The Assam Government launches the first phase of ‘Gunotsav 2025,’ a state-wide assessment to evaluate the performance of 14 lakh students across 16,000 government schools in 11 districts.

Gunotsav, an initiative of the Government of Assam, is covering all government elementary and secondary schools in the state. To facilitate the assessment process, external evaluators have been deployed throughout the state.

This diverse group of evaluators will include the Chief Minister, MLAs, the Chief Secretary, college teachers, and government officers, among others, who will visit schools as external evaluators. The three-day-long initiative will conclude on Thursday.

The theme of ‘Gunotsav 2025, is “Ensuring Quality Education”. In the first phase, 11 districts of the state 16,056 schools and 14,11,874 students will be evaluated with the support of 6,365 external evaluators. The first phase of Gunotsav 2025 will continue till January 9.

In Assam, Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting, Railways, and Electronics & Information Technology, Ashwini Vaishnaw, along with Governor Lakshman Prasad Acharya and CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, flagged off three trains—the Guwahati-New Lakhimpur Jan Shatabdi Express, the New Bongaigaon-Guwahati passenger train, and the Tinsukia-Naharlagun Express—and dedicated a road over the bridge in Guwahati today. Mr Vaishnav inaugurated a 10 KW Akashvani Kokrajhar FM Station virtually from Guwahati. The minister also virtually launched the National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology, Guwahati. DG Akashvani Dr. Pragya Paliwal Gaur, along with other dignitaries, was present on the occasion.

The minister said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned the Look East Policy into Act East Policy for the development of the North Eastern region and now investments are pouring into this region. The Centre has increased budgetary allocations for this area 5 times, as the Prime Minister considers North East as the growth engine of the nation.

Inaugurating the 10 KW Akashvani Kokrajhar FM Station virtually from Guwahati, Mr Vaishnaw said that the Centre has fulfilled the long dream of the Bodoland people. Akashvani Kokrajhar, which has been operating with a 20-kilowatt medium-wave transmitter since its inception on 15th August 1999, is now expanding its FM coverage. The new FM transmitter covers a radius of 70 kilometres with better reception quality in Kokrajhar and nearby districts Dhubri, Bongaigaon, and Chirang.

The minister will also visit the Tata semiconductor unit at Jagiroad in the Morigaon district. Later he will also review NF railway projects in Guwahati with senior officials before departing to New Delhi.

CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the technological revolution of our country can help us to realise our target of Viksit Bharat. He said that India is going to be a global manufacturing hub. The CM informed that semiconductor production is to be started from the Tata semiconductor unit at Jagiroad in Morigaon district by the end of this year.

In Assam, a major terror act has been averted in the state following the arrest of two fundamentalists and recovery of arms and explosives by the Special Task Force.

The CPRO of the Assam Police informed that acting on a tip off, the Special Task Force arrested two persons from Kokrajhar district last night under Operation Praghat.

The arrested persons were identified as Abdul Zaher Sheikh and Sabbir Mirdha. It is suspected that the arrested persons are part of a global terrorist organization.

Four handmade rifles, grenade, ammunition have been recovered from the hideout of one of the arrested persons. Our Correspondent reports that the Special Task Force have arrested 10 terrorists so far in the state under Operation Praghat.

December 2, 2024 9:49 PM.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi on Monday. In a social media post, Mr Sarma said that he received the guidance of the Prime Minister on various developmental issues.

On behalf of the people of Assam, Mr Sarma also invited Mr Modi to attend the Assam Investor and Infrastructure Summit and Mega Jhumur Performance in February 2025.

December 1, 2024 8:12 PM.

Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smt Annpurna Devi attended the “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi” programme organized by the Women and Child Development Department, Government of Assam, in Guwahati on Sunday.

Addressing the event, Smt Devi highlighted the ministry’s commitment for early childhood development through the “Poshan Bhi Padhai Bhi” programme, which focuses on quality education for children aged 3-6 years. She noted that 21,772 master trainers from 35 States and 42,308 Anganwadi workers from 20 states, including 1,600 master trainers from Assam, have been trained under this initiative.

Reflecting on the region’s progress, the Minister lauded the Northeast’s multidimensional development over the past decade.

Highlighting women’s empowerment Smt Annpurna Devi shared that through the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM) nearly 10 crore women, including 43 lakh from Assam, have achieved self-reliance. She also underlined the ministry’s dedication to combating malnutrition through initiatives like Poshan Pakhwada and Poshan Maah, with Assam contributing to over 30 lakh campaign activities promoting healthy lifestyles for women and children.

