General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2014

Nov 2014

Apr 18, 2022

Mamata's Trinamool, Congress, Lalu's Party Win Bypolls As BJP Draws a Blank

The Trinamool Congress made a clean sweep winning both the Asansol Lok Sabha and the Ballygunge assembly seats in West Bengal while the Congress and the RJD bagged one constituency each in Maharashtra and Bihar in the bypolls to these seats with the BJP drawing a blank.
In West Bengal, movie actor-turned politician Shatrughan Sinha of the TMC defeated BJP's Agnimitra Paul by 3,03,209 votes in Asansol. The BJP had won the seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by 1.97 lakh votes when Babul Supriyo who was then in the BJP beat TMC's Moon Moon Sen.
In a boost to the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) combine in Maharashtra, the Congress won the bypoll to the Kolhapur North assembly constituency, retaining the seat by defeating the BJP by a margin of over 18,000 votes.
The opposition RJD in Bihar wrested the Bochahan assembly seat from the ruling NDA, with its candidate defeating the BJP nominee by a big margin of over 35,000 votes.

THDC India Signs Pact With Rajasthan Govt To Produce 10,000 Mw Of Renewable Energy

THDC India Limited signed an MoU with the Rajasthan government to produce 10,000 MW of renewable energy.
The project will be completed in five years at a cost of Rs 40,000 crore. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed by THDC CMD Rajiv Vishnoi and Rajasthan Renewable Corporation Ltd Chairman and Additional Secretary (Power) Subodh Agrawal. Barren, infertile pieces of land which are of little use to their owners will be taken on lease for the project to produce 17,000 crore units of electricity.

Punjab Govt Announces 300 Units Free Power Every Month From July 1

The Punjab government announced 300 units of free power for households in the state every month from July 1, but with a caveat that they will have to pay the full bill if their usage exceeds 600 units in two months. However, scheduled castes, backward castes, below-poverty-line households and freedom fighters will be charged just for the usage over and above 600 units.
Mann also announced waiving off electricity bills pending till December 31, 2021 of those households having up to two-kilowatt load.
Moreover, he said there would be no increase in the electricity tariff for industrial and commercial consumers while free power to the farming community would continue.

PM Modi Unveils a 108-Feet Statue Of Lord Hanuman At Morbi In Gujarat

The Prime Minister inaugurated the statue of Lord Hanuman at the Ashram of 'Param Pujya Keshvanand ji' at Morbi in Saurashtra region of Gujarat. This is the second of the four statues being set up in the four directions across the country, as part of Hanumanji Char Dham project.
The first statue in the series was set up in the north in Shimla in 2010, and work on the statue in the south at Rameswaram also started.
Calling Lord Hanuman an inspiration for all and the one who who ensured the right to respect of all the forest-dwelling species and tribals, Modi said it is an important thread of 'Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat'.

Radio Aksh: India's 1st Internet Radio For Visually Challenged Launched In Nagpur

Country's first-ever radio channel for the visually impaired, named 'Radio Aksh' was launched in Nagpur, with the Blind Relief Association Nagpur and Samdrushti Kshamata Vikas Avam Anusandhan Mandal (Saksham) serving as the pioneers of the concept that will help the visually-impaired gain seamless access to education resources and audiobooks.
Educational resources encompassing a variety of subjects are made available through this platform on digital platforms owned by visually-impaired people, who can access this vast bank of information from anywhere as unlike the FM and AM Radio, the technology of Internet Radio is used, which knows no geographical limitations.
A dedicated team of trained volunteers, mostly women, help in the creation of content for the radio channel, which can be streamed to the visually impaired across India and the world. The complex, carefully-performed processes of going through large amounts of content, recording, sound editing and making corrections do not dampen the productivity and the sense of servitude guides the entire team.

