Current Affairs Assam – July 08 - 14, 2019
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of July 08 – 14, 2019 )
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July 08, 2019
Centre clears Dibang multipurpose project
- In a bid to deliver a big boost to power generation in North-East, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) has cleared the largest ever Hydro Electric Project to be constructed in India. An expenditure on pre-investment activities and various clearances for Dibang Multipurpose Project (MPP) in Arunachal Pradesh an amount of Rs 1,600 crore has been sanctioned, official sources announced.
- The CCEA meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi estimated that total cost of Project is Rs. 28,080.35 including IDC and FC of Rs 3,974.95 crore at June 2018 price level. The estimated completion period for the project shall be nine years from receipt of Government sanction.
- Official sources said that the project shall generate 2880MW (12x240MW) power to produce 11223MU of energy in a 90 per cent dependable year. The dam will be the highest dam in India once completed.
- The project is located on River Dibang, in Lower Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh. The project envisages construction of a 278-metre-high Concrete Gravity Dam (above deepest foundation level), 6 horseshoe-shaped Head Race Tunnels of length varying from 300 metre to 600 metre with 9 metre dia, an underground Power House and 6 horseshoe-shaped Tail Race Tunnels of length varying from 320 metre to 470 metre with 9 metre dia.
- On completion, the Government of Arunachal Pradesh will get 12 per cent free power from the project i.e. 1346.76 MU. 1 per cent free power will be given in Local Area Development Fund (LADF). The total value of benefit to Arunachal Pradesh from Free power and contribution to LADF will be Rs 26,785 crore over the project life of forty years.
- Dibang Multipurpose Project (Dibang MPP) is envisaged as storage based hydro-electric project with flood moderation as the key objective. The construction of Dibang MPP shall prevent the sizeable downstream area from floods.
- The project is having all statutory clearances viz. TEC, Environment Clearance, Forest Clearance (Stage-l) and Defence Clearance except Forest Clearance (Stage-II) for seeking Investment Sanction from Govt. of India.
Finance Minister proposed Zero Budget Natural Farming
- The Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman announced a proposal of Zero Budget Natural Farming in budget 2019 for doubling farmer’s income in the country
FACTFILE – Zero Budget Natural Farming
- “Zero budget” stands for no production cost in farming and “Natural Farming” stands for doing farming without any aided chemical fertilizer or external seed and only using natural resources
- Aim to pull farmers out of the debt trap, cutting production cost and make small scale farming a viable option
- ZBNF involves no use of chemical fertilizers and assures zero credit for agriculture
- This type of farming was successfully initiated in Karnataka and was replicated as a role model in other states
- It cut down the farming expenditure and ends farmer’s reliance on loans
NIRDPR is working on a new technology to help double the income of Indian farmers
- The National Institute of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj (NIRDPR) is working on a new technology in aquaculture to help double the income of Indian farmers.
- The institute has recently established a ‘Backyard Re-circulatory Aquaculture System’ developed by Cochin University of Science and Technology.
- The system, an intensive fish culture pond, enables high density stocking of fish in cages.
- This would allow off-setting of the load by stocking different varieties and sizes of fish in smaller cages in a pond.
- Since the water requirement for this system is quite low, the high-density stocking of fish in different cages enables flexibility in managing a fishpond.
- This system, inaugurated at the Institute’s Rural Technology Park, was established with funding support of the National Fisheries Development Board, a government organisation.
- Fish varieties that can be grown in the system include Tilapia, Pangasius, Murrel and Pearlspot.
- The aquaculture system can act as a source of additional income for farmers located even in low water availability areas, helping them double their income.
- The sludge periodically pumped out of the pond can be utilised to grow agriculture crops without the addition of chemical fertilizers.
- The Rural Technology Park at NIRDPR will demonstrate the functioning of the system and provide necessary training to farmers, self-help groups (SHGs) and youth who are keen on undertaking fish culture for enhancing their income.
