ASSAM

CM lays foundation of 70 MW solar park

A three-decade old dream of the people of Amguri in Sivasagar district materialised today as Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal laid the foundation stone of a 70 MW power generation solar park in a 340-acre land at Japisajiagaon which will generate pollution free electricity for a period of 25 years.

The Chief Minister said that his government is committed to work on the principle of ‘Sab ka saath sab ka vikas’ launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and it has been his government’s top priority to ‘implement true rashtra neeti of safeguarding the interest of the poorest, the marginalised and the underprivileged in the State without making any discrimination against any community or class with an aim to make the nation strongest one on the earth.

The Centre time and again has proved its commitment to protect the interest of the NE states by developing its infrastructure faster than one could expect as part of the Look East Policy, investing Rs 40,000 crore in the hydrocarbon sector, improving air connectivity, creating employment opportunities, sanctioning fund for five new bridges over the Brahmaputra and so forth.

INTERNATIONAL

Month-long ‘Festival of India’ begins in Kathmandu

In Nepal, a month-long ‘Festival of India’ began in Kathmandu to familiarise the new generation of the country about the similarities between the two countries.

It is being held in Kathmandu and other major cities of Nepal from February 19th to March 21st.

The festival, organised by the Indian Embassy and Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre.

· Aussie rodent becomes world’s 1st mammal to go extinct due to climate change

Australia officially declared a Great Barrier Reef rodentextinct, making it the first mammal believed to have been killed off by human-induced climate change.
The small brown rat has not been seen since 2009.
It was found only on a small sand island near the coast ofPapua New Guinea.
According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Australia has the third highest extinction rateof all nations, surpassed by only French Polynesia and the Republic of Mauritius.

NATIONAL

Home Ministry orders pan-India survey to assess impact of police services

Ministry of Home Affairs has commissioned the Bureau of Police Research and Development to conduct a pan-India survey called, All India Citizens Survey of Police Services.
The survey will be conducted through the National Council of Applied Economic Research, New Delhi.

The aim is to understand public perceptions about Police, gauge the level of non-reporting of crimes or incidents to Police, timeliness and quality of police response and action.

The survey commencing next month will cover a representative sample of 1.2 lakh households spread over 173 districts across the country.

· MHA granted power to arrest anyone to Assam Rifles in the Northeast

Assam Rifles, deployed along the Myanmar border, has been empowered by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)to arrest anyone and search a place without a warrant in the border districts of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Nagaland, and Mizoram.
The Assam Rifles has been given these powers under the Code of Criminal Procedure.
Earlier, Assam Rifles was making arrests only in areas where the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act was in effect. Since, they were finding it difficult to make seizures and arrest in Mizoram, which doesn’t have AFSPA. The MHA had lifted AFSPA from some areas of Arunachal Pradesh in 2018.

· NARI decided to drop focus on AIDS and undergo change name

The National Aids Research Institute (NARI)decided to drop its focus on research into the Acquired Immuno-deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and to undergo a name change in the coming months.
It will no longer serve as a single disease centre, after observing a major drop in a number of
It will address other areas of public health too and apply the same knowledge and expertise to other fields of public health as well.

PM Modi approves KUSUM scheme

The government approved the launch of the Kisan Urja Suraksha evam Utthaan Mahabhiyan (KUSUM) with a central aid of Rs 34,000 crore.
The scheme will provide financial and water security to farmers through harnessing solar energy capacities of 25.75 gigawatts (GW) by 2022.

The scheme will have a substantial environmental impact in terms of savings of CO2 emissions.

The proposed scheme consists of three components :

10,000 megawatts (MW) of decentralised ground mounted grid-connected renewable power plants (Component-A)

Installation of 17.50 lakh standalone solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-B).

Solarisation of 10 lakh grid-connected solar powered agriculture pumps (Component-C).

· Supreme Court exempted Saridon from list of Banned Drugs

Piramal Enterprises Ltd’s (PEL) pain relief tablet brand Saridon has been exempted from the list of banned fixed dose combinations(FDCs) by the Supreme Court.
In September 2018, the government had banned 328 FDCs, which were termed ‘irrational’ on the basis of safety issues and lack of therapeutic justification.

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