The Assam Tribune Analysis Date
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THE ASSAM TRIBUNE ANALYSIS DATE – 6 MARCH 2021 For Preliminary and Mains examination As per new Pattern of APSC (Also useful for UPSC and other State level government examinations) Answer of MCQs of 5-03-2021 1. C. 1 & 3only 2. C. 2 and 3 3. C. Both 4. A. 4 only 5. D. None of the given MCQs of 6-03-2021 Q1. Right to Privacy comes under which Article ? A. Article 19 B. Article 21 C. Article 20 D. None of the above Q2. Which amendment of the constitution is related to reorganization of states on a linguistic basis? A. 1st B. 7th C. 10th D. 15th Q3. Which among the following state does not have a bicameral legislature? A. Maharashtra B. Bihar C. West Bengal D. Andhra Pradesh Q4. The 8th schedule of Constitution of India , originally had how many languages? A. 12 B. 14 C. 16 D. 22 Q5. Which article protects a person’s right to travel abroad under Indian Constitution? A. Article 15 B. Article 21 C. Article 19 D. None of the above CONTENTS 1. EC unveils mascots, releases theme song for Assam polls (GS 5 – Elections ) 2. NRL bio refinery and future of bamboo ( GS 5 – Resources and Energy ) EDITORIALS 1. Fair deal ( GS 2 – Media and privacy ) 2. Taking up the mantle ( GS 5 – History and Political parties ) 3. Assam election and issue of regionalism ( GS 5 – Regionalism ) NEWS ARTICLES EC unveils mascots, releases theme song for Assam polls The Election Commission on Friday unveiled its mascots ‘Bohag’ and ‘Bohagi’ and also released the theme song for the Assam Assembly elections. The Commission said it is undertaking a number of initiatives, under the Voter Education Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation programme, to increase citizens’ participation in the democratic process. The Commission is hoping that the voter turnout in the elections will touch 85 per cent this time. “As people of Assam gear up to exercise their right to vote in the Assembly Elections, the Office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Assam, has set rolling several infotainment initiatives,” said a statement. It added, “The Assembly Election 2021 will be held during the most loved season of the Assamese calendar, i.e., ‘Bohag’ – the season of Rongali Bihu. With the spring setting in, nature blooms in all its glory with the ubiquitous unfurling of leaves and flower buds; even the soil has a characteristic smell promising a flourishing new year of good harvest, new hopes and aspirations. Bohag-Bohagi motivate the people to come forward, exercise their right to vote and celebrate it with gaiety this Bohag Bihu whilst they participate in building a stronger, free, fair and safe democracy.” The mascots, Bohag and Bohagi, which have been designed by K Sai Gowthami, an IIM graduate, “are a balanced fusion of Assam’s glorious past, progressive present and a promising future. These representatives of new generation and the new millennial are well-informed and vigilant voters inspiring the people of Assam to cast their precious votes. Both Bohag and Bohagi personify the energy of a young and vibrant Assam. They are dutiful and responsible human beings and empowered citizens who are willing to come out and exercise their right to vote.” The Commission has also released the theme song for the polls. The theme song is “It’s the time for Election; it’s your time to vote...” The Commission has also roped in four icons. They are Rakesh Banik, who made a name for himself by becoming the first para-cyclist from Northeast India and also an international solo cyclist, noted actor Kapil Bora, singer Anindita Paul, and cricketer Riyan Parag. In order to ensure the conduct of free, fair and safe election, District Election Officers at 50 Legislative Assembly Constituencies (LACs) are holding workshops and awareness camps to educate the voters about ethical voting, the statement said. Special drives are undertaken on low foot fall/vote count areas to encourage the people to come out and vote. The activities undertaken include involvement of local youth groups by targeting colleges in the district and choosing youth ambassadors to lead voter awareness events consisting of interactive competitions, quizzes and general information dissemination. In addition, rallies have been taken out in those polling stations where women voter turnout has been very low. Besides, activities like display of election tableau along with unity walk with participation of line departments, teachers and students; short videos on electoral participation shared in WhatsApp, Facebook and other social media platforms; door-to-door campaigns by Booth Level Officers (BLOs); publicity through hoardings, posters distribution; awareness through mascot; and various competitions, among other things, are being regularly conducted. NRL bio refinery and future of bamboo Assam Bio Refinery Private Limited (ABRPL), a joint venture of Numaligarh Refinery Limited with Finnish collaborators, is likely to commission its second generation (2G) bio refinery ethanol