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Assam Current Affairs & GK – September 01-07, 2020

( Covers all important Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of September 01-07, 2020)

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September 01, 2020

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Indian Railways completes solar power installations at 960 stations

• With the objective of 100 per cent self-sustainability for all power needs, the Indian Railways has completed installation of solar power plants at 960 stations and in the ordering process for 198 MW solar rooftop capacity for 550 additional railway stations.

• The Indian Railways’ plans were part of its objective to become a net zero carbon emitter by 2030 as it has a landpool of more than 51,000 hectares.

• Indian Railways plans plans to install solar plants of 20 GW capacity by utilising its vacant land by 2030. And to generate 33 billion units by 2030, 10 billion more than its present requirement.

• For the first time in the world, Indian Railways sets up solar plant in Bina to directly power railway overhead line, in July, 2020.

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Assam Govt plans to overhaul of State’s education sector

• Assam Education Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma informed the Legislative Assembly that the government is planning an overhaul of the education sector with 15 new government colleges, including nine girls’ colleges, coming up in Assam.

• 150 new high schools will be built in the tea garden areas of Assam and these will be ready to start from the next academic session.

• Under the New Education Policy, the entire education system would undergo a sea change, where the difference between English medium and vernacular mediums would be reduced and people will gain confidence in the government education sector.

• Assam is witnessing fast pace expansion in the government education sector with more than 40 lakh students enrolled in government academic institutions and more than 1.5 lakh appointments in this sector in the past eight years.

• 5.5 lakh students have been given free admission under government scheme.

• The Govt is ready do some modification in provincialisation rules to regularise the deserving venture institutions of the state.

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Former Indian President Pranab Mukherjee passes away

• Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee died in Delhi at the age of 84.

• The central government has announced seven days of state mourning for the former president.

BIOGRAPHY – Pranab Mukherjee

• Pranab Mukherjee served as the 13th President of India, from 2012 to 2017.

• Born in the village of Mirati in Birbhum district of West Bengal, Mukherjee pursued History, Political Science and Law courses from the Kolkata University before becoming a college teacher and then a journalist.

• Before becoming finance minister for the first time as part of Indira Gandhi’s Cabinet in 1982, Mukherjee had served as a deputy minister for finance in 1973-74.

• He was also appointed the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission in 1991 during the time of P V Narasimha Rao’s government at the Centre and held that position for five years.

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UP Govt launches Major Dhyan Chand Vijaypath Yojana

• Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya launched the Major Dhyan Chand Vijaypath Yojana under which 19 international players from the state will get road connectivity to their houses.

• Indian pacer Bhuvneshwar Kumar, former pacer Praveen Kumar, Piyush Chawla and Mohammad Kaif are among the 19 athletes who will be benefited from the scheme.

• The initial list includes 19 players but later on, more players will be added to the scheme.

 

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September 02, 2020

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Assam’s Darrang ranked second in performance among aspirational districts in India

• The NITI (National Institution for Transforming India) Aayog in its fresh assessment based on the overall performance index has placed Assam’s Darrang district in the second rank among the 124 aspirational districts of the country.

• The evaluation covered several subjects of development including health and nutrition, education, agriculture and water resource, financial inclusion and skill development and basic infrastructure for the last two months of June and July 2020.

• In the financial inclusion and skill development category, the Darrang district fared even better than the district that bagged the first rank.

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Bhaben Baruah Award to Kulada Kumar Bhattacharya

• The Nalbari district unit of the Asom Jatiyatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad conferred the coveted Bhaben Baruah Award for the year 2020 to renowned actor, playwright and the director of Jyoti Chitraban, Kulada Kumar Bhattacharya for his lifetime contributions towards the uplift of preforming arts in the State.

• The award consists of a cash prize of Rs 10,000, a citation and a seleng sador, among others.

FACTFILE – Bhaben Baruah Award

• The Nalbari district unit of AJYCP has been presenting the award since 2009. First edition of the award was given to play artist Dulal Roy.

Recipients of the award are

• Guruji Adya Sarma (2010)

• Biju Phukan (2011)

• Nilu Chakravarty (2012)

• Mahananda Sarma (2013)

• Jibeswar Deka (2014)

• Achyut Lahkar (2015)

• Dharani Barman (2016)

• Hemanta Dutta (2017)

• Bidya Rao (2018)

• Dara Ahmed (2019)

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India launches pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in electricity

• Indian power market has gone green with the launch of pan-India Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM) in electricity.

• The introduction of GTAM platform would lessen the burden on Renewable Energy-rich States.

