Tag: Centre

SC urges Centre for menstrual hygiene model in schools across states

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New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday asked the Central government to formulate standard operating procedures (SOPs) and develop a model for all state and Union Territories (UTs) in connection with menstrual hygiene for girls studying in schools.
A bench of Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and comprising Justices P.S. Narasimha and J.B. Pardiwala appointed the Union Health and Family Welfare Secretary as the nodal officer to coordinate with all the states and UTs. The bench said the nodal officer will collect data to develop a national policy.
During the hearing in the matter, the bench said the issue is of immense importance and the government should engage with all stakeholders for menstrual hygiene in schools, including government and government-aided schools, and also give leeway to states and UTs to modify the scheme as per their local needs.

The top court directed all states and UTs to bring on record their menstrual hygiene management strategies and plans and also noted that Ministries of Health and Family Welfare, Education, and Jal Shakti have schemes for menstrual hygiene.
The top court directed the Centre to file an updated status report by the end of July.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing the Centre, said different ministries have guidelines and schemes dedicated to improve access to menstrual hygiene for young and adolescent girls. She stressed that the responsibility of providing health care services lies with state governments as public health is a state subject.
In an affidavit, the Health Ministry has said that public health is a state subject and the responsibility of providing healthcare services is that of respective state governments.
The top court also directed all states and UTs to make provision for ensuring availability of quality low-cost sanitary pads, vending machines in schools.

The Central government response came on a plea filed by Congress leader Jaya Thakur seeking issuance of directions for providing free sanitary pads to girls studying in classes 6 to 12 in government schools across the country.
The plea, filed through advocate Varinder Kumar Sharma, said serious difficulty is faced by adolescent females between the ages of 11 to 18 years, who are coming from poor backgrounds facing the insurmountable difficulties in receiving education on account of lack of access to education, a constitutional right under Article 21A of the Constitution of India and it is free and compulsory under the Right to Education Act, 2009.
“These are adolescent females who are not equipped with and are also not educated by their parents about menstruation and menstrual hygiene. The deprived economic status and illiteracy leads to prevalence of unhygienic and unhealthy practices which has serious health consequences; increases obstinacy and leads to eventual dropping out from schools,” added the plea.
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#urges #Centre #menstrual #hygiene #model #schools #states
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
HC questions Centre for not giving any reasons over blocking Twitter accounts

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Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Monday asked the central government why it had not given any reasons for blocking some accounts on Twitter in light of the takedown orders issued last year.
The bench of Justice Krishna S Dixit, which is hearing a petition by Twitter challenging the various takedown orders of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY), asked the government counsel, “Why you did not supply the reasons to them (Twitter). What is that you wish to withhold? Court wants to know what is so much an important thing which prevented the government from disclosing the reasons when the section (69A) uses the word ‘reasons to be recorded’.”
When asked by the HC bench if the response would be provided to the court, counsel Kumar M N replied that “whatever decision is made can be supplied to the court.”

The court also observed that the world was moving towards transparency and Section 69A of the Information Technology Act requires recording of reasons for takedowns.
“The whole world is moving towards transparency. If it would have been regarding sovereignty etc., we would have understood. You called them for the meeting and you did not agree with the reasons given by them and passed the impugned order. Is it not necessary for him to know why you do not agree with his reasons?” the court said.
Twitter approached the HC in June 2022 against the orders issued by the ministry.
The Centre had argued that Twitter being a foreign entity cannot claim enforcement of fundamental rights. Objecting to this, Twitter informed the court that it was invoking the writ jurisdiction for violation of protocols prescribed under Section 69A of the IT Act. It also claimed in a rejoinder to the court that rights under Article 14 were available to foreign entities also.
The court then asked both Twitter and the Union government to clarify the issue of how Indian entities would be treated in the United States and foreign jurisdictions on such issues.

