Assam Current Affairs – August 29 – 31, 2019

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Current Affairs Assam – August 29 - 31, 2019

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

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August 29, 2019

Assam topped NE in road accidents last year, Report says
  • Assam had topped the northeastern region in the number of road accidents last year, a report published by the State police said.
  • A total of 2,966 people were killed and 7,375 injured in 8,248 accidents last year, according to the report titled ‘An analytical glimpse on road accidents in Assam’.
  • The report said the State had ranked 16th in the country in the number of road accidents. It said 30 people were killed and 89 injured in every 100 accidents in the State. Eight people were killed and 20 injured on an average in road accidents in the State every day last year, it said.
  • “Lack of knowledge of road safety rules is one of the main causes of accidents. Majority of these were caused due to negligent and callous driving,” State Director General of Police Kuladhar Saikia said. He said many deaths and injuries due to road accidents could have been prevented.
  • The occurrence of road accidents had risen by 15 per cent in 2018 over the previous year, while fatalities had seen a spurt of six per cent and injuries rose by 19 per cent, the report said.
  • Forty eight per cent of the accidents had occurred on the national highways, while 26 per cent of those had taken place on the State highways and other roads.
  • Road accidents had risen in 30 districts of the State whereas four districts had witnessed a dip. On the other hand, fatalities and injuries had risen in 24 and 26 districts respectively, it said.
India wins first-ever gold in WorldSkills competition
  • The Indian contingent at the WorldSkills competition in Russia’s Kazan has bagged five medals – including a gold medal – and finished at the 13thposition amongst all participating countries.
  • For the first time ever, India has secured a gold medal in the competition which is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in theAworld.
  • The gold medal for India was won by Aswatha Narayan Sanagavarapu, who belongs to Odisha, in the Water Technology category.
  • He was also awarded ‘Best of Nation’ among all competitors from India. He had competed against participants from 11 countries.
  • Pranav Udayarak Nutalapati from Karnataka won a silver medal in Web Technologies while Shweta Ratanpura from Maharashtra and Sanjay Pramanik from West Bengal won bronze medals in Graphic Design and Jewellery, respectively.The Indian contingent also won 15 medallions in various categories.
Delhi govt announces fellowships for street artists
  • The Delhi government announced Street Performance Fellowships for 1,000 artists, to encourage, promote and mentor young street artists.
  • The Art, Culture and Languages Department, under the leadership of Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, said Rs 5,000 per month will be given to the artists individually.
  • The applications were invited from individuals working in the field of acting, direction, scriptwriting, dance, music and other forms of street performance.
  • Fellows will be divided into 100 groups. Each group will have a maximum of 10 artists.Each of these 100 groups will be performing at least four times a month.
  • An individual fellow will be provided with Rs 5,000 per month and an additional Rs 4,000 will be provided for the group leaders of the individual groups for the logistical arrangements per show. The performances will take place across the city.

                                                      

August 30, 2019

Numaligarh bio-refinery to be completed in 2021
  • The first biorefinery in the world producing cellulosic ethanol and bio-based chemicals from bamboo while producing green power as byproduct for local use, which is coming up at Numaligarh, will be completed by 2021.
  • Numaligarh Refinery Limited (NRL), Finland’s Chempolis Ltd and Finnish energy company Fortum 3 BV had established a joint venture Assam Bio Refinery Private Limited in 2018 for building and operating the biorefinery.
  • Chempolis CEO Tomi Honkala said he was confident that the biorefinery will be operational in planned schedule. “Our joint venture is currently finalising the technical process details. Construction work of the refinery has started.
  • NRL managing director SK Barua was on a visit to Finland for a review of the biorefinery project and to hold discussion on strategic options for growth. He also held a discussion with Finnish Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Ville Skinnari during his official tour to Chempolis Biorefinery Park at Oulu.
  • The biorefinery will use 300,000 tonnes of bamboo annually from the vast natural and cultivated bamboo reserves of Northeast India. The plant will produce annually 60 million litres of bioethanol, 19,000 tonnes of furfural, 11,000 tonnes of acetic acid, and 144 gigawatt hours of green energy.
  • Chempolis is the licensor of the plant’s advanced technology and is providing technical expertise. Barua said NRL has invested heavily on the cooperation with Chempolis in India.The goal of the Indian government is to increase bioethanol’s share from the current 3.3 per cent to 20 per cent by 2030.
  • The biorefinery will be the first biorefinery in the world producing cellulosic ethanol and bio-based chemicals from bamboo, while producing green power as byproduct for local use. Bio-ethanol will be blended to petrol by NRL in order to reduce carbon footprint of its fuels and to reduce the dependence on imported crude.

