Himachal Pradesh Weekly Current Affairs

This Aayog has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Animal Husbandry Minister.
Ashok Kumar of District Solan, is a Vice Chairman of H.P. Gauseva Aayog.
This Aayog have ten other non-official members
Besides non-official members, this Aayog have ten special invitees
The headquarter of H.P. Gauseva Aayog shall be at Shimla.
The Vice Chairman and non-official members of the Aayog will hold office for a period of three years from the date of appointment.

Monkeys have been declared as a Vermin species for next one year for eleven districts and 91 tehsils and sub-tehsils in Himachal Pradesh.
Due to monkeys menace in Himachal Pradesh crops and humans are getting affected.
It is notable that on 24^th April, 2016 monkeys were declared as vermin in 38 tehsils and sub-tehsils of 10 districts in Himachal Pradesh, whose period was extended for one year on 20^th December, 2017.

Declaring animals as vermin:

Wildlife laws divide species into ‘schedules’ ranked from I to V. Schedule I members are the best protected, in theory, with severe punishments meted out to those who hunt them. Wild boars, nilgai and rhesus monkeys are Schedule II and III members — also protected, but can be hunted under specific conditions. Crows and fruit bat fall in Schedule 5, the vermin category.
Section 11(1)a of the Wildlife Protection Act (WPA) authorizes chief wildlife warden to permit hunting of any problem wild animal only if it cannot be captured, tranquillized or translocated.
For wild animals in Schedule II, III or IV, chief wildlife warden or authorized officers can permit their hunting in a specified area if they have become dangerous to humans or property (including standing crops on any land).
Section 62 of Act empowers Centre to declare wild animals other than Schedule I & II to be vermin for specified area and period.

The scheme aims at supplementing the financial needs of the small and marginal farmers and entails direct cash support of Rs. 6,000 for farmers.
Under the scheme, small and marginal farmers with less than two hectares of land would get cash in their accounts in three instalments of Rs. 2,000 each.
About 8,42,600 farmers of the State with less than two-hectare land would be provided Rs. 6000 annually under this Scheme.

The state government has constituted Special Task Force (STF) in each district for awareness about Solid Waste Management rules, 2016.
Deputy Commissioner/ District Magistrate would be the chairman of the Taskforce and Superintendent of Police, Chairman, District Legal Service Authority and Regional Officer, HP State Pollution Control Board will be the member of the task force.
The Special Task Force(s) shall work for awareness about Solid Waste Management rules, 2016 by involving educational, religious and social organizations including local Eco-clubs.
The Special Task Force(s) shall furnish monthly Action Taken report to State Level Committee.

The state received three runner up awards ‘Best Adventure Destination”, ‘Best Mountain Destination’ and ‘Most Scenic Road’ during the India Today Tourism Survey and Awards 2019 function held at New Delhi.
Hang Gliding Bir Billing was presented best runner up award under “Best Adventure Destination” category.
Sangla in district Kinnaur bagged runner up award in ‘Best Mountain Destination’ category.
Shimla-Jispa via Kaza stretch was chosen for runner up award in ‘ Most Scenic Road ‘ category.
The awards were presented to various states under nine categories out of which Himachal Pradesh won awards in three categories.

Union Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu launched the UDAN-II scheme for the Nation by flagging off the helicopter flight through video conference from Shimla to Chandigarh from Jubbarhatti airport.
He said that the UDAN-II scheme would not only provide better air connectivity to the people of Himachal Pradesh, but would also help in providing convenient, comfortable and fast commutation facilities to the people at the time of illness and other emergencies.
UDAN-II would also give a big boost to the tourism development as there was a vast tourism potential in the State to attract domestic as well as foreign tourists.
UDAN-I was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the year 2017.
The flight under UDAN-II would take off at 10 A.M from Chandigarh and reach Shimla at 10.30 A.M. It would take off at 10.55 A.M from Shimla and reach Chandigarh at 11.25 A.M.
Initially, it would be a three-day flight in a week but after a fortnight it would have six flights in a week.
One way fare would be Rs. 2880 and would ensure that the common man could also take benefit of this service.
UDAN-II scheme would also cover flights between Shimla-Kullu and Shimla-Dharamshala.

As many as 159 MoUs were signed which would ensure total investment of more than Rs.17,000 crore and employment opportunities to over 40,000 people.

Himachal Pradesh Weekly Current Affairs – [February 4th Week]