Bhopal, July 26 (IANS) The Madhya Pradesh government will give reservation to ‘Agniveer’ personnel in the state’s police and other paramilitary forces, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav announced on Friday.

He said the state government will give the benefit of reservation to ‘Agniveers’ in recruitment in the police and armed forces and the firefighting services.

“This is the first priority of the defence sector and a major step towards defence reforms. The Madhya Pradesh government has decided to provide reservation for firefighters in the state as per Prime Minister Modi’s spirit,” CM Yadav said.

He stated on Kargil Victory Day that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his address in Ladakh emphasized the special role of firefighters in the Indian Army.

Yadav said the ‘Agneepath’ scheme is an important initiative to increase the strength of the country and connect the powerful youth with the army.

“Agniveer Jawan’s plan Agneepath is a plan to modernize the army in the true sense and make the army young at the global level besides recruiting the right soldiers,” CM Yadav said.

However, this is not the first time that the MP government has made such an announcement. Former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan had announced that Agniveer jawans will be given reservation in MP police recruitment.

–IANS

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Panaji, July 26 (IANS) The Goa government on Friday reiterated that the process to manufacture ethanol at the lone sugar factory in the state on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode is under consideration. However, there is low response from the bidders.

Agriculture Minister Ravi Naik on Friday informed the Assembly that a Request for Qualification (RFQ) application has been invited for the second time for shortlisting the qualified bidders for the redevelopment of the sugar factory, including manufacturing ethanol on PPP mode.

“The application due date was extended three times and finally the bid was opened on June 18. But it was found that no bidders submitted a bid,” Naik said.

To recall, before the Assembly elections in 2017, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had stressed the need to generate fuel from farm products.

Gadkari had said that the alternate fuel can be generated from rice straw, wheat straw, cotton straw, and used sugarcane waste. The Minister’s advice had given hope to the sugarcane farmers of getting more opportunities to sell their produce.

The ‘Sanjivani Sahakari Sakhar Karkhana’ (Goa’s only sugar factory) was set up in 1972 by the first Chief Minister of the state, Dayanand Bandodkar, at Dharbandora in South Goa. It had an excellent track record at the initial stage with many farmers engaged in the production of the crop.

However, in 2020, the state government shut down operations in the sugar factory and since then, the local farmers have been selling their produce in the neighbouring states.

–IANS

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Jammu, July 26 (IANS) Security forces recovered arms and ammunition after they fired at a quadcopter along the line of control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district, an official said on Friday.

According to an official, after the movement of a quadcopter was noticed along the LoC in Nowshera sector in the Jhanger area of Rajouri district during the intervening nights of Thursday and Friday, troops opened fire at it.

“The troops deployed at Sair LoC post fired at the quadcopter, after which it disappeared without returning to the enemy side. A cordon and search operation was launched by the security forces on Friday morning,” the official said.

“One pistol, two loaded magazines and 37 pistol rounds were recovered,” the official added.

–IANS

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Hyderabad, July 26 (IANS) Telangana Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy on Friday asked officials to expedite the process for conducting local body elections.

Holding a review meeting on local body elections with Deputy Chief Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka, some ministers, advisors and top officials at the state Secretariat, Revanth Reddy enquired about the hurdles in initiating the process for local body elections.

The officials informed him that the State Election Commission is waiting for revised electoral rolls from the Election Commission of India.

According to the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), the Chief Minister wanted to know how long it would take for the State Election Commission to get electoral rolls from the Election Commission and was told that the poll panel has so far sent electoral rolls to two states. The officials said six states, including Telangana, would get the electoral rolls soon.

The Chief Minister wanted officials to initiate the process for local body elections immediately after receiving the electoral rolls. He suggested that the voters’ list of each local body be prepared within a week. He also wanted the Backward Classes Commission to send its report within a specified timeframe to the government about reservations.

Health Minister Damodar Rajanarasimha, Panchayat Raj Minister Seethakka, BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar, Revenue Minister P. Srinivas Reddy, MLC Teenmaar Mallanna, state government advisor K. Keshav Rao, Chief Minister’s advisor Vem Narender Reddy, former minister Jana Reddy, BC Commission Chairman V. Krishnamohan Rao, Chief Secretary Santhi Kumari, Chief Minister’s Principal Secretary V. Seshadri, secretaries, Advocate General Sudershan Reddy and others were present.

–IANS

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Chennai, July 28 (IANS) Cauvery Delta farmers in Tamil Nadu on Friday demanded an early release of water from the Mettur dam for their paddy crop.

The farmers placed their demand for the early release of water from Stanley Reservoir, Mettur in a meeting convened by Thanjavur District Collector, urging the official to forward their pleas to the state government so that they could take up ‘Samba’ paddy cultivation with confidence.

The farmer association leaders told the District Collector that the reservoir would reach its full capacity in a day or two, citing the heavy rains in Kerala and Karnataka.

They said that the India Meteorological Department (IMD) has predicted good rains in Kerala and Karnataka for another ten days and called upon the authorities to release 10,000 or 20,000 cusecs of water immediately into the Cauvery River. The farmers said that this would lead to the parched river beds or channels in the Cauvery River basin getting a wetting.

The delta paddy farmers also told the District Collector that this measure would help the paddy farmers who were struggling to save their ‘Kuruvai’ crop, cultivated using groundwater.

“A regulated release of water for irrigation from August first week or even earlier would help impound sufficient water in the Stanley Reservoir once the northeast monsoon sets in over the delta region,” Aambalapattu South Irrigation Society President A. Thangavel told IANS.

Several farmer leaders also urged the state government to release water from the Stanley Reservoir as early as possible for the smooth cultivation of the ‘Samba’ paddy crop.

–IANS

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