Assam CA in details 1 June 2023

1

Assam Tourism Minister Jayanta Mallabaruah flagged off the second FlyBig Flight services between Guwahati and Silchar on June 1. 

A total of 63 passengers were on board when the second FlyBig Flight was flagged off. 

FlyBig flight services will be operated between Guwahati and Dibrugarh and between Guwahati and Silchar. 

Assam Tourism Development Corporation Limited (ATDCL) will support FlyBig services through VGF funding and the daily operation of flights in both sectors will be decided mutually by both parties.

The first FlyBig Flight service of Guwahati-Dibrugarh-Guwahati was flagged off on May 1, 2023.

What is VGF funding?

Viability Gap Funding (VGF) Scheme

• Viability Gap Finance means a grant to support projects that are economically justified but not financially viable.
• The scheme is designed as a Plan Scheme to be administered by the Ministry of Finance and amount in the budget are made on a year-to-year basis.
• Such a grant under VGF is provided as a capital subsidy to attract the private sector players to participate in PPP projects that are otherwise financially unviable.
• Projects may not be commercially viable because of the long gestation period and small revenue flows in future.
• The VGF scheme was launched in 2004 to support projects that come under Public-Private Partnerships.

VGF grants

• VGF grants will be available only for infrastructure projects where private sector sponsors are selected through a process of competitive bidding.
• The VGF grant will be disbursed at the construction stage itself but only after the private sector developer makes the equity contribution required for the project.

2.

Assam Government on May 31 decided to expand the food security net by increasing the income criteria for families from existing Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs 4 lakh.

The decision has been taken to provide new ration cards to the deserving families under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.

mustard producers can sell their output at 101 designated mustard procurement centres.

dairy producers in the state will soon be able to get government assistance. Dairy producers would receive a Rs 5 per litre milk subsidy.

The purchase would be handled by the state-level organisations Assam State Agricultural Board and Assam Food and Civil Supplies Corporation, as well as the central agency NAFED.

Mustard profile in Assam

Assam has shown significant success in mustard production at the national level. According to the latest report of the Directorate of Rapeseed and Mustard Research, Bharatpur, Rajasthan, under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, Assam ranked eighth in the country with 1,85,275 metric tonnes of mustard production in 2020–21. Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Jharkhand are at the top seven of the list. Bihar and Punjab are in the ninth and tenth positions, respectively. Mustard was cultivated on 2,86,353 hectares of agricultural land in Assam in the same year. The 2021–22 mustard production in the state has increased significantly compared to the previous year. This year, the production of mustard from 2,88,945 hectares of agricultural land in Assam was 1,86,129 metric tonnes.

What is NAFED?

About National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED):

• National Agricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India Ltd.(NAFED) was established in  1958.
• It is registered under the Multi-State Co-operative Societies Act.
• It was set up with the object to promote Cooperative marketing of agricultural produce to benefit the farmers.
• Agricultural farmers are the main members of Nafed, who have the authority to say in the form of members of the General Body in the working of Nafed.

Objectives :

• to  facilitate, coordinate, and promote the marketing and trading activities of the cooperative institutions, partners, and associates in agricultural, other commodities, articles, and goods.
• to undertake or promote on its own or on behalf of its member Institutions or the Government or Government Organizations, Inter-State, and international trade and commerce.
• to act as an agent of any Government agency or cooperative institution, for the purchase, sale, storage, and distribution.
• to act as an insurance agent and to undertake all such work that is incidental to the same.
• to organize consultancy work in various fields for the benefit of the cooperative institutions.
• to undertake the manufacture of agricultural, machinery and implements, processing, packing, etc.
• to maintain transport units of its own or in collaboration with any other organization in India or abroad.
• to undertake marketing research and dissemination of market intelligence.
• to subscribe to the share capital and undertake business collaboration.
• to arrange for the training of employees of marketing/ processing/supply cooperative societies

3.

Compensation for Doloo TE Families

• 1 lakh each to be paid as compensation to 1,496 casual labour families of Doloo Tea Estate and 2.50 lakh each for the construction of houses for 173 families who would be displaced for the proposed Greenfield Airport in Cachar

What is a greenfield airport?

A greenfield airport is an aviation facility with greenfield project characteristics. The designation reflects certain environmental qualities (using previously undeveloped or empty greenfield land, for example) and commissioning, planning and construction processes that are generally carried out from scratch. While a green field in nature is defined as a wide expanse of natural land (meadow, prairie, grassland), here greenfield denotes that a project lacks any constraints imposed upon it by prior work or existing infrastructure. (A brownfield, on the other hand, remodels or improves upon existing facilities.) Such projects can be highly coveted by engineers as no time must be allotted for demolition of unneeded buildings, etc. constructed in developed areas for the development of the particular place

4.

