NEWS

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday said India is on track to achieve its national commitment of ‘land degradation neutrality’ while the country is working towards restoring 26 million hectares of degraded land to meet its goal by 2030.

“This would contribute to India’s commitment to achieve an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent,” he said while addressing the UN ‘High-Level Dialogue on Desertification, Land Degradation and Drought’ in his capacity as the president of the 14th session of the Conference of Parties (COP14) of United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification.

Underlining the country’s record on afforestation, he said, “In India, over the last 10 years, around 3 million hectares of forest cover has been added. This has enhanced the combined forest cover to almost one-fourth of the country’s total area.”

Calling for reduction of the pressure on land and its resources through joint efforts as “mankind’s collective responsibility”, PM Modi said, “Land degradation poses a special challenge to the developing world. A ‘Centre of Excellence’ is being set up in India to promote a scientific approach towards land degradation issues.”

(With inputs from agencies)

Sputnik V, the Russian Covid-19 vaccine, is expected to be available at Delhi’s Indraprastha Apollo Hospital from June 15, sources told a news agency. The vaccine rollout depends on the number of consignments received by the hospital.

Sputnik V was accorded emergency use authorisation by the Drugs Controller General of India on April 13 and is already available in a few hospitals. Dr Reddy’s Laboratories, Hyderabad, is the Indian partner of the Russian Direct Investment Fund to locally produce the vaccine. It is the third vaccine to get approval in the country after Serum Institute of India’s Covaxin and Bharat Biotech’s Covishield. The price per dose of the vaccine has been capped at ₹1,145 by the Union government.

In a contemporary version of the palace coups of yore, Lok Janshakti Party founder Ramvilas Paswan’s brother and nephew combined to depose the late Dalit leader’s son Chirag Paswan as leader of the family outfit in Lok Sabha.

Five of the six LJP MPs joined the putsch, leaving Chirag with the legacy of his late father, a respected figure for Dusadhs, a Dalit category in Bihar. Ramvilas Paswan’s younger brother Pashupati Paras — a known figure in Bihar politics who has served in several ministries and currently represents Hajipur, the constituency of the elder sibling, in Lok Sabha — is the new leader. Ramvilas’s nephew Prince Raj too has sided with Paras.

The Pune district administration declared 21 flood prone areas in Pune city and Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits most of which are located in the PMC jurisdiction; however, the civic body has claimed that the affected parts and affected people have been reduced as it has taken precaution to construct a retaining wall and anti-encroachment drive along the river to avoid flooding during monsoon.

Under the Mula-Mutha valley, there are four dams-Temghar, Varasgaon, Panshet and Khadakwasla which supply water to Pune city and some rural parts of the Pune district. The total storage capacity of four dams is 29.15 Thousand Million Cubic feet (TMC).