July 09, 2019
India gets Jaipur as its 38th UNESCO World Heritage Site
- Jaipur city, Rajasthan is inscribed in the list of UNESCO world heritage sites during the 43rd session of the world heritage committee at Baku, Azerbaijan.
- With the inclusion of Jaipur city, India has now 38 UNESCO world heritage sites of which 30 are Cultural properties, 7 are Natural properties and 1 is the mixed site.
- India gets Jaipur as its 38th UNESCO World Heritage Site.
FACTFILE – Jaipur
- Jaipur is the capital city of Rajasthan. Major tourists attraction and has iconic monuments such as Jantar Mantar, City Palace, Hawa Mahal, Govind dev temple etc
- The 18th -century town has city planning that was deliberately planned for trade.maharaja Ram Singh painted the whole city of Jaipur pink to welcome the Prince of Wales and Queen Victoria, visiting India for a tour in 1876. From then it is named as the pink city
FACTFILE – UNESCO World Heritage Sites
- A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area which is selected by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as having cultural, historical, scientific or other forms of significance, and is legally protected by international treaties.
1st Tejas Train between Lucknow-Delhi to be run by private
- The first train, operated by private players, to be run between Lucknow and Delhi will be the Tejas Express. The Railway Board is deliberating on a second such route, which too would be within the 500-km range.
- The Delhi-Lucknow Tejas Express was announced in 2016 and has been recently introduced in the new time table.
- The Tejas Express (train number 12585) will depart from Lucknow Junction, On the return journey, (train number 12586) it will leave from New Delhi.
- The train is currently parked at Anand Nagar Railway station and will be handed over to private players after an open-bidding process for operating it.
- The custody of the trains will be transferred to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which will pay for it, including their lease charges, to the financing arm, IRFC.
- The Tejas Express will offer premium services and comforts to the passengers. The train will have aircraft-like personalised LCD entertainment-cum-information screens, on-board Wi- Fi facility, comfortable seats, mobile charging points, personalised reading lights, modular bio-toilets and sensor tap fittings.
- The proposal of the Railway Board in its 100-day plan was to offer two trains to operators who would be willing to be part of the bidding process for rights to run private passenger day/overnight train sets connecting important cities.
Govt to launch solar scheme to assure Rs 1 lakh income for farmers
- The central government to launch a solar scheme for farmers that will ensure a minimum annual income of Rs 1 lakh.
- Power Minister R.K. Singh informed the Lok Sabha that farmers can use their land to install solar panels and the power generated will be bought by the government.
- The farmers who don”t have the capital can lease the land to developers to set up the solar panels.
- If given to the developers, the farmer will get at least 30-35 paise per unit to ensure an annual income of Rs 1 lakh.
- The scheme is part of the government”s target to double the income of farmers by 2022.
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July 10, 2019
Centre to launch anti-pollution programme in 102 cities
- Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar said a programme has been formulated to reduce air pollution in 102 cities across the country.
- He said that action plan to implement “Control of Pollution” programme for 80 of these cities was ready and the ministry has earmarked Rs 460 crore for it.
- Have taken up 102 cities on the priority basis, where pollutants such as dust, solid waste, vehicular emmission, are causing air pollution.
- Maharashtra has the highest number of cities, including Mumbai, in the list, while Delhi, Bangaluru, Bhopal, Lucknow are among the other major cities.
- The cities with million plus population would be given Rs 10 crore each under the programme.
- The ministry has also come up with a list of 28 cities, where it intends to reduce Particulate Matter (PM) – PM10 and PM 2.5 – by 10 per cent in the next one-two years.
IIT-Madras scientists launch ”AI4Bharat” to boost AI innovation
- Scientists from IIT-Madras launched a platform called ”AI4Bharat” that would help build AI solutions to address local problems in agriculture, health care and other sectors.
