Assam Current Affairs – September 1-7, 2018

Posted on by admin 
Current Affairs Assam – September 2018

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of September 2018 )

September 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF  |  eBook Monthly Quiz PDF

Go To Assam Current Affairs                                                                                              Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

 

September 3

Arunachal Pradesh Assembly passes bill for creation of 3 new districts
  • Arunachal Pradesh Legislative assembly has passed Arunachal Pradesh Re-Organisation of Districts (Amendment) Bill, 2018 for the creation of three new districts-Pakke-Kesang, Lepa Rada and Shi Yomi, in the state. The state will have total 25 districts from earlier 22 districts.
  • These new districts were created due to growing demands of people, improve administration and for an all-round equal development in all parts of the state.

About the 3 Districts

Pakke-Kessang district:

  • It will be carved out of East Kameng district with five administrative units namely Pakke-Kessangn, Seijosa, Pijiriang, Passa Valley and Dissingn Passo with district headquarters at Lemmi.

Lepa Rada district:

  • It will be created by bifurcating Lower Siang district with headquarters at Basar.
  • It will have four administrative units Tirbin, Basar, Daring and Sago.

Shi-Yomi district:

  • It will be created by bifurcating West Siang district with its headquarters at Tato.
  • It will have four administrative units namely Mechuka, Tato, Pidi and Manigong.
Nepal-Bharat Maitri Pashupati Dharamshala inaugurated in Kathmandu
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Nepalese counterpart K P Sharma Oli jointly inaugurated a 400-bed Nepal-Bharat Maitri Pashupati Dharamshala. It is rest house for pilgrims in Kathmandu, built with Indian assistance.
  • It is located on banks of Bagmati River. It has provisions to meet the requirements of pilgrims including dining hall, kitchen, family rooms and multipurpose halls to meet the requirements of travellers and families on pilgrimage to Pashupatinath Temple.

FACTFILE – Pashupatinath Temple

  • Pashupatinath temple serves as the seat of Nepal’s national deity, Lord Pashupatinath.
  • It is one of the four most important religious sites in Asia for devotees of Shiva.
  • It was built in the 5th century and later renovated by Malla kings.
  • It largest temple complex in Nepal, it stretches on both sides of Bagmaati River which is considered holy by Hindus.
  • Jyotirlinga at Pashupatinath is considered as head over twelve Jyotirlinga (in India) which are
  • different body parts.
  • The main pagoda style temple has gilded roof, four sides covered in silver and wood carvings of the finest quality.
  • Temples dedicated to several other Hindu and Buddhist deities surround the temple of Pashupatinath.
  • The Pashupatinath temple complex was inscribed on UNESCO World Heritage Sites’s list in 1979 as a cultural heritage site.
Data on Other Backward Classes (OBC) will be collected first in Census 2021
  • The census 2021 will for the first time collect data on Other Backward Classes (OBC). This comes more than 25 years after the implementation of 27% reservation for OBCs based on Mandal Commission’s recommendations on the basis of last castes data collected in 1931 census.
  • The 2011 caste data collected as part of Socio Economic Caste Census (SECC) is yet to be released by the Centre. The 2011 Census collected information in 29 categories that included a separate column for Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribes.
  • As per the National Commission for Backward Classes, there are 2,479 entries in the Central list of the OBCs.
  • The enumerators will start “house listing” in 2020 and the headcount will begin from February 2021. The exercise will involve 25 lakh trained enumerators; use of maps/georeferencing at the time of house listing is also under consideration.
  • The data collected during 2021 Census would be stored electronically, also a first.

Census Organisation 

  • The Census Organisation was set up on an ad-hoc basis for each Census till the 1951 Census when the Census Act was enacted in 1948 to provide for the scheme of conducting population census with duties and responsibilities of census officers.
  • As per the 2011 Census, the country’s population stood at 1.21 billion, almost equal to the combined population of the U.S., Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Japan put together [1214.3 million].

FACTFILE – Backward Classes Commission

  • In 1953, President under Article 340 had set up first Backward Classes Commission under chairmanship of Kaka Kelkar to identify backward classes other than SCs and STs at the national level.
  • In January 1979, second Backward Classes Commission headed by B P Mandal (famously known as Mandal Commission) was appointed by then Janata Party government under Prime Minister Morarji Desai to consider the question of reservations for people to redress caste discrimination, and used eleven social, economic, and educational indicators to determine backwardness.
  • The Mandal Commission report had estimated OBC population at 52% and classified 1,257 communities as backward.
  • It also had recommended increasing existing quotas, which were only for SC/ST, from 22.5% to 49.5% to include OBCs.
  • Its recommendations including of reservation were implemented by then V.P.Singh government in 1990.
  • The previous UPA government (under PM Manmohan Singh) had accepted demand for caste-based enumeration and undertaken Socio Economic and Caste Census (SECC) in 2011.
  • However, data from SECC-2011 conducted at a cost of Rs 4,893.60 crore was not made public for certain errors identified by Registrar General of India.