“In other jurisdictions whether disclosure of reason is treated as a matter of force or whether the government can withhold reasons? Whether any element of state sovereignty is involved in this? How would the USA have treated an Indian entity before it? That also needs to be addressed,” the court asked, adjourning the hearing to April 12.
Twitter has claimed that the government was required to issue notice to the owners of the Twitter handles against whom blocking orders are issued. Twitter had said that it was barred from informing the account holders about the takedown orders of the government.
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#questions #Centre #giving #reasons #blocking #Twitter #accounts
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
Hyderabad: Chaitanya visits Yousufguda Police Training Centre (video)

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Hyderabad: When it comes to promoting his upcoming film, ‘Custody,’ Telugu superstar Naga Chaitanya is leaving no stone unturned. He recently took things to the next level by performing real stunts with police officers at the Yousufguda Police Training Centre in Hyderabad.
Naga Chaitanya interacted with police officers and even performed stunts from the film as part of the promotional activities. He fought a fun fight against a policeman and revealed his strength by performing 30 pushups nonstop. His dedication and enthusiasm impressed the police officers.
Not only did Naga Chaitanya impress with his stunts, but he also showed off his more innocent side by dancing with the cops. This promotional video is a must-see that will undoubtedly get the audience excited for the film’s release.

Naga Chaitanya plays a police constable in ‘Custody,’ and Kriti Shetty plays the female lead. Arvind Swamy will play the villain, and Priyamani will play a significant role. The film is being made with high production values and technical standards, making it Naga Chaitanya’s first big-budget film.
Naga Chaitanya’s dedication to promoting ‘Custody’ is admirable, and fans can’t wait to see him in action on the big screen.
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#Hyderabad #Chaitanya #visits #Yousufguda #Police #Training #Centre #video

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 10, 2023
TN BJP chief thanks Centre for removing state from coal auction list

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Chennai: Tamil Nadu BJP President K. Annamalai has thanked the Union government for removing Tamil Nadu from the coal auction list.
Annamalai in a tweet said, “We thank our Hon PM Thiru@ narendra modi avl &Hon minister Thiru@ JoshiPrahlad avl for considering our request and removing the coal blocks in TN’s Delta region from the coal auction list.”
Union Coal Minister Prahlad Joshi had on Saturday tweeted that the decision to exclude Tamil Nadu from the coal auction list was taken in the interest of the people of the state after the BJP Tamil Nadu unit president, K. Annamalai had informed him of the issue.

The Union Minister in the tweet said ,”@BJP4Tamil Nadu Pres.@annamalai-k rushed to call upon me in Bengaluru with request to exclude 3 lignite mines from auctions in 7th tranche. In spirit of cooperative federalism and keeping in mind the interests of the people of TN, I have directed to exclude them from auction.”
It may be noted that the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin, while speaking on the issue, had asserted that his government would never allow coal mining in the fertile Delta region of Tamil Nadu.
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#BJP #chief #Centre #removing #state #coal #auction #list

( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 8, 2023
Adani Total, Torrent Gas reduce CNG, PNG price after Centre revises pricing guidelines

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Ahmedabad: In a respite to lakhs of domestic gas and CNG vehicle owners, Adani Total Gas Ltd and Torrent Gas reduced CNG and PNG prices following the Centre’s decision to revise the domestic natural gas pricing guidelines.
Adani Total reduced CNG and PNG prices to up to Rs 8.13 per kg and Rs 5.06 per scm (standard cubic metre), respectively.
It also announced a reduction in PNG prices for industrial and commercial consumers by Rs 3 per scm, ATGL said in a statement.

Similarly, Torrent Gas, which provides CNG and PNG in 34 districts across the country, announced a reduction between Rs 4-5 per scm in the price of domestic PNG and between Rs 6-8.25 per kg in the retail price of CNG effective from today evening, it said in a statement.
“In line with our policy to prioritize our end consumers, ATGL has decided to pass through the benefit of the New Gas Pricing guidelines announced by the Government of India to our large numbers of Home PNG and CNG consumers,” the ATGL said.
“The GoI’s decision to revise the domestic natural gas pricing guidelines and the consequent reduction in PNG and CNG prices will bring significant respite to millions of households and CNG vehicle owners,” Torrent Gas said.
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#Adani #Total #Torrent #Gas #reduce #CNG #PNG #price #Centre #revises #pricing #guidelines
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 8, 2023
Centre, Telangana blame each other for not doing enough for tiger conservation

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Hyderabad: As India celebrates the golden jubilee of Project Tiger, the two tiger reserves in Telangana are struggling to find funds, facing numerous challenges to protect the big cats and their habitat.
Though the tiger numbers are going up, the authorities are finding it difficult to carry out normal activities in the absence of the flow of funds.
Interestingly, the state and the Central governments are blaming each other for not doing their bit for tiger conservation in the reserves.

