Assam CA 2 July

1.

 the state is one step closer in becoming a major exporter of petrochemicals.

The flagging off the first methanol consignment to Bangladesh from Assam Petrochemical Plant took place

Assam government is heavily investing in the petrochemical sector by increasing its stake in Numaligarh Refinery Limited, investing in new projects of Assam Petrochemicals Limited among others.

PM Modi inaugurated the 500 TPD plant of APL on April 14 2023 and the plant has started producing methanol.

‘The methanol produced is being transported to neighbouring countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan Development of Joypur chariali and Namrup Sonari Tinali to facilitate movement of industrial output from BVFCL, APL and Namrup Thermal Power Plant

the upcoming projects include AL’s 200 TPD formalin plant and NRL’s Biofuel plant among others.

2.

In a bid to increase its revenue, the Assam government, has increased the prices of alcohol in the state from July 1, 2023.

As per reports, the timing of the liquor shops has also been changed as now these shops will remain open until 11:00 PM. 

The reports claimed that the tariff has been increased from 4 per cent to 25 per cent apart from allowing alcohol sales in malls. 

3.

 Assam’s Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) is anticipating an economic turnaround for Bodoland Territorial Region (BTR) riding on the pig’s back. 

The autonomous BTC, which administers five districts falling under BTR, is sending 50 farmers, who have traditional knowledge of animal husbandry, to Denmark so they can learn everything about pigs. By collaborating with the Scandinavian country, it is also starting some “pig schools”. 

BTC would sign a memorandum of understanding with Denmark. It will provide technical know-how to the Bodo farmers on pig farming. A team from BTC visited Denmark and similarly, a Danish delegation visited BTR recently. 

Denmark supplies its pigs to countries all over the world and it has no competitor in pig farming

4.

Assam is gearing up for yet another attempt at securing a world record as Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has announced plans for a mass Bihu dance event in New Delhi.

The ambitious endeavor aims to gather 25,000 Bihu dancers from all over the state. The announcement was made during a ceremony in which the Chief Minister delegated the management of the event to Bimal Bora, the State’s Cultural Minister. The event is expected to take place by the year 2026

This announcement comes in the wake of Assam’s recent historic entry into the Guinness Book of World Records on April 15 of this year.

5.

Bhaswat Saikia of Nagaon brought fame to the state by getting 68th position within the country in the Indian Forest Service (IFS) exam

6.

Prof. Gauri Dutt Sharma, the Vice Chancellor of the University of Science and Technology Meghalaya (USTM) took charge as the President of the Association of Indian Universities (AIU) at a splendid function held at the AIU headquarters in New Delhi on Friday.

Prof. GD Sharma is a distinguished scientist and a reputed academician of the country who held various positions such as former Vice Chancellor of Bilaspur University; Founder Vice Chancellor of Atal Bihari Vajpayee Viswavidyalaya; former Vice Chancellor of Nagaland University and the former Pro Vice Chancellor of Assam University.

Being a renowned intellectual from the field of life sciences, he has been the editor of seven Journals; has more than 261 research publications to his credit, apart from being a member of different Academic Societies in the country and abroad.Prof Sharma has taken over the charge from the outgoing President of AIU Prof Suranjan Das, Vice Chancellor of Jadavpur University.

The Association of Indian Universities was established in 1925 as the Indian universities board was renamed AIU in 1967. It is the biggest and the second-oldest university association in the world. It has 954 University members including 20 foreign universities. It gives equivalence to degrees of foreign universities and recognition to private boards, on behalf of the Government of India.

Its earlier presidents were Dr S Radhakrishnan, Dr Zakir Hussain, Dr Shyama Prasad Mukherjee, etc. It organizes five zonal and one annual meeting cum conference on higher education. Besides it organizes sports at regional, national, and international levels including Khelo India for youths and similar youth cultural festivals, research innovation, etc.

7.

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) has issued a red-alert concerning the outer areas of Tiger Reserves including tiger bearing areas, based on credible inputs received by the bureau and revelations of the recent seizures that the organized hunting gangs are seen active around various Tiger Reserves.

