• 19 Apr 2023

PM Mitra Mega Textiles Park inaugurated in Lucknow and Hardoi districts

Why in News?

On 18 April 2023, Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles Piyush Goyal inaugurated PM Mitra Park in Lucknow and Hardoi of the state in the presence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Key Points

• The MoU was signed in Lucknow in the presence of Union Minister of Commerce, Industry and Textiles Piyush Goyal for setting up of Textile Parks in Lucknow and Hardoi under 'PM MITRA Yojana'.
• PM Mitra Park Lucknow will be developed in public private partnership mode through a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV), which will be owned by the central and state government. The Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) / Master Developer will not only develop the Industrial Park but will also maintain it during the concession period.
• PM Mitra Park Lucknow will have a total area of 1,000 acres, with an investment of Rs 10,000 crore and is expected to provide direct employment to one lakh people & indirect employment to two lakh people.
• PM Mitra Park is being developed at Attari village in Maliha bad block of Lucknow district, which is very well connected to major cities of the country by road, rail and air connectivity. The nearest dedicated freight corridor and inland container depot to the park is Kanpur, which is at a distance of 95 kilometers (about 59.03 mi) from the park.
• PM Mitra Park Lucknow will have an incubation center, common processing house, a common effluent treatment plant, design center, testing center and other textile related facilities.
• Under this scheme, the central government will provide an assistance of Rs 500 crore to PM Mitra Park Lucknow for the development of general infrastructure.
• PM Mitra Park will strengthen the value chain of the Lucknow textile sector to make it globally competitive.
• It is known that a successful Global Investors Summit was organized in Uttar Pradesh in February 2023, in which investment proposals of more than Rs 33 lakh 50 thousand crores were received. Out of this, an investment proposal of more than Rs 56,000 crore is for the textile sector.
• The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India will provide incentives to the manufacturing units to be set up in PM Mitra Park Lucknow on a ‘First Come First Serve’ basis.
• The Ministry of Textiles, Government of India, has made a provision of Rs 300 crore to encourage the manufacturing units to be set up in PM Mitra Park, Lucknow.
• This incentive amount will be three percent of the total annual turnover of the unit, the limit of which per company will be as follows-
  • Investment of Rs 300 crore or more- 10 crore per annum on the total incentive for an Anchor Investing Company subject to a maximum limit of Rs.30 crore.
  • Investment of Rs 100-300 crores- A cap of Rs.5 crore per annum on the total incentive for an investee company subject to a maximum limit of Rs.15 crore.
  • Other investment companies and contractors- 1 crore per annum and a maximum limit of Rs 3 crore on the total incentive but they should have employment of 100 or more people.
• According to Uttar Pradesh Textile and Garmenting Policy 2022, additional incentive amount for manufacturing units established in PM Mitra Park Lucknow.
  • Power tariff subsidy of Rs 2 per unit (up to Rs 60 lakh per annum) for five years for units established in PM Mitra Park and employing a minimum of 50 persons.
  • 100% stamp duty exemption for manufacturing units set up in PM Mitra Park, Lucknow.
  • Open permission to access power to the master developer.

Bihar's 2nd AIIMS to be built in Darbhanga, Cabinet’s administrative approval of more than 3 billion

Why in News?

In the Bihar cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on 18 April 2023, administrative approval was approved for more than three billion for Darbhanga AIIMS.

Key Points

• Giving information in this regard, Water Resources Minister Sanjay Jha said that the Bihar government will spend more than Rs 309 crore on the leveling and development of the land allotted for Darbhanga AIIMS.
• The state cabinet has approved the said amount for leveling a total of 189.17 acres of land in Mouja Ballia near Shobhan-Ekmi bypass under Bahadurpur circle for the purpose of establishment of Darbhanga AIIMS.
• It is known that this AIIMS to be built in Darbhanga will be the second AIIMS of Bihar, the first AIIMS is in Patna.
• It is worth mentioning that in the meeting of the state cabinet chaired by the Chief Minister in the first week of March 2023, approval was given to allot land near Shobhan-Ekmi bypass for Darbhanga AIIMS.
• Apart from this, the state cabinet has decided to open a DNA Research Center under Muzaffarpur and Bhagalpur Regional Forensic Science Laboratory.

