July 13
Supreme Court raps Sarbananda Sonowal for intervention
The Supreme Court took exception to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal’s intervention in the preparation of the draft National Register of Citizens (NRC) in the State. A bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman said the Supreme Court did not appreciate any other authority intervening in the NRC preparation process, when the court itself was monitoring it.
“We have a statement of the Assam Chief Minister that he has revised the date (for the preparation of NRC in Assam) to December 31. When the Supreme Court is monitoring, how can another agency intervene?” Justice Gogoi asked.
The NRC is meant to identify original residents of Assam to check illegal migration. The apex court had earlier asked for preparation of NRC to keep a check on illegal migration from Bangladesh.
Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar today informed the court that the Madhukar Gupta Committee, for strengthening border protection and addressing the vulnerability in fencing along the Indo-Pakistan border, has cited personal reasons for his inability to be a part of the committee for border fencing along the Indo-Bangla border.
DoNER Minister reviews the flood situation in the Northeast
Union Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER), Dr Jitendra Singh, while reviewing the flood situation in the Northeast, directed the ISRO to carry out an assessment of the damage caused by floods.
Dr Singh, chairing a review meeting, said the Central Government is committed to providing all kinds of support to the state governments in rescue and relief operations. The Ministry of DoNER and PMO are closely coordinating with the team led by Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju to assess the situation in Assam and Arunachal Pradesh, he said.
Dr Singh said the damage caused by rainfall has been unprecedented and a total of 58 districts have been affected by floods and landslides in Arunachal Pradesh, Assam and Manipur. Around 80 lives have been lost, he said. The damage caused by the floods, however, has been contained to a large extent by the state governments and Central teams.
Dr Singh said space technology experts from ISRO have been roped in for carrying out an assessment of the flood damage in the Northeast. He also suggested that essential items like staple food and baby food be made available for the affected people.
A.P., Telangana and Gujarat top in ease of doing business
Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Gujarat are the three best-performing states in “ease of doing business” NITI Aayog. One the other hand, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Assam fare worst in the rankings.
The World Bank, along with the Centre’s Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) was involved in the process of reviewing the evidence submitted by states/UTs regarding implementation of reforms for the rankings.
July 14
Flood situation remains grim in Assam
The overall flood situation in Assam remains grim and the death toll in the current wave of floods has gone up to 52, while, the number of people affected has gone up to 14.97 lakh.
The official flood bulletin released by the Assam State Disaster Management Authority said that so far 2240 villages of 75 revenue circles of 25 districts of the State have been affected by the fury of floods and the total crop area affected is over 1,86,998 hectares.
According to official records, 217 houses have been fully damaged, while, more than 14,000 houses have been partially damaged. More than 25,000 affected people are still staying in relief camps.
The Brahmaputra is still flowing above the danger mark in five places – Neamatighat, Tezpur, Guwahati, Goalpara and Dhubri, while other rivers including Desang, Dhansiri and Kushiyara are also flowing above the danger level at different points. The Kaziranga National Park is also still reeling under the fury of floods. The bulletin, quoting the DFO of KNP, said around 62 per cent of the total area is still under floodwaters. Floods also affected at least 111 anti-poaching camps inside the Park so far.
India ranks 116 out of 157 nations on Sustainable Development Goals index
India is ranked 116 out of 157 nations on a global index that assesses the performance of countries towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG Index and Dashboards Report has been compiled by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) and the Bertelsmann Stiftung.
Top countries to top the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Index are:
Rank Country
1 Sweden
2 Denmark
3 Finland
4 Norway
5 Czech Republic
July 15
Govt to initiate steps to restart Ashok Paper Mill
The State government told a delegation of the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU) that it would initiate all the necessary steps to open the Ashok Paper Mill as per the provision of the Assam Accord.
An AASU statement said here this evening that the above assurance was given by Chief Secretary VK Pipersenia to its delegation while holding a discussion on the Paper Mill, opening of which is one of the assurances given in writing by the Government in a clause of the Assam Accord.
The Chief Secretary asked the Additional Chief Secretary, who is in-charge of the Industries Department, to make all the necessary preparations in this regard. The State government will hold another discussion with AASU to apprise it of the progress made in this direction, said the student body quoting the Chief Secretary.