Gratuity Act to be Amended

• Sections 2 and 10 of the Assam Gratuity Act to be amended

• This will clear confusion regarding the definition of ‘gratuity wage’ and remove the wage ceiling of Rs 2,500

• Provision of ‘continuous service for one year shall not be less than 240 days in a year to be inserted to clear the explanation of how many days of work by employees in a year would make them deemed to be in continuous service.

5.

Transfer Policy for Secretariat Staff

• Implementation of the proposed transfer policy for officers/staff under Assam Secretariat Services and Assam Secretariat Subordinate Services

Eligibility criteria for annual transfer

– Tenure of Under Secretary/Deputy Secretary/Joint Secretary/Additional Secretary in a department shall be 3 years

– Tenure of Section Officer/Assistant Section Officer/Junior Administrative Assistant or Senior Grade Computer Operator/ Computer Operator in a department shall be 5 years

6.

Expanding Food Security Net

• Public suggestions/objections to be obtained for the proposed amendment to Rule 3 of the Assam Food Security Rules, 2022, increasing income criteria for families for selection as beneficiaries

• 10-day time fixed for submitting public suggestions/objections

• The amendment will increase income criteria for families from the existing Rs 2.5 lakh per annum to Rs 4 lakh

• This will enable more deserving families to apply for new ration cards under National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013

• 40 lakh new beneficiaries to be finalised by the last week of July and ration cards will be formally distributed in one day.

7.

DL, RC in Digital Mode
• Transport Department to issue Driving Licence (DL) and Registration Certificate (RC) in electronic, self-printable PDF format

• The department to completely stop the issue of QR-based Smart Card of DL and RC after 3 months

Benefits

-Ensure hassle-free citizen-centric public service delivery

-Benefit the public by saving valuable time, money

-Will address issues like postal delay in delivery/non-delivery of RCS/DLs or loss of card

What is QR Code?

• QR code (Quick Response code) is a two-dimensional (matrix) machine-readable bar code made up of black and white square. This code stores the information in horizontal and vertical direction.
• The QR code can be deciphered by a camera, smart phone etc.

How is QR Code better than Bar Code?

• Barcode only holds information in the horizontal direction, a QR can do so vertically as well, and hence QR code is capable of carrying 100 times more information than a barcode.
• A QR code is capable of being read in 360 degrees, from any direction, thus eliminating any interference and negative effects from backgrounds.
• QR code generally has an error margin of 7-30%, which means that even if the QR code is tampered to an extent it can be deciphered easily. Due to this reason QR codes are extensively used by the sellers.
• QR codes have different images to be included, hence chances of uniqueness is increased and gives designer more flexibility.

8.

Adivasi Welfare & Development Council to be created as per the Adivasi Accord signed on 15 September 2022

• The council to be formed to fulfil the political, economic & educational aspirations; protect, preserve & promote social, cultural, linguistic & ethnic identities; and ensure accelerated & focused development of Adivasi-inhabited villages/areas and tea garden areas

About the Accord

Recently, a historic agreement has been signed between the Government of India, Government of
Assam and representatives of eight Armed Adivasi Groups.
The agreement was signed to end the decades old crisis of Adivasis and tea garden workers
in Assam.

With the signing of this tripartite agreement, 1182 cadres of tribal groups of Assam
have joined the mainstream by laying down arms.
Aim:
The agreement is intended to protect & strengthen the social, cultural, linguistic and
community-based identity of the groups.
It also aims to fulfill the political, economic and educational aspirations of the Adivasi
groups.
It also aims to ensure rapid and focused development of tea gardens along with
Adivasi villages/areas throughout the state.
Provisions of the Agreement:
The agreement provides for the establishment of a Tribal Welfare and Development
Council with a view to ensure speedy and focused development of tea gardens.
The agreement also provides for rehabilitation and resettlement of armed cadres and
measures for the welfare of tea garden workers.
A special development package of Rs.1000 crore will be provided over a period of five
years for infrastructure development in villages/areas with tribal population.
Recent Figures regarding Insurgency:
Since 2014, around 8,000 insurgents have joined the mainstream of society by
laying down their arms.
2020 recorded the lowest number of insurgency incidents in the last two decades.
In comparison to 2014, there has been a 74% reduction in the incidents of
insurgency in 2021.
In the same period, there has been a 60% reduction in the casualties of
security forces and 89% in the number of civilian casualties.