Bus driver of Rajasthan Transport Corporation honored with 'Heroes on the Road' award at National Level

Why in News?

On 18 April 2023, Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation bus driver Siyaram Chowdhary was honored with the 'Heroes on the Road' award at a national level felicitation ceremony at the Constitution Club in New Delhi.

Key Points

• It is notable that the 'Heroes on the Road' felicitation ceremony was organized by the State Road Transport Undertaking Association to honor accident-free drivers at the national level.
• For this honor, 42 drivers were selected from all over the country who did not commit any kind of negligence or accident during their service and have continuously taken the bus passengers to their destination safely.
• It is known that Siyaram Chaudhary, bus driver of Rajasthan State Road Transport Corporation has been providing bus driver services in RSRTC for the last 34 years. He has provided completely accident-free services during his service.
• Pawan Katara, Chief Manager of Rajasthan Roadways in New Delhi said that Rajasthan Road Transport Corporation follows the safety standards very well and Rajasthan Roadways has always been leading for road safety, so this year Siyaram Chaudhary, bus driver of Rajasthan Transport Corporation, has been honored with the Heroes on the Road Award at the national level.

Speaker constituted 19 Committees

Why in News?

On 18 April 2023, Rajasthan Legislative Assembly Speaker Dr. C.P. Joshi constituted 19 committees under the Rules of Procedure and Conduct of Business of the Rajasthan Legislative Assembly.

