Several thematic forests to be developed across state: Uttar Pradesh Govt

IN A move aimed at boosting environmental protection and foster national unity, the Uttar Pradesh government would develop a series of 'inspirational and thematic' forests across the state, officials said on Wednesday.
The government will also undertake a forestation drive across the state. These forests would be given names such as Shaurya Van, Atal Van, Eklavya Van, Gopal Van and Triveni Van, with each of these areas to be dedicated for specific species of trees and plantation, engaging several departments as per the requirement, officials said.
Officials said each such forest area would be developed with a different focus. For instance, Shaurya Van will be developed in every district to pay tribute to the martyrs and freedom fighters. Thus, apart from the green cover, there will be places to pay tribute to 'national heroes and also for public inspiration'.
Atal Van would also be developed in every district dedicated to former PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Ekta Van will be developed, dedicated to Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, while Eklavya Van would be a mark of tribute to tribal icon Birsa Munda.
A senior forest department official said all these forest areas would be developed in the existing green cover with additional plantation and other development taken up as well. He pointed out that unlike other special forest regions, Eklavya Van would be developed in the tribal areas of the state as they would be dedicated to Munda'.
He informed that in addition to these forest covers dedicated to prominent personalities, it has also been proposed to develop 'Oxy Van' – dense green areas created in the municipal areas with the aim to counter pollution and climate change challenges. Officials said these would be developed by the Urban Development Department. Apart from these, 'Gopal Van', which would be developed near the large cow shelters, would aim at forestation of species, which give shade as well as such plants, which can be used as fodder by the cattle.
Then, Triveni Van has been proposed alongside the Ganga and Yamuna Rivers, with plantation of neem, peepal and pakkad. These would be dedicated to Maha Kumbh 2025 at Sangam, officials said.
The government has also decided to plant 4.12 crore saplings within a 5-km radius of major rivers across Uttar Pradesh as part of its 'Plantation Mahabhiyan 2025'. A major plantation drive will be organised from July 1 to July 7 across the state with the target given to different departments and institutions to plant a total of 35 crore saplings.
As part of this, the government is also promoting development of special green cover in gram sabhas as well as urban areas such as vatikas and parks.

