Current Affairs Assam – October 29 - 31, 2019
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of October 29 – 31, 2019 )
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October 29, 2019
Assam Govt forms panel to review Detention Centres
- The Assam Government has formed a special review committee on the conditions prevailing in state detention centres.
- The Committee headed by DIG (Border) would comprise Inspector General of Prisons, retired District and Sessions Judge Hardeep Singh, one representative to be nominated by Deputy Commissioner of the district concerned and any other member co-opted by the Chairman.
- The Committee will visit all detention centres in the state and review the legal aid status and health status of each detainee and provide recommendation for improvement if needed and also review the quality of food, hygiene and living conditions in the detention centres.
- The committee is also tasked to check the education system for the children staying in the centres and provide suggestion.
- The panel will conduct the review urgently and submit its consolidated report within three months.
President signed a warrant paving Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde as next Chief Justice of India
- Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde will be the next Chief Justice of India (CJI) as President Ram Nath Kovind signed a warrant paving the way for him to take over the top post.
- Justice Bobde will be sworn in as Chief Justice on November 18 and will serve the post for around 18 months. He will retire on April 23, 2021.
- His career as Justice began on March 29, 2000 when he was appointed as Additional Judge in the Bombay High Court, and was elevated as a Judge of the Supreme Court on April 12, 2013.
- Justice Bobde was part of the five-judge constitution bench hearing longest running Ayodhya land dispute case in which the judgement is still awaited.
- He was part of the in-house panel which has handled one of the most controversial cases related to allegations of sexual harassment against the incumbent Chief Justice.
Odisha govt approves Rs 17.5 crore under the ”Mo Sarkar” initiative for 587 police stations
- The Odisha government approved Rs 17.5 crore additional annual contingency fund for 587 police stations for providing better services under the ”Mo Sarkar” initiative.
- Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik sanctioned the additional contingency fund.
- All the 44 police stations under the Cuttack-Bhubaneswar Commissionerate Police will each get Rs 40,000 a month, 142 police stations in urban areas Rs 30,000 each, and 351 police stations in rural areas Rs 20,000 each.
- Four Mahila police stations, 5 traffic police stations, 15 railway police stations, four cyber police stations, one economic offences police station, one STF police station, one HRPC police station, and one crime branch police station will receive Rs 30,000 per month. Eighteen marine police stations would receive Rs 20,000 per month.
- The objective of the ‘Mo Sarkar’ programme is to provide service with dignity to people who are coming to government offices for different purposes. The phone numbers of people who are coming to government offices will be collected randomly with the purpose to improve the governance system by collecting feedback on behaviour and professionalism of government officers.
CSCs to provide telemedicine services in rural areas
- The Common Service Centres (CSCs) will provide telemedicine services in rural areas through video conferencing in collaboration with the Ministry of Ayush. The service will be launched in Tamil Nadu next month and in other states later.
- The telemedicine service will be available round the clock via CSC’s video conferencing platform, which works on low bandwidth and doesn’t need broadband connection.
- A pan-India network, it enables the government’s mandate of a socially, financially and digitally inclusive society.
- The CSCs, which act as access points for delivery of digital services, will be provided some medicine kits to cater to prescription requirement and the patient or the VLE can either purchase the rest.
IIT Madras develops AI Platform to solve complex engineering problems
- A team of experts from IIT-Madras have developed algorithms that enable novel applications using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and deep learning models to solve engineering problems.
- The research is led by Dr Vishal Nandigana, an assistant professor – fluid systems laboratory, department of mechanical engineering at IIT Madras.
- Nandigana revealed that his team has developed the AI and deep learning algorithm which essentially solves a wide variety of problems in numerous engineering fields, including thermal management, semiconductors, automobile, aerospace and electronics cooling applications among others, thereby eliminating manual intervention.
- The team is planning to start a company to deploy its AI software called ‘AISoft,’ which is said to help solve engineering problems across various disciplines, seamlessly.
October 30, 2019
IIIT Hyderabad MOU with TiE to promote Deep Tech Special Group
- International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIIT-H) and The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE) have signed a MoU to promote a Deep Technology Special Interest Group.
- The group will nurture the next generation products and companies in fintech, healthtech, medtech, agritech, technology for social good and other areas.
- TiE Deep Tech Special Interest Group (SIG), aims to become the catalyst and vehicle to empower, enable and provide profiting visibility for enterprises and much needed exposure to global applications and markets.
- IIIT Hyderabad will support this programme by bringing a good pool of talented engineers, deep tech knowledge base, technocrats, research and development capabilities.
- SIG intends to identify, encourage and showcase the leading deep tech products and companies to the domestic and global community of customers and investors. The programme intends to identify six to nine most innovative deep tech products or companies per group.
FACTFILE – International Institute of Information Technology Hyderabad (IIIT Hyderabad)
- IIIT Hyderabad is a Not-for-Profit Public Private Partnership institute deemed to be university, focused on information technology and other fields such as computer science, electronics and communication, and their interdisciplinary applications across other domains.
- IIIT Hyderabad was set up in 1998 under the public private partnership model, with the state government supplying a grant of land and buildings.
- As special officer for IIIT Hyderabad and Secretary IT for the state government, Ajay Prakash Sawhney was responsible for shaping the conceptual model and overseeing initial development of the institute.
FACTFILE – The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE)
- The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE) is a Silicon Valley non-profit supporting start-ups through networking and the raising of capital for new and experienced entrepreneurs. By 2000, it had helped create businesses worth more than $75 billion.
- TiE was founded in 1992 by the trio of an Indian-American businessman and angel investor, Kanwal Rekhi; an MIT professor and founder of Cirrus Logic, Suhas Patil; and the founder of Gateway Design Automation, Prabhu Goel.
