General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - November 2014

Nov 2014

Jan 14, 2022

Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) 2021 - 2022

Minister of State for Education Subhas Sarkar launched the Swachh Vidyalaya Puraskar (SVP) 2021 - 2022 virtually while stressing on the importance of water sanitation, and hygiene and the role these factors play in determining the health of the students, attendance, dropout rate, and learning outcomes. He added that having the provision of water, sanitation and hygiene facilities in schools secures a healthy school environment and protects children from illness and exclusion.

Lovlina Borgohain Appointed by the Assam Government as DSP

Champion boxer and Tokyo Olympics bronze medallist Lovlina Borgohain was appointed by the Assam government as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in the state police force.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma presented the boxing star with an appointment letter at a ceremony in Guwahati. He assured her of a monthly sum of Rs. 100,000 - apart from her salary - that is meant to cover requirements for training. Sarma also said a road in Guwahati would soon be named after her.
Borgohain is the second sportsperson from the state to be appointed a DSP in Assam Police as per a new sports policy. In February last year, top sprinter Hima Das was given the same honour.

Goa Assembly Polls 2022: BJP to Contest All 40 Seats

Ahead of the 2022 Goa Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has shortlisted the names of candidates for 40 seats for recommendation to the party`s parliamentary board.
The BJP leader also announced that the final list of candidates will be declared by the BJP parliamentary board in Delhi soon.
Notably, Goa will go to the polls on February 14. The counting of votes will take place on March 10.

Assam, Meghalaya Reach Understanding on 6 Disputed Areas

Assam reached an understanding with Meghalaya on resolving six of the 12 areas of dispute along the border between the states and will sign a memorandum of understanding later this month, Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said in Guwahati after a meeting with his Meghalaya counterpart Conrad Sangma.
Last year, the two chief ministers agreed to sort out the differences in a phased manner and decided to first focus on six of the 12 disputed areas along the inter-state border.
The six areas that were taken up first for resolution are Tarabari, Gizang, Hahim, Boklapara, Khanapara-Pilangkata and Ratacherra. The areas fall in Kamrup, Kamrup (Metropolitan) and Cachar districts of Assam and West Khasi Hills, Ri Bhoi and East Jaintia Hills districts of Meghalaya.

Jan 13, 2022

S. Somanath New ISRO Chief

S. Somnath, an eminent rocket scientist, was appointed as the chairperson of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO). K Sivan, the outgoing chairperson, will be completed his extended term.Sivan was appointed as the ISRO chief in January 2018 and was given a one-year extension till January 14, 2022.
Somanath's appointment as the Space secretary and the Space Commission Chairman is for a combined tenure of three years from the date of joining of the post, inclusive of an extension in tenure beyond the age of superannuation in public interest.

NCP to Ally with SP for UP Polls; Contest in Goa, Manipur

In a significant political development, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar announced that his party would contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Goa and Manipur.
While the NCP would be joining the SP-led alliance in Uttar Pradesh, in Manipur, the party is cobbling up an understanding with the Congress, with which it shares power in Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Indu Malhotra to Head SC Panel to Probe PM's Security Breach

The Supreme Court appointed a five-member committee headed by former apex court judge Justice Indu Malhotra to probe the security breach during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Punjab.
The bench also appointed the Inspector General of the National Investigation Agency (NIA), Director General of Police of Chandigarh, the Registrar General of the Punjab and Haryana High Court and the Additional DGP (Security) of Punjab as members to the panel.
The top court's order has come on the plea of an organisation, Lawyers Voice, seeking a thorough investigation into the breach in Modi's security in Punjab to ensure there is no such incident in the future.

Jan 12, 2022

Kevadia Railway Station Renamed as Ekta Nagar Railway Station

From now, Indian Railways' Kevadiya station to be known as Ekta Nagar railway station! The Ministry of Railways has approved the renaming of the Statue of Unity's Kevadiya railway station. This Gujarat's railway station which falls under the Vadodara division has been renamed as 'Ekta Nagar' railway station. The station code of Ekta Nagar railway station will be EKNR and the numerical code of the station will be 08224620.

S. Jaishankar Speaks with Counterparts from Poland and Portugal

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar spoke to his counterparts from Poland and Portugal, focusing on ways to expand overall bilateral cooperation.
After the phone talks with Polish Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau, Jaishankar said that the focus was on the importance of more political exchanges, expanded trade and smoother travel.
Following his talks with Portuguese Foreign Minister Augusto Santos Silva, Jaishankar said that India counts on Portugal's strong support for expanding its relations with Europe.
In the last few days, Jaishankar spoke to his counterparts from the US, Russia, the UK, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, Singapore, United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.

Registered Unrecognised Political Parties Doubled in 2010-2021

As per poll rights group Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), the number of registered unrecognised political parties increased more than twice between 2010 and 2021 and disproportionately during the year of parliamentary elections.
Either newly registered parties or those which have not secured enough percentage of votes in assembly or general elections to become a state party, or those which have never contested elections since being registered are considered unrecognised parties.
In a new report, the ADR said from 1112 parties in 2010, the number spiked to 2,301 in 2019 and now in 2021, the number rose to 2,858.

Goa Minister Govind Gaude Resigns as Independent MLA

A day after two BJP MLAs resigned from the party, Govind Gaude, an independent legislator and the state's Art and Culture Minister resigned as MLA and said that he would be joining the Bharatiya Janata Party later in the day.
While four MLAs have quit the BJP so far over the last one month, three sitting MLAs namely Ravi Naik (Congress), Rohan Khaunte (Independent) Jayesh Salgaokar (Goa Forward) have so far joined the BJP.