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Business Standard

21 hours ago

• Business Standard

Diminish, deter, de-hyphenate: The 3D solution for India's Pakistan problem

Last week, National Interest teased a sequel: The perils of self-hyphenation. What does this mean? For three decades de-hyphenation from Pakistan has been the centre point of our grand strategy. But we can't move away from Pakistan physically or strategically. As Atal Bihari Vajpayee's immortal line goes: 'You cannot choose your neighbours.' India is particularly 'blessed' in that respect, with two big hostile nuclear-armed neighbours. They are in a tight strategic alliance, which is today perhaps the strongest in the world after America and Israel. Yet they're different countries, with shared interests but different priorities. You have to have the wherewithal to deal with them. Ideally, one at a time but be prepared in case they decide to collude, either indirectly as principal-and-proxy, as during Operation Sindoor, or, who knows, in active warfare. The first element of Indian grand strategy, therefore, has to be to prevent. Of the two, militarily and economically, India is much better equipped to deal with Pakistan. China is the really formidable challenge that we will need years to either match up to, or to create sufficient mutual vested interest in stable peace. That is where the idea of de-hyphenation with Pakistan comes from. It is wise, and has been pursued by every Prime Minister since Indira Gandhi's second coming in 1980. India has pushed back sharply at any suggestion of an Indo-Pak policy from Western powers (read the United States). Progress on this was slow, until the first Bill Clinton term, and then picked up. In the two decades since the nuclear deal, it has moved at a sprinting pace. India pushed it to the extent that it objected if a Western leader combined visits to India and Pakistan. The two-country rule was seen as an offence and another name of hyphenation, however convenient it might have been for visitors. The first sign it was working came during Mr Clinton's post-Kargil visit when he did touch down in Pakistan but left after a few hours at the airport, having delivered a finger-wagging 'maps in the subcontinent can no longer be redrawn in blood' warning to the Pakistanis. This principle is now so firmly established that we just saw how the Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visiting India as our Republic Day chief guest was gently dissuaded from adding Pakistan to the itinerary. The Americans used a different description, saying that their view on the subcontinent is not a zero-sum game. That they could have ties with India and Pakistan independent of each other and unencumbered by the burdens of the Cold War. The Simla Agreement is rooted in this principle — that henceforth, India and Pakistan will both discuss all their issues bilaterally. It implied that no third party, no mediator had any further role to play, and that the old UN Security Council Resolutions were accordingly rendered obsolete. This is why India became so triggered by Donald Trump's repeated assertion (16 times so far) that he brought about the peace between India and Pakistan. The Congress latched on, accusing Narendra Modi of surrendering under Mr Trump's pressure ('Narender, surrender') and he responded. At this point, however, it looks like both sides have calmed down. Hopefully, what both sides call the most consequential strategic relationship of the 21st century will survive this turbulence. Let's be optimistic now and hope that Mr Trump takes a chill pill on the subcontinent, understanding that if he so needs a Nobel, this is the wrong geostrategic patch for him to find it. If India and Pakistan do really decide on a permanent peace, why would they give some outsider the credit? There are Nobel hopefuls here as well. Everybody can be aspirational, and in this case, in a good way. How will the picture look if and when Mr Trump does calm down? That's the question that takes us back to self-hyphenation. Check out the number of times Pakistan features in our, mostly the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP's), political discourse, and not necessarily after Op Sindoor. It's a harsh reality, but must be stated, that over the years, this BJP government has pretty much built its domestic politics around a permanently hostile Pakistan. I don't know how you prefer to analyse these things. But if you simply did a word-cloud analysis of all speeches by the Prime Minister, you will find Pakistan featuring, compared to China, 100:1. In fact, maybe even more than that. How does one explain this, when we are also told that China is the real long-term threat to India? Pakistan doesn't matter so much. We've left it so far behind. It is a belief shared across the political and intellectual divide going back four decades. General Krishnaswamy Sundarji, in a famous 1986 interview with India Today, had said: 'China is the real challenge. Pakistan can be handled en passant.' Fun fact: That's the first time I read that expression. It means 'in passing' and is drawn from nonchalantly knocking off a pawn in chess. You might translate it into Hindi as 'chalte chalte'. As in, Pakistan ko hum chalte chalte sambhal sakte hain. How has what we thought we could handle en passant in 1986 returned to centre stage? The short answer: We've reinstalled it there. The Modi government has done it by making Pakistan an essential feature of its domestic politics. This political formulation isn't at all twisted. It is quite linear. Pakistan equals terrorism, which means Islamist terrorism, and suffice it to say, makes the core of the politics of Hindu-Muslim polarisation. India's larger strategic plan of these three decades is sound and pragmatic. Stabilise the situation with China and respond only to the gravest provocation. Create the time to build India's economy and reposition it favourably in the post-Cold War era as its comprehensive national power (CNP) rises. Meanwhile, keep advising the world not to hyphenate you with Pakistan, as you've moved into a different orbit, and are poised to jump higher still. But, are we following that advice ourselves? The evidence of the past decade isn't reassuring — especially since 2019, after Pulwama won the Modi government its biggest election victory yet. Since then, Pakistan has become central to the Modi-BJP politics. This is our self-hyphenation. It has now reached a stage where even the Pakistanis would think they can game our responses. They will end up suffering more in the end, as we saw again in their battered airbases. But if they were so rational, they won't be trapped in this permanent enmity with India. This also guarantees Pakistan army its pre-eminence there. See how Op Sindoor has pulled Asim Munir from the public opinion doghouse to national adulation. This underlines the perils of self-hyphenation. By making Pakistan central to its politics, the BJP has now created an unexpected predicament for itself, and for India — where its domestic political interests are clashing with India's geopolitical priorities. Indian strategists are smart and need space to deal with this Trumpian world of many simultaneous wars. They will be strengthened by a reboot in our domestic politics. On Pakistan, our diplomats should use their skills to keep diminishing the threat, as focused military spending builds deterrence. Meanwhile, the BJP's politics should drop this re-hyphenation. Diminish, deter, de-hyphenate. That's the 3D solution to our Pakistan problem.

The Print

a day ago

• The Print

India is re-hyphenating itself with Pakistan all over again. It needs a new 3D strategy

