Rajasthan State PCS

• 22 May 2023

Now 2 Luv- Kush Vatika in every district

Why in News?

On 20 May 2023, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot approved Rs 66 crore for developing two Luv-Kush Vatikas in all the districts of the state. This will give a boost to Eco-Tourism in the state.

Key Points:

• With the decision of the Chief Minister, models related to forests and wildlife will be established in these gardens, through which children will be able to learn about environment & wildlife conservation. There will be space for the construction of eco-trail paths and exhibitions.
• These gardens aim to educate and educate the common people about environmental protection.
• It is worth mentioning that in the budget for the year 2023-24, the Chief Minister had announced the development of one additional garden in each district.

Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota & Ajmer cities will be 3D cities

Why in News?

On 20 May 2023, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has approved a financial proposal of Rs 106.46 crore for the implementation of GIS-based 3D City and Rajdhara Satellite Imagery Repository projects in 4 cities of the state, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota and Ajmer.

Key Points:

• Geographic Information System (GIS) based 3D city models of Jodhpur, Udaipur, Kota & Ajmer cities will be developed by the state government for better planning and management of urban development.
• With this, land use is proposed in the master plan of the cities, new roads, flyovers, construction & expansion of new colonies, drainage plan including various works on the ground, large-scale infrastructure development, transport planning, land planning, town planning etc. will be easier to make effective assessment, simulation and planning.
• A virtual tour of the city can also be done through Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality (AR/VR) of the developed 3D model.
• Apart from this, a repository of satellite imagery of different time periods of Rajasthan will also be established on the Rajdhara platform. This will facilitate the analysis of land use, land cover, changes in reservoirs/water sources & forest areas, crop yield estimation, growth & spread of cities, etc. as per the requirements of various departments.

Rajasthan Sahitya Academy Award 2022-23

Why in News?

On 19 May 2023, Art Literature and Culture Minister of Rajasthan B. D. Kalla honoured litterateurs for their invaluable contribution to the field of music, art and literature at Rajasthan Sahitya Academy's annual award ceremony 2022-23.

Key Points:

• Rajasthan Sahitya Academy's annual award-honouring ceremony was held at Bhagwat Singh Mehta Auditorium of Harishchandra Mathur Rajasthan State Institute of Public Administration (OTS).
• Meera Award, Rangeya Raghav Award, Sudhindra Award, Devilal Samar Award, Devraj Upadhyay Award, Kanhaiyalal Sahal Award, Shambhu Dayal Saxena Award, Sumnesh Joshi Award, Pardeshi Award, Chandradev Sharma Award and Sudha Gupta Award were distributed in the ceremony.
• On this occasion, many eminent litterateurs of the state were also honoured with the special litterateur honour.
• Farooq Afridi, a special officer of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, was also honoured with the Distinguished Writer Award for his significant contribution to the field of literature.
• These writers were awarded-
  • Under the annual awards for 2022-23, the Rangeya Raghav Award given in the fiction and the novel genre was given to Banswara resident Bharat Chandra Sharma for his novel 'Pir Parbat-Si'.
  • The Sudhindra Award for poetry was given to poet Mayamrig of Jaipur for his collection of poems 'Mujhme Meetha Tu Hain' and the Devi Lal Samar Award for one-act play was given to Jaipur resident Ajay Anuragi for his play 'Wrong Number'.
  • The prestigious Devraj Upadhyay Award in the field of criticism was given to Rajaram Bhadu of Bharatpur origin for his work of criticism 'Kavita ke Ayaam' and the Kanhaiyalal Sahal Award for various genres was given to Jaipur's satirist Yash Goyal for his work 'Namumkin Neta'.
  • Shambhu Dayal Saxena Award in the field of children's literature was given to Kusum Agarwal of Kankroli for her book 'Hum Sab Ek Hain'.
  • The prestigious Meera Award was presented to Rati Saxena for her work 'Hasee Ek Prarthana Ke Liye'.
  • All these awards are worth Rs. 31,000.
  • The first published work amounting to Rs. 21,000, Sumnesh Joshi Award was given to Udaipur resident story writer Tarana Parveen for her story collection 'Ek Sau Aath'.
• Emerging litterateurs were also honoured by the Academy
• School Level Pardeshi Award
• For poetry - Pracha Sharma of Maharani Gayatri Devi Girls' School, Jaipur for 'Sagar Moti and other poems,
• For the story- Divya Sanap of Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Pallu-Hanumangarh for the story 'Khushi ke Aansoo',
• For Essay - Harshita Meena of Raumavi Amarpura-Udaipur for essay on 'Navachaaron ka Udbhav'
• For short story - Awarded for the short story 'Asli Taqat' by Armaan Nadeem of Government Sardul Umavi Bikaner.
• College Level Chandra Dev Sharma Award
• For poetry - Himanshu Bhardwaj of Government Lohia College, Churu for 'Spriha and other poems,
• For story- Nirmala Sharma of Twenty-One College Gopalyan-Lunkaransar for the story 'Koi Chara Nahi',
• For one act - Tanishka Padihar of Maa Jalpa Devi Government College, Taranagar for one act 'Jago Pyare, Jago',
• For Essay- Maina Kanwar of Sona Devi Sethia Girls College, Sujangarh was given for the essay 'Vigat aur Sambhavnaye'.
• Sudha Gupta College Level Poetry Award was given to Suraj Kumari of Women's Post Graduate College, Jodhpur for 'Prakriti ki Awaz and other poems'.
• It is worth mentioning that under all the above awards, Rs. 5,000 are given per award.

MoU signed between Ahuse (Denmark) & Rajasthan Government

Why in News?

On 19 May 2023, in the presence of Rajasthan's Public Health Engineering Minister Dr. Mahesh Joshi, an MoU was signed between Ahuse, Denmark and the Government of Rajasthan for urban water management in the conference hall of the Secretariat.

Key Points:

• The MoU was signed by Dr. Subodh Agarwal, Additional Chief Secretary, PHED & Water Resources on behalf of the state government while Director Planning Louise Pepe digitally signed on behalf of Ahuse (Denmark).
• Public Health Engineering Minister Dr. Mahesh Joshi said that mutual cooperation between Denmark and Rajasthan in various fields was initiated in March 2021. Taking forward the link of mutual cooperation between Rajasthan and Denmark, this MoU has been signed.
• Rajasthan and Denmark will work together in various fields like improvement of services & quality in the urban drinking water sector, reduction in non-revenue water (waste) by increasing the efficiency of the distribution system, Integrated Management of Water Resources & Ground Water Aquifer Mapping, Planning & recycling of wastewater management and green solutions for rejuvenation of rivers.
• Emphasizing the efficient use of water & water conservation, the Water Supply Minister said that there is zero wastage of water in Denmark and there is full use of water there. Rajasthan will be benefited from mutual cooperation in their techniques of saving water in different ways, drinking water, wastewater management and recycling, rejuvenation of rivers etc.
• Additional Chief Secretary Dr. Subodh Aggarwal said that this MoU has been signed after completing approvals and procedures at various levels, including the Ministry of Jal Shakti of the Central Government. With this, smart water technology in drinking water management, reduction in non-revenue water (waste), treatment of wastewater and along with recycling, Denmark's technical assistance will be provided for the retrieval of rivers.
• After this MoU, cooperation between Ahus and Rajasthan will be increased in the field of efficient water management in big districts like Jodhpur, Kota and Jaipur.
• Danish Ambassador Freddy Swan said that there is a strategic partnership between Denmark and India. He said that positive efforts will be made for long-term mutual cooperation with Rajasthan.