ASSAM

Govt to scrap 61 of 209 incomplete irrigation schemes in State

The irrigation department has decided to pre-close 61 of the 209 schemes, including some major ones, which have remained incomplete since years. Work on some of these schemes had begun nearly 10 years back, although the progress so far has been pathetic – in some cases as low as 5 per cent.

Around 526 schemes were taken up under the Accelerated Irrigation Benefit Programme between 2008-9 and 2013-14. The programme was launched in 1996-97 and under it 90 per cent Central assistance of project cost for ongoing and new schemes was given to the northeastern States.

A recent review by the department revealed that 209 of the schemes – amounting to over Rs 400 crore – are still “ongoing” and incomplete. At least 20 to 30 such schemes are 10 years old. The minor schemes were to be completed within three years and the major ones in five years.

Till the financial year 2016-17, there were a total of 3,033 irrigation schemes, of which only 1,632 were completed, while 1,401 are yet under construction. Only 6 of them were big schemes, the remaining being medium and small. Again, of the 1,632 completed schemes, only 446 are fully functional, 764 partially functional, 215 damaged but can be repaired and 207 irreparably damaged, according to an official report.

The completed schemes covered just 6,37,193 hectares of agriculture land, while the partially completed schemes covered 1,67,142 hectares. But even government sources said that the official figures have been exaggerated. Notably, the total cultivable land in Assam is a little over 30 lakh hectares.

INTERNATIONAL

· Papua New Guinea has highest number of living indigenous languages

ð United Nations report said that the Papua New Guinea has the highest number of living indigenous languages in the world with 840. India stands fourth with 453.

ð UN observes the year 2019 as its International Year of Indigenous Languages. UN’s Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues reported that nearly 40% of the estimated 6,700 languages spoken around the world were in danger of disappearing and endangered.

ð Totally 7,111 living languages worldwide has been listed so far. The most widely spoken languages worldwide are Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic. These 5 languages covers around 40% of the total worldwide languages.

World Biofuel Day: 10th August

World Biofuel Day is observed every year on the 10th of August to create awareness about the importance of non-fossil fuels as an alternative to conventional fossil fuels.

Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas is organising World Biofuel Day on 10th August 2019 at Vigyan Bhavan, New Delhi.

This year the theme of the World Biofuel Day is “Production of Biodiesel from Used Cooking Oil (UCO)”.

Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is implementing a strategy to divert UCO from the food value chain and curb current illegal usage.

NATIONAL

· Central government approved the project to link Kosi and Mechi rivers

Union Cabinet approved 4,900 crore for Kosi-Mechi interlinking project in Bihar. The second river interlinking project the Ken-Betwa project in Madhya Pradesh. The flood issue became a major reason for destruction and interlinking of Kosi and Mechi provide a little relief to the Seemanchal region of the state.

The project is beneficial and they provide relief to the region of recurring floods.
They provide irrigation facility to more than 2.14 lakh hectares of command areas. The spread made across the districts of Kishanganj, Araria, Katihar and Purnia in north Bihar.

Two powerhouses of 2×30 MW and 3×6 MW 221 km long Ken-Betwa link canal and two of 1.9 km long upper level are other attractions of the project.
It is the country’s first river interlinking project connect two rivers in Madhya Pradesh.

Kosi-Mechi Interlinking project got qualified for a ‘National Project’ status due to number flood management and irrigation potential. The status for this project will mean that the majority of funding support borne by Central Government instead of State Government.

· President gives assent to the AERA Amendment Bill

President Ram Nath Kovindapproved the Airports Economic Regulatory Authority of India (AERA) (Amendment) Bill, 2019. The Bill was passed by Rajya Sabha on 2nd August and by the Lok Sabha on 16th July 2019.

The Bill sought to raise the threshold for major airport and inturn to reduce the tariff-fixing power of airport regulator to fewer airports.

The Bill increased thethreshold of annual passenger traffic for major airports to over 35 lakh.

· IIT Madras introduced a method to recycle urine

Indian Institute of Technology Madras (IIT-M)introduced the Project Water Chakra to recycle urine. The project was done by an IIT-M student with 3 project staff.
The Project Water Chakra won the Indian Innovation Growth Programme 2.0

award in July 2019. The project has developed a prototype for the Carbon Zero Challenge.

Initially, they retrofitted urinals on the campus to collect urine. The concentrated urine was stored for3 days until the urea was converted into ammonia. The ammonia is segregated by a process calledSteam distillation. This commercial grade liquid can be used to make cleaning products, such as detergents or in rubber manufacturing. Also, 90% of the water can be recovered and it can be used for gardening purposes and flushing.

66th National Film Awards for 2018 announced

Gujarati film ‘Hellaro’ was declared Best Feature Film winner while ‘Badhai Ho’ bagged the award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment.

Hindi movie ‘Padman’ was declared Best Film on Social Issues, while Kannada film ‘Ondalla Eradalla’ got Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration.

Ayushman Khurana and Vicky Kaushal jointly won Best Actor Award for their performances in ‘Andhadhun’ and ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’, while Keerthy Suresh was declared the winner of Best Actress trophy for her performance in Telugu movie ‘Mahanati’.

Aditya Dhar won Best Director Award for ‘Uri: The Surgical Strike’.

Marathi movie Naal got the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director.

Uttarakhand was declared the Most Film Friendly State.

Gully Boy’, ‘Andhadhun’ bag awards at Indian Film Festival, Melbourne

‘Gully Boy’ and ‘AndhaDhun’ managed to bag top honours at The Indian Film Festival of Melbourne.

‘Gully Boy’ was awarded best film at Indian Film Festival of Melbourne and Tabu was awarded best actress in ‘Andhadhun.’

Meanwhile, Sriram Raghavan was awarded best director for the movie ‘Andhadhun.’

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