Current Affairs Assam – October 15-21, 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of October 15-21, 2018 )
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October 15
Sikkim wins the Future Policy Award 2018
- Sikkim beat out 51 other nominees from 25 countries for the Future Policy Award 2018, the world’s best laws and policies promoting agro-ecology.
- The “100 per cent organic state” Sikkim, the first in the world, will get the “Oscar for best policies” at a UN ceremony in Rome and it bolsters efforts to attain the Sustainable Development Goals.
- This year’s award is co-organised by the FAO, the World Future Council (WFC) and IFOAM-Organics International.
- Sikkim is the first organic state in the world, having all of its farmland as certified organic. At the same time, Sikkim’s approach reaches beyond organic production and has proven truly transformational for the state and its citizens.
- The policy implemented a phase out of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and achieved a total ban on sale and use of chemical pesticides in the state.
- Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 19, 2016 declared Sikkim as the first organic state in the country, and expected it to become the harbinger of organic farming not only in India but around the world.
Textile Tourism Complex to be setup in Meghalaya
- Union Minister of State for Textiles Ajay Tamta announced that Union Govt. will provide funds of Rs 7.8 crore for setting up a Textile Tourism Complex in Ri-Bhoi district of Meghalaya.
- The production of mulberry, berry and muga in Meghalaya, has now risen to 1,000 metric ton from 500 metric tons in 2014.
- Union Government also sanctioned an amount close to Rs 43 crore under the Integrated Sericulture Development Project and the Intensive Bivoltine Sericulture Development Project, to Meghalaya in the last few years, to develop the textile sector in the region.
- A apparel manufacturing centre is built at Rs. 14 crore at Ampati, Garo Hills, which would further garments production for exporting across the globe.
India record best-ever show at Asian Para Games with 72 medals
- India ended the 2018 Asian Para Games on a high after bagging a total of 72 medals, their best show in the event’s history.
- India clinched 15 gold, 24 silver and 33 bronze medals to finish the campaign at the ninth place.
- In the last edition in 2014, India had won just 33 medals (3 gold, 14 silver, 16 bronze).
- China topped the competition with 172 gold, 88 silver and 59 bronze followed by South Korea (53 gold, 25 silver and 47 bronze) and Iran (51, 42, 43).
FACTFILE – The 2018 Asian Para
- The 2018 Asian Para or the 3rd Asian Para Games, was a pan-Asian multi-sport event that held from 6 to 13 October 2018 in Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta.
- The event paralleled the 2018 Asian Games and was held for Asian athletes with disability.
- As is the tradition of the event, since 2010, the Asian Para Games are usually held after every Asian Games in the same host country.
- Indonesia signed the Asian Para Games host city contract, having confirmed as host city of the 2018 Asian Games in October 2014.
- Before the Asian Para Games were held, FESPIC Games existed and was participated by athletes from the Asia Pacific region. The FESPIC Games was first held in 1975 in Oita, Japan with 18 participating nations.
- The inaugural Asian Para Games was held in 2010 in Guangzhou, China after the formation of the Asian Paralympic Council. The 2nd edition was held in 2014 South Korea.
India, China launch training programme for Afghan diplomats
- India and China launched a joint programme to train Afghan diplomats in pursuance of an understanding between the two countries to undertake joint projects in the war-torn nation.
- At their informal summit between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, China, in April 2018, agreed to jointly implement projects in Afghanistan as part of a rebuilding process in what was seen as a fresh impetus to ties between New Delhi and Beijing.
- The summit was held held after Indian and Chinese troops were locked in a 73-day face-off at Doklam on the India-Bhutan-China international trijunction last year.
- The seeds for joint cooperation in Afghanistan were sown at the meeting between the Prime Minister of India and the President of China when they met in Wuhan in April 2018
- Development partnership, based on the priorities of the government and the people of Afghanistan, has been the cornerstone of multifaceted bilateral cooperation
- India had embarked on an ambitious development partnership programme with Afghanistan with a commitment of over $3 billion.
- High priority was being accorded to enable Afghanistan tap the true potential of its talented youth.
- The capacity-building programme was being implemented through scholarships and training programmes for over 3,500 Afghan nationals every year in India.