Odisha govt announces incentives for sportspersons
- Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik nnounced monthly allowance for sportspersons and inmates of state-run sports hostels.
- As per the announcement, the monthly allowance of girl students at all the sports hostels is enhanced to Rs 500 while it has been enhanced to Rs 300 per month for boy students.
- The Chief Minister announced the incentives after detailed interaction with sports hostel students with an objective to fulfill their needs and create enough opportunities for excellence.
- For out of station participation in recognised sports competition organised by national sports federation or similar level, sportspersons will be given an allowance of Rs 300 per day.
- Sportspersons achieving gold medal at national level competitions will get a monthly allowance of Rs 1,000 for one year while the amount will be Rs 500 and Rs 300 for silver and bronze medal winners.
- Sports hostel students will get this amount in addition to their monthly allowances.
- If the medal winners create a record at the national level and the record is not broken for one year, then the record holder will get an additional monthly allowance of Rs 5000 for one year. Sportspersons selected for national teams will get a monthly allowance of Rs 1000 for one year.
India, Saudi Arabia inks Strategic Partnership Council agreement
- India and Saudi Arabia inked the Strategic Partnership Council Agreement to elevate their ties to the next level, even as both sides signed 11 other deals, including in energy and security cooperation and defence production. PM Narendramodi and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman sign the Strategic Partnership Council Agreement.
- The other agreements between the two sides, inked by their respective officials, were on cooperation in the field of renewable energy, on security cooperation, on combating illicit trafficking and smuggling of narcotic drugs, psychotropic substances and chemical precursors and in the field of defence – on collaboration in military acquisition, industries, research, development and technology.
- Another MoU was on collaboration in civil aviation, in medical products regulations, a Letter of Intent between Small and Medium Enterprises General Authority (Monshaat) of the Saudi Arabia and Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), NITI Aayog,A a cooperation Programme between the Foreign Service Institute, and Prince Saud Al Faisal Institute of Diplomatic Studies (IDS).
- Another agreement was between Indian Strategic Petroleum Reserves Limited (ISPRL) and Saudi Aramco. Both sides inked an MoU for Cooperation between National Stock Exchange (NSE) and Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul), and another between National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) and Saudi Payments.
Himachal Pradesh brings over 2,000 panchayats under natural farming
- A total of 2,209 panchayats out of the total 3,226 have been brought under the ambit of natural farming in Himachal Pradesh.
- This fact came to light at a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Shrikant Baldi of the state-level Task Force for Promotion of Organic and Zero Budget Natural Farming under Prakritik Kheti Khushhal Kissan Yojana.
- Natural farming is a technique of farming that requires no ploughing or tilting or use of chemical fertilizers.
- A target of training 50,000 farmers has been fixed for this year. As many as 20,579 farmers have been trained out of which 15,391 have started practicing natural farming in their fields.
- A list of practices for different crops under natural farming will be prepared for the farmers.
- At the meeting, approval was given for a master trainer to hold a maximum of five training sessions per month till March 2020.
- Approval was also given for an additional amount of Rs 2,500 per month for block technology manager and assistant technology manager recruited under Agricultural Technology Management Agency on performance basis till March 2020.
Microsoft developed a smartphone-based driving test system
- Microsoft Research has developed a smartphone-based driving test system that leverages the power of Artificial Intelligence to make a fair analysis of a driver’s ability before issuing him or her a license.
- The system has already been deployed at Dehradun Regional Transport Office (RTO) in Uttarakhand and is ready for wider adoption across the country.
- The technology that Microsoft developed to automate driver’s license tests is called HAMS, which is short for Harnessing AutoMobiles for Safety.
- Automation using HAMS technology can not only help relieve evaluators of the burden but also make the process objective and transparent for candidates.
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October 31, 2019
Jammu and Kashmir officially bifurcated into two UTs
- Jammu and Kashmir ceased to exist as a state and its official bifurcation into two Union Territories – of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
- The state has been officially divided into the two Union Territories pursuant to the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill, 2019, which the government passed in Parliament on August 5.
- The Central government had also that day abrogated Article 370 that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir.
- Girish Chandra Murmu, a former bureaucrat from Gujarat, take oath as the first Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir UT.
- Former IAS officer R.K. Mathur sworn in as the first Lt. Governor of the Union territory of Ladakh.
DRDO exhibits new fuel cell-based marine propulsion system
- A fuel cell-based marine propulsion system, which can boost the combat lethality of India”s conventional submarines several fold by enhancing their submerged endurance, was demonstrated by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in Ambernath, Maharashtra.
- The demonstration of the operational mechanism of a land-based prototype of the Air Independent Propulsion system, engineered to fit on a submarine, was carried out at the Naval Materials Research Laboratory in Ambernath in the presence of Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh.
- The Air Independent Propulsion system has a force multiplier effect on the lethality of a diesel electric submarine as it enhances the submerged endurance of the boat, several folds. Fuel cell-based AIP has merits in performance compared to other technologies.
- The DRDO is developing the system for the Indian Navy”s submarines that are powered by the conventional diesel-electric technology.
Mumbai, Hyderabad designated as UNESCO creative cities
- Indian cities Mumbai and Hyderabad are among the 66 urban settlements designated as creative cities by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
- Mumbai has been selected for its contribution in the world of film, and Hyderabad for gastronomy.
- The designation came on World Cities” Day, celebrated on October 31, making the two cities part of the 246-member Organisation”s Network of Creative Cities.
- The Network brings together cities that base their development on creativity, whether in music, arts and folk crafts, design, cinema, literature, digital arts or gastronomy.
- UNESCO creative cities commit to placing culture at the centre of their development strategies and to share their best practices.
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