Assam Current Affairs – September 08-14, 2020

Posted on by admin

Assam Current Affairs & GK – September 08-14, 2020

( Covers all important Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of September 08-14, 2020)

Go To Assam Current Affairs                      Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

 

September 08, 2020

Union Govt to launch nutrition drive for Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children

  • The Centre will launch a drive to identify Severely Acute Malnourished (SAM) children and ensure their adequate nutrition and care during ongoing POSHAN Maah 2020.

  • The drive will have a long-term impact on the health of such children and would improve the country’s nutrition indicators as well.

  • Union Govt is also developing Bharatiya Poshan Krishi Kosh – a repository of an indigenous crop of every region, every district of India.

  • Malnutrition in children is a mammoth health issue the country is facing. According to the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) – 4, 2015-16, every second child in India suffers from at least one form of nutrition failure, which translates to about 77 million undernourished children in India.

  • In the last decade, severe acute malnutrition has increased from 6.4 per cent (NFHS-3, 2005-06) to 7.5 per cent (NFHS -4, 2015-16) in India.

India enters elite club of hypersonic missile nations of US, Russia and China

  • Recently, India has successfully flight-tested hypersonic technology that will pave the way towards the development of missiles travelling at six times the speed of sound.

  • With this technological feat, India enters an elite club to become a member of the hypersonic regime, which includes the United States, Russia and China.

  • This is a step towards the manufacture of advanced Hypersonic Vehicles. India became the fourth country after the United States, Russia and China to get this technology.

  • The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) successfully demonstrated the Hypersonic air-breathing scramjet technology with the flight test of Hypersonic Technology Demonstration Vehicle (HSTDV) from Launch Complex at Wheeler Island.

FACTFILE – Hypersonic

  • In aerodynamics, a hypersonic speed is one that greatly exceeds the speed of sound, often stated as starting at speeds of Mach 5 and above.

  • Hypersonic flight is flight through the atmosphere below about 90 km at speeds above Mach 5, a speed where dissociation of air begins to become significant and high heat loads exist.

Andhra Pradesh launches schemes to boost women, child health

  • Andhra Pradesh CM Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has launched two new food schemes – YSR Sampoorna Poshana and YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus – aimed at fortifying the health of thousands of pregnant and nursing women and children.

  • More than 30 lakh women and children across the state will stand to benefit from monthly supply of rations.

  • As part of YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus scheme, eight Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) centres and 52 Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) centres will distribute nutritious meals in 77 tribal mandals through 8,320 Anganwadi centres, covering 3.8 lakh beneficiaries.

  • YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus scheme will be implemented in the Anganwadi centres to provide supplementary nutrition to newborn babies, including pregnant women suffering from anaemia.

  • YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus Scheme will cost the government Rs 307 crore, covering 3.8 lakh beneficiaries in 77 tribal mandals.

  • YSR Sampoorna Poshana Scheme is set to distribute nutritious meals through 47,287 anganwadi centres across the state.

Indira Gandhi Peace Prize 2019 presented to broadcaster David Attenborough

  • Noted broadcaster and natural historian David Attenborough has been presented the Indira Gandhi Peace Prize 2019 by the Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

  • Attenborough has been given the prize for “revealing the wonders of the natural world, educating and entertaining generations of people through his films and books for tirelessly working to awaken humankind to the need to preserve and protect the biodiversity on our planet, and advocating the necessity to live a sustainable and harmonious way of life, working with rather than against nature.

FACTFILE – Indira Gandhi Peace Prize

  • The Indira Gandhi Peace Prize or the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development is the prestigious award accorded annually by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust to individuals or organisations in recognition of creative efforts toward promoting international peace, development and a new international economic order; ensuring that scientific discoveries are used for the larger good of humanity, and enlarging the scope of freedom.

  • The prize carries a cash award of 2.5 million Indian rupees and a citation.

September 09, 2020

Union Agriculture Minister launches 22 bamboo clusters in 9 states, National Bamboo Mission logo

  • Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar launched 22 bamboo clusters in nine states, India is now gearing up to increase exports of bamboo products.

