Assam Current Affairs September 22-28, 2018

Current Affairs Assam – September 2018

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

September 28

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) will host its first international SME conclave here on January 10-11, 2019, to provide entities an opportunity to establish a business connect.
The two-day conclave will be attended by over 2,500 delegates, 100 chief information officers, while over 200 companies will showcase their products and solutions.
Small and medium enterprises constitute about 80 per cent of the association’s membership and they contribute about 20 per cent of the total software exports of the country

FACTFILE – SMEs (Small and medium-sized enterprises)

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs, also small and medium enterprises) or small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) are businesses whose personnel numbers fall below certain limits.
Small enterprises outnumber large companies by a wide margin and also employ many more people.
In developing countries, smaller (micro) and informal firms, have a larger share then in developed countries.
SMEs are also responsible for driving innovation and competition in many economic sectors. Although they create more jobs, there is also a majority of job destruction/contraction

FACTFILE – NASSCOM

The National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) is a trade association of Indian Information Technology (IT) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.
It was established in 1988

The Centre announced to enhance its contribution to the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) from 75 per cent to 90 per cent with effect from April 1 this year. With the declaration, the contribution of all states to the SDRF fund would be only 10 per cent.
The SDRF is a resource available to the states to meet the expenses of relief operations of immediate nature, for a range of specified disasters.
The SDRF has been constituted in each state in which the Centre had been, so far, contributing 75 per cent for general category states and 90 per cent for special category states of hilly regions every year.
The additional contribution by Central government in SDRF on this account will be Rs 1,690.35 crore for the year 2018-19 and Rs 1,774.67 crore for the financial year 2019-20.
Under the Disaster Management Act 2005, a financial mechanism has been set up by way of National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) at national level and SDRF at state level to meet the rescue and relief expenditure during any notified disaster.

FACTFILE – State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)

The State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)is the primary fund available with States for disaster response and is constituted under Section 48 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (DM Act).
The SDRF is used for meeting expenditures for providing immediate relief to the victims of cyclone, drought, earthquake, fire, flood, tsunami, hailstorm, landslide, avalanche, cloud burst, pest attack, and frost and cold wave.
Besides, for providing immediate relief to the victims of State-specific disaster within the local context, which are not included in the list of the above notified natural calamities, Ministry of Home Affairs has authorized the State Governments to incur an expenditure of 10% of funds available under SDRF, subject to the procedures laid down therein.

Andhra Pradesh topped the Ease of Living Index rankings under AMRUT (Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation).
The three states of Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and Madhya Pradesh were awarded best-performing states at National Dissemination Workshop on Ease of Living Index, 2018 held in New Delhi.

AMRUT Scheme

It is an urban transformation scheme with focus on the urban renewal projects to establish infrastructure for adequate robust sewerage networks and water supply.
It aims for robust sewage networks, water supply and other infrastructure to improve the quality of life of urban dwellers.

FACTFILE – Ease of Living Index

The index was conceived by Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs in June 2017, to help cities assess their liveability vis-a-vis global and national benchmarks and encourage them to move towards ‘outcome-based’ approach of urban planning.
It captures quality of life based on data collected from urban local bodies on four parameters, viz. institutional (governance), social (identity, education, health, security), economic (economy, employment) and physical factors (waste water and solid waste management, pollution, housing/ inclusiveness, mixed land use, power and water supply, transport, public open spaces).
It ranked 116 smart city contenders, capital cities and cities with population of 1 million plus.

Point2Remember – The first edition of city ranking was released in January 2018 was topped by Pune.

Nepal has become first country to double its tiger population in a decade as a part of World Wildlife Foundation’s (WWF) ‘Tx2’ programme which aims to double the global tiger population by 2022.
There are 235 wild tigers in Nepal in comparison to an estimated 121 back in 2009. The success in doubling tiger numbers has been attributed to its govt commitment and adoption of innovative tools and approaches towards tiger conservation.
Nepal was also the first country to achieve global standards in managing tiger conservation areas, accredited by Conservation Assured Tiger Standards.

FACTFILE – Tx2 programme

It was launched by World Wildlife Foundation (WWF) at the 2010 St Petersburg Tiger Summit held in Russia.
13 tiger range countries had agreed to double the world tiger population by 2022, which is the year of tiger in the Chinese calendar.
These 13 countries are India and Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
It aims at professionalise wildlife protection by training rangers, developing conservation standards (CA|TS) and technology (SMART) to achieve zero poaching, tackle illegal wildlife trade through partnership with TRAFFIC, focus efforts in key tiger landscapes.