Tag: assam current affairs march 2019

Assam Current Affairs – March 29 – 31, 2019

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Current Affairs Assam – March 29 - 31, 2019

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of March 29 – 31, 2019)

March 2019 – Monthly PDF | Monthly Quiz eBook PDF

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March 29, 2019

NTPC Bongaigaon power plant’s 3rd unit operation begins
  • State-owned power giant NTPC said that Unit-3 of Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project with 250 MW capacity will begin commercial operation, which will increase the plant’s generation capacity to 750 MW.
  • The two units of 250 MW each of Bongaigaon project have already been made operational in June 2016 and March 2017. The total capacity of the project is 750 MW (250MWx3).
  • With this, the commercial capacity of Bongaigaon Thermal Power Project, NTPC and NTPC Group will become 750 MW, 45,065 MW and 52,206 MW, respectively.
  • Bongaigaon power plant is the first project of NTPC in the Northeast. Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had laid foundation stone for this project in January, 2006. 
Dr. Rajendra Kumar Joshi awarded Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award
  • RUJ Group’s founder and chairman, Dr. Rajendra Kumar Joshi, has been awarded with the Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award for his contributions in the field of science, education and medicine, promoting the honour and prestige of India.
  • The Embassy of India in Switzerland, on behalf of the President of India, handed over a commendation letter and a medal to Dr. Joshi at his residence.
  • The scientist was feted by Sibi George, Indian Ambassador.
  • Joshi, who belongs to Rajasthan, is a scientist of Indian origin and is based in Switzerland.

FACTFILE – The Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Award (PBSA)

  • PBSA is the highest honour conferred on Non-resident Indians by the President of India for their significant contributions towards bringing honour and glory to India.
  • The theme of 2019 Pravasi Bharatiya Divas convention was ‘Role of Indian Diaspora in building New India.’
Croatia honours President Ram Nath Kovind with Highest Civilian Award
  • Indian President Ram Nath Kovind has been honoured with Croatia’s highest civilian award the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav.
  • Croatia’s highest civilian award the Grand Order of the King of Tomislav is awarded to heads of state for their important contribution towards the development of state relations between Croatia and their respective countries.
  • President Kovind is the first-ever Indian head of state to visit Croatia.

FACTFILE – Croatia

  • Croatia is located in the northwestern part of the Balkan Peninsula and its capital is Zagreb.
  • Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia On 25 June 1991.
  • Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system is a member of the European Union (EU), the United Nations (UN), the Council of Europe, NATO, the World Trade Organization (WTO), and the Union for the Mediterranean.
UN Security Council adopts resolution to counter terror funding
  • The UN Security Council has adopted a resolution that calls upon countries to prevent and counter the financing of terrorism, especially in its new forms.
  • Initiated by France, Resolution 2462 is intended to update existing resolutions and adapt them to new forms of financing of terrorism and new challenges in this field.
  • It also expresses concern at the continuing use by terrorists and their supporters of information and communications technologies, to facilitate terrorist acts, as well as inciting, recruiting, funding, or planning terrorist acts.
  • The resolution calls upon all countries to enhance the traceability and transparency of financial transactions.
  • It also encourages member states to apply risk-based anti-money laundering and counter-terrorist financing regulations to virtual asset service providers, and to identify effective systems to conduct risk-based monitoring or supervision of virtual asset service providers.

FACTFILE – The United Nations Security Council (UNSC)

  • UNSC is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), charged with ensuring international peace and security, accepting new members to the United Nations and approving any changes to its charter.
  • Its powers include the establishment of peacekeeping operations and international sanctions as well as the authorization of military actions through resolutions
  • It is the only body of the United Nations with the authority to issue binding resolutions to member states.

March 30, 2019

Tashigang Village in HP is the Highest Polling Station in the World
  • Tashigang, a small Himachal Pradesh village has got the distinction of the highest polling station in the world. It is located at an altitude of 15,256 feet.
  • Tashigang polling station forms part of the Mandi Lok Sabha seat. Tashigang is situated at about 29 km from the India-China border and the polling station covers two villages- Tashigang and Gete.
  • The polling station has 48 voters, of which 30 are men and 18 women. Even though Tashigang has all necessary facilities like power and water supply but lacks mobile connectivity and election officials will use a satellite phone during polls on May 19.
PFC is India’s second largest state-owned financial firm
  • Power Finance Corporation (PFC) has completed the acquisition of majority stake in REC Ltd by transferring Rs 14,500 crore to the Government, thus making itself the second largest state-owned financial firm in the country based on the current market capital after State Bank of India (SBI).
  • PFC will be the third-highest profit-making financial player in India.
  • PFC taking over REC makes it a dominant player not only in the power sector but also in the entire financial market space. PFC’s strategic importance to the government will further increase upon completion of the acquisition as the combined entity will become the biggest non-bank finance entity in which the government holds a controlling stake.
India-African Union signs MoU in healthcare sector
  • An agreement has been signed between India and the African Union to establish an India-Africa health sciences collaborative platform.
  • The MoU will pave the way for cooperation in research and development, capacity building, health services, pharmaceutical trade and manufacturing capabilities for drugs and diagnostics
  • The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) partnered with Indian Council of Medical Research and had jointly organised the first India-Africa Health Sciences Meet in 2016 in New Delhi.
European Parliament voted for EU-wide ban on single-use Plastic Products
  • The European Parliament has voted for an EU-wide ban on single-use plastic products such as the straws, cutlery and cotton buds that are clogging the world’s oceans.
  • The law on single-use plastic ban sets a target to gather 90 per cent of plastic for recycling by 2029 and mandates the production of plastic bottles with 25 per cent recycled material by 2025 and 30 per cent by 2030.
  • The law also insists on “polluter pays” principle by insisting polluters to pay the costs of a clean-up. The principle will be extended to manufacturers of fishing nets so that companies, not fishing crews pay the cost of nets lost at sea. 

FACTFILE – Single-use Plastics

  • Single-use plastics, or disposable plastics, are used only once before they are thrown away or recycled.
  • They are not usually biodegradable and goes into a landfill where it is buried or it gets into the water and finds its way into the ocean.
  • They degrade into tiny particles after many years, in this process of degradation, they release toxic chemicals which make their way into our food and water supply.

 

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 March 31, 2019

Wipro and IIT Kharagpur partner for advanced research
  • Wipro Limited, consulting and business process Services Company, and Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur (IIT Kharagpur), signed a MOU to collaborate on high-impact, industry-focused applied research in the areas of 5G and AI.
  • Research outcomes from this partnership will be leveraged by Wipro to develop solutions for its customers, across industry verticals.
  • IIT Kharagpur will benefit from the commercialization of the joint research insights and Wipro’s real-world industry expertise.
  • Wipro and IIT Kharagpur will jointly take up applied research projects on industry challenges related to the design, planning and operations of 5G networks and cognitive information processing for the automation of these processes and 5G use cases.
Defence Cyber Agency to empower Indian armed forces
  • According to the report “Credible Cyber Deterrence in Armed Forces of India” by the New Delhi-based Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF), the Indian armed forces must have modern means and capabilities for cyber exploitation, technical intelligence, cyber deception and launching of probing operations.
  • India urgently requires to enhance the cyber capabilities of its armed forces, including the operationalisation of a Defence Cyber Agency.
  • The report identifies seven pillars for enhancing the cyber capabilities of the Indian armed forces, including operationalisation of a ‘Defence Cyber Agency’ as a stepping stone to develop cyber power within the designated time frame.
  • Aware of cyber power being a critical component of India’s comprehensive deterrence capability, the foundation has set up a task force headed by Lt. Gen. Davinder Kumar (Retired) to suggest a road map for cyber deterrence in the armed forces.
Turing Award 2018 awarded to Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio for works in Deep Learning
  • The Turing Award 2018 has been awarded to Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun and Yoshua Bengio who have kick started an AI revolution by studying the learning abilities of large artificial neural networks.
  • The deep neural network uses layers of artificial neurons which mimics the structure of animal brains. Such AI is increasingly used in products that people use every day. This forms the backbone of Deep Learning. 

FACTFILE – Deep Learning

  • Deep learning involves building computer programs which mimics the structure of animal brains, with many layers of artificial neurons used for processing the data. 
  • When the network of neurons digests data, each neuron has individual responses within each layer. These outputs are passed to the next layer until the network finally forms a decision or judgment about the input. 
  • This deep learning technology can be used to transcribe human speech or recognise a person’s face in different photographs.

FACTFILE – Turing Award

  • Turing Award is an annual prize given by the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) for individuals who have contributed a lasting and major technical importance to the computer field. 
  • Turing Award is recognized as the highest distinction in computer science.
  • It is often referred to as the “Nobel Prize of computing”. 
  • The Turing award is accompanied by a prize of US $1 million, with financial support provided by Google. 
China launches new data relay satellite ‘Tianlian II-01’
  • China sent a new data relay satellite into orbit from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan Province. The Tianlian II-01 satellite was launched at 11.51 p.m. (Beijing Time) by a Long March-3B carrier rocket.
  • As the first satellite to constitute China’s second-generation data relay satellite network, the Tianlian II-01 will provide data relay, measurement and control, transmission services for manned spacecraft, satellites, carrier rockets and other non-spacecraft users.
  • The Tianlian II network will be markedly more advanced in mission planning, system management and operations than the first-generation network composed of Tianlian I satellites.
  • The new network, with faster data transfer and higher multi-objective service capability, will play an important role in improving the transmission promptness, in-orbit security and mission flexibility for medium and low-Earth orbiting satellites and manned spacecraft.
  • The satellite is developed by the China Academy of Space Technology under the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

 

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Assam Current Affairs – March 22 – 28, 2019

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Current Affairs Assam – March 22 - 28, 2019

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of March 22 – 28, 2019)

March 2019 – Monthly PDF | Monthly Quiz eBook PDF

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March 22, 2019

Gauhati University and Oil India Limited Signs Mou
  • Gauhati University and Oil India Limited (OIL) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to extend the facility of the Technology Incubation Centre at GU as part of the flagship National Programme of Startup India.
  • It may be mentioned that Gauhati University has already constituted a Technology Incubation Centre (TIC) which is working towards fostering industry- academia linkages and formulating an ecosystem for startups and incubators.
  • GU Registrar Prof Nani Gopal Mahanta signed the MoU on behalf of Gauhati University and Executive Director, Corporate Affairs, OIL Dr Rahul Dasgupta signed it on behalf of Oil India Limited.

FACTFILE – Oil India Limited (OIL)

  • OIL is the second largest hydrocarbon exploration and production Indian public sector company with its operational headquarters in Duliajan, Assam, India.
  • The company is a state-owned Navratna under the administrative control of India’s Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas with its corporate offices in Noida in the New Delhi-NCR region.

FACTFILE – Gauhati University

  • It is the oldest and one of the most renowned universities in North East India.
  • It is a teaching-&-affiliating university. It is accredited grade “A” by National Assessment and Accreditation Council.
  • Starting with 18 affiliated colleges and 8 Post Graduate Departments in 1948, Gauhati University, today, has 39 Post Graduate Departments, besides IDOL (Institute of Distance and Open Learning), a constituent Law and Engineering College. It has 341 affiliated colleges offering undergraduate and post graduate courses in the faculties of Arts, Science, Commerce, Law, and Engineering.
  • Gauhati University is a member of the Association of Indian Universities and the Association of Commonwealth Universities.
UN Certificate of Excellence to Guwahati poet Saikh Md Sabah Al-Ahmed
  • Guwahati-based poet SaikhMd Sabah Al-Ahmed was awarded the United Nations Certificate of Excellence for his excellent poetry at the office of the United Nations Resource Centre (UNRC), North East Region (NER), Khanapara.
  • The certificate was handed to him by DrAswiniSarma, executive director, UNRC-NER at a ceremony at its Khanapara office.
Japan provides $69 million to UN World Food Programme
  • Japan has donated 69 million dollars to the United Nations World Food Programme to provide vital aid to 28 countries in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, with the biggest shares of the money earmarked for Yemen and Iraq.
  • The Japanese funding will go towards food, nutrition and initiatives to build resilience in vulnerable populations.
  • $18 million will be used to give continued support needy families in war-wracked Yemen where over 20 million people are struggling to get enough to eat each day.
  • A total of $3.5 million of life-saving assistance will be given to Malian refugees in Mauritania and to people who have fled their homes due to conflict and food shortages in Mali.
  • Host communities sheltering the Malian refugees and internally displaced persons will also receive aid.

FACTFILE – The World Food Programme (WFP)

  • WFP is the food-assistance branch of the United Nations and the world’s largest humanitarian organization addressing hunger and promoting food security.
  • According to the WFP, it provides food assistance to an average of 91.4 million people in 83 countries each year.
  • From its headquarters in Rome and from more than 80 country offices around the world, the WFP works to help people who cannot produce or obtain enough food for themselves and their families.
  • It is a member of the United Nations Development Group and part of its executive committee
Indian writer Raghu Karnad Wins Windham-Campbell Prize
  • Indian Writer Raghu Karnad has won the Windham-Campbell Prize of $165,000 in the non-fiction category for his debut book- The Farthest Field: An Indian Story of The Second World War.
  • Karnad is one of the eight winners chosen across four categories- fiction, non-fiction, drama and poetry. The other awardee in the non-fiction category was American writer Rebecca Solnit for the diverse body of work she has produced over her career.
  • Raghu Karnad is the second Indian to receive the award. Earlier in 2016, Jerry Pinto had won the award for his novel- Em and The Big Hoom.

FACTFILE – Windham-Campbell Prize:

  • The Windham-Campbell Prize is administered by the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Yale University in the US and was established in 2013.
  • The award was constituted with the generous gift from writer Donald Windham in memory of his partner Sandy Campbell. The jury selects two winners each for each of the category- fiction, non-fiction, drama and poetry.

March 23, 2019

Karen Uhlenbeck becomes first woman to win the Abel Prize
  • US Mathematician Karen Uhlenbeck has been chosen for the Abel Prize 2019 for her fundamental work in geometric analysis and gauge theory, which has dramatically changed the mathematical landscape.
  • Karen Uhlenbeck’s theories have revolutionised the understanding of minimal surfaces, such as those formed by soap bubbles, and more general minimization problems in higher dimensions.
  • Karen Uhlenbeck is the first woman to win the prestigious Abel Prize.

