• 26 Apr 2022

NITI Aayog's National Workshop on Innovative Agriculture

Why In News?

• Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath virtually attended the National Workshop on Innovative Agriculture organized by NITI Aayog at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi at The Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi on April 25, 2022.

Key point

• The first session was chaired by Dr. Ravi Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. In the first technical session on natural farming in the states, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy also shared his views virtually.
• In a big way to promote natural farming and innovative agriculture, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said rs 82.83 crore has been sanctioned by the Government of India for 35 districts of Uttar Pradesh under the Centrally Funded Scheme of Natural Farming.
• The chief minister said at the National Workshop on 'Cow Based Natural Farming and Innovative Agriculture' that the scheme will cover an area of about 38,670 hectares. The scheme will be implemented for a period of three years starting from the kharif season this year.
• The Chief Minister said that Bundelkhand region has traditionally been practicing natural farming in various forms. To give this a further boost, the state government has proposed to set up clusters of 500-1,000 hectares in all the 47 development blocks of all the seven districts of the region. In the next five years, an area of about 47,000 hectares will be targeted at a project cost of Rs 175.46 crore, benefitting 1.17 lakh farmers.
• In the year 2020-21, Uttar Pradesh has become the largest food producing state in the country by achieving a record production of 619.47 lakh metric tones.
• Highlighting the importance of natural farming, the Chief Minister said that the objective of increasing the income of farmers has to be fulfilled along with increasing the production as well as providing proper nutrition for the conservation of natural resources and environment and nurturing human health. One way to achieve all these diverse goals is cow-based natural farming.
• Cow-based natural farming means low-cost and poison-free farming. The major dependence of the rural economy on the 'go lineage' is, while agriculture is being mechanized, the utility of bulls in the agricultural economy has also been realised.
• In the last two years, the state government has been able to promote natural farming by 10 km of river Ganga. A campaign has been launched to adopt natural farming within the scope of and 10 km of river Ganga in selected districts under Namami Gange. Horticulture and agroforestry have also been included in natural farming. More than two lakh farmers will be benefited from this programme.
• Organic farming was being promoted in the state during the last three years under namami gange and the Traditional Agriculture Development Scheme, covering an area of 75,680 hectares with the formation of 4,784 clusters, benefiting 1.75 lakh farmers.
• Under the Paramparagat Krishi Vikas Yojana (PKVY), Rs 50,000 per hectare has been provided for organic farming for a period of three years, including an incentive of Rs 31,000 per hectare.

National Co-operative Masala Mela-2022 logo released

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, Rajasthan's Principal Secretary of Government, Cooperative Shreya Guha released the logo of National Co-Operation Masala Mela-2022 at Sahakar Bhawan.

Key point

• It may be recalled that the National Co-Operation Masala Mela-2022 will be organized from April 30 to May 9, 2022 at The Jawahar Kala Kendra.
• Speaking on the occasion, Secretary Shreya Guha said that in a planned manner, Confed should make organic products available to the people on a large scale and maintain the quality.
• He said that 4171 Village Service Cooperative Societies are to be formed in two years. For this, work should be done in accordance with the target allocation in a time-bound manner to ensure the formation of a Gram Seva Cooperative Society at each Gram Panchayat.

Honors of Celebrities in 'Madhya Pradesh Ratna Alankaran Ceremony'

Why in the discussion?

• On April 25, 2022, Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel felicitated various personalities at the 'Madhya Pradesh Ratna Investiture Ceremony' organised by the Madhya Pradesh Press Club at kushabhau thakre international convention centre.

