The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has directed the States and Union Territories to ramp up surveillance at popular tourist destinations to ensure heightened safety standards in preparation for the peak tourist season from November through March.
The Registrar (Judicial) has been instructed to ensure timely communication of the order to the Chief Secretaries.
Concerned over the increasing air pollution in several states and union territories, the Centre has asked all the states and UTs to enhance their preparedness stating that air pollution is a significant contributor to acute health conditions.
According to the police, a Canada-bound passenger was caught with a fake Canadian visit visa affixed to his passport. During interrogation, he told the cops that an agent, Sandeep, assured him to facilitate travel to Canada with the help of his associates for Rs 18 lakh.
Revanth Reddy urged the 16th Finance Commission to raise the share of states to 50 per cent from the existing 41 per cent.
By the middle of the last decade, acute crisis of officers in various departments of the Union government appeared particularly in the grade of Directors. The same crisis appeared in the corresponding grades of the All-India Services. States became reluctant to spare their officers for Central deputation. Similarly, Central government departments also hesitated in sparing officers of the organized services for manning deputation posts of the Centre
The break-up of the assistance will be as follows: Andhra Pradesh Rs 351.43 crore; Himachal Pradesh Rs 112.19 crore; Karnataka Rs 492.39 crore; Maharashtra Rs 355.39 crore; Tamil Nadu Rs 352.85 crore; and Puducherry Rs 17.86 crore.
The winter smog that engulfs North India during early November begins to extend eastwards during late December and early January. Bihar, West Bengal and Odisha are affected mostly during this time when winter inversion and the cool and calm conditions trap the local pollution that is already high.
While asking states to ‘prepare’ themselves for a high surge in Covid-19 cases, Centre told them to re-invigorate their Covid-19 warrior teams to work at the ground level and strengthen monitoring and containment mechanisms.
Earlier NITI Aayog Vice-Chairman Rajiv Kumar had lauded the State government by stating that “Odisha’s per capita income has grown substantially from 2011 to 2020 with the State’s growth rate being higher than the national average”.