FACTFILE – The Able Prize

  • The Able Prize was established by the Oslo government in 2002 honours outstanding scientific work in the field of mathematics, a discipline not included among the Nobel awards.
  • The Able Prize, also known as Maths Nobel Prize, is named after the 19th century Norwegian mathematician Niels Henrik Abel.
  • It comes with a monetary award of 6 million Norwegian Kroner (NOK).
  • The sole Indian recipient of the Able Prize is Indian American mathematician S. R. Srinivasa Varadhan. He was awarded for his fundamental contributions to probability theory.
2nd Assam Science Festival from March 23
  • To to strengthen science, technology and innovative activities in the State, Tezpur University is going to host North East India’s biggest science fest – The 2nd Assam Science Festival – from March 23 to 25 on the university premises.
  • The Assam Science Festival is being organised by Assam Science Technology and Environment Council, popularly known as ASTEC, under the aegis of Department of Science and Technology, Government of Assam.
  • This time the science fest is being organised by the council with the active support of Tezpur University (TU).
  • The purpose of the festival is to showcase science, technology and innovative activities of various institutions.
  • India’s 2019-20 GDP forecast is 6.8%
  • Fitch Ratings cut India’s GDP growth rate projection for the next financial year to 6.8 per cent, from its previous estimate of 7 per cent, on account of weaker-than-expected growth momentum.
  • It has also changed outlook on the Reserve Bank of India’s monetary policy review, projecting another interest rate cut of 25 basis points (bps) in 2019 owing to inflation staying below the target and easier global monetary conditions.
  • Credit availability has tightened in areas heavily dependent on non-bank financial company (NBFC) credit such as automobiles and two-wheelers, where sales have dropped.
  • On the banking sector credit to the private sector increased in recent months, filling the void left by NBFCs facing a liquidity crisis.
  • Further capital injections and a looser regulatory stance of the RBI have the state banks’ capital constraints, while the central bank has raised the limit on collateral-free loans that banks can make to farmers, helping prevent a decline in bank lending.
India cut 84% TB deaths in AIDS patients
  • India achieved 84 per cent reduction in tuberculosis deaths among people living with HIV by 2017 – three years ahead of the target, said a report by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
  • India is among the five low or middle-income countries — Eritrea (83 per cent), Djibouti (78 per cent), Malawi (78 per cent) and Togo (75 per cent) — that achieved or exceeded the target of a 75 per cent reduction in TB deaths among people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), by 2017, three years ahead of the 2020 target.
  • Globally, TB deaths among people living with HIV have fallen by 42 per cent since 2010, from 520,000 down to 300,000 in 2017.
  • The report also showed that between 2010 and 2017, in around 40 countries the number of TB deaths among people living with HIV rose.
  • In eastern Europe and central Asia, the number of TB deaths among people living with HIV increased by 22 per cent between 2010 and 2017, with increases being seen in all but three countries in the region.
Chinese Scientists Li Ning converts plant waste into jet fuel
  • Chinese scientists Li Ning, a research scientist at the Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.have developed a method that could convert plant scraps from agriculture and timber harvesting into high quality jet fuel, an advance which may help reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from airplanes and rockets.
  • Biofuel is important for mitigating CO2 emissions because it is derived from biomass and it has higher density compared with conventional aviation fuels.
  • The utilisation of high-density aviation fuel can significantly increase the range and payload of aircraft without changing the volume of oil in the tank.
  • The aircraft using this fuel can fly farther and carry more than those using conventional jet fuel, which can decrease the CO2 emissions during the taking off and landing.

 

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March 24, 2019

Bill passed to bring back total prohibition in Mizoram
  • Mizoram assembly has passed a bill to bring back total prohibition of liquor in the northeastern state after four years.
  • The state government decided to prohibit manufacture, import, sale and consumption of liquor for the common people for their general health and help in law enforcement, Excise and Narcotics Minister Dr K Beichhua said while introducing the bill.
  • Cutting across party lines, all the legislators supported the Mizoram Liquor (Prohibition) Bill, 2019 and it was passed. The ruling party had promised during the assembly election in November last year that if voted to power, it would ensure total prohibition in the state.
  • Total prohibition was in force in Mizoram from 1997 to 2015. The previous Congress government led by Lal Thanhawla allowed opening of wine shops in the state from March, 2015.
India launching electronic intelligence satellite ‘Emisat’
  • India on April 1, 2019 will launch an electronic intelligence satellite Emisat for the Defence Research Development Organisation (DRDO) along with 28 third party satellites and also demonstrate its new technologies like three different orbits with a new variant of PSLV rocket.
  • According to Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), a new variant of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) rocket will first put the 436 kg Emisat into a 749 km orbit.
  • The rocket will be brought down to put into orbit the 28 satellites at an altitude of 504 km.
  • Carrying three experimental payloads: Automatic Identification System (AIS) from ISRO for Maritime satellite applications capturing messages transmitted from ships
  • Automatic Packet Repeating System (APRS) from AMSAT (Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation), India – to assist amateur radio operators in tracking and monitoring position data
  • Advanced Retarding Potential Analyser for Ionospheric Studies (ARIS) from Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) – for the structural and compositional studies of ionosphere
  • The 28 international customer satellites (24 from US, 2 from Lithuania and one each from Spain and Switzerland)- will weigh about 220 kg.

FACTFILE – The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

  • DRDO is an agency of the Government of India, charged with the military’s research and development, headquartered in New Delhi, India.
  • It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production with the Defence Science Organisation.
  • It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
Vice Admiral Karambir Singh takes over as next Chief of the Naval Staff
  • Government of India appointed Vice Admiral Karambir Singh, PVSM AVSM ADC as the next Chief of the Naval Staff, 24th Navy Chief, on superannuation of Admiral Sunil Lanba PVSM AVMS ADC.
  • Vice Admiral Karambir Singh would be the first helicopter pilot of the Indian Navy to be appointed as the Chief of the Naval Staff.
  • Vice Admiral Karambir earned his wings as a helicopter pilot in 1982 and has flown extensively on the Chetak and Kamov helicopters in support of Fleet Operations. 
  • On promotion to the flag rank, the Admiral was appointed as Chief of Staff, Eastern Naval Command. 
  • His other important flag appointments include Chief of Staff of the Tri-Services Command at Andaman & Nicobar Islands and as the Flag Officer Commanding Maharashtra and Gujarat Naval Area.
  • The Admiral is a recipient of the Param Vishist Seva Medial and Ati Vishisht Seva Medal awarded by the Hon’ble President of India.

FACTFILE – Chief of the Naval

  • The Chief of the Naval Staff is the commander and the highest-ranking officer in the Indian Navy. The position is usually held by a four-star officer in the rank of Admiral.
  • The office of the Chief of the Naval Staff was created by The Commanders-In-Chief (Change in Designation) Act of the Indian Parliament in 1955, replacing the erstwhile office of the Commander-in-Chief, Indian Navy.
  • Appointments to the office are made by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC).
  • The Chief of the Naval Staff generally reaches superannuation upon serving three years or at the age of 62, whichever is earlier.
SAIL has Launched ‘Smart Garbage Bins’
  • Steel Authority of India Ltd (SAIL) has launched The Smart Garbage Bins made of stainless steel which integrates technology for smart waste management.
  • It will send signals to the garbage collection vehicle about the ‘fill-up’ position of the bin. This provides for better cleaning cleaning and lower human intervention.
  • These are made up of SAIL SALEM stainless steel will be installed in underground Reinforced Cement Concrete (RCC) pits at the Smart Garbage Station. This will help prevent the spread of stink and diseases.
  • There will be separate bins for recyclable and non-recyclable wastes. The pits will be covered with a pit cover fabricated out of stainless steel slip-free sheets.
  • Suitable openings on the pit cover will be provided to allow the sanitation crew to dump the collected garbage into the stainless steel bins placed underground.
  • IOT (Internet of Things) enabled Gazelle sensors on the pit cover will transmit signals to the collection vehicle about the “fill-up” position.
  • Compactor will lift the stainless steel bins from the underground pits and empty the garbage into the compactor vehicle.
World Water Day Observed on 22nd March
  • World Water Day 2019 was observed on 22nd March with the theme ‘Leaving no one behind’.
  • The World Water Day encourages people to focus towards marginalized groups as these are often overlooked and discriminated against when they try to access safe water.
  • The theme ‘Leaving no one behind’ underscores the motto of ‘water for all’ which aims to ensure all including elderly, disabled, marginalized and poor people get access to clean drinking water and proper sanitation, as enshrined under Sustainable Development Goals.

FACTFILE – The World Water Day

  • World Water Day aims to draw attention to the importance of freshwater and advocates for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.
  • As requested at the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro, the United Nations General Assembly designated 22nd March World Water Day by passing a resolution.
  • World Water Day celebrates water and each year World Water Day highlights a specific aspect of freshwater.

March 25, 2019 

Assam’s tallest golden pagoda installed in North Lakhimpur
  • A golden pagoda installation ceremony was held at the Buddha Bihar campus in Borpathar Khamti village of Narayanpur in North Lakhimpur district.
  • The golden pagoda, said to be the tallest and costliest in the State, was dedicated to the people at a function held on the occasion. It is also expected to give a boost to tourism in the area.
India ranks 76th in the Global Energy Transition Index 
  • India has secured rank 76th on a Global Energy Transition Index compiled by Geneva-based World Economic Forum (WEF). It moved up two places from last year’s position.
  • The index ranked 115 economies on how well they are able to balance energy security and access with environmental sustainability and affordability.

TOP3 – Sweden, Switzerland and Norway.

SpiceJet Becomes First Indian Budget Carrier to Join IATA
  • An Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet has joined the International Air Transport Association (IATA). SpiceJet is the first Indian budget carrier to join the IATA, which has over 290 airlines as members.
  • The membership of IATA will allow SpiceJet to explore and grow its collaborations with international member airlines of IATA through interlining and code shares and also enables to seamlessly expand the network options for its passengers in future.

FACTFILE – the International Air Transport Association (IATA)

  • International Air Transport Association (IATA) is the trade association for the world’s airlines and represents some 290 airlines which contribute to about 82% of total air traffic.
  • IATA helps airlines to operate safely, securely, efficiently, and economically under clearly defined rules.
  • IATA provides professional support is provided to all industry stakeholders with a wide range of products and expert services.
  • IATA also aims to improve understanding of the air transport industry among decision makers and increase awareness of the benefits that aviation brings to national and global economies.
  • IATA advocates for the interests of airlines across the globe and challenges unreasonable rules and charges and strive for sensible regulation.
NITI Aayog to organize FinTech Conclave
  • The NITI Aayog will organise the FinTech Conclave 2019 on financial technologies in the national capital.
  • The objective is to shape India’s continued ascendancy in fintech, build the narrative for future strategy and policy efforts, and to deliberate steps for comprehensive financial inclusion.
  • The Conclave will be featuring representatives from across the financial space – central ministries, regulators, bankers, startups, service providers and entrepreneurs.
  • The conclave will host more than 300 representatives from the leading financial institutions, including HDFC Bank, IndusInd, ICICI Bank, SBI Card, Tata Capital and fintechs like BankBazaar, PhonePe, Capital Float, Zerodha, PayTM, MobiKwik and PayU.
  • The valedictory session of the conclave will have presentations consolidating sector-specific findings of the various panels on themes such as “digital onboarding of customers and merchants for financial inclusion, building financial products for millennial India and emerging areas of fintech.”

FACFILE – The NITI Aayog

  • National Institution for Transforming India, is a policy think tank of the Government of India, established with the aim to achieve Sustainable Development Goals and to enhance cooperative federalism by fostering the involvement of State Governments of India in the economic policy-making process using a bottom-up approach.
World’s largest e-waste recycling hub opened in Dubai
  • The world’s largest e-waste recycling facility has opened in Dubai, Located at the Dubai Industrial Park, the 280,000 square feet plant will process Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), IT asset disposition (ITAD), refrigerant gas and specialised waste.
  • The facility will utilise state-of-the-art reclamation technology, which surpasses the European Union’s standards for e-waste.
  • It has a processing capacity of 100,000 tonnes of total integrated waste per year, of which 39,000 tonnes is e-waste.
  • The facility can process the entire range of WEEE from consumer and industrial to commercial and military.

FACTFILE – Electronic waste or e-waste

  • These are describes discarded electrical or electronic devices. Used electronics which are destined for reuse, resale, salvage, recycling, or disposal are also considered e-waste.
  • Informal processing of e-waste in developing countries can lead to adverse human health effects and environmental pollution.
  • Electronic scrap components, such as CPUs, contain potentially harmful materials such as lead, cadmium, beryllium, or brominated flame retardants.

 

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March 26, 2019

RBI Defers the Implementation of Indian Accounting Standards
  • The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has deferred the implementation of new accounting rules, Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) for banks.
  • This delay in the implementation of Ind AS will give banks more time to prepare for the expected credit-loss model. This is the second extension provided by the RBI. Earlier in April 2018, RBI had postponed the implementation of Ind AS by the banks by one year.
  • RBI has reasoned that since the legislative amendments recommended by the RBI are under consideration of the government, it has been decided to defer the implementation of Ind AS till further notice.

FACTFILE – Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS)

  • Indian Accounting Standards (Ind AS) is a set of accounting norms developed by Indian authorities, which converge with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS).
  • Urban Cooperative Banks (UCBs) and Regional Rural Banks (RRBs) shall not be required to apply Ind AS and shall continue to comply with the existing Accounting Standards.
  • Fitch Ratings estimated that India’s state-run lenders would have had to increase provisions by as much as 1.1 trillion rupees ($16 billion) in the fiscal first quarter ending June 30 if the rules had gone ahead. Which would have forced public sector lenders to raise substantial amounts of extra capital, beyond the estimated 1.9 trillion rupee infusion already committed by the government.
Delhi Airport is world’s 12th busiest airport
  • Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGIA) has now become the world’s 12th busiest airport according to the preliminary World Airport Traffic Rankings 2018 released by Airports Council International.
  • The ACI report states that the IGI airport witnessed 6.9 crore domestic and international flyers in 2018

Busiest Airports – Atlanta-Hartsfield-Jackson Airport kept the top place and handled over 107 million passengers. Beijing Airport was at the second position.

HAL rolls out 16th Tejas fighter
  • State-run Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd (HAL) has rolled out its 16th Light Combat Aircraft (LCA) Tejas fighter in the initial operational clearance (IOC) configuration to be inducted into the fleet of Indian Air Force (IAF).
  • The Tejas aircraft was inducted into the IAF squadron ‘Flying Daggers’ on July 1, 2016.

FACTFILE – Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL)

  • HAL is an Indian state-owned aerospace and defence company headquartered in Bangalore, India.
  • It is governed under the management of the Indian Ministry of Defence.
  • The government-owned corporation is primarily involved in the operations of the aerospace and is currently involved in the design, fabrication and assembly of aircraft, jet engines, helicopters and their spare parts.
Adani Power got nod to set up India’s first power SEZ
  • The government paved the way for Adani Power Limited (APL) to set up India’s first power sector special economic zone (SEZ) by amending guidelines.
  • With the amendment to power-related guidelines for SEZ by the Ministry of Commerce earlier this year, APL is set to build a power-specific SEZ over 425 hectares in Jharkhand’s Godda district, the existing site for its coal-fired thermal power plant.
  • Adani Power got the go-ahead from the SEZs board of approval on February 25, a month after the Commerce Ministry prompted the amendment in January. With the SEZ status, it would now enjoy duty waiver, tax exemptions and faster clearances.
  • As per the memorandum of understanding signed between APL and Bangladesh in August 2015, the plant will supply most generated power, about 1,600 megawatt (MW), to the neighbouring country.

FACTFILE – Special Economic Zone (SEZ)

  • SEZ is a geographical region that has economic laws that are more liberal than a country’s domestic economic laws. India has specific laws for its SEZs.
  • The category ‘SEZ’ covers a broad range of more specific zone types, including free-trade zones (FTZ), export processing zones (EPZ), free zones (FZ), industrial estates (IE), free ports, urban enterprise zones and others.
  • It’s goal is to increase foreign direct investment by foreign investors.
India’s HWB to supply heavy water in India for non-nuclear use
  • India’s Heavy Water Board (HWD) plans to supply heavy water to Indian companies to produce deuterated compounds within the country.
  • A deuterated compound is one in which the ordinary isotope of hydrogen has been replaced with deuterium.
  • Presently deuterated compounds are imported in the country, intend to make heavy water available for the Indian companies to produce them indigenously at much lower costs.
  • Few products like Acetone-d6, Acetonitrile-d3, Benzene-d6 and others have been commercially launched by HWB through Board of Research in Isotope Technology (BRIT) for the benefit of Indian industry and society at large.
  • Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research & Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Mumbai, to establish the anti-cancer potential treatment of Deuterium Depleted Water.

