ASSAM

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch development projects, including an Aiims and three medical colleges, worth around Rs 14,300 crore, during a visit to Assam on Friday. Among other projects, Modi will lay the foundation stone of a bridge on the Brahmaputra river connecting Palashbari and Sualkuchi and also launch the beautification exercise of Rang Ghar, Sivasag

He will also lay the foundation stone of Assam Advanced Health Care Innovation Institute (AAHII) and launch ‘Aapke Dwar Ayushman’ campaign by distributing Ayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (AB-PMJAY) cards to eligible beneficiaries.

The (IRV 2020) was launched in 2005. IRV2020 is an initiative jointly initiated by the Ministry of Forests, the government of Assam, WWF India, the International Rhino Foundation and several other organizations.

The goal of IRV2020 is to increase the number of rhinos in Assam to 3,000 by establishing populations in new areas.

Now rhinos have been found in four Protected Areas in Assam: Pabitola Wildlife Sanctuary, Rajiv Gandhi Oran National Park, Kaziranga National Park and Manas National Park.

Only the great one – horned rhinos are found in India. They are also known as the Indian rhinoceros, it is the largest rhino species. It is identified by a black horn and grey-brown leather with skin folds. Five Rhino Mountains countries (India, Bhutan, Nepal, Indonesia and Malaysia) have signed a declaration “New Delhi Declaration for the Protection of Asian Rhino, 2019”.

Meghalaya govt initiates talks with a terror outfit in hill state

After the Centre’s nod, the Meghalaya government has initiated the process to hold formal talks with the banned militant outfit Hynniewtrep National Liberation Council (HNLC), officials said on Friday. A senior official of the Meghalaya Home Department said that the has appointed retired Ias officer Peter S Dkhar as the interlocutor for facilitating the talks with the HNLC, which also last month offered to hold peace talks with the Centre and the Meghalaya government without any pre-conditions.

The HNLC has claimed responsibility for the low-intensity blasts that took place in recent months in the heart of Shillong and other areas in the state. While militancy is on the decline in Meghalaya over the last several years, but since 2020 the HNLC has been behind a few low-intensity IED blasts in the state. The HNLC, which has been demanding a sovereign Khasi tribal homeland in Meghalaya, is a breakaway faction of the Hynniewtrep Achik Liberation Council, the first tribal militant outfit of the mountainous state, formed in the mid-1980s.

Following a call from PM Narendra Modi, theAssamcabinet on Thursday approved a Comprehensive Action Plan to eliminate all single-use plastics, from carry bags to earbuds withplasticsticks, in the state from this year.

The cabinet also laid down a plan for development of alternatives and scientific disposal of plastic wastes and departments of revenue and Disaster Management, industries and commerce, Science and Technology, urban Environment“>Development and environment and forest will together prepare a roadmap in this regard, the statement tweeted by CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said.

The plan seeks to ban plastic carry-bags less than 75 microns in thickness with effect from September and carry-bags less than 120 microns in thickness with effect from December.

To boost environment conservation, the cabinet also approved a policy for compensatory plantation of trees felled on non-forest land for projects.

The cabinet also fixed speed limits for vehicles in view of increased accidents caused by ovespeeding in the state and will bring out a notification for speed limit on different types of roads and vehicles.

The State is to add 200.32 square kilometre to the Orang . The area to be added consists of Brahmaputra river. It also includes sandbars and islands of the river.
Tigers and Rhinos are using the islands and sandbars that are being included. Orang region in the northern bank of Brahmaputra is essential to Kaziranga Orang Riverine Landscape. This is because animals move between the Orang and Kaziranga stretch through these lands. This stretch is 180 km. It is a corridor connecting two habitats.

Future plans for Kaziranga Orang

Gharials became extinct in the region six decades ago. The Assam Government is planning to reintroduce gharial here.

Significance

The rhinos and Gangetic Dolphins are to be benefitted greatly with the addition of this extra land. It will also benefit 16 species of turtles.

About Orang

Orang is a major rhino habitat. It became a tiger reserve in 2016. The other seven national parks in Assam are Dehing Patkai, Dibru Saikhowa, Manas, Kaziranga, Nameri, Raimona.

TheAssamgovernment has pushed for developing medical science curriculum in vernacular language during the fifth general council meeting of the Srimanta Sankardeva University ofHealthSciences on Sunday, which was attended by chief minister and chancellor of the university.

A release from the chief ministers office stated that the general council, after a detailed discussion, took several key decisions aiming at boosting the academic Environment and bringing in a robust administrative mechanism at the university.

CM Sarma emphasised the need for a permanent campus of the university in the meeting to streamline its functioning. He asked the VC and chief engineer, PWD (health and Education) to ensure early completion of the initial process for construction of administrative building with a boundary wall of the university on the land provided by the government for the purpose at Baihata Chariali so that the administrative and basic academic activities can be carried out from the campus within a period of two years.