ASSAM

HIV cases have spiraled inAssamwith over 2,000 cases being detected in barely seven months this year, a figure which equals the number of cases detected in the entire period in 2021-2022. Health officials said the trend is heading towards a figure which may end up as the highest HIV cases in Assam by March next year.
Till now, the highest ever HIV cases 2,366 were detected in Assam in 2021-2022. But this year, from April to October alone 2,269 cases have been detected.

The new HIV cases in Assam have increased by 26.2% in 2021 in comparison to 2010. In the current year, it is seen that HIV infections are spreading among the youth, especially among IDUs (Injecting Drug Users),

As per NACO HIV Estimation Report 2021, Assam has about 25,073 people living with HIV (PLHIV). Of them, 45% are female and 3% are children. Kamrup (M) has the maximum number of cases (7,610), followed by Cachar district (5,200), Nagaon (1,602) district and Dibrugarh (1,402). Till October 2022, 10,765 people were on anti-retroviral therapy (ART).

The main cause ofHIVinfection in the state is sexual (86.31%), while transmission through infected syringes and needles is merely 5.24%, revealed data released by theAssamState Aids Control Society (AACS) on World Aids Day.

The route of transmission in 82.20% detected HIV positive cases is heterosexual, whereas in 4.11% cases the transmission is by homosexuals or bisexuals. Parent to child infection rate is 4.64%, and in 2.82% cases the reason behind the transmission has not been specified or remains unknown.

The obvious concern has been the areas in and around Guwahati. District wise detection shows that, the maximum number of cases (33%) has been diagnosed in Kamrup (Metropolitan) district as on October 31. Also in the scanner is Cachar district in South Assam where 23% of the state’s total cases have been diagnosed. The National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) data shows that Assam has been able to test 67,15,121 persons (22,22,527 general clients and 44,92,594 pregnant Women) till October 31, 2021 and 20,841 cases have been diagnosed as HIV positive, out of which 19,030 are general clients and 1,811 are pregnant women.

In the last 20 years though, the HIV case detection graph has been unevenly on the rise and reached climax in 2019-20 when the highest 1,955 number of cases. In the last two years, however, it has noticeably gone down to 1,288 in 2020-21 and 1,287 in 2021-22 (April to October).

Expert analysis done by ASACS stated that Assam remains a highly vulnerable state as far as HIV transmission possibility is concerned because a large number of young Population from the state is also going to large cities for EMPLOYMENT and get involved in high-risk behaviour. A large number of female migrants from other northeastern states, West Bengal and Nepal, who have come to Assam for employment and Education, got involved in risk behavior favorable for HIV transmission, they observed.

According to India HIV estimations 2019, adult (15 to 49 years) prevalence Percentage in northeast was highest in Mizoram (2.32%), followed by Nagaland (1.45%), Manipur (1.18%), Meghalaya (0.54%), Tripura (0.10%), Assam (0.09%),(0.07%) and Arunachal Pradesh (0.06%).

Assam Minister for Industries and Commerce Bimal said that the State Government is determined to work on the improvement of tea estates and to shoulder the social responsibilities of the Industry.

The components include among other replacements of old Plants and machinery, financial assistance for opening tea boutiques, new blending and packaging industries, participating in trade fairs national and international, quality certification, organic tea certification of the factory and export support for sending tea directly from Assam to overseas countries.

Assam contributes more than 50 per cent of the country’s production and as such the responsibility to upscale the quantum of consumption weighs heavily on the tea industry which calls for a proactive policy.

Assamlast year recorded 3,243 suicides, an Average of 8.88 daily, which was an increase of 36.8% over the previous year. More than 50% of those who took their lives were unemployed and daily wage earners, according to the latest data from the Centre.

A total of 974 unemployed people and 789 daily wage earners died by suicide during the pandemic-hit lockdown period accounting for over 54% of the total suicide victims in the state in 2020, the report showed. Out of 3,243 suicides, 2,337 were male and 906 female, it added.

There is also an increase in the number of suicides among students. About 390 committed suicides in 2020 compared to 357 in 2019. According to the latest report of the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), family problems accounted for 42.7% of the suicides in 2020, while love affairs also claimed 13.38% lives. Assam also saw 10 cases of mass or family suicides where 10 people lost their lives.

The suicide rate (per lakh Population) also increased from 6.9 in 2019 to 9.3 last year, the NCRB, which functions under the Union ministry of Home affairs (MHA). The national average of the rate is 11.3.

A tea producers’ body has written to the Centre highlighting that there is an urgent need to curb import of inferior quality tea and consequent manipulation in its place of origin during re-export. The Tea Association of India (TAI) also stressed the need for checking ingress of such quality of tea into the domestic market. A representation to Union Minister of State for Commerce and Anupriya Patel by TAI vice-president Ajay Jalan here on Wednesday said the Foreign Trade policy should focus on improving the country’s market share in existing markets and products as well as exploring new ones.