FACTFILE – Numaligarh Refinery

  • The Numaligarh Refinery is located at Morangi, Golaghat district, Assam in India is a refinery owned by Numaligarh Refinery Limited, a joint venture between Bharat Petroleum (61.65%), Oil India (26%) and Govt of Assam (12.35%).
  • As of 2014, it had a capacity of 3 million metric tonnes per year.
  • In January 2019, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved plans to increase the refinery’s capacity to 9 million metric tonnes per year.
Punjab gets Rs 1,040 Crore for Greening Punjab
  • Accepting Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s request, the Centre sanctioned Rs.1,040 crore for the Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA) for greening Punjab.
  • Forest Minister Sadhu Singh Dharamsot received the sanction letter from the Union Minister for Environment, Forest and Climate Change Prakash Javadekar.
  • Javadekar also appreciated the state”s effort to turn afforestation into a mass-movement with schemes, like ”Ghar Ghar Hariyali”, and planting of 550 trees in each village during the 550th Prakash Purb celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev.
Centre approves Nagpur zoo
  • The Centre granted approval to the new Gorewada International zoo in Nagpur.
  • The approval of the new Gorewada International Zoo in Nagpur, ambitious project of Maharashtra Government.
  • In addition to having dedicated areas for animal exhibits, the zoo will include an entrance plaza, bio-park, aviary, trail of senses, tribal village trail, river ride and a reservoir.
Real-time monitoring of the movement of the goods trains using ISRO Satellites
  • Real-time monitoring of the movement of the goods trains has started in the control office application system through ISRO’s satellite. GPS systems in more than 700 trains have been installed.
  • Goods trains, especially those which transport coal and oil (diesel and petrol), are major source of earnings for Indian Railways.
  • However, complaints of theft of oil and coal are often received, which involves the running staff, railway security forces (RPF), and local employee mafia of railway stations. 
  • The new technology is expected to prevent theft of oil and coal from goods trains, as real-time monitoring would make it difficult to stop these trains at unauthorized stations or outer signals.
  • Now it will not be possible to stop the goods trains at unauthorized stations. If someone stops the trains and steals oil and coal, he will be caught red-handed.
  • Earlier, the system used to monitor the movement of trains was done only when they used to pass from a particular station. It was difficult to tap the trains which halted between two stations.
  • However, with the new satellite surveillance the speed of the train and its location will be available in real time.
Delhi Govt approves new scholarship scheme for SCs
  • The Delhi Cabinet approved a new scholarship scheme to provide financial assistance up to Rs 20 lakh to students from the Scheduled Caste community living in the national capital to pursue higher studies abroad.
  • The decision to provide Rs 5 lakh each student per year to 100 students for Ph.D, having a maximum limit of Rs 20 lakh, and Masters courses, having a maximum limit of Rs 10 lakh, was taken in the meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
  • The students, below 30 years of age, with 55 per cent marks in Master Degree will be eligible for the Ph.D scholarship, while those with 55 per cent marks in Bachelors Degree will be eligible for the Master Degree.
  • The total family income from all sources should not exceed Rs eight lakh per annum.
  • After completion of the course, the candidate will have to submit the course completion certificate by the concerned Institution/University to the Secretary, Department for Welfare of SC/ST/OBC, Delhi.
Delhi cabinet nod to free DTC bus travel for women
    • The Delhi cabinet gave in-principle approval for a free ride to women in DTC and cluster buses starting October 29, Delhi Transport Minister Kailash Gahlot announced.
    • The Cabinet gave the approval to the Department of Transport”s proposal in its meeting chaired by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.
    • Single journey duration passes will be issued to women passengers in Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) and cluster buses.
    • For every pass, a reimbursement of Rs 10 will be made to the DTC. Similar payment in the designated account of cluster scheme for proper accounting of this facility will be done by the government.
    • The Cabinet has directed the DTC to propose suitable amendments in the DTC (Free and Concessional Passes) Regulations, 1985 subject to any alterations, if any, “so that the same may be notified in the official gazette”.
    • The Cabinet has also asked the DTC and the Delhi Integrated Multi-Modal Transit System (DIMTS) to strengthen their ticket checking mechanisms to ensure that the facility is not misused.
  • The free services will be also available for the airport and other special services along with for women passengers plying in the NCR region.

