BIHAR
1.82 crore people in Bihar discarded liquor consumption, says CM Nitish Kumar
Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar said a recent survey conducted by the Patna-based Chanakya National Law University (CNLU) revealed that around 1.82 crore people have discarded consuming alcohol in the state since the enforcement of total prohibition in April 2016.
The Bihar CM also said that the state government had been receiving a revenue of Rs 5,000 crore per annum from the trade of alcohol, but people of the state had been spending around Rs 10,000 crore per annum on consumption of liquor.
Now, after the enforcement of the ban on consumption of liquor, people are spending that money on other necessary requirements. Thus, the sale of vegetables, fruits, milk etc has increased manifold. The loving standard of people has improved,” Nitish said.
The CM also said that his government had been continuously running different kinds of campaigns to make people aware about the benefits of prohibition.
INTERNATIONAL
Belgium to become second EU country to recognize Buddhism
Belgium is expected to officially recognize Buddhism after the federal government approves a draft law on Friday, opening the door to federal funding, official delegates and school classes.
The Belgian Buddhist Union had requested recognition in March 2006. The union estimates the number of Buddhists in Belgium at 150,000. The only other EU country where Buddhism is recognized is Austria.
There are currently six worship services officially recognized in Belgium: the Roman Catholic, the Orthodox, the Israelite, the Anglican, the Protestant Evangelical and the Islamic, recognized in 1974.
Buddhism would be recognized as “a non-denominational philosophical organization” alongside organized secularism, recognized since 2002. It would receive federal funding of up to 1.2 million euros.
NATIONAL
Assets of Rs 1 lakh crore seized, Rs 71 crore disposed of by taxmen: Govt
The Centre’s direct and indirect tax wings have seized immovable property valued at over Rs 1 lakh crore, but disposed of assets to the tune of Rs 71 crore, the government told the Rajya Sabha.
According to the data shared by him, the ED has also secured confiscation of proceeds of crime of Rs 15,600 crore.The minister also said that assets of Rs 15,114 crore have been restituted to public sector banks.
Nitin Gadkari unveiled first methanol run buses in Bengaluru
The first methanol-powered buses in Bengaluru will be unveiled by Union Minister for Road and Transport, Nitin Gadkari. The Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), NITI Aayog, Indian Oil Company (IOC), and Ashok Leyland are working together to carry out the initiative, which aims to lower the level of pollutants.
Methanol can be produced through the reaction of carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and hydrogen, which are also known as syngas. The syngas can be produced from various sources such as natural gas, coal, or biomass.
Daily UPI transactions jump 50% to 36 crore: RBI
Reserve Bank of India governor Shaktikanta Das said payments through UPI (unified payment interface) have grown exponentially in the past 12 months with daily transactions crossing 36 crore, which is up 50 per cent from 24 crore in February 2022.
While the UPI has facilitated digital payments to retail outlets, kiranas, street vendors etc, the Bharat bill payment system (BBPS) has ensured migration of bill payments from cash/cheques to digital mode and the national electronic toll collection (NETC) system has helped in migration of the toll payments to digital mode with enhancing efficiency in terms of reduced waiting time at toll plazas, the governor said.
The national automated clearing house (NACH) system has also facilitated direct benefit transfers (DBT) payments digitally and eliminated leakages in the system.
Over 6% of Indian industries don’t follow green norms
More than 6% of India’s operational industries (4,40,989) currently do not comply with one or the other environmental standards, risking air, water and soils due to emissions and discharge of effluents carrying various pollutants, shows a compilation on non-compliant industries and relevant actions taken against them over the years by different state pollution control boards.
According to the compilation, shared by the environment ministry in response to a question in the Parliament during the pre-recess phase of the budget session last month, Punjab has the highest number (6,293) of such polluting industries followed by Gujarat (4,605), Rajasthan (3,796), Maharashtra (3,043) and Jharkhand (1,760).
The Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the country’s national pollution watchdog, which has power to impose environmental compensation (EC) on such industries that violate various green norms under different laws, had imposed over Rs 13.4 crore of EC on 34 polluting chemical/fertilizers and cement industries and collected over Rs 12.3 crore from them during 2018-22. The EC is imposed against the polluters for contaminating/ damaging the environment.
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