Parliament passes the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill
Parliament has approved the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill on laying down the multi-purpose Polavaram irrigation project in Andhra Pradesh. The Government has also assured the taking up of all adequate steps to rehabiilitate and resettle the affected people. The project, which has been given national status, will be relocating nearly 50,000 families in Andhra Pradesh and 2,000 families in Odisha and Chhattisgarh.
Government might raise wage days in case of drought
Centre is planning to add 50 days of employment to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, in case drought hits the country. Raising the minimum days from 100 to 150 will compensate farmers for the crop loss owing to deficit in rainfall. However, the coverage will vary upon the subnormality of the monsoon and areas affected by drought.
Green signal to Adani's Mundra Port project
The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change has given environment and coastal regulation zone clearance to the Adani Ports & Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Mundra Port in Gujarat. The clearance will encourage development in the zone spread across 8,481 hectares and will also allow for the setting up of a mega desalination plant and an effluent treatment plant by the company.
Maharashtra simplifies norms for converting agricultural land
Maharashtra Government is all set to ease the procedure of converting agricultural land present within the development plan area of major cities, to non-agricultural land. The decision is taken in order to prevent illegal construction scams that were taking place owing to earlier complicated rules. Now, municipal approval for the development plans will be enough for land conversion.
13 States and Union Territories implement Model Bill on groundwater regulation
The Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has informed the Rajya Sabha that thirteen states and union territories in the country have enacted the Model Bill for regulation and control development and management of groundwater. The states and union territories that have implemented the bill includes Andhra Pradesh (undivided), Goa, Lakshadweep, Kerala, Puducherry, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Bihar, Chandigarh, Jammu-Kashmir, Karnataka, Assam and Dadra-Nagar Haveli.
This is a weekly roundup of policy matters from July 13-20, 2014. Also read last week's news roundup.
Lead image source: Aditya Madhav via Wikipedia