• The GTAM platform will lead to an increase in the number of participants in the renewable energy sector. 

• It will benefit buyers of renewable energy through competitive prices and transparent and flexible procurement. And it will also benefit renewable energy sellers by providing access to the pan-India market.

Key features of Green Term Ahead Market (GTAM)

• Transactions through GTAM will be bilateral in nature with clear identification of corresponding buyers and sellers, there will not be any difficulty in accounting for RPO.

• GTAM contracts will be segregated into Solar RPO & Non-Solar RPO as RPO targets are also segregated.

• Further, within the two segments GTAM contracts will have Green Intraday, Day Ahead Contingency, Daily and Weekly Contracts

• Price discovery will take place on a continuous basis i.e. price time priority basis. Subsequently, looking at the market conditions open auction can be introduced for daily & weekly contracts.

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Google expands AI-driven flood forecast to all of India, Bangladesh

• Google expanding its Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered flood forecasting to all of India and Bangladesh that will provide greater details on timing and water depths in alerts in nine new local languages.

• This forecasting model that will allow it to double the lead time of many of its alerts providing more notice to governments in India and Bangladesh and giving tens of millions of people an extra day or so to prepare.

• For several years, the Google Flood Forecasting Initiative has been working with governments to develop systems that predict when and where flooding will occur and keep people safe and informed.

• Google has been expanding its forecasting models and services in partnership with the Indian Central Water Commission. This partnership aims to build local networks that can get disaster alert information to people who wouldn’t otherwise receive smartphone alerts directly.

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IUCAA Pune scientists find one of the farthest galaxies

• A team of scientists from Pune’s Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA) have discovered one of the farthest galaxies in the universe, called AUDFs01

• The discovery made by a team of astronomers led by IUCAA’s Kanak Saha.

• The galaxy was discovered by India’s first Multi-Wavelength Space Observatory ‘AstroSat’, which detected extreme-UV light from a galaxy located at an astronomical distance of 9.30 billion light-years from Earth.

FACTFILE – Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA)

• The Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA) is an autonomous institution set up by the University Grants Commission to promote nucleation and growth of active groups in astronomy and astrophysics in Indian universities.

• IUCAA is located in the University of Pune campus.It’s campus designed by Indian architect Charles Correa.

• IUCAA, along with Persistent Systems, Pune, operates the Virtual Observatory project. The observatory provides users access to raw observational data along with advanced processing software designed by engineers at Persitent.

• IUCAA, along with the Raman Research Institute and Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore, declared a proposal to take a ten percent stake in the Large Telescope Project, which would allow Indian astronomers access to major upcoming observatories such as the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and the European Extremely Large Telescope (EELT).

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IIT Bombay students launch AI-based scanning app “AIR Scanner”

• AIR Scanner, a free-of-cost mobile application, has been developed Rohit Kumar Chaudhary and Kavin Agrawal, two B.Tech students of IIT Bombay.

• This app has been launched on Independence Day and the AI (Artificial Intelligence) based Reading Assistant & Document Scanner app can scan documents and also read to users who have difficulty in reading English.

• The document you scan using your mobile camera will be saved in PDF format and will be stored in the device only.

• An added advantage of this app is its Artificial Intelligence feature that reads out the scanned pages and also provides the meaning of the selected word to the user in 40 different languages.

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September 03, 2020

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Assam Municipal Bill passed bill to defer civic body polls by one year

• In view of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the Assam assembly passed the Assam Municipal (Amendment) Bill, 2020 allowing deferring of polls to municipal bodies by one year after expiry of their scheduled terms.

• The bill also provides for appointment of a senior official as the in-charge of the council concerned after the end of its scheduled term.

• The state government shall direct the Deputy Commissioner or the Sub-Divisional Officer (Civil), as the case may be, of the respective jurisdiction, to take over the charge of the Municipal Boards for a period not exceeding 12 months from the date of expiry of the term of the office of the Commissioners.

Read more about Assam Municipal system – Assamexam.com : Assam Municipal Note

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India’s GDP contracted by 23.9% in 2020 1^st Qrt

• As per the recent National Statistical Office (NSO) data, India’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth contracted by 23.9% in the quarter 1 of 2020. It is the sharpest contraction since India started reporting quarterly data in 1996.

• Construction, manufacturing, trade, hotels and other services and mining were the worst-hit sectors, due the severe suspension of economic activity in the quarter period due to the Covid pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns.

• Only sector that showed a positive growth is agriculture, which grew at 3.4%.

