Current Affairs Assam – March 29 - 31, 2019
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of March 29 – 31, 2019)
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March 29, 2019
NTPC Bongaigaon power plant’s 3rd unit operation begins
- State-owned power giant NTPC said that Unit-3 of Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project with 250 MW capacity will begin commercial operation, which will increase the plant’s generation capacity to 750 MW.
- The two units of 250 MW each of Bongaigaon project have already been made operational in June 2016 and March 2017. The total capacity of the project is 750 MW (250MWx3).
- With this, the commercial capacity of Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project, NTPC and NTPC Group will become 750 MW, 45,065 MW and 52,206 MW, respectively.
- Bongaigaon power plant is the first project of NTPC in the Northeast. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid foundation stone for this project in January, 2006.
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Joshi awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award
- RUJ Group’s founder and chairman, Dr. Rajendra Kumar Joshi, has been awarded with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for his contributions in the field of science, education and medicine, promoting the honour and prestige of India.
- The Embassy of India in Switzerland, on behalf of the President of India, handed over a commendation letter and a medal to Dr. Joshi at his residence.
- The scientist was feted by Sibi George, Indian Ambassador.
- Joshi, who belongs to Rajasthan, is a scientist of Indian origin and is based in Switzerland.
FACTFILE – The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA)
- PBSA is the highest honour conferred on Non-resident Indians by the President of India for their significant contributions towards bringing honour and glory to India.
- The theme of 2019 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention was ‘Role of Indian Diaspora in building New India.’
Croatia honours President Ram Nath Kovind with Highest Civilian Award
- Indian President Ram Nath Kovind has been honoured with Croatia’s highest civilian award the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav.
- Croatia’s highest civilian award the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav is awarded to heads of state for their important contribution towards the development of state relations between Croatia and their respective countries.
- President Kovind is the first-ever Indian head of state to visit Croatia.
FACTFILE – Croatia
- Croatia is located in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula and its capital is Zagreb.
- Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia On 25 June 1991.
- Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system is a member of the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Union for the Mediterranean.
UN Security Council adopts resolution to counter terror funding
- The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution that calls upon countries to prevent and counter the financing of terrorism, especially in its new forms.
- Initiated by France, Resolution 2462 is intended to update existing resolutions and adapt them to new forms of financing of terrorism and new challenges in this field.
- It also expresses concern at the continuing use by terrorists and their supporters of information and communications technologies, to facilitate terrorist acts, as well as inciting, recruiting, funding, or planning terrorist acts.
- The resolution calls upon all countries to enhance the traceability and transparency of financial transactions.
- It also encourages member states to apply risk-based anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations to virtual asset service providers, and to identify effective systems to conduct risk-based monitoring or supervision of virtual asset service providers.
FACTFILE – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
- UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), charged with ensuring international peace and security, accepting new members to the United Nations and approving any changes to its charter.
- Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations and international sanctions as well as the authorization of military actions through resolutions
- It is the only body of the United Nations with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.
March 30, 2019
Tashigang Village in HP is the Highest Polling Station in the World
- Tashigang, a small Himachal Pradesh village has got the distinction of the highest polling station in the world. It is located at an altitude of 15,256 feet.
- Tashigang polling station forms part of the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. Tashigang is situated at about 29 km from the India-China border and the polling station covers two villages- Tashigang and Gete.
- The polling station has 48 voters, of which 30 are men and 18 women. Even though Tashigang has all necessary facilities like power and water supply but lacks mobile connectivity and election officials will use a satellite phone during polls on May 19.
PFC is India’s second largest state-owned financial firm
- Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has completed the acquisition of majority stake in REC Ltd by transferring Rs 14,500 crore to the Government, thus making itself the second largest state-owned financial firm in the country based on the current market capital after State Bank of India (SBI).
- PFC will be the third-highest profit-making financial player in India.
- PFC taking over REC makes it a dominant player not only in the power sector but also in the entire financial market space. PFC’s strategic importance to the government will further increase upon completion of the acquisition as the combined entity will become the biggest non-bank finance entity in which the government holds a controlling stake.
India-African Union signs MoU in healthcare sector
- An agreement has been signed between India and the African Union to establish an India-Africa health sciences collaborative platform.
