• 18 May 2022

Food Forest Project

Why in News?

• Recently, a spokesperson of the Uttar Pradesh government said that under 'Food Forest', an innovative initiative launched to conserve the environment by increasing greenery, fifteen districts of different agro-climatic zones have been identified where food forests will be developed.

Key Points

• The districts identified for this project are Bijnor, Amroha and Saharanpur of the mango belt, Sambhal, Rampur, and Badaun of the guava belt. Similarly, fruit saplings will also be planted in other districts of Bulandshahr, Meerut, Ghaziabad, Moradabad, Bareilly, Shahjahanpur, Pilibhit, Gorakhpur and Gautam Budh Nagar.
• The selection of plants in the food forest will be done according to the agro-climatic zone. Pulses crops will also be planted for nitrogen fixation in a natural way.
• The primary objective of the government through the Food Court is to increase the income of the farmers. This is possible only through agricultural diversification rather than traditional cultivation of paddy and wheat.
• For example, mango, guava, pomegranate and papaya saplings will be planted in the first phase of the food forest to be developed in Gorakhpur. In the second phase, saplings of Jamun, ‘Ber (jujube) will be planted. In the third phase, pulses like tur, moong, urad, peas and gram will be sown.

All Gram Panchayats of Bihar Will Have Their Own Websites

Why in News?

• Recently, the State Panchayati Raj Department has approached Bihar State Electronics Development Corporation Limited (Beltron), National Informatics Centre (NIC) and other Central Government institutions to develop a comprehensive website for each Gram Panchayat.

Key Points

• Bihar Panchayati Raj Minister Samrat Chaudhary said that the project to develop the website of all the 8387 gram panchayats will start after the department gets the quotations from various government agencies.
• The websites include all demographic details, places of historical importance, important institutions, apart from the details of the elected representatives of the region.
• The websites will be equipped with Management Information System (MIS) and Comprehensive Financial Management System (CFMS) to bring in greater accountability for funds spent on development and other activities in gram panchayats.
• All the elected representatives of gram panchayats and other office bearers will be trained to handle the websites.

District Export Hubs To Be Developed in Every District of Rajasthan

Why in News?

• On May 17, 2022, Rajasthan's Industries Minister Shakuntala Rawat informed that 'District Export Hubs' will be developed to make every district of Rajasthan self-reliant in export promotion.

Key Points

• The objective of the scheme is to provide financial and technical assistance to the district level industries so that the small scale industries can be helped and they can provide employment opportunities to the local people.
• Jaipur and Jodhpur districts have been selected in the first phase. Later, all the districts will be covered in it in a phased manner.
• In this context, a meeting was held at The District Industries Centre, Jaipur (City) and discussed the development of Gems and Jewellery for the city and Blue Pottery for Jaipur Rural.

Odisha wins National Senior Women's Hockey Championship

Why in News?

• Hockey Association Odisha defeated Karnataka 2-0 in the final match of the 12th Hockey India Senior Women's National Championship played at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh.

Key Points

• The 12^th Hockey India Senior Women's National Championship was held from May 6 to 17, 2022 at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium in Bhopal, in which players from around 27 states participated.
• For Odisha, Poonam Barla scored in the 34th minute and Aseem Kanchan Barla scored in the 59th minute.
• For the third place, Jharkhand defeated Haryana by 3-2. Deepti Toppo, Albela Rani Toppo and Beton Dungdung scored for Jharkhand. Amandeep Kaur and Bharti Saroha scored goals for Haryana.

International Tomato Conclave-2022

Why in News?

• On May 17, 2022, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan virtually addressed the International Tomato Conclave-2022 organized by the Department of Horticulture and Food Processing at Hotel Amer Greens in collaboration with Netherlands Embassy.

Key Points

• Speaking at the conclave, the Chief Minister said that along with the schemes run by the Central Government for expansion of horticulture crops, schemes are being implemented for promotion of protected cultivation of fruits, plantation, commercial horticulture crops, promotion of mechanization for development of horticulture, spice sector expansion, development of food processing industries, development of cold storage infrastructure for horticulture and food processing and horticulture crops.
• The Chief Minister said that there are 11 diverse agro-climatic zones in the state. Madhya Pradesh is at the forefront of production of various crops at the national level. The state stood at the first place in the country in terms of orange and coriander seed production. Also, Madhya Pradesh is among the leading states of the country in the production of guava, tomato, onion, cauliflower, green chilli, peas, garlic, lemon etc.
• He said that the International Tomato Conclave-2022 will be instrumental in enhancing tomato crop and its export, storage, processing in the state. The State Government will ensure 100 per cent implementation of the strategy developed by the experts.
• It is worth mentioning that in the 'One District-One Product' scheme of the state, 11 districts have been selected especially for the production of tomatoes. There is immense potential for cultivation and processing and trading of fruits, vegetables, spices, medicinal and aromatic crops along with tomatoes.

