State revives abandoned tea land to grow output by half by 2029
Fifty small planters walked away from 46.45 arpents of tea across Nouvelle-France, Grand-Bois, Bois-Chéri and Grande-Chartreuse. Cabinet wants the plots green again. Approved on Friday under this year's Budget, the Tea Replantation Scheme pays half of a planter's replanting costs, up to Rs 25,000 per arpent, with the goal of lifting national tea output by 50 per cent by 2029.
The Small Farmers Welfare Fund will run it, starting with the 50 planters who quit, and the plan widens to a further 175 arpents over the next two financial years.
To collect the grant, a planter must work under three separate agencies, which is a lot of paperwork for a hillside of tea.
Visiting surgeons clear cancer cases that once meant a flight abroad
Forty consultations and fifteen operations, several of them not possible in Mauritius until now: that was the haul from two visiting specialists at the National Cancer Hospital in Solferino.
Professor Edward Leen, an interventional oncologist based in the UK, and Dr Pushpinder Gulia, a cancer surgeon from India, took on the hard cases, which Health Minister Anil Bachoo framed on Friday as way to keep patients at home rather than send them overseas.
A visiting surgeon still beats a plane ticket, but it is a trip, not a service, until the skill stays behind.
Historian says a 60-0 win is no licence to rule alone
Two years after the Alliance du Changement swept all 60 island seats, historian Jocelyn Chan Low says it now governs as if the mandate were blank, leaning on technocrats to drive the old-age pension overhaul while unions, civil society and even its own MPs are kept at arm's length. You cannot govern as an autocrat in a democracy, he said.
Mauritius moves to catch diabetes earlier as amputations mount
Around 500 amputations a year in Mauritius trace back to diabetes, and 85 per cent of them were avoidable. With World Diabetes Day marked on Saturday, the health ministry said it is rewriting its guidelines to flag cases sooner, while APSA International warns that about one adult in five on the island now lives with the disease.
Shorts
Officer under graft probe sent to train in the US – A chief inspector under a corruption probe at the drug squad is away on training in the United States.
Rue Mgr Leen shuts for roadworks until December – Port Louis drivers face a diversion on rue Mgr Leen from 16 November to 21 December for infrastructure works.
Briton challenges the island's gay marriage ban – A British man of Mauritian origin filed an NHRC complaint over the ban on same-sex marriage here.
Jockey Grant Van Niekerk held for drink driving – Police arrested jockey Grant Van Niekerk for drink driving, an awkward line for a man who races for a living.
Bérenger presses the government on three fronts – Opposition veteran Paul Bérenger pushed government on Chagos, the economy and the drug trade in one sitting.
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