UP lifts all COVID related restrictions as cases drop

In Tripura, Deputy Chief Minister and finance minister Jishnu Dev Varma  on Thursady presented a tax-free budget for 2022-23 with the total allocation of Rs. 26,893 crore. The budget deficit is projected at Rs 569.52 crore. The budget has laid more focus on education and health sectors. Budgetary allocation for the education sector has been proposed at Rs. 5,026 crore, with an increase of 20.66% over 2021-22. For the health sector, allocation has been fixed at Rs. 1,777 crore, an increase by 23% over the budget estimate of the current fiscal. Amid noisy scenes and walk-out by the opposition members, the budget session began today with the address by the Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya. After a short while of the Governor’s address, Deputy Chief Minister Jishnu Dev Varma presented the budget proposal for the next fiscal. In his budget speech, the Finance Minister announced the Suvarna Jayanti Tripura Nirman Yojana for infrastructure and development projects with an outlay of Rs. 1000 crore. This yojana is a mark to celebrate 50 years of statehood this year. He announced that the state government will set up Satyajit Ray Film & Television Institute in the state at a cost of Rs. 5.76 crore.  Dev Varma said that the budget has focused on to build infrastructure and make investments in welfare programs to boost economic growth, to usher in an era of all-round development and prosperity of the state.

-Uttar Pradesh government has decided to lift all COVID-19-related restrictions in the state following the decline in coronavirus cases over the past few weeks. As per the new order, swimming pools, water parks and Anganwadi centers can be re-opened with full capacity. The cap on the number of guests at weddings and other functions has also been done away with. However, the order clearly states that Covid protocols, such as wearing masks and maintaining social distance, will have to be followed strictly.The announcement comes almost a month after the state government decided to lift the night curfew in the state.

-The Mumbai Police has said assembly of more than five people has been prohibited in the financial capital till 8th of April this year, in a bid to maintain law and order.  Accordingly, taking out a morcha, playing loud sounds by congregating people, music band, bursting of crackers has been prohibited. However, events related to wedding ceremony, those related to conducting final rites, meetings of cooperative organisations, events that place in clubs would be allowed, a senior police official said.  Also, assembly of people at cinema halls, theatres, places of public entertainment, courts, government and semi-government offices, schools, colleges and other educational institutions, factories, shops and other business establishments will be allowed, he said. 

-Union Territory Ladakh is progressing in primary sectors like Agriculture and horticulture with the substantial increase in the annual budget. The Agriculture outlay has increased by 35 times, to nearly 72 crore rupees for UT. Apart from this, nearly three crore rupees budget for central programs is also being implemented. Addressing the Media, UT Secretary Ravinder Kumar said, increased budgetary allocations have facilitated the Administration to take new initiatives like expanding cultivable land, high yielding seed replacement and preservation of local varieties like apricot and apples with tissue culture. He also said, five thousand hectares of land is now totally transformed to organic farming. He said, Ladakh would soon ban the usage of Chemicals, Fertilizers and pesticides in the region. 

-The Kerala High Court  on Thursday directed the film industry to form Internal Complaints Committee as per the provisions of the Sexual Harassment of Women in Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act. A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly allowed a Public Interest Litigation filed in 2018 by Women in Cinema Collective, a peer group formed by prominent actresses in the Malayalam film industry. The Court directed that associations and worker unions within the film industry should also form such committees to handle sexual harassment complaints.The Women in Cinema Collective was formed against the backdrop of the sexual assault on an actress in a moving vehicle in 2017.