Minister cited remote and rugged terrain, scattered population and commercially non-viable operations as the reasons for this
Some 20,583 villages, or 17 per cent of the total villages in India, do not have mobile network coverage, Devusinh Chauhan, minister of state for communications, told the Lok Sabha December 14, 2022.
The minister cited remote and rugged terrain, scattered population and commercially non-viable operations as the reasons for this. He referred to the data provided by telecom service providers, the Department of Telecom’s field unit and state governments as of March 2022.
Lightning claimed most lives in 2020, Minister of State for Earth Sciences, Jitendra Singh told Lok Sabha.
Nearly 2,862 people died due to lightning in 2020, significantly higher than other natural disasters such as floods (959), cold waves (776), heat strokes (530) and cyclones (37).
The minister tabled the details of casualties due to extreme weather events, citing data from National Crime Records Bureau, in response to questions raised by Lok Sabha member Lallu Singh.
Lok Sabha member Mahesh Sahoo raised a few queries on illegal mining in Odisha’s Angul and Dhenkanal districts.
The member sought estimates of loss incurred by the government due to this. He also asked whether any government officials have been identified to be part of the illegal mining syndicate.
In a written reply to these questions, Union Minister of Coal, Mines and Parliamentary Affairs, Pralhad Joshi said, “no illegal mining has been noticed and no government officials have been detected to be part” of the same.
The Department of Biotechnology is implementing a farmers-centric mission programme, ‘Biotech-Krishi Innovation Science Application Network’ (Biotech-KISAN).
The programme connects Indian farmers with the best scientists and institutions, Singh told the Lok Sabha.
The intended benefits of the programme are to increase farmers’ income through technological interventions and develop bio-based enterprises in rural areas.
The programme has benefitted over 0.4 million farmers (directly or indirectly) by increasing their agriculture output and income. The programme is also successful in developing 200 entrepreneurs in rural areas. The department has, to date, provided support of Rs 9,554.146 lakh to the programme, Singh claimed.
Some 635 people in Odisha were displaced by National Aluminium Company Limited (NALCO), a public sector enterprise, Joshi told Lok Sabha.
The problems of the people displaced by the company are being periodically reviewed by the Rehabilitation and Periphery Development Advisory Committees, constituted by the Government of Odisha, he claimed.
The compensation against the acquisition of land, trees/ crops and structures by Mahanadi Coalfields Ltd is assessed and paid in accordance with the Right to Fair Compensation and Transparency in Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Act, 2013, he added.
Some 42.9 per cent of children in Jharkhand are underweight, 36.2 per cent are stunted and 29.1 per cent are wasted, Smriti Irani, the minister for women and child development, told the Rajya Sabha.
Prevalence of underweight and wasting in children aged 0-4 was found to be highest in the state, the minister said, citing the Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey (2016-18).
The prevalence of anaemia among children aged 6-59 months is 67.5 per cent and among women aged 15-49 years is 65.3 per cent, the minister said, citing National Family Health Survey 5 (2019-21).
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