  • The bamboo clusters will be set up in Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Odisha, Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Karnataka.

  • Among the measures taken to promote the sector, the government amended the Indian Forest Act 1927 in 2017 to remove bamboo from the category of trees. Consequently, now anyone can undertake cultivation and business in bamboo and its products.

  • Further, import policy has also been modified to ensure progress of bamboo industry in the country.

  • The government launched the restructured NBM in 2018-19 for holistic development of complete value chain of the sector.

  • The Mission is being implemented in a hub (industry) and spoke model, with the main goal of connecting farmers and to increase supply of appropriate raw material to domestic industry.

Karnataka launches India’s first integrated air ambulance service

  • Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa unveiled the country’s first integrated air ambulance service jointly launched by the International Critical Air Transfer Team (ICATT) and the Kyathi.

  • ICATT, a team comprising emergency medical service experts, and Kyathi, an aviation technology firm, have come together to start the country’s first integrated air-ambulance service.

  • ICATT-Kyathi’s fixed wing aircraft is capable of long distance emergency medical transportation, combined with helicopter and land ambulance services providing last mile connectivity.

  • The fixed wing air ambulance will be stationed at the HAL airport in Bengaluru. The ambulance is equipped with state-of-the-art German Isolation Pod. ICATT-Kyathi will also enable safe transportation for critical Covd-19 patients.

India ranks 4th in renewable energy

  • India has scaled its non-fossil fuel-based power generation to 134 GW, which is about 35 per cent of the nation’s total power generation and it is expected to increase it to 220 GW by 2022.

  • India is providing capacity-building support to ISA members through its ITEC training programme. It has also set up a Project Preparation Facility to develop bankable solar energy projects in ISA member-countries with the help of EXIM Bank of India.

  • Five Public Sector Undertakings under his Ministry will join ISA’s Coalition for Sustainable Climate Action (ISA-CSCA) as corporate partners. Oil and Natural Gas Corporation, Indian Oil Corporation, Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited, and GAIL (India) Limited will contribute to ISA Corpus Fund.

  • In 2018, India announced about USD 1.4 billion worth of lines of credit (LOCs) for covering 27 solar projects across 15 countries.

FACTFILE – International Solar Alliance

  • It is a treaty-based international intergovernmental organisation which was jointly launched by India and France on 30th November 2015 during the 21st session of the United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-21) in Paris, France.

  • It was conceived as a coalition of solar-resource-rich countries (which lie either completely or partly between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn) to address their special energy needs.

  • It aim to lower the cost of technology and finance and thereby facilitate deployment of over 1,000 GW of solar energy and mobilize more than USD 1,000 billion into solar power by 2030 in member countries.

  • Headquarter: Gurugram in Haryana, India.

  • As of June 2020, the ISA Framework Agreement has been signed by 86 countries, with 68 having also deposited instruments of ratification.

ADB extends $500 million credit for Delhi-Meerut RRTS Corridor

  • The Asian Development Bank (ADB) signed an agreement with the Indian government to extend a $500 million loan for building the 82-km, high-speed Delhi-Meerut Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) corridor.

  • This will be the first tranche of total $1 billion facility that the multilateral funding agency had agreed for the infrastructure project that will improve regional connectivity and mobility in India’s national capital region (NCR).

  • The first tranche of the loan will support construction of the first of three priority rail corridors planned under the NCR Regional Plan 2021 to connect Delhi to other cities in adjoining states.

  • The first tranche financing will be used for constructing electrified tracks, signalling systems, multimodal hubs and stations with design features that are friendly to elderly, women, children and the disabled.

  • A $3 million grant from ADB’s Japan Fund for Poverty Reduction will support various activities, including provision of visual, hearing and mobility aids, such as wheelchairs for differently abled persons.

  • The ADB-administered multi-donor Urban Climate Change Resilience Trust Fund will provide $2.89 million to support innovations in building information modeling, universal access design features, TOD and VCF.

 

Go To Assam Current Affairs                      Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

September 10, 2020

Assam CM flags off ferry service in Jorhat

  • Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal flagged off Kokilamukh- Kartik Sapori ferry service across the Brahmaputra at Kokilamukh in Jorhat.