Talking about the development in Assam the Minister noted that 36 One-Stop Centres in the state have supported around 21,000 women. She also informed that under the 2024-25 budget, Anganwadi workers and assistants have been included in the Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana providing an annual health cover of 5 lakh rupees per family. Over 60,000 Anganwadi workers and helpers in Assam now have Ayushman cards, ensuring better healthcare access. The Minister also distributed certificates to the State level master trainers during the programme.

November 14, 2024 7:10 PM.

In Mizoram, Union DoNER Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that the North East Region has witnessed significant development in the last decade under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

    Speaking to media persons in Aizawl today, DoNER Minister said that the focus of the NDA government is to transform the North East as a growth engine of the Indian economy. He said that the North East being the entry point of all Southeast Asian countries into the Indian sub-continent, the North East must play an important role in the dynamics of India’s growth. He said that today there are 17 airports in the North East and all states in the region will be connected by railways in the near future.

    The Minister said that Mizoram has the potential for tremendous growth in the areas of tourism, wildlife, sports, bamboo, horticulture and agriculture, hydro-power, telecom and in many other areas.
    The Minister arrived in Aizawl today for a one-day visit to review various projects in the state under the schemes of DoNER.

November 11, 2024 9:28 PM.

The Assam government signed a tripartite MoU with the Capacity Building Commission (CBC) and Karmayogi Bharat (SPV) in Guwahati today.

This  MoU aims to bolster the implementation, facilitation and engagement with Mission Karmayogi Programme of the Centre for Capacity Building of Civil Servants in Assam by bringing in the Framework of Roles Abilities and Competencies framework and bringing in IT Intervention in Training of Civil Servants.

The Mission Karmayogi – National Programme for Civil Services Capacity Building (NPCSCB) offers civil service officers the Karmayogi Bharat Portal, an online learning platform with the aim to create a competent civil service rooted in Indian ethos, with a shared understanding of India’s priorities, working in harmonisation for effective and efficient public service delivery. Mission Karmayogi aspires to build a Future Ready Civil Service equipped with the right Attitude, Skills and Knowledge, aligned with the vision of New India

The tripartite MoU was signed by  Ravi Kota,  Chief Secretary of the state and  V. Lalithalakshmi,  CEO of Karmayogi Bharat and Secretary, CBC on behalf of the Capacity Building Commission and Karmayogi Bharat.

In Assam, scrutiny of nomination papers for the by-polls to five assembly seats is in progress.  38 candidates have filed nomination papers for by-polls to Dholai, Samaguri, Behali, Sidli and Bongaigaon constituencies to be held on the 13th of next month.

Our Correspondent reports that the ruling BJP has filed nominations in three seats while UPPL and Asom Gana Parishad in one seat each.

The opposition Congress has put up candidates in all the five seats. AAP and Bodoland People’s Front have filed nominations for two and one seat respectively

October 20, 2024 10:18 PM.

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma today launched Mission Basundhara 3.0 in Guwahati to provide land rights to indigenous people. Under this, steps will also be taken to digitise various land-related services and publish maps for the benefit of the people of the state.

The Chief Minister also launched the Revenue Department’s Digidoc, a digital directory for non-registrable and optional registrable documents. The directory will streamline services, reduce processing time, enhance public convenience, and improve accessibility and efficiency.

Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said that immediately after assuming office, his government decided to provide land rights to indigenous communities in Assam, an exercise undertaken after 75 years of independence.

He said that with this purpose,  Mission Basundhara was started in 2021. He further said that the Assam government disposed of eight lakh applications in nine months under Mission Basundhara 1.

October 18, 2024 5:09 PM.

In Assam, the byelections in five assembly seats will be held as per the pre-delimited constituencies. Talking to newspersons in Guwahati, Chief Electoral Officer Anurag Goel said that with the issuance of the notification, the nomination process has begun today.

However, Mr Goel made it clear that voters shouldn’t worry about the EPIC cards, as both old and new cards will be allowed on polling day. Mr. Goel said that over 9 lakh voters can vote in the by-elections.

The bypolls for Dholai (SC), Samaguri, Behali, Bongaigaon, and Sidli (ST) constituencies have been necessitated after their respective MLAs were elected to the Lok Sabha earlier this year. Out of a total electorate of 910,665, 455,924 are women and 454,722 are men. Additionally, 4,389 voters with physical disabilities and 3,788 voters over the age of 85 will also participate.

Voting will be conducted across 1,078 polling stations, with Sidli (ST) having the highest number of booths at 273, while Behali has the lowest with 154. The polling hours will be from 7 am to 5 pm, ensuring that voters present at the polling stations before closing will be allowed to vote.

Goel assured that preparations for the bypolls are on track, with sufficient stock of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the first randomisation scheduled for Saturday. “The model code of conduct is already in effect across the districts where these constituencies are located,” he said.