Himachal Pradesh CM Announces 50% Discount On Travelling In HRTC Buses For Women

Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur announced 50 per cent discount on travelling in HRTC buses for women. He also announced that all power consumers upto 125 units will get zero bill from July 1. No water charge will be collected from families living in rural areas.
The Chief Minister also announced 5 crore rupees for expediting work on Holiuttarala road and mini secretariat at Chamba. He announced beautification and improvement at Chamba town, besides taking steps to solve its traffic problem.

'Smart Cities, Smart Urbanization' Conference Opens in Surat, with 100 Smart Cities Joining from ...

The 3-day "Smart Cities, Smart Urbanization" conference had a grand opening in Surat . The event is being organised by the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Government of India with Surat Smart City Corporation Development Ltd., under the clarion call of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav (AKAM), given by Hon'ble Prime Minister to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Independence.
Shri Hardeep Singh Puri, Union Minister of Housing and Urban Affairs was the chief guest at the event. He called for making the Smart Cities Mission into the people's Movement; says Work has started in almost 100% of Government funded projects worth over ₹ 90 thousand crore in Smart Cities Mission
India Smart Cities Awards Contest 2020 winners were felicitated; Surat and Indore received award as Best City; Uttar Pradesh awarded the Best State.

DD India Becomes Number One English News Channel

DD India became number one English News channel in the country, in terms of reach. As per Broadcast Audience Research Council, BARC data, the coverage of DD India has reached from 3.6 million-plus in 5th to 11th of March to over 6.5 million during the period of 2nd to 8th of April, 2022.

Niti Aayog Plans To Launch National Data And Analytics Platform To Provide Govt Data In User-Frie...

The NITI Aayog is planning to launch a National Data and Analytics Platform (NDAP) to provide government data in a user-friendly format, to promote data-driven decision making and research. Conceived in 2020, the platform aims to standardise data across government sources and provide flexible analytics that make it easy for users to analyse information using multiple datasets.
The portal will help policymakers, academics and researchers to easily analyse data without having to process it. The portal will have 200 datasets from more than 46 ministries at the time of the launch. New datasets will be added up to the village level in the future. Presently, many government departments have public dashboards with options to download data, some are available as image files while others are in PDF format, making it difficult to compile information. Experts say this will be addressed in NDAP.

Apr 17, 2022

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM) Completes 6 years

National Agriculture Market (e-NAM), a pan-India electronic trading portal has completed six years. The flagship programme integrates physical wholesale mandis and markets of different States and Union Territories to facilitate online trading of agricultural commodities. Launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2016, e-NAM is completely funded by the Central Government and is being implemented by the Small Farmers Agribusiness Consortium.
e-nam platform promotes better marketing opportunities for the farmers to sell their produce through online competitive and transparent price discovery system. Farmers are free to register on e-nam portal and sell their produce. A total of 1000 mandis of 18 states and 3 union territories have been integrated with e-nam platform and more than one crore 72 lakh farmers have registered on this platform so far. The agricultural produce trade with a value of one lakh 82 thousand crore rupees was recorded so far on e-nam platform.

Shivpal Yadav Dissolves Party Units amid Speculation over BJP Bonhomie

Akhilesh Yadav's uncle Shivpal Yadav dissolved all his party's working committees in Uttar Pradesh, and national and state working cells. The Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party's move came amid speculation about the 67-year-old leader's growing bonhomie with the BJP.
As per Deepak Mishra, the party spokesperson, this is a routine exercise that most political parties do post assembly or Lok Sabha elections. And then reconstitute and reorganise the outfit for the next elections.

Apr 16, 2022

Punjab Cadre Ex-IPS Officer Lalpura Re-appointed NCM Chief

The central government re-appointed retired Punjab-cadre IPS officer Iqbal Singh Lalpura as the chairperson of the National Commission for Minorities. Lalpura, who was first appointed as chairman in September in 2021, had to resign from the post in December to contest as the BJP candidate from Ropar assembly constituency, which he lost.
A Sikh intellectual, who has written books on Sikh and Punjabi culture, Lalpura, was appointed BJP spokesperson in September 2021. He had retired as deputy inspector general (DIG), Punjab Police, before joining the BJP in 2012. He served as the senior superintendent of police of Amritsar Rural, Kapurthala and Tarn Taran districts.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi Inaugurated the 'Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya'