Despite doing well in tiger conservation leading to an increase in the population of big cats in recent years, Telangana is facing several challenges.
Telangana, one of the tiger range states in the country, has two tiger reserves and they are considered one of the largest in the country by area.
The Kawal Tiger Reserve spans an area of 2,015 sq km covering four districts, while Amarabad spans 2,611 sq km covering two districts. Apart from this, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh share the Nagarjuna Sagar Srisailam Tiger Reserve of 3,296 sq km.
As per All India Tiger Estimation 2018, Telangana has a population of 26 tigers. Last year, 21 individual tigers, including about five females, were identified in the Amrabad Tiger Reserve while about six tigers were spotted in the Kawal Tiger Reserve.
The officials, however, are hopeful that the numbers could be more than 26.

Kawal sees a constant movement of tigers that come in from Maharashtra’s forests, and mostly go back. The reserve has a notified way of connecting Kawal to other tiger reserves in Maharashtra.
The forest department claims that tiger conservation measures during the last five years yielded good results.
Habitat improvement works, increased green cover and prey base has not only led to an increase in tiger population in the state, but it is also attracting big cats from neighbouring Maharashtra.
There has been increased movement of tigers from Maharashtra into Telangana in recent years.
Union Minister for Tourism and Culture, G. Kishan Reddy, recently complained that the state is not releasing funds for Project Tiger.
Under Project Tiger, while the Centre provided Rs 2.2 crore to Telangana, the state allegedly failed to provide matching funds.
“Though the state government boasts of a budget of Rs 2.75 lakh crore, it does not even have Rs 2.2 crore to pay for the state’s share of Project Tiger,” said Kishan Reddy.
The state’s share of funds for 2021-22 was released in 2022-23, while no money has been released for 2022-23.
The state has to release its funds within a month of getting the Central share, but this is not happening. This is said to be hindering even simple activities like weeding and is likely to impact more challenging activities like firefighting operations.
It was on April 1, 1973, that Project Tiger was launched to promote tiger conservation in India. India has over 70 per cent of the global wild tiger population. The Centre claims to be working on a mission mode to protect, preserve and nurture the tiger population and the habitat associated with the big cats. Project Tiger is being implemented in 18 tiger range states.
The Central government through the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) implements the ongoing Project Tiger which is a component of the overarching scheme, Integrated Development of Wildlife Habitats.
Kishan Reddy claimed that since 2014, the Centre has been supporting various schemes in Telangana like Project Tiger, Forest Fire Prevention and Management Scheme (FPM) and Development of Wildlife Habitat Scheme.
The state government, on the other hand, complains that the Centre is not extending the required help in tiger conservation. In 2015, the state had sent a proposal to constitute a Special Tiger Protection Force (STPF) but the same was rejected by the Centre, citing Left-wing extremism activities in the state and the possibility of weapons and machinery being snatched by the Maoists.
Since Maoist activities have come down to a major extent, the state forest department feels that the STPF should be set up.
The Centre is also coming under criticism from states for amending the rules with regard to STPF. Initially, the Centre used to bear the cost for setting up STPF in the tiger reserves and the operational expenditure incurred, but now it is insisting on sharing the STPF non-recurring expenditure on a 60:40 share basis and the recurring expenditure on a 50:50 basis.
The formation of two STPF units in Telangana was also recommended by the National Tiger Conservation Authority’s (NTCA) team after inspecting the Amrabad and Kawal tiger reserves in November last year.
The experts have called for STPF in view of the threat of poaching. Earlier this month, the police in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur had seized a tiger hide and arrested six persons. The big cat was reportedly killed in Telangana’s Komaram Bheem Asifabad district. The tiger was believed to have come from Maharashtra.
Last month, a partial tiger skeleton was also discovered in the Bellampalli forests.
At least three tigers have been killed in separate incidents in Telangana close to the Maharashtra border since 2016.
The spillover population of tigers from Tipeshwar and Tadoba reserves in Maharashtra are migrating into the wildlife areas of Telangana due to better green cover and prey base. The movement was particularly noticed in the Kagaznagar forest division in the Komaram Bheem Asifabad district.
A few of the big cats are also making Telangana forests their home.
The NTCA team, during its recent inspection, appreciated the good work taken up in Kawal Tiger Reserve like habitat improvement works, including the development of water sources and grasslands.
However, challenges remain for tiger conservation in the state. The relocation of tigers from Maharashtra to Telangana forests is leading to human-animal conflict in some pockets.
The forest department also faces problems in preventing grazers from venturing into the forest areas. Laying roads and some other development activities in the forests pose a challenge to conservation efforts.
The forest authorities also face challenges from podu land farmers. Podu lands are shifting agricultural lands and many tribal and even non-tribals are claiming rights over these in the forests. This has led to skirmishes between podu farmers and forest officials.
The Telangana government has initiated the process to find a solution by granting rights to podu cultivators, but the forest officials say the number of applications outweighs the amount of land available for allotment.
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#Centre #Telangana #blame #tiger #conservation
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 8, 2023
COVID-19 surge: Centre asks states to stay alert, identify hotspots

