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
April 27
HRD Ministry Launches 2nd Edition of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan
The Union Human Resource Development Ministry launched the second edition of Unnat Bharat Abhiyan in New Delhi. Under this program, students from 750 higher educational institutions from across the country will adopt villages and visit them to get acquainted with the lifestyle of people there and the problems faced by them.
Minister of Human Resource Development Prakash Javadekar said that the students are the real agents of change who can develop, empower and brighten the future of the country. He also added that this unique initiative will provide an opportunity to the students to learn about the basic challenges faced by rural people and to bring out practical solutions for their betterment.
About Unnat Bharat Abhiyan
(i) It is a flagship programme of the Ministry of Human Resources Development, with the intention to enrich Rural India.
(ii) It aims to create a vibrant relationship between the society and the higher educational institutes, with the latter providing the knowledge and technology support to improve the livelihoods in rural areas and to upgrade the capabilities of both the public and private organisations in the society.
(iii) In this program the knowledge base and resources of the Premier Institutions of the country are to be leveraged to bring in transformational change in rural developmental process.
CSIR bags National Intellectual Property (IP) Award 2018
The Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has been awarded with the National Intellectual Property (IP) Award 2018 in the category “Top R&D Institution / Organization for Patents and Commercialization”.
Mr. Suresh Prabhu, Hon’ble Minister, Commerce and Industry, handed over the award to CSIR Director General Girish Sahni at a function held in New Delhi, to celebrate the World IP Day.
The Indian Intellectual Property Office confers National Intellectual Property (IP) Award on outstanding innovators, organizations and companies in the fields of patents, designs, trademarks and geographical indications on the occasion of World IP Day every year.
About Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)
(i) The Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) is a contemporary R&D organization. It was established in 1942.
(ii) It operates as an autonomous body through the Societies Registration Act, 1860.
(ii) It has been ranked 9th in the world amongst the 1207 government institutions, with an overall global ranking of 75 in the world, covering 5250 institutions.
(iv) Pioneer of India’s intellectual property movement, CSIR today is strengthening its patent portfolio to carve out global niches in select technology domains.
Scientists identified a new species of frog: fejervaryan goemchi
Team of scientists have identified a new species of frog called fejervaryan goemchi in the highland plateaus of the Western Ghats parts of Goa.
The frog is named after the historical name of the state of Goa where the species is discovered. The new species is found in the high elevation areas of laterite plateaus, temporary water bodies and paddy fields of Goa.
Fejervaryan goemchi are large-sized terrestrial frogs sit next to water bodies making calls to attract females for mating and breeding. Although most of these frogs are terrestrial, they need water bodies to continue for survival.
NITI Aayog launches Atal New India Challenge
NITI Aayog has launched the Atal New India Challenge under the Atal Innovation Mission (AIM) with an aim to bring innovations and technologies relevant to the people.
This initiative will focus our efforts towards solving problems in core areas, which would have a direct impact on improving lives of our citizens and will also generate employment.
AIM partnered with the Ministries of Road Transport and Highways, Housing and Urban Affairs, Agriculture and Family Welfare, Drinking Water & Sanitation and the Railway Board for this initiative.
AIM will invite prospective innovators/MSMEs/start-ups to design market-ready products, using cutting edge technologies or prototypes across 17 identified focus areas.
The areas are — Climate-smart agriculture, Fog vision system for road and rail, Prevention of Rail failure using emerging technologies, Predictive maintenance of Rolling Stock, Alternate fuel based transportation, Smart Mobility, Electric Mobility. Safe transport. Instant Portable Water Quality Testing, Affordable Desalination / Recycling Technology, Waste management recycling / reuse, Garbage composition devices, Quality of compost, Decentralized composting, Mixing blades for composting, Waste in public spaces, Dissuading public littering.
Atal New India Challenge
(i) As a part of the Atal New India Challenge, applicants showing capability, intent and potential to productise the technologies in 17 identified areas will be awarded grants up to Rs 1 crore. This grant will be supported by mentoring and other support as needed at various stages of commercialisation while generating wider deployment.
(ii) Grants will be awarded in 3 tranches within 12 – 18 months and up to a total of 50 grants in fiscal year 2018 – 19 will be given out.
(iii) The programme is open to Indian companies registered under the Companies Act 1956/2013, primarily a Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) as defined in the MSMED Act, 2006.
