ASSAM

Performers from Cachar district are upbeat with enthusiasm and optimism ahead of the mega celebrations in Guwahati to seal the Guiness Book of World Record for the largest Bihu dance at a single event.

Bodoland may well be the key to the formation of the next government inAssam.

But Hagrama Mohilarys BPF ridiculed Boros poll math. In the third phase we, as Mahajot, will win over 25 seats out of 40, said Mohilary, predicting BPF victory on all eight seats it contested in the third phase.

Mohilarys predictions for the Mahajot in the 126-member Assam assembly are modest he gives 70 seats to the Congress-led alliance. This is far lower than the 100 plus predictions by several top Congress leaders.

Officials of the Inland Water Transport (IWT) department said that the four high-quality vessels would integrate passenger and vehicle ferry Services into the state’s wider transport Network system. Out of the four vessels with the capacity of 100 passengers and 50 two wheelers and powered by 180 HP twin engines each, two would be operated on river Brahmaputra at Majuli and one each in between Guwahati-North Guwahati and Uzanbazar-Umananda ferry ghats.

The vessels have advanced equipment including control and monitoring, Communication and , GPS, echo-sounder, wind measurement, lifesaving and firefighting equipment etc. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that the culture and civilisation of Assam is nurtured by the Brahmaputra and Barak rivers and their tributaries.

has brought glad tidings for the tea garden workers of Assam. About 60% of the 706 tea gardens in the 14 highest tea producing districts of the state have made the full payment of the puja bonus to its workers by Maha Saptami.
This has been a major issue of confrontation between the tea garden workers and the owners for decades. However, the payment of full bonus this time as agreed upon after several rounds of talks between the workers and managements has received accolades even from the Trade Unions.

Upper AssamsDibrugarhdistrict has the maximum number of (177) tea estates. Out of these, 96 or 54% of the gardens have made full payment of the bonus. A total of 75 tea estates in Dibrugarh have agreed to give 20% bonus this puja. In nearbyTinsukiadistrict, 71 (59%) of the 120 tea estates have made the full payment of bonus, while 41 gardens have declared 20% bonus.

Golaghatdistrict showed a better track records, with 51 out of the 71 tea estates making the full payment of the bonus for this year. Altogether 28 gardens in Golaghat are paying 20% bonus this year. In South Assams Cachar district, which has the highest (57) tea estates among the threeBarak Valleydistricts, 56 gardens have made full bonus payment. Twenty tea gardens in Cachar are paying 20% bonus.

The number of medical colleges in Assam has gone up to eight with a new one in Lakhimpur town in northern part of the state getting approval from the National Medical Commission to start classes for the ongoing session.

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma took to Twitter and said, with the new medical college in Lakhimpur, the number of MBBS seats in the state has risen to 1,100.

The Govt. has decided that 75% of seats in Degree Courses of the Govt. and Provincialized Colleges shall be reserve for the students of AHSEC and hence you are requested to take necessary action accordingly,” read the latest letter from the director of higher Education (DHE), Dharma Kanta Mili, to the state universities and government-run colleges.

A directive has also been issued to educational institutions to accommodate 20% more students in the under-graduate (UG) level by increasing the seat capacities. “Govt. in the Education Department has decided to enhance the seat capacity of U.G. level courses in the institutions by 20 % and hence you are requested to accommodate the enhancement by considering admission for day and evening shift,” read the letter, which has been underlined as top most urgent.

As many as 139 electric vehicle charging stations have been set up byIndian OilinAssamsince 2020-21 to meet the countrys net zero emission target by 2070. Altogether, 270 such stations have been set up across the NE region.

Setting up the stations will encourage people to shift towards electric vehicles and in that way, we together will be able to reduce the Carbon Emission sooner. Net zero emission by 2070 is a target set up by the Central government. However, we believe that if we move in tandem, then we will be able to make zero emission by 2046, which would be 100 years of Independence, he added.

Apart from 139 EV charging stations in Assam, 33 have been set up in Manipur, 31 in Tripura, 27 in Arunachal Pradesh, 26 in Meghalaya, 12 in Nagaland and two inMizoram.

The Assam government brought Electric Vehicle Policy in 2021 and Vehicle Scrappage Policy last year with a view to promote EVs, converting the government vehicles and public transport to EVs by 2030 and scrapping the vehicles reaching 15 years of age.

The electric vehicle policy seeks to encourage rapid adoption of electric vehicles in a manner where they contribute to 25% of all new vehicle registrations by 2026. However, lack of enough charging stations has been the biggest stumbling block in the transition to EVs.

In order to attract people towards EVs, the announced an incentive of Rs 20,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 1,50,000 for two wheelers, three wheelers and four wheelers respectively for early adoption of EVs. Exemption or reimbursement of registration charges and road tax on electric vehicles for 5 years will also be provided as per the policy.