Assam current affairs July 2020 | 15 july – 25 july| Important for APSC, BANK PO, SSC, ASSAM POLICE SI

Assam current affairs July 2020 : Latest Current Affairs in July, 2020 about Assam. Letest news summaries and articles on current events about Assam for APSC,Assam Police, Banking, etc..

Assam current affairs 15 july 2020 :

Assam’s Poba Reserve Forest to be upgraded to wildlife sanctuary

• Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal announced that the Poba Reserve Forest in Dhemaji district would be upgraded to a Wildlife Sanctuary.
• Poba Reserve Forest, declared in 1924 with an area of 10,522 hectares, is home to large number of flora and fauna.

Important facts about Poba Reserved Forest

• Poba Reserved Forest is situated in Jonai Subdivision of Dhemaji District of Assam.
• Poba is one of the richest rain forests of North-East India in terms of the flora and fauna found in it.
• Poba Reserved Forest is an important elephant corridor linking the foot hills of Arunachal Pradesh and Dibru Saikhowa National Park via the proposed Kobu Chapori Reserve Forest.

Assam current affairs 16 july 2020 :

First container ship from Kolkata to Agartala through Chattogram Port inaugurated

• The first-ever container cargo from Kolkata via Bangladesh’s Chattogram port has reached Agartala, achieving a “historic milestone” in the Indo-Bangladesh connectivity and economic partnership.
• An agreement was reached to use of Chattogram and Mongla Ports for movement of India’s transit cargo through Bangladesh.
• Via this route, the distance and time taken in transportation of goods for India particularly the northeastern States will get reduced significantly.
• It will enhance business services and revenue generation for Bangladesh while the logistical sector will also get a big boost in Northeast part of India.

Scientists discover key element of strong antibody response to COVID-19

• A team of scientists at the Scripps Research has discovered a common molecular feature found in many of the human antibodies that neutralize SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19.
• The team reviewed data on nearly 300 anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies and noted that a subset of these antibodies is particularly powerful at neutralizing the virus and these potent antibodies are all encoded by the same antibody gene, IGHV3-53.
• The research was a collaboration chiefly involving the Wilson and Burton labs, and the Scripps Research-based Neutralizing Antibody Center of IAVI, a prominent non-profit vaccine research organization.
• Antibodies are Y-shaped proteins made in immune cells called B-cells. Each B-cell makes a specific antibody type, which is encoded by a unique combination of antibody genes in the cell.
• The scientists found that an antibody gene called IGHV3-53 was the most common of the genes for the 294 antibodies.

Assam current affairs 17 july 2020 :

India ranks 3rd in Global Manufacturing locations suitability

• As per property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, India ranks third in the list of most-suitable locations for global manufacturing among 48 countries in terms of cost competitiveness and operating conditions.
• China and the US retain the top two positions, while India has moved one place higher to rank third.
• In cost scenario also India is at 3rd position after China and Vietnam. But India ranks 30th in risk scenario, due political and economic risks.

Indian Govt launches IIT Delhi’s covid-19 test kit ‘Corosure’ for commercial use

• Indian Government announced the commercial launch of a covid-19 test kit which was developed by the IIT Delhi at a base price of ₹399, the cheapest in the market.
• Approved by the Indian Medical Council of India with the highest score and Drug Control General of India with a very high sensitivity and specificity, the commercial product named ‘Corosure’ was commercially developed by a company named NewTech Medical Devises after obtaining license from the IIT Delhi.
• HRD Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal, who e-launched the affordable RT-PCR based covid-19 diagnostic kit, said “the country requires affordable and reliable testing for the country which can help to control the pandemic. The Corosure has been developed indigenously and is much cheaper than other kits.

Assam current affairs 18 july 2020 :

6 Agricultural scientists from Northeast get ICAR awards

• Six agricultural scientists of three northeastern states Tripura, Meghalaya and Arunachal Pradesh were awarded ICAR’s National Award for their outstanding innovation in farming and boosting agricultural economy in the region.
• Additionally, two Krishi Vigyan Kendras in Arunachal Pradesh and Manipur and three farmers of Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya also received the ICAR awards for their exceptional feats in agricultural and farming sectors of the region.
• Lopamudra Sahoo, Gulab Singh Yadav, Chandan Debnath and Basant Kumar Kandpal of ICAR research complex in Tripura received the Fakhruddin Ali Ahmed Award and Swami Sahajan and Saraswati Award.
• Scientist Amit Kumar, associated with the ICAR research complex in Meghalaya and Nangsol Dolma Bhutia, Assistant Professor of Central Agricultural University at Pasighat have received the Jawaharlal Nehru Award for P.G. Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Research in Agricultural and Allied Sciences.

