Current Affairs Assam – November 8-14, 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of November 8-14, 2018 )
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November 8
Arunachal Pradesh Govt and OIL sign pact on petroleum mining
- The Government of Arunachal Pradesh signed a petroleum mining lease deed agreement with Oil India Limited (OIL) for the Ningru Block in Namsai and Changlang districts.
- Secretary (Geology and Mining) Bidol Tayeng signed the agreement on behalf of the State Government and OIL’s Duliajan (Assam) resident chief executive BP Sharma signed on behalf of the company, in the presence of Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Chief Secretary Satya Gopal.
- The Central Government had granted petroleum mining lease for Ningru to OIL for a period of 20 years, with effect from November 1983.
- The company had drilled 14 oil wells within Kumchai area of Ningru, but only one well is producing crude oil.
- With constant persuasion by Chief Minister Pema Khandu, the lease agreement has been renewed after almost 15 years.
FACTFILE – Oil India Limited (OIL)
- OIL is the second largest hydrocarbon exploration and production Indian public sector company with its operational headquarters in Duliajan, Assam, India.
- It is a state-owned Navratna under the administrative control of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with its corporate offices in Noida.
- OIL is engaged in the business of exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas, transportation of crude oil and production of liquid petroleum gas.
- Oil India Limited was formed by the Burmah Oil Company Limited as its subsidiary in India 1887 to explore in the Assam Basin, India.
- Oil India drilled beneath the Digboi seeps and found a giant oil field. Several other oil fields were subsequently found by Oil India Limited in what became India’s first oil production.
- As of 2014 the company produced 3.466 MMT of crude oil, 2625.81 MMSCM of natural gas and 46,640 tonnes of LPG.
- Most of this was produced from its traditionally rich oil and gas fields concentrated in the Northeastern part of India and contribute around 80% of total oil and gas produced in the region.
Amur Falcon Fest observed in Manipur
- A day-long Amur Falcon festival was organized by Rainforest Club of Tamenglong in collaboration with Tamenglong district Forest division. This year’s theme of the festival was “Honour the Treasured Wings.”
- Satellite tagging of two birds were done by Dehradun based Wildlife Institute of India (WII) expert Dr Suresh Kumar and Hungarian ornithologists, Peter Fehervari and Peter Palatitz. They had earlier done it in association with Nagaland Forest department at Doyang in Nagaland five years back to track their migration.
- Phalong (Bhalok) village has been declared as Amur Falcon village. And it is also suggested that Tamenglong district should be named as “Amur Falcon District” as the migratory birds come and rest in many villages in the district.
- Amur Falcons come to Tamenglong annually during winter to stay and hunt for termites and other pests for a month.
FACTFILE – Amur falcon
- The Amur falcon (Falco amurensis) is a small raptor of the falcon family.
- The Amur falcon breeds in east Asia from the Transbaikalia, Amurland, and northern Mongolian region to parts of North Korea.
- They migrate in a broad front through India and Sri Lanka, sometimes further east over Thailand and Cambodia and then over the Arabian Sea, sometimes in passage on the Maldives and other islands to reach southern Africa.
- Birds going over India are thought to be aided by strong winds blowing westward. These winds are strong at an altitude of about 3000m and the birds are thought to fly at a height of above 1000m during migration.
- In 2012, mass trapping and capture of migrating Amur falcons in Nagaland was reported in the media and a successful campaign was begun to prevent their killing.
- As part of this campaign, three birds were fitted with 5 gm satellite transmitters that allowed them to be tracked during their migration.
Meghalaya’s largest apparel manufacturing unit gets operational
- The School of Livelihood & Rural Development (SLRD) has ramped its activities with the acquisition of the largest apparel and garment manufacturing unit in Meghalaya, which is located at Hatisil in South West Garo Hills.
- The unit covering an area of 45,000 sq ft, the unit was originally set up at a cost of Rs 14.26 crore by Union Ministry of Textiles under the North East Region Textiles Promotion Scheme (NERTPS), an umbrella scheme for the development of various segments of textiles, i.e. silk, handlooms, handicrafts and apparels and garments.
- The facility remained idle for a year and a half while the two different agencies that the unit was allocated to failed to meet their commitment to start production. Meanwhile, production work has finally begun and will be ramped up in stages to meet the market demand.
- The centre has three units, two of them housing 105 sewing machines each, and the third one having seventy machines. This would not only require skilled individuals to operate machinery but also people for various aspects of production, packaging, and market linked activities.
India to share talks table with Afghan Taliban at non-official level
- India on 8th November said that it will attend, albeit at a non-official level, a multilateral meeting in Moscow on the Afghanistan issue on Friday where the Afghan Taliban will also be present.
- This will be the first time that India will be sharing a talks table with the Afghan Taliban on the issue of peace and stability in Afghanistan.