October 16
Sheorartal is Cachar’s cleanest village under the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ drive
- Sheorartal is the cleanest village in Cachar district of Assam. Kachari people belonging to around 150 families in the village at Hawaithang Forest Range under Dholai constituency around 50 km from Silchar next to the Assam -Mizoram border have set an example by helping each other to earn the recognition of the cleanest village in the district under the ‘Swachhata Hi Seva’ drive.
- Among 1015 villages in the district, Sheorartal village stands out to be the most consistent village where the people and the NGO worked in tandem towards cleanliness.
FACTFILE – Swachhata Hi Seva (SHS) 2018
- A janandolan for Swachhata was observed in the run-up to the 4th anniversary of the Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM) from September 15th to October 2nd 2018.
- All NGOs, schools, colleges, social, cultural and political leaders, corporates, government officials, collectors and sarpanches, are requested to participate in Swachhata Hi Seva and Shramdaan activities during this period.
FACTFILE – Swachh Bharat Mission (SBM)
- Swachh Bharat Mission is a nation-wide campaign in India for the period 2014 to 2019 that aims to clean up the streets, roads and infrastructure of India’s cities, towns, and rural areas.
- The objectives of Swachh Bharat include eliminating open defecation through the construction of household-owned and community-owned toilets and establishing an accountable mechanism of monitoring toilet use.
- Run by the Government of India, the mission aims to achieve an “open-defecation free” (ODF) India by 2 October 2019, the 150th anniversary of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi, by constructing 90 million toilets in rural India at a projected cost of ₹1.96 lakh crore (US$30 billion).
- The mission will also contribute to India reaching Sustainable Development Goal Number 6 (SDG 6).
Industrial Disputes (Assam Amendment) Bill, 2017 gets President’s nod
- President Ram Nath Kovind has signed the Industrial Disputes (Assam Amendment) Bill, 2017 to replace the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947 and will enable companies to retrench up to 300 employees without seeking prior approval of the Assam Government.
- The Assam Govt Bill is aimed to achieve the objective of ease of doing business, as companies will be allowed to retrench up to 300 employees instead of 100, as per the existing legislation, without seeking prior approval of the government.
- The compensation to a retrenched labourer will be 60 days’ salary instead of the present 15 days’ salary.
RBI data localization deadline unlikely to be extended
- The government and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are not in favour of extending the deadline to store payments data locally, effectively ending all speculation and lobbying by multinational companies.
- The central bank has mandated that all payment firms, including MasterCard, Visa, American Express and Paypal, should store their India-related data locally.
- The deadline for submission of compliance reports by these firms ended on Monday, 15 October.
- Google and WhatsApp were also mandated to store data locally for their payments-related businesses.
- Though more than 60 companies have complied with the RBI directive, some of the big global entities operating in India had sought relaxation from the central bank.
FACTFILE – Data localization
- Data Localisation is the act of storing data on any device that is physically present within the borders of a specific country where the data was generated.
- Free flow of digital data, especially data which could impact government operations or operations in a region, is restricted by some governments.
Maryse Conde as awarded the New Academy Prize in Literature
- Guadeloupean author Maryse Conde was awarded the New Academy Prize in Literature, an alternative award formed in protest to Nobel Literature Prize. She has authored around 20 novels, including Desirada, Segu and Crossing the Mangrove.
- Her writings mostly describe ravages of colonialism and post-colonial chaos in language which is both precise and overwhelming.
FACTFILE – New Academy Prize in Literature
- New Academy Prize in Literature was formed by New Academy consisting of more than 100 Swedish writers, artists and journalists in protest to denounce Swedish Academy, which selects Nobel laureates.
- The Swedish Academy was plunged into turmoil in 2017 over its ties to Frenchman Jean-Claude Arnault, who was jailed for two years in early October for rape.
Stanford University is World’s Most Innovative University
- Stanford University is adjudged as the World’s Most Innovative University by a rating conducted by Reuters news agency.
- The Reuters’ top 100 World’s Most Innovative University ranking recognises universities for their work in inventing new technologies, advance science and power new markets and industries and as expected no Indian university was could make the cut.
- In the top 100 list, 48 universities from North America find mention on the list, 23 Asian universities, 27 from Europe and 2 from the Middle East only, and has no mention of universities from South America and Africa.
- 46 US universities, five Chinese varsities were among the top 100.
- Stanford University is followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University respectively.
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