Key point

• The Governor presented the madhya pradesh navratna samman at the investiture ceremony with the country's renowned journalist Padma Shri Alok Mehta, param vishisht seva medal (retd) Air Marshal Pradeep Padmakar Bapat, screenwriter and filmmaker Rumi Jaffrey, professor Lokendra Trivedi of the National School of Drama, Sanjeev Saran, who was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award in the industrial world by the Government of India. The short and documentary producer-director Devendra Khandelwal, senior social activist Nirmal Das Narang, dancer (choreographer) Dr. Tina Deole Tambe, poet and editor Dr Sudhir Saxena were felicitated.
• Dr. Laxmi Sharma (Literature and Art), Dr. A.K. Dwivedi (Homoeopathy Medicine), Dr. Vaibhav Chaturvedi (Mental Medicine), Dr. Mamta Singh, Suresh Singh Bhadauria, Dr. Deepti Singh Hada (Medical and Medical Education), Dr. Devish Jain (Education- Industry and Agriculture), Harneet Kaur Rana (Education), Avadhesh Dave (Higher Education), Rajkumar Sabu (Industry and Trade), Engineer Amit Ojha (Mathematics Education) and Social Sevi Manoj Nandkishore Panchal were honoured with Pratibha Samman.
• The Madhya Pradesh Press Club was established on April 18, 1992. Its founding president was late L.N. Verma and Presently its President is Dr. Naveen Anand Joshi and General Secretary is Bhai Nitin Verma and Vice President is Mahendra Sharma.
• The Madhya Pradesh Press Club organisation continues to organize various workshops and seminars besides programmes related to social concerns. This event is also a sequel to this series.

Chief Minister virtually participated in the National Workshop on Innovative Agriculture of NITI Aayog

Why In News?

• Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan virtually attended the National Workshop on Innovative Agriculture organized by NITI Aayog at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi at The Amrit Mahotsav of Azadi on April 25, 2022.

Key point

• The first session was chaired by Dr. Ravi Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog. Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy also shared his views virtually.
• Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that the Natural Agriculture Development Board has been constituted to promote natural farming in the state. The State Government is taking several steps to create an environment up to the village level to adopt natural farming and to help the farmers in it.
• There are 52 districts in Madhya Pradesh. Initially, special activities will be carried out to encourage natural farming in 100 villages of each district. The current kharif crop will start natural farming activities in 5,200 villages of the state.
• In order to create an environment, state-level workshops will be organized in the state in the month of May for officials of agriculture related departments under the guidance of Gujarat Governor Acharya Devvrat. So far, 1 lakh 65 thousand farmers of the state have shown interest in natural farming.
• The Chief Minister said that just as subsidy on chemical fertilizers and other assistance was provided to the farmers for the Green Revolution, it is necessary to encourage and cooperate with the farmers to adopt natural farming.
• The desi cow is essential for natural farming. It is from the desi cow that the necessary jeevamrit and dhanjivamrit for natural farming can be made. 900 per month i.e. 10 thousand 800 rupees per annum will be provided to the farmers who adopt natural farming for keeping the desi cow. At the same time, 75 per cent of the amount will be provided to the farmers by the government for taking natural agricultural kits.
• The services of 5 full-time workers will be provided in each development block to guide natural farming. Each village will also have arrangements of kisan mitras and kisan didis, who will act as master trainers of natural farming. Honorarium will also be given to the workers and master trainers.
• It is worth mentioning that Madhya Pradesh is suitable for natural farming, where 17 lakh hectares of tribal dominated area traditionally does not use chemical fertilizers.

Madhya Pradesh is the first in the country in redressal of complaints in Madhya Pradesh 'Ayushman Bharat'.

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, The Minister of Public Health and Family Welfare of Madhya Pradesh, Dr. Prabhuram Chaudhary informed that in the National Health Authority's report for 2021-22, Madhya Pradesh secured the first position in the country in the field of redressal of grievances in the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme by scoring 86 marks in grievance redressal.

Key point

• Minister Dr. Prabhuram Chaudhary said that the National Health Authority in its progress report for the year 2021-22 has collected rs 1.57 crore by imposing penalty in the complaints received against 67 hospitals in the state under the grievance redressal system.
• The scheme fulfilled the objective of free treatment by refunding Rs.59 lakh 2 thousand through bank accounts on the basis of complaints received from 140 beneficiaries.
• Under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme, the eligible beneficiaries of the state have been getting quality health services for more than 3 years. Under the scheme, treatment upto Rs.5 lakh per family is being provided to eligible beneficiaries from 1,000 government and private hospitals per year.