(iv) It is also open to Start-Ups, as defined by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP), Government or private R&D organizations (other than a Railway R&D organization), academic institutions, academicians, or even individual innovators.
April 28
Meghalaya govt installs e-prison system in Shillong jail
The state government of Meghalaya installed a software at Shillong district jail to integrate information about its inmates. The move comes as a part of its initiative to modernise correctional homes in the state.
The software, developed by the Union government aims to keep a tab on prisoners of all states. The software will digitize the jail records and ensure transparency and accountability in the system.
The prisoners’ database would be stored through the software and would also bring in more transparency in the work culture of the district prison.
The Home Minister further informed that the software would be installed in the remaining four prisons of the State. The Ministry of Home Affairs has sanctioned Rs 42 lakh for the installation and is expected to release more fund in the coming days.
Mike Pompeo sworn in as US Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo was sworn in as America’s 70th Secretary of State. Formerly he was the CIA Director. He was appointed as the Secretary of the soon after after the US Senate confirmed his nomination by 57-42 votes.
He replaced Rex Tillerson. As soon after the swearing-in ceremony, the state department said that he will visit Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Israel over the weekend after a stop in Brussels for a NATO meeting.
He will be on a two-day travel to Brussels from April 26 -27 where he will meet with NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg and participate in the NATO Foreign Ministerial.
He will be forced quickly to address a wide array of other international challenges, including long conflicts in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, Chinese expansionism in Asia and Russian assertiveness.
Sitanshu Yashaschandra has been chosen for the Saraswati Samman
Gujarati Poet, Playwright and academic Sitanshu Yashaschandra’s has been chosen for 2017 Saraswati Samman. He was awarded for his collection of poetry version titled “Vakhar” which was published in 2009.
Yashaschandra has three poetry collections — Odysseusnu Halesu, Jatayu, and Vakhar — to his credit. He has penned 10 plays and three books on critical analysis. He is also a recipient of the Padma Shri and the Sahitya Akademi Award.
About Saraswati Samman
(i) The Saraswati Samman is an annual award for outstanding prose or poetry literary works in any 22 Indian languages listed in Scheduled VIII of the Constitution of India. This Samman is named after goddess of learning Saraswati.
(ii) The Saraswati Samman was instituted in 1991 by the K K Birla Foundation. It is the highest recognition in the field of Indian literature in the country and carries a citation, a plaque and award money of ₹15 lakh.
(iv) The inaugural award was given to Harivansh Rai for his four volume autobiography, Kya Bhooloon Kya Yaad Karoon, Needa Ka Nirman Phir, Basere Se Door and Dashdwar se Sopan Tak
(iii) Past awardees include poet and writer Oriya poet Ramakanta Rath for Sri Radha; Marathi playright Vijay Tendulkar for his play Kanyadaan; and M Veerappa Moily for his epic in Kannada, Sri Ramayana Mahanveshanam.
Van Dhan Scheme launched by PM Narendra Modi
The Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi launched the Van Dhan Scheme of Ministry of Tribal Affairs and TRIFED during the celebrations of Ambedkar Jayanti at Bijapur, Chattisgarh.
P M Narendra Modi stated that Van Dhan, Jan Dhan and Gobar-Dhan Schemes had the potential to change the tribal-rural economic system. All these three schemes in tandem need to be promoted for this purpose by the State Governments.
About Van Dhan Scheme
(i) Under this scheme 10 Self Help Groups of 30 Tribal gatherers is constituted. They are then trained and provided with working capital to add value to the products, which they collect from the jungle.
(ii) Working under the leadership of Collector these groups can then market their products not only within the States but also outside the States. Training and technical support is provided by TRIFED.
(iii) The SHGs shall be appropriately trained on sustainable harvesting/collection, primary processing & value addition and be formed into clusters so as to aggregate their stock in tradable quantity and linking them with facility of primary processing in a Van Dhan Vikas Kendra.
(iv) The stock after primary processing shall be supplied by these SHGs to the State Implementing Agencies or direct tie up for supply to corporate secondary processor.
(v) Big corporates shall be involved under PPP model for the creation of secondary level value addition facility at district level and tertiary level value addition facility at the state level.
(vi) This PPP model will be based on utilising Private entrepreneur skills in undertaking processing as well as marketing of the produce.
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