They are in a tight strategic alliance which is today, perhaps the strongest in the world after America and Israel. Yet they're different countries, with shared interests but different priorities. For three decades de-hyphenation from Pakistan has been the centre-point of our grand strategy. But we can't move away from Pakistan physically or strategically. As Atal Bihari Vajpayee's immortal line goes, 'you cannot choose your neighbours'. India is particularly 'blessed' in that respect, with two big hostile nuclear-armed neighbours. You have to have the wherewithal to deal with them. Ideally, one at a time but be prepared in case they decide to collude, either indirectly as principal-and-proxy as during Operation Sindoor or, who knows, in active warfare. The first element of Indian grand strategy, therefore, has to be to prevent. Of the two, militarily and economically, India is much better equipped to deal with Pakistan. China is the really formidable challenge that we will need years to either match up to, or to create sufficient mutual vested interest in stable peace. That is where the idea of de-hyphenation with Pakistan comes from. It is wise, and has been pursued by every Prime Minister since Indira Gandhi's second coming in 1980. India has pushed back sharply at any suggestion of an Indo-Pak policy from western powers (read the US). Progress on this was slow, until the first Clinton term and then picked up. Over two decades since the nuclear deal, it has moved at a sprinting pace. India pushed it to the extent that it objected if a western leader combined a visit to India and Pakistan. The two-country rule was seen as an offence and another name of hyphenation, however convenient it might have been for visitors. The first sign it was working came during Clinton's post-Kargil visit when he did touch down in Pakistan but left after a few hours at the airport, having delivered a finger-wagging 'maps in the Subcontinent can no longer be redrawn in blood' warning to the Pakistanis. This principle is now so firmly established that we just saw how the Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto visiting India as our Republic Day chief guest was gently dissuaded from adding Pakistan to the itinerary. Also Read: India-Pakistan terms of engagement: H-word, M-word & the Trump hyphenation The Americans used a different description by saying that their view on the Subcontinent is not a zero-sum game. That they could have ties with India and Pakistan independent of each other and unencumbered by the burdens of the Cold War. The Simla Agreement is rooted in this principle. That henceforth, India and Pakistan will both discuss all their issues bilaterally. It implied that no third party, no mediator had any further role to play, and that the old UN Security Council resolutions were accordingly rendered obsolete. This is why India became so triggered by Donald Trump's repeated assertion (16 times so far) that he brought about the peace between India and Pakistan. The Congress latched on, accusing Narendra Modi of surrendering under Trump's pressure ('Narender, surrender') and he responded. At this point, however, it looks like both sides have calmed down. Hopefully what both sides call the most consequential strategic relationship of the 21st Century will survive this turbulence. Let's be optimistic now and hope that Trump takes a chill pill on the Subcontinent, understanding that if he so needs a Nobel, this is the wrong geostrategic patch for him to find it. If India and Pakistan do really decide on a permanent peace, why would they give some outsider the credit? There are Nobel hopefuls here as well. Everybody can be aspirational, and in this case, in a good way. How will the picture look if and when Trump does calm down? That's the question that takes us back to self-hyphenation. Check out the number of times Pakistan features in our, mostly the BJP's, political discourse and not necessarily after Operation Sindoor. It's a harsh reality, but must be stated, that over the years, this BJP government has pretty much built its domestic politics around a permanently hostile Pakistan. I don't know how you prefer to analyse these things. But if you simply did a word-cloud analysis of all speeches by the Prime Minister, you will find Pakistan featuring compared to China 100:1. In fact, maybe even more than that. How does one explain this, when we are also told that China is the real long-term threat to India? Pakistan doesn't matter so much. We've left it so far behind. It is a belief shared across the political and intellectual divide going back four decades. General Krishnaswamy Sundarji, in a famous 1986 interview with India Today, had said: 'China is the real challenge. Pakistan can be handled en passant.' Fun fact: that's the first time I read that expression. It means 'in passing' and is drawn from nonchalantly knocking off a pawn in chess. You might translate it into Hindi as 'chalte chalte'. As in, Pakistan ko hum chalte chalte sambhal sakte hain. How has what we thought we could handle en passant in 1986 returned to centre stage? The short answer: we've reinstalled it there. The Modi government has done it by making Pakistan an essential feature of its domestic politics. This political formulation isn't at all twisted. It is quite linear. Pakistan equals terrorism, which means Islamist terrorism, and suffice it to say, makes the core of the politics of Hindu-Muslim polarisation. Also Read: Op Sindoor is the first battle in India's two-front war. A vicious pawn in a King's Gambit India's larger strategic plan of these three decades has been sound and pragmatic. Stabilise the situation with China and respond only to the gravest provocation. Create the time to build India's economy and reposition it favourably in the post-Cold War era as its comprehensive national power (CNP) rises. Meanwhile, keep advising the world not to hyphenate you with Pakistan as you've moved into a different orbit, and poised to jump higher still. But, are we following that advice ourselves? The evidence of the past decade isn't reassuring. Especially since 2019 after Pulwama won the Modi government its biggest election victory yet. Since then, Pakistan has become central to the Modi-BJP politics. This is our self-hyphenation. It has now reached a stage that even the Pakistanis would think they can game our responses. They will end up suffering more in the end, as we saw again in their battered airbases. But if they were so rational, they won't be trapped in this permanent enmity with India. This also guarantees Pakistan Army its pre-eminence there. See how Operation Sindoor has pulled Asim Munir from the public opinion doghouse to national adulation. This underlines the perils of self-hyphenation. By making Pakistan central to its politics, the BJP has now created an unexpected predicament for itself, and for India—when its domestic political interests are clashing with India's geopolitical priorities. Indian strategists are smart and need space to deal with this Trumpian world of many simultaneous wars. They will be strengthened by a reboot in our domestic politics. On Pakistan, our diplomats should use their skills to keep diminishing the threat as focused military spending builds deterrence. Meanwhile, the BJP's politics should drop this re-hyphenation. Diminish, deter, de-hyphenate. That's the 3D solution to our Pakistan problem. Also Read: Asim Munir just stole his 5th star & has nothing to show for it. It'll make him desperate, dangerous

