1. Pilgrims start arriving for Ganga Sagar Mela
Tags: State News
Thousands of pilgrims started arriving in West Bengal for the annual Ganga Sagar Mela even as the COVID19 infections continue to remain a cause of concern in the State.
Directions by Calcutta High Court to control Covid Spread
- Only those who are having COVID negative in RTPCR report within 72 hours, will be permitted to enter the Sagar Island for Ganga Sagar Mela.
- The Court had also set up a committee to ensure that COVID19 protocols are followed on the ground.
About Gangasagar Mela
- Gangasagar is a place of Hindu pilgrimage. Every year on the day of Makar Sankranti (14 January), hundreds of thousands of Hindus gather to take a holy dip at the confluence of the river Ganges and Bay of Bengal and offer prayers (puja) in the Kapil Muni Temple.
- The Gangasagar pilgrimage and fair is the second largest congregation of mankind after the triennial ritual bathing of Kumbha Mela.
- Gangasagar is a village in the Kakdwip subdivision of the South 24 Parganas district in the Indian state of West Bengal.
2. Petta Thullal held at Erumely
Tags: State News
Petta Thullal, the ritualistic sacred dance marking the last leg of the annual two months-long Sabarimala pilgrimage season was held at Erumely,Kerala on 11th January 2021.
Teams of Ayyappa devotees from Ambalappuzha and Alangad performed the ceremonial mass dance.
Sabarimala Temple
- The Sabarimala Temple is a temple complex located at Sabarimala hill inside the Periyar Tiger Reserve in the Pathanamthitta District, Kerala.
- It is one of the largest annual pilgrimage sites in the world with an estimate of over 40 to 50 million devotees visiting every year.
- The temple is dedicated to a Hindu Brahmachari deity Ayyappan also known as Dharma Shasta, who according to belief is the son of Shiva and Mohini, the feminine incarnation of Vishnu.
- The traditions of Sabarimala are a confluence of Shaivism, Vaishnavism, and other Śramaṇa traditions.
3. Protest against Kerala’s Silverline Project
Tags: State News
The Opposition parties in Kerala, are spearheading the agitation against the Pinarayi Vijayan’s government-led Silverline Semi high-Speed Railway Project in some parts of the state.
What is the Silverline Project
- The Thiruvananthapuram–Kasaragod Semi High-Speed Rail Corridor, also known as the Silver Line, is a proposed higher-speed railway in India that would connect Thiruvananthapuram, the capital city of Kerala, with Kasaragod, the northernmost district of Kerala.
- The 529.45 km corridor, with an operating speed of 200kmph, eases the transport between the North and south ends of the state and reduces the total travel time to less than 4 hours, compared with the present 10 to 12 hours.
- The intermediate stations include Kollam, Chengannur, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kochi Airport, Thrissur, Tirur, Kozhikode and Kannur.
Who is funding the project
The ₹63,941crore Silverline project is a joint venture of the State government and the Ministry of Railways.
Why are there protests against Kerala’s Silverline project
Opposition parties are protesting against the project stating various reasons-
- It is not financially viable and will pull the state further into debt.
- As per environmental activists' assessment, the project will lead to the displacement of at least 20,000 families and around 50,000 commercial establishments.
- Furthermore, environmentalists are of the view that the project will cause great environmental harm because its route cuts through wetlands, almost 145 hectares of paddy fields, and hills. The building of embankments on either side of the major portion of the line will block natural drainage and cause floods during heavy rains.
According to the Ministry of Railways, rail routes that can run trains at the speed of 160 Km per hour to 200Km per hour are considered Semi-High speed trains.
4. Skoch award for Assam Mission on Malnutrition
Tags: State News
Mission Parvarish of southern Assam, Cachar district was selected for the prestigious Skoch award.
- Mission Parvarish was launched during the “nutrition month” in 2020 to combat malnourishment among children aged six months to 5 years in the southern Assam’s Cachar district.
- Government agencies, local civic bodies, NGOs and businessmen had come together to provide nutritional support to such children under the mission Parvarish .
- Instituted in 2003, SKOCH Award recognises people, projects and institutions that go the extra mile to make India a better nation.
5. Padyatra in the time of Covid
Tags: State News
The Congress on 9 January 2022 began its 11-day padayatra seeking early implementation of the Mekedatu drinking water project violating Karnataka government’s weekend curfews amidst increasing cases of covid in the state.
