Why in News?

=> A meeting of the Council of Ministers was held under the chairmanship of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, in which many important decisions were taken.

Key Points:

=> In the meeting of the Council of Ministers, approval was given to amend the Work (Allotment) Rules to set up 'Anand Department' and change the name of 'Spiritual Department' to 'Religious Trust and Endowment Department'.

=> The cabinet gave in-principle approval for the implementation of Strengthening Teaching-Learning and Results for Status (STARS) programme. STARS is a Government of India program which has been approved in 6 states- Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Rajasthan and Kerala.

=> The objective of the STARS program is to improve the quality and governance of school education. Such activities and innovations are proposed in the STARS project, which cannot be provided for in the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. STARS project will include education for all, Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan, Sustainable Development Goals and National Education Policy 2020, Sampoorna Vidyalaya Approach.

=> Policy/in-principle approval has been given for supercritical technology based thermal power expansion unit at Amarkantak Thermal Power Station, Chachai, which is proposed to be implemented by a joint venture formed between Madhya Pradesh Power Generating Company Limited and SECL, a subsidiary of Coal India Limited.

=> The estimated cost of the proposed project is Rs 4665 crore 87 lakh. For the project, 15 percent will be given by the state government through share capital.

=> A committee will be constituted under the chairmanship of Agriculture Production Commissioner to fix the criteria regarding the loss and compensation of various agencies of the state engaged in the procurement work in the scheme. In this, officers of Food, Co-operative, Agriculture, Panchayat and Rural Development and Finance departments will be involved.

=> The cabinet decided to implement the new National Livestock Mission scheme of the Government of India in the Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying in the state. The National Livestock Mission Scheme was launched in the year 2014-15. The purpose of which is mainly cattle breed development, employment generation, increasing the productivity of animals, doing research and bringing it to the field level and entrepreneurship development.

=> Including the above activities in the National Livestock Mission, three sub-missions have been formed. The first is the Sub-Mission on Breed Development of Livestock and Poultry, the second is the Sub-Mission on Feed Development and the third is the Innovation and Extension Sub-Mission.

=> With the implementation of the National Livestock Mission, the breed of animals in the state will improve. The productivity of animals will increase. New technology will be developed and reach the ground level. This will increase the income of livestock farmers.