Himachal Pradesh Weekly Current Affairs:
June 21-30, 2019
Justice V. Ramasubramanian sworn in as Chief Justice of HP High Court:
He was administered the oath of office by Governor Acharya Devvrat.
Bio-data of Justice V. Ramasubramanian
Justice V. Ramasubramanian, B.Sc., B.L, ICWAI (Inter) was born on June 30, 1958. He was enrolled as an Advocate on 16th February, 1983 and practiced for almost 23 years in High Court of Madras, City & Small Causes Courts, State Consumer Commission & District Consumer Forum, Central and State Administrative Tribunals, Chennai in Service, Civil and Constitutional matters and specialized in service matters. He was appointed as an Additional Judge of the Madras High Court on July 31, 2006 and as permanent Judge on November 9, 2009. He was transferred to Telangana & Andhra Pradesh High Court w.e.f. April 27, 2016 and as Judge of Telangana High Court w.e.f. 1.1.2019.
50 thousand farmers to be covered under natural farming programme:
- Around fifty thousand farmers of the state would be covered under Subhash Palekar natural farming programme during this financial year including 2500 farmers from Sirmaur district.
- Till March, 2019, 2669 farmers were engaged in this farming on 252 hectare of land. \
- The training is being imparted to 206 farmers on this model of farming, who are doing natural farming on 552 bigha land.
- Indigenous cow has an important role in natural farming and the state government is providing Rs. 25,000 grant for purchasing indigenous cow.
- Besides, the target has been fixed to make Himachal Pradesh free of chemical farming by 2022.
HP SHIVA project:
- HP SHIVA stands for Himachal Pradesh Sub-Tropical Horticulture, Irrigation and Value Addition Project is funded by Asian Development Bank (ADB).
- This project will focus on increasing farmer’s income in the sub-tropical areas of the state by covering the 20,000-hectare area under high-density plantation of sub-tropical fruit crops like guava, pomegranate, litchi and citrus fruits, etc.
- Initially, this project is supporting 15 pilot sub-projects for different crop models in Bilaspur, Hamirpur, Mandi, and Kangra districts of the state besides five sub-projects of irrigation and public health department.
Panchayat Pradhan’s failed to utilize funds of 14th FC:
- Gram Panchayats are failing to spend the funds provided under the 14th Finance Commission in a stipulated time period.
- Rs. 1420 crores have been released under the 14th Finance Commission to the Gram Panchayats of the state since year 2015-16, but they have been able to spend only Rs. 800 crores out of it, which is a matter of concern.
- According to Panchayati Raj Minister, Stern action would be initiated as per the rules against the Panchayat Pradhan’s failing to spend the allotted funds.
- Moreover, they will have to return the unspent amount to the Panchayati Raj department.
- Funds are directly being transferred to all the 3226 Panchayats of the state, which they can utilize for various developmental works especially cleanliness, drinking water, street lighting, construction and repair of roads, public toilets, installing hand pumps and constructing other public properties.
UAE keen to invest in food processing, tourism and infrastructure:
Rs. 1000 crore MoU signed for development of luxury resort
- MoU was signed with M/s MKS Group for investment in naturopathy resort worth Rs. 100 crore and affordable housing worth Rs. 150 crore.
- Another MoU was signed between Himachal Government and UAE India Business Council for highlighting investment opportunities in the State and facilitating UAE investments in the State.
- UAE India Business Council is the official joint business council set up by Government of India and UAE for promoting economic synergy between UAE and India.
- Yet another MoU was signed between the State Government and Executive Chairman and CEO, IMEA-TIFF and Executive Chairman and CEO DMCC Ahmed Bin Sulayem to strengthen and expand existing capacities in the agriculture and food sector.
- Mutual cooperation, bilateral delegations, bilateral trade and investments are some of the activities that would be part of the MoU.
- Delegation of the State also held a meeting with CEO Nilgiri Trading Chandershekhar Bhatia. MoU was signed between the State Government and Nomisma, Banking and Financial Advisory, Nilgiri Trading for development of a luxury resort with prime focus on a destination wedding for an amount of Rs. 1000 crore.
HP Signs Rs. 300 crore MoU for investment in Mahindra Resorts:
- The state government signed an MoU worth Rs. 300 crore with M/s Mahindra Resorts for investment in Mahindra Resorts at Kandaghat (Solan district), Janjheli and Koldam (Mandi district) and Dharamshala in the state.