Assam Affairs
130-km long Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline likely to be commissioned in FebruaryThe 130-km long international oil pipeline, known as the Indo-Bangla Friendship Pipeline (IBFPL), which will carry fuel from Assam-based Numaligarh Refinery Ltd’s (NRL) marketing terminal at Siliguri in West Bengal to the Parbatipur depot of Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC) is likely to be commissioned by February, said reports. The seed of the ambitious project was sown in 2017, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his meeting with Hasina in 2017 had agreed to finance this pipeline with a capacity of one million metric tonne per annum (MMTPA).
Following the ceremonial inauguration of the IBFPL which was held in September 2018 was completed on December 12 last year. The total project cost for construction of the IBFPL is Rs 377.08 crore. Out of this, NRL’s is Rs 91.84 crore for the India portion of the pipeline, while the remaining Rs 285.24 crore for Bangladesh portion is being funded by the Indian government as grant-in-aid, said reports.
National and International Affairs
E-sports gets recognition from the Indian government as part of multisports events
Esports received a huge boost from the Indian government. It is incorporated into the nations mainstream Sports disciplines. Droupadi Murmu, the President of India, amended the regulations governing eSports in accordance with the authority conferred by clause (3) of article 77 of the Constitution and requested that e-Sports be included as part of multi-sports events from the Ministries of Electronics and Information Technology and Sports.
E-sports after being added to the 2018 Asian Games in Jakarta as a demonstration sport, which meant that medals earned in the sport were not included in the official total of medals.
There had been an increase in desire for Esports to be included in the curriculum of multi-discipline competitions.
Govt seeks to ban social media sites promotion of online betting
The Government of India is proposing the ban on promotion of Online Betting on the Social Media platforms. The Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, have recently been recommended for revision by the Central government to control the Indian online gaming market. The suggestion was made to protect consumers from any harm that skill-based games might cause.
The fact that between 40 and 45 percent of gamers in India are female makes maintaining the security of the gaming even more crucial.
Sitiveni Rabukawas confirmed asFijis next Prime Ministermore than two decades after the former military commander first held the office in a term lasting nearly seven years. The 74-year-old won the nomination by one vote over incumbent Frank Bainimarama at a sitting of the Fijian Parliament in Suva. It also signals the end of former Prime Minister Frank Bainimaramas 16 years in power. In the 55-member Parliament of Fiji, Sitiveni Rabuka secured28 votes against Bainimaramas 27 votes.
He was democratically elected as Prime Minister of Fiji, serving from 1992 to 1999, and again in 2022 leading a three-party coalition.