for financial assistance, the application will be login to the concerned area MP, MLA, President Zilla Parishad, President Block Committee, Mayor/MC President and these public representatives will send their recommendation to the Deputy Commissioner within five days.
• The Deputy Commissioner will send the land details to the concerned Tehsildar and the Civil Surgeon for verification of medical documents.
• There will be a meeting of the district level committee every fortnight in which the report will be sent to the Chief Minister's Office after reviewing the cases of providing financial assistance on medical grounds.

Chief Minister Made a Big Announcement in the Interest of Farmers

Why in News

• On March 6, 2022, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel made a big announcement in the interest of the farmers of the state during the money transfer program of Godhan Nyay Yojana, saying that like advance lifting of farmers' fertilizers and seeds, vermicompost and super compost from societies and Gauthans compost can also be lifted in advance.

Key Points

• On this occasion, the Chief Minister made an online transfer of a total amount of Rs. 5 crore 38 lakhs to Gauthan Samitis and women self-help groups, including cattle rearing villagers selling cow dung in Gauthans under Godhan Nyay Yojana.
• Along with this, he also directed to provide endowment funds to Gauthan committees and women self-help groups for better conduct of their activities.
• The Chief Minister said that more than 2 lakh 8 thousand people are benefiting from the Godhan Nyay Yojana. Of these, 45 percent are women. So far, approval has been given for the construction of 10 thousand 591 Gauthans in the state. Out of these, 8 thousand 48 Gauthans have been built.
• 2800 Gauthans of the state have become self-supporting, which is more than one-third of the number of Gauthans built and operated in the state. These self-supporting Gauthans are now investing their own capital in purchasing cow dung from the cattle rearing villagers.
• So far, a total of Rs 131 crore 93 lakh has been paid to the villagers and cattle rearers in lieu of purchase of cow dung under Godhan Nyay Yojana. In lieu of purchase of cow dung, a dividend of Rs 48.05 crore has been paid to Gauthan committees and Rs 31.34 crore to women self-help groups.
• On this occasion, Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Ravindra Choubey said that Chhattisgarh's Gauthan and Godhan Nyay Yojana are being discussed all over the country. Different states of the country are implementing this scheme in their own right.
• Jharkhand has decided to implement Godhan Nyay Yojana in its state as it is, and has included it in its budget. At the same time, in Uttar Pradesh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to start the scheme of buying cow dung from the people there. Even before this, the Standing Committee on Agriculture Affairs in Parliament has demanded the implementation of the Godhan Nyay scheme in the entire country.
• On March 4, 2022, NITI Aayog, a think-tank of the Government of India, tweeted to the entire country, how the women of Bastar and Dantewada could make themselves financially viable by preparing food items like Mahua-Laddus, Chai, Jam, Jellies and Cookies. are strengthening.

National Supercross Competition 2022 and Freestyle Motocross Competition

Why in News

• From March 5 to 6, 2022, a two-day national supercross competition, 2022 and freestyle motocross competition were organized at the outdoor stadium in Raipur, the capital of Chhattisgarh.

Key Points

• This competition was organized under the joint aegis of Sports and Youth Welfare Department and Chhattisgarh Motor Sports Association.
• Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel also participated in this competition and entered the stadium himself riding a bike and reached the stage and encouraged all the bikers and sports-loving spectators.
• Bike riders of national and international level participated in this competition. In this competition, the race was organized in a total of 8 categories. In the midst of these racing competitions, freestyle motocross was demonstrated by foreign bikers.
• A special category has also been kept for the participants of Chhattisgarh in various races of this competition, in which only the bikers of Chhattisgarh got the opportunity.
• It is noteworthy that the National Supercross Competition, 2022 and Freestyle Motocross were organized in Raipur, which is the first time in the country that an outdoor stadium has been organized under floodlights.
• The basic objective of the competition is to prevent the youth from road-rage and stunts on common roads etc.
• It has been the aim of the Chhattisgarh Motor Sports Association to establish this special sport full of thrill, speed and adventure, which is very popular at the international level, in Chhattisgarh as well.

Ghasyari Utsav

Why in News

• On March 6, 2022, 'Ghasyari Utsav' was organized in Matholi, a small village located in the Gangotri valley of Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand.

Key Points

• The program was organized by Bakri Chhap fame Pradeep Panwar. The purpose of organizing this festival was to promote rural tourism and preserve the tradition.
• A total of 50 women participated in the programme. The organizers had formed five women's teams and the winners of the competition will be felicitated on International Women's Day on March 8.
• The women also performed the traditional 'Tandi dance' on the occasion.
• In the local language, the word 'Ghasyari' is used for women who bring fodder for cattle from pastures and forests.

30% Increase In Voters In Uttarakhand In The Last 10 Years

Why in News

• According to the report 'Decade Electoral Growth and Demographic Challenge, 2012-22' on Assembly Elections recently released by the Social Development for Communities (SDC) Foundation, the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand registered a 30 percent increase in the number of voters in the last ten years.

Key Points

• Communities for Social Development (SDC) Foundation has prepared this report by doing a comparative analysis of five states – Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Goa – from 2012 to 2022 elections.
• According to the report, a 30 percent increase was registered in Uttarakhand, 21 percent in Punjab, 18-19 percent in Uttar Pradesh, 14 percent in Manipur and 13 percent in Goa.
• In the year 2012, there were 63,77,330 voters in Uttarakhand, which has increased to 82,66,644 in the 2022 assembly elections.
• Anoop Nautiyal, founder of SDC Foundation, said that the number of voters in urban areas has increased very rapidly.