ASSAM

Every government-run school, even those in the remotest parts of Assam, will henceforth have to document the and Fauna found in the area as this would help in mapping and recording the states rich Biodiversity with the help of experts and enhance knowledge.

With an objective of promoting the flora and fauna and rich biodiversity of the state, Education minister Ranoj Pegu on Thursday launched the School Biodiversity Register (SBR) at the State Mission Office of Samagra Shiksha in the presence of principal secretary to the education department, B Kalyan Chakravarthy, and mission director, Samagra Shiksha, Assam, Roshni Aparanji Korati. The register will also empower to develop a baseline Database for biodiversity so that proper assessment on various parameters such as endangered and extinct species can be done.

The SBR, a brainchild of Chakravarthy, has been designed as a record of knowledge, perception and Attitude of people about Resources“>Natural Resources, Plants and animals, their utilization and conservation in a village or a panchayat which would further form a database in every school where all common species of flora and fauna would be available.

In a major boost to farmers of western UP, North Central RAILWAY (NCR) flagged off its first Kisan train from Yamuna bridge railway station underAgradivision recently.

The Kisan Rail service was started in August 2020 as an initiative to increase farmers incomes by transporting perishable agri-products. Its aim is also to expand farmers reach to markets at far off places.

By using the Kisan Rail, farmers will have to effectively pay 50% less charges than normal parcel rates. The scheme is a government of India initiative in which 50% subsidy on transportation is given to farmers at the time of booking of their perishable produce, including fruits, vegetables and products.

In 2018, theState Level Police Recruitment Board(SLPRB), Assam, had released an official notification inviting online applications for 6,662 constable posts. Exams for the posts were supposed to be held by the end of 2020. But they had to be cancelled after the sub-inspector recruitment exam papers got leaked in September last year.

The has also decided to create five new Assam Police battalions. A total of 6,270 youths will be appointed in these five new battalions. The police department has around 30,000 vacant posts at present.

Better equipped with medical apparatus but struggling to provide best Services with quality and accountability, revealed the outcomes of the Swasthya Sewa Utsav assessment forAssams government hospitals, declared at a conclave.

The assessment has brought to Light best results in the criterion of availability of medical equipment, where 74% of the healthcare facilities (913 out of 1241) have scored A Grade. But less than 10% of healthcare facilities could achieve AGradein assessment of human resource (1%), diagnostics (2.2%) and services (8%).

Lack of adequate diagnostic facilities remains the biggest concern as the highest 87.7% of the facilities scored the lowest C Grade in the Diagnostics category. C Grade facilities have been higher in quality (68%) and human resource (74%) assessments.

According to the final assessment, out of the total 1,245 Health facilities, only 153 (12%) scored Grade A, 607 (49%) scored Grade B and 485 (39%) scored Grade C. Facilities scored more than 70% are considered as Grade A while facilities scored between 50% to 69% are graded as Grade B and facilities scored less than 50% are graded as Grade C.

Out of the total 21 district hospitals (DHs), 14 (67%) scored Grade A, while 6 (29%) scored Grade B and 1 (5%) scored Grade C on all parameters based on external assessment. But the Percentage of A Grade facilities has gone down as the assessment went to the lower-lever healthcare facilities.

Among sub-divisional hospitals (SDHs), only one (6%) has scored Grade A, 13 (81%) scored Grade B and 2 (13%) managed to get Grade C out of the total 16 sub-divisional hospitals.

Out of the total 208 community health centres (CHCs), 46 (22%) have got Grade A, while 118 (57% ) scored Grade B and 44 (21%) scored Grade C. Among primary health centres (PHCs), 92 (9%) scored Grade A, 470 (47%) scored Grade B and 438 (44%) got Grade C out of total 1,000 PHCs, the report said.

Of the 1,245 facilities assessed, only 11% got A Grade, while 43% got B Grade and 46% got C Grade in Indian Public Health Standards category. In district-wise grading of health facilities on all parameters, Cachar had the highest 52% A Grade healthcare facilities, followed byNalbari(39%) andMorigaon(27% ).

Mizoram borders southern Assam’s Barak Valley, which has been severely affected by the deluge. Access to potable drinking water sources has been hit due to the floods.

Peasant leaderAkhil Gogoihas raised the demand for a package of Rs 100 crore to transform historicSivasagarinto a tourism and cultural hub.

