Current Affairs Assam – February 2018 e-Magazine
February 16
Assam spent less than 30 pc of Central fund under the National Health Mission
The State has not been able to spend even 30 per cent of the funds released so far this financial year by the Centre under the National Health Mission (NHM).
Union Minister of State for Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey said that the Budget outlay for Assam for 2017-18 under NHM was Rs 1,056.25 crore. Of that amount, so far the Centre has released Rs 514.81 crore to the State. However, even though almost 11 months of the current fiscal has gone by, the State government has been able to spend only Rs 143.42 crore so far.
He added that Assam has spent even more than what it got from the Centre under the NHM between 2011-12 and till now. “From 2011-12 till 2017-18, the Centre sanctioned a total of Rs 10,852 crore to Assam under NHM, and of that amount Rs 9,490 crore has been released. The State government has spent as much as Rs 10,222 crore during this period, which is more than what it has received,” said the minister.
“We want to have a holistic approach as far as the North East is concerned under the integrated health policy of the Centre,” he said. Admitting that Assam is placed at the bottom among the big States as far as Maternal Mortality Rate (MMR) and Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) are concerned, Choubey said efforts are on to bring down those numbers to the national average or even lower.
He said Assam’s MMR currently is 44 (44 deaths per 1,00,000 live births) as against the national average of 37, while the IMR of the State is 300 (per 1,000 live births) as against the national figure of 167.
“But at the same time it has to be seen that Assam has made substantial progress is bringing down MMR and IMR in recent years. The decline of MMR and IMR in Assam has been the steepest among all States,” said the minister. At present there are 133 rural health centres in Assam and the plan is to have 639 wellness centres in the State under the new health policy, he added.
He added that seven districts of Assam – Nagaon, Dhubri, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong, West Karbi Anglong, Kokrajhar and Chirang – have been brought under the ‘Intensified Mission Indradhanush’ which provides for targeted vaccination of children and pregnant women.
‘Paschim Lehar’ – Tri-service Maritime Exercise begins
The sole aim of the exercise is to build interoperability among the units from Eastern Naval Command, Indian Army, Indian Air Force and the Coast Guard.
A tri-service maritime exercise “Paschim Lehar kicked off at India’s western coast with the participation of 40 ships, submarines and fighter aircraft.
India becomes 5th largest Defence Spenders: ‘Military Balance 2018’
London-based global think-tank International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has released ‘Military Balance 2018’ in which India’s has been placed on 5th largest defence suspender leaving behind the UK for the first time.
India’s Make in India policy is highlighted in the report that solely aims at strengthening the defence sector. The report takes note of the Indian government’s ‘Make in India’ policy, which aims to strengthen the defence-industrial base through measures such as “reforming the cap on foreign direct investment” (FDI) and that the country is one of the top troop contributors to UN peacekeeping operations.
India overtook the UK as the fifth-largest defence spender in the world in 2017 at $52.5 billion, up from $51.1 billion in 2016.
Saudi Arabia, with a defence spending of $76.7 billion, came in third to complete the world’s top five” the US, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and India.
The report notes that while India continues to modernise its military capabilities, China ” with the world’s second-largest defence budget after the US ” remains far ahead with three times India’s defence budget at $150.5 billion. China’s real defence spending increased by nearly 25 per cent in 2016-17, whereas India’s rose by just 2.4 per cent.
Since 2000, China has built more submarines, destroyers, frigates and corvettes than Japan, South Korea and India combined. China will continue to dominate the region militarily and seek to challenge the US in the region as well. According to the analysis, the Chinese army has over 600,000 more active personnel than India; it has nearly 1,200 tactical aircraft compared to India’s 785; and 55 more cruisers, destroyers and frigates than India.
February 17
NE projects to have 100 per cent Central funding
Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Dr Jitendra Singh said that the government has created an exclusive forum at the NITI Aayog to draft plans for the development of the north-eastern region. The forum will be co-chaired by the vice-chairman of the Niti Aayog and secretary of DoNER. Further, a high-level committee has been constituted under the chairmanship of NITI Aayog vice-chairman for optimally harnessing the water resources for accelerating development in the region.
The forum will look at various proposals both at the Central and state levels and prepare plans for the speedy development of the north-eastern region.
Dr Singh said the 90-year-old Indian Forest Act of 1927, which was a legacy of the British Raj, was amended through a decision of the Union Cabinet. “As a result, bamboo, which was defined as a ‘tree’ under the Indian Forest Act of 1927, was changed, thereby doing away with the requirement of obtaining a permit for cutting of bamboo on non-forest land for economic use,” he said.
This is going to be a game-changer for generations to come, by opening new avenues of job generation and entrepreneurship by allowing bamboo cultivation and bamboo use by non-farmers on non-forest land.