Key Points

• Principal Secretary of Vidhan Sabha Mahavir Prasad Sharma told that Rajendra Rathore, Estimates Committee (A), Rajendra Pareek, Estimates Committee (B), Dayaram Parmar and Govind Singh Dotasara have been appointed as the chairman of the State Undertaking Committee 2023-24.
• The term of these committees will be till 31 March 2024 or till the end of the term of the 15th Legislative Assembly.
• Members of Public Accounts Committee - Rajendra Rathore (Chairman), Parasram Mordia, Mevaram Jain, Gurmeet Singh Kunnar, Gopal Lal Meena, Rohit Bauhra, Ms. Divya Maderna, Jagdish Chandra, Kalicharan Saraf, Vasudev Devnani, Madan Dilawar, Gyanchand Parakh, Sanyam Lodha, Mahadev Singh.
• Rajendra Pareek (Chairman), Bharosi Lal, Harish Chandra Meena, Panachand Meghwal, Johari Lal Meena, Sudarshan Singh Rawat, Bidhuri Rajendra Singh, Jogeshwar Garg, Mrs. Chandrakanta Meghwal, Abhinesh Mehrishi, Chandrabhan Singh Akya, Surendra Singh Rathore, Rajkumar Gaur, Ramkesh as members in Estimates Committee 'A'.
• The members of Estimate Committee 'B' include Dayaram Parmar (Chairman), Babulal (Kathumar), Padmaram, Smt. Safia Zuber, Daghnish Abrar, Lakhan Singh, Pratap Singh, Narpat Singh Rajvi, Pushpendra Singh, Satish Poonia, Baljit Yadav.
• The members of the State Undertaking Committee include Govind Singh Dotasara (Chairman), Madan Prajapat, Smt. Nirmala Sahariya, Ruparam (Jaisalmer), Virender Singh, Ramlal Sharma, Nirmal Kumawat, Vital Shankar Awasthi, Rampratap Kasaniya, Kanti Prasad, Laxman Meena are included.
• Rules Committee: - President Dr. C.P. Joshi (Ex-officio Chairman), Smt. Vasundhara Raje, Kailash Chandra Meghwal, Parasram Mordia, Bharat Singh Kundanpur, Rakesh Pareek, Aminuddin Kagzi, Dharmanarayan Joshi, Sanyam Lodha.
• Ethics Committee: - Dipendra Singh (Chairman), Smt. Vasundhara Raje, Sachin Pilot, Mrs. Suryakanta Vyas, Sandeep Sharma, Pabbaram, Raghu Sharma, Harish Chowdhary.
• Committee on Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions: - Dr. Rajkumar Sharma (Chairman), Amit Chachan, Ramlal Meena, Prithviraj, Harendra Ninama, Subhash Poonia, Biharilal, Balwan Poonia, Suresh Tak, Rajkumar Rot, Rafiq Khan, Narayan Singh Deval, Manjit Dharmapal Chowdhary, Anil Kumar Sharma.
• Empowered Committee: - J.P. Chandelia (Chairman), Ms. Rita Chowdhary, Smt. Ganga Devi, Prashant Bairwa, Vijaypal Mirdha, Ved Prakash Solanki, Sandeep Kumar, Ramswaroop Lamba, Sumit Godara, Alok Beniwal, Smt. Krishna Poonia.
• Petition Committee: - Arjun Lal Jingar (Chairman), Girraj Singh, Gajraj Khatana, Mukesh Kumar Bhakar, Narendra Nagar, Ashok Dogra, Ramprasad, Omprakash Hudla, Deepchand, Chhagan Singh.
• Committee on Government Assurances: - Gurmeet Singh Kunnar (Chairman), Suresh Modi, Indraj Singh Gurjar, Sandeep Sharma, Gopal Lal Sharma, Pukhraj, Babulal Nagar, Alok Beniwal.
• Committee on Environment: - Mrs. Manju Devi (Chairman), Kishnaram Vishnoi, Mahendra Bishnoi, Rakesh Pareek, Ganesh Ghoghara, Babulal (Jhadol), Hamir Singh Bhayal, Khushveer Singh, Hakam Ali Khan.
• Library Committee: - Ramnarayan Meena (Chairman), Ramnivas Gavadia, Govind Prasad, Ms. Siddhi Kumari, Joram Kumawat, Dharmanarayan Joshi, Sanjay Sharma.
• Committee on Welfare of Women and Children: - Smt. Anita Bhadel (Chairperson), Smt. Nirmala Sahariya, Smt. Meena Kanwar, Smt. Manisha Panwar, Smt. Gayatri Trivedi, Smt. Preeti Gajendra Singh Shaktawat, Smt. Suryakanta Vyas, Smt. Shobharani Kushwaha, Smt. Kalpana Devi, Smt. Deepti Kiran Maheshwari.
• Committee on Welfare of Backward Classes: - Jitendra Singh (Chairman), Gajraj Khatana, Chetan Singh Chowdhary, Ramniwas Gavadia, Shankar Singh Rawat, Suresh Singh Rawat, Kanhaiya Lal, Mohan Ram Chowdhary, Jabbar Singh Sankhla, Girdhari Lal, Narayan Beniwal, Joginder Singh Awana.
• Scheduled Tribe Welfare Committee: - Nagaraj (Chairman), Smt. Indra, Ganesh Ghoghra, Ramlal Meena, Phool Singh Meena, Samaram Garasia, Kailash Chandra Meena, Gopichand Meena (Aaspur), Pratap Lal Bhil (Gameti), Smt. Ramila Khadia.
• Scheduled Castes Welfare Committee: - Ashok (Khandar) (Chairman), Smt. Ganga Devi, Amar Singh, Hiraram, Manoj Kumar, Jagsi Ram, Balveer Singh Luthra, Smt. Shobha Chauhan, Smt. Santosh, Kaluram, Smt. Indira Devi.
• Committee on Welfare of Minorities: - Amin Khan (Chairman), Aminuddin Kagzi, Wajib Ali, Dharmendra Kumar, Ruparam (Makrana), Gurdeep Singh, Hakam Ali Khan.
• Question and Reference Committee: - Vinod Kumar (Chairman), Khiladi Lal Bairwa, Girraj Singh, Indraj Singh Gurjar, Puraram Chaudhary, Amritlal Meena, Ashok Lahoti, Gopal Lal Sharma.
• Committee on Subordinate Legislation: - Narendra Budhania (Chairman), Ved Prakash Solanki, Kishnaram Vishnoi, Gopi Chand Meena (Jahajpur), Avinash, Lalit Kumar Ostwal, Manjit Dharmapal Chowdhary, Ms. Rita Chowdhary, Suresh Modi.