September 4

ISRO to set up satellite station in North Pole
  • The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is now planning to set up a satellite ground control station in the bleak desolation of the North Pole. The station will primarily augment Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) operations that are crucial for civilian needs like disaster management and for the armed forces.
  • As far as the need for such a station is concerned, it’s worth noting that ISRO has a full-fledged IRS system with a constellation of earth observation satellites providing data. For ISRO to achieve its dream of 14-orbit coverage, a satellite ground station at the North Pole is of prime importance.
  • The National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in Hyderabad is responsible for aerial remote sensing, data acquisition and processing, decision support for disaster management, data dissemination etc.
  • ISRO already has two ground stations – IMGEOS at Shadnagar built in 2011, and AGEOS in Antarctica.
  • The space agency will have to get international permits for setting up the station.

FACTFILE – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)

  • The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bangalore.
  • Formed in 1969, ISRO superseded the erstwhile Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) established in 1962 by the efforts of independent India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, and his close aide and scientist Vikram Sarabhai.
  • It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India.
Vodafone-Idea merger completed to create India’s largest Telecom Operator
  • Merger between Vodafone-Idea created the country’s largest telecom operator by subscribers with a customer base of around 400 million and revenue.
  • Stiff competition triggered consolidation in world’s No.2 mobile phone market, with Vodafone and Idea agreeing to merge their operations in India in a $23 billion deal.
  • The combined entity will have a revenue share of about 40 percent in the market and a total customer base of around 400 million, racing ahead of Bharti Airtel. It will have a broadband network of 3.4 lakh sites and distribution network with 17 lakh retail outlets.
  • The post-merger entity’s board will have 12 directors, with Kumar Mangalam Birla as chairman and Balesh Sharma as chief executive officer.
  • The merger is expected to generate Rs 14,000 crore annual synergy, including opex synergies of Rs 8,400 crore, equivalent to a net present value of approximately Rs 70,000 crore.
Manufacturing index declined to 51.7
  • In the month of August, the manufacturing index declined to 51.7 as against 52.3 recorded for the month of July. It is due to the fact that operating environment showed improvement at the slowest rate since the month of May.
  • The country has registered a figure over 50 for the 13th straight month. Due to the sustained levels in the increase of new orders and output, firms in the month of August increased their staff.
  •  In the latest GDP data for the quarter ended June, the Indian economy showed a better than expected GDP growth of 8.2% due to strong support from both the manufacturing and farm sector.

Manufacturing Index is based on data compiled from a nationwide survey of purchasing and supply management executives. The survey is broadly diversified across industries based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS), which is weighted by each industry’s share of U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Survey responses are delineated into 17 NAICS codes including sectors such as chemical products, computer and electronic products, and transportation equipment.

The Index monitors employment, production, inventories, new orders and supplier deliveries. A composite diffusion index monitors conditions in national manufacturing and is based on the data from these surveys.

4th BIMSTEC Summit held in Kathmandu
  • The fourth Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) summit was held in Kathmandu, capital of Nepal. The theme of the summit was ‘Towards a Peaceful Prosperous, and Sustainable Bay of Bengal Region’.
  • Indian Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi, Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena, Myanmar President U Win Myint, Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, Thailand’s Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Bhutan’s Chief Justice and Chief Advisor to interim government Dasho Tshering Wangchuk attended the Summit.

FACTFILE – Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC)

  • BIMSTEC is a regional grouping of seven countries in South Asia and South East Asia lying in littoral and adjacent areas of Bay of Bengal constituting contiguous regional unity.
  • It was established on 6 June 1997 through the Bangkok Declaration.
  • It is headquartered in Dhaka, Bangladesh.
  • The first BIMSTEC summit was held in Thailand in 1997, second in India in 2008 and the third in 2014 in Myanmar.
  • Member countries: India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka from South Asia and Myanmar, Thailand from South East Asia.
  • BIMESTC’s prime objectives: Promote technological and economic cooperation among south Asian and south East Asian countries along the coast of the Bay of Bengal.
  • BIMSTEC is sector-driven cooperative organization, starting with six sector including trade, technology, energy, transport, tourism and fisheries.
  • In 2008, it was expanded to embrace eight more sectors including agriculture, public health, poverty alleviation, counter-terrorism, environment, culture, people to people contact and climate change.
  • India has been pushing for making BIMSTEC a vibrant forum for regional collaboration as cooperation under the South Asian Association of Regional Cooperation (SAARC) framework is not moving forward.
  • India has been maintaining that it was difficult to proceed with SAARC initiative under current circumstances citing continuing support to cross-border terrorism from Pakistan.
  • Pakistan was also blocking the connectivity initiatives such as.
  • BIMSTEC excludes Pakistan.
  • India is now pushing for a motor vehicle agreement similar to SAARC Motor Vehicles Agreement (MVA) in BIMSTEC with an aim to enhance regional trade.

 

September 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF  |  eBook Monthly Quiz PDF

Go To Assam Current Affairs                                                                                                Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

Pages: 1 2 3 4