- Founded by Dr. Mitesh M Khapra and Dr. Pratyush Kumar, assistant professors in the department of computer science and engineering, the platform is open to students who would be mentored to solve real-world problems and accelerate AI innovation.
- Khapra and Kumar have also co-founded “One Fourth Labs” (incubated at the IIT Madras Research Park) with a mission to design and deliver affordable hands-on courses on AI and related topics.
- The “One Fourth Labs” start-up would work closely with AI4Bharat and offer basic and advanced courses in AI at affordable prices – as low as Rs 1,000 for a five-month online course.
Saikh Md Sabah Al-Ahmed has been awarded the Reuel International Prize for Poetry-2019
- Guwathi-based poet SaikhMd Sabah Al-Ahmed has been awarded the Reuel International Prize for Poetry-2019 in the ‘Best Upcoming Poet from the North East of India’ category.
- The Reuel Prize, instituted in 2014, is an international award for excellence in writing and literature.
- The award was conferred on Ahmed at the Press Club of India, New Delhi.
- Ahmed, who teaches English at Don Bosco School, Panbazar, was also awarded the ‘Certificate of Excellence’ by the United Nations Association (UNA)-Assam for his achievements in the field of poetry and journalism.
July 11, 2019
Cabinet clears draft law to curb Ponzi schemes
- The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its approval to the Banning of Unregulated Deposit Schemes Bill, 2019.
- The proposed law would address the issue of illicit deposit-taking activities, as it provides for strict action against such activities.
- The Bill will help tackle the menace of illicit deposit-taking activities in the country which, at present, are exploiting regulatory gaps and lack of strict administrative measures to dupe poor and gullible people of their hard-earned savings.
- The new Bill will replace the Ordinance promulgated in February this year which will otherwise cease to operate after six weeks of re-assembling of the Parliament.
Himachal Pradesh Govt signs pact for Rs 1,000-crore investments
- The Himachal Pradesh government signed memorandums of understanding of Rs 1,000 crore with three companies for investment in the state.
- The pacts were signed during Himachal Pradesh Global Investors Meet in which Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur and Industries Minister Bikram Singh met 18 industrial houses representative.
- The memorandums of understanding has been signed with Ski Himalayas Ropeway for investing Rs 500 crore in ski resorts.
- Satya Developers Company for investing Rs 300 crore in housing.
- Biotechnology company Puremagics for investing Rs 50 crore on algae farming.
- Field Fresh Food Private Ltd expressed interest in setting up food processing units in the state.
- Thakur said the state government has set a target of attracting investment of Rs 85,000 crore and so far pacts have been signed for investment of Rs 22,000 crore.
Defence Ministry signed MoU with IPFC and NRDC
- Department of Defence Production, Ministry of Defence and National Research Development Corporation (NRDC), Ministry of Science and Technology, signed an MoU with a vision to bridge the capacity shortfall and provide a major fillip to the ongoing efforts of Ministry of Defence towards promoting a culture of Innovation and Intellectual Property Rights IPR in Indian Defence industry.
- The move will be a boost to the Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti. It may be recalled that Mission Raksha Gyan Shakti was launched with the aim to inculcate IP culture in Indian defence manufacturing ecosystem.
- Under this mission, an IPFC has been established under the aegis of Directorate General Quality Assurance (DGQA) which has within a short span of a year achieved the challenging target of training more than 12,000 personnel on IPR and facilitating the filing of more than 1000 new IPR applications.
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July 12, 2019
Delhi to convert Rajghat power plant into solar
- The Delhi Cabinet approved a proposal to shut down the Rajghat thermal power plant and to convert the area into a solar park with the capacity of 5,000 KW.
- Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said that the government had closed down the coal-based plant in 2015 as it was a major source of pollution.
- The Cabinet approved the proposal to officially close down the Rajghat Coal Plant.
- The 45-acre area plant will be converted into a solar park.
- Delhi Government has been pushing for solar energy for quite some time now.