Effects on the Economy

• Job loss since the sectors which have contracted (e.g. construction, manufacturing etc.) are the sectors that create the maximum new jobs in the country.

• Small-scale sector and informal sector are more affected than the organised sector

• Defaults in the banking sector after the moratorium ends will add to the banking sector woes, impacting bank’s lending.

• Household debt will increase with incomes stagnating, salary cuts and job losses.

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Real-Time Market of Indian Energy Exchange launched

• A pan-India real-time market of electricity to enable the buyers and sellers pan-India to meet their energy requirement closer to real time of operation has been launched.

• With shorter bidding time, faster scheduling, and defined processes enables the participants to access resources throughout the all India grid, the market will promote competition.

• It is an organized market platform which will bring required flexibility to provide real-time balance while ensuring optimal utilization of the available surplus capacity in the system. The buyers and sellers would have the option of placing buy or sell bids for each 15-minute time block.

Advantages of Real-Time Market of Indian Energy Exchange

• It would help to mitigate the challenges of grid management and integrate higher amounts of renewable energy resources into the grid.

• It would provide an alternate mechanism for DISCOMS to access larger markets at competitive prices.

• It serves the consumers with reliable supply as any last-minute requirement of power can easily be bought from the Real-Time market.

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Rajasthan inks MoU worth Rs 4,000 crore in textiles, defence & aviation

• Rajasthan Govt signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Shri Vallabh Pittie (SVP) International Group for the development of facilities related to aviation, defence and textile sectors.

• Investment of Rs 4,000 crore is estimated under the projects which would generate employment for more than 4,000 people.

• The company proposed to develop a project for defence and aerospace, including aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facility, aviation academy and a project related to textile.

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J&K Official Languages Bill 2020 gets Cabinet clearance

• The Union Cabinet gave its nod to the introduction of the Jammu and Kashmir Official Languages Bill, 2020 in the Parliament.

• The Bill will include Kashmiri, Dogri and Hindi as official languages in the newly-created Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.

• Now, five languages Kashmiri, Dogri, Hindi, Urdu and English will be the official languages in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, as against only English and Urdu which were official languages in the former State.

Scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule

• Dogri along with Bodo, Maithili and Santhali was added to the scheduled languages under the Eighth Schedule by 92nd Amendment Act of 2003.

• The Eighth Schedule consists of the following 22 languages:

• Assamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Malayalam, Manipuri, Marathi, Nepali, Oriya, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Bodo, Santhali, Maithili and Dogri.

• Of these languages, 14 were initially included in the Constitution.

• Sindhi language was added by the 21st Amendment Act of 1967.

• Konkani, Manipuri, and Nepali were included by the 71st Amendment Act of 1992.

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Union Cabinet approves Mission Karmayogi

• Union Cabinet has given its nod to Mission Karmayogi – National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building, a scheme to lay the foundation for capacity building for Civil Servants so that they remain entrenched in Indian culture while they learn global best practices.

• The mission aims to make the Civil Servants more creative, constructive, imaginative, innovative, proactive, professional, progressive, energetic, enabling, transparent and technology-enabled.

• The institutional framework will consist of Prime Minister’s Public Human Resources (HR) Council, Capacity Building Commission, Special Purpose Vehicle for owning and operating the digital assets and the technological platform for online training, and Coordination Unit headed by the Cabinet Secretary.

• The Public Human Resources Council comprising select Union Ministers, Chief Ministers, eminent public HR practitioners, thinkers, global thought leaders and Public Service functionaries will serve as the apex body for providing strategic direction to the task of Civil Services Reform and capacity building.

• The Capacity Building Commission to ensure a uniform approach in managing and regulating the capacity building ecosystem on collaborative and co-sharing basis.

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UP government plans to set up toy city in UP

• Uttar Pradesh government is planning to set up a ‘Toy City’ along the Yamuna Expressway in the state. And for that, 70 entrepreneurs have shown interest in setting up toy units in the state. 

• The state government would provide subsidised land under the MSME provisions and also make arrangements for the raw material needed for the toy industry.

• The toy industry in India is worth about Rs 10,000 crore and according to the International Market Analysis, Research and Consulting Group, Indian participation in the global toy industry is merely 0.5 per cent.

• In the Indian market, the locally made toys account for merely 12 per cent. The majority of the toys are imported from China and other countries.

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September 04, 2020

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India ranks 48^th in Global Innovation Index, 2020

• India has moved up four places to the 48th rank in the global innovation index and keeps the top position among the nations in central and southern Asia.

