ASSAM

Plan to supply piped gas in Guwahati, Silchar, Karimganj

Oil India Limited (OIL) has entered into collaboration with the Assam Gas Company Limited to supply piped gas to households in Guwahati Metropolitan area as well as in Silchar and Karimganj. OIL Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) Utpal Bora told The Assam Tribune that a gas pipeline is being laid from Barauni to Guwahati and by the time the pipeline is completed, the joint venture company of OIL and Assam Gas Company would be ready with the infrastructure to supply piped gas to households in Guwahati metropolitan area and the other two towns. OIL has also bagged the rights to carry our similar projects in two other cities of the country Kohlapur in Maharashtra and Ambala in Punjab.

Meanwhile, the project to link the state capitals of the North East has also started. The project is being implemented by a joint venture company called Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited. OIL, Numaligarh Refinery Limited, GAIL, and ONGC each has 20 per cent stake in the joint venture company. The project cost is more than Rs 9,000 crore and the project is scheduled to be completed in four years.

Meanwhile, commenting on the projects under the corporate social responsibility by the OIL, Bora said that as per the mandate, the OIL is supposed to spend two per cent of the profit after tax in CSR projects, but the company has been spending much more and in the last financial year, around Rs 135 crore was spent. He said that this year, the OIL has contributed Rs 2.50 crore to the Chief Minister’s relief fund for dealing with floods.

INTERNATIONAL

· SpaceX Falcon 9 launched Israels Amos 17 telecommunications satellite

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocketlaunched Israeli telecommunications satellite called Amos-17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The satellite was launched successfully into the geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The launch was a makeup launch for Spacecom when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket exploded on the launch pad in 2016. Amos-17 has been designed to provide enhanced voice, video and data services to customers in Africa and parts ofEurope, the Middle East, India and China.

Before AMOS 17, Spacex launched the Europe’s Arianespace consortium withtwo satellites from its spaceport in the South American country of French Guiana using its heavy-lift Ariane 5 rocket.

The second satellite called EDRS-C is part of an effort led by the European Space Agency and Airbus to facilitate high-speed laser communications between orbiting satellites and ground stations.

NATIONAL

Quit India Movement Day: 08 August
The Quit India Movement was a movement launched at the Bombay session of the All-India Congress Committee by Mahatma Gandhi on 8 August 1942.

On this day the Congress adopted the historic ‘Quit India Resolution’ which declared among other things that the immediate ending of the British rule in India was an urgent necessity.

On the same Gandhi made a call to Do or Die in his Quit India speech delivered in Bombay at the Gowalia Tank Maidan.

It is also known as August Movement or August Kranti.

RBI to set up a central registry for tracking frauds in payment systems

The Reserve Bank of India has decided to set up a Central Payment Fraud Registry to track frauds in the payment systems.

Payment system participants will be provided access to this registry for near-real-time fraud monitoring.

The aggregated fraud data will be published to educate customers on emerging risks.

Currently, banks report all banking frauds to the Central Fraud Monitoring Cell of the Reserve Bank.

· Reserve Bank of India Expands biller categories for Bharat Bill Payment System

The Reserve Bank of Indiaallows all categories of billers to accept prepaid recharges under the Bharat Bill Payment System (BBPS). The BBPS currently covers billers in five segments, DTH, electricity, gas, telecom and water bills.
The regulator is expected to issue detailed instructions in this regard by the end of September 2019. The advantages of the BBPS and harness its full potential decided to permit all categories of billers (except prepaid recharges) who provide for recurring bill payments to participate in BBPS on a voluntary basis.

Apart from digitization of cash-based bill payments, it will enable standardized bill payment experience, centralized customer grievance redressal mechanism, and standardized customer convenience fee. The regulator allowed on-tap authorization of retail payment systems to companies looking to function as BBPOU, TReDS and white-label ATMs.

· RS passed the National Institute of Design Amendment Bill

Rajya Sabhapassed the National Institute of Design (Amendment) Bill, 2019. It was introduced by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal. The Bill sought to amend the National Institute of Design Act, 2014.

The Bill declaresfour National Institutes of Design, from states namely Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Assam, and Haryana, as institutions of national importance.

These institutes were registered as Societies under the Societies Registration Act, 1860. These institutes do not have the power to grant degrees or diplomas. As the four institutes are now declared institutions of national importance, the institutes will be allowed to grant degrees and diplomas.

· India gets its first Buddhist dominated Union Territory after Jammu and Kashmir Bifurcation

ð India’s arid mountainous desert region called Ladakh granted an identity sets it apart geographically, administratively and demographically.India’s first Buddhist dominated union territory with a dominant Buddhist population of 1.33 lakh out of a total of 2.74 lakh.The distinction is similar to that of Punjab have a predominant Sikh population, which comprises 57.69% of its total population.Chandigarh and Ladakh will not have a legislative assembly will fall directly under Central command.Ladakh strategically important with India and China. Bharatiya Janata Party member of Parliament (MP) from Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal pointed out how the region left out of all development initiatives by its Buddhist population to past Indian administrations. In 1948, the president of the Ladakh Buddhist Association requested Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru to either bring Ladakh directly under central administration or make it a part of East Punjab no condition keep Ladakh with Kashmir.

· P.V. Sindhu among Forbes 2019 list of worlds highest-paid female athletes

India’s badminton star V. Sindhu is the only athlete from the country to be named among the world’s highest-paid female athletes by Forbes, a list topped by tennis great Serena Willams. Sindhu is tied for 13th placein The Highest-Paid Female Athletes 2019 list released by Forbes. She secured total earnings of $5.5 million, She became the first Indian to win the season-ending BWF World Tour finals in 2018
The list of the world’s top 15 female athletes is topped by Williams

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