- Amar Sinha, former Secretary in the External Affairs Ministry who also served as India’s Ambassador to Afghanistan, and T.C.A. Raghavan, former Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, will represent New Delhi at the Moscow talks.
- Russia sent invitations for what is called the “Moscow Format” talks to Afghanistan, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, China, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the US and the Afghan Taliban.
- The Indian move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to New Delhi in October for the annual bilateral summit with Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
- New Delhi and Moscow also resolved to launch joint development and capacity building projects in Afghanistan.
November 9
Cabinet okays privatisation of Guwahati and five other AAI airports
- The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a proposal to privatise six airports in India, including the Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport.
- Besides the LGBI Airport, the other AAI airports, which the Union Cabinet has decided to privatise, are Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Lucknow, Mengaluru and Thiruvanathapuram Airport.
- The proposal has been made to modernise the airports under the public-private partnership (PPP) model to meet international standards.
- The government’s decision on privatising these airports comes 12 years after it privatised Delhi and Mumbai airports, which have emerged among the top airports globally.
- While the AAI could still hold a minority stake, the chosen private player could hold at least 75 per cent stake. The Delhi and Mumbai airports have been leased to GMR and GVK, which share 45.99 per cent and 38.7 per cent of their revenues with the AAI every year.
- The Public Private Partnership Appraisal Committee (PPPAC) will handle the privatisation project, and any issue that is beyond its scope would be dealt with by an empowered group of secretaries. The Empowered Group will be headed by NITI Aayog CEO and the secretaries from the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Economic Affairs, and Department of Expenditure.
- It is to be pointed out that the PPP model has also worked well for the AAI’s airports in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Cochin and Bengaluru.
National Legal Services Day observed on November 9
- National Legal Services Day (NLSD) is observed every year on 9th November to spread awareness for ensuring reasonable fair and justice procedure for all citizens.
- It aims to offer free of charge, proficient and legal services to the people belonging to
- weaker sections of society.
- It also seeks to make sure availability of free services to weaker section people as well as making them conscious about their rights.
- Lok Adalats are organized across the country to make safe the legal system operations and encourages righteousness of people on the equal.
- Legal literacy camps and functions are also organized to increase awareness of free legal aid towards every weak citizen of the country.
- It was started by the Supreme Court of India in 1995 to provide help and support to poor and weaker sections of the society.
Union Cabinet approved for sale of unutilized “Enemy Shares”
- The Union Cabinet approved the mechanism and procedure for sale of over 6.5 crore “Enemy Shares” lying unutilised since 1968.
- The Cabinet has approved the mechanism and procedure for sale of over 6.5 crore enemy shares of 996 companies worth Rs 3,000 crore which have been lying unutilised since 1968.
- A total number of 6,50,75,877 shares in 996 companies of 20,323 shareholders are under the custody of Custodian of Enemy Property of India (CEPI).
- Of these 996 companies, 588 are functional or active companies, while 139 of these are listed and the remaining being unlisted.
- The process for selling these shares will be approved by the Alternative Mechanism (AM) under the Chairmanship of Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, and comprising Minister of Road Transport and Highway Nitin Gadkari and Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
‘Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh’ to come up in Vizianagaram District
- The Union cabinet approved setting up of ‘Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh’. It will be established in Relli village of Vizianagaram District.
- The proposed university will come up after necessary amendment in the Central Universities Act.
- The ‘Central Tribal University of Andhra Pradesh’ will be set up in Relli village of Vizianagaram District as provided under the Thirteenth Schedule to the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014.
- Cabinet has also approved the provision of funds of Rs 4.2 billion for the first phase expenditure towards the establishment of the Central Tribal University
India joined Advanced Motor Fuels Technology Collaboration Programme of IEA
- Recently India joined a member of Advanced Motor Fuels Technology Collaboration Programme (AMFTCP) under the International Energy Agency.
- The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas joined AMFTCP as its 16th member on May 9 this year.
- The primary goal of joining AMFTCP by the Ministry of Petroleum is to facilitate the market introduction of advanced motor fuels/ alternate fuels with an aim to bring down emissions and achieve higher fuel efficiency in transport sector
FACTFILE – Advanced Motor Fuels Technology Collaboration Programme (AMFTCP)
- Advanced Motor Fuels (AMF) is one of the International Energy Agency’s (IEA) transportation related Technology Collaboration Programmes.
- Technology Collaboration Programmes (TCPs) are multilateral technology initiatives that encourage technology-related activities that support energy security, economic growth and environmental protection.
- AMFTCP is an international platform for co-operation among countries to promote cleaner and more energy efficient fuels and vehicle technologies.
- The benefits of participation in AMFTCP are shared costs and pooled technical resources. The duplication of efforts is avoided and national R&D capabilities are strengthened . The other member countries of AMFTCP are USA, China, Japan, Canada, Chile, Israel, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Spain, Republic of Korea, Switzerland and Thailand.
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