FACTFILE – Heavy water

  • Heavy Water a compound of hydrogen’s deuterium isotope and oxygen, is used as a coolant or moderator in pressurised heavy water reactors (PHWR).
  • Deuterium Depleted Water of 25 to 120 ppm (parts per million) has applications in anti-cancer, anti-ageing, anti-diabetic, nonspecific immune defence of the body. Deuterium and deuterium labelled compounds have potential applications in life sciences for increasing the stability of organic molecules, macromolecules, viruses and vaccines.

                          March 27, 2019                                                              

India successfully tested Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) Missile
  • India demonstrated its capability to interdict and intercept a satellite in outer space based on indigenous technology The Anti-Satellite (A-SAT) Missile test, Mission Shakti, conducted from the Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam Island launch complex in Odisha, a technological mission carried out by the DRDO.
  • The test was fully successful and achieved all parameters as per plans. The test required an extremely high degree of precision and technical capability.
  • The significance of the test is that India has tested and successfully demonstrated its capability to interdict and intercept a satellite in outer space based on complete indigenous technology.
  • With this test, India joins an exclusive group of space faring nations consisting of the US, Russia and China.
  • The satellite used was an Indian satellite and DRDO’s Ballistic Missile Defence interceptor was used, which is part of the ongoing ballistic missile defence programme.
India reduced poverty rate from 55% to 28% in 10 years: Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2018
  • According to the Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2018 Report prepared by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, India has reduced its poverty rate drastically from 55% to 28% in 10 years.
  • The country still has the largest number of people living in multidimensional poverty in the world – 364 million people.
  • The report which covers 105 countries states that, 1.3 billion people in the world live in multidimensional poverty

FACTFILE – Global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) 

  • The Global Multidimensional Poverty Index(MPI) was developed in 2010 by the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative and the United Nations Development Programme and uses different factors to determine poverty beyond income-based lists. It replaced the previous Human Poverty Index.
  • The global Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) is an international measure of acute poverty covering over 100 developing countries.
  • It complements traditional income-based poverty measures by capturing the severe deprivations that each person faces at the same time with respect to education, health and living standards. The MPI assesses poverty at the individual level.
  • These characteristic make the MPI useful as an analytical tool to identify the most vulnerable people – the poorest among the poor, revealing poverty patterns within countries and over time, enabling policy makers to target resources and design policies more effectively.
Joint Naval Exercise ‘AUSINDEX’ between India and Australia
  • Third session of the Joint Naval Exercise of India and Australia- AUSINDEX will be held off the coast of Vishakhapatnam from April 2 to 16, 2019.
  • The joint exercise will focus on anti-submarine warfare, as part of efforts to ramp up bilateral naval cooperation in the strategic Indian Ocean region.

FACTFILE – AUSINDEX 2019

  • AUSINDEX 2019 will be held off the coast of Vishakhapatnam from April 2 to 16.
  • From the Australian side, HMAS Canberra, Auxiliary Oiler Replenishment vessel, two frigates – HMAS Newcastle and HMAS Parramatta and P8I and P8 maritime patrol aircraft will be involved in the exercise.
  • A Kilo-class submarine, land-based Hawk aircraft that will provide the air attack element for the exercise, a Kamorta class anti-submarine vessel, besides a stealth destroyer will lead the Indian deployment for the exercise.
  • AUSINDEX 2019 will also witness the largest ever deployment of an Australian defence group to India, over 1000 Australian defence personnel will take part.

 

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March 28, 2019

Cabinet approves creation of additional posts in NCLAT
  • The Union Cabinet approved the creation of additional posts of three judicial members and three technical members in the National Company Law Appellate Tribunal (NCLAT).
  • The posts will be created in Level 17 (Rs 2,25,000 fixed per month) plus allowances as admissible.
  • This will ensure to meet the mandate provided to the NCLAT by the Finance Act, 2017, the Companies Act, the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016 and the time frame provided for disposal of cases.

FACTFILE – The National Company Law Tribunal (NCLT)

  • NCLT is a quasi-judicial body in India that adjudicates issues relating to Indian companies.
  • The NCLT was established under the Companies Act 2013 and was constituted on 1 June 2016 by the government of India & is based on the recommendation of the justice Eradi committee on law relating to insolvency and winding up of companies.
  • All proceedings under the Companies Act, including proceedings relating to Arbitration, Compromise, arrangements and reconstruction and winding up of companies shall be disposed of by the National Company Law Tribunal.
  • The National Company Law Tribunal is the Adjudicating Authority for Insolvency resolution process of Companies and Limited Liability Partnerships under the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2016.
Sharda Peeth Corridor proposal in POK Approved by POK Government
  • Pakistan government has approved a proposal to establish a corridor which would allow Hindu pilgrims from India to visit Sharda Peeth in the region of Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
  • Sharda Peeth Corridor will be the second corridor to be established after the Kartarpur Corridor which provides access to Gurudwara Darbar Sahib at Kartarpur in Pakistan.

FACTFILE – Sharda Peeth

  • Sharda Peeth is an abandoned Hindu temple and an ancient centre of learning.
  • The temple is dedicated to Goddess Sharada, the Hindu Goddess of learning.
  • Sharada Temple is located at Sharada village and it is here that river Kishanganga and two streams Madhmati and Sargun meets, in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
  • Goddess Sharada is the ‘Kuldevi’ of Kashmiri pandits.
  • It is also one of the three famous tirthas, or holy sites, for Kashmiri Pandits, the other two being the Martand Sun Temple and the Amarnath Temple.
  • Sharada Peeth is also revered as one of 18 Maha Shakti Peethas, or “Grand Shakti Peethas” which commemorates the location of fallen body parts of the Hindu Goddess Sati.
  • Sharada Peeth is believed to be a foremost centre of learning Between the 6th and 12th centuries CE hosting scholars such as Kalhana, Adi Shankaracharya, Vairostana, Kumarajiva, and Thonmi Sambhota.
Singapore’s Changi Airport is awarded world’s best aviation hub for 7th time
  • Singapore’s Changi Airport has been crowned the world’s best aviation hub for the seventh time in a row, while New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport featured at number 59.
  • The prestigious accolade was awarded at the Passenger Terminal Expo 2019 in London. The Skytrax World Airport Awards are voted for by customers in a global airport customer satisfaction survey.
  • Singapore Changi Airport is known for its rooftop swimming pool, two 24-hour movie theatres and shopping spots.
  • At number two on the list is Tokyo International Airport (Haneda), up one place from 2018. Three is Incheon International Airport, down one place from its second-place spot in 2018. Incheon remains a stalwart of the airport rankings, also nabbing an award for World’s Best Transit Airport.

Point2Remember – Indian Airport in the list

  • New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International (IGI) Airport featured at number 59
  • Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport at 64
  • Rajiv Gandhi Hyderabad International Airport at 66
  • Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport at 69
Assamese artist Sanjoy Das receives award at Canadian gallery
  • A painting by Assamese artist Sanjoy Das, titled Exuberance, received a ‘Special Merit Award’ in the 10th Annual Abstract Competition at the Lightspacetime Gallery in Los Angeles, California.

 

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Assam Current Affairs – March 15 – 21, 2019

Posted on by admin 
Current Affairs Assam – March 15 - 21, 2019

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of March 15 – 21, 2019 )

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March 15, 2019

Guwahati Lok Sabha seat has highest, Diphu has lowest number of voters in Assam

  • The Guwahati constituency has the highest number of electorates among all the 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam, while the Diphu constituency has the lowest number of voters who are eligible to exercise their franchise in the forthcoming general elections.

  • There are a total of 21,49,230 voters in the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency, the highest in Assam. Dhubri constituency with 18,44,040 voters and Mangaldai with 17,75,182 voters are the seats having the second and third highest number of electorates in the State.

  • Nagaon has 17,74,467 voters, followed by 17,48,865 voters in Kokrajhar, 17,10,939 in Kaliabor, 16,81,434 in Lakhimpur, 16,65,689 in Barpeta, 14,82,368 in Tezpur, 13,43,872 in Jorhat, 13,13,469 in Karimganj, 12,97,671 in Dibrugarh, 11,89,667 in Silchar and 7,83,711 voters in Diphu.

  • The total number of general electors in the State stands at 2,17,60,604, of which, 1,11,32,782 are males, while 1,06,27,319 are females and 503 are from the ‘third gender’. The number of third gender voters is highest in Guwahati and Silchar constituencies. There are 78 voters belonging to the third gender in both the constituencies.

  • There will be a total of 28,143 polling stations across the State for the Lok Sabha polls. Guwahati constituency will have the highest number of polling stations (2,592), followed by Dhubri (2,450) and Mangaldai (2,353).

  • The number of polling stations under Kokrajhar constituency will be 2,347, while it will be 2,283 in Nagaon, 2,188 in Barpeta, 2,174 in Kaliabor, 2,110 in Lakhimpur, 1,880 in Tezpur, 1,753 in Jorhat, 1,721 in Karimganj, 1,657 in Dibrugarh and 1,461 in Silchar. Diphu constituency will have the least number of polling stations (1,174) in the State.

DRDO test-fired anti-tank missile successfully
  • A man-portable anti-tank guided missile (MPATGM) was successfully test-fired in Rajasthan desert, the missile has been developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).
  • The indigenously developed, low-weight missile operates on a “fire and forget” principle, which means it does not require guidance after the launch.
  • MPATGM is incorporated with advanced features, including state-of-the-art imaging infrared radar-seeker with integrated avionics.
  • The first test was conducted on March 13. In both the missions, the missiles hit the designated targets precisely at different ranges. All the mission objectives have been met.

FACTFILE – The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

  • DRDO is charged with the military’s research and development, headquartered in New Delhi, India.
  • It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production with the Defence Science Organisation.
  • It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.
  • With a network of 52 laboratories, which are engaged in developing defence technologies covering various fields, like aeronautics, armaments, electronics, land combat engineering, life sciences, materials, missiles, and naval systems.
  • DRDO is India’s largest and most diverse research organization, having around 5,000 scientists belonging to the Defence Research & Development Service (DRDS) and about 25,000 other scientific, technical and supporting personnel.
India’s February 2019 WPI rises to 2.93%
  • India’s annual rate of inflation based on wholesale prices rose to 2.93 per cent in February from 2.74 per cent reported for the corresponding month of 2018.
  • Wholesale prices rose on a faster rate than the rise of 2.76 per cent reported for January 2019.
  • Build up inflation rate in the financial year so far was 2.75 per cent compared to a build up rate of 2.56 per cent in the corresponding period of the previous year

FACTFILE – Wholesale Price Index (WPI)

  • WPI is the price of a representative basket of wholesale goods.
  • It also influences stock and fixed price markets. Some countries (like the Philippines) use WPI changes as a central measure of inflation.
  • India has adopted new CPI to measure inflation. The advanced base year 2011-12 uses 697 items.
  • The WPI is published by the Economic Adviser in the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
  • The Wholesale Price Index focuses on the price of goods traded between corporations, rather than goods bought by consumers, which is measured by the Consumer Price Index.
  • The purpose of the WPI is to monitor price movements that reflect supply and demand in industry, manufacturing and construction. This helps in analyzing both macroeconomic and microeconomic conditions.
IITs collaborate to develop Himalayan climate change vulnerability assessment
  • The Indian Institute of Technology-Guwahati, Indian Institute of Technology-Mandi and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bengaluru have collaborated to develop a climate change vulnerability assessment for the Indian Himalayan region using a common framework.
  • The assessment exercise is unique because for the first time all 12 Himalayan states have used a common framework resulting in the production of comparable state-level and within state, district-level vulnerability maps.
  • The 12 states are Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, hilly districts of West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Jammu and Kashmir.
  • The adaptation to climate change is a collaborative effort between appropriate use of technology, a vision that produces policies, a change at ground level and engaging the local communities.
  • Swiss national policy for climate change adaptation has been complemented by local government strategies, based on detailed and locally anchored risks assessment, maps and preparedness, plans and actions.

FACTFILE – Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT)

  • IIT are autonomous public institutes of higher education, located in India.
  • They are governed by the Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 which has declared them as institutions of national importance and lays down their powers, duties, and framework for governance etc.
  • The Institutes of Technology Act, 1961 lists twenty-three institutes (after the last amendment in 2016).
Facebook launch “Facebook Hubs” to foster innovation and support entrepreneurs
  • Facebook Hubs will provide support for the start-up community by hosting mentor hours and conducting trainings, workshops, discussions across 20 locations in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Navi Mumbai and in Goa.
  • Facebook Hubs also encompasses co-working community hosting, planning and organizing structured activities such as learning and skill development programs for budding entrepreneurs.
  • Facebook Hubs aims to be part of a global network for training and mentoring facilities for not just start-ups, but also developers, small and medium businesses, creators, and job seekers.

March 16, 2019

Major General Rana Pratap Kalita of Assam promoted to top post in Indian Army
  • Major General Rana Pratap Kalita from Assam, who is presently serving as the Additional Director General (ceremonial and welfare) in the Army Headquarters, New Delhi, has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General in the Indian Army.
  • He is the second Army official from Assam who has been promoted to this rank after the first Assamese Lieutenant General Pranab Bharali.
  • Lieutenant General Kalita, an alumnus of Sainik School, Goalpara (SSG) and National Defence Academy (NDA), was earlier awarded ‘Sena Medal’ and ‘Vishisht Seva Medal’.
  • He was also conferred with the prestigious ‘Ati Vishisht Seva Medal’ for his outstanding performance and service to the nation during his tenure as the General Officer Commanding of XIX Infantry Division at Baramulla in the aftermath of the fidayeen attack in Uri in the Kashmir valley.

FACTFILE – Officer ranks in Indian Army, Air Force and Navy

Indian Army Indian Navy

Indian Air Force
*Field Marshal *Admiral of the Fleet *Marshal of the Air Force
General Admiral Air Chief Marshal
Lieutenant General Vice Admiral Air Marshal
Major General Rear Admiral Air Vice Marshal
Brigadier Commodore Air Commodore
Colonel Captain Group Captain
Lieutenant Colonel Commander Wing Commander
Major Lieutenant Commander Squadron Leader
Captain Lieutenant Flight Lieutenant
Lieutenant Sub-Lieutenant Flying Officer

FACTFILE – 5-star ranks

  • The top ranks of the three Indian Defence forces Field Marshal (in Army), Marshal of the Air Force (in Air Force), and Admiral of the Fleet (in Navy) are 5 star ranks. It is considered a huge prestige to receive such a rank
  • The Field Marshal rank has been awarded to Kodandera Madappa Cariappa and Sam Manekshaw till date.
  • Arjan Singh has received the rank of the Marshal of the Indian Air Force and is the only living Indian military officer with a 5 star rank
  • Till date, no one has never been awarded the Admiral of the Fleet rank.
  • Officers who hold a 5 star rank are considered to be serving officers till death and hold their rank for life.
IIT Roorkee ties up with ISRO to set up a Space Technology Cell
  • The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in Uttarakhand tied up with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to set up a Space Technology Cell at its campus.
  • The ISRO-IIT Roorkee Space Technology Cell shall pursue advanced research in the areas of relevance to the future technological and programmatic needs of the Indian space programme.
  • The cell shall ensure to maximise the use of research potential, infrastructure, expertise and experience that exist in ISRO and IIT Roorkee.
  • The institute will be providing the infrastructure and administrative support in setting up of the cell.
  • The research facility will consist of faculty members, visiting scientists, experts, research personnel, technical, administrative and support staff.
India bats for banning single-use plastics
  • India has piloted resolutions on two important global environment issues related to single-use plastics and sustainable nitrogen management at the UN Environment Assembly. Both resolutions were adopted with consensus.
  • After five days of negotiations at the Fourth UN Environment Assembly in this Kenyan capital, ministers from more than 170 UN member states delivered a bold blueprint for change.
  • The Indian delegation, led by the High Commissioner of India Rahul Chhabra, also participated in the panel discussion in high-level segment on need for additional commitments of public finance and the ways to maximise mobilization of climate finance.
  • India has been initiating domestic climate actions, both related to climate change mitigation and adaptation, primarily through its own financial resources.

FACTFILE – United Nations Environment Programme

  • The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), an agency of the United Nations, coordinates the organization’s environmental activities and assists developing countries in implementing environmentally sound policies and practices.
  • It was founded by Maurice Strong, its first director, as a result of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment (Stockholm Conference) in June 1972 and has overall responsibility for environmental problems among United Nations agencies
  • UNEP’s activities cover a wide range of issues regarding the atmosphere, marine and terrestrial ecosystems, environmental governance and green economy.
  • It has played a significant role in developing international environmental conventions, promoting environmental science and information and illustrating the way those can be implemented in conjunction with policy, working on the development and implementation of policy with national governments, regional institutions in conjunction with environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs).
  • UNEP has also been active in funding and implementing environment related development projects.
World Kidney Day 2019 observed on 14th March
  • Second Thursday of March every year is observed as World Kidney Day as a global health awareness campaign focusing on the importance of the kidneys and reducing the frequency and impact of kidney disease and its associated health problems worldwide.
  • The theme of the World Kidney Day 2019 is “Kidney Health for Everyone Everywhere.”, emphasizing on Universal Health Coverage (UHC) for prevention and early treatment of kidney disease.
  • World Kidney Day is an initiative of the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the International Federation of Kidney Foundations (IFKF).
  • The kidneys are two bean-shaped organs found in vertebrates. They receive blood from the paired renal arteries; blood exits into the paired renal veins.
  • The nephron is the structural and functional unit of the kidney. Each human adult kidney contains around 1 million nephrons, while a mouse kidney contains only about 12,500 nephrons.
India gets first TIR shipment via Chabahar Port from Afghanistan
  • The first shipment under the United Nations ‘Transports Internationaux Routiers’ (TIR) convention has arrived in India from Afghanistan through the Chabahar Port of Iran.

FACFILE – Transports Internationaux Routiers’ Convention

  • The Transports Internationaux Routiers is an international Convention aimed at harmonising the administrative formalities of international road transport.
  • The customs officials only verify the carnet and check the seal without requiring physical checking of the contents. This enables shipments to pass through countries without being opened at borders.
  • Reciprocal recognition of customs controls is at the heart of the TIR Convention. The convention enables a facilitative and non-intrusive environment for multi-modal transport of goods through several countries.
  • The convention acts as a strong catalyst for moving goods using the multi-modal transportation route like Chabahar and International North-South Transport (INSTC) Corridor.
  • The convention offers a great opportunity for the landlocked countries by providing seamless border crossing facilitation and intermodal capabilities.
  • India joined the TIR Convention in 2017. 

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March 17, 2019

Security feature to be included in mineral transport challans, says  Meghalaya CM
  • Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has informed that the State Government has taken a serious view on reports of fake challans issued for mineral transportation and so security features are being incorporated in these challans.
  • A committee has been constituted to look into incorporation of security features in the mineral transportation challans.
  • The challans with the security features would include QR codes, bar codes and other security features to reduce duplicity and fake challans.
  • With regards to issuance of fake challans, whenever such reports are received the department files complaints and FIRs so that the guilty persons are booked.
  • Three departments – Mines and Minerals, Forest and Transport – are being sensitised so that the new technology can work seamlessly in these departments.
Mizoram House passes bill for supplying cadavers to Medical college
  • Mizoram Assembly Thursday passed a Bill to facilitate the supply of cadavers to the medical college in the State. Health Minister Dr R Lalthangliana introduced the Mizoram Anatomy Bill, 2019, and it was passed unanimously.
  • The Bill, after enactment, would facilitate availability of bodies for the Mizoram Institute of Medical Education and Research (MIMER) at Falkawn, about 20 km.
  • Cadavers are required by medical colleges for the purpose of anatomical examination and dissection.
Cardless ATM services inaugurated at Silchar
  • The State Bank of India (SBI) launched cardless transaction facility at its ATMs via its latest service You Only Need One (YONO).
  • People can avail the services by downloading the latest version of YONO app from Google Play Store. The OTP is available for 30 minutes for making transactions after which the term will expire.
Erode Turmeric and Sirsi Supari of Karnataka receives GI tag
  • Erode Turmeric of Tamil Nadu has received GI tag from the Geographical Indication Registry.
  • Sirsi Supari of Karnataka has got the GI tag by the Registrar of Geographical Indications. It is the first product from the Arecanut sector to get a GI tag.

FACTFILE – Geographical Indication

  • Geographical Indication defines the goods as originating in the territory of a country or a region or locality in that territory, provided a given quality reputation or other characteristics of the product are attributable to its geographical origin.
  • The product that is to acquire GI tag has to indicate that the product is of a particular origin has a certain quality or reputation or some other characteristics which are essentially attributable to its geographical origin.

March 18, 2019

Pinaki Chandra Ghose to be the First Lokpal of India
  • The name of former Supreme Court Judge Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose has been cleared by the Lokpal Selection Committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the first Lokpal of India.
  • The ambit of Lokpal would cover all categories of public servants, including the Prime Minister with the exception of armed forces.

Features of the Lokpal Act 2013:

  • The Lokpal Act provides for setting up of an anti-corruption ombudsman called Lokpal at the Centre and Lokayukta at the State-level.
  • The Lokpal would consist of a chairperson and a maximum of eight members of which 50 per cent shall be judicial members.
  • 50 per cent of members of Lokpal shall be from SC/ST/OBCs, minorities and women.
  • The Lokpal Act mandated the states to institute Lokayukta within one year of the commencement of the Act.
  • Lokpal will also have powers of superintendence and direction over any investigation agency including CBI for cases referred to them by the Lokpal.
  • Lokpal is appointed based on the recommendation of the five-member panel comprising the Prime Minister, the Lok Sabha Speaker, the Leader of the Opposition the Chief Justice of India and an eminent jurist nominated by the President.
  • President would appoint the eminent jurist based on the recommendations of the other members of the panel.
OIL’s solar solution programme concludes
  • The OIL Urja Happy Home Solar Solution (UHHSS) programme, a CSR project of Oil India Limited, implemented by the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) in Tinsukia and Dibrugarh districts of Upper Assam, came to an end on March 15.
  • The concluding event of the programme was held at Zero Point near River Police Station of Dr Bhupen Hazarika Setu wherein 68 households of the anti-poaching camps under Tinsukia Wildlife Division were provided with the solar home lighting system and solar energy lanterns and improved biomass cook stoves.
  • The objective of the programme was to provide access to clean and affordable energy for domestic lighting and cooking through sustainable and inexhaustible low maintenance solar solutions. The programme has helped in reducing indoor air pollution and the use of kerosene or firewood for cooking, provided adequate lighting facility to enable evening study for students, besides other benefits towards creating a clean energy solution at the household level.
  • The solar home system includes multiple LED lights, mobile charging points and other home appliances through a battery that can be recharged by using solar photovoltaic panels. The solar energy lanterns consist of a light-emitting diode (LED)-based portable lamp which is powered by small solar panel battery and as an ideal multipurpose solution of rural households.
  • These lanterns can be used for inhouse lighting and portable outdoor lights. These lights also recharge mobile phones. The improved biomass cooking stoves provided is an efficient devise consuming less biomass fuel and significantly reduces indoor air pollution through better combustion of biomass fuel.
  • The project also made effort to create village solar entrepreneurs through training and capacity-building. 
Goa CM Manohar Parrikar passes away
  • Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, a former Defenceminister who had been battling a pancreatic ailment for over a year, died at his private residence.
  • Born on December 13, 1955 into a middle-class family, his political career began as an RSS pracharak and he continued working for the Sangh even after graduating from IIT-Bombay as a metallurgical engineer.
  • Parrikar entered electoral politics in 1994 when he won on a BJP ticket from Panaji constituency.
  • He was the defence minister from November 2014 to March 2017 during the tenure of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India, Maldives discussed measures to strengthen bilateral ties
  • India and the Maldives discussed measures to strengthen bilateral ties and collaborate in the fields of defence, development cooperation, capacity building and health
  • The two countries had also agreed to remain mindful of each other’s concerns and aspirations for the stability of the Indian Ocean region and not allow their respective territories to be used for any activity inimical to their interests.
  • The two sides discussed ongoing and future cooperation across all spheres, including defence, development cooperation, capacity building, health and consular issues.

FACTFILE – India–Maldives relations

  • The bilateral relations between India and Maldives have been friendly and close in strategic, economic and military cooperation.
  • India contributed to maintaining security on the island nation.
NGT directs 6 states to submit action plan on air pollution
  • The National Green Tribunal has directed six states to submit their Action Plans for bringing air quality standards within the prescribed norms, failing which they would be liable to pay environment compensation of ₹1 crore each.
  • A bench headed by NGT Chairperson Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel ordered the chief secretaries of Assam, Jharkhand Maharashtra, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Nagaland governments to submit their plan within the stipulated time.
  • The States, where action plans are found to be deficient and deficiencies are not removed till April 30, 2019, will be liable to pay ₹25 lakh each and the timeline for execution of the action plans is six months from the date their finalization.
  • The tribunal warned that if action plans are not executed within the specified timeline, the defaulting states will be liable to pay environmental compensation and may also be required to furnish performance guarantee for execution of plans in extended timeline as per recommendations received from the Central Pollution Control Board.

FACTFILE  – National Green Tribunal

  • The National Green Tribunal has been established on 18.10.2010 under the National Green Tribunal Act 2010 for effective and expeditious disposal of cases relating to environmental protection and conservation of forests and other natural resources including enforcement of any legal right relating to environment and giving relief and compensation for damages to persons and property and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto.
  • It is a specialized body equipped with the necessary expertise to handle environmental disputes involving multi-disciplinary issues.

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March 19, 2019

Assam has 1.2 lakh ‘D’ voters
  • Former Speaker of Goa legislative assembly and BJP MLA PramodSawant was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of Goa.
  • VijaiSardesai from the Goa Forward Party and SudinDhavalikar from MaharashtrawadiGomantak Party, both alliance partners, have been inducted as Deputy Chief Ministers.
  • Sawant succeeds former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who died on Sunday due to complications arising from advanced pancreatic cancer.
India to provide humanitarian assistance to Mozambique
  • There are around 1.2 lakh ‘D’ voters in Assam, State’s chief electoral officer Mukesh Sahu said.
  • To encourage all sections of voters, especially the new generation, to cast their votes in the upcoming election, the State election department has been carrying out a massive awareness drive across Assam. The videos and posters portray personalities such as singer Tarali Sarma, sprinter Hima Das, actor Kapil Bora, bodybuilder Golap Rabha and environmental activist Purnima Devi Barman who have been appointed as State icons by the election department to sensitize people on the Lok Sabha elections.
  • The chief electoral officer also released a handbook titled Aaideur Hatputhi as part of its ‘Aaideur Chora’ campaign undertaken in collaboration with the Assam State Rural Livelihood Mission (ASRLM) and Assam State Urban Livelihood Mission (ASULM) to sensitize women voter of the State. The handbook will be distributed by the department across the State among female voters.
  • The state election department will appoint 2,556 village ambassadors across the State. To be known as ‘Chandraprava’, the village ambassador will spread the message of voter education and electoral participation among the masses.
Pramod Sawant sworn in as Goa CM
  • Former Speaker of Goa legislative assembly and BJP MLA PramodSawant was sworn in as the 11th Chief Minister of Goa.
  • VijaiSardesai from the Goa Forward Party and SudinDhavalikar from MaharashtrawadiGomantak Party, both alliance partners, have been inducted as Deputy Chief Ministers.
  • Sawant succeeds former Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, who died on Sunday due to complications arising from advanced pancreatic cancer.
RN Bhattacharya literary awards to Assamese poet Anubhav Tulasi and Bengali poet Pijush Kanti Routh
  • The Ramanath Bhattacharya Foundation literary awards for 2017 in the memory of Padmanath Vidyabinod and Ramnath Biswas would be given to Assamese poet Anubhav Tulasi and Bengali poet Pijush Kanti Routh of Tripura respectively.
  • Both the awards comprise a cash prize of Rs 51,000, a citation, a memento and a specially designed Muga scarf.
  • The awards would be presented at a function to be held on March 24 at the Vivekananda Kendra.
  • A souvenir will also be released on the occasion by Nandita Bhattacharjee Goswami.
Special Olympics World Games inaugurated in Abu Dhabi
  • The Special Olympics World Games 2019 are being hosted by the cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. This is the first time that the Special Olympics are being held in the Middle East and North Africa region.
  • The host UAE had introduced the term “people of determination” as part of a new National Strategy for Empowering People with Disabilities.

FACTFILE – The Special Olympics

  • Special Olympics is a global movement of people creating a new world of inclusion, where every single person is accepted and welcomed, regardless of their ability or disability.
  • The Special Olympics are held every two years and alternates between summer and winter.
  • Previous Special Olympics were held in Austria (2017) and the next Special Olympics will be held in Sweden (2021).
  • The motto of Special Olympics “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me brave in the attempt.”

March 20, 2019

President Kovind appoints chief & eight other members of Lokpal
  • President Ram Nath Kovind appointed chief and eight other members of Lokpal, the anti-corruption ombudsman will be headed by retired Supreme Court judge PC Ghose. Four judicial and non-judicial members are also part of first Lokpal.
  • The Lokpal and Lokayuktas Act was enacted in 2013 and received the President’s signature on January 1, 2014.
  • As per the law, a Lokpal for Centre and Lokayuktas for states have to be set up to probe corruption complaints against MPs, MLAs, former PMs, and government employees.
  • President Kovind appointed four non-judicial members to the body. Maharashtra Chief Secretary Dinesh Kumar Jain, former first woman chief of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Archana Ramasundaram, retired IRS official Mahender Singh, and retired IAS officer IP Gautam, were given the important responsibility.
First Workshop on the Development of the IEMF Organized
  • NITI Aayog in association with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) organized the first workshop on the development of the India Energy Modelling Forum (IEMF)
  • The workshop was organized under the Sustainable Growth Pillar of the India-U.S. Strategic Energy Partnership.

FACTFILE – The India Energy Modelling Forum

  • IEMF is envisaged as a pan-stakeholder platform for debating ideas, scenario-planning & discussing India’s energy future.
  • IEMF seeks to provide a platform for leading experts and policymakers to study important energy and environmental issues and ensure the induction of modelling and analysis in the informed decision-making process.
  • IEMF aims to improve cooperation and coordination between modelling teams, the Government of India, knowledge partners and think-tanks, build the capacity of Indian institutions, and identify issues for joint modelling activities and future areas of research.

FACTFILE – The India-U.S. Strategic Energy Partnership:

  • India-U.S. Strategic Energy Partnership affirms the strategic importance of energy cooperation to the U.S.-India bilateral relationship and sets the stage for deeper and more meaningful engagements through government and industry channels.
  • Under the Strategic Partnership, the United States and India will pursue four primary pillars of cooperation:
  1. Oil and Gas
  2. Power and Energy Efficiency
  3. Renewable Energy and Sustainable Growth
  4. Coal
Indian firms invest in Afghanistan healthcare
  • Three Indian health bodies have entered agreement with an Afghan health firm at Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health to facilitate quality healthcare across the country.
  • The contracts worth $6.5 million aim to set up a fully equipped diagnostic centre, an advanced dialysis centre and a manufacturing plant for the production of pharmaceuticals in the Afghan capital.
  • These agreements have grown over the initial talks in the USAID-sponsored Passage to Prosperity: India-Afghanistan Trade and Investment Show held last year.
  • The quality of secondary and tertiary healthcare is yet to improve in Afghanistan despite an overall progress in the sector and as a result, several Afghans go for medical treatment abroad.
The United Nations Environment Programme released the Global Environment Outlook 2019
  • The Global Environment Outlook (GEO) is the UN Environment Programme’s (UNEP) flagship environmental assessment.
  • The first publication was in 1997 and the Global Environment Outlook Report 2019 is the sixth edition.
  • The report notes that a quarter of all premature deaths and diseases worldwide are due to manmade pollution and environmental damage.
  • The report warns that deadly emissions, chemicals polluting drinking water, and the accelerating destruction of ecosystems crucial to the livelihoods of billions of people are driving a worldwide epidemic that hampers the global economy.
  • The report observed that India could save at least $3 trillion in healthcare costs if India implements policy initiatives which are consistent with ensuring that the globe didn’t heat up beyond 1.5 degrees Celsius by the turn of the century.
  • Among India’s commitments under INDC, India is on track to achieve the target of lowering the emission intensity of its GDP by 33-35% compared to 2005 levels by 2030 and increasing the total cumulative electricity generation from fossil-free energy sources to 40% by 2030.
  • To achieve the goal to limit the global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celcius, India needs to abandon plans to build new coal-fired power plants.

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March 21, 2019

President Ram Nath Kovind inaugurated FINE in Gujarat
  • The Festival of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (FINE) was inaugurated by President Ram Nath Kovind at Grambharti near Gandhinagar in Gujarat.
  • The Festival of Innovation & Entrepreneurship is an initiative of the Office of the President of India to recognise, respect and reward grassroots innovations and foster a supportive ecosystem.
  • The Festival of Innovation & Entrepreneurship is organised by the President’s office in association with National Innovation Foundation-India and Department of Science & Technology.
  • The Festival of Innovation & Entrepreneurship aims to provide a platform to the innovators for building the linkages with potential stakeholders whose support can improve their prospects in the coming years for the larger social good.
  • The Festival helps in promoting lateral learning and linkages among the innovators to enrich the ecosystem for new India.
International Day of Forests 2019 Observed on March 21st
  • International Day of Forests 2019 was observed on March 21st with the theme ‘Forests and Education’ to raise awareness on how sustainably managed forests provide a wide array of contributions.
  • International Day of Forests 2019 promotes education to ‘Learn to Love Forests’.
  • March 21st was established as International Day of Forests by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) on November 28, 2012. International Day of Forests was observed for the first time on March 21, 2013
Chinese scientists Xie Hui develop robotic swarm
  • Chinese scientists Xie Hui have developed a robotic system inspired by a colony of ants that can collectively achieve complex tasks like gathering large prey.
  • The nanorobots fleet that have demonstrated potential for in-body diagnosis and treatment at the cellular or even molecular level.
  • A single robot is two micrometre in diameter, 40 times smaller than a hair, thus capable of running through blood capillaries.
  • The peanut-shaped iron microrobots can be energised by an alternating magnetic field, offering high flexibility to collectively perform multiple tasks in a confined environment.
  • By tuning the frequency of the rotating magnetic field and its polarisation in three-dimensional space, the researchers obtained a series of well-controlled, fast and reversible transformations.
  • Those formations include liquid, chain, vortex and ribbon. They can form narrow paths or channels to deliver heavy loads beyond a single robot’s capability.
WHO urges global framework on human genome editing
  • The World Health Organization (WHO) called for a strong international governance framework on developing global standards for governance and oversight of human genome editing.
  • the WHO’s new advisory committee on human genome editing reviewed the current state of science and technology in this field, and agreed on core principles of transparency, inclusivity and responsibility.
  • It also urged a central registry on human genome editing research in order to create an open and transparent database of ongoing work, and had asked the WHO to immediately begin working to establish such a registry.
  • The committee will develop essential tools and guidance for all those working on this new technology to ensure maximum benefit and minimal risk to human health.
  • For the next two years, the WHO committee is expected to hold a series of in-person meetings and online consultations with a wide range of stakeholders, with an aim to provide recommendations for a comprehensive governance framework on human genome editing.

FACTFILE – Genome editing

  • It is a type of genetic engineering in which DNA is inserted, deleted, modified or replaced in the genome of a living organism. Unlike early genetic engineering techniques that randomly inserts genetic material into a host genome, genome editing targets the insertions to site specific locations.
  • In 2018, the common methods for such editing use engineered nucleases, or “molecular scissors”.
  • These nucleases create site-specific double-strand breaks (DSBs) at desired locations in the genome. The induced double-strand breaks are repaired through nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) or homologous recombination (HR), resulting in targeted mutations (‘edits’).
Afghanistan Registers its First Test Cricket Win
  • Afghanistan’s cricket team claimed a historic first Test win as they beat Ireland by seven wickets in Dehradun, India. Afghanistan were steered to their target by a 139-run partnership between Shah, who made 76, and debutant Janat, who hit an unbeaten 65.
  • It was Afghanistan’s second Test outing after making their debut last year when they lost to India inside two days in Bangalore.

FACTFILE – Afghanistan’s cricket team

  • Afghanistan is the 12th test cricket playing Full Member nation.
  • The Afghanistan Cricket Board was formed in 1995 and became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2001 and a member of the Asian Cricket Council (ACC) in 2003.
  • After nearly a decade of playing top class international cricket, on 22 June 2017, in an ICC meeting in London, full ICC Membership was granted to Afghanistan, taking the number of Test cricket playing nations to twelve.
  • They are also the first country to ever achieve full member status after holding Affiliate Membership of the ICC from 2001 until 2013 and were the only Affiliate member country to ever compete in a major ICC international cricket tournament.
  • They hold the world record for the highest ever T20 score with their 278-3 against Ireland in the same ground

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Assam Current Affairs – March 08 – 14, 2019

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Current Affairs Assam – March 8 - 14, 2019

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of March 8 – 14, 2019 )

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March 08, 2019

Foundation of 100-bed hospital laid at Lumding
  • Assam State Finance Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma laid the foundation of the 100-bed civil hospital at Lumding.
  • The present civil hospital would be developed into a 100-bed hospital under the NHM Scheme.
  • Dr Sarma also checked on the progress of the PHE construction which had been started earlier to provide clean water to the town’s people.
  • Dr Sarma later proposed that an auditorium would be constructed for social gathering purposes.
IIT Kharagpur students develop app to detect fake currency
  • Researchers at IIT Kharagpur have developed a smartphone-based application to detect counterfeit currency and also provided solutions for industrial operations ranging from thermal power plants to nuclear radiation tracking.
  • A group of six students from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering developed the code for a smartphone application to detecting counterfeit currency.
  • The image processing application which can detect counterfeit currency, can be installed on smartphones and thus used by people at various points to reduce the chances of fraud.
  • A user can upload a currency note image and the mobile app would verify its authenticity using 25 features extracted from the front and rear side of the currency note. In case of detection of a fake note, the user will also be notified.
India signs pact with Russia for nuclear-powered submarine
  • The government inked a deal worth USD 3 billion with Russia for the leasing of a nuclear-powered Akula class attack submarine for 10 years.
  • An inter-governmental agreement was signed by India and Russia after months of negotiations on price and various other aspects of the crucial deal.
  • Under the pact, Russia has agreed to deliver the submarine, to be known as Chakra III, to the Indian Navy by 2025.  The Chakra III is going to be the third Russian submarine to be leased to the Indian Navy.
  • Indian Navy currently boasts of 14 conventional submarines apart from a nuclear attack and nuclear ballistic missile submarine.

FACTFILE – Chakra III

  • Weighing around 8,140-ton, the Chakra III will have a submerged speed of 30 knots and an operating depth of 530 meters. The submarine will be capable of carrying a crew of 73.
  • The Chakra III comes loaded with four 650-millimeter and four 533-millimeter launch tubes for firing Type 65 and Type 53 torpedoes. Both these torpedoes are made in Russia.
  • A 190 mW nuclear reactor will be used for propelling this submarine.
Assam CM lays foundation of new flyover in Guwahati
  • Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of a new flyover connecting the RG Baruah Road with the BishnuRabha Flyover at GaneshguriChariali.
  • The PWD has taken up the construction of the 476-metre flyover under the State Own Priority Scheme-General (SOPD-G), 2018-19, with a financial outlay of Rs 58.76 crore.
  • The PWD has already mooted plans for construction of flyovers connecting Ganesh Mandir to Ganeshguri and at the GNRC point.
PM MODI lays the foundation stone for AK-203 Rifle Manufacturing Unit in Amethi
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stone for AK-203 rifles manufacturing unit in Amethi, Uttar Pradesh. This new Kalashnikov assault rifles will fulfil the needs of national security agencies in this category of small arms, resting upon advanced Russian technologies.
  • The AK-203 rifles will be manufactured in Amethi as a joint venture between India and Russia.
  • In the Amethi Manufacturing facility, world-famous Kalashnikov assault rifles of the newest 200 series would be manufactured.
  • This unit envisions full localisation of production over a period of time. The rifle manufacturing unit in Amethi symbolises the military and technical cooperation between India and Russia which has been the key areas of the strategic partnership between Russia and India.

FACTFILE – The Kalashnikov Rifles:

  • Kalashnikov Rifles were developed in the Soviet Union by Mikhail Kalashnikov.
  • The rifles were officially accepted by the Soviet Armed Forces in the year 1949.

Even after seven decades, the model and its variants remain the most popular and widely used assault rifles in the world because of their substantial reliability, low production costs and ease of use.

March 09, 2019

Manipur launches project ‘Rejuvenation and Conservation of Nambul River’ to check Nambul river pollution
  • Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh’s ambitious project to prevent pollution in the Nambul river was launched at a function held at the Chief Minister’s Secretariat. 
  • The project called ‘Rejuvenation and Conservation of Nambul River’ aims at controlling pollution of the Nambul river by intercepting and treating urban waste originating in the stretch between Iroisemba and Heirangoithong through use of the water treatment plant, MBBR (Moving Bed Bio Reactor), at Mongsangei and Samushang.
  • The Central Pollution Control Board has identified Nambul, which originates from the Kangchup Hills, as one of the most dirty rivers and a major pollutant of the Loktak Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the North East.
  • The Directorate of Environment will implement the Rs 97.72-crore project under the National River Conservation Plan of the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, along with four other departments concerned, within three years, Deputy Director of the Directorate of Environment Dr T Brajakumar said. Fifty-six eco-friendly crematoria and 20 toilets will be constructed across 14 municipal wards along the Nambul river.
  • The State has also submitted the projects for eight rivers at an estimated cost of Rs 500 crore, Chief Minister Biren Singh called for a halt to the littering of the river banks.
India, Japan hold their first Space Dialogue
  • India and Japan held their first Space Dialogue with discussions centering on cooperation between their space agencies as also on global navigation satellite system, space situational awareness (SSA), space security and space-related norms.
  • The dialogue brought together ministries and agencies related to outer space in the two countries and provided an opportunity for information exchange on the respective space policies.
  • Discussions were also held on bilateral cooperation between Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), their space industries, global navigation satellite system, space situational awareness (SSA), space security and space-related norms.
  • The Indian delegation was led by Indra Mani Pandey, Additional Secretary for Disarmament and International Security Affairs, Ministry of External Affairs, while the Japanese delegation was co-led by Kansuke Nagaoka, Deputy Assistant Minister, Foreign Policy Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Mr. Shuzo Takada, Director General, National Space Policy Secretariat.
Subhash Chandra Garg appointed as Finance Secretary
  • Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg was named as the Finance Secretary, The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet has approved designating Garg as the Finance Secretary.
  • As per the convention, the senior-most among the five secretaries in the Finance Ministry is designated as the Finance Secretary.
  • While Ajay Bhushan Pandey is the Revenue Secretary, Rajiv Kumar is Secretary, Department of Financial Services, Atanu Chakraborty is Secretary in Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) and Girish Chandra Murmu is the Expenditure Secretary.

BIOGRAPHY – Subhash Chandra Garg

  • He is a 1983 batch IAS officer of Rajasthan cadre.
  • He has been working as the Secretary in Department of Economic Affairs since June 2017.
  • He has also served as an Executive Director in the World Bank.
PM Narendra Modi lays foundation stone for Delhi-Meerut RRTS project
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi laid the foundation stones for the construction of India’s first Regional Rapid Transit System (RRTS) between Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut and the Meerut Metro Service at Sikandarpur in Ghaziabad.
  • The rapid rail corridor will be built at a cost of Rs 30,274 crore and is scheduled to be operational by 2024. The corridor will be the first RRTS project in the country.
  • Both the rapid rail and the metro will run on this corridor in Meerut. Once completed, the 82 km stretch between Delhi and Meerut will be covered in less than an hour.
  • The rapid rail would offer high-speed, high-frequency, safe, reliable, comfortable and green public transit.
  • The operating speed of the RRTS would be 160 km per hour with an average speed of 100 km per hour.
  • The Meerut Metro will have 12 stations in a 18 kilometre stretch between Modipuram and Meerut South on the RRTS infrastructure.
  • The Delhi-Ghaziabad-Meerut RRTS corridor is the first of the three prioritised corridors planned for implementation in Phase-1. The other two are Delhi-Gurugram-SNB-Alwar and Delhi-Panipat.

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March 10, 2019

Assam Governor, Prof Jagdish Mukhi sworn in as Governor of Mizoram
  • Prof Jagdish Mukhi has been sworn in as the 19th Governor of Mizoram, in addition to his current posting as the Governor of Assam.
  • The President of India asked Mukhi to take additional charge as the Mizoram Governor after the resignation of Kummanam Rajashekharan.
  • The swearing-in ceremony took place at the Durbar Hall of the Raj Bhavan. It was attended by Chief Minister Zoramthanga, Assembly Speaker Lalrinliana Sailo, Cabinet ministers, ministers of state, MLAs and other dignitaries.
  • The oath of office to the Governor was administered by Gauhati High Court judge Justice Nelson Sailo. The swearing-in ceremony proceedings were executed by Chief Secretary Lalnunmawia Chuaungo.
Union Govt approves Rs 12,020 crore Surat Metro project
  • The central government, approved the 40.35 kilometre Surat Metro Rail project with two corridors. Expected to be launched, the project would be completed in five years at an estimated cost of Rs 12,020.32 crore.
  • It will provide affordable, reliable, safe, secure and seamless transport system in the urban agglomeration of the city. It will reduce accidents, pollution, travel time, energy consumption, anti-social incidents as well as regulate urban expansion and land use for sustainable development.
  • The project will be implemented by the Gujarat Metro Rail Corporation (GMRC) Ltd. It will be financed mainly through equity from the central government and the Gujarat government on a 50:50 basis, and loans from bilateral/multilateral agencies.

FACTFILE – The Metro railway system in India

  • Metro railway system and service are operational in 10 cities in India.
  • These are Kolkata, Delhi, Bengaluru, Gurugram, Mumbai, Chennai, Jaipur, Kochi, Hyderabad, and Lucknow.
  • The Kolkata Metro rail is the oldest metro service, being established in 1984.
  • The Delhi Metro, which began operations in 2002, is the largest metro in the country by distance covered, covering a distance of 231 kilometres and has 160 stations in operations.
  • The Namma Metro serves the city of Bengaluru and became operational in 2011.
  • The Rapid Metro, which is operational in Gurgaon, covers an area of 11.7 kilometres.
  • The metro rail has become the most affordable and convenient mode of travel. Metro rail is providing good connectivity in the congested cities of India and its success has made a case for setting up the metro rail in other cities where there is a large urban population and traffic congestion.
India Urban Observatory inaugurated in New Delhi
  • Housing and Urban Affairs Minister Hardeep S. Puri, inaugurated state-of-the-art India Urban Observatory in New Delhi, which would plug into the myriad sources of data from cities, both real-time and archived.
  • The conceptualisation of the Observatory recognises the value of enhancing engagement among all four stakeholders of the ‘quadruple-helix’ model- government, citizens, academia and industry, along with improvements in the internal workflow and decision-making processes of the city governments.
  • The Observatory will help in getting reliable, up-to-date information on a meaningful set of indicators over various domains such as transport, health, environment, water, finance and so on, which will further assist in developing best practices, strategies and policy interventions.
  • The first-of-its-kind observatory will leverage data analytics to optimize city operations, improve governance and enhance economic performance of cities across the country.
  • The India Urban Observatory is an important component of the recently launched DataSmart Cities strategy that envisions to create a ‘Culture of Data’ in cities, for intelligent use of data in addressing complex urban challenges. Making cities ‘DataSmart’ is key to realizing the full potential of technology interventions and innovation ecosystems in cities.
  • The DataSmart Cities Strategy also presents a Data Maturity Assessment Framework (DMAF) that measures the readiness and evolution of cities in their efforts to implementing the Data strategy.
  • The concept of Urban Observatories was formally initiated at the UN Habitat-II Conference in 1997 in Istanbul.
ISRO and CNES sign key agreements on Maritime Surveillance and Gaganyaan project training
  • Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Space Agency of France CNES have agreed to collaborate on Maritime Surveillance and Training for Gaganyaan project.
  • An agreement is signed to set up a maritime surveillance centre in the country. The agreement intends to supply an operational system for detecting, identifying and tracking ships in the Indian Ocean, provides for a maritime surveillance centre to be set up in India, sharing of capacity to process existing satellite data and joint development of associated algorithms.
  • ISRO and CNES will build a constellation of satellites for maritime surveillance intended to identify and track ships in the Indian Ocean.
  • These two roganisation have signed an agreement to train Indian Scientists for the ‘Gaganyaan’ project at the Toulouse Space Centre in France.

March 11, 2019

The Munin Borkotoky Award honoured on Debabhusan Bora, Dalim Das

The Munin Borkotoky Memorial Trust gave away the literary award for the year 2018, to young literary-critic Dr Debabhusan Bora for his book Nirbasan, which is a collection of articles of literary criticism.

Ajit Kumar Mohanty Appointed Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)

Ajit Kumar Mohanty is appointed as the Director of Bhabha Atomic Research Centre for the period of three years. Presently, he is the Director, Physics Group in BARC and Director, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics.

FACTFILE – Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC)

  • The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India’s premier nuclear research facility headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra.
  • The Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) was established by the Government of India in 1954 to consolidate all the research and development activity for nuclear reactors and technology under the AEET.
  • After the demise of Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha in 1966, AEET was renamed Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC). It has emerged as the multi-disciplinary research centre with extensive infrastructure for advanced research and development.
  • BARC’s core mandate is to sustain peaceful applications of nuclear energy, primarily for power generation.
Marayur jaggery given GI tag status
  • The Marayur Jaggery, which is largely produced in the regions of Marayur and Kanthallur grama panchayats of Kerala has got the GI tag. The GI tag will now enable to initiate legal action against fake jaggery being sold as Marayur Jaggery.
  • Marayur in the Idukki district of Kerala is known for its tensive sugarcane cultivation. In the regions of Marayur and Kanthallur, more than 2500 acres of land is under sugarcane cultivation. The unique geographical location of Marayur amid the forests of the Western Ghats gives the sugar cane a distinct geographical identity.
  • The local people have integrated the age-old tradition have imparted age-old specialized skill to make Marayur Jaggery a distinct product in itself.
  • The distinct features of the Marayur Jaggery are high sweetness with less saltiness, high content of iron and less sodium.
  • The produce is free of impurities and the sugar cane fields are free of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, it is produced without adding any chemicals has always been known for its high quality.

FACTFILE – Geographical Indication (GI)

  • Geographical Indication (GI) is a name or sign used on products which correspond to a specific geographical location or origin.
  • Geographical Indication act as a certification that the product possesses certain qualities, is made according to traditional methods or enjoys a certain reputation, due to its geographical origin.

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March 12, 2019

3 Nagaland villages declared tobacco-free
  • Three Nagaland villages – Nsunyu, Chunlikha and Likhwenmchu – under Tseminyu sub-division under Kohima district were declared tobacco-free recently, taking the total number of tobacco-free villages in Nagaland to 12.
  • Nagaland Tobacco Control Programme State Nodal Officer and joint director of Health and Family Welfare department Dr Hotokhu Chishi made the declaration at a tobacco-free declaration programme at Nsunyu village community Hall.
  • Tseminyu sub-division has now earned the distinction of having four tobacco-free villages among the 12 in the entire State.
India, Bangladesh jointly inaugurates 4 projects
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina jointly inaugurated four projects, via video conferencing, in the areas of transport, health and education.
  • Both leaders unveiled “e-plaques” for the supply of buses and trucks, inaugurated 36 community clinics, 11 water treatment plants and the extension of the National Knowledge Network to Bangladesh.
  • The National Knowledge Network will connect scholars and research institutes in Bangladesh to India and the world.
DRDO successfully test-fires Pinaka rocket system
  • Defence Research and Development organisation, DRDO successfully test fired the PINAKA guided WEAPON rocket system from Pokhran range in Rajasthan. 
  • The weapon system is equipped with state-of-the-art guidance kit comprising of an advanced navigation and control system.
  • The weapon systems impacted the intended targets with high precision and achieved desired accuracies. 
  • Telemetry Systems tracked and monitored the vehicle all through the flight path and all the mission objectives have been met.
  • The indigenously developed Guided PINAKA by DRDO will significantly boost the capability of the artillery to make precision hits.

FACTFILE – Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO)

  • DRDO is an agency of the Government of India, charged with the military’s research and development, headquartered in New Delhi, India.
  • It was formed in 1958 by the merger of the Technical Development Establishment and the Directorate of Technical Development and Production with the Defence Science Organisation.
  • It is under the administrative control of the Ministry of Defence, Government of India.

March 13, 2019

Deficit budget tabled in Meghalaya Assembly
  • Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, who also holds the Finance portfolio, presented a deficit budget of Rs 1,323 crore in the Assembly for the fiscal year 2019-20, which is about 3.65 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
  • According to the budget estimates for 2019-20, excluding borrowings, the total receipt stood at Rs 14,463 crore.
  • The total expenditure, excluding repayment of loans, is estimated at Rs 15,786 crore, leaving a deficit of Rs 1,323 crore.
  • The revenue collection in the State is expected to increase during 2019-20. It is estimated that sums of Rs 2,090 crore and Rs 601 crore would be generated as tax and non-tax revenue respectively.
  • The revenue collected by the taxation department is expected to touch Rs 1,478 crore by the end of this year, registering a growth of 15 per cent. The overall tax revenue, including Goods and Services Tax (GST), Excise and Motor Vehicle Taxes, is estimated at Rs 1,716 crore.
  • For the year 2017-18, the GSDP at the current market price was Rs 29,864, which shows an increase of 10.33 per cent over the previous year. The advance estimates indicate that the GSDP for 2018-19 is Rs 32,972 crore, which is an increase of 10.41 per cent over 2017-18.
  • Attributing the highest priority towards development of the health and education sectors, CM Sangma said that the Government has increased the budget allocation of the education sector by 17 per cent and that of the health department by 21 per cent over the previous year.
  • The Chief Minister said 11 Ekalavya Model Residential Schools would be built in the State at a cost of Rs 24 crore each. “The setting of these schools brings in Rs 264 crore of investment towards development of infrastructure for human capital in the State,” Sangma said.
  • He further said that incentives for maternity benefits and ASHA have been paid for four years. “We have now provided about Rs 25 core for clearing two years of payment,” he said.
  • The Health and Family Welfare Department was allocated Rs 66 crore from last year’s budget of 44 crore and the education department was allocated Rs 1,077 crore.
  • In the infrastructure sector, Sangma said under the Central road funds, 44 schemes comprising 40 road works covering a length of 269 km and four bridge works were sanctioned at a cost of Rs 322 crore. The road and bridge sector was allotted Rs 590 crore.
  • He also informed the House that various projects for rural water supply have been sanctioned and work on these projects is progressing satisfactorily. In the urban areas, work on the Greater Shillong water supply project, the Ampati water supply scheme and the Nongstoin urban water supply scheme is in progress. Work on several power projects is progressing well, he said, adding that they will be commissioned soon.
  • Under the poverty alleviation programme, the Government has allotted Rs 1,045 crore for the MGNREGS. Under the National Rural Livelihood Mission, an amount of Rs 52 crore has been earmarked for the current fiscal.
  • The State Government has set aside Rs 165 crore for the Meghalaya Livelihood and Access to Markets Project meant for the development of the rural sector. Moreover, a sum of Rs 138 crore has been allotted for the community-led Landscape Management Project. Some of the other major allocation of funds was for the Sports and Youth Affairs Department (Rs 201 crore) and the Social Welfare Department (Rs 558 crore).
Tripura to appoint ‘Academic Leaders’ to improve quality of education
  • The Tripura government has decided to appoint 800 Academic Leaders to closely supervise teaching in schools and to improve the quality of education in the state. Before postings them in 58 blocks, they would be given good training. During the training, the teachers would be given financial assistance and other required support, including laptops.
  • Besides, special training would be given to the 25,000 government teachers in various schools. Rs 28 crore has been allotted for the new schemes.
  • The state government has also launched a “Natun Disha” (new direction) programme to assess the academic level of students in classes III to VIII.
  • NCERT courses would be introduced in nearly 5,000 government-run schools from the 2019-20 academic session.
Cabinet approves notification of LS elections
  • The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved a notification to begin the election process to constitute the 17th Lok Sabha.
  • The Lok Sabha elections will be held in seven phases from April 11 to May 19 and counting of votes in all 543 constituencies will be taken up on May 23.

FACTFILE – Council of Ministers

  • The Union Council of Ministers exercises executive authority in the Republic of India. It consists of senior ministers, called ‘cabinet ministers’, junior ministers, and called ‘ministers of state’ and, rarely, deputy ministers. It is led by the prime minister.
  • A smaller executive body called the Union Cabinet is the supreme decision-making body in India.
  • Only the prime minister and ministers of the rank of cabinet minister are members of Union Cabinet in accordance with Article 352.
Envoys of six countries present credentials to the President
  • The Ambassadors of Chile, Bulgaria, the Kyrgyz Republic, Nepal and Montenegro and the High Commissioner of Seychelles presented credentials to President Ram Nath Kovind at the Rashtrapati Bhavan
  • The envoys who presented their credentials were Juan Rolando Angulo Monsalve (Chile), Eleonora Dimitrova (Bulgaria), AseinIsaev (Kyrgyz Republic), Nilamber Acharya (Nepal), Thomas Selby Pillay (Seychelles) and Zoran Jankovic (Montenegro).

Diplomatic credentials  is a letter that formally appoints a diplomat as the ambassador to another country.

  • The letter is addressed from one head of state to another.
  • It is presented by the ambassador to the receiving head of state in a formal ceremony.
  • The ceremony further marks the beginning of the official period of ambassadorship.
Facebook launched “FACEBOOK HUBS” to foster innovation
  • Social media giant Facebook has launched “Facebook Hubs” to foster innovation and offer support for budding entrepreneurs.
  • Facebook Hubs will provide support for the start-up community by providing mentor hours and conducting trainings, workshops, discussions across 20 locations in Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Pune, Navi Mumbai and in Goa.
  • It aims to be part of a global network for training and mentoring facilities for start-ups, developers, small businesses and job seekers.
  • It also encompasses co-working community hosting, planning and organising structured activities such as learning and skill development programs for budding entrepreneurs.

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March 14, 2019

India, US to work to prevent proliferation of weapons
  • India and US have reaffirmed their commitment to work together to prevent the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their delivery systems and to deny access to such weapons by terrorists and non-state actors.
  • The two sides exchanged views on a wide range of global security and non-proliferation challenges during the ninth round of the India-US Strategic Security Dialogue held in Washington.
  • The Indian delegation was led by Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale while the US delegation was led by Andrea Thompson, Under Secretary of State for Arms Control and International Security.
  • The two sides committed to strengthen bilateral security and civil nuclear cooperation, including the establishment of six US nuclear power plants in India.
  • The US reaffirmed its strong support of India’s early membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
Cabinet approved proposal for Accession to the Nice, Vienna and Locarno Agreements
  • Union Cabinet approved the proposal for Accession to the Nice, Vienna and Locarno Agreements, which will allow India an opportunity to include Indian designs, figurative elements and goods in the international classification systems.
  • The proposals approved are for India’s accession to The Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the purposes of registration of marks. These agreements will help the Intellectual Property Office in India to harmonise the classification systems for examination of trademark and design applications, in line with the classification systems followed globally.
  • The accession would also facilitate in exercising rights in decision-making processes regarding review and revision of the classifications under the agreement.

The Vienna Agreement establishing an International Classification of the figurative elements of marks.

The Locarno Agreement establishing an international classification for industrial designs.

Kavinder Singh Bisht wins gold at 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament
  • Kavinder Singh Bisht wins gold at the 38th GeeBee Boxing Tournament held at Helsinki, Finland.
  • Altogether, India won one gold, four silver and three bronze medals in the tournament.
  • Other Silver medals for India were won by Govind Kumar Sahani (49kg), Shiva Thapa (60kg) and Dinesh Dagar (69kg).
  • Bronze Medallists were Sachin Siwach (52kg), Sumit Sangwan (91kg) and Naveen Kumar (+91kg) after their respective semi-final loss.

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Assam Current Affairs – March 01 – 07, 2019

Posted on by admin 
Current Affairs Assam – March 1 - 7, 2019

( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the week of March 1 – 7, 2019 )

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March 01, 2019

Union Cabinet approved construction of India’s longest Bridge over Brahmaputra connecting  Assam and Meghalaya
  • The Cabinet approved the construction of four-lane bridge including approaches over Brahmaputra between Dhubri in Assam and Phulbari in Meghalaya on National Highway 127-B.
  • The construction of the bridge will save huge travel distance from 205.3 km to only 19.282 km and save in time of five hours to 20 minutes between Dhubri and Phulbari.
  • The bridge will be built under the scheme of North-East Road Network Connectivity Project Phase-03.
QRSAM Missile successfully test fired from Chandipur, Odisha
  • India has successfully test-fired two indigenously developed Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air missiles (QRSAM) from the Chandipur test range off the Odisha coast.
  • The two missiles tested for different altitude and conditions successfully demonstrated robust control, aerodynamics, propulsion, structural performance and high maneuvering capabilities.

FACTFILE – Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air missiles (QRSAM) Missile

  • This missile is developed by the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) in association with Bharat Electronics Limited and Bharat Dynamics.
  • The missile is an all-weather, all-terrain missile with electronic counter measures against jamming by aircraft radars.
  • QRSAM uses solid-fuel propellant and has a range of 25-30 km.
  • The first test firing of the Quick Reaction Surface-to-Air Missile took place on June 4, 2017 and this was followed by the second successful test on July 3, 2017.
Union Cabinet approved the proposal for setting up of a Centre for Disability Sports at Gwalior
  • To be registered under the Societies Registration Act, the proposed Centre will entail an estimated cost of Rs 170.99 crore and be completed in five years.
  • The improved sports infrastructure created by this Centre will ensure effective participation of persons with disabilities in sports activities and also enable them to compete at national and international levels.
International Arbitration Centre to be setup in New Delhi
  • The Union Cabinet approved promulgation of an ordinance for establishing the New Delhi International Arbitration Centre (NDIAC) to create an independent and autonomous regime for institutionalized arbitration.
  • The NDIAC will be advantageous for people and public institutions in terms of quality of expertise and costs incurred and will facilitate India becoming a hub for institutional arbitration.
  • NDAIC will seek to bring targeted reforms to develop itself as a flagship institution for international and domestic arbitration. It will also provide facilities and administrative assistance for conciliation mediation and arbitral proceedings.
Union Cabinet approved FDI up to Rs 25,000 crore in Vodafone Idea
  • The Union Cabinet approved the proposal for Foreign Direct Investment of more than Rs 5,000 crore and up to Rs 25,000 crore in Vodafone Idea as part of the proposed equity fund raise through rights issue.
  • It also approved to take on record the proposed changes in the indirect foreign investment in the subsidiaries of Vodafone Idea, which will take place on account of non-residents subscribing to the equity shares in the fund raise.
  • FDI up to 100 per cent is allowed in telecom services sector wherein 49 per cent is under automatic route and beyond 49 per cent through government route. The 100 per cent FDI has been approved in the company.
  • It is necessary to take the government approval for FDI beyond Rs 5,000 crore even if there is no change in the percentage of foreign equity already approved.
Union Cabinet approved two Metro rail projects in Kanpur and Agra
  • The Union Cabinet approved two Metro rail projects in Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur and Agra at an estimated cost of Rs 19,456.1 crore in order to boost urban public transport connectivity.
  • The Kanpur project will include two corridors, one from ITT to Naubasta and the other from the Agriculture University to Barra-8. The project’s estimated cost is Rs 11,076.48 crore.
  • The ITT-Naubasta corridor will cover 23.785 km and comprise 22 stations – 14 elevated and 8 underground, while the Agriculture University-Barra-8 corridor is 8.6 km and will have four elevated and four underground stations.
India and Bangladesh hold joint exercise ‘Mainamati Maitree Exercise 2019’ to boost confidence on Tripura border
  • A series of joint exercises and exchanges are being held in the Tripura-Bangla frontier since a four-day standoff between the two forces centering 31 Rohingya people who were found crossing the international border into Bangladesh in January month.
  • Border Security Force (BSF) and Border Guards Bangladesh (BGB) concluded a three-day ‘Mainamati Maitree Exercise 2019’ as a part of ‘Confidence Building Measures’ between the two border guards.
  • The objective of the Exercise was to plan and conduct anti-smuggling and anti-criminal activity related operations with an aim to achieve better joint operational efficiency and border management in the area.
  • The exercise was held in Comilla district of Bangladesh and is named after a hill range situated 8 km west of Comilla township in Bangladesh, which is home to an ancient Buddhist archaeological site in the region.

March 02, 2019

Hailakandi tops among aspirational districts nationwide
  • Hailakandi has made leapfrogged from the 52nd position to the No. 1 slot among the aspirational districts of India, according to the Delta ranking released by NITI Aayog.
  • In the championsofchange. gov.in portal of the NITI Aayog, Hailakandi has been given the overall No. 1 ranking among the 112 aspirational districts of India on the basis of Delta ranking covering performance in November-December 2018 and in January 2019. Kondagaon of Chhattisgarh follows next.
  • In the education sector, Hailakandi ranks No.1 followed by Khunti of Jharkhand.
  • Aspirational district Hailakandi will be given an additional allocation of Rs 10 crore for securing the first overall ranking. Government of India has approved a special scheme for SDGs in aspirational districts under which additional allocation to districts on challenge method is envisaged on performance based competition.
  • Earlier, Hailakandi district was put at the bottom rung of the aspirational districts among the least improved districts in the second Delta ranking conducted in June-October 2018. The then Deputy Commissioner Adil Khan (now posted as DC Bongaigaon) dashed off a letter to CEO, NITI Aayog, Amitabh Kant, for his intervention to put things in proper perspective vis-a-vis rectifying the mismatch in official data and that of the data collected by TATA Trusts during its field survey.
Delhi Cabinet approves 1,000 electric buses
  • The Delhi Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, approved 1,000 Low Floor Electric Buses for the national capital
  • Delhi will become the first India city to have such a large no of electric buses.
  • Last July, the Delhi government gave in-principle approval for the hiring of a consultant to run 1,000 electric buses at an estimated cost of Rs 2,500 crore in the national capital as promised in its 2018-19 Budget.
2nd sports academy in Arunachal Pradesh opened
  • The second sports school of Arunachal Pradesh – State Sports Academy, Miao – was dedicated to the people of Tirap-Changlang-Longding region by Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Dr Mohesh Chai.
  • The sports academy has been set up by the Government of Arunachal Pradesh with the twin objectives of improving the ecosystem and sports culture in the districts of Tirap, Changlang and Longding, as also to identity sports talents from these districts and train them for excellence.
  • The Sports Academy will initially run from the Miao Sports Club before its permanent infrastructure is built. It will offer courses in four sports disciplines namely, archery, badminton, judo and table tennis.
Odisha CM inaugurates two power generation units of OPGC
  • Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik inaugurated the third and fourth units of the state-owned Odisha Power Generation’s (OPGC) Ib Thermal Power Station at Banharpali in Jharsuguda district. These two thermal units, built at an investment of Rs 15,000 crore, will provide additional 1,320 MW electricity to the state.
  • The Chief Minister also inaugurated a coal mine at Manoharpur in Sundargarh district through video conference. The coal mines at will feed coal to the two new power units of the ITPS.
  • The state government owns the Odisha Coal and Power Limited (OCPL) mines at Manoharpur and dip-side Manoharpur.

FACTFILE – Odisha Power Generation Corporation Limited (OPGC)

  • OPGC is the only thermal power generating company owned by Government of Odisha.
  • It was incorporated under the Companies Act 1956 on 14 November 1984. OPGC started as a solely owned Government Company of the state of Orissa. It owns and operates 2 units of 210 MW power plants at Ib Thermal Power Station (ITPS), Banharpali in Jharsuguda District of Odisha.
  • The entire generation from these units is committed to GRIDCO on the basis of a long-term Power Purchase Agreement.
IRCTC launches payment aggregator ‘IRCTC iPay’
  • The Indian Rail Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) launched its much-awaited payment aggregator system ‘IRCTC iPay’.
  • The exclusive digital payment gateway will provide better digital experience and improved online digital payment convenience to rail passengers availing online travel-related services through the website.
  • With the launch of IRCTC iPay, the passengers will not need any third-party platforms. IRCTC iPay provides payment options like credit card, debit card, unified payment interface, international card.
  • IRCTC will have full control of the payment system because of its direct relationship with acquiring banks, card networks and other partners.
  • Moreover, in case an online transaction is unsuccessful or some other error occurs, IRCTC can directly get in touch with the bank instead of relying on an intermediate source which usually delays the process.

FACTFILE – Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC)

It is a subsidiary of the Indian Railways that handles the catering, tourism and online ticketing operations of the Indian railways, with around 5,50,000 to 6,00,000 bookings every day is the world’s second busiest portal.

ICJ advised Britain to return Diego Garcia to Mauritius
  • The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has advised Britain to return the Diego Garcia Archipelago in the Indian Ocean to Mauritius as soon as possible.
  • The advisory has been issued by the ICJ on the request of the resolution passed by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to look into the issue.
  • In a majority opinion, the court noted that the decolonisation of Mauritius was not lawfully complete when it attained independence because Britain carved away the Chagos Archipelago from it and retained control over it.
  • Britain is under an obligation to bring an end to its administration of this Archipelago.
  • It should be noted that Mauritius was the colony of erstwhile British Empire. When the calls of decolonisation grew stronger, the British granted independence to the Mauritius, but cut off the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 and was handed over to the US to established its strategic Indian Ocean military base.
  • Both the UK and the US had vehemently opposed the UN resolution which referred the matter to ICJ saying it was a bilateral matter with Mauritius. It is unlikely that the UK would accept the advisory.

FACTFILE – Diego Garcia

  • Diego Garcia is an atoll just south of the equator in the central Indian Ocean, and the largest of 60 small islands comprising the Chagos Archipelago.
  • It was one of the “Dependencies” of the British Colony of Mauritius until it was detached for inclusion in the newly created British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) in 1965.
  • Between 1968 and 1973, the population was forcibly removed by the United Kingdom and the United States establish a large naval and military base.
  • The atoll is located 3,535 km east of Tanzania’s coast and 1,796 km south-southwest of the southern tip of India.

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March 03, 2019




Assam CM inaugurates Sadarghat bridge, lays foundation for Mini Secretariat in Barak Valley


    

  • Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal inaugurated the long-awaited second RCC bridge over river Barak at Sadarghat in Silchar. The bridge has been constructed within four years at an estimated cost of Rs 59 crore.
    • 

  • Sonowal also laid foundation stone of the much-awaited Mini Secretariat in Barak Valley along with a slew of projects including revamping of the new auditorium of District Library, sports stadium at the Police Parade ground under Utton scheme.
    • 

  • The Swami Vivekananda Cultural Research Centre centre will come up at Assam University Silchar and 80 bigha of land. A sum of Rs 1 crore (first phase) has been allotted therein while the 1200-seater auditorium at District Library will be completed utilisingRs 29.13 crore.
    • 

  • Rs 10 crore will be used for the state-of-the-art sports stadium and Rs 90 crore has been sanctioned for construction of the new bridge at Itkholaghat over river Barak connecting Dudhpatil with Silchar city.
    • 

  • The Chief Minister also informed that Rs 160 crore has been sanctioned under AMRUT scheme for setting up safe drinking water plant in Silchar.
    • 





Agartala among 6 cities to be ‘live laboratories’ for Lighthouse Project


    

  • Six cities across the country including Agartala have been selected as “live laboratories” for a pilot project under which 1,000 houses will be built using innovative technologies that are low-cost, sustainable and disaster-resistant, according to a senior official of the Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry.
    • 

  • Six cities have been identified to serve as live laboratories for the Lighthouse project. These are Agartala (Tripura), Rajkot (Gujarat), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Indore (Madhya Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu), and Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh).
    • 





American 2019 Missile Systems Award to DRDO Chairman G. Satheesh Reddy


    

  • Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Chairman G. Satheesh Reddy is the joint winner of the 2019 Missile Systems Award given by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in the US.
    • 

  • Satheesh Reddy was selected for his over three decades of national contributions to indigenous design, development and deployment of diversified strategic and tactical missile systems, guided weapons, advanced avionics and navigation technologies in India.
    • 

  • Reddy is also the Defence Secretary and Director-General of DRDO’s aerospace arm Aeronautical Development Agency (ADA). Reddy contributed to the Agni-5, the 5,000km range surface-to-surface, long-range strategic missile.
    • 

  • The other winner of the missile award, Rondell J. Wilson is the retired principal engineering fellow of Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Arizona.
    • 



The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is a professional society for the field of aerospace engineering. The AIAA is the U.S. representative on the International Astronautical Federation and the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences.




OSDA signs MoUS to boost skill ecosystem


    

  • The Odisha Skill Development Authority (OSDA) signed two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) to strengthen skill ecosystem. The first MoU was signed with Tata Community Initiative Trust to scale up the Nano Unicorn Programme of OSDA.
    • 

  • Nano Unicorn is a programme of the OSDA where youths are nurtured through training and philanthropic capital to become small entrepreneurs and create employment.
    • 

  • The second MoU was signed with the State Council of Technical Education and Vocational Training (SCTEVT) and CISCO Systems India Private Limited (CISCO).
    • 

  • SCTEVT and CISCO will help in skill development, IT education and workforce development for the youth of Odisha undergoing training at industrial training institutes (ITIs) and polytechnics.
    • 

  • To streamlining and pay more attention for improving employability of youths through systematic pattern of training, Government of Odisha has created the new department in the name of Skill Development and Technical Education Department.
    • 

  • Government of Odisha has created State Employment Mission that seeks to create synergy in various development sectors in terms of skill development of youths and linkages of employment opportunities.
    • 

  • The Mission’s principal task is to formulate sector and trade specific strategies for specialized skill trainings in order to maximize employment opportunities on a sustainable basis in the state supported and private sectors. To fulfill these objectives the Mission seeks to work in close coordination with National Skill Development Mission.
    • 





Railway Minister announced creation of a new railway zone announced for Andhra Pradesh


    

  • Union Minister for Railways Piyush Goyal has announced the creation of a new railway zone for Andhra Pradesh as ‘Southern Coast Railway Zone’ with headquartered at Visakhapatnam.
    • 

  • The Southern Coast Railway Zone would comprise of existing Guntakal, Guntur and Vijayawada divisions, which are presently within the South Central Railway.
    • 

  • The South Central Railway will then consist of the Hyderabad, Secunderabad and Nanded divisions.
    • 

  • Under the Andhra Pradesh Reorganization Act, 2014, Indian Railways was required to examine establishing a new railway zone in the successor state of Andhra Pradesh.
    • 

  • India currently has 17 zones and a total of 73 divisions. The new South Coast Railway Zone would be an 18th Railway zone.
    • 





March 04, 2019




Assam Govt announces PRANAM Commission


    

  • The Chief Minister of Assam Sarbananda Sonowal has announced a PRANAM Commission to look after the issues related to the Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring (PRANAM) Bill.
    • 

  • The Parents Responsibility and Norms for Accountability and Monitoring (PRANAM) Bill makes it mandatory for State Government employees to look after their parents and unmarried differently-abled siblings who do not have their own sources of income.
    • 

  • The bill proposes that if any complaints related to ignorance towards parents or unmarried differently abled siblings, then 10 or 15 per cent of the employee’s salary will be deducted by the Government and paid to the parents or differently-abled siblings.
    • 

  • also aims to cover the Employees of private companies and the Central Government working in the state at a later stage.
    • 

  • The bill is first of its kind in the country and is an effort to financially protect elderly parents and unmarried differently-abled siblings.
    • 





Assam University demands chair professor post at Swami Vivekananda Cultural Research Centre


    

  • A day after Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone for the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Research Centre to be set up across 80 bighas of land in the premises of Assam University Silchar, the university have placed a demand for the post of a chair professor and fellowship for better research activities at the centre.
    • 

  • It may be mentioned that Rs 1 crore has been sanctioned in the first phase for the construction of the cultural research centre.
    • 





National Security Council meet chaired by Prime Minister


    

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting of the National Security Council. Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary Vijay Gokhale attended the meeting.
    • 

  • The meeting comes amid a report that Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) chief Masood Azhar getting killed in the bombardment by Indian Air Force (IAF) on a terror camp in Balakot going viral.
    • 

  • It also comes after two militants, five security men and a civilian were killed in the 48-hour-long gunfight that ended on Sunday in Jammu and Kashmir’s border Kupwara district.
    • 



FACTFILE – The National Security Council (NSC) 


    

  • The National Security Council (NSC) of India is an executive government agency tasked with advising the Prime Minister’s Office on matters of national security and strategic interest.
    • 

  • It was established by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government on 19 November 1998, with Brajesh Mishra as the first National Security Advisor.
    • 

  • Prior to the formation of the NSC, these activities were overseen by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister.
    • 





India, Bangladesh begins joint military exercise ‘Sampriti’


