Current Affairs Assam – December 2018
( Covers all important Assam Current Affairs & GK topics for the month of December 2018 )
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December 19
Assam Govt grants to schools on basis of enrollment
- The Government of Assam has decided to provide annual administrative grants to schools on the basis of their enrolment positions.
- As per the new guidelines, financial support will be NIL for schools having enrolment of 60 or below. For those having enrolment of 61 to 400, the financial support will be Rs 20,000.
- Schools having enrolment of 401 to 600 will get Rs 25,000, while those with more than 600 enrolments will get a grant of Rs 35,000.
Govt to launch Infrastructure projects worth Rs 9,533 crore in Arunachal Pradesh
- Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari is likely to lay the foundation for national highways projects worth Rs 9,533 crore in Arunachal Pradesh.
- Gadkari will also lay the foundation for about 96.47 km of national highways projects costing Rs 2114.82 crore in Roing. These include two laning of the 74.86 km Roing-Hunli section of Hunli-Anini Road (NH 313) at a cost of Rs 1,718.59 crore, two laning of the 11.31 km Hayuliang-Hawai road section of NH 113 at Rs 256.66 crore and the 10.3 km Hunli-Anini section of NH 313 at a cost of Rs 139.37 crore.
- In Ziro, Gadkari will lay the foundation for 472 km of national highways costing Rs 5,583.92 crore. These include the 26.12 km Akajan-Likabali-Bame road at Rs 374.73 crore, and 6 packages on Joram-Kolorlang Road on NH 713 for a total length of 94.39 km, at a cost Rs 1,253.19 crore.
- The Minister will also re-launch a project for two laning of 351.38 km of Potin to Pangin section of NH 229 at a cost of Rs 3,956 crore.
Centre approves new tourist, trekking routes in J&K
- The Union Home Ministry approved new tourist and trekking routes in Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir, The new tourists routes are Merak-Lema Bend, Chushul-Kartsangla-Mahe, Durbuk-Shahikul-Tharuk-Sato Kargyam-Parma-Erath-Chusul and Loma-Hanley, Korzok-Nurbo-Sumdo-Parangla-Kazaand, and Agyam-Shayok-Durbuk.
- The proposed new trekking routes are Phyang-Dokla-HunderDok-Hunder, Basgo-Ney-HunderDok-Hunder, Temisgam-Largyap-Panchathang-Skuru and Saspol-Saspochey-Rakurala-Skuru.
- Under Prime Minister’s Development Package-2015, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir has taken yet another leap by proposing to open up more tourists/trekking routes in Ladakh with the aim of recapturing the glory, rich culture and beauty of the region.
- The validity of permit system for tourists visiting Ladakh region has been increased to 15 days from previous limit of seven days.
India retains ‘Category 1’ rating in International Aviation Safety assessment
- India has retained its ‘Category 1’ rating under the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) programme, which meets the UN agency International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) standards for safety oversight of civil aviation.
- In the IASA programme, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) determines whether another country’s oversight of its air carriers that operate, or seek to operate, into the US, or codeshare with a US air carrier, comply with safety standards established by the ICAO.
India second most affected country by spam calls; says Truecaller
- Indians were second-most affected by spam calls this year, only behind Brazil, with telecom firms and telemarketers making such pesky calls, according to a report by Truecaller.
- India moved to the second position in terms of number of spam calls received by the users, while Brazil topped the list in 2018.
- 1 per cent of the overall calls received by the Indian users in 2018 were spam calls. The volume of “scam calls” in India doubled over the past year, increasing from 3 per cent last year to 7 per cent in 2018.
- Other countries in the top-20 tally included Chile, South Africa, Mexico, Peru and the US.
- The users received spam calls from operators, financial services and insurance telemarketers, debt collectors, and e-commerce firms, among others.
PM Narendra Modi lays stones for Thane Metro, mass housing project
- PM Modi performed the ground-breaking ceremony for the Thane-Bhiwandi-Kalyan Metro and the Dahisar-Mira-Bhayander Metro corridor projects to ease the transportation problems in these bustling towns, at an estimated cost of around Rs 33,000 crore.
- He also laid the foundation stone for an ambitious project to construct 90,000 homes for poor sections of society under the Pradhan MantriAwaasYojana (PMAY) to be completed within three years.