This comes after Guwahati police along with Wildlife NGO held four Haryana-based people from a rented house in Dharapur locality last Wednesday and seized a nine-foot-long tiger skin and around 18kg bones from their possession.

The skin is believed to have come from Chandrapur district in Maharashtra and was to be smuggled to Myanmar through a trader from Meghalaya’s Shillong

8.

Public Policy Research Centre (PPRC) released a report titled ‘PURVODAYA: Fulfilling the Aspirations of the Ashtalakshmi States’ analyzing the Growth and Development of the Northeastern States in the last Nine years of the NDA government in Guwahati.

The report provided an overview of the remarkable progress and growth witnessed in various sectors in the north-east region.

Moreover, the report emphasized the NDA government’s commitment to improving the quality of life for its residents by improving the connectivity, infrastructure, law & order and welfare schemes. Since 2014, the PM Narendra Modi-led NDA government has been working on the principle of “sabka saath, sabka vikas, sabka vishwas aur sabka prayas” and ensuring that the development reaches the last person in the region.

The Law & Order situation has also improved in the region after 2014. The central government under the leadership of PM Modi has taken proactive measures to resolve the decades-long disputes between various groups and between the states in the north-east region. Many pending disputes have been permanently resolved because of the efforts of the Modi government which has given a push to integration and trust and has paved the way forward for long-term peace and progress. Many boundary agreements and peace accords have been signed such as the Assam-Meghalaya Inter-State Boundary Agreement, Karbi Anglong Agreement, Bodo Accord, Bru-Reang Agreement and National Liberation Front of Tripura Agreement. Because of the efforts by the Modi government, the cases of illegal incidents have also come down to 158 incidents in 2022 from 824 incidents in 2014, the report claimed.

It also stated that the Union Government led by PM Modi focused on rapid and holistic development of the north-east region and he has visited the region more than 50 times since 2014.

The report also analyzed how the Indian Government under PM Modi is also working with its neighbouring countries in the Southeast, commonly called ASEAN countries for the speeding up of regional connectivity projects, including the trilateral highway with Myanmar and Thailand which will connect Manipur to Thailand via road and the Kaladan multimodal transit transport project, linking Aizawl in Mizoram to Sittwe Port in Myanmar which was recently started on May 5, 2023.

It also highlighted that the major destination of export has been Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Middle East, the UK and Europe.

Over the past nine years, there has been a significant focus on enhancing the health infrastructure. The government has allocated a total of Rs. 31,793.86 crores since 2014-15 to improve the health sector in the region. Under Ayushman Bharat Mission, more than 5600 Healthcare and Wellness Centre has been opened in the region. Under PM Jan Arogya Yojana, more than 10.7 lakh hospital admissions have been authorized during the period of 2018-19 to 2021-22 in the north-east region playing a crucial role in providing financial support to the people. As of March 28, 2022, more than 27 lakh Health IDs (ABHA numbers) under the Ayushman Bharat-Digital Health Mission have been generated in the North-east region, the report stated.

Furthermore, from 2014 till now, the Modi government has spent Rs 14,009 crores to promote higher education in the north-east and 191 new institutes of higher education have been set up. There has been a 39% increase in the number of universities set up since 2014 and a 40% increase in central institutions of higher education set up since 2014-15.

9.

Tourism minister of Assam, Jayanta Mallabaruah has cleared the air on speculations that Dighalipukhuri, the iconic tourist destination of Guwahati to be handed over to an outside company.

The Digholi Pukhuri will remain under the administration of the Tourism Department, as it was for so long.

10.

Cachar district administration and police authorities launched ‘Operation Sampriti’, an initiative to restore normalcy as well as communal harmony on Saturday

On Saturday, the district administration initiated extensive mobile announcements in sensitive areas of Silchar town appealing people not to pay any heed to any rumours and maintain peace and harmony. The announcement further stated that if anyone was found indulging in fresh violence and spreading hatred messages against any community on social media, strict action would be taken.