14 new minor forest produce items included under MSP scheme

President Ram Nath Kovind on Saturday launched the countrywide Pulse Polio Programme for 2021 by administering polio drops to children less than five years old at the Rashtrapati Bhawan. The  President and the First Lady Savita Kovind administered polio drops to children on the eve of the Polio National Immunization Day, which is observed on Sunday.The day is also popularly known as Polio Ravivar. Around 17 crore children of less than 5 years of age will be given polio drops as part of the Central Government's drive to sustain polio free status of the country. The countrywide drive will be supported by about 24 lakh volunteers, 1.5 lakh supervisors and many Civil Society Organisations, World Health Organisation UNICEF and Rotary International. Under the programme, Healthcare workers will be visiting to as many as two crore households to ensure that no child is left without the protection of the polio vaccine. Speaking at the launch event,  Dr. Harsh Vardhan said, that before the start of the pulse polio program, India had 60 per cent  caseload of Polio worldwide. He said,  with the last case of Polio reported in Howrah on 13th January, 2011, the country has been free of Polio for a decade now.

-The government has decided to include 14 new minor forest produce items under the mechanism for marketing of minor forest produce through minimum support price scheme to provide remunerative and fair prices to tribal gatherers of forest produces. Newly included items are Tasar Coccoon, elephant apple dry, bamboo shoot, malkangani seed and wild dry mushroom among others.The Central government had introduced a minimum support price for a selected list of minor produce items through mechanism for marketing of Minor Forest Produce through Minimum Support price and development of Value Chain of MFP Scheme in 2011. It aims to provide a social safety net to these underprivileged forest dwellers, and to aid in their empowerment.

-In Rajasthan, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on Saturday launched the new phase of Ayushman Bharat Mahatma Gandhi Health Insurance Scheme. Under this scheme, 1 crore 10 lakh families of the state will get the benefit of health insurance. In the new phase of the scheme, health insurance cover has been increased from 3 lakh 30 thousand rupees to 5 lakh rupees annually. Eligible families will get the benefit of 1 thousand 576 packages of various diseases. Under this scheme, beneficiary families will get treatment in the affiliated private and government hospitals. Launching the scheme, Mr. Gehlot said that this scheme would cost around Rs 1 thousand 800 crore. He said that about Two 3rd population of the state has been covered under health insurance.

-With the easing of lockdown restrictions, things are gradually coming back to normalcy across Maharashtra. After nearly one year, all the subordinate courts in Maharashtra will also resume regular physical functioning from February 1. Besides, the state government decided to allow the general public to travel by local trains in Mumbai from February 1. Therefore, in order to further ease the woes of the commuters, the Mumbai Metro One has also decided to increase its operating hours.

-In an unprecedented intelligence operation of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, WCCB,has busted Wildlife Trafficking Syndicates in Jammu and Kashmir. In the joint raid with Jammu and Kashmir Police, in Anantnag, eight leopard pelts, 38 bear biles, four musk pods were seized from Gul Mohammad Ganie. In a tweet message, Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar congratulated WCCB on its continued commitment towards ending wildlife crime.They have also seized Leopard pelts, leopard nails, leopard skulls and leopard bones in Manwal of Jammu region from Kushal Hussain. Preliminary investigation revealed that both the offenders arrested in two places were partners in the Illegal Wildlife Trade.