• For the first time, India entered in the top 50 countries in the global innovation index.

• India has become the third most innovative lower middle-income economy in the world

• India ranks in the top 15 in indicators such as ICT (Information and Communication Technology) services exports, government online services, graduates in science and engineering, and R&D-intensive global companies.

• India is the lower middle-income economy with the highest innovation quality.

FACTFILE – Global Innovation Index, 2020

• The Global Innovation Index (GII) is an annual ranking of countries by their capacity for, and success in, innovation. It is released jointly by the Cornell University, INSEAD and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

• A total of 131 countries were analysed under the GII based on metrics include institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication and business sophistication, knowledge and technology outputs and creative outputs.

• Top countries are Switzerland, Sweden, the US, the UK and the Netherlands. The top 10 positions are dominated by high-income countries.

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CSIR-CMERI develops World’s Largest Solar Tree

• CSIR-CMERI has developed the World’s Largest Solar Tree, installed capacity of the Solar Tree is above 11.5 kWp, which is installed at CSIR-CMERI Residential Colony, Durgapur.

• It has the annual capacity to generate 12,000-14,000 units of Clean and Green Power. The Solar Tree has been designed to ensure maximum exposure of each Solar PV Panel to Sunlight and also creation of the least amount of shadow area beneath.

• Each Solar Tree has the potential to save 10-12 tons of CO2 emissions being released into the atmosphere as Greenhouse The surplus generated power can be fed into an Energy Grid.

• The solar tree has the capability to incorporate IOT based features like round-the-clock CCTV surveillance in agricultural fields, real-time humidity, wind speed, rainfall prediction and soil analytics sensors.

• This Solar Tree is a Quantum Leap towards making an Energy Reliant and Carbon Negative India in compliance with sustainable development goals.

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J&K govt to set up two CIIITs in Jammu, Baramulla

• The J&K Government is establishing two Centers for Invention, Innovation, Incubation & Training (CIIIT) in Jammu & Kashmir in collaboration with Tata Technologies. This will strengthen industry-academia partnership and to bring quality improvement in technical education.

• The two centers are being built at Government Polytechnic College, Jammu and Government Polytechnic College, Baramulla and shall be established at a cost of approximately Rs 360.00 crores.

• The Project is aimed at bringing qualitative improvements in the field of technical education in J&K. They will facilitate to create a ready pool of skilled manpower like engineers; technicians which will augment the industrial growth and in turn employment avenues in the region.

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NASA test-fires SLS rocket booster for future lunar missions

• With overall objective of landing the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024, NASA has completed a full-scale booster test for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

• NASA, along with Northrop Grumman, will use data from the test, successfully conducted to evaluate the motor’s performance using potential new materials and processes that can be incorporated into future boosters.

• The SLS flight support booster firing is a crucial part of sustaining missions to the Moon. The SLS boosters are the largest, most powerful boosters ever built for flight.

• The two boosters on the rocket provide more than 75 per cent of the thrust needed to launch NASA’s future deep space missions through Artemis lunar programme.

• The SLS rocket, Orion spacecraft, Gateway, and human landing system are part of NASA’s backbone for deep space exploration.

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September 05, 2020

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Assam government to give financial aid under SVAYEM Yojana to 2,00,000 youths

• To encourage entrepreneurship in the state, the Assam government has decided to provide Rs 50,000 each to 2,00,000 youths of the state.

• The Rs 50,000 to 2,00,000 youths would be given under the revamped “Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment (SVAYEM)” Yojana.

• State Govt has earmarked Rs 1,000 crore for this scheme.

• The financial assistance would be provided to the members of self-help groups or joint liability groups registered before September 1, 2020.

• Youths below the age of 40 years and with a minimum qualification of matriculation would be considered eligible for this scheme.

 

Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment (SVAYEM) Yojana

Swami Vivekananda Assam Youth Empowerment (SVAYEM) Yojana is a flagship program announced in the Budget 2017-18, to provide financial support to the youths of Assam to take up income generating activities in the manufacturing, trading and service sector.

Objectives of SVAYEM Yojana

• To generate employment opportunities in rural as well as urban areas through setting up of new ventures as well as growing existing ventures.
• To provide financial assistance to micro and small business entities engaged in the manufacturing, trading and services sector.
• To provide financial assistance for enhancement of income level of traditional artisans ensuring sustainable growth.

Coverage and targeted group under SVAYEM Yojana

• About One lakh youth of Assam will be provided suitable credit support for taking up income generating enterprises.