Another historic decision relates to 100 per cent funding by the Central government for projects in the north-eastern region, which were earlier being undertaken on the basis of Centre-state sharing in the ratio of 90:10, the minister said. He said the government’s Act East Policy has enhanced the importance of the region in engaging with Southeast Asian neighbours.
The minister said that under the Central government’s Bharatmala Pariyojna, as many as 5,301 km roads in the region have been taken up for improvement. Out of this, 3,246 km roads have been marked for development of economic corridor in the Northeast. Also, the bidding process for the India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway has begun, he added.
He said the railways gauge conversion has been completed in the Northeast, thereby all operational medium gauge sections in the region have been converted to broad gauge. The Agartala-Akhaura (Bangladesh) rail link, supported by the DoNER, is at tendering stage, he said.
In the civil aviation sector, Singh said, the construction of an airport at Pakyog (Gangtok, Sikkim) is complete. In shipping, development of Barak River is taken up in two phases for shipping and navigation purposes.
The budget allocation for 2018-19 for the Ministry of DoNER has increased by 11.84 per cent at Rs 3,000 crore.
Radio Umang: India’s 1st Online Radio Station Launched
India’s 1st Online Radio Station ‘Radio Umang’ was launched recently in India. Listeners can tune in to this online radio station through web streaming or download the app. With 24 hours programming, it has found listeners in Hindi speaking regions of India and in over 60 countries worldwide.
Aadhaar and Umang App awarded at world Government Summit 2018
India’s Aadhaar and Umang App have won awards at recently concluded 6th World Government Summit 2018 in Dubai.
Umang App won in Best m-Government Service. Umang App won in Best m-Government Service Award for Accessible Government Category and Aadhaar won in the Best Government Emerging Technologies Award. The award for it recognized India’s efforts of invention and innovation in the field of technology and making the country completely digitalized.
February 18
Manipur tops NE in forest conservation
Manipur stood first among all the Northeastern States in protecting its Reserve Forest (RF) areas. There are about 37 RFs in the State covering an area of 984.25 sq km. This was disclosed by Manipur Forest and Environment Minister Thounaojam Shyamkumar while quoting India’s State of Forest Report 2017 during discussion on Forest and Environment issues in the on-going Assembly session. Interestingly, Manipur has also increased 263 sq km of forest cover since 2015, according to the 2017 report which was released recently.
Union Government inks $100 Million Loan Agreement with NDB For Rajasthan Water Project
The union government has signed second Loan Agreement with New Development Bank (NDB) for the financing of Rajasthan Water Sector Restructuring Project for the Desert Areas. This is the first tranche loan of $100 million was approved by the NDB under Multi-Tranche Financing Facility of $345 million for this project.
The objective of the project is to rehabilitate 678 km long Indira Gandhi Nahar Project (IGNP) built during 1958-63 to prevent seepage.
FACTFILE – New Development Bank (NDB)
- The New Development Bank (NDB), formerly referred to as the BRICS Development Bank, is a multilateral development bank established by the BRICS states (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).
- According to the Agreement on the NDB, “the Bank shall support public or private projects through loans, guarantees, equity participation and other financial instruments.” Moreover, the NDB “shall cooperate with international organizations and other financial entities, and provide technical assistance for projects to be supported by the Bank.”
- The initial authorized capital of the bank is $100 billion divided into 1 million shares having a par value of $100,000 each. The initial subscribed capital of the NDB is $50 bln divided into paid-in shares ($10 bln) and callable shares ($40 bln). The initial subscribed capital of the bank was equally distributed among the founding members. The Agreement on the NDB specifies that the voting power of each member will be equal to the number of its subscribed shares in the capital stock of the bank.
- The bank is headquartered in Shanghai, China. The first regional office of the NDB is in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Prime Minister inaugurates World Sustainable Development Summit 2018
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the World Sustainable Development Summit 2018 (WSDS 2018) at Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi.
The summit is the flagship forum of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI). The summit’s theme this year was ‘Partnerships for a Resilient Planet’. The summit seeks to serve as a common platform for global leaders and thinkers from the fields of sustainable development, energy, and environment.
K.P. Sharma Oli appointed as Nepal’s New Prime minister
K.P. Sharma Oli was sworn in as Nepal’s Prime Minister for the second time, weeks after his Left alliance with the Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist (CPN-Maoist) swept the parliamentary polls. He replaced Sher Bahadur Deuba. President Bidya Devi Bhandari administered the oath of office and secrecy to Mr. Oli and two other Ministers, both from the Communist Party of Nepal-Unified Marxist-Leninist (CPN-UML), at a function held at President’s Office.
