June 2019

GUJARAT Gujarat: 30,000 MW of green power by 2022   Gujarat government, which allocated Rs 1,000 crore for a new rooftop solar power generation scheme, also announced plans to increase power generation capacity from renewable sources to 30,000 megawatts (MW) in the next three years. This number is more than three times the current renewable energy capacity. … Read more

GUJARAT Number of PAN holders rises by 11% in Gujarat   The number of Permanent Account Number (PAN) holders has gone up by 11% from 2,31,66,632 in financial year (FY) 2017-18 to 2,57,18,319 in FY 2018-19 in Gujarat. However, the number of income tax returns (ITRs) filed in the state has witnessed a dip of 7.5% … Read more

GUJARAT Gujarat government to start foster parenting scheme   The state government is planning to float a foster parenting scheme for disadvantaged children living in shelter homes. The social justice & empowerment department of Gujarat has marked that children living in shelter homes face a rude shock when, upon reaching the age of 18, state support is … Read more

GUJARAT Western Railway runs trains on biodiesel across Gujarat   These ‘Green Trains’ create less pollution compared to conventional diesel. This year, the theme for the World Environment Day is ‘Beat Air Pollution’. The trains from Ahmedabad to Bhuj; Rajkot to Morbi and Bhavnagar to Surendranagar used biodiesel. Biodiesel is made from jatropha plant. The … Read more

GUJARAT Gujarat set for world’s first PM emissions trading scheme Gujarat will implement a major initiative to control air pollution, when it launches what it says is the world’s first emission trading scheme (ETS) for particualte matter, to reduce air pollution. The aim is to reduce particulate pollutants PM2.5 and PM10 (particles 2.5 microns and 10 … Read more

GUJARAT National education policy: Gujarat seeks time for feedback   The Gujarat government has decided to seek more time for giving its feedback and suggestions on the new draft education policy of the Union government. Earlier this month, the Government of India had sent the Draft National Education Policy 2019 to all states, giving them one-month time to … Read more

GUJARAT Gujarat government mulls setting up its own insurance entity   The state government is looking at launching its own insurance company. The rationale is that the state government can build a big corpus in good crop years, which currently goes to private insurers in the form of massive profits. In 2018, farmers from the … Read more

GUJARAT Gujarat government centre to keep tabs on students, teachers   The Gujarat government on launched a centralized command and control centre here to monitor the educational activities of thousands of government and aided schools across the state.   It will track the attendance of students and teachers and allow officials to make data entry from schools they go to inspect … Read more

GUJARAT Forest department to put high-tech radio-collars on 100 lions   Since 1971, no more than 30 lions have been radio-collared for research, but following the CDV virus outbreak in September-October, the state government has begun radio-collaring some 44 wild lions, the number to be covered in the first phase of this project. The second … Read more

GUJARAT Gujarat battered 11 times since 1970   Gujarat has had an unusual tryst with hurricanes. Between 1970s and now, Gujarat has been hit by 11 cyclonic storms. Two of these tropical cyclones — in 1981 and 1998 — wrecked the state. In both cases, landfall was in Saurashtra ports: Rajpara port in Junagadh (and also … Read more