Current Affairs Assam – October 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of October 2018 )
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October 24
Manipur Govt launches Loktak Livelihood Mission to protecting Loktak Lake
- Manipur Government launched the ambitious Loktak Livelihood Mission to protect the ‘largest freshwater lake’ of the Northeast.
- The mission is also aimed at providing employment opportunities to fish farmers and youths of the State.
- The State is spending around Rs 400 crores annually for the procurement of fish from outside the state, assured that the state would have self-sufficient fish production by 2020 and farmers would be encouraged to take up pisciculture.
- Highlighting the advantages of organic fertilizers and vermicompost during farming, Manipur CM Biren Singh said that it will have a two way benefit – both cost effective and healthy living. Self-help groups would be formed in the villages to prepare vermicompost and other organic fertilizers.
FACTIFILE – Loktak Lake
- Loktak Lake is the largest freshwater lake in Northeast India and is famous for the phumdis floating over it.
- The largest of all the phumdis covers an area of 40 km2 (15 sq mi). Located on this phumdi, Keibul Lamjao National Park is the only floating national park in the world.
- The park is the last natural refuge of the endangered Sangai (state animal of Manipur).
- The lake is also a source of livelihood for the rural fishermen who live in the surrounding areas and on phumdis, also known as “phumshongs”.
- The lake was initially designated as a wetland of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on 23 March 1990. It was also listed under the Montreux Record on 16 June 1993, “a record of Ramsar sites where changes in ecological character have occurred, are occurring or are likely to occur”.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi awarded Seoul Peace Prize for ‘Modinomics’
- The Award Committee of Seoul Peace Prize Foundation credited ‘Modinomics’ for reducing social and economic disparity between the rich and the poor.
- He has been chosen for the Seoul Peace Prize for 2018, which will be presented to him by the Seoul Peace Prize Foundation at a mutually-convenient time.
- It lauded his initiatives to “make the government cleaner through anti-corruption measures and demonetization” and his contribution towards regional and global peace through a proactive foreign policy with countries around the world under the ‘Modi Doctrine’ and the ‘Act East Policy’.
- Modi is the fourteenth recipient of this award.
FACTFILE – The Seoul Peace Prize
- The Seoul Peace Prize, established in 1990 to commemorate the success of the 24th Olympic Games held in the capital, is awarded biennially to those individuals who have made their mark through contributions to the harmony of mankind, reconciliation between nations and to world peace.
- Past laureates include distinguished global personalities like former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and renowned international relief organizations like Doctors Without Borders and Oxfam.
India’s export of organic products up 39% in 2017-18
- India exported 458 thousand tonnes of organic products worth $515 million in 2017-18 — around 39 per cent higher from the previous year.
- There is “constant increase” in the demand for Indian organic food products from countries such as the US, European Union, Canada, Switzerland, Australia, Israel, South Korea, Vietnam, New Zealand and Japan.
- The major demand is for oilseeds, cereals and millets, sugar, fruit juice concentrates, tea, spices, pulses, dry fruits, medicinal plant products.
- Under the National Programme for Organic Production (NPOP), the area under cultivation during 2017-18 was 3.56 million hectares.
SPEFL-SCL and REPS India sign partnership agreement MoU
- Sports, Physical Education, Fitness and Leisure Skills Council (SPEFL-SCL), promoted by Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC) and FICCI, has signed an MoU with Register For Exercise Professionals India Foundation (REPS India) — a non-profit company which was formally launched.
- This MoU will facilitate a partnership between SPEFL-SC and REPS India to enable qualified Indian fitness professionals get employed at lucrative salaries in developed countries outside India.
- REPS India will be associating itself with the International Confederation of Registers for Exercise Professional(ICREPs), an international partnership between registration bodies around the world that register exercise professionals.
- The signing of this MoU with REPS India is an historic step towards promoting young and qualified Indian fitness trainers across the globe.
- The entry of Reps in India will further strengthen ongoing ‘Skill India’ initiatives as we have planned to open 100 skill centres across India by December 2019.
October 25
Union Cabinet approved committee for reviewing National Indicator Framework for monitoring of SDGs
- The Union Cabinet approved the constitution of a high-level steering committee for reviewing and refining the National Indicator Framework (NIF) for monitoring of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) with associated targets.
- The committee will be chaired by chief Statistician of India and Secretary, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI).
- Secretaries of data source ministries and NITI Aayog will be the members of the committee while the Secretaries of other related ministries will be the special invitees.
- The SDGs target include measures to mainstream SDGs into ongoing national policies, programmes and strategic action plans to address the developmental challenges.
FACTFILE – Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
- Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly in 2015.
- The SDGs are part of Resolution 70/1 of the UN General Assembly: “Transforming our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”
- Achieving all 169 targets would signal accomplishing all 17 goals.
- The SDGs cover social and economic development issues including poverty, hunger, health, education, global warming, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, urbanization, environment and social justice.
- Implementation as of 2016 is described as “Localizing the SDGs” to highlight the role of local institutions and local actors.
Indian software products sector growing at 9.5% yearly
- NAASCOM estimates that Indian software products sector, which is of worth $7-billion, is growing at a rate of 9.5 per cent annually.
- India is a matured software product ecosystem with around 3,720 companies.
- To accelerate growth in Indian software products sector, the NAASCOM is working with “Product Mission 2020″, which aims to support the process of creating foundation for world-class products in new technologies and product businesses in India over the next two years.
- Through the mission, it aims to scale the software product ecosystem and businesses to be globally competitive.
- As part of the mission, NASSCOM’s programs like NASSCOM FutureSkills, NASSCOM Accelerate 10X, NASSCOM 10k Start-ups etc., the IT body will enable start-ups and software product businesses access to mentoring, international markets and opportunities.
- It also aims to scale up the sector in order to enhance India’s relevance in global market and create jobs in the country.
MHRD to spend Rs 200 crore on research in social science
- The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) launched a scheme in which it will be spending Rs 200 crore for promoting research in social sciences.
- The ‘Impactful Policy Research in Social Science’ (IMPRESS) will fund around 1,500 projects on merit basis and each will be allocated Rs 20-25 lakh.
- The fund would be released in four phases, with the first batch being finalised by January 2019.
- The Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) has been entrusted with the task of implementing and monitoring the scheme.
- The research fund will be in addition to the extant annual grant of Rs 250 crore which is allocated by the government to the ICSSR.
- The focus of the scheme will be on topics including State and Democracy, Urban Transformation, Media, Culture and Society, Law and Economics, among several others.
ASSAM achieves 76 per cent coverage in Measles Rubella vaccination
- Assam has achieved more than 76 per cent coverage in the Measles Rubella (MR) vaccination campaign which was launched in February 2017 in a phased manner across the country.
- Tinsukia and Dhemaji districts have achieved 100 per cent coverage in the vaccination drive, Dibrugarh, Golaghat, Sivasagar, Lakhimpur, Jorhat, Nalbari and Sonitpur districts have achieved more than 90 per cent coverage.
- On the other hand, focus has to be given to districts like Chirang, Hailakandi, Dhubri, Dima Hasao, Cachar and Karimganj where the coverage rate is less than 60 per cent.
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