UTTARAKHAND

U’khand to start eco-tourism circuit, says forest minister

The Uttarakhand forest department has decided to start five eco-tourism circuits to increase livelihood opportunities for local youths and beef up financial profits for the Corporation, an entity of the forest department.

A similar move was started by the Himachal Pradesh state government two years ago.
Also, the state is going to have two city forests — in Indira Nagar and in Ramnagar areas of Dehradun — as announced by the Union environment minister a few months ago. The move is aimed at adding greenery in urban areas.

INTERNATIONAL

India, Netherlands sign SoI on Decarbonization and Energy Transition Agenda

The policy think tank of the Government of India, NITI Aayog and Embassy of the Netherlands, New Delhi, signed a Statement of Intent (SoI). The aim is to support the decarbonization and energy transition agenda for accommodating cleaner and more energy.

The agreement aims for a strategic partnership to create a platform which will enable a comprehensive collaboration among stakeholders and influencers, including industry bodies, policymakers, Original equipment manufacturer (OEMs), private enterprises, and sector experts.

The partnership focuses on co-creating innovative technological solutions by leveraging the expertise of the two entities.

It will be achieved through an exchange of knowledge and collaborative activities.

Key elements include:

i) lowering the net carbon footprint in industrial and transport sectors
ii) realise the target potential of natural gas and promote bio-energy technologies
iii) adopt clean air technologies from monitoring to reducing actual particulates
iv) adopt next-generation technologies, such as hydrogen, carbon capture utilization, and storage for sectoral energy efficiency
v) financial frameworks to deliver and adopt climate change finance

The SoI will enhance Indo-Dutch collaboration, and it will successfully work towards achieving the decarbonization and energy transition agenda.

NATIONAL

Thaawarchand Gehlot e-launched ASIIM

Union Minister for Social Justice and Empowerment Shri Thaawarchand Gehlot e-launched the Ambedkar Social Innovation and Incubation Mission (ASIIM) under Venture Capital Fund for SCs. The aim is to promote innovation and enterprise among SC students studying in higher educational institutions.

Venture Capital Fund for SCs (VCF-SCs) : Under this initiative VCF-SC will focus on SC students and young entrepreneurs working in Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) that are supported by Department of Science and Technology (DST) in higher education and technology institution including Business / Management schools.

The budget of ASIIM for the next 4 years has been kept at Rs.19320 lakhs.

Dr Harsh Vardhan launched CSIR Technologies for rural development

The Union Minister of Science & Technology, Earth Sciences and Health & Family Welfare, Dr Harsh Vardhan launched CSIR Technologies for rural development on the occasion of CSIR-NISTADS 40th Foundation Day. It was launched under a joint initiative of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT-D), Unnat Bharat Abhiyan (UBA), and Vijnana Bharti (VIBHA). He also released CSIR-NISTADS (National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies) e-Compendium and e-Coffee Table Book, on the occasion.

CSIR Technologies seeks to explore and reinvent innovative approaches for actions from different stakeholders.

The programme aims to enable the outreach of CSIR rural technologies to society.

Unnat Bharat Abhiyan programme of the Ministry of Education. It was conceptualised and launched in IIT-Delhi. It aims to introduce transformational change in rural development processes by leveraging knowledge institutions to help build the architecture of an Inclusive India. Unnat Bharat Abhiyan constitutes of 45 Regional Coordinating Institutions (RCIs) and 2,614 Participating Institutions (PIs). A total of 13,760 villages have been adopted under Unnat Bharat Abhiyan, so far.

814 hectares of rail land under encroachment across country: Railway minister

The railway ministry informed Parliament that 814 hectares of the national transporter’s land is under encroachment across its 17 zones.

According to the list presented by the Railways, the most encroached land — 175 hectares — is in the Northern Railway zone which serves the states of Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and the union territories of Chandigarh and Delhi.

This is followed by the South Eastern Railway zone with 141.16 hectares under encroachment.

Atal Tunnel at Rohtang inaugurated

The 9.02 kilometres-long Atal Tunnel, named after former Prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, passes under the Rohtang Pass in the eastern Pir Panjal range on the Leh-Manali highway at an altitude of 3,060 metres at the lowest and 3,078 metres at the peak.

The tunnel is 10.5 metres wide and has a height of 5.52 metres and a car can zip through at 80 kmph.

The horseshoe shaped single-tube, double-lane tunnel has many firsts. With a length of 9.02 km, it is the longest in the world at an altitude of over 3,000 metres or 10,000 feet mean sea level.

It is a 10.5-metre wide single tube bi-lane tunnel with a fire-proof emergency egress tunnel built into the main tunnel itself.

It is also the country’s first tunnel to have an escape tunnel within the main tunnel because of the topography.

This would provide an emergency exit in case of any untoward incident, which may render the main tunnel unusable.

The tunnel was conceived way back in 1983 by the Indira Gandhi government to make the Manali-Leh road all-weather.

But it was only in 2002, that the then Atal Bihari Vajpayee government declared construction of the tunnel and laid the foundation for the approach road to the tunnel.

The project began to move only in September 2009.

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