Assam Current Affairs – September 1-7, 2018 - Page 4 of 4

Current Affairs Assam – September 2018

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

September 7

Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi (69) was elected as the 13th President of Pakistan. He is a close ally of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan and one of the founding members of ruling Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party. He will take the oath of office of President on September 9, 2018.

BIOGRAPHY – Dr Arif ur Rehman Alvi

He was born in Karachi in 1947 where his father settled after partition.
His father Dr Habib ur Rehman Elahi Alvi was dentist to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru before partition.
Alvi had started his political career about five decades ago when he was a student of de’Montmonrency College of Dentistry in Lahore.
He had joined Imran Khan’s PTI as its founding member in 1996 and was the Secretary-General of party from 2006 till 2013.
In 2013 he was elected as a Member of National Assembly from Constituency NA-250 Karachi and was re-elected in July 2018.

India’s junior shooters at the ISSF World Championships with Hriday Hazarika claiming the men’s 10m air rifle top honours before the women’s team combined for a new world record and gold in Changwon.
Hazarika, the lone Indian to qualify for the men’s final with a score of 627.3, was tied with Iran’s Mohammed Amir Nekounam on 250.1
The 17-year-old Indian prevailed in a shoot-off at the prestigious International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF) tournament.
The women’s 10m air rifle team of ElavenilValarivan (631), Shreya Agarwal (628.5) and Manini Kaushik (621.2) produced a sensational performance to total 1880.7 for a gold with a world record to boot.

The India-US 2+2 Dialogue, the highest-level political engagement between the two countries this year, held on 6 September, both the countries also signed a landmark security pact, the Communications Compatibility and Security Agreement (COMCASA), to set up hotlines between their defence and foreign ministers, and deliberating on thorny issues such as India’s purchase of S-400 missiles from Russia and import of crude oil from Iran.

Why COMCASA is important for India

The COMCASA provides the legal framework for the US to part with its sensitive communication equipment and codes to enable transfer of real-time operational information.
The US data link is considered the most secure communication platform, which will also allow India access to big data base of American intelligence, including real-time imagery.
The COMCASA will allow both sides to operate on the same communication systems, enabling an “interoperable” environment for militaries.
COMCASA will effectively mean India sharing the real-time American intelligence on military deployments by China and Pakistan.
India has already signed the Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with the US. With the singing of COMCASA, India has gone one more step ahead in strengthening India-US military ties.
LEMOA, COMCASA and BECA, or Basic Exchange and Cooperation Agreement for Geo-spatial Cooperation, are the three foundational defence pacts that a country needs to sign to obtain cutting-edge weapons and communications systems from the US.

Iran will handover the strategic Chabahar port to an Indian company within a month for operation as per an interim pact. India has also introduced a banking channel, which has been approved by Iran’s Central Bank.
The first phase of the Chabahar port was inaugurated in December 2017 by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, opening a new strategic route connecting Iran, India and Afghanistan bypassing Pakistan.
The Chabahar port is easily accessible from India’s western coast and is increasingly seen as a counter to Pakistan’s Gwadar Port located at distance of around 80 kms from Chabahar.
The Chabahar port is being considered as a gateway to golden opportunities for trade by India, Iran and Afghanistan with central Asian countries, besides ramping up trade among the three countries in the wake of Pakistan denying transit access to New Delhi.
Under the agreement signed between India and Iran earlier, India is to equip and operate two berths in Chabahar Port Phase-I with capital investment of USD 85.21 million and annual revenue expenditure of USD 22.95 million on a 10-year lease.
Iran is India’s third biggest supplier of crude oil but US sanctions will from November 3 block payment gateways.

State-owned Oil and Natural Gas Corporation has made oil and gas discoveries in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal that may potentially open up two new sedimentary basins in the country.
ONGC had previously opened six out of India’s seven producing basins for commercial production. It is in the process of adding the eighth by putting Kutch offshore on the oil and gas map of India.
The firm has found gas deposits in a block in the Vindhyan basin in Madhya Pradesh that is now being tested. ONGC has drilled four wells after the discovery and will now hydro-frack it by the end of the year to test commerciality of the finds.
Similarly, an oil and gas discovery has been made in a well in Ashok Nagar of 24 Parganas district in West Bengal.
India has 26 sedimentary basins, of which only seven have commercial production of oil and gas. ONGC opened up for commercial production all the other six basins, including Cambay, Mumbai Offshore, Rajasthan, Krishna Godavari, Cauvery, and Assam-Arakan Fold Belt.
The discovery in Kutch offshore may hold about one trillion cubic feet of gas reserves. The spread of Kutch offshore basin covers an area of 28,000 square kilometers in water depth of up to 200 meters and will become eighth producing basin of the country.

Category-I basins:

Cambay, Mumbai Offshore, Rajasthan, Krishna Godavari, Cauvery, Assam Shelf and Assam-Arakan Fold Belt.
They have been established for commercial production.

Category-II basins:

Kutch, Mahanadi-NEC (North East Coast), Andaman-Nicobar, Kerala-Konkan-Lakshadweep.
They are known for accumulation of hydrocarbons but no commercial production has been achieved so far.

Category-III basins:

Himalayan Foreland Basin, Ganga Basin, Vindhyan basin, Saurashtra Basin, Kerela Konkan Basin, Bengal Basin.
They are having hydrocarbon and are considered geologically prospective.

Category-IV basins:

Karewa, Spiti-Zanskar, Satpura-South Rewa-Damodar, Chhattisgarh, Narmada, Deccan Syneclise, Bhima-Kaladgi, Bastar, Pranhita Godavari and Cuddapah.
They have uncertain potential which may be prospective by analogy with similar basins in the world.

FACTFILE – Oil and Natural Gas Corporation Limited (ONGC)

ONGC is an Indian multinational oil and gas company earlier headquartered in Dehradun, Uttarakhand, India.
It is India’s largest oil and gas exploration and production company.
It produces around 70% of India’s crude oil (equivalent to around 30% of the country’s total demand) and around 62% of its natural gas.
ONGC was founded on 14 August 1956 by Government of India, which currently holds a 68.94% equity stake.
It is involved in exploring for and exploiting hydrocarbons in 26 sedimentary basins of India, and owns and operates over 11,000 kilometers of pipelines in the country.