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New Delhi: Amid rising cases of coronavirus, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya on Friday held a review meeting and advised states to stay alert and be prepared for COVID-19 management.
In the meeting with state health ministers and principal and additional chief secretaries held virtually, Mandaviya stressed on identifying emergency hotspots by monitoring trends of influenza-like illness (ILI) and severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) cases, ramping up testing and vaccination and ensuring readiness of hospital infrastructure.
Along with enhancing genome sequencing and ramping up whole genome sequencing of positive samples, he also emphasised on creating awareness about following Covid-appropriate behaviour.

The Centre and the states need to continue working in collaborative spirit as was done during the previous surges for COVID-19 prevention and management, Mandaviya said.
He also urged the state health ministers to conduct mock drills of all hospital infrastructure on April 10 and 11 and review the health preparedness with district administrations and health officials on April 8 and 9.
States and Union territories were further informed that currently WHO is closely tracking one variant of interest (VOI), XBB.1.5 and six other variants are under monitoring (BQ.1, BA.2.75, CH.1.1, XBB, XBF and XBB.1.16), a health ministry statement said.
It was highlighted that while Omicron and its sub-lineages continue to be the predominant variant, most of the assigned variants have little or no significant transmissibility, disease severity or immune escape. The prevalence of XBB.1.16 increased from 21.6 per cent in February to 35.8 per cent in March, 2023.
However, no evidence of an increase in hospitalisation or mortality has been reported, the statement said.

During the meeting, it was observed that 23 states and Union territories had average tests per million below the national average, according to a health ministry statement.
Mandaviya said irrespective of the new variants, the five-fold strategy of ‘Test-Track-Treat-Vaccinate and adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour’ continue to remain the tested strategy for Covid management.
This would facilitate undertaking of appropriate public health measures, he said.
States and Union territories were also requested to expeditiously increase the rate of testing from the current rate of 100 tests per million, as on the week ending April 7. They were further advised to increase the share of RT-PCR in tests, the statement said.
The states and Union territories were briefed that the country has been witnessing a steady increase in COVID-19 cases with average daily cases rising to 4,188 in the week ending April 7 from 571 in the week ending March 17; and weekly positivity up to 3.02 per cent in the week ending April 7.
However, 88,503 daily average cases have been reported globally in the same time, with the top five countries contributing 62.6 per cent of global cases in the last one week, the statement said.
It was also informed that while India has achieved over 90 per cent coverage of primary vaccination, the coverage of precaution dose is very low.
The Union health minister advised the states and Union territories to ramp up vaccination of all eligible population, especially of the elderly and vulnerable population group.
It was also observed that eight states are reporting high number of Covid cases in India with 10 or more districts reporting more than 10 per cent positivity in Kerala, Maharashtra and Delhi and over 5 districts reporting more than 5 per cent positivity in Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Haryana.
Mandaviya stressed on the importance of enhancing public awareness campaigns regarding adherence to Covid-appropriate behaviour. He requested all the state health ministers to personally monitor and review the preparedness of all logistics and infrastructure including availability of sufficient designated hospital beds and ensure that there is adequate stock of essential medicines.
States were also asked to regularly update their Covid data on the Covid India portal.
They were reminded of the joint advisory issued by the Union health ministry and ICMR to all states on March 25 which calls for a reinvigorated public health response to contain the surge of seasonal influenza and Covid cases through early detection, isolation, testing and timely management of suspected and confirmed cases to detect and contain outbreaks of new SARS-CoV-2 variants.
Mandaviya requested he states and Union territories to ensure effective implementation. There was comprehensive and detailed discussion on various aspects of COVID management including ramping up of hospital infrastructure; increased testing.
Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangaswamy, health ministers of Uttarakhand (Dhan Singh Rawat), Assam (Keshab Mahanta), Goa (Vishwajit Rane), Jharkhand (Banna Gupta), Madhya Pradesh (Prabhuram Choudhury), Punjab (Balbir Singh), Manipur (Sapan Ranjan Singh), Haryana (Anil Vij), Tamil Nadu (Thiru Ma Subramanian) and Telangana (Thanneeru Harish Rao) among others attended the meeting.
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#COVID19 #surge #Centre #asks #states #stay #alert #identify #hotspots
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 7, 2023
Hyderabad: PNB sponsors Rs 20 lakhs to set up creche in police command centre