Madhya Pradesh got respect in malaria control

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, Union Health Minister Dr. Mansukh Mandaviya conferred the 'Certificate of Appreciation' to Madhya Pradesh for its outstanding work in malaria control at a function held in Delhi on Malaria Day.

Key point

• Madhya Pradesh's Public Health and Family Welfare Minister Dr Prabhuram Chaudhary said that as of 2015, more than one malaria case per thousand population was found in 25 districts in the state, which has come down to .03 per thousand in 2021.
• There is no longer a single district in Madhya Pradesh which has more than one malaria case per thousand population.
• The work done by the Health Department has made the state a place in category-1 from category-3 states in 2015 to category-1 states.

Formation of 13 Committees of Haryana Vidhan Sabha for the year 2022-23

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, Haryana Assembly Speaker Gyan Chand Gupta issued a notification for the formation of 13 different committees of the Assembly for the year 2022-23.

Key point

• According to the notification, assembly speaker Gyan Chand Gupta will be the ex-officio speaker of the rules committee of the assembly, while mlAs Bhupendra Singh Hooda, Kiran Chaudhary, Ghanshyam Das Arora, Dr Abhay Singh Yadav, Bharat Bhushan Batra, Naina Singh Chautala and Sudhir Kumar Singla will be the members of the committee.
• Similarly, Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly Ranbir Singh Gangwa has been made ex-officio chairman of the housing committee for the year 2022-23, while MLAs Mohammad Ilyas, Ram Kumar Gautam, Deepak Mangla and Randhir Singh Golan have been nominated as members of the committee.
• MLA Deepak Mangla has been nominated as the chairman of the committee of Public Health, Irrigation, Power and Public Works (Building and Roads), while MLAs Vinod Bhayana, Leela Ram, Aftab Ahmed Dharam Singh Chhokkar, Dr Krishan Lal Middha, Praveen Dagar, Maman Khan and Shamsher Singh Gogi will be members of the committee.
• Similarly, Narendra Gupta has been made the Chairman for the Committee of The Local Bodies and Panchayati Raj Institutions. Its members include MLAs Dr Raghuvir Singh Kadyan, Ghanshyam Saraf, Bishan Lal Saini, Seema Trikha, Bishamber Singh, Neeraj Sharma, Surendra Panwar and Rakesh Daulatabad.
• MLA Ishwar Singh has been made the Chairman of the Welfare Committee of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes and MLAs Laxman Napa, Rajesh Nagar, Satya Prakash, Renu Bala, Shish Pal Singh, Chiranjeev Rao, Ram Karan and Dharam Pal Gondar have been nominated as members of the committee.
• Varun Chaudhary has been made chairman and MLAs Dr Abhay Singh Yadav, Subhash Sudha, Narendra Gupta, Nirmal Rani, Amit Sihag, Shaili, Jogi Ram Sihag and Randhir Singh Golan have been made members for the Public Accounts Committee.
• Harvinder Kalyan has been nominated as chairman of the estimates committee and MLAs Rao Dan Singh, Jaiveer Singh, Gopal Kanda, Laxman Napa, Pramod Kumar Vij, Rajesh Nagar, Mewa Singh and Balraj Kundu as members.
• MLA Ghanshyam Das Arora has been nominated as the Speaker and MLAs Jagbir Singh Malik, Geeta Bhukkal, Shakuntala Khatak, Leela Ram, Laxman Singh Yadav, Sanjay Singh, Ram Niwas and Sombir Sangwan have been nominated as members for the petition committee.
• MLA Seema Trikha has been nominated as the chairman of the Committee on Education, Technical Education, Vocational Education, Medical Education and HealthCare. MLAs Jagdish Nayyar, Naina Singh Chautala, Nirmal Rani, Shamsher Singh Gogi, Shaili, Shishpal Singh, Nayanpal Rawat and Indu Raj have been nominated as members of the committee.
• MLA Bharat Bhushan Batra has been nominated as chairman of the Government Assurance Committee of the Haryana Legislative Assembly for the year 2022-23 and MLAs Abhay Singh Chautala, Rajendra Singh Jun, Duda Ram, Mahipal Dhanda, Aftab Ahmed, Sita Ram Yadav, Subhash Gangoli and Amarjeet Dhanda have been nominated as members of the committee.
• Similarly, MLA Aseem Goel has been nominated as chairman of the PSU committee for the year 2022-23, while MLAs Raghuvir Singh Kadyan, Duda Ram, Pradeep Chaudhary, Krishan Lal Middha, Mohan Lal Baroli, Sita Ram Yadav, Chiranjeev Rao and Kuldeep Vats will be the members of the committee.
• Ram Niwas has been nominated as the Chairman of the Subordinate Legislative Committee of the Haryana Legislative Assembly, while MLAs Jagbir Singh Malik, Jaiveer Singh, Bishambar Singh, Sanjay Singh, Ram Kumar Kashyap, Amit Sihag, Balbir Singh and Advocate General, Haryana have been nominated as members of the committee.
• Besides, MLA Sudhir Singla has been nominated as the Chairman for the Haryana Privileges Committee and MLAs Kiran Chaudhary, Harvinder Kalyan, Aseem Goel, Mohan Lal Badoli, Satya Prakash, Varun Chaudhary and Amarjeet Dhanda will be the members of the committee.