Indian Express

2 days ago

• Indian Express

Why the Centre wants QR codes on roads built under PM Gram Sadak Yojana

Earlier this month, the Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) asked states to attach QR codes on all maintenance information display boards for roads built under the Prime Minister Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY). The first phase of the PMGSY was launched on December 25, 2000, by the then NDA government headed by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee to improve rural infrastructure through road construction. The second phase was launched in 2013. Another component, called the Road Connectivity Project for Left Wing Extremism Affected Areas (RCPLWEA), was launched in 2016 for the construction of rural roads in LWE-affected areas. The third phase was launched in 2019. On September 11, 2024, the Central government approved phase IV to provide all-weather road connectivity to 25,000 unconnected habitations of population size 500+ in plains, 250+ in northeastern and hill states/UTs, special category areas (Tribal Schedule V, Aspirational Districts/Blocks, Desert areas) and 100+ in LWE-affected areas (notified by the Ministry of Home Affairs in nine states), as per Census 2011. Starting as a totally Centrally Sponsored Scheme, the funding pattern was modified from 2015-16 to 60:40 between the Centre and states (except for northeastern and Himalayan states). A total of 62,500 km of road length is proposed to be constructed for Rs 70,125 crore from 2024-25 to 2028-29. Since the scheme was launched, a total road length of 8,36,850 km has been sanctioned, of which 7,81,209 km has been completed, as per information available on the scheme dashboard. What has the government planned now? The National Rural Infrastructure Development Agency (NRIDA), which comes under the MoRD and provides technical support for implementing the PMGSY, has written to all states about QR codes. The aim is to get public feedback about the quality and maintenance of roads. Under the PMGSY, all roads after the completion of construction are maintained by the contractor for five years. This is done using a mobile-cum-web-based e-MARG (electronic Maintenance of Rural Roads) system. It is an e-governance solution for managing and monitoring rural road maintenance. The contractor carries out the routine maintenance and submits bills on eMARG. The field engineering staff carry out Routine Inspection (RI) to verify the maintenance by the contractor, and based on geo-tagged photographs captured during RI, the Performance Evaluation (PE) is done based on 12 parameters of Routine Maintenance activities, according to the NRIDA. As a whole, maintenance comes under the ambit of state governments, with rural roads being a state subject. The NRIDA also deploys its National Level Monitors (NLMs) to check the construction quality of roads. The NLMs reports have flagged substandard works under the PMGSY in the past. However, there was no existing mechanism to capture people's feedback about the quality of maintenance. How will the new system work? To enable easy sharing of feedback, a utility has been created in eMARG. A QR code can be generated for each road, to be displayed on the maintenance information display board on the road. The board can contain instructions for registering feedback in English and the local language. 'Any road user/public can scan the QR code using a mobile phone and will get all details of the road. Users can click photographs on the road and can flag any maintenance related issue in the feedback window,' according to the NRIDA. The citizens' feedback photos will be integrated with the relevant Routine Inspection. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning will be employed to analyse these photographs to advise on Performance Evaluation (PE) marks. All programs implementing units, while giving PE marks, shall be responsible for checking these photos. 'This way not only will the public participate in ensuring maintenance on the roads but, the photographs clicked by the users will also help the engineering staff to do a realistic performance evaluation. Thus, eMARG will be a more transparent system for ensuring Routine Maintenance for 5 years,' states the NRIDA letter sent to all additional chief secretaries/principal secretaries/secretaries in-charge of the PMGSY of all states and Union Territories on June 2. According to officials, trials were carried out in various states, including a pilot project in Himachal Pradesh. After this, the new facility was made fully functional.