India to get it’s first Dolphin Research Centre at Patna
- The foundation stone of India’s first dolphin research centre will be laid in Patna on October 5.
- Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would lay the foundation stone of the National Dolphin Research Centre (NDRC) on October 5 on the bank of river Ganga in the premises of Patna University.
- According to Gopal Sharma, a senior scientist at the Zoological Survey of India (ZSI), the population of the endangered Gangetic river dolphins was stable along nearly 1,000 km stretch of the Ganga and its two major tributaries, Gandak and Ghaghra.
- Earlier this year, about 1,500 dolphins were spotted by three teams of experts and scientists who counted the species.
- The main objective of NDRC is to strengthen conservation efforts and help in research to save the endangered mammal.
Second India-Russia strategic economic dialogue held at New Delhi
- The Second India-Russia Strategic Economic Dialogue (IRSED) was held in New Delhi, under the chairmanship of Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice-Chairman, National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog and Mr. TimurMaksimov, Deputy Minister of the Economic Development of the Russian Federation.
- The Second meeting of the IRSED focussed on six core areas of cooperation, namely, Development of Transport Infrastructure and Technologies; Development of Agriculture and Agro-Processing sector; Small and Medium Business support; Digital Transformation and Frontier Technologies; Cooperation in Trade, Banking, Finance, and Industry; and Tourism & Connectivity.
- The Dialogue included parallel round-tables which discussed areas of cooperation and concrete roadmaps for future negotiations across outlined core areas.
- The roundtable on Digital transformation and Frontier Transformation focussed on areas of collaboration between India and Russia in the digital space and frontier technologies
- Development of Transport Infrastructure and Technologies roundtable discussed areas of cooperation across various modes of transport such as speed upgradation, safety and passenger comfort in railways, creation of twin ports between India and Russia, ship building and river navigation, research and development, and ensuring predictability of cost and movement schedules across transport corridors.
- The roundtable on Agriculture and Agro-processing noted the dynamic nature of agriculture, livestock rearing and food processing in both countries and the immense opportunities of cooperation.
- The roundtable on Tourism and Connectivity highlighted the need to increase bilateral tourism and exploring natural avenues for economic and commercial partnerships.
- The roundtable on Industrial Trade and Cooperation saw participation across industries in energy, finance and industries, which emphasised awareness exchange between the two countries in areas of investment opportunities.
- The IRSED was established following a bilateral Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between NITI Aayog and the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation during the 19th edition of the Annual India-Russia Bilateral Summit, which was held on October 5, 2018, in New Delhi.
July 13, 2019
India Russia to strengthen tie-up in space exploration
- India and Russia held high-level talks to deepen the strategic connect between both countries to contribute towards Indias priorities such as Make in India programme especially towards space cooperation.
- National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Director General of Russia’s ROSCOSMOS and former Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin held detailed talks at Hyderabad House on all aspects of India-Russia space cooperation.
- Both sides agreed to strategically elevate the bilateral cooperation, and develop a special and privileged partnership focusing at India’s priorities such as Make in India programme to expand its footprint in space exploration.
- The possibilities for production of space systems in India were an important part of the discussions.
- Cooperation in futuristic technologies, including new space systems, rocket engines, propelants and propulsion systems, spacecraft and launch vehicle technology were also discussed.
- Senior representatives of ROSCOSMOS, GLAVCOSMOS, Energia and Energomash represented the Russian side, whereas Secretary, Space Dr. Sivan and the Director of the Human Space Flight Programme were present from the Indian side.
- There have been frequent contacts between the two space agencies to finalise the details of the Gaganyaan Mission, which will carry Indian astronaut to space in 2022, to coincide with India’s 75th anniversary of Independence.
Lok Sabha passes Bill for setting of two new Central Universities
- The Lok Saba has passed the Central Universities (Amendment) Bill, 2019 by voice vote, The Bill seeks to establish two new universities- the Central University and the Central Tribal University in Andhra Pradesh.
