All that was discussed in the Houses through the day
The Government of India had shifted the Great Andamanese tribe. 56 of them, to their tribal settlement at Strait Island to ensure their safety against the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
The status of Strait Island as a tribal reserve where entry of outsiders is prohibited, had prevented the spread of contagion among the Great Andamanese, Renuka Singh Saruta, Union minister of state for tribal affairs told the Lok Sabha August 2, 2021.
She added that 11 Great Andamanese had tested positive for COVID-19 during the first wave of COVID-19. They were treated in GB Pant Hospital, Port Blair.
After a mandatory period of isolation, they tested negative and were discharged. Now, all Great Andamanese tribals were in a good state of health and had been shifted to their settlement at Strait Island, Saruta said.
Green tax
The Government of India had not notified a green tax on older vehicles, Nitin Gadkari, Union minister for road transport and highways told the Rajya Sabha.
However, the governments of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, etc had imposed higher rates of tax on older vehicles.
Namami Gange
The Government of India had sanctioned Rs 20,000 crore to be spent under the Namami Gange programme from 2014-15 to 2019-20, Prahlad Singh Patel, Union minister of state for Jal Shakti told the Rajya Sabha.
Cloudbursts
The Government of India was fully aware about frequent cloudbursts in the Himalayan region due to climate change effect, Ashwini Kr Choubey, minister of state in the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), told the Rajya Sabha.
Manifestations of extreme events, including cloudbursts and their incidence were modelled and projected in various scientific assessments. However, there was no established study for India estimating the quantified contribution of climate change in triggering such cloudbursts.
The science of the attribution of such extreme events to climate change was far more complex and currently an evolving subject and being closely studied by the Union Ministry of Earth Sciences through the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and the India Meteorological Department (IMD), Choubey added.
Forest area survey
The MoEF&CC had commissioned a project for survey of degraded forest area in about 10,000 hectares each in 26 states / Union territories including Uttar Pradesh, using LiDAR technology and preparation of Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) for Soil Moisture Conservation (SMC) works, Choubey told the Rajya Sabha.
Ten DPRs pertaining to Assam, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura had been finalised so far. All participating states had been advised to implement the DPRs with funds available with them, such as state plan funds, state fund under compensatory afforestation fund, centrally sponsored scheme, etc, Choubey said.
Meghalaya coal mining
The government of Meghalaya had informed that no illegal coal mining has taken place in the state, Pralhad Joshi, Union minister for coal and mines told the Rajya Sabha.
However, certain stray incidents of illegal mining had come to the notice of the state government and legal action in terms of Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Act, 1957 had been taken against the mining and transportation of illegally mined coal, Joshi said.
Heatwaves
The Government of India was aware about heatwaves, keeping in mind the safety and health of all citizens. There would be an increase in heatwaves due to global warming caused by cumulative greenhouse gas emissions of the entire world.
India had not contributed to the rise in temperatures in any notable manner, having contributed only about four per cent of these cumulative emissions from the pre-industrial period till 2018, Choubey told the Rajya Sabha.
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