April 2021: Rajasthan Current Affairs Summary

This article lists Summary of Rajasthan Current Affairs for month of April 2021. Kindly note, that this page does not list news & other information related to Covid 19, as for that, we have created a dedication section on Corona Virus situation in Rajasthan. 

State Government to create Online Register of Students in Kota

The Rajasthan government will create an online register of students from other states, who are preparing for competitive examinations in Kota city. There are about 50 small and 10 big coaching institutes in Kota city, home to about 2 lakh students preparing for entry into engineering and medical colleges. The proposal for the ₹68 lakh project was cleared by chief minister Ashok Gehlot in April 2021.

RajComp Info Services Limited (RISL) has been assigned the job to create the database that will make it easier to manage these migrants in situations such as Covid-19.

Rajasthan Mineral Exploration Trust to Undertake 5 Projects

The recently constituted Mineral Exploration Trust will undertake five projects for exploring limestone, garnet and iron ore. The money collected for the trust will be utilised for the exploration which in the first phase will be undertaken in districts like Kota, Baran, Jodhpur, Bhilwara, Jhunjhunu, Udaipur and Ajmer.

Under the rules of the trust, all the mining and quarry lease holders are required to pay 2% of the royalty they pay to the state government. The corpus will be used by the trust to carry out its activities. The trust is modelled after the National Mineral Exploration Trust which also gets a contribution from the major mineral lease holders to undertake exploration work in the country.

Read More on: Rajasthan State Mineral Exploration Trust

Committee on Recruitment Constituted

The state government has constituted a committee under the chairmanship of M L Kumawat, former chairman of Rajasthan Public Service Commission, for timely and smooth execution of the state recruitments, strengthening the entire recruitment process including interviews.

This committee will submit its report in a month after studying various aspects of the recruitment process, including various service rules. Retired IAS Khemraj, Inspector General, Registration and Stamp, Mahavir Prasad, RPSC secretary Shubham Chaudhary, retired RAS Badrinarayan, currently advisor to Rajasthan Staff Selection Board will be the members.

Melanistic Little Egret

A single Melanistic Little Egret, a species of egrets and herons group of birds, having scientific name egretta garzetta, has been sighted after many years in India at the Oran (sacred forest) of Shree Degrai Temple, near Rasla of Fatehgarh tehsil in Jaisalmer district during April 2021.

It is to be noted that melanism is generally defined as an increase of dark pigment in the plumage, resulting in a blackish appearance. Also, many different mutations in many different genes promote melanism in birds.

Install Bird Diverters: Supreme Court

In April 2021, the Supreme Court ordered to install bird diverters until the conversion of the overhead cables into underground power lines and to put the overhead cables into underground power lines wherever feasible, within a period of one year in Rajasthan and Gujarat.

The apex court gave this decision on the PIL filed by retired IAS MK Ranjit Singh to protect two species of birds namely the Great Indian Bustard and Lesser Florican, which are on the verge of extinction. These birds collide with the high-tension electric wires passing through their habitat and get killed. The bench of Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, Justice AS Bopanna and Justice V Ramasubramanian gave this decision hearing the PIL.

The SC has also ordered to hang bird diverters till that time from the existing power lines. A 3-member committee has also been constituted to assess the feasibility of laying the overhead high-tension electricity wires underground.

Board of Investment gives nod to INR 1.67 lac crore projects

Recently constituted Board of Investment chaired by chief minister Ashok Gehlot in April 2021 gave final approvals to investment projects worth Rs 1.67 lakh crore, majority of which are in the renewable energy sector.

Cumulatively, projects of these four renewable energy firms account for investments of nearly Rs 1.64 lakh crore, while other projects approved came from sectors like electronics, technical textile, engineering, healthcare, ceramics, etc.

Ujore Nature

Ujore Nature, a student startup from Banasthali Vidyapith, working on the idea of a special fish feed to combat disease outbreak in aquaculture and fishery industry has won the regional finale to make it to the global competition of TiE. The startup will now compete with 30 teams from across the globe in the Global Pitch Competition to be held in May 2021.

616 get Property e-Cards in Jaisalmer

On 24th April 2021, PM Modi distributed e-property cards to 4.09 lakh families in 5,002 villages spread in eight states including Rajasthan to mark Panchayati Raj Divas. Under the programme, 616 persons have been awarded letters in 51 revenue villages in Fatehgarh tehsil of Jaisalmer. This marks the rolling out of the SVAMITVA scheme for implementation across the country.

During the programme, several panchayats were awarded for delivering excellence in services. Under Deendayal Upadhyaya Panchayat Empowerment Award:

• Kota Municipal Corporation has been given the cash award of Rs 50 lakh,
• Panchayat samiti Kotra (Udaipur) and panchayat samiti Chidawa (Jhunjhunu) given Rs 25 lakh each,
• Gram panchayat Thur (Udaipur), gram panchayat Nidharia Kala (Dholpur) and gram panchayat Bar (Pali) was given Rs 10 lakh each. 

Read Ahead: Property Cards under SVAMITVA Scheme

Expert Committee for new State Road Policy

Chief minister Ashok Gehlot had announced in the budget 2021 that a New State Road Policy-2021 will be introduced in Rajasthan. Consequently, the state’s Public Works Department (PWD) has formed a four-member expert committee of chief engineers who will visit various states across the country to study their road policies. Inputs gathered by the experts will be used for drafting the new state road policy.

Isarda-Dausa water project

In April 2021, Chief minister Ashok Gehlot announced that the state government will fund Isarda-Dausa water project’s loanable component in a cabinet meeting. The move came after the delay in procuring a loan of Rs 1,333 crore from the financial agency is delaying the entire project.

About: Isarda-Dausa water project

• The project was announced in the 2019 state budget to provide drinking water in six towns in Sawai Madhopur and Dausa.
• The project will cover 1,256 villages.
• The project is to be funded by a central fund (Jal Jeevan Misson) of Rs 1,368 crores, state fund (Rural and urban department) of Rs 1,356 crore loanable fund from Agence Francaise De Development (AFD).

It was decided that due to the delay in allocation of fund from AFD, the state will finance the treasury fund in order to expedite the project.

Ghar Ghar Aushadhi Scheme

The State forest department is planning to implement its ‘Ghar Ghar Aushadhi Scheme,’ to promote medicinal herb with multiple health benefits. Under the scheme, the department targets to distribute medicinal plants including Kalmegh, Tulsi, Giloy and Ashwagandha for next five years.

The forest department plans to benefit 1 crore 26 lakh (as per 2011 Census) and has sanctioned Rs 210 crore for the Scheme. In the financial year 2021-2022, Rs 31.40 crore will be allocated. As per a recent NEWS in TOI, for three years, including 2021-2022, the department will provide eight saplings of medicinal plants in its nurseries free of cost.

Persons in NEWS:

Pradyuman Singh

In April 2021, Governor Kalraj Mishra appointed former finance minister Pradyuman Singh as chairman of the state finance commission while Laxman Singh Rawat and Ashok Lahoti as members.

According to the notification, the chairman and other members of the commission will hold office for a period of one and a half years from the date of notification.

Akhil Arora

In view of the surge in Covid cases in the state during April 2021, the state government gave additional charge of medical, health and family welfare to Akhil Arora, who is principal secretary in-charge of finance, excise and taxation department.

Meanwhile, Siddharth Mahajan will continue as secretary in-charge of medical, health and family welfare.

Read Ahead: