Current Affairs Assam – October 2017 e-Magazine
October 10
70 pc of NE’s LPG requirement imported
Only about 30 per cent of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) requirement in the North East is produced by the refineries in the region and North East has to depend mainly on the bulk LPG imported from other countries.
The transportation bottleneck is one of the main reasons for the shortage faced by the region and the situation further aggravates whenever the roads leading to the region are blocked due to natural calamities or other reasons.
The region is facing shortage of LPG at this moment because of the fact that floods in North Bengal cut off the road and rail communications to the region for quite some time in August and it would take two to three weeks for the situation to become normal.
At least 50 per cent of the demand of the country is met through imports. The situation in the North East is even worse as the dependence on imports is much higher. The total demand of LPG in the North East is around 500 thousand metric tones per year and the refineries of the region can produce only around 30 per cent of it and the balance requirement is met with imports.
India does not have legislation on refugees: Centre
The Union Home Ministry has stated in an RTI reply that the country does not have any legislation on refugees and it is also not a signatory to the United Nations 1951 Convention on Refugees and 1967 Protocol on Refugees.
October 11
CM launches public finance reform initiative
Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called for transparency and efficiency in government service and reiterated the State government’s commitment to bring about reform in public finance management system to ensure good governance.
The Chief Minister said this while launching the World Bank aided Assam State Public Finance Institutional Reforms (ASPIRe) Project, which is among the biggest public finance reforms initiative in the country, at Assam Administrative Staff College.
The Government of Assam has set a target to implement the ASPIRe project with an amount of Rs 283 crore over a period of five years. The project focuses on public participation, effectiveness and efficiency, transparency, accountability and responsiveness in establishing good governance.
The IT-enabled services through ASPIRe will help us in bringing reformative change in government service.
Nisha Desai Biswal Appointed as President of USIBC
Nisha Desai Biswal, former Indian-American assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia appointed as the new president of US India Business Council (USIBC).
She served as Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs in the US Department of State from 2013 to 2017 Biswal oversaw the US-India strategic partnership during a period of unprecedented cooperation including launching the US-India Strategic and Commercial Dialogue.
October 12
Panel formed to fix minimum wage for tea workers
The State government has formed a Minimum Wages Advisory Board, setting in motion the process for fixation of minimum wages of tea workers.The board will be headed by the Labour Welfare Minister and comprise the secretaries of labour welfare, finance, industry & commerce and food & civil supplies departments besides five representatives from the tea companies and four from the workers’ unions.
The tea workers are getting Rs 137 as the cash component of their wages, besides the fringe benefits as on date. Traditionally, the wages of the workers are fixed through negotiations between the companies and workers’ representatives.
The Consultative Committee of Planters Association (CCPA) and Assam Chah Majdoor Sangha (ACMS) had on February, 2015 inked a bilateral agreement, effecting a hike in the wages of daily labourers in tea gardens from the previous Rs 94. According to the three-year agreement, the wages with effect from January 1 that year was Rs 115. As per the agreement, it was raised to Rs 126 from January 1, 2016 and then to Rs 137 in the third year. The process of negotiation for a fresh agreement is also likely to begin soon.
The same year, the then Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi had issued a directive to the labour department to ensure that the tea garden management pay their workers a minimum daily wage of Rs 169 as was prescribed by the State government earlier.
Global Hunger Index denotes India Ranks 100 Among 119 Countries
India has more than a fifth (21 percent) of its children wasted (weigh too little for their height)slipped three places to 100th in the 2017 Global Hunger Index (GHI).
The ranking of India in the list was 97th in 2016. The data from the report showed that India ranked lower than all its neighboring countries – Nepal (72), Myanmar (77), Bangladesh (88), Sri Lanka (84) and China (29) – except Pakistan, which has been placed at 106th in the global hunger list.