Nature of activities eligible for SVAYEM Yojana

• Manufacturing
• Processing
• Service Sector
• Trading
• Rural Transport Service (Auto Rickshaw, e-Rickshaw)
• Tourism
• Shops, repairing Centres, Handicraft, Cottage Industries etc.

Eligibility criteria for the beneficiary of SVAYEM Yojana

• Residents of Assam above 18 years of age.
• The beneficiary should possess educational qualification of at least Class VII.
• The individual beneficiary should have skills, experiences, knowledge, etc., to undertake the income generating activities.
• The beneficiary who has already completed Skill Development Training will be given preference.
• The beneficiary must not be the defaulter of any loan.
• PMEGP beneficiaries of the last 5 years will not be eligible under the scheme.

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Indian Govt proposes mandatory FASTag for vehicles sold before Dec 1, 2017

• The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has proposed to make FASTags mandatory for vehicles sold before December 1, 2017.
• The amended provision in Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR), 1989 is proposed to be put in force with effect from January 1, 2021.
• It is proposed to make having a valid FASTag mandatory while getting a new 3rd Party Insurance through an amendment in FORM 51 (Certificate of Insurance), wherein the details of FASTag ID shall be captured.
• As per Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, FASTag had been made mandatory since 2017 for registration of new four-wheeled vehicles, and is to be supplied by the vehicle manufacturer or their dealers.

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Odisha proposes to set up a Bulk Drug Park at Gopalpur

• The Odisha govt accorded in-principle approval to a proposal for setting up a Bulk Drug Park within the Tata Steel Special Economic Zone (SEZ) at Gopalpur in Ganjam district.
• The proposed project is part of the state government’s aim of creating employment opportunities through industrialization in the non-mineral sector.
• The cost of the infrastructure development in the park was estimated around Rs 1,500 crore. And the proposed park would create employment opportunities for around 5,000 people.

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September 06, 2020

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Assam Skill University Bill 2020 passed

• The Assam Legislative Assembly passed the Assam Skill University Bill 2020 for setting up a state-of-the-art skill university at Mangaldoi in Darrang district.
• The university will be set up with financial support of about Rs 1000 Crore from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
• The Assam government has tied up with Singapore based ITE Education Service for setting up of the university.
• Around 100 bigha land would be allotted for setting the university.
• The university will open a new vista of opportunities and change the economic landscape of Assam.

FACTFILE – Assam Skill University

• Assam to set up Skill University at Mangaldoi as a centre of excellence Skill University with an investment of Rs 900 crore.
• It will be the first skill university in the country.
• It will be set up with financial assistance from the Asian Development Bank.
• Assam Government has tied up ITE Education Service, Singapore for setting up of the Skill University.
• It is to hold a capacity of 10,000 seats, of which, 80% of the seats are to be reserved for students of Assam and 20% for other North-Eastern states.

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Andhra Pradesh tops in implementing Business Reforms, Assam among worst reformer states

• Andra Pradesh is the best-performing state in terms of implementing business reforms, as the ranking of states on the basis of implementing the ‘State business reforms action plan’, released by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.
• The ‘State Business Reform Action Plan 2019’ is aimed at improving business environment by streamlining regulatory structures and simplifying procedures, digitisation of information and easing the compliance burden.
• The Action plan aspires to create creating an investor-friendly business climate by cutting down red tape.
• Uttar Pradesh stood second and Telangana was the third-best state in implementing business reforms in 2019.
• States like Haryana, Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Bihar, Goa, Assam and surprisingly even Gujarat has been worst-performing states in terms of reform initiatives in 2019 as compared to their performance in previous year.

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India-Bangladesh new waterway route with Tripura made operational

• The first consignment of goods from Bangladesh arrived in Tripura by waterway as part of a trial run for shipping of goods from other parts of India to the northeast region via Bangladesh formally making operational of new waterways between India and Bangladesh.
• A Bangladeshi vessel tracking 93 km waterways carrying 10 tonnes of arrived western Tripura’s Sonamura. With the arrival of the vessel, the Sonamura-Daukandi 93-km-long new inland waterways protocol route between northeast India’s Tripura state and Bangladesh was formally made operational.
• A temporary floating jetty was built at Sonamura in western Tripura to start the new waterway through the Gomati river between Tripura and Bangladesh.
• Agartala via Guwahati is 1,650 km from Kolkata by road while the distance between Agartala and Kolkata via Bangladesh is just 620 km.
• India and Bangladesh had earlier signed a MoU to ferry various goods including foodgrains from different parts of India to the mountainous northeastern states using Bangladeshi ports and surface roads to save time and transportation costs.
• There are six ‘ports of call’ each in India and Bangladesh. The five new “ports of call” on the Indian side are Dhulian, Maia, Kolaghat, Sonamura and Jogigopha and on the Bangladesh side Rajshahi, Sultanganj, Chilmari, Daudkandi and Bahadurabad.
• Two more extended “ports of call” Tribeli (Bandel) and Badarpur in India and Ghorasal and Muktarpur in Bangladesh have been added.