ICHR Gets New Chairman

Raghuvendra Tanwar, a professor emeritus and former registrar of the Kurukshetra University, was appointed as chairman of the Indian Council of Historical Research (ICHR), New Delhi.
Prof. Tanwar's tenure as ICHR chairman is for three years.
Tanwar served the KU history department for 42 years and held very important positions including the chairperson, dean of the faculty, dean of students welfare, and professor emeritus.
He was appointed the director of Haryana Academy of History and Culture in 2016. He also served as a UGC national fellow, a prestigious position in academia, from 2002-2005.
Prof. Tanwar is a world-renowned expert in the field of partition studies and Jammu & Kashmir and has published a large number of books and research papers in the national and international journal in these areas.

NCP to Contest Assembly Polls in Goa, UP, Manipur

Nationalist Congres Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar announced that his party will contest the forthcoming assembly elections in Goa, Uttar Pradesh and Manipur.
The NCP chief said that the party is going to contest elections with Samajwadi Party and other smaller parties in Uttar Pradesh.

Jan 11, 2022

Capt Amarinder's Punjab Lok Congress Gets 'Hockey Stick and Ball' as Poll Symbol

The Election Commission of India allotted 'Hockey Stick and Ball' as election symbol to Punjab Lok Congress, led by former Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, ahead of the Punjab Assembly elections.
Punjab will vote on February 14, while the counting of votes will take place on March 10.
An election symbol is a standardised symbol allocated to a political party. They are used by the parties during their campaigning and are shown on Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), where the voter chooses the symbol and votes for the associated party.
The pictorial symbol helps the large percent of illiterate voters to identify the party they want to vote for.
The party symbols are allocated by the Election Commission under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.

Odisha Raises Upper Age Limit for Govt. Jobs

The Odisha cabinet raised the upper age limit from 32 to 38 years for recruitment into government jobs.
Chief secretary Suresh Mohapatra said that the upper age limit for various recruitments of the state government was raised to enable aspirants, who missed out the opportunity because of the Covid situation over the last two years, to appear for recruitment examinations.
The relaxation in the upper age limits will be initially applicable for three years- 2021, 2022 and 2023. The upper age limit for candidates belonging to SC/ST and SEBC categories have been increased to 43 years. Similarly, the upper age limit will be 43 years for women candidates.

Jan 10, 2022

Elections to Start from Western UP on February 10

Voting for the high-stakes Uttar Pradesh assembly elections will be held in seven phases, starting from the western part of the politically crucial state on February 10 and moving eastwards.
Punjab (117 seats), Uttarakhand (70 seats) and Goa (40 seats) will have single-day voting on February 14, coinciding with the second phase of polls in UP.
For Manipur, the poll panel has decided to conduct voting in two phases - 38 seats on February 27 and 22 seats on March 3.

U.P's New Revenue Villages

Uttar Pradesh government declared four villages across the Nepal border in the Bahraich district as revenue villages.
The four villages are Bhavanipur, Tedhia, Dhakia and Bichhia.
They are located in Mihinpurwa tehsil of the Bahraich district.
All these villages are Vantangiya villages.
A revenue village is a small administrative region, having defined borders. One revenue village may comprise of many hamlets. It is a geographic area comprising many Tehsils, which in turn cover villages. The Revenue Divisional Officer exercises some fiscal and administrative powers over its jurisdiction. It is headed by a Revenue Divisional Officer.
Seven districts in UP share border with Nepal. These districts are- Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Bahraich, Kheri, Balrampur, Shravasti, Maharajganj and Siddharthanagar. The border is under the jurisdiction of Central Police force SSB.

GoI Extends Navrang Saini's Term as Interim Chief of IBBI

The Government of India extended the tenure of Navrang Saini as interim Chairperson of Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India (IBBI) for three more months till March 05, 2022. Mr. Saini, who is a Whole Time Member of IBBI, was assigned additional charge of Chairperson in addition to his existing duties in October 2021 for three months till January 2022. The post of full-time Chairperson has been lying vacant after M.S. Sahoo retired upon completing a five-year tenure on September 30, 2021.

Uttarakhand Polls: BJP Eyes Second Consecutive Term

With power shuttling between the BJP and the Congress every five years in Uttarakhand, the ruling BJP faces the challenge of repeating its government for a second consecutive term when the state goes to polls on February 14.
The challenge is only stiffened by an anti-incumbency worsened by the fact that the party in power gave three Chief Ministers to the state in less than five years, changing two of them in quick succession despite storming to power with a huge mandate in 2017.

Punjab Appoints V. K. Bhawra as New Police Chief

Senior IPS officer Viresh Kumar Bhawra was appointed as the new director-general of Punjab police.
The order came just hours before the announcement of the dates for the assembly elections in five states including Punjab.
Bhawra, who was the DGP of Punjab Home Guards, replaced officiating DGP Siddharth Chattopadhyaya.
The Charanjit Singh Channi government selected the 1987 batch officer Bhawra out of a panel of three officers shortlisted by the Union Public Service Commission.
The other two officers in the panel were senior IPS officers Dinkar Gupta and Prabodh Kumar.

World War II era Agartala Airport to be 3rd International Airport in NE

The Agartala airport, which was first built in 1942 after the land was donated by the then Tripura king Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur and was used as a technical base for the Royal Air Force during World War II, would likely be declared an international airport soon to boost air connectivity with the neighbouring countries.
Agartala airport, earlier known as Singerbill Airport, was renamed after Maharaja Bir Bikram Kishore Manikya Bahadur in July 2018. It is being used in a big way by Bangladesh nationals, for whom Agartala sometimes is the first stop to a destination in India or overseas as the airport is much closer to their areas than their own country's airports.

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