Madhya Pradesh Minister for Social Justice & Empowerment of Persons with Divyangjan distributed Maharishi Dadhichi Award

Why in News?

On 18 April 2023, Premsingh Patel, Minister of Social Justice & Empowerment of Divyangjan of Madhya Pradesh, awarded the Dadhichi Award to people and organizations who have done excellent work for the upliftment & progress of Divyangjan.

Key Points

• On this occasion, the Minister also gave appointment letters to 16 newly appointed Assistant Directors in the Social Justice Department.
• Minister Premsingh Patel gave the first prize of hearing-impaired disability individual category for the year 2012-13 to Manoj Dwivedi of Pithampur district Dhar. Shri Dwivedi has provided employment to more than 150 disabled persons and connected them to the mainstream of the society in his organization named Flexituff International.
• Hearing-impaired individual category award for the year 2013-14 was given to Dr. Shirish Jamdar of Jabalpur. For the last 20 years, she has been selflessly doing the work of vocational rehabilitation of disabled people and their integration into the mainstream of the society. Jamdar is also providing free surgery and treatment facilities to the disabled in the hospital. It also contributes to distribution of assistive artificial limbs and equipment to the disabled from the camps.
• Shri Gyanendra Purohit of Indore, who composed the National Anthem in sign language, was awarded the first prize for the year 2014-15 in the hearing-impaired individual category. His symbolic national anthem has also been recognized at the national level. Shri Purohit has made a significant contribution in getting admission of hearing-impaired children in general schools and employment in various government services, especially in tribal and rural areas.
• The Dadhichi Award for the year 2015-16 was given to Shri Vivek Chaturvedi of Jabalpur for hearing-impaired Divyangta individual category. Shri Chaturvedi also provided employment-oriented skill training to the hearing-impaired youths in the Central Government's programme to connect them with the mainstream of desktop publishing, employment and livelihood. He also helped a lot with the establishment and business of 'Deafgraphics' run by the hearing-impaired.
• Ku. Rabia Khan of Indore, who established the 5th Braille Script Arabic Centre in the world and India's first, received the second prize for the year 2015-16 in the visually impaired individual category. In the year 2011, she established the Arabic Centre in Indore. Ku. Rabia Khan, who established the Madrasa Noor Research Institute for the visually impaired, has been constantly striving to bring visually impaired students into the educational and professional mainstream.
• Shri Jagdish Prasad Sharma of Ujjain, who received the second prize in the mental retardation disability individual category for the year 2015-16, ensured certificates to more than 25 thousand mentally retarded Divyangs after intelligence tests. He provided admission, scholarship and special education facilities to 3572 mentally retarded students. He made 495 Divyang people self-dependent by connecting them with business and provided legal guardianship to 2875 people with disabilities.
• Ku. Poonam Shroti, who established Uddeep Social Welfare Society for Divyangjans despite being Divyang herself, was given the first prize in Orthopaedic Divyangta category for the year 2019-20. She is working for the education, skill development and employment of the Divyangjans.
• Shri Uday Hatwalane of Bhopal, who organized employment training camps for Divyangjans despite being visually challenged himself, was awarded the first prize for the year 2019-20 in the Visually Impaired Divyangta Individual category. Shri Hatwalane is making special efforts for the education and social adjustment of the visually challenged.
• Smt. Aarti Dutta of Narmadapuram was awarded the Mental Retardation Individual Category Award for the year 2019-20. Smt. Datta is doing an in-depth study of Autism, Cerebral Palsy, Mental Retardation and doing an important work of rehabilitating Divyang people by making them self-dependent and connecting them to the mainstream of society.

Chhindwara's Goderdev temple declared as state protected monument

Why in News?

On 18 April 2023, the Goderdev temple of Chhindwara was declared a state protected monument by the Madhya Pradesh Culture Department.

