Why in News?

=> In the meeting of the Council of Ministers held under the chairmanship of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on February 9, 2022, many important decisions were taken including the development of two new industrial parks in the state.

Key Points:

=> Approval was given in the meeting regarding effective control over illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals. Rule 53 of the Madhya Pradesh Minor Mineral Rules, 1996 and Rule 20 of the Madhya Pradesh Sand (Mining, Transport, Storage and Trade) Rules, 2019 have been repealed with respect to illegal mining, transportation and storage of minerals.

=> The newly proposed Madhya Pradesh Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transport and Storage) Rules, 2021 were approved while completely repealing the Madhya Pradesh Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transport and Storage) Rules, 2006.

=> Apart from this, other technical improvements have been made in the Madhya Pradesh Minerals (Prevention of Illegal Mining, Transport and Storage) Rules, 2021.

=> With these reforms, there will be effective control over illegal mining, transportation and storage in the state and due to the unified provision in the above rules, transparency and ease in disposal of cases will be possible.

=> The cabinet decided to include all 412 (407 urban bodies and 5 cantonment councils) urban bodies in the state under Atal Renewal and Urban Transformation Mission (AMRUT 2.0) scheme.

=> The cabinet gave in-principle approval to the project cost amount of Rs.2141.85 crore for the construction of 108 feet high multi-metal statue of Acharya Shankar, Shankar Museum and infrastructure of Acharya Shankar International Advaita Vedanta Sansthan at Omkareshwar.

=> In the cabinet meeting, administrative approval of Rs 551.20 crore was given for the Dam Strengthening and Upgradation Project Phase-II. Under this project, the work of strengthening and upgradation of 27 dams of the state will be done.

=> The project will be funded by the Government of India in the ratio of 70:30 (World Bank: State Government) for Drip-II with the help of World Bank. The cabinet decided to develop two new industrial parks in the state at Bhopal (Bagrauda, Gokalkundi) and Sehore (Badhiyakhedi) at a cost of Rs.59 crore 89 lakh.

=> The Council of Ministers introduced an amendment ordinance regarding the establishment of four new private universities- Prestige University (Indore), Times University, (Bhopal), Dr. Preeti Global University (Shivpuri) and LNCT Vidyapeeth University (Indore) through the proposed ordinance, Approved the departmental proposal to take effect from 2022.

=> The Higher Education Department was authorized to take legal action incidental to issuing the ordinance.

By: ASRAF UDDIN AHMED