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September 07, 2020

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Assam passed bill to protect State’s Heritage Sites

• Assam Legislative Assembly passed bills for creation of three autonomous councils which included Moran, Motok and Kamtapur Autonomous Council.
• The bills are being termed as a ‘historic’ step towards implementing the Clause 6 of Assam Accord. The bill has been drafted by the Directorate of Archaeology, under the guidance of State Cultural Affairs (Archeology) Minister Keshab Mahanta.

Tangible Heritage Covered under the new Bill

• This bill covers various museum objects like coins, sculptures, manuscripts, epigraphs or other work of art and craftsmanship and all cultural artefacts of indigenous people.
• Heritage sites such as xatras, monasteries, stupas, naamghars, masjids, dargahs, and churches besides socio-cultural institutions and habitation structures having traditional architectures as well as monuments and their precincts will also be covered under the new law.
• All the artefacts covered under tangible heritage that have been in existence for a minimum of 75 years and are not covered under the Assam Ancient Monuments and Records Act, 1959, will be protected under the new law.

Clause 6 of Assam Accord

• Under the clause, the state government is empowered to take necessary steps to ensure constitutional, legislative and administrative safeguards, as may be appropriate, that shall be provided to protect, preserve and promote the culture, social, linguistic identity and heritage of the Assamese people.

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UN’s International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies observed on September 7

• For the first time, UN`s International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies is observed on September 7, 2020. The theme for this year’s observance day is “Clean Air for All”.
• Union Environment Minister Prakash Javadekar will be chairing a webinar, will be joined by Principal Secretaries of the Urban Development Department and Environment Department of 28 states and 8 Union Territories.
• He will also be reviewing the progress of the activities under the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) during the course of the webinar.
• On December 19, 2019, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to observe the International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies on September 7 every year starting from 2020.

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University of Hyderabad start-up bags Covid-19 challenge grant from USISTEF

• A start-up company incubated at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has won a US-India Science and Technology Endowment Fund (USISTEF) ignition grant for its “Novel therapeutic strategy to fight against Covid-19”.
• The proposal by Novel Oncoseek Bio Pvt Ltd., was one of the eleven that were selected from 520 proposals that were received and evaluated.
• The company is one of the start-up companies of ASPIRE-BioNEST at UoH had earlier received a grant from BIRAC, Government of India to develop a platform to screen the potential drug candidates for Covid-19.
• Its present proposal, Oncoseek Bio is proposing to create a therapeutic by developing neutralizing novel antibodies directed against the receptor-binding domain (RBD) and other epitopes of the Spike protein of SARS-CoV-2.
• The antibodies are conjugated to drug/Zn nanoparticle (ADCs), which would release the drug of choice at the site of action.

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IITs to help make ‘agarbatti’ sector self-reliant

• In an effort to help the India’s embattled MSME sector, the Central govt has decided to rope in IITs to extend their support to the ‘agarbatti’ (incense sticks) industry as part of its ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’ campaign aimed at making India self-reliant.
• The Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) Ministry has expanded its reach and support to artisans, involved in making agarbattis, as well as to the industry, by its new guidelines.
• The ministry has looked at all aspects of the industry, beyond just supply of machines for making agarbattis. This includes ensuring supply of inputs and raw materials, the demand for which has increased hugely in the last one year, as per the Centre.
• It has decided to continuously support the artisans through training, raw material, marketing and financial support.
• It has also worked on all aspects of this product, like innovation in the fragrance and packaging, use of new or alternate raw materials like re-usable flowers, coir pith, and supply of bamboo sticks.
• For this purpose, a ‘Centre of Excellence’ is also being set up in the Flavour and Fragrance Development Centre in Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj, which is known to be India’s fragrance capital.
• The Centre will also set up 10 clusters with proper marketing linkages under SFURTI (Scheme of Fund for Regeneration of Traditional Industries) scheme of the MSME Ministry at a total cost of about Rs 50 crore.

 

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