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August 31, 2019

Assam CM launches Fit India Movement
  • Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal launched the Fit India Movement at a programme organised by the sports and youth welfare department in association with the Kamrup Metro district administration.
  • CM Sonowal stated that the Fit India Movement organised on Khel Diwas is a tribute to Dhyan Chand who was born on this day and mesmerised the world with his fitness, stamina and hockey stick.
  • He also laid stress on transforming the Fit India Movement into a mass movement for generating awareness and good health and mind. He led the gathering present at the function in a pledge for fitness.
  • The Chief Minister further said that a good mind and good health lead to success and that through sports anybody can become strong.
Union govt announced the merger of 10 PSU banks into 4 banks
  • The government announced the mega-merger of 10 PSU banks into four, where the Punjab National Bank, the Oriental Bank of Commerce and the United Bank to merge become the second-largest PSB while the Canara Bank and the Syndicate Bank will amalgamate to make the fourth-largest PSU bank entity.
  • The Union Bank, the Corporation Bank, and the Andhra Bank will be merged to become the fifth-largest PSU bank and the Indian Bank and the Allahabad Bank merge to be the seventh-largest.
  • Post consolidation, the number of PSU banks will come down from 27 to 12 and this, according to Sitharaman, was “the right number of PSU banks to have”.
  • The mergers would help in better management of capital, she said, while announcing the merger proposal as a part of a package of reforms for the economy.
  • She also announced a series of governance reforms for government banks in the hope that the capital infused by the government into the lenders would result in “stronger banks”.She also announced a series of governance reforms for government banks in the hope that the capital infused by the government into the lenders would result in “stronger banks”.
  • She also announced a series of governance reforms for government banks in the hope that the capital infused by the government into the lenders would result in “stronger banks”.
  • The combined entities will control 82 per cent of all public sector banks and 56 per cent of all commercial bank businesses.

FACTFILE – Banking in India

  • Modern banking in India originated in the last decade of the 18th century. Among the first banks were the Bank of Hindustan, which was established in 1770 and liquidated in 1829–32; and the General Bank of India, established in 1786 but failed in 1791.
  • The largest and the oldest bank which is still in existence is the State Bank of India. It originated and started working as the Bank of Calcutta in mid-June 1806. In 1809, it was renamed as the Bank of Bengal. This was one of the three banks founded by a presidency government, the other two were the Bank of Bombay in 1840 and the Bank of Madras in 1843. The three banks were merged in 1921 to form the Imperial Bank of India, which upon India’s independence, became the State Bank of India in 1955.
  • In 1960, the State Banks of India was given control of eight state-associated banks under the State Bank of India (Subsidiary Banks) Act, 1959. These are now called its associate banks.
  • In 1969 the Indian government nationalised 14 major private banks; one of the big banks was Bank of India. In 1980, 6 more private banks were nationalised.
  • The Indian banking sector is broadly classified into scheduled and non-scheduled banks. The scheduled banks are those included under the 2nd Schedule of the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.
  • The scheduled banks are further classified into: Nationalised banks; State Bank of India and its associates; Regional Rural Banks (RRBs); foreign banks; and other Indian private sector banks.
Microsoft partnered with IIT Roorkee to conduct lectures on quantum computing
  • Microsoft partnered with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Roorkee to conduct lectures on quantum computing for a full semester. IITs BTech and MTech students can choose the course as a pool elective.
  • The course, which has been structured by IIT Roorkee and Microsoft Garage at Hyderabad, will provide the students, access to “Q# Programming Language” practical examples, Microsoft Quantum Development Kit and Microsoft Quantum Faculty.
  • The Garage is a resource to Microsoft employees that supports experimentation and encourages problem solving in new and innovative ways, ultimately empowering people to achieve more.
  • Microsoft”s quantum computing programme which has been running for more than 15 years, helps students understand the technology, develop practical applications and build the quantum workforce of the future.
  • The experts from the company will provide engineers at IIT Roorkee a unique approach to learn quantum computing with real-world experiments and access to tools.

FACTFILE – Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IIT Roorkee)

    • Formerly University of Roorkee and Thomason College of Civil Engineering, is a public engineering university located in Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India
    • Established in 1847 in British India by the then lieutenant governor, Sir James Thomason, it is the oldest technical institution in Asia.
    • It was given university status in 1949 and was converted into an Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in 2001, thus becoming the seventh IIT to be declared.
  • IIT Roorkee has 22 academic departments covering Engineering, Applied Sciences, Humanities & Social Sciences and Management programs with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.

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