The Sivasagar MLA and Raijor Dal president said the of Rs 100 crore can give a return of Rs 1,000 crore to the State Government.

Alongwith numerous Ahom-era monuments, the pyramid-style graveyards of Ahom kings and queens have drawn researchers from abroad to the district. Akhil pointed out the importance of these sites, saying the cremation techniques in thesemaidamsor graveyards is comparable with those adopted in the pyramids in Egypt.

The Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati (IIT-G) has retained the seventh rank in the ‘Engineering’ category in the National Institutional Rankings Framework (NIRF) released by the Union minister of state for Education Rajkumar Ranjan Singh.

IIT-G has scored even better than top-ranked IIT Madras in ‘Graduation Outcomes’ assessment, as the former retained the previous year’s ranking (7th) in engineering. However, IIT-G’s rank slipped to the ninth position from eighth in the ‘Overall’ category this time. It also secured the 9th rank among the 50 entries in the ‘Research Institution’ category and is the only institution listed in this category.

In graduation outcomes (GO), which measures the proportion of enrolled students graduating finally, IIT-G fared better with 85.01 points compared to 79.89 scored by IIT-Madras under the ‘engineering’ category.

In the ‘Overall’ category of NIRF, where assessment of all institutions including universities, engineering and medical institutions were done, IIT-G (9th) and National institute of technology (NIT) Silchar (83rd) are the only two institutions to figure from the northeast.
In the ‘Engineering Institutions’ category, apart from IIT-G, NIT Silchar (40th), NIT Manipur (95th), NIT Meghalaya (72nd) and NIT Agartala (91st) have been ranked in the top-100 engineering institutions.
In the ‘University’ category, TU and GU have been ranked 69th and 88th this year, down from 59th and 36th last year. While Mizoram University improved its ranking to 76th from 78th, North Eastern Hill University, Shillong slipped from 66th to 80th rank.
With a 34th rank, Pachhunga University College, Aizawl (Mizoram) is the only college from the northeast to get a berth in the listed 100 institutions in ‘college’ category.

In the ‘Management’ category, Indian Institute Of Management Shillong secured the 26th position, while TU stood 93rd .

The National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research Guwahati with a 12th rank and Dibrugarh University with a 33rd rank are the only institutions from the northeast in the ‘Pharmacy’ category.
In ‘Law’, National Law University and Judicial Academy, Kamrup (Assam) stood 28th and is the only ranked institute from the region.

The opposition AIUDF congratulated new chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma and hoped that the new ministry under Sarmas Leadership will work for the development of the state and its people irrespective of region, caste and creed. The party sought faster rollout of Vaccines amid surge in coronavirus cases in Assam.

AIUDF won 16 of the 20 seats it contested and has finished behind BJP (60) and Congress (29) with its seat tally.

Asked about the governments desire for reverification of 20% names in the border districts of Assam, and 10% in other areas, the AIUDF spokesperson said his party doesnt have any objection if The Supreme Court allows the reverification.

Assamchief ministerHimanta Biswa Sarma ceremonially distributed the one-time financial assistance of Rs 1.5 lakh each to a total of 2,114 RongaliBihu committeesfrom across the state, an initiative launched last year by the cultural affairs department.
Last year, 1,265 committees received the one-time financial assistance. The initiative was started last year.

He stressed the need to make the upcoming generations realise the importance of being rooted to their cultural heritage and identity. He added that it is due to lack of proper knowledge about ethnic heritages that the younger generations are often seen indulging in fruitless debates and discussions on irrelevant topics on Social Media.

A new milestone was achieved in regional connectivity when Union minister for , shipping and waterways Sarbananda Sonowal and chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma received MV Lal Bahadur Shastri, the cargo vessel carrying 200 metric tonnes of foodgrain from Patna, by traversing 2,350 km through the Indo-Bangladesh Protocol (IBP) route.

The vessel arrived in Pandu port on Sunday morning carrying foodgrains for Fci.

The vessel passed through Bhagalpur, Manihari, Sahibganj, Farakka, Tribeni, Kolkata, Haldia, Hemnagar, IBP route through Khulna, Narayanganj, Sirajganj, Chilmari and then National Waterway-2 through Dhubri and Jogighopa. The journey of the vessel was flagged off by Sonowal from Patna docks, throughGanga, which culminated its month-ago journey inBrahmaputra.