IMT Kharkhauda

Why in News?

• On May 17, 2022, Chief Minister of Haryana, Manohar Lal Khattar informed that 'Maruti' is setting up its third plant in Haryana. For this, MSIL has purchased 800 acres of land at IMT Kharkhauda.

Key Points

• It is worth mentioning that 'Maruti' has continuously expanded its manufacturing facilities in Haryana by setting up another manufacturing facility in Manesar and a state-of-the-art R&D centre at Rohtak after setting up its first car plant in Gurgaon (now Gurugram) in 1983.
• IMT Kharkhauda is an integrated industrial township with world-class infrastructure at Sonepat, which is being developed over an area of about 3,217 acres.
• It is strategically located on the Delhi-Haryana border along the Western Peripheral (Kundli-Manesar-Palwal) Expressway and State Highway-18.
• It is one of the industrial model townships developed/being developed by Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation Limited.
• An industrial estate developed above 1500 acres of area at a particular location is defined as an industrial model township (IMT).

Jharkhand State Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2022

Why in News?

• On May 17, 2022, Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais returned the 'Jharkhand State Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2022' passed by the Jharkhand Assembly due to differences in its Hindi and English versions.

Key Points

• This is the fifth bill passed by the state government, which has been returned by the governor to the government due to the difference between the Hindi and English versions of the bills.
• Through this bill, for the first time in the country, the Jharkhand government is going to implement the concept of private market committee campus on the ground.
• In agricultural market committees, a representative nominated or elected by the state government will be made the chairman.
• The Bill provides for charging two percent agricultural market tax from buyers, while the tax on immediately destroyed agricultural produce will be one percent.
• In order to realize the vision of 'One Nation One Market' with the objective of comprehensive reform and transparency in agricultural marketing in the State, the farmers of the State will be connected to electronic trading portals under modern marketing system.
• New markets will be set up with modernization of rural haat-bazaars from the revenue generated from agricultural market tax so that the market is available to the farmers at every 10 km.

The caste notified in 'English' in the caste certificates of the persons belonging to SCs and STs shall be validated

Why in News?

• On May 17, 2022, a letter to this effect has been issued by the State Government to all district collectors regarding the recognition of caste notified in 'English' in the caste certificates of persons belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe category in the state.

Key Points

• It may be recalled that in the meeting of the Council of Ministers held on May 1, 2022 under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, it was decided to validate the caste notified in 'English' and to mention the caste notified in English in the caste certificates.
• The objective is to remove the difficulties being faced by the SC and ST persons in obtaining caste certificates due to quantitative error.
• A letter issued by the General Administration Department to the Collectors states that at present, social status certificates (caste certificates) are issued in the prescribed format under the rules framed under the Chhattisgarh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (Regulation of Certification of Social Status) Act, 2013.
• Caste certificates of certain castes are not being issued due to the accented differences in the Hindi in different communities of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes.
• The letter states that the general administration department's circular dated September 24, 2013 mentions that in a particular situation, an applicant may need a social status certificate issued in English. The competent authorities are, therefore, directed that if the applicant is demanded to issue a Social Status Certificate in accordance with the format prescribed by the Government of India or in English, he/she may be issued a Permanent Social Status Certificate in this format after due scrutiny and procedure.
• In continuation of the direction given in this circular, it has been clarified that a list of caste names of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes notified in English, Hindi, English has been published by the Government of India for the State of Chhattisgarh.
• There is no confusion or dispute in the English pronunciation in this published list, therefore, it has been decided by the State Government to mention the caste notified in 'English' in the caste certificates to be issued to persons belonging to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the State of Chhattisgarh.

Himalayan Bird Survey

Why in News?

• As per the preliminary report of the first Himalayan Bird Survey released by Bird Count India recently, Uttarakhand has the highest number of species of Himalayan birds.

Key Points

• According to this report, 171 species of Himalayan birds have been observed in Uttarakhand.
• This census of Himalayan birds has been done by Bird Count India under the e-bird global platform in various Himalayan states.
• During the census, a number of other birds including monal, the Wall Creeper, Spotted Natcracker and Streak Breasted Shimiter Babbler along with the rare Red Cross Bill have been spotted in Uttarakhand.
• The report contains the following number of bird species in various Himalayan States/UTs/Districts and in them:

Place	Bird Species
Uttarakhand	171
Ladakh	148
Himachal Pradesh	125
Jammu and Kashmir	122
Darjeeling	49
Arunachal Pradesh	47
Sikkim	36
Kalipong (West Bengal)	08