Free booster dose to adult citizens of Haryana in the age group of 18 years to 59 years

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar announced free booster doses for adult citizens in the age group of 18 years to 59 years, taking forward the anti-Covid vaccination drive.

Key point

• Eligible beneficiaries can get a booster dose of Rs 250 free of cost from any government hospital or dispensary in Haryana.
• There are about 1.2 crore beneficiaries of the said age group in the state of Haryana. It will cost about Rs.300 crores, which will be borne by the State from the Covid Relief Fund.
• It may be mentioned that so far, more than 2 crore 33 lakh people in the state have been given the first dose of anti-Covid vaccine and about 1 crore 88 lakh have been given both doses of covid vaccine. Also, around 3,71,700 booster doses have been given in the state so far.

Hundred smart villages will be built in the state

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, Jharkhand Agriculture Minister Badal Patralekha told a press conference that 100 smart villages will be built in the state, which will be recommended by the MLAs and MPs.

Key point

• All these smart villages will be developed under the One Umbrella policy, where all schemes related to agriculture will be implemented, as well as a roadmap for development will be prepared by forming cooperative societies at various levels.
• The Agriculture Minister said that the smart village is being designed. Soon, the agriculture department will write to all MLAs and MPs for village selection.
• He said that a cooperative committee will be formed for milk and 50 per cent of the total cost will be provided as grant to the cooperative. The almost ready-made dairy plants at Sarath in Palamu, Sahib Ganj and Deoghar will be commissioned soon.

Awarded to organizations doing excellent work in the field of cooperatives

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel awarded cooperatives for their outstanding work in the field of co-operatives at the National Cooperative Conference and National Award Distribution Ceremony held at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Auditorium in the capital Raipur.

Key point

• The Chief Minister presented the first prize to Tamil Nadu State Apex Cooperative Bank, Chennai, second to Andhra Pradesh State Cooperative Bank Vijayawada and third to Telangana State Apex Cooperative Bank Hyderabad for overall performance in the State Cooperative Bank category.
• On the occasion, he presented special awards to M. Jhansirani, President, Andhra Pradesh and Dr. Reddy, MD Apex Bank Andhra Pradesh. He also conferred a special award on Baijnath Chandrakar, Chairman, Chhattisgarh State Co-operative Bank for his outstanding contribution in the field of co-operatives.
• Apart from this, the first prize of State Cooperative Bank over All Performance Award was given to Kerala State Cooperative Bank Thiruvananthapuram, second prize was given to Assam Co-operative Apex Bank Guwahati and third prize was given to Sikkim State Cooperative Bank Gangtok.
• The first prize for best performance in the category of District Central Cooperative Bank was jointly awarded to Karimnagar District Cooperative Central Bank Telangana and Karnataka Central Cooperative Bank Dharwad, the second prize was jointly given to Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank Gujarat and Rajkot District Central Cooperative Bank Gujarat and the third prize was given to Salem District Central Cooperative Bank Tamil Nadu.
• The first award of Subhash Yadav Award in primary agriculture cooperative society area is M.M. 137 Alagyal Primary Agriculture Cooperative Credits were awarded to Society, Pudukotti, Tamil Nadu.
• The second prize for outstanding work in the field of Nafscob Award Primary Agriculture Credit Society was jointly awarded to Sandhol Agri Service Cooperative Society Himachal Pradesh and Timiri Service Cooperative Bank Kerala and the third prize to Chopdandi Karimnagar Telangana.
• The first prize for outstanding work in the agriculture cooperative training centre area was given to Himachal Pradesh, the second prize was given to Punjab and the third prize to Telangana.

