ASSAM

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 Assam Cabinet decided to restructure the state Education policy, making school education a 15-year affair comprising four categories – foundation, preparatory, elementary and senior secondary – in accordance with the NEP, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said. The foundation category will have five years till class two while the next three years will be preparatory. The elementary category will comprise classes six, seven and eight, and the classes between nine and 12 will be called senior secondary.

In the National Education Policy (NEP) announced by the Centre last year, there will be a 5+3+3+4 structure comprising 12 years of school and three years of pre-school, replacing the old 10+2 structure. The change in the structure will be notified on April one, 2022 while the new syllabus will be introduced from April one, 2023, Sarma told reporters after the cabinet meeting held at Bongaigaon.

The Assam Cabinet decided that a dedicated portal for pension cases of employees will be launched to expeditiously provide post-retirement remuneration to pensioners. Addressing a press conference after a meeting of the state Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, Education Minister Ranoj Pegu said the portal will be named as ‘Kritagyata’.

This portal will be the front-end for processing all pension cases and for matters related to pay fixation. Pension Seva Kendras will be set up by AMTRON (Assam Electronics Development Corporation Ltd) in all districts for government employees.

The minister also said that Rs 508.60 crore loan will be raised by the state government from NABARD for projects under the RIDF-XXVII (Rural Infrastructure Development Fund), to be repaid within seven years.

The cabinet further decided to allot lands to Mising Language & Cultural Research Centre in Dhemaji and NGO Barpeta Zila Mahila Samity in Barpeta.

Assamchief minister Himanta BiswaSarma asked the revenue and Disaster Management department to set a goal for digitisation of all land records of the state till 2023.

He also urged the department to dispose of all pending partition and mutation cases before completion of the first anniversary of the current government in May next year, according to an official statement.

Calling for reforms in the state’s revenue administration at a meeting with the officials of the department, the chief minister asked them to complete all pending partition and mutation cases in a mission mode.

“Mission Basundhara” will be launched for this purpose on October 2 this year, the statement said.

AssamCMHimanta Biswa Sarma inaugurated Assams first solar park at Amguri in Sivasagar district.

The 70-MW Amguri solar power park is an outcome of the Assam Accord. The foundation stone of the park was laid by former CM Sarbananda Sonowal on February 27, 2019.

Mentioning that the solar park was a huge step towards harnessing clean and green energy, the CM said the project will go a long way in realising the state governments mission of generating 1,000 MW of electricity. He further added it will aid in creation of EMPLOYMENT avenues for youth and also maintain environmental balance through green energy generation.

he All Assam Students’ Union (Aasu), an influential student body, demanded the scrapping of a clause in the evaluation criteria formulated by the expert committees for High School Leaving Certificate (Class X) and Higher Secondary (ClassXII) examinations. The clause states that the marksheets and certificates under the new evaluation formula will be applicable for admissions in higher classes but not valid for jobs.

The student body warned the state government not to “play with the lives and future of students” with such an “absurd” clause in the evaluation criteria. The union urged the government and both the boards – Board of Secondary Education Assam (which conducts class X exams) and Assam Higher Secondary Education Council (which conducts class XII exams) to take an immediate decision to withdraw the clause.

The operation will be carried out in Sonitpur district for the first two days while the exercise will be conducted for the remaining two days in Darrang district.

The Orang is spread over an area of 89 sq km in Sonitpur and Darrang districts and the eviction exercise is being carried out to clear encroached land for an animal corridor to Kaziranga National Park.

TheAssamgovernment has declared black fungus as a notifiable disease, making it mandatory for all Health facilities to report such cases to the health department through the district health authorities.

Assam detected the first black fungus ormucormycosis infectionin a Covid patient who died in a private hospital here recently. But according to health department sources, similar cases might have gone unreported, especially during the second wave, which has increased chances of more black fungus cases due to prolonged stay in the ICU.

The state health department issued the directive in pursuance of a letter from the Union ministry of health and family welfare under Section 2 of the Epidemic Diseases Act, 1897. Now all hospitals and medical colleges will have to follow the same guidelines for screening, diagnosis and management of mucormycosis, issued by theUnion health ministryand the Indian Council of Medical Research (Icmr).

TheAssamgovernment announced the State Science Awards for 2022 and 2023 to honour eminent scientists from the state for popularising science on the occasion ofNational Technology Day.

State Science and Technology minister Keshab Mahanta announced the names of eminent educationists, former principal of College Prof. Kamalendu Deb Krori and former vice-chancellor of Tezpur University Prof. KishoriMohanPathak as the recipients in the category of Lifetime Achievement Award for 2022 and 2023 respectively.

The Young Scientist/Innovator Award will be bestowed upon Moon Moon Devi, assistant professor of physics in Tezpur University (for 2022) and DebangaRajNeog, assistant professor, Mehta Family School of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence, IIT-Guwahati (for 2023).

The Epicentre of the earthquake was placed at a depth of 17 km. The epicentre was once positioned 9 km away from the town of Dhekiajuli of Assam.

National Center for Seismology: It is the nodal organisation that monitors earthquake pastime in India. It continues a National Seismological Network of one hundred fifteen stations. Each station holds a separate equipment. Apart from monitory, the core also performs Seismic Hazard Microzonation and seismological research.