The Assam government will extend the ‘disturbed area’ tag under the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA) for another six months in eight districts of the state from April 1. It will be extended for Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Charaideo, Sivasagar, Jorhat, Golaghat, Karbi Anglong and Dima Hasao, according to a notification issued by the state Home and political department. The tag, however, would be lifted
from Lakhipur sub-division of Cachar district from April 1, following a review of the law and order scenario in the state. The Centre had earlier announced removal of AFSPA from April 1, 2022 from the entire state of Assam barring nine districts and a sub-division of Cachar district. The state was declared a ‘disturbed area’ under AFSPA during the intervening night of November 27-28, 1990, and this has been extended every six months since then.Given the way ground water is getting depleted for various reasons, Odisha may face a severe water crisis by 2051, revealed a study made by the SwitchON Foundation.
According to the study, parts of the State are yet to achieve the recommended daily drinking water target of 40 liter per capita per day (LPCD). While about 17 districts in the State have issues with saline groundwater, in many districts, the concentration of fluoride, nitrate, iron and chromium (hexavalent) are found to be above the permissible limits. Besides, there is huge wastage of water in the domestic sector. Due to a lack of adequate and metering, around 54% of unaccounted water losses were observed within the system.
The availability of water by the year 2051 was assessed, and the result shows that the surface water availability from its own drainage boundary remains more or less fixed but the
inflow of surface water from neighbouring States will be reduced from 37.556 billion cubic metres (BCM) to 25.272 BCM.The study indicated that by the year 2051 the total water requirement may go up to 85 BCM from the present requirement of 55 BCM, and the State may face a severe water scarcity situation in 2051.
Tamil Nadu can become Indias tech capital
Naducontributes more than 10% to the countrys overall technology sector and all stakeholders must come together to increase this, chief minister M K Stalin said on Thursday, in a video message addressing the technology conference Umagine Chennai 2023. More than 1,300 centres in the field of tech are already present in the state. We have the best educational institutions and we are already leading in the fields of automation and innovation, he said. The information technology (IT) sector is key for our model of inclusive development, and I urge the Industry to work together and help us achieve these goals, he added.
Inaugurating the event, state I&T minister Mano Thangaraj said TNs Software export potential is immense, and it can become Indias tech capital. The state is in talks with Google and Amazon to grow here, and they are proceeding well, he added.
The minister said the state has already identified land parcels for the tech cities announced in the statebudgetearlier this week. The one in Chennai is around 150 acres, the second will be in Hosur on around 500 acres, and we will soon identify land in Coimbatore, the minister said.