KERALA
Digital survey to begin in 30 villages
With the resurvey procedures in the state moving at a snail’s pace over the last 54 years, the survey and land records department has decided to speed up the process and launch digital survey in 30 villages in the state.
The government has sanctioned Rs 2 crore for digital survey in 30 selected villages. According to a recent order issued by the revenue department the amount will be released in the current financial year itself.
Unlike the earlier chain surveys, digital survey using ‘electronic total station’ is more accurate and less time consuming. Of the 1,664 villages, resurvey of only 906 villages have been completed till date since 1965, and even among these, most of the data have already become redundant.
In 2008, the government launched Bhumi Keralam project under the Kerala Land Information Mission (KLIM) with an aim of completing the resurvey activities in the state in three years. But in 2011, the petitions received in the mass contact programmes led by the then chief minister Oommen Chandy showed that resurvey was actually complicating matters as many had on record lost their ownership over the land as a result of the resurvey process, and they could not either pay the land tax or effect mutation of the land.
INTERNATIONAL
3, 000 kilometre long power grid from Myanmar-Thailand to India: BIMSTEC
Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is working on connecting about 3,000-kilometre long power grid from Myanmar-Thailand to India.
This was announced by the Energy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Bangladesh Dr Tawfiq-E-Elahi Chowdhury while inaugurating the energy conference of BIMSTEC in Dhaka.
The grid connectivity would ensure better capacity utilization by complementing member country’s demand and supply situation.
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) are interested in investing in BIMSTEC regional power grid.
BIMSTEC countries had signed a Memorandum of Understanding for establishing a regional power grid in 2018.
BIMSTEC is a regional grouping with seven countries from South and Southeast Asia including Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand , Nepal and Bhutan.
NATIONAL
National Science Day 2020: 28 February
National Science Day (NSD) is observed every year on February 28.
On this day President Ram Nath Kovind will present several awards for science communication and popularization as well as for women scientists.
The theme of this day is ‘women in science’.
NSD is celebrated every year on 28 February to commemorate the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’.
On this day, Sir C.V. Raman announced the discovery of the ‘Raman Effect’ for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930.
The Government of India designated 28 February as National Science Day (NSD) in 1986.
International Conference on Standardisation of AYUSH Terminologies ‘ICoSDiTAUS-2020’ concludes in Delhi
ICoSDiTAUS-2020, the two-day International Conference on Standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies in Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine concluded in New Delhi.
It concluded with adopting the “New Delhi Declaration on Collection and Classification of Traditional Medicine (TM) Diagnostic Data”.
The sixteen countries came together for the cause of Traditional Medicine at this conference.
ICoSDiTAUS-2020 is the biggest ever international event dedicated to standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies of Traditional Medicine in terms of the broad level of participation covering virtually all the continents.
The New Delhi declaration emphasised the commitment of the countries to Traditional Medicine as a significant area of health care.
NTPC, CPCB to set up 25 CAAQMS in States and UTs
NTPC Limited has agreed to help the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) to set up 25 Continuous ambient air quality monitoring stations (CAAQMS) across six States and three Union Territories (UTs) in India.
As per the agreement, NTPC will provide financial support of Rs.80 crore for the installation of CAAQMS in the States and Union Territories.
The six states are Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Ranchi in Jharkhand, Patna in Bihar, Varanasi, Lucknow, Kanpur, and Allahabad all in Uttar Pradesh, Pimpri-Chinchwad in Maharashtra and Madurai in Tamil Nadu.
The 3 UTs where the CAAQMS will be installed are Port Blair in Andaman & Nicobar Islands, Silvassa in Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman in Daman & Diu.
Cabinet approved the 2020 Surrogacy Regulation Bill
The Union Cabinet approved the Surrogacy (Regulation) Bill, 2020, on 26 February. The Bill will allow widows and divorced women to be surrogate mothers. The Bill has incorporated all recommendations made by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee.
The amended Bill is the reformed version of the draft legislation, which was passed by Lok Sabha in August 2019.
The Bill aims to ensure effective regulation of the surrogacy service. It bans commercial surrogacy and allow altruistic surrogacy.
Bill provisions:
The Bill aims to ensure effective regulation of the surrogacy service.
The Bill has now proposed that the surrogate mother should be a “willing” woman. Earlier it was termed and instructed as “close relative.” The Bill has recommended that not only close relatives but any woman, whether she is a widow or divorcee, who is “willing” should be allowed to act as a surrogate mother.
The Bill stated that only Indian couples (both partners being of Indian origins) could opt for surrogacy in the country.
The Cabinet decided that the insurance cover of the surrogate mother, which was proposed for 16 months, should be increased to 36 months.
As per the Bill, National Surrogacy Board at the central level and State Surrogacy Board and appropriate authorities in states and Union Territories (UT) respectively, will be established to regulate surrogacy.
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