• 10 Sep 2021

Solar Power Plants in All ITIs

Why in News

• Recently, the State Government has decided to set up solar power plants in the State Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs).

Key Points

• Solar power plants with a capacity of 40 kW each will be set up in 66 ITIs of the state.
• In the first phase, solar power plants will be set up in ITIs that are in rural areas, where uninterrupted power supply will facilitate the students in their practical work.
• This will not only save electricity but also ensure uninterrupted power supply.
• ITIs located in rural areas will benefit the most from this scheme.
• At present there are 300 ITIs run by the state. The number of seats in these ITIs is more than 1.19 lakh. Recently 44 new state ITIs have been started, resulting in an increase of more than 58,000 seats.

Potash and Chromium-Nickel Mining

Why in News

• Recently, the Government of India has given approval to the Bihar Government for mining of Potash in Aurangabad and Gaya districts of Bihar and Chromium and Nickel in Rohtas district.

Key Points

• Bihar has been allotted four blocks for mining in a high-level meeting on mineral exploration in New Delhi.
• Out of these four blocks, Aurangabad and Gaya districts have been allotted one Potash block (One block to each) and Rohtas district has been allotted one Chromium and one Nickel mining block.
• Four blocks of these three minerals will be auctioned. This will strengthen the economy along with employment generation in Bihar and thus, Bihar will come under the category of states having mineral reserves.
• Mining of Potash will boost the fertilizer industries of Bihar. Similarly, a series of products to be prepared for chromium and nickel based steel industries will be developed.
• It is noteworthy that recently the Government of India confirmed that Potash in Aurangabad and Gaya while Chromium and Nickel deposits in Rohtash are available in large quantities.

District Level Honor to Land Record Inspectors and Patwaris

Why in News

• On September 9, 2021, the Revenue Board, taking another innovative initiative, decided to honor one Land Record Inspector and Patwari from each tehsil for their significant contribution in the discharge of state obligations during the year 2020-21.

Key Points

• Chairman of Revenue Board, Rajeshwar Singh said that during the period under review, instructions have been given to all District Collectors to select one best land records inspector and one best patwari from every tehsil area of the state for the best work.
• Under this process, district level selection committees have been constituted in each district. In the committee, the Additional District Collector (Administration) has been nominated as the Convenor and the Sub-Divisional Officer (Headquarters) and Tehsildar (Headquarters) have been nominated as members.
• Such personnel who have not been punished in the previous years and no departmental inquiry is pending against them, will be selected for the honor on the basis of their quality and excellence in performance.
• The Chairman of the Board of Revenue said that the personnel who get the highest marks in the table of 100 marks based on flagship schemes, departmental recovery, aid cases, participation in various activities and contribution to various programs of the government will be considered worthy of respect.
• After completing this process by September 15, citations will be distributed to the selected personnel by organizing district level programs before September 30.

'New Road to All-round Development – Two Years of Commitment'

Why in News

• On the completion of 2 years of the tenure of Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra, the book 'New Path of All-round Development - Two Years of Commitment' was launched at the Raj Bhavan.

Key Points

• The book released by Governor Kalraj Mishra, has a pictorial description of the new traditions started by the Governor for the development of Raj Bhavan and in Rajasthan.
• In this book, the historical introduction of the tradition of reading the preamble and duties of the constitution in the address of the assembly for the awareness of the constitution, the efforts made to improve the quality of higher education during the two years, the initiatives taken to implement the new education policy, etc. has been given in detail.
• In this book, tribal and tribal welfare, works done for their development by adopting villages, new traditions of development established by Raj Bhavan, continuous development works even in Corona crisis, soldier welfare, social welfare through scout guide, scope of Governor's Relief Fund Detailed information has been given on the work done through it and the social concerns of Raj Bhavan.
• It is noteworthy that Kalraj Mishra took over as the Governor of Rajasthan on September 9, 2019.

Madhya Pradesh: Cyber Security in the Power Sector

Why in News

• On September 9, 2021, Madhya Pradesh became the first state in the country to implement the Cyber Crisis Management Plan in the State Load Despatch Center Jabalpur Power Sector.

