Page 6 - NIS English 16-28 Feb 2022

News Briefs
ST ARE
’S FORE
INDIA
INDIA’S FOREST AREA INCREASED BY
2261 SQ. KMs IN THE PAST TWO YEARS
2261
. KMs IN
THE PAST TWO YEARS
Q
S
hen Prime Minister Narendra Modi
Wannounced his goal of achieving Net Zero
by 2070 at the COP-26 meeting in Glasgow,
the entire world hailed India. The declaration
by Prime Minister Narendra Modi marked the
end of a seven-year endeavour to conserve the
environment, which was undertaken with future
generations in mind. The Forest Survey Report
2021 is just an example of this effort, according
to which the forest and tree area of the country
has increased by about 2261 km during the
last two years. Union Environment, Forest and
Climate Change Minister Bhupendra Yadav
released the biennial India State of Forest
Report (ISFR), which examines the state of
forests across the nation. Sharing the findings,
Mr. Yadav said the total forest and tree cover
"KEVADIYA STATION" IN
GUJARAT RENAMED AS EKTA
NAGAR RAILWAY STATION
evadiya, which is known for having
Kthe world's tallest statue of Sardar
Vallabhbhai Patel's Statue of Unity, has a new
identity, as the Kevadiya railway station has
been renamed as Ekta Nagar railway station.
Ekta Nagar railway station's station code
will be EKNR, and its numerical code will be
08224620. Kevadiya Colony is the name of
the city where the Statue of Unity is placed.
Separate buildings, malls,
nurseries, and gardens, all
beginning with the letter
Ekta, have been created
in the region around the
Statue of Unity. This
is due to the fact that
Sardar Patel's birthday is also known as Ekta
(unity) Diwas. Prime Minister Narendra Modi
inaugurated this railway station in January
last year and launched direct train services
from 8 cities across the country from here.
4 New India Samachar February 16-28, 2022
ASE
CRE
A IN
D BY
of the country is 80.9 million hectares, which
is 24.62 percent of the geographical area of
the country. According to the Forest Survey
Report-2021, there is an increase of 1,540
square kilometres of forest cover and 721
square km of tree cover compared to the 2019
report. The states with the highest increase in
the forest cover are Andhra Pradesh (647 sq
km) followed by Telangana (632 square km) and
Odisha (537 square km). Area-wise, Madhya
Pradesh has the largest forest cover in India.
Remote sensing technology and satellite data
were used for the survey of forests. Compared
to 2019, there is an increase of 79.4 million
tonnes in the carbon stock of the country. The
country has a total of 7,204 million tonnes of
carbon stock in the forests.
INDIA POST PAYMENTS BANK
CUSTOMER BASE CROSSES 5
CRORE MARK IN 3 YEARS
andhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) has not only
Jcleared the door for digital financial literacy in
India, but it has also fulfilled Prime Minister Narendra
Modi's commitment to development through
financial inclusion. India Post Payments Bank (IPPB)
is a remarkable example of this, having reached
the milestone of 50 million customers in just over
three years. It was established
in September 2018 with the goal
of bringing banking to people's
doorsteps. With the support
of roughly 1.47 lakh doorstep
banking service providers, the
IPPB has opened 5 crore bank
accounts in digital mode in 1.36 lakh post offices,
of which, 1.20 lakh post offices are located in rural
areas. Males make up 52% of account holders, while
females make up 48%. Behind this success is the
strength of 2 lakh 80 thousand employees who have
ensured last-mile access to banking services by
running the world's largest digital financial literacy
program.