  • Students and traders who need to visit the town on a regular basis will mostly be benefitted by the service, which will be run by IWT.

  • The Chief Minister said that the government had been working for all-round development of the State and improving transportation services was one of the key areas.

Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra announced a 15-point programme

  • Giving priority to the education of tribal girls and aiming to free Rajasthan from the curse of child marriages, Rajasthan Governor Kalraj Mishra announced a 15-point programme.

  • The Governor said that each girl in the state should be provided education till she turns 18, adding that at least 10 employment fairs will be organised in Rajasthan via Corporate Social Responsibility wherein employment vans will bring jobs under the ‘Rozgar Apke Dwar’ initiative.

  • The 15-point programme also envisions Constitution Parks/Constitution Pillars in universities and a museum in Raj Bhavan.

  • The aim was to bring maternal and infant mortality rates (children below 5) in the tribal areas on par with the national rate and effective implementation of the National Nutrition Mission.

  • To make people aware about non-communicable and lifestyle-related diseases, to build first-aid centres through CSR in scheduled areas.

  • There is a plan to create an alumni network of state-funded universities to ensure maximum donation to the Governor’s Relief Fund.

  • The other points include development of STEAM-C (Science, Technology, Engineering, Agriculture, Mathematics-Computer) education system in the state for employment and skill development, the establishment of incubation centres in scheduled areas in collaboration with state-funded universities.

South India’s first Kisan Rail flagged off from Andhra Pradesh

  • Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar have virtually flagged off South India’s first Kisan Rail from Ananthapur to New Delhi.

  • The second Kisan Rail is shipping 214 tonnes of tomatoes, 138 tonnes of bananas, 32 tonnes of sweet oranges, 11 tonnes of papaya, 8 tonnes of melons and 3 tonnes of mangoes to Delhi, from Rayalaseema town.

  • The state government had taken up several initiatives in the agriculture sector for the benefit of farmers, such as providing minimum support price (MSP) by introducing market intervention fund.

  • Nearly 312 lakh metric tonnes of horticulture produce is being harvested across the state in 17 lakh hectares, with 16 per cent share of fruit production in the country.

  • AP Chief Minister made a special request to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, explaining the crisis state farmers are confronting, which eventually led to the creation of South India’s first Kisan Rail originating from AP.

Tamil Nadu releases policy for electronics & hardware manufacturing

  • Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy released the state’s Electronic Hardware Manufacturing Policy-2020, with the target for the manufacturing of electronic goods worth US$ 100-billion by the year 2025.

  • This policy envisages making the state contribute 25 per cent of the country’s total electronic hardware export. It aims at attracting semiconductor fabrication units to the state.

  • Providing a 30-per cent capital subsidy, 50 per cent grant for taking land on lease, 5-per cent interest grant for term loans and a monthly financial aid for the first-time trainees in the sector for six months at the rate of Rs. 4,000 for men and Rs. 6,000 for women are some of the features of the new policy.

  • Mobile phones, LED’s, fabless chips, printed circuit boards, solar photovoltaic cells and medical and automobile electronics are some of the areas that are being given focus in the new policy.

September 11, 2020

Kerala tops India’s literacy rate chart with 96.2% rate

  • As per National Statistical Office (NSO) survey report, with 96.2 percent literacy, Kerala has once again emerged as the most literate state in the country.

  • The report on “Household Social Consumption: Education in India as part of the 75th round of National Sample Survey – from July 2017 to June 2018‟ provides for state-wise detail of literacy rate among the persons aged seven years and above.

  • After Kerala, Delhi has the best literacy rate at 88.7 percent, followed by Uttarakhand’s 87.6 percent, Himachal Pradesh‟s 86.6 percent, and Assam’s at 85.9 percent.

  • Andhra Pradesh featured at the bottom with a rate of 66.4 percent, while, Rajasthan is the second-worst performer with a literacy rate at 69.7 percent, followed by Bihar at 70.9 percent, Telangana at 72.8 percent, Uttar Pradesh at 73 percent, and Madhya Pradesh at 73.7 percent.

