ASSAM

Assam to check all vehicles entering from Mizoram for ‘illicit drugs’

In order to check trafficking of illicit drugs, it is felt necessary to check all vehicles entering into Assam from Mizoram. Such vehicles will be thoroughly checked by personnel of Assam Police at the point of entry at all Assam-Mizoram borders,” said the order.

The vehicles, it said, will be released only after the officer concerned is satisfied that no drugs were carried in them.

The Assam government said that within a span of two months, 912 cases have been registered and 1,560 persons arrested and huge quantities of illicit drugs confiscated.

NORTH-EASTERN STATES

NSCN-IM enforces twelve-hour shutdown over Centre’s ‘silence’

According to reports, the shutdown was near total in most Naga-inhabited areas but had little impact in two of the 12 districts in Nagaland — Mon and Zunheboto — because of the call given by the Naga National Political Groups (NNPGs) to keep shops open.

The peace process, which started with the NSCN (I-M) declaring ceasefire in 1997, has of late, seemed to be floundering because of the outfit’s “firm stand” on a separate flag and constitution besides its “strained” ties with the Centre’s interlocutor and Nagaland governor R.N. Ravi.

INTERNATIONAL

Two New Heritage Sites in Spain

The notable Paseo del Prado avenue and Retiro Park of Madrid, in Spain, has been allowed the situation with UNESCO World Legacy Locales. The wide tree-lined Paseo del Prado, in the focal point of the Spanish capital, is home to conspicuous structures like the Prado Historical center. The notorious Retiro Park, simply connecting with Paseo del Prado, is a 125-hectare green space, and quite possibly the most visited attractions in Madrid’s set of experiences.

NATIONAL

Anand Radhakrishnan Won Will Eisner Comic Award

Visual Artist (Graphic Artist) Anand Radhakrishnan has won the esteemed Will Eisner Comic Industry Award, considered what could be compared to the funnies world. The Eisner Grants are given out every year and the honor won by Radhakrishnan “Best Painter/Mixed media Craftsman (inside workmanship)” perceives the maker of a realistic novel’s specialty and pictures.

Highlights:

Radhakrishnan imparts the honor to UK-based colourist John Pearson. They won for their work on UK-based creator Slam V’s 145-page realistic novel Blue In Green, distributed in October 2020 by Picture Funnies.

Secured Logistics Document Exchange -SLDE

The Secured Logistics Document Exchange (SLDE) and a Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator were both introduced.

Highlights:

The government launched a secure logistics document exchange platform for the digital exchange of logistics-related papers, as well as a greenhouse gas emissions calculator for selecting the most sustainable and appropriate mode of transportation for freight movements.

The SLDE platform is a solution for replacing the current manual process of logistics document generation, exchange, and compliance with a digitised, secure, and seamless document exchange system.

GHG Emissions Calculator:

The calculator is an effective and user-friendly tool for calculating and comparing GHG emissions across various modes.

It enables commodity-level comparisons of GHG emissions and total transportation costs, including environmental costs, between road and rail modes of transportation.

Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Specialty Steel

The Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for Specialty Steel has been approved by the Union Cabinet.

Highlights:

♦ The scheme will last five years, from 2023-24 to 2027-28.
♦ The five specialty steel categories chosen for the PLI Scheme are as follows:
♦ Steel Coated/Plated Products
♦ Steel with a high strength/wear resistance
♦ Specialty Rails
♦ Steel wires and alloy steel products
♦ Electrical Steel
♦ PLI incentive measures have 3 sectors, the lowest is 4%, and the highest is 12%, which have been provided for CRGO.

Scheme’s Requirement

With a budget of Rs. 6322 crores, the scheme is expected to generate approximately 40,000 crores in investment and a capacity addition of 25 MT for speciality steel.

By the end of 2026-27, speciality steel production is expected to reach 42 million tonnes.

Speciality steel was selected as the goal segment because of the 102 million tons of steel produced in India in 2020-21, the country only produced 18 million tons of value-added steel/Specialty steel.

Dvara E-Dairy Solutions Launched AI Digital Tag

Dvara E-Dairy Solutions has launched an AI (artificial intelligence) led digital tag, Surabhi e-Tag, to identify cattle based on muzzle identity. Dvara E-Dairy Solutions is a portfolio company of Dvara Holdings. This digital tag will be used for cattle insurance products offered in partnership with IFFCO Tokio General Insurance.

Muzzle images of the cattle are collected through the Surabhi mobile application and stored in hi-resolution images as a unique digital identity.

The artificial intelligence-driven mobile application of Dvara E-Dairy captures muzzle images with the mobile phone, compares the cattle’s unique digital identity stored in a secured cloud server and retrieves the results in less than 60 seconds.

Conventional methods like polyurethane ear tags (PU ear tags) can be easily tampered with and are prone to duplication and fraud.

Losses of Discoms drop 38% to Rs 38,000 crore

Losses of distribution companies (discoms) have declined by 38% to Rs 38,000 crore in FY20 from Rs 61,360 crore in FY19 as reforms initiated by the Centre reduced line losses and gradually brought about improvement in operations, power minister R K Singh said.

Releasing the ninth annual rating of discoms, Singh said the average gap between the cost of power and revenue realisation of the utilities has also narrowed to 38 paise per unit from 42 paise during the period.

All the four discoms in Gujarat and one in Haryana — Dakshin Haryana Bijli Vitran Nigam — were given A+ ranking by the report prepared by state-run power sector lender PFC. Altogether eight discoms across Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Manipur, Tripura and Tamil Nadu were given C, or the lowest rating.

Underlining the importance of the ranking, Singh said a fair and accurate assessment of the true position of the distribution sector will help in assessing and improving its performance. “This will also assist state governments, lending institutions and other stakeholders to take important decisions,” he said. The rankings have a bearing on the discoms’ ability and cost of borrowings.

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