Jan 2020

Budget Highlights   Expenditure: The government proposes to spend Rs 30,42,230 crore in 2020-21, which is 12.7% higher than the revised estimate of 2019-20.   Receipts: The receipts (other than net borrowings) are expected to increase by 16.3% to Rs 22,45,893 crore, owing to higher estimated revenue from disinvestments.   GDP growth: The government has … Read more

NASA’s Spitzer space telescope The Spitzer Space Telescope (SST), formerly the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF), was an infrared space telescope launched in 2003 and retired on 30 January 2020. Spitzer carries three instruments on board: Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) Multiband Imaging Photometer for Spitzer (MIPS)   Arvind Krishna elected IBM CEO … Read more

Indian Navy launches ‘Operation Vanilla’ Indian Navy launches ‘Operation Vanilla’ to help cyclone-hit Madagascar INS Airavat has been deployed for ‘Operation Vanilla’ The ship is carrying five pallets each of victualing, clothing and naval stores along with three pallets of medicines   India successfully test-fires K-4 missile On January 19, 2020, India successfully test-fired 3,500 … Read more

Govt signs accord with NDFB, ABSU to resolve Bodo issue to redraw and rename the Bodoland Territorial Area District (BTAD) in Assam, currently spread over four districts of Kokrajhar, Chirang, Baksa and Udalguri. villages dominated by Bodos that were presently outside the BTAD would be included and those with non-Bodo population would be excluded The … Read more

ASSAM   Call for classical language status to Assamese   Generally the Indian Classical Language status is given to languages which have a rich heritage and are of independent nature. The status is awarded by the Government of India and so far this honour has been bestowed on six languages of India – Tamil in … Read more

ASSAM   55,000 Guwahati families to get piped water from year-end State chief minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced “pure drinking water” for 55,000 households of Guwahati by the year-end. His announcement came after his cabinet minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said Kejriwal’s free water and electricity to people of Delhi were among the factors that shaped his … Read more

ASSAM   Call for comprehensive study of Siu-Ka-Pha’s policies The Ahom community is the most influential community in the world and this is because of the ideal of harmony practised and preached by Chaolung Siu-Ka-Pha, the Tai prince from Mong Mao, who established the Ahom Kingdom at Charaideo after travelling thousands of kilometres from Yunnan … Read more

ASSAM   Assam registers most cancer cases in Northeast’ Out of 39,000 new cancer cases that are reported in the northeast every year, Assam alone contributes 29,000 cases. In India, almost two-third of the total number of all cancer cases can be detected at an early stage or prevented through lifestyle modification and timely screening. “About 80% … Read more

ASSAM   40 lakh Assamese-speaking Muslims may get ‘ethnic tribe’ tag   The Assam government is likely to give “ethnic tribe” nomenclature to four groups of Assamese-speaking Muslims living in the Brahmaputra Valley who were earlier called indigenous Muslims. These people do not have any history of migration from erstwhile East Pakistan.   But the proposal has not included the … Read more

ASSAM   State startups chosen for NIDHI-EIR prog Two startups from Assam – Let’s Learn Together and Little Machines – have been selected for the NIDHI-Entrepreneurs-In-Residence programme, under which they are entitled to a monthly grant of up to Rs 30,000 for a year. The NIDHI-Entrepreneurs-in-Residence (EIR) programme is an initiative by the National Science … Read more