Clinical trials for Bharat Biotech’s Covid-19 vaccine begins

• India’s first indigenous Covid-19 vaccine Covaxin got a nod from the AIIMS Ethics Committee to start human trials. AIIMS Delhi is among the 12 sites selected by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) for conducting phase I and II human trials of Covaxin.
• In phase I, the Covaxin vaccine would be tested on 375 volunteers and a maximum of 100 of them would be from AIIMS.
• Moreover, human dosing of the vaccine developed by Bharat Biotech India (BBIL) in collaboration with ICMR’s National Institute of Virology (NIV) also started with the vaccine being given to participants at AIIMS, Patna and PGIMS Rohtak.
• Drug firm Zydus Cadila also started human clinical trials of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate ZyCoV-D. The company will be enrolling over 1,000 subjects across multiple clinical study sites in India.
• Earlier, DCGI has permitted two vaccines – Covaxin developed by the Bharat Biotech International Limited in collaboration with the ICMR and ZyCoV-D by Zydas Cadila Healthcare Ltd to go in for phase I and II human clinical trials.

Assam current affairs 19 july 2020 :

India ranks 34th in Global Skills Index 2020 Report

• India has surged ahead of China in business and technology skills due to its growing younger population, reported by the world’s largest online learning platform Coursera.
• In its latest Global Skills Index 2020, India is places at 34th position within the business domain as compared to China’s rank of 45.
• Within the technology domain, India ranks 40th while China ranks 50th
• Within the data science domain, India ranks 51th and within the data management competency, India ranks 58th.

Assam current affairs 20 july 2020 :

Covid-19 related death rates of NE states among country’s lowest

• Central Govt informed that India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world. Four northeastern states viz. Manipur, Nagaland, Mizoram and Sikkim have zero case fatality rate (CFR) till now.
• As per Health Ministry data, the northeastern states have less than one per cent CFR.
• Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and Tripura have a CFR of 0.23 per cent, 0.46 per cent, 0.48 per cent and 0.19 per cent respectively.

Indian Railways’ first cable-stayed rail bridge in Jammu

• The Anji Khad Bridge, India’s first cable-stayed Indian Railways bridge will soon connect Katra and Reasi in of Jammu–Baramulla rail line.
• The ambitious project of Indian Railways has a single pylon, standing at a height of 331 metres above the river bed, is being developed by Konkan Railway Corporation Limited.
• The cable-stayed railway bridge is a part of the Udhampur-Srinagar-Baramulla Rail Link (USBRL) project.
• The total length of the bridge is 473.25 metres. The length of the viaduct is 120 metres and the central embankment has a length of 94.25 metres.

Assam current affairs 21 july 2020 :

Zoram Mega food park launched in Mizoram

• Union Minister of Food Processing Industries Harsimrat Kaur Badal inaugurated the Zoram Mega Food Park Ltd at Kolasib in Mizoram through virtual conference.
• The Zoram Food Park built at a cost of Rs 75 crore will directly benefit over 25,000 farmers and will create employment for over 5,000 local people.
• It is the first mega food park operationalized in Mizoram. It will benefit about 25,000 farmers in the core processing centre and primary processing Centre catchment areas.
• The 55-acre Zoram food park, promoted by Zoram Mega Food Park Pvt Ltd, is located at Khamrang village in Kolasib District, Mizoram.
• A total of 88 ministry-supported food processing projects have been sanctioned in the entire North Eastern Region.

Assam current affairs 22 july 2020 :

Centre to Provide Rs 346 crore to Assam to tackle flood fury

• Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Singh Sekhawat has announced to provide the first instalment of Rs 346 crore under the Flood Management Programme (FMP) in Assam.
• The massive devastation caused by over a month long flood along with erosion in the state. The monsoon flood in Assam has killed at least 89 people, while around 26.32 lakh people in 26 of the 33 districts were affected.
• The flood also badly damaged 115,515 hectares of crop area and infrastructures across the state.
• The central minister requested the Chief Minister to send proposals for sanctioning money under Disaster Risk Management Fund which would facilitate the state government to get more funds from the Central Government for flood management, relief, erosion and other mitigation.
• The Chief Minister also urged for funds to strengthen 5,000 km of embankments built since 1951 in the state, which also turned into road cum embankments.

