Current Affairs Assam – April 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of April 2018 )
April 2018 – eBook Monthly PDF | April 2018 – Monthly Quiz PDF
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April 25
Taniya Sanyal has become the first ever woman firefighter
Kolkata’s Taniya Sanyal has become the first ever woman firefighter in the Indian aviation sector. She has been appointed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
About Taniya Sanyal
(i) Taniya Sanyal who has completed her masters in Botany, has been appointed for AAI’s eastern region airports.
(ii) She will be appointed for AAI’s eastern region airports that include Kolkata, Patna, Bhubaneswar, Raipur, Gaya, and Ranchi after completion of training.
India signs Loan Agreement with World Bank for US$ 125 million
Indian signed a Loan Agreement for International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) credit of US$ 125 (equivalent) for the “Innovate in India for Inclusiveness Project” with the World Bank in New Delhi.
The project aims to nurture indigenous innovation, foster local product development and accelerate commercialization process by bridging critical skill and infrastructure gaps to promote affordable and innovative healthcare products generation for inclusive development and increasing competitiveness in India.
FACTFILE – The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD)
- IBRD is an international financial institution that offers loans to middle-income developing countries.
- The IBRD is the first of five member institutions that compose the World Bank Group.
- Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States.
The IBRD and its concessional lending arm, the International Development Association, are collectively known as the World Bank as they share the same leadership and staff. - Established in 1944 with the mission of financing the reconstruction of European nations devastated by World War II.
- Following the reconstruction of Europe, the Bank’s mandate expanded to advancing worldwide economic development and eradicating poverty. The IBRD provides commercial-grade or concessional financing to sovereign states to fund projects that seek to improve transportation and infrastructure, education, domestic policy, environmental consciousness, energy investments, healthcare, access to food and potable water, and access to improved sanitation.
- The Bank offers a number of financial services and products, including flexible loans, grants, risk guarantees, financial derivatives, and catastrophic risk financing. It reported lending commitments of $26.7 billion made to 132 projects in 2011.
World Malaria Day observed on 25 April
World Malaria Day is observed on April 25 every year to spread awareness about the disease around the world and to recognise the global effort to control malaria.
The theme for this year’s Malaria Day is ‘Ready to beat Malaria’. It emphasises the collective energy and commitment of the global malaria community that is uniting all around the world to curb the disease and working towards the common goal to making the world malaria free.
WMD is one of eight official global public health campaigns currently marked by the World Health Organization (WHO), along with World Health Day, World Blood Donor Day, World Immunization Week, World Tuberculosis Day, World No Tobacco Day, World Hepatitis Day and World AIDS Day.
FACTFILE – Malaria Global Statistics
- Globally, 3.3 billion people in 106 countries are at risk of malaria.
- In 2012 alone, malaria caused an estimated 627,000 deaths, mostly among African children.
- Asia, Latin America, and to a lesser extent the Middle East and parts of Europe are also affected.
- The rate of new malaria cases fell by 21 per cent globally between 2010 and 2015, and malaria death rates fell by 29 per cent in the same period.
Point2Remeber: Malaria is caused by the Plasmodium parasites, which is spread to people through the bite of an infected female Anopheles mosquito.
India’s First E-commerce Think Tank Meet to be chaired by Suresh Prabhu
Suresh Prabhu, the commerce and industry minister, will be holding the first ecommerce think tank meeting, with the aim to framing a national policy on ecommerce.
The think tank on the Framework for National Policy on ecommerce will seek to collectively deliberate on the challenges confronting India in the arena of digital economy with a view to developing recommendations for a comprehensive and overarching national policy on ecommerce.
Issues to be taken up in the Meet are: physical and digital infrastructure, regulatory regime, taxation policy, data flows, server localisation, intellectual property rights protection, FDI, technology flows, responding to disruptions in industrial organisation, need for skill development and trade-related aspects.
The government and its allied bodies beginning to understand the growth potential of the ecommerce industry in India and how well it can play to boost the Indian economy.
Beside the Commerce and industry minister Suresh Prabhu, it includes officials from ministries of finance, home affairs, corporate affairs, and electronics and information technology, among others, besides representatives from telecom, IT and ecommerce firms including Bharti Enterprises, Reliance Jio, TCS, Wipro, Ola, Snapdeal, Makemytrip, UrbanClap, Justdial, PepperFry and Practo.
The ecommerce policy is being seen as a critical step taken by the Indian government following the international attention on the ecommerce segment. A group of 71 WTO countries has launched intensive discussions on ecommerce and also, recently met for the first time in Geneva with 13 other delegations.
Indian government’s Economic Survey 2018 revealed that India’s ecommerce market reached $33 Billion registering a 19.1% growth in 2016-2017. The IBEF expects the Indian ecommerce to reach $200 Billion by 2026.
April 26
AFSPA lifted in Meghalaya from April 1st, 2018
The Centre has removed the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA) from Meghalaya, from April 1. Earlier, it was effective in the State in the 20-km area along its border with Assam.
In Arunachal Pradesh, the AFSPA has been restricted to eight police stations, instead of 16 earlier. Tripura withdrew AFSPA in 2015.
The Home Ministry official said the decision was taken in the wake of significant improvement of the security situation in the State. The year 2017 recorded the lowest insurgency incidents and casualties among civilians and security forces during the last two decades since 1997.