  • The study has pegged the overall literacy rate in the country at about 77.7 percent.

PM Modi inaugurates Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana to enhance income of dairy farmers, fisheries

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana and e-Gopala App, a comprehensive breed improvement marketplace and information portal for direct use of farmers, which will do away with the role of middlemen in procurement and purchase.

  • The project has been started in 21 states and Rs 20,000 crore will be spend in the next four-five years. An amount of Rs 1,700 cr has been initiated to start the project.

  • The Department of Fisheries has approved Rs 1,723 crore worth of proposals for 21 states and Union Territories in phase-I under the PMMSY.

  • The PMMSY is a flagship scheme for focused and sustainable development of the fisheries sector with an estimated investment of Rs 20,050 crore, as a part of the ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ package.

  • An investment of about Rs 12,340 crore is proposed for beneficiary-oriented activities in Marine, Inland fisheries and Aquaculture while about Rs 7,710 crore are proposed for Fisheries Infrastructure.

  • The PMMSY aims at enhancing fish production by an additional 70 lakh tonne by 2024-25, increasing fisheries export earnings to Rs 1,00,000 crore by 2024-25.

India, Japan ink mutual military logistics agreement

  • India and Japan have inked a landmark agreement that will allow their militaries to access each other’s bases for logistics support.

  • The agreement provides for creation of an enabling framework for closer cooperation and interoperability, besides allowing militaries of the two countries to use each other’s bases and facilities for repair and replenishment of supplies.

  • The defence ministry said the pact will enhance the interoperability between the armed forces, resulting in further expansion of bilateral defence engagement under the Indo-Japan special strategic and global partnership.

  • The agreement establishes the enabling framework for closer cooperation between the armed forces of India and Japan in the reciprocal provision of supplies and services.

  • India has already signed similar agreements with the US, France, Australia and Singapore.

  • India has been signing MLSAs with countries primarily eyeing deeper maritime cooperation which is important considering China’s rapid military expansionism in the Indo-Pacific, Indian Ocean and South China Sea.

Microsoft joins NASSCOM to skill 10 lakh students in AI

  • Microsoft joined hands with industry-driven learning ecosystem Nasscom FutureSkills to launch a nation-wide initiative “AI Classroom Series” that aims to skill 10 lakh students in Artificial Intelligence (AI) by 2021.

  • The online classes will include live demos, hands-on workshops and assignments through self-learning, virtual instructor-led training, and mentoring.

  • These introductory sessions on AI will be available for undergraduate students at no cost and will cover the basics of data science, machine learning models on Azure, and understanding of cognitive services to build intelligent solutions.

  • The partnership with NASSCOM FutureSkills is an extension of Microsoft’s global skilling initiative to help 25 million people worldwide acquire new digital skills, needed to thrive in a digital economy.

  • The partnership will also steer collaboration with various academic institutes and colleges to integrate new Cloud and AI technologies into the curriculum.

 

Go To Assam Current Affairs                      Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

September 12, 2020

Reliance Industries becomes world’s 40th most valuable firm

  • Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) has become the

  • world’s 40th most valuable firm as it became the first Indian company to cross USD 210 billion in market capitalisation intra-day.

  • This is the first time that an Indian company has crossed the USD 200 billion market capitalisation milestone. It is ranked ahead of companies including Oracle, PepsiCo, SAP, Exxon Mobil, Novartis and Pfizer.

  • RIL is also ranked among Asia’s top 10 most valuable companies.

FACTFILE – Reliance Industries Limited (RIL)

  • Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is an Indian multinational conglomerate company headquartered in Mumbai, India.

  • RIL owns businesses across India engaged in energy, petrochemicals, textiles, natural resources, retail, and telecommunications.

  • RIL is one of the most profitable companies in India, the largest publicly traded company in India by market capitalisation, and the largest company in India as measured by revenue after recently surpassing the government-controlled Indian Oil Corporation.

  • The company is ranked 96th on the Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s biggest corporations as of 2020. It is ranked 8th among the Top 250 Global Energy Companies by Platts as of 2016.

