ASSAM

Country’s 3rd highest Tricolour hoisted atop Gandhi Mandap

Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal today formally hoisted India’s tallest National Flag (from the average city elevation) at Gandhi Mandap.

The flag is a part of the ‘Refurbishment of Gandhi Mandap’ project under Guwahati Smart City Limited and funded by the State Department of Industries and Commerce.

With a view to creating a place of pride and honour to the supreme sacrifices made by the citizens led by Mahatma Gandhi during the freedom movement, the project of installation of the National Flag was conceived by the Chief Minister, who asked the Department of Industries and Commerce to carry the project forward.

The 319.5-foot flag pole is the tallest in the country with respect to the average elevation of the city. Considering only the height of the pole, it is ranked third highest in the country after Attari border, which is 360 feet in height, and Pimpri Chinchwad Bhakti Shakti Chawk in Pune that has a height of 351 feet.

INTERNATIONAL

James Allison and Tasuku Honjo win Nobel Prize in Medicine

American James Allison and Japan’s Tasuku Honjo have won the 2018 Nobel Prize in Medicine for a pioneering approach to cancer treatment.

The Nobel committee said the pair’s research — which harnesses the body’s immune system to attack cancer cells — amounted to a “landmark in our fight against cancer.”

The approach, known as immune checkpoint theory, had “revolutionized cancer treatment and has fundamentally changed the way we view how cancer can be managed,”

ADB and India sign $150 Million Loan to Improve Regional Connectivity

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of India signed a $150 Million Loan to finance continued improvements to road connectivity and efficiency of the International Trade Corridor in West Bengal and North-Eastern Region of India.

Approved in 20’14, the Program aims to expand about 500 kilometers of roads in India’s North Bengal and North-Eastern Region that will enable efficient and safe transport within India and regionally with other SASEC member countries.

· India, Uzbekistan join hands for developing ICT Sector

Minister for Electronics & Information Technology, Ravi Shankar Prasad and his counterpart Shuhrat Sadikov was held for strengthening the ICT sector.
Union IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad assured his counterpart that India will provide all possible technical support from the Indian side in the digital growth of Uzbekistan.
The two MoU are
Agreement between National Informatics Centre (NIC),India and e-Government System development centre of the Ministry for Development of Information Technologies and Communications of Uzbekistan for strengthening e-Governance cooperation.

NATIONAL

· Assam, 1st State To Launch Wage Compensation Scheme For Pregnant Women In Tea Gardens

The scheme will be launched by Assam Chief Minister Sarbanand Sonowal in Guwahati.
The announcement was made by the state’s Health and Finance Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.
Under the scheme, an amount of Rs 12,000 will be given to the pregnant women so that they can take care of themselves and the unborn baby.

· Government Cuts Gross Borrowing Estimate For Current Fiscal By Rs 70,000 Crore

The Union Government announced a reduction in gross borrowing estimate for the current fiscal by 70,000 crore rupeesand maintained that the government will contain fiscal deficit target at 3.3%.
Mr Garg gave the details about the borrowing programmes for the second half of the fiscal and announced that the government would be borrowing around 2 lakh 50,000 crore rupees as compared to 2 lakh 88,000 crores during April-September of 2018-19.

· Govt announces states’ financial inclusion index, easy online MSME loans

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley launched a common online platform for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) credit which will enable businesses to get loans up to Rs 10 millionapproved through a completely automated process within just 59 minutes.
Arun Jaitley launched the Financial Inclusion Index (FII) in New Delhi. The index will be released by the Department of Financial Services (DFS) under the Ministry of Finance by the end of this year and it would rate states on their performance on last-mile banking services availability.
The index will include the following three measurement dimensions:
(i) Access to financial services
(ii) Usage of financial services
(iii) Quality.

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