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Hyderabad: Punjab National Bank (PNB) sponsored Rs 20 lakhs to set up a creche in the Telangana State Police Integrated Command and Control Centre in the city.
The creche will be set up for the staff members of the SHE teams at the command and control centre located at Banjara Hills.
City police commissioner C V Anand, Additional Commissioner of Police A R Srinivas, zonal manager of PNB Mohd Maqsud Anli, and the deputy zonal manager of the bank Rajeev Singh Jha were present at the occasion.

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#Hyderabad #PNB #sponsors #lakhs #set #creche #police #command #centre
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 6, 2023
SC told Centre considering amendments in IPC, CrPC

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New Delhi: The Centre told the Supreme Court on Thursday it is considering amendments to the Indian Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The submission was made by Attorney General R Venkataramani before a bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justice J B Pardiwala during the hearing of a PIL challenging a CrPC provision related to service of summons only to a family’s male member if an accused in a criminal case is unavailable.
The central government is actively considering amendments in criminal laws, the law officer said, adding, “Consultations have taken place. In fact, I have personally asked the government to take an active role in this. Some of this (amendments) has to do with the sedition laws.”

When the bench asked the top most law officer about the relevance of the submission that the change in sedition law was also in the offing, he said the government was actively looking at amending the CrPC and the IPC.
The AG sought adjournment and requested that the matter be listed after the monsoon session of Parliament.
“We are informed that amendments in CrPC and the IPC are under active consideration,” the bench said and fixed the PIL filed by Kush Kalra for further hearing in the last week of July.
Earlier, the top court had on November 21 last year issued a notice to the Centre besides seeking the attorney general’s assistance on the PIL challenging a CrPC provision related to service of summons on a family’s male member alone if an accused in a criminal case is not available.
The plea alleged the provision discriminates between male and female and is violative of various fundamental rights, including the right to equality.

“Service when persons summoned cannot be found: Where the person summoned cannot, by the exercise of due diligence, be found, the summons may be served by leaving one of the duplicates for him with some adult male member of his family residing with him, and the person with whom the summons is so left shall, if so required by the serving officer, sign a receipt therefor on the back of the other duplicate,” reads section 64 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.
The PIL said the provision provides for serving the summons only to male members of the house if the accused is not found and this is violative of various fundamental rights.
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#told #Centre #amendments #IPC #CrPC
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 6, 2023
Work On Banihal Bypass To Be Completed By End Of Current Financial Year: Centre

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SRINAGAR: The Centre on Wednesday said that work of rehabilitation, strengthening and four-laning of Banihal bypass has been taken up and is targeted to be completed by the end of current financial year.
Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, informed the Rajya Sabha that initially the project was delayed due to non-availability of land primarily on account of litigations.
He said now acquisition of land has been completed and work has been re-awarded as EPC contract.
He also said that detailed geological and geotechnical investigations have been conducted at the time of preparation of DPR for tunnels being constructed on NH-44.

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#Work #Banihal #Bypass #Completed #Current #Financial #Year #Centre
( With inputs from : kashmirlife.net )

April 5, 2023