Raipur Airport Ranked First in Customer Satisfaction Index Survey
Chhattisgarh capital Raipur’s Swami Vivekananda Airport was once again ranked first in Customer Satisfaction among 49 airports in the country.
Raipur Airport achieved 4.84 score on a five point scale index in the latest CSI survey conducted by an independent agency for the period of January-June 2017, followed by Udaipur, Amritsar and Dehradun airports which have scored 4.75, 4.74 and 4.73 respectively.
The survey takes into consideration a wide range of parameters like transportation, parking, passenger facilities and cleanliness of the airports.
Yes Bank gets $150 million from OPIC to fund SME lending
Private sector bank Yes Bank has received $ 150 million funding from the US government and Wells Fargo to increase lending to support women entrepreneurs and small and medium-sized enterprises in India.
This is the third round of funding to the bank as part of arrangement with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) i.e. the US government development finance institution and Wells Fargo.
Under the agreement, OPIC will provide $ 75 million in financing and up to $ 75 million in syndicated financing jointly arranged by Wells Fargo Bank to Yes Bank, a statement said.
July 16
Citizenship Bill listed for tabling in Parliament
The BJP-led NDA government has listed the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill for consideration and passage during the ensuing Monsoon Session of the Parliament. According to Union Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ananth Kumar the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill is listed for tabling and passage in the Lok Sabha. He said 16 Bills are listed for introduction, consideration and passage in Lok Sabha, while there are 10 Bills pending in Rajya Sabha.
Significantly, the Centre’s decision to bring in the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill has come even as the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) is yet to submit its report to the Parliament. Last November, the JPC was given more time to submit its report, with the Lok Sabha approving a proposal in this regard. The proposal seeking more time to submit the report was moved by the panel’s head and BJP member Satyapal Singh and it was approved by the House.
Interestingly, the JPC which was scheduled to visit Assam is yet to tour the State. The panel has visited Rajasthan last and is learnt to have held several rounds of meeting here. The Bill has generated much heat in Assam because of its proposal to grant citizenship to Hindu Bengalis of Bangladeshi origin.
Earlier the JPC deliberated on various issues related to the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016 and heard representations of a number of civil society groups. The committee took note of the representation and views of groups belonging to Sindhi, Bengali and Gujarati communities on how to go about the proposed amendments in the legislation.
Fact File: The Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2016
- The Bill amends the Citizenship Act, 1955 to make illegal migrants who are Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan, eligible for citizenship.
- Under the Act, one of the requirements for citizenship by naturalisation is that the applicant must have resided in India during the last 12 months, and for 11 of the previous 14 years. The Bill relaxes this 11 year requirement to six years for persons belonging to the same six religions and three countries.
The Bill provides that the registration of Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) cardholders may be cancelled if they violate any law. - The Bill makes illegal migrants eligible for citizenship on the basis of religion. This may violate Article 14 of the Constitution which guarantees right to equality.
- The Bill allows cancellation of OCI registration for violation of any law. This is a wide ground that may cover a range of violations, including minor offences (eg. parking in a no parking zone).
Powergrid to revamp power infrastructure in NE
The Power Grid Corporation of India Limited is implementing a Rs 8,300-crore project ‘North East Region Power System Improvement Plan’ jointly funded by the World Bank and Central Government to revamp the transmission and distribution network in the northeastern region. The work in Arunachal Pradesh will be entirely funded by the Central Government. In the other six states, the funding pattern will be 50:50 between the Centre and the World Bank.
As part of the project, old distribution lines will be either strengthened or replaced, depending on their condition. New substations will be set up and transformers upgraded. There has been a lot of hue and cry of late following electrocution of people by damaged old power supply lines, especially in Guwahati city.
Assam has miserably failed to check the aggregate technical and commercial losses which is around 29 per cent now. Much of it has been blamed on the ageing distribution lines and due to theft.
The peak power demand in the State currently is around 1,500 MW. However, its own generation capacity is only around 250 MW.
World Youth Skills Day is observed on July 15
The World Youth Skills Day is observed globally on 15 July. It has been observed to raise awareness about the importance of youth skills development. The World Youth Skill Day 2017 Theme is “Skills for the Future of Work”.