- The MoU will pave the way for cooperation in research and development, capacity building, health services, pharmaceutical trade and manufacturing capabilities for drugs and diagnostics
- The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) partnered with Indian Council of Medical Research and had jointly organised the first India-Africa Health Sciences Meet in 2016 in New Delhi.
European Parliament voted for EU-wide ban on single-use Plastic Products
- The European Parliament has voted for an EU-wide ban on single-use plastic products such as the straws, cutlery and cotton buds that are clogging the world’s oceans.
- The law on single-use plastic ban sets a target to gather 90 per cent of plastic for recycling by 2029 and mandates the production of plastic bottles with 25 per cent recycled material by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030.
- The law also insists on “polluter pays” principle by insisting polluters to pay the costs of a clean-up. The principle will be extended to manufacturers of fishing nets so that companies, not fishing crews pay the cost of nets lost at sea.
FACTFILE – Single-use Plastics
- Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
- They are not usually biodegradable and goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.
- They degrade into tiny particles after many years, in this process of degradation, they release toxic chemicals which make their way into our food and water supply.
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March 31, 2019
Wipro and IIT Kharagpur partner for advanced research
- Wipro Limited, consulting and business process Services Company, and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur), signed a MOU to collaborate on high-impact, industry-focused applied research in the areas of 5G and AI.
- Research outcomes from this partnership will be leveraged by Wipro to develop solutions for its customers, across industry verticals.
- IIT Kharagpur will benefit from the commercialization of the joint research insights and Wipro’s real-world industry expertise.
- Wipro and IIT Kharagpur will jointly take up applied research projects on industry challenges related to the design, planning and operations of 5G networks and cognitive information processing for the automation of these processes and 5G use cases.
Defence Cyber Agency to empower Indian armed forces
- According to the report “Credible Cyber Deterrence in Armed Forces of India” by the New Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), the Indian armed forces must have modern means and capabilities for cyber exploitation, technical intelligence, cyber deception and launching of probing operations.
- India urgently requires to enhance the cyber capabilities of its armed forces, including the operationalisation of a Defence Cyber Agency.
- The report identifies seven pillars for enhancing the cyber capabilities of the Indian armed forces, including operationalisation of a ‘Defence Cyber Agency’ as a stepping stone to develop cyber power within the designated time frame.
- Aware of cyber power being a critical component of India’s comprehensive deterrence capability, the foundation has set up a task force headed by Lt. Gen. Davinder Kumar (Retired) to suggest a road map for cyber deterrence in the armed forces.
Turing Award 2018 awarded to Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio for works in Deep Learning
- The Turing Award 2018 has been awarded to Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio who have kick started an AI revolution by studying the learning abilities of large artificial neural networks.
- The deep neural network uses layers of artificial neurons which mimics the structure of animal brains. Such AI is increasingly used in products that people use every day. This forms the backbone of Deep Learning.
FACTFILE – Deep Learning
- Deep learning involves building computer programs which mimics the structure of animal brains, with many layers of artificial neurons used for processing the data.
- When the network of neurons digests data, each neuron has individual responses within each layer. These outputs are passed to the next layer until the network finally forms a decision or judgment about the input.
- This deep learning technology can be used to transcribe human speech or recognise a person’s face in different photographs.
FACTFILE – Turing Award
- Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for individuals who have contributed a lasting and major technical importance to the computer field.
- Turing Award is recognized as the highest distinction in computer science.
- It is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of computing”.
- The Turing award is accompanied by a prize of US $1 million, with financial support provided by Google.
China launches new data relay satellite ‘Tianlian II-01’
- China sent a new data relay satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province. The Tianlian II-01 satellite was launched at 11.51 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.
- As the first satellite to constitute China’s second-generation data relay satellite network, the Tianlian II-01 will provide data relay, measurement and control, transmission services for manned spacecraft, satellites, carrier rockets and other non-spacecraft users.
- The Tianlian II network will be markedly more advanced in mission planning, system management and operations than the first-generation network composed of Tianlian I satellites.
- The new network, with faster data transfer and higher multi-objective service capability, will play an important role in improving the transmission promptness, in-orbit security and mission flexibility for medium and low-Earth orbiting satellites and manned spacecraft.
- The satellite is developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
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