Union Health Ministry honours Chhattisgarh for reduction in malaria cases

Why In News?

• On The World Malaria Day on April 25, 2022, Union Minister for Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya felicitated Chhattisgarh for the decline in malaria cases in New Delhi.

Key point

• Dr Priyanka Shukla, Director, National Health Mission and Department of Health and Family Welfare and Dr. Subhash Mishra, Director, Epidemic Control, received the honour on behalf of the State Government in New Delhi.
• With the impact of the Malaria-Free Chhattisgarh Campaign and the Malaria-Free Bastar Campaign, there has been a major decline in the API rate (annual parasite incidence, i.e., the number of malaria patients found annually per 1,000 population). In 2018, while the state's API was 2.63, it has come down to 0.92 in 2021.
• It may be recalled that the first phase of 'Malaria Free Bastar Campaign' was conducted by the Department of Health and Family Welfare and the National Health Mission, Chhattisgarh in January-February 2020 in all the seven aspirational districts of Bastar division.
• 14 lakh six thousand people were tested for malaria in the first phase, 23 lakh 75 thousand in the second phase, 15 lakh 70 thousand in the third phase, 19 lakh 98 thousand in the fourth phase and 14 lakh 36 thousand in the fifth phase. The API of Bastar division, which had 26.78 APIs in 2016, has come down to 7.07 in 2021.
• Considering the good impact of the campaign in Bastar division, under the 'Malaria Free Chhattisgarh Campaign', it has been extended to a total of 21 districts of the state. The malaria positivity rate in the first, second, third, fourth and fifth phases of the campaign has been recorded at 4.6 per cent, 1.27 per cent, 1.03 per cent, 0.56 and 0.79 per cent respectively. With the impact of the campaign, malaria cases are continuously decreasing.

Swadesh Darshan Scheme: Tribal Tourism Circuit First Phase Completed

Why In News?

• On April 25, 2022, tourism department officials informed that the first phase of construction of 'tribal tourism circuit' in vananchal region of the state under 'Swadesh Darshan Yojana' has been completed. The cost is Rs.94.23 crore.

Key point

• Under the scheme, the first phase of construction of Jashpur-Kunkuri-Kamaleshwarpur-Mainpat-Maheshpur-Kurdar-Sarodha-Dadar-Gangrail-Nathianwagaon-Kondagaon-Jagdalpur-Chitrakot-Tirathgarh has been completed.
• Jashpur, marked for tribal tourism circuit under 'Swadesh Darshan Yojana', has been developed as an ethnic tourism village. At the same time, route facilitation centre at Kunkuri, eco-ethnic destination at Kamleshvpur, eco-ethnic destination-tourism facilities at Manpat, marg facilitation centre at Maheshpur and eco-tourist destination at Kurdar have been developed.
• Similarly, the ethnic tourism village at Sarodha Dadar, Eco-Ethnic Tourist Destination at Gangrail, Route Facilitation Centre at Nathianwagaon, Ethnic Tourist Village at Kondagaon, Ethnic Tourist Destination at Jagdalpur (Lamani Park-Cafeteria Parking), Eco-Ethnic Tourist Destination at Chitrakoot and Eco-Ethnic Tourist Destination (Nature Trail, Stair Railing) at Tirathgarh have been developed.
• The action plan for eco-tourism circuit has been prepared under Swadesh Darshan Scheme Phase-II. The circuit covers the border areas of Chilfi Valley, Akalmar-Amarkantak Valley and Hasdeo Bangon Dam. The cost of the proposed scheme is Rs.81.26 crore.