17.11.22 Daily [Uttar Pradesh] UPPSC Current Affairs

With the aim to give an impetus to , the Uttar Pradesh government has approved the new Solar Energy policy that aims to generate 22,000 megawatt of solar energy within the next five years.

This includes the target of 14,000 MW by establishment of solar park, 4,500 MW from solar rooftop (residential area), 1,500 MW from solar rooftop (non-residential institution) and 2,000 MW power generation from PM Kusum Yojana components.

The new policy also talks about creation of posts called Surya Mitra, who will help in maintenance of solar Plants

The cabinet has approved (Kusum C-2) for the establishment of 2,000 MW capacity solar plants of separate agricultural feeders. Approval has been given to provide 70 per cent subsidy to Scheduled Tribe farmers and 60 per cent subsidy to other farmers and a total grant of Rs 1,000 crore in five years during the policy period, the minister said.

The cabinet has decided to provide 100 per cent exemption in stamp duty on purchase of land for solar units. In addition, all solar power generation projects are exempted from obtaining environmental clearance while grid-connected solar PV projects are exempted from obtaining no objection certificate (NOC) from Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board.

In the state, a target of 1,500 MW power generation has been set by setting up solar rooftop systems on the roofs of non-residential buildings such as government buildings and all Types of government or non-government educational institutions.

It has also been decided to provide net metering facilities on solar rooftop systems installed on the roofs of non-residential buildings of this category.

SOLAR CITY: Ayodhya city will be developed as a model solar city. Apart from this, 16 municipal corporations of the state and Noida will also be developed as solar cities.

A solar city means that a minimum of 10 per cent of the estimated total demand of conventional energy of the city is met from the solar power plants installed in the city area. For this, according to the 2011 Census of the municipal area, financial assistance will be provided by the State Government to the municipal corporations for setting up solar power plants at the rate of Rs 100 per person.

JOB CREATION: Additional manpower will be created for the maintenance of solar power plants. For this, 30,000 youths will be given training in maintenance of solar power plants and they will be named as ‘Surya Mitra’. In this way EMPLOYMENT will be created for these ‘Surya Mitras’.

The Finance Ministry has finalised the framework to issue sovereign green in line with global standards, according to sources. The government intends to mobilise Rs 16,000 crore from the issuance of green bonds during the second half of the current financial year. It is a part of the borrowing programme for the second half of this fiscal.

These rupee-denominated papers will have long tenure to suit the requirement of green Infrastructure projects.

The government is planning a total borrowing of Rs 5.92 lakh crore during the October-March period of the current fiscal.

The government had in the Budget for 2022-23 projected a gross market borrowing of Rs 14.31 lakh crore.

The Transport4All Challenge is an initiative of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India, that aims at enhancing the mobility experience of citizens. The Challenge focuses on digital innovation and invites cities, citizens, and innovators to join hands to develop contextual digital solutions to improve formal as well as informal public transport to better serve the mobility needs of all citizens.

Three Stages of the Challenge

The Transport4All through Digital Innovation Challenge comprises three stages:

Stage I PROBLEM IDENTIFICATION: Cities, with the support of NGOs, identify key recurring problems that citizens and public transport operators face

Stage II SOLUTION GENERATION: Startups develop prototypes of solutions to improve public transport with inputs from cities and NGOs

Stage III PILOT TESTING: Cities engage Startups for large-scale pilots and refine the solutions based on citizen feedback.

MoHUA launched the Urban Outcomes Framework 2022 in April, 2022 as an initiative to undertake a transparent and comprehensive assessment of cities based on cross-city outcomes across major sectors. The Framework also includes the third round of Ease of Living Index. The Ease of Living Index, as a 360-degree assessment, aims to evaluate cities across India based on the Quality Of Life, Economic Ability, and Sustainability.

Recently theUnited Nations(UN)has decided to set up asatellite-basedmonitoring systemMARS: Methane Alert and Response Systemfor trackingmethane emissionsand alerting governments and corporations to respond.