HARYANA
Haryana passes amendment in Land Acquisition Act
The Manohar Lal Khattar Government in Haryana got the contentious The Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement (Haryana Amendment) Bill, 2021 passed in the State Assembly, amid protest and walkout by the Congress.
The amendment, which essentially allows to speed up the land acquisition process for development projects, was passed after the State Government rejected the demand of Congress to send it to the Select Committee of the House for greater scrutiny.
It was among the six Bills passed by the State Assembly, on the last day of the monsoon session of Haryana Vidhan Sabha. Terming the bill as anti-farmers, former Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition Bhupinder Singh Hooda said that with the amendment, the government has removed the clause of the prior consent of at least seventy per cent of those affected families for public private partnership projects.
The State Government intends to amend the Principal Act of 2013 to exempt certain development projects, including rural infrastructure, affordable housing, industrial corridors, health, education and urban metro rail projects, from the preview Act pertaining to conducting Social Impact Assessment Study.
INTERNATIONAL
Summit on Sustainable Development – World Economic Forum
The Annual Sustainable Development Impact Summit of the World Economic Forum will take place on September 20-23, 2021 in Geneva, Switzerland. This year’s match will focus strongly on inclusively revitalizing economies.
Highlights:
The UN General Assembly, the summit convenes below the theme “Shaping an Equitable, Inclusive and Sustainable Recovery”. It will welcome nearly all leaders from government, business and civil society who will work collectively to pressure action and construct momentum for an extra sustainable and inclusive future.
NATIONAL
India Signed Deal with ADB for Metro Rails
Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India have signed a $500 million loan to enlarge the metro rail community in Bengaluru with the development of two new metro lines totalling 56 km in length.
Highlights:
The undertaking will assemble two new metro lines, usually elevated, along Outer Ring Road and National Highway forty four between Central Silk Board and Kempegowda International Airport with 30 stations.
The new metro tracks will further toughen safe, affordable and green mobility in Bengaluru, having a positive effect on improving the great of life, sustainable increase in city habitat and livelihood opportunities.
Forum for Decarbonizing Transport – NITI Aayog and WRI
NITI Aayog & World Resources Institute (WRI), India, collectively launched the ‘Forum for Decarbonizing Transport’ in India. NITI Aayog is the imposing partner for India.
Highlights:
The intention of the venture is to reduce the height of GHG emissions (transport sector) in Asia (in line with a well beneath 2-degree pathway), resulting in issues like congestion and air pollution.
The Forum has been launched underneath the NDC-Transport Initiative for Asia project. The project NDC Transport Initiative for Asia (TIA 2020-2023) is a joint programme of 7 agencies that will interact with China, India, and Vietnam in promoting a complete approach to decarbonizing transport in their respective countries.
First Smog Tower of India – Delhi
The Chief Minister of Delhi inaugurated the country’s first ‘smog tower’ in Connaught Place. It was once inaugurated months before the air pollution level spikes in the national capital due to burning of crop waste (stubble burning) with the aid of farmers.
Background:
In 2019, the Supreme Court directed the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) and the Delhi authorities to come up with a sketch to install smog towers to fight air pollution.
IIT-Bombay then submitted a suggestion for the towers to the CPCB.
In January 2020, the Supreme Court directed that two towers need to be established through April as a pilot project.
The smog tower at Connaught Place (CP) is the first of these towers. The 2nd tower, being built at Anand Vihar in east Delhi with CPCB as the nodal agency, is nearing completion.
Launch of Yuktahara – Geospatial Planning Portal
Yuktahara is a geospatial planning portal for facilitating Gram Panchayat level planning of MGNREGA. The new portal under Bhuvan “Yuktahara” will enable the planning of MGNREGA assets, the use of far flung sensing and GIS based total information.
Highlights:
The Yuktahara platform will serve as a repository of property (Geotags) created underneath a number of countrywide rural development programmes i.e. MGNREGA, Integrated Watershed Management Programme, Per Drop More Crop and Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, etc., along with discipline photographs.
This G2G service for rural planning fosters decentralised selection making.
The Bhuvan geospatial portal has been developed by ISRO and it supports various authorities packages and initiatives reducing across ministries and sectors.