30.07.21

The division of Assam and creation of the predominantly tribal states of Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh left a residue of boundary problems, which continue to bedevil relations between the neighbours.

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Meghalaya: The problem between Assam and Meghalaya started when the latter challenged the Assam Reorganisation Act of 1971, which gave Blocks I and II of the Mikir Hills or present-day Karbi Anglong district to Assam. Meghalaya contends that both these blocks formed part of the erstwhile United Khasi and Jaintia Hills district when it was notified in 1835. At present there are 12 points of dispute along the 733-km Assam-Meghalaya border.

Meghalaya bases its case on survey maps of 1872 and 1929 and certain notifications of 1878 and 1951 while Assam wants to go by the recommendations of the Churachand Committee which in turn has been rejected by Meghalaya. Joint surveys of the disputed border segments have been undertaken in part and the Chief Ministers of both the states are scheduled to meet again on August 6 at Guwahati to discuss ways to resolve the dispute.

Arunachal Pradesh: Arunachal’s grievance is that the re-organisation of North Eastern states, unilaterally transferred several forested tracts in the plains that had traditionally belonged to hill tribal chiefs and communities to Assam. After Arunachal Pradesh achieved statehood in 1987, a tripartite committee was appointed which recommended that certain territories be transferred from Assam to Arunachal. Assam contested this and the matter is before the Supreme Court.

Mizoram: Prior to 2020, though a border dispute existed, the situation along the Assam-Mizoram border had remained relatively calm, barring a few instances in 1994 and in 2007. Following a border incident 2007, Mizoram declared that it does not accept the present boundary with Assam and that the inner line of the Inner Line Reserved Forest as described in the 1875 notification under the Bengal Eastern Frontier Regulation (BEFR) of 1873 should be the basis for delineating the border and not the 1933 district boundary demarcation which Assam wants to be enforced. Following recent violence in which seven people, including six policemen, were killed, Assam government has said that it will file a suit in the Supreme Court

Nagaland: The longest-running border dispute in the North East is between Assam and Nagaland, which began soon after Nagaland became a state in 1963. The Nagaland State Act of 1962 had defined the state’s borders according to a 1925 notification when Naga Hills and Tuensang Area (NHTA) were integrated into a new administrative unit. Nagaland, however, does not accept the boundary delineation and has demanded that the new state should also have all Naga- dominated area in North Cachar and Nagaon districts. Since Nagaland did not accept its notified borders, tensions between Assam and Nagaland flared up soon after the latter was formed, resulting in the first border clashes in 1965. This was followed by major clashes between the two states along the border in 1968, 1979, 1985, 2007 and 2014. The Assam government had filed a case in the Supreme to resolve the border dispute and for a permanent injunction restraining Nagaland from encroaching areas within the constitutional boundary of Assam. In 2005, the Supreme Court instructed the Central government to constitute a boundary commission to settle various inter-state boundary problems in the North East. The Centre had earlier constituted two commissions, the Sundaram Commission (1971) and the Shastri Commission (1985), to settle the Assam-Nagaland border dispute. These commissions, however, failed to resolve the matter as the concerned states did not accept their recommendations.

Assam-Arunachal Pradesh: 804.1 km bordering eight districts of Udalguri, Sonitpur, Biswanath, Lakhimpur, Dhemaji, Charaideo, Tinsukia and Dibrugarh. Assam-Mizoram: The two states share a 164.6-km border between the Assam’s districts of Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj, and Mizoram’s Kolasib, Mamit and Aizawl districts Assam-Nagaland: The two states share 512.1 km bordering four districts of Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat and Golaghat. Assam-Meghalaya: The two states share 884.9 km bordering West Karbi Anglong, Dima Hasao, Morigaon, Kamrup Metro, Kamrup Rural, Goalpara, Dhubri and South Salmara.

Over 358 micro-containment zones, identified as ‘high case areas’, are contributing to over 90% of the daily cases in Assam, senior health department officials said on Wednesday.Though Assam has a low positivity rate when compared to other states in the region, around 1,700 cases are being reported daily, which is the highest in the northeast. Five districts in the state are currently under round-the-clock curfew.

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The areas where the cases are being reported from have been earmarked, he said, except in Guwahati. In Guwahati there is a constant movement of people at airport and railway stations where people have been testing positive. But in rural districts, the focused areas are well marked and put under containment. Infections are being tested mostly in the containment zones, Choudhury added.

During the second wave, 7,900 locations were turned into micro-containment zones in the state, but the number of active micro-containment zones has drastically reduced. At least 50% of these micro-containment zones are in the five districts which are under curfew, he said.

Even though theSupreme Court Committee on Road Safetyordered all states to conduct joint inspection of accident spots by the motor vehicle inspectors, police personnel and road engineers, its compliance is lacking in Odisha.

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The state commerce and transport secretaryMadhu Sudan Padhihas asked all district collectors, SPs and regional transport officers to strictly comply with the directive of theSupreme Court Committeeon Road Safety. The transport department has laid stress on the conduct of joint inspection of accident spots on regular basis from August 1.

