ASSAM

 

• AFSPA extended by six months in Assam

 

• The Assam government has extended the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act by six more months in the entire state till February next year after the earlier duration ended on August 28.
• “Consequent upon review of law and order situation in Assam in the past six months, the state government as per Section 3 of the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, 1958, has declared the entire state of Assam as ‘disturbed area’ w.e.f 28-08-2019 up to six months unless withdrawn earlier.

 

• The Act was imposed in Assam in 1990. In 2017, for the first time since the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was imposed, the Centre transferred the power to extend or withdraw the Act to the state.

 

• The ministry of home affairs, which had tagged the entire state as a ‘disturbed area’ for promulgating the controversial Act on November 27, 1990 at the height of militancy spearheaded by Ulfa, made the last extension of the enforcement of the Act on August 3 till August 31, 2017, before deciding not to take any decision on the matter in future because the situation in the state did not warrant it.

 

• Though the Act is in force in the entire state, the Army has been gradually withdrawn from some districts as the situation improved. In these districts, the Army has been replaced with central paramilitary organisations (CPO).

INTERNATIONAL

 

• PM Modi, Nepalese PM inaugurates Motihari-Amlekhgunj oil pipeline

 

• Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P.Sharma Oli jointly inaugurated Motihari-Amlekhgunj cross border petroleum products pipeline through video conference.

 

• This is the first transnational petroleum pipeline form India and first South Asian oil pipeline corridor.

 

• The landmark pipeline will ensure a smooth, cost-effective and environment-friendly supply of petroleum products to Nepal.

 

• The 69 km long pipeline from Motihari in Bihar to Amlekhgunj in Nepal has been constructed by India in just 15 months, half of its 30 months deadline.

 

• The cost of the pipeline is around three hundred fifty crore rupees which are entirely borne by Indian Oil Corporation.

 

NATIONAL

·         National conference on crop residue management 2019 was held in New Delhi

• TheNational Conference of Farmers on crop residue management 2019 was held in New Delhi. 

 

• The national conference was organized by the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfarein collaboration with the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR).

 

• The national conference proposed to intensifyIn-Situ Management of Crop Residue to stop the straw burning.

 

• During the conference, 20 farmers from Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh were honoured for their contribution in managing the crop residue by using identified agricultural machinery.

 

• The straw burning incidents in 2018 have reduced by 15% and 41% as compared to that in 2017 and 2016 respectively.

 

·         ANGAN, an international conference, was held in New Delhi

• An international conference Augmenting Nature by Green Affordable New-habitat (ANGAN) was held from 9-12 September in New Delhi.The conference focus on Energy Efficiency in the Building Sector.

 

• The conference was inaugurated by Shri Raj Pal, Economic Advisor, Ministry of Power and Shri Abhay Bakre, DG, BEE.

 

• The conference aims to provide a platform to deliberate on the interdependence between organizations, systemic sustainability and feedback loops for better resource efficiency. It also aims to improve the efficiency in high energy consumption sectors at a reasonable cost. It will also provide thrust to address the challenges faced by the stakeholders.

 

 

·         Jammu and Kashmir topped the highest consumption of iodized salt

• Jammu & Kashmirtopped the highest consumption of iodized salt and Tamil Nadu ranked last as the lowest consumption of iodized salt in the country. The study has shown 3% of Indian households use iodized salt with fifteen components of per million of iodine.

 

• Gujaratproduces 71% of salt in the country,It is followed by Rajasthan at 17%

 

• Tamil Nadu, being the third-largest producer of Salt in India, produces 11%
  The rest of the country produces 1%of the salt produced

 

·         PM Modi lanched National Animal Disease Control Programme

• PM Narendra Modi launched the National Animal Disease Control Programmefor Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) and Brucellosis in Mathura, Uttar Pradesh. The government has announced that it will fund the 12,652 crore for the programme for a period of 5 years till 2024.

 

• The programme aims at vaccinating over 500 Million livestock including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, and pigs against foot and mouth disease (FMD). It also aims to vaccinate 36 million female bovine calves annually in its fight against Brucellosis disease.

 

• The programme hastwo components: 
  ♦ to control the diseases by 2025
  ♦ to eradicate FMD by 2030

 

• FMD and Brucellosis diseases are very common among the livestock cow-bulls, buffaloes, sheep, goats, pigs etc. If a cow/buffalo gets infected with FMD, the milk loss is up to 100%which could last for four to six months.