9.

The medical schools in Tripura have accomplished a great feat by outperforming other institutions in the Northeast area in the National Tuberculosis Eradication Program. The development of both government and private medical institutions in the area was carefully evaluated across numerous indicators of the National Tuberculosis Eradication Programme during the recently concluded Zonal Task Force conference in Guwahati. As a result, Tripura won the competition by displaying outstanding successes in the fight against tuberculosis.

in 2022, Agartala Government Medical College, GB Pant Hospital, and Tripura Medical College stood out in five crucial areas of the National Tuberculosis Eradication Programme. These included the ratio of TB patients enrolled in medical schools to all enrolled TB patients in the state, the ratio of TB patients enrolled in medical schools to all enrolled children TB patients in the state, the ratio of TB patients enrolled in medical colleges to all enrolled children TB patients in the state, excluding lungs, and CBINAT training for machine-learning TB diagnostics under the National Tuberculosis Eradication Programme.

Assam’s fight against TB

In line with its mission to make the state “tuberculosis free” by the year 2025, the Assam health department is raising the bar when it comes to notification and treatment of tuberculosis (TB) cases.

Over the past three years, there has been a perceptible emphasis in the notification and treatment of TB cases in the state.

Notably, as against 38,097 notified TB patients in the year 2021, Assam has been able to achieve 47984 TB cases notified and treated in 2022. 

In 2023, the state is targeting to notify and treat more than 60,000 TB cases.

Addressing the zonal task force meeting of the National TB Elimination Programme (NTEP) for medical colleges in the North East Region here on Monday, National Health Mission (NHM) Assam director M. S. Lakshmi Priya underlined the role of primary, secondary and tertiary care health institutions in increasing tuberculosis (TB) case notification and implementing the TB Preventive Therapy (TPT) extensively towards a “TB-free Assam”.

special measures have been taken by NHM Assam for increasing TB notification from primary, secondary and tertiary health institutions in the state.

NHM Assam, through its community-based approach, is actively working for building capacity of the caregivers at all levels, including providing support for community-based research to add value for the policies towards achieving our TB Free India target by 2025 as envisaged by the Prime Minister.

State-of-the-art diagnostic tools for TB diagnosis namely TrueNaat/CBNAAT is currently available in all the district hospitals and most of the block level health facilities of the state.

The intermediate reference laboratory (IRL) has been actively operationalised in Guwahati Medical College Hospital (GMCH) for most of the latest diagnostic methods of TB detection free of cost. 

10.

Not all the citizen-centric services provided under the Assam Police Sewa Setu launched by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on May 25 are freebies. The users will have to pay for certain services. According to officials, the portal extends 26 services, and for eleven of them, the users do not have to pay any charges. However, they will have to pay for the remaining 15 services. The free-of-charge services are e-FIR, e-complaint, public grievance redressal, service grievance redessal, registration of senior citizens, government employment verification, complaints about missing persons, child-related complaints, lost and found property, passport seva, and citizen tips. The services with user charges are Rs 10,000 for police clearance for commercial construction, Rs 2,000 for police clearance petrol pumps and gas agencies, Rs 1,000 for NOC for temporary bar licence, Rs 1,000 for permission for drones, Rs 1,000 for NOC for holding commercial events, Rs 500 for NOC for temporary sales of firecrackers, Rs 500 for clearance of explosive movement and storage, Rs 200 for NOC for social awareness events, Rs 300 for NOC for religious events, Rs 300 for NOC for sports events, Rs 100 for NOC for political events, Rs 300 for NOC for cultural events, Rs 200 for domestic helper verification, Rs 200 for tenant/PG verification and Rs 100 for private sector employment verification.

The portal is an initiative of the state government to build good relations between the citizens and law enforcement.

It is an interactive citizen services portal for greater transparency, real time communication and community engagement. It will serve as a digital interface between the citizens and the police.

The portal includes the following features that will facilitate the process of lodging any complaint and many more:

• Instant reporting of crimes, submission of grievances and access to police
• Online registration of senior citizens living alone
• Verification of government, Public Sector Undertakings, private jobs candidates
• Verification of tenants, PG inmates and domestic help
• Filling reports for missing persons, child-related issues and lost and found items
• Applying for event permission/NOC
• Security clearance for commercial construction, petrol pump, gas agency, etc
• Applying for permission/NOC for firecracker sale, temporary bar license, etc
• Sharing of crime-related information secretly