- The nearly 170 km padayatra ‘Our water our right’ started from Sangama in Kanakapura taluk of Ramanagara district, will pass through 15 Assembly constituencies before culminating at Basavanagudi on January 19.
- The Padyatra is being led by the Pradesh Congress chief D.K.Shivakumar with the participation of other senior congress leaders of the state .
- Tamilnadu is opposed to the Mekedatu project.
Kindly see the post of 6 January 2022 on Mekedatu dam.
6. Village of books in Maharashtra
Tags: State News
To popularize the Marathi books and nurture the reading habit the Maharashtra State Government`s Marathi Language Department on 4th January issued a resolution announcing the `Village of books, Bhilar` scheme to come up in one village of every district. Bhilar is a village situated in Satara district.
- The scheme is inspired by the famous town of Hay-on-Wye in Wales, United Kingdom.
- ₹ 197.90 crore will be spent on funding of this project.
- Marathi is official language of Maharashtra and co-official language of Goa and the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu.
- It is one of the 22 scheduled languages of India .
- Its script is Devanagari.
Marathi ranks 10th in the list of languages with most native speakers in the world and has the 3rd largest number of native speakers in India after Hindi and Bengali.
7. Rajasthan’s Banswara model example for Sustainable Farming
Tags: State News
Ashok Gehlot led Rajasthan government is trying to replicate the farming model of Rajasthan’s Banswara district in other parts of the state.
- The model has created new livelihood sources and brought food security to indigenous tribal communities.
- It enabled the farmers to meet their daily food necessities by growing fruits and vegetables at a low cost.
- The integrated system has also reduced the tribals’ dependence on market and improved nutritional status of the local population.
- The model entails community managed seed system, which has facilitated diversification of crops, adoption of organic farming, manure, medicines and pesticides and establishment of vermicompost units at agricultural fields.
- The locally prepared organic manure is used for growing maize, wheat, urad and other crops
8. Andhra Pradesh government raises retirement age of government staff to 62
Tags: State News
- The YS Jagan Mohan Reddy led Andhra Pradesh government announced that the retirement age for government servants would be raised to 62 years from the existing 60 years.
- The State decided to follow the recommendations of the Central Pay Commission (CPC) in future while revising the wages of government employees. It also pegged the Pay Revision Commission (PRC) at 23 per cent and announced a timeline for the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
9. Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) launches “Namami Govinda” brand
Tags: State News
‘Namami Govinda’ is the brand name for the bouquet of Panchagavya based products to be launched by the Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD).
- This is made from the residual products such as cow dung and cow urine from TTD’s dairy farm
- The objective is to promote chemical free products like toilet soaps, hand wash, nasal drops, agarbathi, etc. meant for holy rituals
Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) is an independent trust which manages the temples including the Tirumala Venkateswara Temple in Andhra Pradesh. The trust oversees the operations and finances of the second richest and the most visited religious center in the world.
TTD was established in 1932 as a result of the TTD Act of 1932.
10. PM inaugurates the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute in Kolkata
Tags: State News
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the second campus of Chittaranjan National Cancer Institute (CNCI) in Kolkata today virtually in the presence of the Chief Minister of West Bengal Ms. Mamata Banerjee and other Union Ministers.
- The second campus of CNCI has been built in line with the Prime Minister's vision to expand and upgrade the health facilities in all parts of the country. The campus will also work as an advanced cancer research facility and will provide comprehensive care to cancer patients especially those from Eastern and North-Eastern parts of the country.
- The second campus of CNCI has been built at a cost of over Rs 540 crore, out of which around Rs 400 crores have been provided by the Union government and rest by the West Bengal government, in the ratio of 75:25.
- The campus is a 460 bedded comprehensive cancer centre unit with cutting edge infrastructure for cancer diagnosis, staging, treatment and care.
During that time with the help and support of Dr. B.C. Roy an eminent physician and then chief minister of West Bengal, the foundation of the present day Chittaranjan Cancer Hospital(CCH) was laid. The hospital was formally inaugurated by Prof. Madam J.Curie in January 2, 1950 and named after Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das, as a tribute to and in the acknowledgment of the enormous donation of his land and property for the cause. It is one of the 25 regional cancer centres of India.