Key Points

• Sunil Tiwari, Managing Director, Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company informed that on the instructions of the Central Government, the engineers of State Load Despatch Center of Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company have prepared an in-house cyber crisis management plan without taking the help of expert consultants.
• The scheme has been approved by the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT India) and implemented by the Government of India.
• It is an effective system of international level to prevent cyber attacks in power sectors. It deals with cyber security of all computer systems installed in the Load Despatch Centre.
• It is noteworthy that Madhya Pradesh is the first state in the country whose load dispatch center has been certified by ISO 27001. This certificate is given for compliance with cyber security.
• After implementing this system, the entire system of Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company will be safe from external cyber attacks and no one will be able to tamper with the power system of the state through hacking or viruses.
• It is worth noting that last year Mumbai's electricity system was a victim of this cyber attack, due to which there was power disruption in Mumbai for hours. It was only after this incident that instructions were given by the central government to prepare such cyber security to the power sectors of the entire country.
• This system was prepared by the efforts of Chief Engineer KK Prabhakar and Superintending Engineer Rajesh Gupta of State Load Despatch Center, Jabalpur.
• Earlier, the Load Despatch Center of Madhya Pradesh Power Transmission Company, Jabalpur has also got the status of the first power utility in the country to implement ABT metering system (Availability Based Tariff System) and SCADA system.

Sugarcane Prices in Haryana Highest in the Country

Why in News

• Recently Haryana Agriculture and Farmers Welfare Minister JP Dalal has decided to increase the sugarcane price by Rs 12. Now it will be Rs 362 per quintal.

Key Points

• With this, Haryana has become the highest paying state for sugarcane in the country.
• JP Dalal said that now a price of Rs 362 per quintal will be given for early variety of sugarcane and Rs 355 per quintal for late variety, which was earlier Rs 340 per quintal.
• It is noteworthy that the recovery of all private and cooperative sugar mills of last year has decreased by 0.34% due to poor quality of sugarcane. The recovery that has come this time has come down from 10.58 to 10.24.
• Agricultural scientists have developed a new variety named 15023 of sugarcane, whose recovery is expected to be up to 14%.

IIT Dhanbad: 11th in the Country Among Engineering Institutes

Why in News

• IIT, Dhanbad has been ranked 11^th in the National Institute Ranking Framework (NIRF)-2021 released by the Union Ministry of Education.

Key Points

• Along with this, BIT Mesra has been ranked 46^th and NIT Jamshedpur has been ranked 86^th in the engineering institutes category.
• The ranking of ISM has further improved. The institute, which was ranked 12^th last year among the top 100 engineering colleges in the country, has moved up to 11^th this time. At the same time, the trend of decline in the ranking of BIT Mesra continues. This time it has been ranked 46^th in the engineering colleges category. Last year it was ranked 38th in the country.
• The ranking of NIT, Jamshdepur has also declined. It has slipped from 79^th to 86^th position.
• In the National Institute Ranking Framework, this time also a single college from Jharkhand has not made it to the top 100 colleges of the country.
• In the category of Medical Colleges, Dental Colleges, Law Colleges and Research, a single institute of Jharkhand has not been able to make its place.
• In the universities category, only BIT Mesra from Jharkhand has been placed in top 100 universities across the country, although its ranking has also dropped from 66^th to 86^th.
• In the management institutes category four of the top 100 institutes are from Jharkhand. However, except for Jamshedpur's XLRI, three institutions have seen a drop in their rankings. XLRI ranks 8th, IIM Ranchi 21^st, ISM Dhanbad 30^th and BIT ranks 70^th across the country.
• There has been a decline in the ranking of IIM, Ranchi. Similarly, overall IIT, Dhanbad is ranked 26^th. BIT Mesra has not got a place this time. Last year it was ranked 85^th. BIT is ranked 14^th in the Top 50 in the category of Architecture Institutions.
• It is noteworthy that this is the sixth edition of the National Institutional Ranking Framework launched by the Union Ministry of Education in November 2015.

Himalaya Day

Why in News

• On the occasion of Himalaya Day (September 9, 2021) a webinar was organized in Uttarakhand.

Key Points

• In this webinar, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami announced an incentive amount for the purchase of private electric two wheelers and four wheelers to reduce vehicular air pollution in Uttarakhand, which will be provided by the Pollution Control Board.
• Under this an incentive of 10 percent of the value of the vehicle or Rs 7500 (whichever is less) will be payable for the first 5000 two wheelers that are being used personally while an incentive of 5 percent of the vehicle value or Rs 50000 (whichever is less) will be payable for 1,000 four wheelers.
• The incentive amount will be made available directly to the bank and financial institutions or dealer through DBT in the form of back-ended subsidy.
• Similarly, for the charging station to be set up for the charging of electric vehicles, all persons/institutions will be allowed, having sufficient space with the permission of the local municipal body.
• On this occasion, the Chief Minister announced to start the 'Sunderlal Bahuguna Nature Conservation Award' in the memory of late Sunderlal Bahuguna, a renowned environmentalist.
• The book 'Himalaya Divas' by Himalaya United Mission (WE) was also released in the webinar.