ASSAM

TheCentre said distribution of free foodgrains under the fourth phase of thePradhan Mantra Garib Kalyan AnnaYojana (PMGKAY) has started in seven states and about 14,700 tonnes have been given to beneficiaries so far.

About 70.6 lakh tonnes of foodgrains were distributed in the third phase of PMGKAY between May and June, it said.

On ration card portability facility, the government said the remaining four states –Assam, Chhattisgarh, Delhi and West Bengal — are expected to come on board soon.

PMGKAY was first introduced in 2020 for eight months to provide relief to 80 crore beneficiaries covered under the NationalFoodSecurity Act (NFSA) from Covid-induced economic hardships.

The scheme was reintroduced this year for third phase implementation for two months till June and later extended till November under the fourth phase.
Free grains are provided under PMGKAY over and above the quota allocated at highly subsidised rates under NFSA to these beneficiaries.

After preliminary tests conducted by four major institutes revealed heavy traces of formaldehyde in fish bought from outside the state, the department said a detailedtestregarding the presence of harmful chemicals in fish sold across the state is the need of the hour .

The samples for the tests were collected from only a few districts, including Nagaon and Kamrup (M). The department will takelegalaction against sellers found selling or storing such fish. The guilty will face up to five years in prison, as per report.

About declared foreigner:
The declared foreigner or DF, is a person who has been marked by the Foreigners’ Tribunal (FT) for allegedly failing to prove their after being identified as an illegal immigrant by the State Police‘s Border wing.

About Foreigners tribunal:
The Foreigners (Tribunals) Order, 1964 established the Foreigners Tribunals.
The tribunals are quasi-judicial bodies that determine whether a person staying illegally is a “foreigner” or not.

The BJP-ledAssamgovernment has decided to set up an expert committe to examine whether polygamy can be banned in the state by a legislation to provide a major push for empowering Women as it steps into its third year.

Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, on theeveof completion of second year in office, on Tuesday said the prevalence of the practice of polygamy, both formal and informal, was found to be high during the crackdown on child marriages since January last.

Polygamy is generally prohibited in all religious communities in India, except the Muslim community. Practising polygamy is an offence punishable under Section 494 and 495 of the IPC, except for the Muslim community, where Section 2 of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937 governs the law pertaining to marriage which allows it.

The Assam government has decided to form an expert committee to examine whether the is empowered to prohibit polygamy in the state. The committee will examine the provisions of the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Act, 1937 read with Article 25 of the Constitution of India, in relation to the directive principle of state policy for a Uniform Civil Code (UCC).

The tea in Assam is apprehensive of losing 10-15% of the crop during March and April due to drought-like situation and hailstorms.

In January and February this year, Assam harvested only 0.23 million kg compared to 0.27 million kg in 2020 and 0.44 million kg the year before. While the crop figure for March is yet to be released by the Tea Board, the figure is expected to be lower by 10-15% in March and April 2021 as compared to 2019, Bhattacharjee said, adding that tea bushes needed rainfall during summer so that production of tea leaves remained steady till the arrival of monsoon.

Assam received paltry rainfall in March and April, directly affecting its yield. Assam valley has received only 14.2 mm of rainfall during January and February as against 28.47 mm in 2020. Similarly, Cachar has received only 4.15 mm rainfall as against 8.3 mm last year during the same period.

About 10.5% of Assams total tea production which was 618.35 million kg last year is recorded during March and April. The state produces about 4.5% of its total crop in March and around 6% in April, which is about 32 million kg and 44 million kg, respectively.

Minority strongholds inBarpetaseem more concerned abouthealth,educationand development than Citizenship issues.

Thousands of people were excluded from the NRC, the updated version of which was published in August 2019 in Baghbar, Jania and Chenga constituencies in Barpeta. This district has been the nervecentre of political andintellectual activismof the minority community in lowerAssam.

The movement against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act too gained widespread support in this region, where the Muslims were up in arms against the legislation to regularize the entry of non-Muslims from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Even though some intellectuals in the area feel that citizenship questions will be the deciding factor in this election, others see the polls in a different Light.

The countrys biggest “detention centre”, now renamed “transit camp” for a human touch at Matia in lowerAssamsGoalparadistrict, has become operational with the first batch of inmates being shifted to the newly built facility from another transit camp at the Goalpara district jail on Friday. The transit camp was built at a cost of around Rs 64 crore.

Official sources in the prison department said that altogether there are around 219 “declared foreigners” lodged in all the transit camps in Assam, including the standalone transit camp in Matia. Before the Matia centre became operational, all the inmates were being kept in these six jails. The detention centres, which housed people declared foreigners by foreigners , quasi-judicial bodies, were renamed transit camps in 2021.

The 29th biennial conference ofBarakUpatyakaBanga SahityaOSanskriti Sammelan, an apex literary and cultural organisation, will highlight the demand for ensuring economic autonomy ofAssamsBarak Valley. The three-day biennial conference will be held in Silchar from March 11.

The government has announced the Act East Policy in 2014, the upgrade of the Look East Policy. The Barak Valley region is the gateway to a number of south-Asian countries. However, the government is yet to make its programme clear about how the geographical and Communication advantage of this region will be used to implement the Act East Policy.

The Assam Power Distribution Company Limited (APDCL) has petitioned the Assam Electricity Regulatory Commission (AERC) for a hike of Rs 1.25 per unit and the fixed charge by Rs 15 in power tariff with effect from April 1 for the period 2023-24 to meet its requirement of around Rs 10,000 crore, which would hit hard households that form around 93% of the companys consumer base.

According to the proposals, the tariff (which is a combination of fixed charges and variable charges) will shoot up by a minimum Rs 25.55 for Jeevan Dhara category for every kilowatt consumed per hour.

The company, which did not propose any change in the tariff for three categories of consumers electric vehicles charging stations, electric crematorium and RAILWAY traction last year, has proposed an increase of Rs 15 in fixed charges for the crematoriums and vehicle-charging stations and Rs 35 for the railway traction. It has proposed an increase of Re 1 in variable charges for crematoriums and vehicle-charging stations and Rs 1.5 for railway traction.

day after finance ministerNirmala Sitharamanpresented the Union Budget for 2022-23 in Parliament,Assamcabinet on Wednesday approved setting up a high level task force to oversee the proper implementation ofPM Gati Shaktiplan,” which is a transformative approach for economic Growth and .

The approach is driven by seven enginesroads, railways, Airports, Ports, mass transport, waterways, and Logistics Infrastructure, which will pull forward the economy in unison and will be supported by the complementary roles of energy transmission, IT Communication, bulk water and sewerage, and social infrastructure.

The approach will be powered by Clean Energy and Sabka Prayas with the efforts from the Central Government, the state governments, and the private sector together leading to huge job and entrepreneurial opportunities for all, especially the youth.

To begin with, the PM GatiShakti master plan for expressways will be formulated in 2022-23 to facilitate faster movement of people and goods. Sitharman has announced in her speech that the national highways Network will be expanded by 25,000 km in 2022-23 and Rs 20,000 crore will be mobilized through innovative ways of financing to complement the public Resources.
The cabinet also sanctioned Rs 958 crore for upgrading 114 road-cum-embankments and construction of six rural bridges and Rs 11,031 crore to improve and upgrade vital road projects in the state.

The cabinet further sanctioned Rs 156 crore for acquisition of over 124 bigha private land to facilitate expansion of Jorhat (Rowriah) airport by Airports Authority of India.