Rajasthan State PCS

• 22 Apr 2024

Bhiwadi To Delhi-Mumbai Expressway

Why in News?

Recently, realtors body Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI) has urged the Rajasthan Government to facilitate the linkage of Bhiwadi, an emerging industrial and residential hub, to the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

Key Points

• CREDAI NCR Bhiwadi Neemrana requested this to not only stimulate economic growth but also facilitate smoother movement of goods and people, thereby fostering regional development and prosperity.
  • It is one of the Chapters of CREDAI NCR representing developers of Bhiwadi, Dharuhera, and Neemrana.
• They also suggested exploring the possibility of developing a road along the Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC) with an interchange at the Delhi-Mumbai Expressway.

Confederation of Real Estate Developers Associations of India (CREDAI)

• CREDAI is the apex organisation representing more than 11,940 real estate developers spread across 23 states and 170 city chapters.
• Since its inception in the year 1999, CREDAI has worked consistently to improve the standards of fairness, transparency and ethical behavior in the real estate sector.

Dedicated Freight Corridor (DFC)

• It is a high speed and high capacity railway corridor that is exclusively meant for the transportation of freight, or in other words, goods and commodities.
• DFC involves the seamless integration of better infrastructure and state of the art technology.
• DFC consists of two arms:
  • Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor (EDFC):
    • It starts at Sahnewal (Ludhiana) in Punjab and ends at Dankuni in West Bengal.
    • The EDFC route has coal mines, thermal power plants and industrial cities. Feeder routes are also being made for these.
    • The EDFC route covers Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal
    • The World Bank is funding a majority of the EDFC.
    • The 351-km-long ‘New Bhaupur-New Khurja section’ will decongest the existing Kanpur-Delhi main line and double the speed of freight trains from 25 kmph to 75 kmph.
  • Western Dedicated Freight Corridor (WDFC):
    • The other arm is the around 1,500-km WDFC from Dadri in Uttar Pradesh to Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Mumbai, touching all major ports along the way.
    • The WDFC covers Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
    • It is being funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency.

Boost for Artisans in Rajasthan

Why in News?

The Rajasthan government is planning to implement an ‘integrated cluster development scheme’, which will help boost the productivity and quality of handicrafts, handlooms, and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) sectors.

• A draft had already been prepared and suggestions were being sought from stakeholders.

Key Points

• Cluster development schemes are being run by various central government ministries such as MSME, textiles, food processing, information and technology, and commerce and industry to support MSMEs.
• According to the draft policy, there are four main components of the scheme:
  • The key component includes support for artisans, craftsmen, and weavers for undertaking soft interventions for capacity building, operation of the raw material bank for easy availability of resources, and market development through e-commerce platforms.
  • The other is support for MSME clusters for establishing Common Facility Centres (CFCs) with assistance from the state government for projects of up to Rs 5 crore.
  • Another component notes infrastructure development for existing clusters in non-Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO) industrial areas and for greenfield clusters in non-RIICO industrial areas.
• The draft policy says that for implementation of the cluster development project related to artisans, craftsmen and weavers, a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) will be constituted as a partnership firm and/or a trust or society or co-operative society or company or producer company etc. with at least ten artisans, craftsmen and/or weavers, having registered artisan ID card. Artisans, craftsmen, and weavers practicing their trade in Rajasthan will be eligible to be part of the SPV.

Rajasthan State Industrial Development and Investment Corporation (RIICO)

• It is a premier agency of the Government of Rajasthan that has played an important role in the industrial development of Rajasthan, it was formed in 1980.
• A Government enterprise established under Companies Act, 1956 on 28^th March 1969 as Rajasthan State Industrial & Mineral Development Corporation (RSIMDC) was divided into two entities on 1st January 1980:
  • Rajasthan State Industrial Development & Investment Corporation Limited (RIICO)
  • Rajasthan State Mineral Development Corporation (RSMDC)

Deemed Forest Status

Why in News?

Recently, the Supreme Court asked the state to highlight the “steps being taken for identification and survey of Orans, De-Vans, Rundhs among others such groves as forest land”. In response to this the Rajasthan government finally notified its sacred groves, known as Orans, as “deemed forest”.

Key Points

• Orans are a vital part of community life in Rajasthan community forests that are sometimes centuries old, traditionally seen as sacred, preserved and managed by rural communities, with local laws and rules governing their use.
  • Pastoralists take their livestock to the Orans for grazing.
  • These also serve as places for the communities to congregate for social events and festivals.
  • They are also the natural habitat for the critically endangered Great Indian Bustard (GIB).
• The Forest Conservation Act (FCA), 1980 had certain restrictive provisions, wherein the Centre’s approval was required to convert the status of forest to non-forest land. But in the amended FCA, the clearance of deemed, unclassed and private forests can be done by the state government itself.
• In a Supreme Court case where the constitutionality of these amendments has been challenged, the Court noted in an interim order that deemed forests as per the 1996 Godavarman case should be protected.

Orans

• These are community-conserved green spaces that include indigenous trees, such as Khejri (Prosopis cineraria) and Rohida (Tecomella undulata), and are usually dedicated to local deities.
• They were on the verge of destruction as revenue records marked them as a culturable wasteland of government land that could be brought under cultivation. This made it easier for Orans to be allotted for non-forest activities.