Sonowal also asked Power Minister Tapan Kumar Gogoi to ensure electrification of all households in tea garden areas on a priority basis under the Saubhagya scheme of the Government of India. He also asked the Assam Power Distribution Company Limited to install individual meters in the households of tea garden areas.

He at the same time asked the Tea tribe welfare Department to achieve complete target of the schemes like Smart Phone to line sardars in tea gardens, pre-matric scholarship to tea gardens, post-matric scholarship, construction of patient guest house at Gauhati Medical College and Hospital.

Sonowal also took stock of the implementation of daily wage hike of tea garden workers and bring in parity of the wages in the Barak and Brahmaputra Valleys. Moreover, the schemes like Prime Minister Surakshya Bima Yojana and Prime Minister Jiban Jyoti Bima Yojana, under which the tea labourers having bank accounts would be availing of life insurance and the annual premium of Rs 342 per scheme per beneficiary would be paid by the State government were also discussed. The Chief Minister asked the Principal Secretary Finance to take schemes to their logical conclusion.

INTERNATIONAL

Nepal is set to hold a two-day Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) Summit, starting from August 31, in Kathmandu.

Nepal, the host nation and the current chair of the BIMSTEC, has made preparations to discuss over the trans-border crimes, terrorism, natural calamities, extremism, and illegal trade of arms, ammunition and drugs.

· India joined European Bank for Reconstruction and Development

India became 69th member of London-based multilateral lender, “European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)”.
EBRD bank has already worked with Indian companies on joint projects worth almost 1 billion euros ($1.18 billion), including investments with Tata, SREI, Jindal, and Mahindra and Mahindra.

· Global Innovation Index: Switzerland Tops, India Ranks 57th

This year, India rankedas the 57th most innovative nation in the world, and has improved its ranking from 60th position last year.
Since 2011, Switzerland has been ranked at the top every year.
Top 5 Countries in Global Innovation Index 2018 are:

Switzerland,

2. The Netherlands,

3. Sweden,

4. The United Kingdom,

5. Singapore

NATIONAL

The 15th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) Convention is being organized by Ministry of External Affairs in association with the State Government of Uttar Pradesh in January 2019 (Jan. 21 – 23, 2019).
Theme of 2019 event is “Role of Indian Diaspora in building a New India”.
Pravasi Bhartiya Divas is annually celebrated on January 9 to mark the contribution of Overseas Indian community towards their homeland.

Ministry of Water Resources Launches “Jal Bachao, Video Banao, Puruskar Pao” Contest

In an attempt to engage with the people of India on the important issues of water conservation and water management, the Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation has launched a video contest titled “Jal Bachao, Video Banao, Puruskar Pao”.

The Ministry has joined hands with MyGov portal of the Government of India to run the contest.

The fortnightly contest which was launched through MyGov, will last till 4^thNovember 2018.

PM to inaugurate new ASI Headquarters in New Delhi
The Prime Minister, Shri Narendra Modi, will inaugurate the new Headquarters building of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), at Tilak Marg in New Delhi on July 12, 2018.

The new Headquarters building has been equipped with state-of-the-art facilities, including energy efficient lighting and rainwater harvesting.

It shall include a Central Archaeological Library with a collection of about 1.5 lakh books and journals.

To ensure open and free Internet in India, the government has approved the principle of net neutrality, which means that telecom and Internet service providers must treat all data on the Internet equally, and not discriminate or charge differently by user, content, site, platform, or application.
They cannot engage in practices such as blocking, slowing down or granting preferential speeds to any content.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in November 2017, batted in favour of net neutrality – which has been one of the most hotly debated topics in India for over 4 years now.

Now BSNL customers will be able to make calls using the company’s mobile app “Wings” to any phone number in the country.
Registration for the service will start this week and the services will be activated July 25
Telecom Commission, the highest-decision making body of the Department of Telecom, had allowed companies who hold valid telecom licence, to provide app-based calling serviceeven by using wi-fi connection.