India’s first public Electric Vehicle charging plaza inaugurated at New Delhi

• Union Minister for Power, New and Renewable Energy, RK Singh, inaugurated India’s first public Electric Vehicle (EV) charging plaza at Chelmsford Club in New Delhi.
• The charging plaza has been set up with a focus on enhancing energy efficiency and promoting e-mobility. This plaza will host 5 EV chargers of different specifications.
• The minister also launched retrofit of air-conditioning to improve indoor air quality for safety and efficiency (RAISE) – a joint initiative of Energy Efficiency Services Limited (EESL) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).
• This is a part of the initiative to “Retrofit of Air-conditioning to improve Indoor air quality for Safety and Efficiency” developed for healthy and energy-efficient buildings, in partnership with USAID’s MAITREE programme.

Assam current affairs 23 july 2020 :

China launches first Mars mission Tianwen 1

• China successfully launched its first Mars probe aiming to complete orbiting, landing and roving in a single mission.
• A Long March-5 rocket, China’s largest and most powerful launch vehicle, carrying the spacecraft with a mass of about five tonnes, soared into the sky from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan province.
• The Chinese Mars probe named Tianwen 1 or Quest for Heavenly Truth 1, will fulfil three scientific objectives (i) orbiting the red planet for comprehensive observation, (ii) landing on Martian soil and (iii) sending a rover to roam the landing site.
• It will conduct scientific investigations into the planet’s soil, geological structure, environment, atmosphere and water.
• The probe consists of three parts — the orbiter, the lander and the rover — and they will separate in Mars orbit. The orbiter will remain in the orbit for scientific operations and to relay signals while the lander-rover combination makes an autonomous descent and landing.

NITI Aayog recommends mandatory use of 25% recycled material in infra projects

• Niti Aayog will recommend to the government to mandate the use of recycled materials up to 25 per cent in large infrastructure projects, in line with the global move to promote the use of secondary products.
• Amitabh Kant, Chief Executive Officer of Niti Aayog, said that Govt should make 25 per cent use of recycled products (metals, plastics and paper) in large infrastructure projects to promote secondary products across India
• Using recycled products by up to 25 per cent may reduce raw material cost of the project by at least 10-15 per cent.

Assam current affairs 24 july 2020 :

Tripura NGO’s scheme for well-off to help underprivileged people

• A NGO from Tripura, Purvaudaya launched “Heart of Humanity”, a project to assist the poor and the needy people by connecting the well-off section of society with underprivileged people.
• Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, along with other ministers inaugurated three outlets of Purvaudaya in Agartala and outskirts areas in which clothes and food would be distributed to the poor free of cost.
• At these outlets the well-off citizens will donate unused and discarded items like clothes, mattresses, quilts, blankets, shoes, toys, books, artefacts, bags, etc which are still in good condition so that the needy people can take them for their use.

India successfully test fires Dhruvastra

• Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) conducts flight trials of the anti-tank guided Nag Missile (HELINA), which has been named now as Dhruvastra.
• The trials were carried out in direct and top attack mode, at Interim Test Range, Balasore, Odisha.
• This is a third-generation, fire-and-forget, anti-tank guided missile. It will support both the air borne forces of the Indian Army as well as the Mechanised infantry.
• The land version of this missile is already available for integration the Nag missile carrier (NAMICA). The missile in the helicopter-launched configuration has been designated as Helicopter-launched NAG (HELINA).
• After the completion of successful trial, this can be fired from the indigenous `Dhruv’ Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH), as well as Rudra (ALH WSI) attack helicopter.

Assam current affairs 25 july 2020 :

• Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal unveiled a surveillance quadcopter (drone) and an anti-depredation quick response vehicle, which will help intensify vigil and curb man-animal conflict.
• An intensified 24X7 surveillance would become possible over the forest cover and check incidents of man-animal conflict.
• The drone will narrow-cast any purported movement of poachers in the national parks, wildlife sanctuaries and other reserve forests.