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the 'Pradhanmantri Sangrahalaya' during the celebration of Azadi ka Amrit Mahotsav in the national capital, as a tribute to every prime minister in the country since independence, irrespective of their ideology or tenure in office.
The museum is aimed at sensitising and inspiring the younger generation about the leadership, and achievements of Indian prime ministers. The museum will be open to the public with tickets of Rs 100 and Rs 110.
The museum tells the story of India after its independence through the lives and contributions of its prime ministers. Starting from freedom struggle, and the making of the Constitution, the museum goes on to tell the story of how Prime Ministers navigated the nation through various challenges and ensured the progress of the country.

Apr 15, 2022

Road Ministry Completes 141,190 km of National Highways as of March 31

The road transport ministry has completed 1,41,190 kilometre of national highways as on March 31 this year out of the set target of 2 lakh km for 2024-25.
Similarly, the petroleum ministry has completed laying of a gas pipeline of 20,000 km out of 34,500 km targeted for the same period and the power ministry has also surpassed its target for laying the transmission network of 4,54,200 km till the end of March 2022.
Ministry-wise progress of such projects was discussed during a review meeting on PM GatiShakti. It was chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal.

India Designates Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, Freed in IC-814 Hijack, as 'Terrorist'

Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, alias Mushtaq Latram, was designated as a terrorist under the stringent anti-terror law UAPA, a move which enables the security agencies to attach his or associates' properties believed to be purchased from proceeds of crime. With this, anyone staying in touch with him becomes an offender under the law.
He was one of the terrorists released in exchange for passengers of hijacked Indian Airlines plane IC-814 in 1999, besides Masood Azhar, the chief of banned terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Sheikh Omar. Considered to be ruthless in the early 1990s, Zargar had split JKLF and formed his own Al-Umar Mujahideen terror group.

Apr 14, 2022

Cabinet Approves Rs. 5,911 crore for Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan

The Union Cabinet oapproved a financial outlay of Rs. 5,911 crore for the Rashtriya Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA) which would help 2.78 lakh rural local bodies achieve the sustainable development goals. The cabinet, at a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, gave its nod to the revamped RGSA that would help improve Panchayati Raj Institutions and ensure development in villages.
Of the total financial outlay of Rs. 5,911 crore, the central share would be Rs. 3,700 crore with states providing the balance Rs. 2,211 crore. The scheme envisages capacity building with the help of technology and training of Panchayati Raj Institution staff. The ministry has collaborated with the capacity building commission in this regard.

G. Kishan Reddy Launches the Utsav Portal at the Inaugural Day of Amrit Samagam Conference

Union Minister for Tourism, Culture and DONER G. Kishan Reddy inaugurated the 2-day Conference of Amrit Samagam in New Delhi.
G. Kishan Reddy also launched the Utsav Portal. The Utsav Portal website, a digital initiative launched by the Ministry of Tourism, aims to showcase all the events, festivals and live darshans across India to promote different regions of the country as popular tourist destinations worldwide. The objective is to showcase various elements, dates and details of the events and festivals of India on a global platform and increase tourism awareness, attractions, and opportunities by providing tourists with contextual digital experiences in the form of visually appealing photographs and stills from the events. Additionally, the objective is also to let the devotees and travelers experience and view the sights of some of the well-known religious divine shrines in India in the form of Live Darshan.

Modi Lauds Courage of Deoghar Ropeway Rescue Team Personnel

Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted virtually with Indian Air Force, Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel and teams of local administration and civil society who were involved in the rescue operations of the Deoghar ropeway accident in Jharkhand and thanked them for their courage and valour.
Cable cars of the Deoghar ropeway running on Trikut hills, near the famous Baba Baidyanath temple had collided midair due to some technical glitch.
The operation had gone for over 40 hours in which over 60 stranded tourists in cable cars were rescued while three, including two women, had died.

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