17.04.18 APSC (Assam) Current Affairs

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ASSAM

 

  • India Signs Loan agreement with World Bank for usd 48 million for Meghalaya

 

  • A Loan Agreement for IBRD loan of USD 48 million for the “Meghalaya Community – Led Landscapes Management Project (MCLLMP)” was signed with the World Bank.

 

  • The Objective of the Project is to strengthen community-led landscapes management in selected landscapes in the State of Meghalaya.

 

  • The Project consists of three components: Strengthening Knowledge and Capacity for Natural Resource Management; Community-led landscape planning and implementation and Project Management and Governance. 

    INTERNATIONAL

     

    • India ranks 10th on new Commonwealth innovation index

     

    • India has ranked 10th on a new Commonwealth Innovation Index, topped by the UK, Singapore and Canada.

     

    • The index was launched as part of a new Commonwealth Innovation Hub on the sidelines of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in London.

     

    • It has been created in partnership with the United Nations World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) and its annual Global Innovation Index (GII).

     

     

    NATIONAL

     

    • First regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources

     

    • The first regional conference of eastern states on Water Resources was held in Kolkata on April 16 to address the outstanding water issues of these states.

     

    • The conference deliberated on finding a solution to mitigate intra and intra-basin issues relating to water resources in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha and West Bengal.

     

    • The issue of interlinking of rivers also come-up for discussion at the conference.

     

     

    • East Godavari, first district with complete LED street lighting

     

    • East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh is all set to become the country’s first ‘LED street light district’.

     

    • The rural LED street lighting programme in the district entailing the installation of around 3.1 lakh LED street lights has been completed.

     

    • The exercise is expected to save around 34 Million Units (MU) annually.

     

    • AP is already ranked the best State in implementation of energy efficiency and conservation programmes by the World Bank.

     

     

    • Union Government Revises Target To Complete PMGSY From Year 2022 To 2019

     

    • The Union Government has stated that the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojanaor PMGSY is well on its way to achieving the target by March 2019.
    • The scheme, since its inception in 2000, has been able to provide connectivity to more than One lakh 50 thousand habitations.
    • Sensing the importance and urgency of rural roads for national development, the target date for completion of PMGSY-I has been preponed from 2022 to 2019.

    ·        Electric vehicles charging stations need no licence, clarifies Power Ministry

     

    • The Power Ministry has categorised charging batteries of electric vehicles as a service, a move which will help such stations operate without licence and encourage the use of e-vehicles.
    • Transmission, distribution and trading of electricity need licences under the Electricity Act. Therefore, all utilities have to seek licences for sale of power to consumers.
    • The Ministry said in a clarification that during the charing of e-vehicles, a station does not perform any activity related to the transmission, distribution or trading of electricity.
    • Hence charging of batteries of electric vehicles through charging station does not any require licence under the provision of the Electricity Act 2003.
    • In the present scenario, the EVs make economic sense as their per km running cost is less than a rupee, whereas the same cost for petrol and diesel works out to an average of ₹6.50.
    • The government’s National Electric Mobility Mission Plan launched in 2013 aims at ensuring 6-7 million electric and hybrid vehicles in India by 2020.

    The vision enunciated two years ago is for India to have 100% EVs by 2030.

     

    • Pulitzer Prizes 2018 announced

     

    • The Pulitzer Prizes for 2018has been announced. Following are the winners of the Pulitzer Prize 2018.

      Fiction- Andrew Sean Greer’s “Less” has won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Greer’s novel tells the comic story of a middle-aged novelist.

      2. Drama- Cost of Living, by Martyna Majok.

      3. History- The Gulf: The Making of an American Sea, by Jack E. Davis (Liveright/W.W. Norton).

      4. Biography- Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder, by Caroline Fraser (Metropolitan Books).

      5. Poetry- Half-light: Collected Poems 1965-2016, by Frank Bidart (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux).

     

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