    

  • India and Bangladesh began a two-week-long joint military exercise in Tangail, Bangladesh, to hone their tactical and technical skills to counter insurgency and terrorism.
    • 

  • The eighth edition of the exercise “Sampriti” started at the Bongobondhu Cantonment, Tangail, Bangladesh, with an impressive opening ceremony.
    • 

  • The Bangladesh contingent was represented by the 36 East Bengal Battalion, while the Indian side was represented by the 9th Battalion of the Rajputana Rifles.
    • 

  • The aim of the exercise is to increase mutual cooperation, bonhomie and camaraderie between the two armies through inter-operability and joint tactical exercises.
    • 

  • The exercise, which was started in 2009 with a platoon level engagement, graduated to the company level in 2015.
    • 



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March 05, 2019




2019 Assam State Science Awards announced


    

  • Bhupendra Nath Goswami, a climate scientist of international repute, known for his discovery of the ‘Indian Ocean Dipole Mode’, and who was former Director of the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology and a Shantiswaroop Bhatnagar Awardee, has been chosen for the Lifetime Achievement Award.
    • 

  • Young Scientist Award, DrManashita Borah, an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineening of Tezpur University was chosen for her contribution in the field of biomedical implementation, automated waste water treatment, etc.
    • 

  • The CSIR-North East Institute of Science and Technology (formerly RRL-Jorhat) has been chosen for the award for the Best Scientific Organisation for promotion of science and technology for the benefit of society.
    • 

  • The State Department of Science and Technology has been conferring Assam State Science Awards to eminent scientists, upcoming scientists and institutions for promoting science and technology since 2017.
    • 





Amulya kakati award conferred on Singer Pankaj Bordoloi


    

  • Singer Pankaj Bordoloi was conferred the Swabhab Shilpi Amulya Kakati Memorial Award, 2019 for his unique contributions in promoting JyotiSangeet and RabhaSangeet in their purest forms.
    • 

  • The award, given annually in the memory of playwright, writer, director and popular actor AmulyaKakati, has been instituted by the Students-Artistes-Litterateur Welfare Trust of the All Guwahati Students’ Union (AGSU), the Guwahati wing of AASU.
    • 

  • The award carries a memento designed by noted sculptor BirenSingha, a gamosa, a cheleng chador, an eri jacket, a bouquet of flowers and a cash award of Rs 25,000.
    • 





Prime Minister Modi launches One Nation One Card


    

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched One Nation One Card, which would allow paying for travel on any mode of transportation.
    • 

  • The newly launched card is an amalgamation of all the smart cards used for different public transport services, it can be used for paying for any mode of travel across the country.
    • 

  • It could be used by the commuters in PoS machines at ticket counters to get a ticket or just like a Metro Rail smart card directly.
    • 

  • Several agencies are involved in this including Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, banks, and Urban Development Ministry.
    • 





Museum on freedom struggle’s unsung heroes opens in Red Fort


    

  • AzaadiKeDiwane, a museum paying homage to the unsung heroes of Indian freedom struggle, was inaugurated by Union Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma in the Red Fort.
    • 

  • The museum talks about the sacrifices of great freedom fighters. It pays tribute to the selfless sacrifices of revolutionaries, brave female freedom fighters and valiant children.
    • 

  • This new museum has been started in the series of Kranti Mandir to inspire the younger generation and letting them know the cost of freedom that the great fighters achieve by sacrificing their lives,
    • 

  • The museums have been made in barrack buildings that were closed since decades in the Red Fort. The museum uses experiential touch displays, scenario-based installations, and the more conventional informative displays to recreate memories from Indian history between 1857 and 1947.
    • 





ISRO unveils ‘Young Scientist’ programme


    

  • Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) announced the launch of its Young Scientist programme to train class 9 students in space technology and its applications.
    • 

  • ISRO has launched the special programme for school children ‘Yuva Vigyani Karyakram’ (Young Scientist programme) to impart basic knowledge on space technology, space science and applications to the young ones to arouse their interest in space activities.
    • 

  • Three students will be selected from each state/union territory to participate in the programme each year covering CBSE, ICSE and state syllabus.
    • 

  • The space agency has approached the Chief Secretaries of the states for the selection of three students from each state and Union Territories.
    • 

  • The selection is based on the academic performance and extracurricular activities. Students belonging to rural areas have been given special weightage in the selection criteria.
    • 



FACTFILE  – Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO)


    

  • The Indian Space Research Organisation is the space agency of the Government of India headquartered in the city of Bengaluru.
    • 

  • Its vision is to “harness space technology for national development while pursuing space science research and planetary exploration.”
    • 

  • Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was established by Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of the Indian Government under the DAE in 1962, with the urging of scientist Vikram Sarabhai recognizing the need in space research.
    • 

  • INCOSPAR grew into ISRO in 1969 also under the DAE. In 1972 Government of India setup a Space Commission and the Department of Space (DOS), bringing ISRO under the DOS.
    • 

  • The establishment of ISRO thus institutionalized space research activities in India. It is managed by the Department of Space, which reports to the Prime Minister of India.
    • 

  • ISRO built India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, which was launched by the Soviet Union on 19 April 1975. In 1980, Rohini became the first satellite to be placed in orbit by an Indian-made launch vehicle, SLV-3.
    • 

  • Satellite navigation systems like GAGAN and IRNSS have been deployed. In January 2014, ISRO used an indigenous cryogenic engine in a GSLV-D5 launch of the GSAT-14.
    • 

  • ISRO sent a lunar orbiter, Chandrayaan-1, on 22 October 2008 and a Mars orbiter, Mars Orbiter Mission, on 5 November 2013, which entered Mars orbit on 24 September 2014, making India the first nation to succeed on its first attempt to Mars, and ISRO the fourth space agency in the world as well as the first space agency in Asia to reach Mars orbit.[21] On 18 June 2016, ISRO set a record with a launch of twenty satellites in a single payload, one being a satellite from Google.
    • 

  • On 15 February 2017, ISRO launched one hundred and four satellites in a single rocket (PSLV-C37) and created a world record.
    • 

  • ISRO launched its heaviest rocket, Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle-Mark III (GSLV-Mk III), on 5 June 2017 and placed a communications satellite GSAT-19 in orbit.
    • 





Punjab CM launches water supply, sewerage schemes


    

  • Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh laid the foundation stones of three surface water supply schemes, in addition to a domestic sewage treatment plant, worth Rs 197.69 crore, for the rural areas of Amritsar district.
    • 

  • The state currently has 14 lakh tubewells against 50,000 which was the required estimate after the construction of the Bhakra canal.
    • 

  • This state-of-the-art project would be executed with financial assistance from the World Bank on a design, build operate and transfer (DBOT) basis, for which the tenders have already been floated.
    • 

  • The Chief Minister also laid the foundation stone of an arsenic removal project for 102 villages of Amritsar district, involving a cost of Rs 21.97 crore.
    • 

  • Arranged from the NITI Aayog after the demonstration of a pilot project undertaken by the State government in three villages based on nano-material technology developed by IIT Chennai.
    • 





TN CM launches Rs 2,000 special assistance for BPL families 


    

  • Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Palanswami launched financial assistance of Rs 2,000 for 60 lakh below the poverty line (BPL) families in the state.
    • 

  • At the state secretariat, Palaniswami handed over to 32 families the administrative sanction to deposit Rs 2,000 in their bank accounts.
    • 

  • The outlay for this will be Rs 1,200 crore and will be made in the supplementary demands for grants to be made this fiscal. 35 lakh families in villages and 25 lakh families in cities will be benefited by this financial assistance.
    • 

  • The government had paid Rs 1,000 as a cash gift and gift hamper to ration card holders-BPL and non-priority household with sugar-only ration card to celebrate Pongal festival.
    • 





March 06, 2019




CM Sonowal lays foundation of formalin plant at Dhaknamari


    

  • Chief Minister SarbanandaSonowal laid the foundation stone of a formalin plant at Dhaknamari in Bongaigaon district .
    • 

  • The plant, which will be built in an area of 163 bighas of land at a cost of Rs 100 crore, will make 200 tonnes of formalin, a chemical preservative, daily from methanol supplied by APCL’s methanol plant located at Namrup.
    • 





NEEPCO gets 2 Hydel power projects in Meghalaya


    

  • The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) will execute two hydel power projects in power-starved Meghalaya.
    • 

  • The two power projects are the Umja-ut Hydro Electric Power project with a capacity of 69 MW (renamed Wah Umiam Stage I) and the Umduna Hydro Power Project of 57 MW (also renamed Wah Umiam Stage II).
    • 



FACTFILE – North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO)


    

  • North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) is a schedule-A ‘MINI RATNA’ Category-1 Central public sector Enterprise owned by the Government of India under the Ministry of Power.
    • 

  • It was formed on 2 April 1976 to plan, investigate, design, construct, generate, operate and maintain power stations in the North Eastern Region of the country.
    • 

  • It has 60% of total installed capacity of North east region, which is 1457 MW.
    • 





Delhi launches common mobility app


    

  • The Delhi government launched a common mobility app ‘One Delhi’ to allow users plan more efficiently their journey with Delhi Metro and all city buses.
    • 

  • To make travel easier in Delhi, the app allows users to access all bus stops, bus and metro routes, fares, expected time of arrival (ETA) of buses and metro.
    • 

  • The Delhi government has been taking several initiatives to improve access, reliability and safety of Delhi’s buses. The government is in the process of augmenting the fleet of buses by adding 3,000 new buses.
    • 

  • Recently Launched ‘Connect Delhi’ project to achieve the goal of connecting all colonies and villages of Delhi with a reliable bus service within 500 metre walking distance.
    • 





Andhra Pradesh signs MoUs with various companies


    

  • The Andhra Pradesh Economic Development Board signed Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) worth Rs 21,0000 crore with various companies.
    • 

  • The MoUs were signed in the presence of Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu, APEDB Chief Executive Officer J. Krishna Kishore and representatives of different companies.
    • 

  • These MoUs would fructify into the investment potential of Rs 21,000 crore and generate direct employment of around 57,000 and indirect employment of around 1,65,000, said APEDB.
    • 



Nara Chandrababu Naidu is the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh


Ekkadu Srinivasan Lakshmi Narasimhan the Governor of Andhra Pradesh




TATA Steel recognised as one of World’s most ethical companies


    

  • Tata Steel has been recognised as one of World’s Most Ethical Companies by the Ethisphere Institute for 2019. This is the eighth time Tata Steel has got the recognition in the ‘Metals, Minerals and Mining’ category. Wipro is the other Indian company to find a place in this year’s list.
    • 

  • Ethisphere Institute is a global leader in defining and advancing the standards of ethical business practices.  128 companies are recognized for exemplifying and advancing corporate citizenship, transparency and the standards of integrity in the year 2019.
    • 



FACTFILE – Ethisphere’s Ethics Quotient


The companies are listed World’s Most Ethical Companies based on their score in the Ethisphere’s Ethics Quotient which collects and objectively scores self-reported data in five weighted categories namely:


    

  • Leadership and Reputation
    • 

  • Ethics Compliance Programme
    • 

  • Culture of Ethics
    • 

  • Corporate Citizenship and Responsibility
    • 

  • Governance
    • 





Bhagwan Lal Sahni appointed Chairman of the National Commission for Backward Classes


    

  • Bhagwan Lal Sahni has been appointed as the Chairman of the National Commission for Backward Classes and Kaushalendra Singh Patel and Acharya Talloju have been appointed as the members of the commission.
    • 



FACTIFILE – National Commission For Backward Classes:


    

  • It is a Constitutional body set up through the 123rd Constitutional amendment bill 2018 and 102nd amendment act under the provisions of Article 338B of Indian Constitution.
    • 

  • It was established on 14 August 1993 under India’s Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment.
    • 

  • The commission consists of one Chairman and five Members with the term of three years.
    • 

  • The Commission is vested with the responsibility of considering inclusions in and exclusions from the lists of communities notified as backward for the purpose of job reservations.
    • 



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March 07, 2019




P K Bezbaruah reappointed as the chairman of Tea Board of India


    

  • The Union Ministry of Commerce and Industries has approved the re-appointment of P K Bezbaruah as the Chairman of Tea Board for a second tenure.
    • 

  • P K Bezbaruah is the first non-IAS chairman of the Tea Board. He has been urging the Indian Tea Industry to explore export opportunities in the vast Chinese market. He was instrumental in initiating a revamp of the old electronic auctioning system in association with the IIM.
    • 



FACTFILE – Tea Board of India


    

  • The origin of the Tea Board can be traced to 1903 when the Indian Tea Cess Bill was passed to provide for levying a cess on tea exports. The proceeds of the cess were to be used for the promotion of Indian Tea both within and outside In
    • 

  • The Tea Board of India is a state agency of the Government of India established to promote the cultivation, processing, and domestic trade as well as export of tea from India.
    • 

  • It was established by the enactment of the Tea Act in 1953 with its headquarters in.
    • 

  • It is a statutory body under the Ministry of Commerce and Industries.
    • 

  • The Tea Board India is responsible for the assignment of certification numbers to exports of certain tea merchants.
    • 

  • The Tea Board India’s tasks include endorsement of the diverse production and productivity of tea, financial support of research organisations and the monitoring of advances in tea packaging as it relates to health beneficial aspects.
    • 

  • It coordinates research institutes, the tea trade and government bodies, ensuring the technical support of the tea trade in the global industry.
    • 





World Bank to provide Rs 2,200 crore loan for Andhra Pradesh healthcare project


    

  • The World Bank will provide Rs 2,200-crore loan to Andhra Pradesh for a project aimed at strengthening the state’s overall healthcare systems.
    • 

  • The Central and state governments and the World Bank signed the loan agreement for a $328-million project to improve the quality and responsiveness of public health services and increasing access of population to an expanded package of primary health services.
    • 

  • The AP Health Systems Strengthening Project (APHSSP) will be implemented in the state with a focus on improved quality of care, improved responsiveness of public health services and increased access to an expanded package of primary health services.
    • 

  • The $328-million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a six-year grace period, and a maturity of 29 years and 6 months.
    • 

  • The agreement was signed by Bandana Preyashi, Director – MI, Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, Government of India; Poonam Malakondiah, Special Chief Secretary to the government, Health Medical & Family Welfare Department, State Project Director, APHSSP, Government of Andhra Pradesh; and MohiniKak and Kari L. Hurt, representatives of the World Bank India.
    • 



FACTFILE – World Bank 


    

  • The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to countries of the world for capital projects.
    • 

  • It comprises two institutions: the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), and the International Development Association (IDA).
    • 





Assam CM launches pension scheme for workers of unorganized sector


    

  • Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal said the State’s 1.80 crore workers under the unorganised sector will get old-age protection and social security with a minimal monthly contribution, once they opt to come under the ambit of the Pradhan MantriShram Yogi Maan-dhanYojana.
    • 

  • Pradhan MantriShram Yogi Maan-dhanYojana would entitle an individual to a voluntary and contributory pension scheme, under which the subscriber would receive a minimum assured pension of Rs 3,000 per month after attaining the age of 60 years.
    • 

  • Under the Shram Yogi Maan-dhanYojana, a worker of the unorganised sector can opt for the pension scheme within the age group of 18 to 40 years with a monthly income of Rs 15,000 or below.
    • 

  • Once the beneficiary joins the scheme at this entry age, the beneficiary has to contribute till 60 years of age.
    • 

  • On attaining the age of 60, the subscriber will receive by DBT the assured monthly pension of Rs 3,000 with the provision of family pension. If the subscriber dies, the spouse shall be entitled to receive 50 per cent of the pension as family pension.
    • 



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