The TAI raised the issues relating to the import of tea in its proposals to the Central government for upholding the sustainability of the tea industry, which employs over 11 lakh people directly, with almost half of them being Women. It pointed that the import of tea has been increasing in the country at a steady pace over the last five years, going up from 20.97 million kg in 2016 to 23.79 million kg in 2020.

The TAI also pointed to violations in re-export of duty-free imported tea and, quoting Tea Board figures, said against 60.35 million kg of tea imported into India in the last three years, only 23.43 million kg were re-exported, which underlines the fact that the rest 36.92 million kg of imported tea have been sold in the country.

The number of people infected with AIDS in Assam has come down by eight per cent in two years to 19,545 on account of various initiatives by a state agency to control the disease, an official said on Tuesday. As per India’s HIV Estimation 2019 report, the northeastern state had 21,223 people living with HIV, Assam State AIDS Control Society (ASACS) Assistant Director Rajib Sarma said. The estimated adult HIV prevalence rate of 0.09 per cent in Assam is lower than the national prevalence rate at 0.22 per cent, he added.

Assam is highly vulnerable for HIV transmission as it is the gateway to other northeastern states and is surrounded by the three highly prevalence states of Mizoram (2.32 per cent), Nagaland (1.45 per cent) and Manipur (1.18 per cent), the official said.

The Assam Cabinet has introduced the creation of an independent department to guard and retain the faith, lifestyle and traditions of tribes and indigenous communities of the state.

Highlights:

The new branch would make sure that the states indigenous Population gets to keep their belief and traditions, whilst also presenting requisite support to them. Indigenous tribes such as the Rabhas, Bodos, Mishings, alongside with others have their personal religious beliefs and special traditions, which so a ways have not obtained the aid critical for their preservation. The cabinet, throughout the meeting, agreed that financial and Administrative Reforms had been necessary to make sure speedy implementation of quite a number schemes floated by using the government. It determined that departmental committees, headed with the aid of commissioners, will be entitled to supply its nod for tasks really worth 2 crores and below.

Being an avid observer of anything related to wildlife and Environment, renowned Herpetologist Jayaditya Purkayastha did not miss sighting a small passerine bird known as magpie-robin that frequent his area of residence. On closely monitoring the bird he realised that the feathered friend comes every day at around 3 pm to quench its thirst from a dripping water tap that is operated at that particular time. The bird would not have to wait to satisfy its thirst if it were a rural area as open water sources are found abundantly and every other household has a pond at the front yard, said Purkayastha.

Ponds, locally known as Pukhuris, once dotted the landscape of the fertile land of Assam. However, with rapid Urbanisation the water bodies are shrinking and posing a serious threat to the ecosystem. This ultimately results in artificial floods that have been leaving a disastrous impact in the urban landscape.

Water bodies support a self-sustaining environment and host incredibly rich and Fauna. These water bodies can be used wisely to supply limitless Resources for the maintenance of dependent creatures. However, the majority of the water bodies have been completely destroyed by environmental deterioration. It is now essential to preserve the remaining water bodies. The Guwahati city has several water bodies distributed centrally and at the outskirt. The important water bodies include Jurpukhuri, Silpukhuri, Dighalipukhuri and Nagkotapukhuri. The Sola beel (lake) in the heart of the city and the Deeepor Beel in the western outskirt of the city on the other hand received highly polluted waste from surrounding areas and through a Network of drains.

TheIndian Meteorological Department(IMD), in its updated long-range forecast for the southwest monsoon season that spans from June to September, has forecast most likely normal rainfall over the country.

But over the northeastern region alone, the Probability of below normal rainfall is more.
The country is divided into four homogenous rainfall regions Northwest India, South Peninsula,Central Indiaand Northeast and the Monsoon Core Zone which depicts most of the rainfed Agriculture-notes-for-state-psc-exams”>Agriculture regions.

According to the IMD update, while the SW monsoon is likely to be normal over Northwest India (between 92-108% ofLPA) and South Peninsula (between 93-107% of LPA), Central India is likely to receive over normal rainfall (more than 106% of LPA).
But Northeast India is likely to get below normal rainfall (less than 95% of LPA). The monsoon core zone is likely to receive above normal (more than 106% of LPA) rainfall.
The IMD considers normal rainfall to be 96-108% of the long period Average (LPA) of the season rainfall over the country for the period 1961-2010, which is 88 cm.

Based on IMDs Multi Model Ensemble (MME) system for forecasting, the forecast probability of below normal rainfall over NE is more (40%), while the forecast probability for normal rainfall is 33% and the probability of above normal rainfall is just 27%.

The new strategy uses the existing statistical forecasting system to generate these forecasts along with a newly developed Multi-Model Ensemble (MME) forecasting system based on coupled global Climate models (CGCMs) from different global climate prediction and research centers including IMDs Monsoon Mission CFS (MMCFS) model.