  • Reliance continues to be India’s largest exporter, accounting for 8% of India’s total merchandise exports with a value of ₹1,47,755 crore and access to markets in 108 countries.

Telangana Assembly passes bills for landmark land reforms

  • The Telangana Assembly passed various Bills to bring major reforms in the state’s Revenue Department by reducing human interface for land transactions. Accordingly, the state govt has scrapped the posts of Village Revenue Officers (VROs) and Village Revenue Assistants (VRAs).

  • With the new enactments, record of rights relating to lands will be maintained in electronic form in the Telangana Land Records Management System for ensuring hassle-free revenue administration.

  • The new Revenue Act will remove discretionary powers vested with the officials at different levels and ensure transparent and corruption-free land dealings.

  • Under the new Revenue Act, land mutation or change of land title ownership will be done online via the Dharani portal. This will also allow people to access records of agricultural and non-agricultural land online.

Major health scheme for J&K announced

  • Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Lieutenant-Governor Manoj Sinha announced a major health scheme under which all residents of the union territory will be given health insurance.

  • The scheme, under Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY), will provide an annual health insurance cover of Rs 5 lakh per household on a floating basis.

  • It will also cover diseases like cancer and kidney disease, as well as coronavirus disease (COVID-19). In addition, all treatments for oncology, cardiology, and nephrology will be covered.

Andhra CM launches ‘YSR Asara’ to free women from debt trap

  • Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the ‘YSR Asara’ scheme, which will benefit 87 lakh women belonging to 8.71 lakh self-help groups (SHGs).

  • The scheme promises to deposit money in the bank accounts of eligible women, amounting to Rs 27,168 crore in total, in four instalments.

  • According to the state govt, the outstanding loans of eligible women on the cut-off date were determined to be amounting to Rs 25,383 crore.

  • Most of these women hailing from poor families were compelled to take these loans for education, healthcare, care of elderly people at home, daily needs and other emergencies. This resulted in getting them into a vicious cycle of debts due to their incapability to cope with the exorbitant rates of interest.

September 13, 2020

Assam Govt announced infrastructure development projects worth around Rs 12,000 crore

  • The Assam state Govt announced a slew of infrastructure development projects worth around Rs 12,000 crore, including the setting up of four new medical colleges, nine women colleges, six degree colleges, ten law colleges, two flyovers and statewide road corridors in the state.

  • An outlay of around Rs 12,000 crore would be the highest ever capital investment in the history of Assam.

  • From December 2020, actual works would start for establishing the four new medical colleges at Biswanath Chariali, Charaideo, Goalpara and Guwahati.

  • In collaboration with Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital (MMCH) and Kalapahar TB Hospital, the second medical college in Guwahati would be constructed to make it a best and largest one in entire eastern India in terms of size, services and treatment facilities.

Scientists develop Anti-bacterial Graphene face masks

  • The scientists have successfully produced graphene masks with an anti-bacterial efficiency of 80 per cent, which can be enhanced to almost 100 per cent with exposure to sunlight for around 10 minutes.

  • The graphene masks are easily produced at low cost and can help to resolve the problems of sourcing raw materials and disposing of non-biodegradable masks.

  • The researchers revealed that commonly used surgical masks are not anti-bacterial. And thus, this may lead to the risk of secondary transmission of bacterial infection when people touch the contaminated surfaces of the used masks or discard them improperly.

  • The research team tested their laser-induced graphene with E. coli, and it achieved high anti-bacterial efficiency of about 82 per cent. These laser-induced graphene showed a superior anti-bacterial capacity for aerosolised bacteria.

  • The team is currently working with laboratories in mainland China to test the graphene material with two species of human coronaviruses.

India’s first sea bass hatchery start-up comes up in Karnataka

  • Three young students of Bachelor of Fisheries Science (BFSc) at the Mangalore Fisheries College, A.H. Kaushik, V.S. Karthik Gowda, and S.V. Sachin, saw some shrimp farmers in Andhra Pradesh.

  • The ICAR-Central Institute of Brackishwater Aquaculture (CIBA) announced the signing of an MoU with the start-up at Karnataka’s Kumta for transfer of sea bass seed production technology.

