State PCS

• 21 Apr 2022

Uttar Pradesh government to develop 150 nurseries under MNREGA

Why In News?

Recently, a spokesperson of the Uttar Pradesh government said that as a farmer-centric initiative, the Uttar Pradesh government will develop 150 nurseries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA).

Key Points

• According to this decision, the Rural Development Department has been asked to prepare a proposal for setting up a nursery in 100 days.
• 22.50 crore saplings will be planted in these nurseries and each nursery will have at least 15 lakh saplings, which will include traditional crops as well as good quality flowers, fruits and vegetables.
• A maximum of two nurseries will be established in each district. In these, the farmers will be made aware of the cultivation of medicinal plants like Sarpagandha, Ashwagandha, Brahmi, Kalmegh, Kaunch, Shatavari, Tulsi, Aloe Vera as well as the methods of cultivation of other flowers and fruits.
• This step will benefit the environment by increasing the green cover in the state and will encourage people to plant trees.

Dilip Jaiswal became Deputy Chief Whip in Bihar Legislative Council

Why In News?

On April 18, 2022, after the order of the Executive Chairman of the Bihar Legislative Council, Awadhesh Narayan Singh, a notification was issued to make Dilip Jaiswal Deputy Chief Whip and Neeraj Kumar and Reena Devi as Whip.

Key Points

• Chief Minister and Leader of the House Nitish Kumar nominated Dilip Jaiswal as Deputy Chief Whip and MLCs Neeraj Kumar and Reena Devi as Whips in the Legislative Council.
• Significantly, the Chief Whip and Whip is the political person who is responsible for the discipline and behavior of the party in the House. Usually the whip instructs the members of the party to stick with the party's view on the main issues, to vote on any issue in the House as per the directions of the party. Sometimes such situations and issues come up in the House, where the party fears the division of votes.
• The Chief Whip issues the whip so that the party members do not vote against the party line in the House. The party can take action for voting against the whip. No whip can be issued to the MPs and members of the Legislative Assembly to cast their votes in the election of the President.

National Co-operative Spices Fair, 2022

Why In News?

On April 20, 2022, Registrar of Cooperatives, Rajasthan Muktanand Agrawal informed that the 10-day National Co-operative Masala Mela, 2022 will be organized from April 30 to May 9, 2022 in the southern campus of Jawahar Kala Kendra.

Key Points

• Muktanand Aggarwal said that Rajasthan is the only state in the country in the cooperative sector, which has been organizing the Sahakar Masala Mela for many years.
• Consumer union's managing director VK. Verma said that in the Sahakar Mela, instructions have been given to the cooperatives to ensure attractive packing, purity of spices, competitive price and to maintain the credibility of the cooperative. In the Sahakar Masala Mela, along with whole and ground spices, arrangements will also be made to make ground spices available on the spot.
• By organizing the Sahakar Masala Mela, both the producer farmer and the common citizen will be benefited. The main objective of organizing the Sahakar Masala Mela is to provide pure spices to the people of Jaipur.

MoU signed between Indian Red Cross Society and 23 state universities

Why In News?

On April 20, 2022, MoU was signed between 23 government universities of the state and Red Cross Society, Rajasthan at Raj Bhavan in Rajasthan, along with the launch of a new website (redcross.rajasthan.gov.in.) of Red Cross Society.

Key Points

• According to the MoU, the Red Cross and the universities will work in collaboration to create awareness about disasters and risk prevention-relief work, water sanitation and sanitation management, climate change, environmental management, eco-based works, health services and blood donation.
• After these MoUs, training and other activities of the Red Cross will be expanded in universities and colleges as well. Now lakhs of students studying in state universities will get an opportunity to join the activities of the Red Cross.
• In the new website of Red Cross Society Rajasthan, online arrangements have been made for applying for new membership and joining as a volunteer and giving financial support.
• On this occasion, Governor of Rajasthan and ex-officio President of Red Cross Society, Rajasthan branch, Kalraj Mishra said that units have been formed in all the districts in coordination with district collectors to give impetus to the activities of Red Cross in Rajasthan.
• He also directed to constitute the executive committee of the Red Cross State Unit at the earliest, so that the strong, active and powerful form of Red Cross is visible in the state at the time of calamities and crises. He directed to make the Red Cross Society effective by running a time bound campaign in the state.

The wholesale price index of all commodities in the state stood at 380.58 in March 2022

Why In News?

On April 19, 2022, Dr. Omprakash Bairwa, Director and Joint Government Secretary, Economic and Statistics Department of Rajasthan said that in March 2022, the Wholesale Price Index of all commodities stood at 380.58 (provisional).

