ASSAM

Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary – Assam

by

The World Wide Fund for Nature-India (WWF) discovered a few tigers in Assam’s Barnadi Wildlife Sanctuary. It is one of Assam’s smallest WS (Wildlife Sanctuary).

About the Sanctuary:

It is located in the northern Assam districts of Baksa and Udalguri, bordering Bhutan,

It is bounded to the west and east by the Barnadi and Nalapara rivers, respectively.

Barnadi was created specifically to protect the Pygmy Hog (Sus salvanius) and Hispid Hare (Caprolagus hispidus).

Approximately 60% of the BWS is reported to be Grassland, with the majority of it now being grassy woodland.

The main forest types are tropical moist deciduous (northern edge of the Sanctuary) and mixed scrub and grassland (southern part).

Commercial plantations of Bombax ceiba, Tectona grandis, and Eucalyptus, as well as thatch , have replaced the majority of the natural vegetation.

Assam: Govt introduces e-textbooks for classes pre-primary to 12

by

With an aim to make Education easily available, Assam Government on Wednesday launched e-textbooks for classes pre-primary to 12. Assams education minister Ranoj Pegu inaugurated the online system for downloading textbooks in PDF files to make it easily accessible for the students. The digital textbooks have been published in 19 languages and 8 mediums, which is available in downloadable format in the portals of SCERT, SEBA and AHSEC.

The biodegradable yoga mat developed by 6 young girls in Assam can prevent hyacinths from harming the lake.

by

The water hyacinth of the fishing community in Assam developed a biodegradable and compostable mat.
The mat is also called as “Moorhen Yoga Mat”
It will be introduced to the world market as a unique product.

The intervention was sparked by an initiative by the North East Centre for Technology Application and Reach (NECTAR), an autonomous body under the Department of Science and Technology (DST), to include the entire Women‘s community in a group called “Simang,” which means “dream,” led by six girls who wanted to make Money from water hyacinth Plants.

Water hyacinth is regarded as a pest because it does not help the fishing community and has a negative impact on their livelihood.

For new infra push, PWD gets highest grant of 15K-cr

by

Finance minister Ajanta Neog has given the highest allocation of over Rs 15,000 crore to the public works department (PWD) in her budget proposals forAssams new push.

The minister has also proposed strengthening the existing Nehru Stadium along with conversion of Khanikar Integrated Sports Complex from 5,000 to 15,000 seating capacity, whileRabindra Bhawanin Guwahati will be reconstructed apart from a state-of-the-art DGP office, 5,000-capacity auditorium at Sankardev Kalashetra and ITA Machkhowa as major highlights of new infrastructure in Guwahati.

‘Mutual understanding’ key to most child marriages in Assam

by

Mutual understanding between the families of underage girls and adult men while solemnising their marriages, which according to law is child marriage, as to avoid legal action has come to Light in several cases across the state.
With 87 more arrests, the total arrest on charges of either marrying underage girls or solemnising child marriages or encouraging such marriages has gone up to 2,528 on the fifth day of the crackdown.

Assam tea planters red-flag toxic insecticide

by

Plagued with tea mosquito bugs, the tea industrys plan to stop increasing pest attacks with the hazardous dimethoate has raised safety concerns among planters inAssam.

Central Insecticides Boards (CIB) recent approval to use the pesticide in tea gardens may lead to compromise safety standards of Assam tea, cautioned a section of leading tea planters of the state. Even those planters who are not opposing the move said maximum residue level (MRL) must be maintained. The Centres Banning of Insecticides Order, 2020 stated the pesticide is an organophosphorus compound and highly toxic and said its alternatives were available for use. Dimethoate was banned in 31 countries and the ban was in force in EU, Cameroon, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Suriname to name a few.

According to the minutes of the 446th meeting of the Registration Committee (RC) OF CIB, held on April 12 and published on Friday, ad-hoc approval for the use of dimethoate against tea mosquito bug in tea plantations has been accorded for a period of one year. The committee also directed the United Planters Association of Southern India (UPASI) and Kannan Devan Tea to submit the residue data as per the guidelines of CIB&RC expeditiously and the same will be examined by the concerned technical experts and SPPR,FSSAIand the final reports will be placed to RC for a final view.

Dimethoate is definitely a toxic compound but the crop needs a safe interval between spraying and plucking.

Fall in eastern swamp deer count at Kaziranga National Park

by

Floods have reduced the number of vulnerableeasternswamp deer inKaziranga andTiger Reserve(KNPTR), which has been counted for the first time in the whole KNPTR on January 10 and 11.

Prior to this, the process was only done in Kaziranga National Park.

The official said this is mainly due to two high floods in the intervening period, that is, 2019 and 2020. Territory wise, 786 undereastern Assamdivision, 62 under Biswanath wildlife division and 20 under Nagaon wildlife division have been recorded by experienced and trained wildlife experts from outside the forest department. In the field exercise for census of the vulnerable eastern swamp deer, 29 enumerators and 112 forest personnel were directly involved.
On the other hand in the fourth wetland bird estimation 2021-2022, carried out from December 21 to 27, encompassing the whole tiger reserve, a total of 66,776 birds of 126 species were enumerated using point count method.

Assam CM signs MoU to set up another medical college in Guwahati

by

The Government of Assam on Friday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with a corporate company to introduce another medical college in Guwahati. The has signed the MoU with Bright Star Investment Private Limited at a function held at Janata Bhavan in Dispur.

The founder of the company handed over a cheque of Rs 5 crore to the Chief Minister after the signing of the MoU. Addressing the event, CM Sarma stated that the government is planning to establish another medical college in the city by the name of Pragjyotishpur Medical College. The proposed medical college will have a dual campus, he added.

Flood: Central team visits Assam to assess damages; state seeks funds

by

A high-level Inter-Ministerial Central Team visited various districts of Assam for an on-spot assessment of damages caused by flood and landslides this year, while the urged it for release of funds for repair and restoration works.

The state government has requested the team for release of Rs 1088.19 crore it had sought for repair and restoration works, the statement issued by Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said.

Guwahati reports spike in crimes against women

by

Crimes against Women have increased at an alarming rate in the city with 224casessolely registered at the states only all-women Police station from January to this date, as against 207 cases lodged throughout last year.

According to theNational Crime Records Bureaureport for 2020, as many as 26,352 cases ofcrimeagainst women were registered across the state last year, 30,025 in 2019 and 27,687 in 2018. Out of the total number of cases, 1,657 were rape cases and 502 were related to dowry.