06.07.22 Daily [Uttarakhand] UKPSC Current Affairs

The Uttarakhand forest department has decided to amend theUttar Pradesh Tree Protection Actof 1976, said state forest ministerSubodh Uniyalon Monday. The minister added that easing the provisions of the Act would help state residents plant new varieties of trees and fell the old ones as and when required.

As perScheduleI of the UP Tree Protection Act, an individual is required to obtain permission before felling 2 types of timber trees, including deodar, khair, sandal, chir and walnut.

Similarly,Schedule IIof the Act makes it mandatory to seek permission before felling 13 fruit trees like litchi, mango, pomegranate and plum, among others. However, the Act does not apply to trees situated in reserved, protected, cantonment areas and in government gardens, or on the land held by the government.

Due to the Act, state residents who wish to fell or remove trees even for genuine causes are made to secure a slew of clearances from the forest department, said Uniyal. Those who flout the norms of the Act may be fined Rs 1,000 or imprisoned for six months. According to the forest minister, the stringent provisions of the Act make it difficult for state residents to use their private land optimally. The decision to amend the Act has been taken after observing a shift in the land use pattern, said Uniyal while chairing a meeting regarding a proposed plantation drive in July. “There is a reluctance among people towards planting new trees even on their personal property because of this Act.

As per 2020 report on medical certification of cause of death (MCCD) compiled by the registrar general of India, maximum number of certified deaths in Bihar occurred due to Circulatory System diseases (30.4%).

Deaths due to Respiratory System diseases andCovidaccounted for 2.4% and 7.3%, respectively, in 2020.

Of the 4,25,047 deaths registered in 2020 in Bihar, only 14,591 were medically certified, the lowest in the country. Category wise illness related deaths are of those which had been certified medically. This is much below the countrys Average of 22.5%. Data on deaths due to various kinds of illnesses suggest that after circulatory system diseases, 10% of the certified deaths were due to the symptoms, signs and abnormal clinical and laboratory findings.
The third highest deaths was due to Covid and certain infectious and parasitic diseases. Country-wise figure shows that deaths due to Covid-19 accounted for 8.9% of medically certified deaths.

The Centre is facing an uneasy situation as three BJP-ruled states Gujarat,Uttar Pradeshand Madhya Pradesh have demanded the restoration of wheat allocation to them under the national scheme,NFSA. The demands have been made at a time when the Centre is struggling to somehow meet the mandatory stocking norms for wheat as on October 1 and March 2023.

Following a record fall in wheat procurement, the Centre on May 14 had reduced wheat allocation under theNational Food Security Act(NFSA) by nearly 40% for 10 states, including these three, to tide over any shortage while claiming that the decision was taken after consultation with state governments.

Gujarat, Karnataka and Meghalaya were the best performers in developing startup Ecosystems for entrepreneurs last year, according to the latest ranking by the Centres Department for Promotion of and Internal Trade (DPIIT). Kerala, Maharashtra, Odisha, Telangana and J&K were in the next category of top performers.

In the previous report in 2019, Gujarat and Andaman and Nicobar Islands were best performers, while Karnataka and Kerala were top performers. There are three other categories: Leaders, aspiring leaders, and emerging startup ecosystems. Tamil Nadu, UP, and Punjab are among the eight states and UTs in the leaders category. TN and UP were in the emerging startup ecosystems category in 2019. Rajasthan, Delhi and MP are among the 11 in the aspiring leaders category.

The study looks at areas like institutional support to startups, access to markets, incubation support and funding support. This year, three areas were added to the framework, including capacity building of enablers, mentorship support and fostering innovation & Entrepreneurship. India has the worlds third biggest startup ecosystem, after the US and China.

The state-specific reports for each of the 31 participating entities include a comprehensive analysis of the respective ecosystem and an overview of the strengths and priority areas for the future. Policy interventions have been high on the governments agenda.

Karnataka was ranked best performer for launching an engineering research and development policy to attract sector-focused incentives, and creating regulatory sandboxes for startups to avail exemption from state and municipal laws.

recently released the Global Findex Database 2021. As per report, account ownership has increased worldwide.

Report notes that, three out of four adults are having a financial account today. Despite that, 1.4 billion adults have no bank account.

In developing countries; wage payment, from private sector or government sector, for 20 percent of adults was made into an account.

Around 91% of these recipients were involved in digital payment from their account.

70 percent of adults used their account to store Money for cash management. Around half of the adult used their account for saving money and half adults used it to borrow money.

Global Findex Database 2021 suggests that, 39% of adults or 57% of those having a financial institution account chose to open their first account at a financial institution in order to receive money from the government or to receive wage payment.