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Around 59 per cent of the landmass of India (covering all states) is prone to earthquakes of different shaking intensities, Jitendra Singh, Union minister of state (independent charge) for science and technology and earth sciences, told the Lok Sabha.
India has been divided into four zones — II, III, IV and V — according to the seismic zoning map of India prepared by the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Singh noted.
Zone V is seismically the most active region, while Zone II is the least, the minister said.
Around 11 per cent of the country falls in Zone V, 18 per cent in Zone IV, 30 per cent in Zone III and the remaining in Zone II, he added.
The observed average maximum, average minimum and mean temperatures for India during the pre-monsoon months of 2022 were 34.49 degrees Celsius, 22.86ºC and 28.68ºC respectively, Singh said in the Lok Sabha.
This is against the normal of 33.45ºC, 21.78ºC and 27.61ºC for the months during the 1981-2010 period, he said.
Thus, the seasonal average maximum, average minimum and mean temperatures are above normal by 1.04ºC, 1.08ºC and 1.06ºC respectively for the country as a whole, Singh added.
Over the years, the share of coal in the total primary energy mix has increased from about 42 per cent in 2009-10 to 45.56 per cent in 2020-21, Pralhad Joshi, Union minister for parliamentary affairs, coal and mines, told the Lok Sabha.
More than 72 per cent of the electricity generated in the country is coal-fired (including lignite), he added.
The current ethanol production capacity in the country for ethanol blending with petrol and other uses is about 9.47 billion litres, Niranjan Jyoti, Union minister of state for rural development and consumer affairs, food and public distribution, told the Lok Sabha.
This includes 6.19 billion litres of molasses-based production capacity and 3.28 billion litres of grain-based production capacity, she added.
A total of 169,260 Community Forest Resource (CFR) claims under Section 3 (1)(i) of the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006 have been filed across the country, Bishweswar Tudu, Union minister of state for tribal affairs told the Rajya Sabha.
Around 59 per cent of rural households in northeast India have no land, Renuka Singh Saruta, Union minister of state for tribal affairs, told the Rajya Sabha. She was citing the Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC), 2011 report.
SECC 2011 data also revealed that the percentage of ST landless households deriving major part of their income from manual casual labour is 17.6 per cent, compared to 29.3 per cent for all landless households in the rural areas of northeastern region, she added.
A total of 53.8 million households have availed employment as on December 15, 2022 under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Jyoti told the Rajya Sabha.
Authorised operators of the Pollution Under Control (PUC) Certificate centre operators have been allowed to enter vehicle details in the VAHAN system manually, Nitin Jairam Gadkari, Union minister of road transport and highways, told the Rajya Sabha.
This was done to address the problem of particulars of some vehicles not getting reflected in the PUC database, and has been successful, he added.
There are nearly 100,000 primary agricultural credit societies (PACS) / large area multipurpose societies / farmers service societies in India, Amit Shah, Union minister for cooperation, told the Rajya Sabha.
These are refinanced by NABARD through 352 district central cooperative banks and 34 state cooperative banks, with around 130 million farmers as members, he said.
Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS) constitute the lowest tier of the short-term cooperative credit structure in the country and play a significant role in transforming the agricultural and rural landscape of the Indian economy, the minister added.
PACS provide credit facility, distribute agricultural inputs like seeds, fertilisers, procurement of food grains, storage facilities, etc to the member farmers, he shared.