Key Points

• Goderdev Temple is situated in Neelkanthi Kala Kshetra of Chand Tehsil of Chhindwara District.
• It has been declared a state protected monument by the Culture Department under the Madhya Pradesh Ancient Monuments, Archaeological Sites and Remains Act-1964.
• Significantly, the architecture of this temple is almost like the Kalchuri architecture due to the contemporary of the Kalchuris and being attached to the state border. It was built around the 13th century.
• This temple dedicated to Lord Shiva is of Bhoomitra style. There is sanctum sanctorum, antarala and mandapa in the layout. The back part of the temple till the thigh is in its original form. The sanctum sanctorum is underground, in which the Shivling is established. There are steps to reach there. The idols of Gauri and Bhairav are installed in the vessels of the gap. Seven volumes are engraved on the gate branch.
• After the demolition of the sanctum sanctorum and pavilion, it has been renovated by the local people. The pillars of the pavilion are visible in the temple premises. On one pillar there are indecipherable writings in Sanskrit language in Devanagari. There are ruins of two more temples at some distance from this temple.

State Finals: Word Power Championship-2023

Why in News?

According to the information provided by the Chhattisgarh Public Relations Department on 18 April 2023, the top two winners of the Word Power Championship (WPC) State Finals for Chhattisgarh will get a chance to represent Chhattisgarh in the national level competition to be held on 28 April in Mumbai.

Key Points

• It is known that the Word Power Championship (WPC) state final for Chhattisgarh was organized on 11th April at New Circuit House.
• Winner of Class-IV State Word Power Championship, Government Primary School, Kumari Nandini Chauhan of District-Raigarh, Winner of Class-V Mayank Kumar Nishad of District-Dhamtari and Runner-up Upasana Sahu, Class-IV, District-Raipur and Garima Sahu, Be class-5th, District-Durg.
• Rajesh Singh Rana, director of the State Educational Research and Training Institute, said that 'Word Power Championship' is a commendable initiative which removes the hesitation of the students and provides a platform to showcase their English language skills. Such competitions not only increase the interest of the students towards English language but also encourage healthy competition among the students.
• The state finals were organized by LeapForWard, a registered non-profit organization based in Mumbai, in collaboration with Nihar Shanti Pathshala Funwala (NSPF) and SCERT, Chhattisgarh.
• The Word Power Championships is an annual event that celebrates the achievements of students and teachers who have excelled in LeapForWord's English literacy program.
• As many as 34,071 children of classes IV and V from all the districts had registered for the competition. Word Power Championship is an important competition for Hindi medium schools. State Finals After cluster, block and district level rounds, 9 children reached the state finals of the event.
• Separate competitions were organized for both class IV and class V from all the districts of Chhattisgarh. In class IV, questions related to spelling and reading of words and in class V spelling, reading and meaning were included.
• The winning students of the state final competition were given a Samsung tablet, cycle and school kit. Also, their schools were awarded tower speakers and sports kits.
• In the programme, those teachers were also given incentive prizes who did a commendable job of helping these students reach this point. Similarly, the runner-up students were rewarded with cycles and school kits and their schools were presented with sports kits.

Uttarakhand's 603 Primary, 76 Upper Primary will Become Cluster Excellent Schools ++

Why in News?

In the Uttarakhand cabinet meeting held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on April 18, 2023, the proposal to make 603 primary and 76 upper primary schools of the state into cluster excellent schools was approved.

Key Points

• All the facilities will be made available in these schools falling within the radius of 5 kilometers. Equipment like smart class, computer etc. will be made available.
• An adequate number of teachers will be appointed in cluster excellence schools. In view of the increase in the number of students in the schools, additional classrooms will be constructed.
• According to departmental officials, playgrounds will be developed for sports facilities in these schools.
• Transport facilities will be made available for the students of other nearby schools except the cluster school. For this, a fixed amount will be given to the students.
• At the district level, a committee will be formed under the chairmanship of the District Magistrate of the concerned district to decide the arrangements for the students coming to the school, which will ensure the facility of escort of the students coming from the nearby schools in the cluster schools. While the concerned Block Education Officer will prepare an action plan for the local arrangement of transport for the students.