plant by the third quarter of next year and will become the largest consumer of raw bamboo in Assam. The plant will require approximately two crore bamboo poles annually. The ideal bamboo species would be ‘Jati’, ‘Makal’ and ‘Bhaluka’ bamboos. With such assured demand, bamboo farming will be a gainful proposition for the farmers in the State as well as for farmers in Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh and Meghalaya. As per a rough estimate on considering 40% as harvestable yield, a farmer is likely to have a net income of around Rs 20,000 to Rs 25, 000 per season per bigha from bamboo farming once it reaches maturity level after 3-4 years. Besides commercial consideration, bamboo also contributes to the soil and environment. It plays an important role in balancing oxygen and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Its unique root and rhizome structures act as binders, controlling erosion and rejuvenating soil. Additionally, bamboo plantations act as windbreaks and noise and climate buffers. The main bamboo growing areas in Assam are Cachar, Karbi Anglong, North Cachar Hills, Nagaon and Lakhimpur. While forest bamboo is abundantly available, homegrown bamboo cultivations are common across the State. ABRPL is coming out with a well-planned strategy to streamline its supply chain management process which will ensure that the entire logistics remains flawless. The local level entrepreneurs (LLE) will collect bamboos directly from farmers. Bamboos will also be sourced from community farmers, joint forest management committees, etc. The LLE will be equipped with a bamboo chipping machine as these bamboos will have to be chipped before being transported to the plant. The entire process of sourcing, chipping and transportation will be interlinked and the online payments will be made directly to each of the stakeholders in the chain by using blockchain technology which will facilitate faster and secure payment to all the stakeholders. ABPRL will produce 6.0 crore litre of ethanol annually which in turn will be blended with the motor spirit (petrol) before being marketed by oil marketing companies. Blending ethanol with petrol will reduce our dependency on fossil fuels to that extent. The ABPRL plant will also produce acetic acid, furfural and bio-coal. The plant will utilise the 20- megawatt power to be generated from bio-coal, which can be considered as ‘green power’. Growing bamboo as an energy plantation is a lucrative business in terms of low input and high return. One hectare of bamboo plantation in a scientific manner with high yield saplings/rhizomes at the expense of Rs 1 lakh is likely to provide 30-40 metric tonnes of biomass/year from the 4th year onwards until its 50th year. Suitable agroforestry practices with inter-cropping of cash-crops like ginger, turmeric, etc. in the bamboo plantation area for the initial 3-4 years further increases profitability by maximizing land utilisation. Once planted, bamboo clumps will go on producing culms and shoot for about 50 years. In other words, the bamboo plantation will act like banks where people deposit money on fixed-term and enjoy the returns in the form of interest. EDITORIALS Fair deal The global traditional media has been dealt a crippling economic blow because today the internet makes possible universal access to news, which has induced a bulk of the new generation to acquire it online. The Covid-19 pandemic has made a bad situation worse, and newspapers have experienced decreasing circulation and readership, resulting in decreased revenue, especially from advertisements. But traditional media has not shirked from doing its duty, gathering news from the frontline, often at great personal risk to journalists. This is what makes so blatantly unfair the practice adopted by social media platforms like Google and Facebook to reproduce news and information garnered by journalists of the traditional media, without sharing revenue with the media houses and occasionally not even acknowledging the source! While countries in Europe had attempted to try and make the social media giants pay traditional media organizations for contents that had been taken from them, their success had been not very tangible. However, it is only after the Australian Government, prompted by media moguls like Rupert Murdoch, decided to take the bull by the horn, some sort of resolution to a blatantly unfair practice seems to be looming on the horizon. It may be noted that sometime back the Australian Government had put up a draft revenue sharing legislation and Facebook had retaliated by imposing a ban on that country, causing enormous inconvenience to users of social media platforms. With the Australian Government sticking to its guns and Facebook realizing that it would irrevocably lose out to competitors if they persisted with the ban, the social media giant has been coerced into striking a deal with the Government on the proposed legislations that would make the digital platforms pay for reproduced journalistic pieces.