- The Universities will be set up with a cost of 1700 crore rupees in four years in Andhra Pradesh.
- In the first phase, 450 crore rupees will be provided for the Central University and 420 crore rupees for the Central Tribal University.
- The government has accorded high priority to strengthen the education system in the country.
- Government has increased the budget of education from 67 thousand crore rupees in 2013-14 to 95 thousand crore rupees this year.
IIT Roorkee signs MoU with POWERGRID to work on energy efficiency
- The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee signed an MoU with Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd (POWERGRID), state-run utility, on energy efficiency and sustainable energy.
- The MoU targets to bring together academic and industry/corporate prowess, in building efficient, reliable and low-cost energy systems.
- The main objective of this MoU is to have long term association between POWERGRID and IIT Roorkee in the area of Energy Management .
- The MoU aims at advancing and implementing energy efficiency and sustainable energy projects at IIT Roorkee campus in the mutually agreed areas of space cooling/heating, lighting and fans, water pumping, power distribution, waste to the energy, etc.
- The MoU also aims at carrying out joint Research and Development related to Energy sector.
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July 14, 2019
Novak Djokovic won Wimbledon Final
- Novak Djokovic won the Wimbledon final by defeating Roger Federer in a 5-setter. It was the longest Wimbledon men’s singles final and held between Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer of Switzerland.
- Djokovic won his 16th Grand Slam trophy overall including the Wimbledon triumph.
- He won his 5th Wimbledon title giving the tie to Bjorn Borg.
- He has won 4 of the last 5 Grand slams titles
BIOGRAPHY – Novak Djokovic
- He is a Serbian professional tennis player
- He is ranked world No. 1 in men’s singles tennis by the Association of Tennis Professionals
- He has won 16 Grand slam titles and became first in the open Era to win Wimbledon men’s singles final
Simona Halep wins Wimbledon Women’s Final 2019
- Simona Halep beat Serena Williams to win Wimbledon Women’s Final 2019 title. With winning the title, she has now got the membership of All England club. She became the first Romanian to win the singles title at Wimbledon.
BIOGRAPHY – Simona Halep
- She is a Romanian Professional tennis player
- She has been ranked world number one twice in 2017 and 2019
- It was her second slam title – 1st Grand slam title was the 2018 French Open and the second is the 2019 Wimbledon Championship.
SBI MD Anshula Kant appointed as MD, CFO of World Bank Group
- Anshula Kant, the managing director of the State Bank of India, has been appointed the managing director and chief financial officer of the World Bank.
- President of the international lender David Malpass announced.
- Kant has been credited with taking up leadership challenges including risk, treasury, funding, regulatory compliance and operations.
- Among other responsibilities, Kant will also be overseeing loopholes in financial reporting and risk management, and will be working alongside World Bank Chief Executive Officer Kristalina Georgieva.
- In her role as the chief financial officer of the State Bank of India, Kant managed $38 billion worth revenue and total assets of $500 billion.
- Kant is said to have improved capital base and directed focus on long-term sustainability of State Bank of India under her leadership.
- She is a graduate in economics from Lady Shri Ram College for Women in New Delhi and holds a postgraduate in the subject from the Delhi School of Economics.
Prasar Bharati signs MoU with IIT Kanpur
- Prasar Bharati and Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur signed a Memorandum of Understanding for research collaboration in newly emerging technologies and broadcasting-related areas in New Delhi.
The move is likely to boost research activities in the broadcasting field. - Chief Executive Officer of Prasar Bharati Shashi Shekhar Vempati and Director, IIT Kanpur Abhay Karandikar were present at this juncture.
- Direct to mobile broadcasting, Convergence of 5G, Artificial Intelligence Incubation Centre by Prasar Bharati and student internship for students of IIT, Kanpur at PrasarBharati are among the main areas in the research collaboration.
- The MoU will be effective and remain in force for a period of five years. The institutes may extend the term in writing through mutual agreement.
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