- Present on the occasion were Maharashtra Governor C.V. Rao and Chief Minister DevendraFadnavis besides other dignitaries and he later departed for Pune to lay the foundation stone for a Metro project there.
December 20
Assam launches credit subsidy, interest relief scheme for farmers
- Assam government announced a credit subsidy, relief of interest on farm loans and incentives for farmers across the state.
- Assam finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced the three new schemes for the farmers, and the schemes are being launched on the occasion of 125th anniversary of farmers’ uprising at Pothorughat in Darrang district where 140 farmers had laid down their lives.
- The scheme will cover 4 lakh farmers with a financial implication of Rs 500 crore.
- The Assam Farmers’ Credit Subsidy Scheme (AFCSS) will ensure that the government will deposit 25 per cent of the total amount paid by farmers for loans availed between April 1 this year to March 31 next year, subject to a maximum limit of Rs 25,000.
- This scheme will cover all sorts of term crop loans and short-term loans for plantation such as tea and rubber availed of between the period.
- The government of Assam will also extend a benefit of 25 per cent of the outstanding amount of the loans availed of by the farmer between the same period with a cap of Rs 25,000 per such account if the farmer is depositing the balance amount to clear the outstanding dues.
Assam to setup three new medical colleges
- Assam will have three new medical colleges, the three medical college will be set up at Kokrajhar, Nalbari and Tinsukia in the next three years
- Each new medical college with 100 seats for medical education will have 500-bed capacity.
- Currently, the state has six medical colleges in Assam: Gauhati Medical College, Assam Medical College, Silchar Medical College, Tezpur Medical College, Jorhat Medical College and Barpeta Medical College. These six colleges together have 726 MBBS seats.
- Apart from the three proposed colleges, four medical colleges are under construction at Dhubri, Lakhimpur, Nagaon and at Diphu, which will together have 400-student capacity.
ISRO launched GSAT-7A into orbit
- ISRO’s geosynchronous launch vehicle successfully injected into orbit the country’s latest advanced satellite that will substantially enhance the communication systems of the Indian Air Force.
- The GSLV-F11, carrying the 2,250-kg GSAT-7A, lifted off from the second launch pad at Sriharikota, situated about 110 km from Chennai.
- The advanced communication satellite would facilitate exclusive frequency flight communication for the IAF.
- There are 320 dual use or dedicated military satellite in the sky, half of which are owned by USA alone, followed by Russia, China and India(14).
FACTFILE – GSAT-7A
- It is an advanced military communications satellite meant primarily for the Indian Air Force with Indian Army using 30% of capacity.
- GSAT-7A is similar to Indian navy’s GSAT-7 and the Indian Air Force will be the sole operator of the satellite.
- GSAT-7A will enable IAF to interlink different ground radar stations, ground airbase, aircraft to aircraft Real-time Control System, Airborne early warning and control (AWACS) aircraft such as Beriev A-50 Phalcon, Unmanned aerial vehicle and DRDO AEW&CS.
- The satellite will enhance Network-centric warfare capabilities of the Indian Air Force and therefore enhance its global operations.
NITI Aayog draws road map for $5 trillion Indian economy
- NITI Aayog the government’s premier think tank released a strategy document detailing a comprehensive agenda for India.
- Growth rate at 8 per cent, investment at 36 per cent, and agripreneurs, codification of labour laws and revamping of minerals exploration policy are the prescribed drivers for India to become a $5-trillion economy by 2030.
- The overarching focus of the strategy document is to further improve the policy environment in which private investors and other stakeholders can contribute their fullest towards achieving the goals set out for New India 2022 and propel India towards a USD 5-trillion economy by 2030
- The 41 chapters have been dis-aggregated under four sections namely drivers, infrastructure, inclusion and governance.
- The section on infrastructure deals with the physical foundations of growth which are crucial to enhancing the competitiveness of Indian business as also ensuring ease of living for the citizens.
- The section on inclusion deals with investing in the capabilities of all citizens of India. Three themes in this section are health, education and mainstreaming of traditionally marginalised sections of the population.
- The document also delved into how the governance structures can be streamlined and processes optimised to achieve better developmental outcomes.
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