Key Points

• The annual growth rate of inflation (in March 2022 over March 2021) based on the monthly general wholesale price of the state has been 9.10 per cent. Similarly, the primary goods group index stood at 407.52 and the fuel, power, light and sub-lubricants group index was 571.06 and the manufactured products group index was 300.16.
• The index for the primary articles group in March 2022 stood at 407.52 with an increase of 1.35 percent over the previous month. The main reason for the increase in the index of the primary commodity group is registering an increase of 1.48 percent in the agricultural subgroup index and 0.30 percent in the mineral subgroup index.
• The Food articles subgroup index of the Agriculture item group registered an increase of 3.10 percent, while the non-food articles subgroup index showed a decrease of 0.78 percent.
• Under the food/non-food items sub-group of primary commodity group in the month under review, cereals (4.19 percent), pulses (3.17 percent), fruits (25.92 percent), milk (1.28 percent), spices (8.18 percent), fiber ( 0.54 per cent) and other non-edible articles (0.96 per cent), while vegetables (16.84 per cent), egg, meat and fish (0.14 per cent) and oilseeds (1.36 per cent) registered a decrease.
• Under Minerals subgroup, a growth of 0.30 per cent was registered in the month under which mainly silver (5.30 per cent), steatite (soapstone) (0.09 per cent) and timber (0.58 per cent) registered an increase in prices, while that of gypsum (0.35 per cent). Percentage), limestone (0.63 per cent) and bricks (0.14 per cent) declined.
• The rate of inflation in the primary commodity group index has registered an increase of 16.16 percent on an annual basis since March 2021.
• The index for Fuel, Power, Lighting and Sub-lubricants group stood at 571.06 with an increase of 0.54 per cent in March 2022 as compared to 567.98 for the previous month. The main reason for the increase in the index has been the growth of 4.21 percent in the Coal subgroup and 0.65 percent in Petrol, Diesel and LPG.
• The fuel, power, lighting and sub-lubricants group has registered a growth of 2.34 percent as compared to March 2021 on an annual basis.
• The Index of Manufactured Products group has increased by 0.82 percent to 300.16 in March 2022 as compared to 297.71 in February 2022 in the previous month. The main reasons for the increase in the index are food products (2.07 percent), alcoholic beverages and tobacco products (0.07 percent), spinning-weaving and refining (0.59 percent), non-metal and mineral products (0.04 percent), basic precious and ferrous metals (1.75 percent) and general purpose machinery (0.02 percent), while the prices of timber and wood products (1.63 per cent) and chemicals (0.23 per cent) declined.
• The Manufactured Products group has registered a growth of 7.46 percent as compared to March 2021 on an annual basis.

Madhya Pradesh will become the first state to subscribe to the National Cancer Grid

Why In News?

Medical Education Minister Vishwas Kailash Sarang held a virtual meeting with the operator of Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai under the Medical Knowledge Sharing Mission launched by the Department of Medical Education on 20 April 2022 for expansion of health facilities in a series of innovations.

Key Points

• Decision was taken in the meeting to connect Madhya Pradesh with National Cancer Grid and sign MoU with Tata Memorial Hospital in Medical Knowledge Sharing Mission.
• With this, cancer patients of the state will get better treatment as well as promotion of cancer research and high level training will be given to the doctors of the state.
• It is worth noting that under the National Cancer Grid (NCG), 266 centers are being operated in the country, where work is being done for the treatment and research of cancer.
• Apart from this, a digital portal has also been started by Grid, in which patients can consult expert doctors by uploading their medical reports and other information.

Atharva Akshat won medal in ISSO

Why In News?

Atharva Akshat, a class VIII student of DPS (CHAS) Bokaro won a medal in the results of International Social Studies Olympiad, 2021-22, published on April 20, 2022.

Key Points

• International Social Studies Olympiad, 2021-22 exam was conducted by Science Olympiad Foundation based in New Delhi in online mode.
• The Science Olympiad Foundation organizes an Olympiad every year, in which students from hundreds of schools across the country participate.
• All the activities of the Foundation have always been aimed at making learning an interesting and interactive process, in which the learner is able to truly test his/her skills, memory, talents and knowledge.
• Apart from this the Foundation organizes the following Olympiads-
  
  • National Cyber ​​Olympiad
  • National Science Olympiad
  • International Mathematics Olympiad
  • International General Knowledge Olympiad
  • International Commerce Olympiad

Chhattisgarh State Organic Certification Organization got recognition of certification of organic products

Why In News?

Recently, Chhattisgarh State Organic Certification Organization, Raipur (CGOcert) has got permission from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Authority (APEDA) to register the organic product and get it certified as an organic product after getting tested by the authorized body of the country.

Key Points

• Farmers of Chhattisgarh will now be able to sell certified crop produce outside the state and outside the country by registering them as organic crops in the State Organic Certification Organization.
• Additional Director of Chhattisgarh State Organic Certification Society AB. Asna said that the framers of the state would get a lot of benefits from getting the recognition of certification of organic products. The demand for Aromatic Rice, Fortified Rice, Kodo, Kutki, Ragi of Chhattisgarh state has increased abroad.
• If it is supplied abroad after certification of aromatic rice, Kodo, Kutki, Ragi produced through organic farming, then farmers will get 10 times to more than 100 times the price, which will directly benefit the farmers and the country will get foreign exchange. Money will also be received.
• It is noteworthy that Chhattisgarh state is an agricultural state. Minor cereal crops, such as Kodo, Ragi and Kutki, fragrant rice, such as cumin flower, Devbhog, Jawa flower etc. are produced in the state.
• The demand for such organic agricultural products of Chhattisgarh has started becoming very high in the country and abroad as well. With the recognition of certification of organic products, farmers will be facilitated and by taking advantage of this, farmers will be motivated and encouraged towards organic farming.

HC Semwal became the chairman of the revised National Village Swaraj Abhiyan Committee

Why In News?

Recently, the Government of India has appointed Uttarakhand's Women and Child Development Secretary, H.C. Semwal as the chairman of the committee constituted to reconsider the implementation framework of the Revised Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA).

Key Points

• The committee will prepare the revised RGSA's implementation framework taking into account the experiences of RGSA applicable from 2018-19 to 2021-22 and changes in line with the revised RGSA and submit the revised roadmap within 15 days.
• It may be mentioned that the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has approved the continuation of the Revised Centrally Sponsored Scheme of 'Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan' (RGSA) for implementation during the period from 1st April, 2022 to 31st March, 2026. The scheme will now end with the period of the 15^th Finance Commission report.
• RGSA was first approved by the Union Cabinet in the year 2018 for the period from the year 2018-19 to the year 2021-22. The objective of this scheme is to develop the governance capabilities of Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs).
• It is being implemented by the Ministry of Panchayati Raj.