• 08 Jan 2024

Haryana to Waive Outstanding Water Charges

Why in News?

Recently, a Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Manohar Lal has decided to waive outstanding water charges, including surcharge and interest, amounting to ₹372.13 crore for rural households in the State.

Key Points

• According to the sources, 28.87 lakh water connection holders will be benefited from this waiver. This does not extend to institutional, commercial, or industrial consumers falling under the Public Health Engineering department.
• The Cabinet has approved the waiver of water charges amounting to ₹336.35 crore, accumulated from April 1, 2015, to December 31, 2022, for all types of consumers in villages and rural areas.
  • This includes the general category as well as Scheduled Caste categories.
• The policy on the development of ecotourism has also been approved. The policy emphasises the conservation of Haryana’s diverse landscapes
  • These include two national parks, seven wildlife sanctuaries, two Ramsar sites, two conservation reserves, and five community reserves.
  • It also includes many niche faunal habitat ecosystems, including the old Aravalli hill range, Shivalik hills, rich biodiversity, dense forests, host of water bodies and scenic places.

IG Drones to Survey PRT Corridor

Why in News?

According to the reports, IG Drones, a drone tech and analytics company is going to survey the Uttarakhand Metro Rail Project. It is the inaugural Personalized Rapid Transit Corridor (PRT) corridor under the Neo Metro System.

• An initiative by the Government of Uttarakhand, the PRT Corridor project is anticipated to be completed by 2024 and seeks to offer world-class and state-of-the-art commuting.

Key Points

• The Neo Metro Project plans to build state-of-the-art rapid transit systems in Dehradun, Haridwar, and Rishikesh in the next four years to ease traffic congestion.
• The PRT is being developed under the Mass Rapid Transit System (MRTS) that will link three cities– Haridwar, Rishikesh, and Dehradun.
• IG Drones will help prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) by surveying the project through high-tech drones.
  • The company will employ domestically developed drones to conduct regular overview of the ongoing work progress on the ground.
  • The drones are equipped with advanced sensors capable of capturing high-resolution images, videos, and additional data from the ground.
  • This collected data is then processed through IG One, their proprietary software, which offers in-depth technical insights and analytics.
• These analytics enable real-time tracking of the project's progress.
• IG Drones is the leading drone tech and analytics company that has launched India's first 5G Drone- Skyhawk.
• Drones are increasingly prevalent in infrastructure projects, valued for their efficiency, precision, and cost-effectiveness.
  • Their applications extend to surveying construction progress, assessing work quality, and identifying potential issues during the construction phase.

Penalties For Parents Allowing Minors To Drive

Why in News?

To curb accidents caused by minors the Uttar Pradesh government is enforcing a three-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs 25,000 on parents or vehicle owners who permit underage driving.

Key Points

• An awareness campaign has been initiated in government secondary schools in collaboration with the Transport Department, emphasizing road safety through various mediums.
• Under Section 199 (A) of the Motor Vehicles Amendment Act 2019, outlined that in motor vehicle-related offenses committed by juveniles, only their guardian or the vehicle owner would be held accountable.
  • The prescribed punishment includes a three-year imprisonment and a Rs 25,000 fine.
• Experts from King George's Medical University and the Lohia Institute in Lucknow revealed that 40% of road accident fatalities involve minors.
• The officials urged strict adherence to the law prohibiting driving by children below 18 and advocated for awareness campaigns in all educational institutions.

Motor Vehicles Amendment Act, 2019

• The Act hikes the penalties for traffic violations, defective vehicles, juvenile driving, etc.
• It provides for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, which would provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.
• It also provides for a National Road Safety Board, to be created by the Central Government.

Uttar Pradesh’s Semiconductor Policy

Why in News?

Recently, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath ordered officials to prepare the state's semiconductor policy.

• The decision came after taking cognizance of the significant role that semiconductors are playing in today's rapidly evolving technology-driven global economy.

Key Points

• According to estimates, the global semiconductor ecosystem is expected to have generated revenues exceeding USD 950 billion in the fiscal year 2022.
  • The semiconductor chip sector has announced an investment of more than USD 500 billion for the last two years.
• The Centre is giving incentives for semiconductor manufacturing services like semiconductor fabs, display fabs, and compound semiconductors.
  • In 2021, India announced its roughly USD 10 billion-dollar Production-Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme to encourage semiconductor and display manufacturing in the country.
  • For the semiconductor and display ecosystem, having fabrication units, mixed semiconductors, outsourced semiconductors, assembly and test units, testing, and packaging units creates a better ecosystem.
• There should be a provision for the disbursement of financial and non-financial incentives under Uttar Pradesh's policy for attracting global semiconductor investors.

Semiconductors

• Semiconductors are a class of crystalline solids intermediate in electrical conductivity between a conductor and an insulator.
• They are employed in the manufacture of various kinds of electronic devices, including diodes, transistors, and integrated circuits.
  • Such devices have found wide application because of their compactness, reliability, power efficiency, and low cost.

Modern Update of Traditional Tankas

Why in News?

To battle water scarcity in the arid region, the Centre has adopted western Rajasthan's traditional rainwater harvesting system 'tankas' by constructing a large number of such storage tanks with reinforced concrete cement.

• Traditional 'tankas' are earthen rainwater storage tanks constructed by the people of Barmer district and other parts of western Rajasthan to collect water received during showers between July and September.

Key Points

• The water stored in the traditional 'tankas' gradually becomes contaminated due to its earthen structure and does not last for the entire year.
• The Centre has adopted the method under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act MGNREGA (Rural) scheme by constructing water storage spaces made of reinforced concrete cement to provide uncontaminated water to the people for a longer period of time.
  • A total of 1,84,766 such tanks have been constructed since 2016, with 41,580 built in the current 2023-24 fiscal.
  • Each tank, measuring 13.5 ft by 13.5 ft, has the capacity to store 35,000 liters of water and is constructed at a cost of ₹3 lakh.
  • The district has 2,971 villages, locally called 'dhannis', and respective gram panchayats are the implementing agencies.
• Other measures are also being adopted to ensure water supply to far-flung villages in the district such as the supply of water from the Indira Gandhi Canal and the Narmada Project along with the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM) scheme.
• The target is to reach out to 4.25 lakh households under the JJM scheme. Of these,1.25 lakh households are already covered.

The Indira Gandhi Canal

• It is the longest canal in the country.
  • It starts from Harike Barrage, a few kilometers below the confluence of the Satluj and Beas rivers in Punjab, flows through Ludhiana and terminates in the Thar Desert in northwest Rajasthan.
• The canal is a source of drinking and irrigation in the north and western Rajasthan.
  • It provides water to 1.75 crore people living in 7,500 villages across eight districts in the state.
• The water in the Indira Gandhi canal has apparently turned black due to the presence of pollutants in it.
  • The pollution has caused several health complications among people such as skin diseases, gastroenteritis, indigestion and loss of eyesight.