TN CM reviews implementation of five major government schemes
- Chief Minister M.K. Stalin chaired a meeting of the District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee (DISHA) to review the implementation of five major schemes in the State.
- The five schemes include implementation of the MPs Local Area Development Scheme, the National Health Mission, the Integrated Child Development Scheme, the National Food Security Act and the Prime Minister’s Model Village Scheme.
- Procuring equipment designed by IIT Madras to avoid the death of workers while cleaning sewers, increasing the unit cost of houses constructed under the Prime Minister’s Housing Scheme, renaming villages and streets with caste surnames, installing more electric crematoriums in local bodies, ensuring crematoriums for all sections of society and increasing the income slab for availing the Post Matric Scholarship were among the issues that had been raised at the meeting.
T.N. mahouts and cavadies set to train in Thailand
- Thirteen mahouts/cavadies from the Anamalai and Mudumalai Tiger Reserves are set to visit the Thai Elephant Conservation Centre in Thailand for training and capacity building to learn how to manage camps and look after elephants better.
- The programme will involve an expenditure of ₹50 lakh, and tiger foundation funds will be used for the purpose.
- Tamil Nadu is already a pioneer in the rehabilitation and maintenance of captive elephants. The camps at Theppakadu in the Mudumalai Tiger Reserve and Kozhikamuthy in the Anamalai Tiger Reserve. are some of the ol dest elephant camps in the country. There are a total of 63 elephants, cared for by 37 mahouts and 28 cava dies, at these camps.
- On the occasion of World Elephant Day 2022 (12 August) Tamil Nadu notified Agasthyamalai Elephant Reserve as its 5th Elephant Reserve with a total area of 1,197.48 sq.km at Agasthyamalai in Tirunelveli and Kanyakumari district. This is India’s 32nd Elephant Reserve. There are 5 elephant reserves in Tamil Nadu in total.
- Other Elephant reserves are
- Nilgiris-Eastern Ghats – 4,663 km2
- Nilambur Silent Valley in Coimbatore – 566 km2
- Srivilliputhur – 1,249 km2
- Anamalai – 1,457 km2
- Project Elephant was introduced in 1992.
About Indian Elephant (Elephas maximus)
- It is included in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Flora and Fauna (CITES) and Schedule I of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.
- IUCN Status – Endangered
- The Project is primarily carried out in 16 States/Union Territories (UTs): Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Tripura, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal.
Revenue from stamp duty and registration goes up in the State
- Tamil Nadu accounted for 9% of India’s overall revenue collection from stamp duty and registration charges in the first half of 2022-23 (H1FY2023).
- The State came third after Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, respectively, as per a study by Motilal Oswal Financial Services Limited.
- As per the report, the overall collections grew by 35% from ₹70,120 crore in the first half of 2021-22 to about ₹94,847 crore in the first half of 2022-23.
- The study examined 27 States and one Union Territory (Jammu and Kashmir).
- Tamil Nadu’s revenue from stamp duty and registration charges grew by 39% from ₹6,200 crore in the first half of 2021-22 to ₹8,662 crore in the first half of 2022-23.
- As per the provisional figures of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG), Tamil Nadu has achieved 53.07% of the budgeted revenue from stamp duty and registration charges for 2022-23.
- Karnataka and Telangana have been placed fourth and fifth.
Egg export soars to 4 crores
- The number of eggs exported from Namakkal district to Qatar have been increased to 2.5 crore from 1.50 crore due to an increase in demand owing to the FIFA World Cup in 2023 and a cheaper price compared with Turkish eggs.
- In Namakkal district, approximately 1,100 poultry farms are functioning, and these farms produce 5.5 crore to 6 crore eggs per day. Out of these, 1.50 to 1.75 crore eggs are sent to Kerala, 45 lakh eggs to the noon meal scheme, 40 lakh eggs to Bengaluru, and the remaining to various parts of the State and to various countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Maldives etc.
- Earlier, 1.5 crore eggs were exported to Qatar, and now it has increased to 2 crore to 2.5 crore.
- The World Cup in Qatar has tripled the demand for eggs in Qatar.
Note
- According to the Economic Survey 2021-22, India ranks third in production of eggs and eight in meat production in the world.
Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are the top egg producers in the country.