ASSAM

Assam set to get its 6th national park in Dima Hasao

The picturesque Dima Hasao district is set to get its first protected forest, with a move afoot to create a national park comprising some of the most verdant and inaccessible jungles of the area. This will be Assam’s sixth national park – after Kaziranga, Manas, Nameri, Dibru-Saikhowa and Orang.

Significantly, the proposed protected area – Simleng River Impenetrable National Park covering some 100 sq km area – will form a large contiguous conservation belt together with the adjacent Borail Wildlife Sanctuary of Cachar district and the Nampuh Wildlife Sanctuary of the bordering state of Meghalaya.

The Dima Hasao forest authorities have submitted a proposal to the North Cachar Hills (Dima Hasao) Autonomous Council for the creation of the national park.

Ironically, despite forests covering over 80 per cent of Dima Hasao and making it Assam’s greenest district, it does not have a single protected forest, i.e., wildlife sanctuary or national park. This, in turn, has adversely affected wildlife conservation in the district.

As of now, the district has Langtingmupa Reserve Forest (491.78 sq km), Khrungming Reserve Forest (122.88 sq km) and Borail Reserve Forest (48.50 sq km).

The lack of any conservation initiative in Dima Hasao is in sharp contrast to the early conservation efforts by British ornithologists in the area way back in the 19th century when Allan Octavian Hume, the pioneer of Indian ornithology (remembered more as one of the founders of the Indian National Congress) explored its pristine forests.

INTERNATIONAL

NASA announced a new mission to explore Saturn’s largest moon

NASAannounced a new mission to explore this fascinating world with a helicopter drone. The mission, called Dragonfly is the latest in NASA’s New frontier program. NASA has earlier launched explorations of Pluto, Jupiter, the asteroid Bennu, and now, Titan.
Titan:
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, has a lot in common with Earth. It has a thick, nitrogen-dense atmosphere and features like rivers, lakes, mountains, and, potentially volcanoes. The atmosphere of Titan is four times as dense as the Earth’s and there’s less gravity which makes it a prime location in the solar system to deploy a drone.

Dragonfly is planned to launch in 2026 and arrive at Titan in 2034. With its eight rotors, Dragonfly will be able to fly tens of miles in a given day. It is powered by a plutonium battery.

NATIONAL

Mumbai named India’s most expensive city

Mumbai is India’s most expensive city and among the top 20 costliest cities surveyed in Asia for expatriates.

According to Mercer’s 25th Annual Cost of Living Survey, Mumbai fell 12 spots and was ranked at the 67th position out of 209 cities surveyed.

The costliest city in the world for the second consecutive year is Hong Kong followed by Tokyo, Singapore and Seoul.

Zojila tunnel’s project cost surges to Rs 8,400 crore
The project cost for the 14.2 km Zojila tunnel connecting Srinagar to Leh has surged by Rs 1,600 crore to Rs 8,400 crore.

Construction work on the 14.2 km long Zojila tunnel project has been stuck since May 2018.

Asia’s longest and strategic bi-directional tunnel, the Zojila project will provide all-weather connectivity between J&K’s Srinagar, Kargil and Leh.

It will cut down the time taken to cross Zojila pass from the present three and a half hours to just 15 minutes.

Zojila pass, situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway.

State education boards to decide on choice of languages

Amid an uproar from southern states, the Centre on Monday dropped the controversial reference to the three-language policy from the draft National Education Policy

The study of three languages by students in Hindi-speaking states would continue to include Hindi and English and one of the modern languages from other parts of India, while the study of languages by students in non-Hindi speaking states would include the regional language, Hindi and English

· Work on economic census 2019 gathers momentum

Economic census is the complete count of all the establishments located within the geographical boundary of India. The economic census provides disaggregated information on various operational and structural variables of all establishments of the country. Economic census also provides valuable insight into geographical spread/clusters of economic activities, ownership pattern, persons engaged, etc. of all economic establishments in the country. The information collected during economic census are useful for socio-economic developmental planning at state and district levels. Economic census provides an updated sampling frame for follow-up enterprise surveys undertaken for detailed and comprehensive analysis of all establishments in the country.

The Seventh Economic Census (7th EC) is being conducted by Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) in 2019. In the current economic census, MoSPI has partnered with CSC e-Governance Services India Limited, a Special Purpose Vehicle under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology as the implementing agency for 7th EC.

Economic census will cover all establishments including household enterprises, engaged in production or distribution of goods/services (other than for the sole purpose of own consumption) in non-farm agricultural and non-agricultural sector will be counted. The coverage is same as the one in 6th Economic Census, conducted in 2013.

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