The government said proper analysis of the accidents can be done once the Integrated Road Accident Database (IRAD) project in launched in Odisha. TheWorld Bankfunded project, which is being executed by theministry of road transportand highways across the country, is aimed at analysing the causes of road accidents and devising measures to cut down the fatality rate. The ministry already rolled out the IT-based solution in six states Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh.

Once launched, the ministry of road transport and highways will provide funds to the state government to purchase tablets for the police stations for capturing the spot accident data by using the IRAD mobile App. This data can be used for finding the causes of the accidents and remedial measures to improve the road infrastructure, to record the accidents data for the use of police, health services and other concerned departments.

Concerned about the high number of cases being reported under SC/ST (prevention of atrocities) Act, the Tamil Nadu government reconstituted a state-level vigilance and monitoring committee with chief minister M K Stalin as chairman.

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It would include all 45 MLAs of reserved constituencies in the state, irrespective of party affiliations.

The panel will review the implementation of the provisions of the SC/ST Act, relief and rehabilitation of the victims, prosecution, role of officers/agencies, and various reports received by the state government.

Migrant labourers permanently settled in Kerala with their families for more than five years have been included in the priority group of the micro plan for extreme poverty eradication in the state, states the guidelines prepared by the local self-government department for the project.

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In addition to weaker sections who shall be considered in the project, BPL families with HIV infected members, orphaned children and LGBTQ members will be considered as extremely weaker sections who shall be given priority.

The government has announced in the budget of a micro plan for extreme poverty eradication in the state. Approximately five lakh families are expected to be included in this category and the government plans to collect accurate data regarding these families.

The sub-committee formed to compile the set of recommendations towards drafting the guidelines for conducting the survey to identify families suffering from extreme poverty included eight family groups for whom priority shall be given for special consideration.

Of the 84.7 lakh people scheduled to receive thesecond doseof the Covid-19 vaccine inKarnatakaby July 23 (morning), only 67% or 56.7 lakh have been fully inoculated, reports Sunitha Rao R. The government is now making efforts to track down the remaining 33% or 27.9 lakh and administer the dose on priority. This group includes healthcare workers and frontline workers and people above 18 years of age.

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While the coverage varies, 11 districts have done better than the states average when it comes to administering the second dose. The remaining 21 districts are lagging, data as on July 20 shows. While Udupi has jabbed 90% of those eligible for the second time, Chamarajanagar has the lowest coverage at 49%.

TheKrishnaRiver Management Board (KRMB) will hold a meeting withTelanganaandAndhra Pradesh(AP) in the second week of August, top sources said.

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Official said the respective delegates will discuss water allocation for the current year 2021, detailed project reports for all irrigation projects and objections being raised on the projects and hydel power generation by both the states.

The meeting assumes significance as theNational Green Tribunal(NGT) has recently directed the KRMB to inspect the Rayalaseema Lift Irrigation Scheme (RLIS) project site independently, without seeking help from AP and submit a report on August 9. The Telangana government even offered to provide helicopter for the KRMB team to reach the site.

The minister said that out of the 33 projects, 16 were about providing new railway lines, while the remaining 17 was doubling of the existing lines.

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These projects would cover 5,706 kilometres in the state.

The minister further said that the average annual budget allocation for infrastructure projects and safety works, falling in the state increased to Rs 2830 crore per year in 2014-19 from Rs 886 crore per year during 2009-14.

This was further increased to Rs 3,885 crore per year from 2019-20, Rs 4910 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 5812 crore for 2021-22.

The state cabinet granted approval to the Goa InvestmentPromotionand Facilitation of Single WindowClearanceBill, 2021, to attract investors in the state.

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The bill provides for the creation of an administrative and operation framework for the GoaInvestmentPromotion and FacilitationBoardas asingle-windowclearance facilitation mechanism. The prime objective is to ensure that clearance, licences, permissions and approvals are granted in a time-bound manner under relevant state laws so as to provide an investor friendly environment in the state.

The government had formulated the Goa Investment Policy, 2014, which envisaged a legal framework to be established through an act.

The cabinet note said that the state government felt a need to enact a new law that would result in investors choosing the Goa as a preferred destination for setting up their projects.
The state government had constituted a special task force committee to revive and suggest necessary amendments in the Goa Investment Promotion Act, 2014.

Maharashtra EnergyMinisterNitin Raut said that disaster response cells will be set up at all the three state-run power utilities.He made the announcement during a visit toChipluntown inRatnagiri district.

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All the three state-run power utilities — MSEDCL, Maha Genco and Maha Transco — will have disaster response cells to minimize the losses incurred due to natural calamities. In the last some years, such natural calamities have caused severe damage to the power distribution infrastructure,

TheMaharashtra StateelectricityDistribution Company’s staff made extensive efforts and has restored power supply to 7,53,000 customers so far.