  • This is the first attempt in the country in setting up a sea bass hatchery in private sector on a start-up mode.

  • The ICAR-CIBA charged Rs 5 lakh for transfer of technology and 10 per cent royalty on the net profit of the company.

  • Canares Aquaculture will get the sea bass eggs or fries and brooder from the ICAR-CIBA, rear it in its tanks for about two-and-half months and then sell it to the farmers.

 

Go To Assam Current Affairs                      Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz

September 14, 2020

Assam to expand Kaziranga National Park area

  • Assam state govt has approved to expand the Kaziranga National Park by 3053 hectares. This would make the Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve to grow to 1085.53 sq km. Presently, the core area of the national park is 430 sq km.

This increase in area of KNP will benefit:

  • It would help to provide connectivity to Orang and Nameri National Parks across river Brahmaputra.

  • It also provides connectivity to the hills of Karbi Anglong to the south of the park.

  • These additional areas are encroachment-evicted areas and suitable wildlife habitat on river islands that are vulnerable to encroachment.

  • It would also lead to the reduction in human-wildlife negative interactions.

FACTFILE – Kaziranga National Park (KNP)

  • Kaziranga National Park is one of India’s oldest reserve areas, located in Golaghat and Nagaon, in the Karbi Anglong district of Assam in northeast India.

  • The park was declared ‘protected’ after Mary Curzon, Wife of Lord Curzon, failed to spot a single rhinoceros in the area.

  • The park has elephants, swamp deer, wild water buffalo, etc. It also has a wide range of flora. It also contains 15 threatened species of fauna.

  • It also has many species of birds and is designated as an ‘Important Bird Area’ by Birdlife International.

FACTFILE – National Parks in Asaam

  • Assam has five national parks—Kaziranga National Park, Manas National Park, Nameri National Park, Dibru-Saikhowa National Park and Orang National Park.

India becomes member of UN body ECOSOC

  • India has been elected as a member of the United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women, a body of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

  • India will be a member of United Nation’s Commission on Status of Women for four years, 2021 to 2025.

  • India, Afghanistan and China had contested the elections to the Commission on Status of Women. Even as India and Afghanistan won the ballot among the 54 members, China could not cross the half-way mark.

  • The Economic and Social Council is at the heart of the United Nations system to advance the three dimensions of sustainable development – economic, social and environmental.

FACTFILE – The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

  • It is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main UN organs within the United Nations.

  • CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide.

  • It is the central platform for fostering debate and innovative thinking, forging consensus on ways forward, and coordinating efforts to achieve internationally agreed goals.

  • It is also responsible for the follow-up to major UN conferences and summits.

NSO’s Report on the Digital Divide

  • Recently, National Statistical Organisation (NSO) published the report on ‘household social consumption’ in its 75th round of the survey which was conducted between 2017-2018. The report shows that digital divide have increased across States, cities and villages, and income groups.

Key Findings of the report

  • One in 10 households have access to computer across the country.

  • Quarter of all homes have Internet connection which is accessed through fixed or mobile network using smartphones.

  • Cities have 42% Internet-enabled homes while in rural India 15% are connected to the internet.

  • Delhi has the highest Internet access covering 55% of the households.

  • Kerala emerges to have the least inequality where 39% of the poorest rural homes and 67% of the richest urban homes have Internet.

  • Odisha have the lowest internet penetration with one in 10 household have access to internet.

  • 20% of Indians above the age of 5 years have basic digital literacy.

Digital divide – It means uneven distribution of access and use of internet and technologies among the group. This term was first used by Lloyd Morrisett.

Internet as Fundamental Right – Kerala High Court in 2019 had declared the right to Internet access is a fundamental right that forms the part of the right to privacy and the right to education under Article 21 of the Constitution.

Various Government Initiatives to reduce the digital divide

  • Bharat Net Programme that acts as the infrastructural backbone to provide Internet access all across the country.

  • National Digital Literacy Mission (NDLM) have been launched to empower at least one person per household with digital literacy skills by 2020.

 

Go To Assam Current Affairs                      Go To Assam Current Affairs Quiz