Assam & NE Current Affairs & GK – October 04-06, 2022
( Covers all important Current Affairs & GK topics for the October 04-06, 2022)
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October 04-06, 2022
AFSPA extended in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh for six months
The Central government has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act — known as AFSPA for another six months in 12 districts of Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.
It has also been extended in certain parts of five other districts of the two northeastern states to facilitate the armed forces to continue the anti-insurgency operations.
The AFSPA will be extended for six months in nine districts of Nagaland: Dimapur, Niuland, Chumoukedima, Mon, Kiphire, Noklak, Phek, and Zunheboto and and 16 police stations areas in four other districts — Kohima, Mokokchung, Longleng, and Wokha.
Nagaland has 16 districts while Arunachal Pradesh has 26 districts. This was announced in a notification by the Home Ministry.
About the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)
- The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA), passed by the Indian Parliament in 1958 to the Indian Armed Forces to maintain public order in “disturbed areas”.
- The Disturbed Areas (Special Courts) Act of 1976 states that once an area is designated as “disturbed,” it must remain that way for at least six months.
- One such law, which was passed on September 11, 1958, applied to the Naga Hills, which were then a part of Assam. It gradually expanded to the other Seven Sister States in northeastern India during the next decades.
Indian-origin Vivek Murthy is appointed as US representative on WHO executive board
US President Joe Biden has nominated Indian-origin Dr. Vivek Murthy to serve as the country’s representative on the executive board of the World Health Organisation.
Dr Murthy will serve as the US Representative on WHO Executive Board alongside his continued duties as the US Surgeon General.
Key Points
- In March 2021, he was confirmed by the US Senate to serve as the 21st Surgeon General of the country.
- Previously, he served as the 19th Surgeon General under President Barack Obama.
- He is the Vice Admiral of the US Public Health Service Commissioned Corps.
- He commands a uniformed service of over 6,000 dedicated public health officers, serving the most underserved and vulnerable populations.
- He is also the first Indian-origin Surgeon General of the US, he was raised in Miami and graduated from Harvard, the Yale School of Medicine, and the Yale School of Management.
India emerges as the world’s largest producer and consumer of sugar
India emerges as the world’s largest producer and consumer of sugar and world’s 2nd largest exporter of sugar.
Key Points
- In Sugar Season (Oct-Sep) 2021-22, a record of more than 5000 Lakh Metric Tons (LMT) of sugarcane was produced in the country out of which about 3574 LMT of sugarcane was crushed by sugar mills to produce about 394 LMT of sugar (Sucrose). Out of this, 35 LMT sugar was diverted to ethanol production and 359 LMT sugar was produced by sugar mills.
- During 2020-21, India made records with the highest exports of about 109.8 LMT with no financial assistance and earned foreign currency of about Rs 40,000 crore for the country.
- Timely Government interventions since the last 5 years have been crucial in building the sugar sector step by step from taking them out of financial distress in 2018-19 to the stage of self-sufficiency in 2021-22.
- During the Sugar season 2021-22, sugar mills procured sugarcane worth more than 1.18 lakh crore and released payment of more than 1.12 lakh crore with no financial assistance (subsidy) from Government of India.
- Government has been encouraging sugar mills to divert sugar to ethanol and also to export surplus sugar so that sugar mills may make payment of cane dues to farmers in time and also mills may have better financial conditions to continue their operations.
SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for 2022
The SASTRA Ramanujan Prize for 2022 will be awarded to Yunqing Tang Assistant Professor at the University of California, Berkeley, USA.
Ms. Yunqing’s works “display a remarkable combination of sophisticated techniques, in which the arithmetic and geometry of modular curves and of Shimura varieties play a central role, and her results and methods are bound to have major impact on future research in this area.”
Tang’s latest joint work with Frank Calegari and Vesselin Dimitrov based on modular equations is of great significance and has connections with Ramanujan’s own work.
The prize will be awarded at the International Conference on Number Theory during December 20-22, 2022 at SASTRA University.
About SASTRA Ramanujan Prize
- The award was instituted by the Shanmugha Arts, Science, Technology & Research Academy (SASTRA) in 2005.
- The award includes a cash prize of $10,000 and it is presented annually to individuals aged 32 and below, who made an outstanding contribution to the field of mathematics.
Ajay Bhadoo has been appointed as the Deputy Election Commissioner
Ajay Bhadoo has been appointed as the Deputy Election Commissioner of the Election Commission of India.
Ajay Bhadoo is a 1999-batch Indian Administrative Officer (IAS) officer of the Gujarat cadre. He has been appointed as the deputy election commissioner until July 24, 2024 or till further order, whichever is earlier.
He was appointed as Joint Secretary to former President Ram Nath Kovind in July 2020. His two-month extension as Joint Secretary in the President’s Secretariat ended on September 25.
Earlier, he has also served as Gujarat’s Vadodara Municipal Commissioner.