Except for Tripura and Manipur, the Centre was issuing such notifications for Assam, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. In 2017, the Home Ministry gave up its power and asked the Assam government to take a decision on continuing AFSPA in the State. The Act is effective in the whole of Nagaland, Assam, Manipur (excluding seven Assembly constituencies of Imphal).
The Home Ministry has relaxed the six-decade-old Protected Area Permit regime in the three States for five years with effect from April 1, and thus foreign tourists, except those from Pakistan, China and Afghanistan, would now be allowed to visit Nagaland, Mizoram and Manipur.
The AFSPA empowers the Army and Central forces deployed in “disturbed areas” to kill anyone acting in contravention of law, arrest and search premises without warrant and provide cover to forces from prosecution and legal suits without the Centre’s sanction.
While insurgency has been wiped out in Tripura and Mizoram, there has been a marked improvement in the security situation in Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Manipur.
Rajya Sabha Chairman rejects Impeachment against Chief Justice of India
Rajya Sabha Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu refused to admit the motion for removal of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, a first in India’s constitutional history.
Vice President of India, M. Venkaiah Naidu ruled that the Opposition’s petition was based on “suspicion, conjectures and assumptions, and doesn’t constitute proof beyond reasonable doubt.”
“The Honorable Members of Parliament, who have presented the petition, are unsure of their own case. Page 1 of the petition uses phrases such as ‘the facts and circumstances of the Prasad Education Trust show prima facie evidence that the Chief Justice of India may have been involved in a case of illegal gratification’.”
“The motion further states with regard to the Chief Justice of India that ‘he too was likely to fall under the scope of investigation.’
It further states that the Chief Justice of India ‘appears to have ante-dated an administrative order.’
“The same certainly does not constitute proof beyond reasonable doubt, which is required in a case of ‘proved misbehaviour’ under Article 124 of the Constitution.
Conversations between third party with dubious credentials, which have been extensively relied upon, cannot themselves constitute any material evidence against the office of Chief Justice of India.”
As for the charge of the CJI “arbitrarily assigning politically sensitive cases to select judges,” Mr. Naidu quoted a five-judge Bench order of the SC that reiterates the CJI as being ‘master of the roster.’ Mr. Naidu called it an internal “matter of the judiciary.”
“Noting that MPs were discussing the motion in the media, the Vice-President observed: “This act of the members, discussing the conduct of the CJI in the press, is against propriety and parliamentary decorum as it denigrates the institution of the CJI. I am also aware that there has been a spate of statements in the press that seem to vitiate the atmosphere. I thought I should, therefore, expedite my decision and end needless speculation.”
BCCI recommends Khel Ratna for Kohli and Dravid for Dronacharya Award
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has recommended Virat Kohli’s name for Rajiv Gandhi Khel Ratna Award and Rahul Dravid’s name for the prestigious Dronacharya award. And former Indian Cricketer Sunil Gavaskar has been recommended for Dhyan Chand Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sports.
This is the second time that Kohli has been nominated for the prestigious award. Kohli had earlier been awarded the Padma Shri in 2017 and had also won an Arjuna award in 2013.
This time if kohli clinches the award then he would the third cricketer to get the Khel Ratna after Sachin Tendulkar (1997) and Mahendra Singh Dohni (2007). Rahul Dravid has been nominated for successfully guiding India U-19 team to World Cup title earlier 2018. Under his guidance, the U-19 batch of 2016 played the final of the ICC World Cup. He has also worked with India A team and is the bridge between international and junior cricket.
Indu Malhotra – First woman lawyer to be appointed as Supreme Court Judge
Senior Lawyer Indu Malhotra is the first woman lawyer to be directly appointed as a Supreme Court judge. She was administered the oath of Office by Chief Justice Dipak Mishra in the presence of all top court judges. She became the seventh woman judge in the Supreme Court’s in 68-years history.
About Indu Malhotra
- Indu Malhotra was born in 1956 in Bangaluru, Karnataka. She joined the legal profession in year 1983.
- She specialised in arbitration. She has authored Commentary on the Law and Practice of Arbitration in India in the year 2014.
- In the year 2007 she was the second woman lawyer to be appointed as senior advocate by the Supreme Court, three decades after the first, Justice Leila Seth.
India ranked 138th in the World Press Freedom Index 2018
According to the World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) 2018 compiled by Reporters Without Borders (RSF), India has been ranked 138th out of 180 countries. Last year, India’s rank was 136th.
Top Ten Countries: Norway followed by Sweden, Netherlands, Finland Switzerland, Jamaica, Belgium, New Zealand, Denmark and Costa Rica.
World Press Freedom Index (WPFI) is an annual ranking of countries compiled and published by Reporters Without Borders (RSF) based upon the organisation’s own assessment of the countries press freedom records in the previous year.
FACTFILE – Reporters Without Borders (RWB)
- Reporters Without Borders(RWB), or Reporters Sans Frontières (RSF), is an international non-profit, non-governmental organization that promotes and defends freedom of information and freedom of the press.
- The organization, with a head office in Paris, France, has consultant status at the United Nations.
- It has two primary spheres of activity: one is focused on Internet censorship and the new media, and the other on providing material, financial and psychological assistance to journalists assigned to dangerous areas
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