General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - August 2015

Aug 2015

Jan 21, 2022

Haryana, Himachal to Sign MoU on Plan to Revive Saraswati River

In a bid to revive the Saraswati River, the governments of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh entered into an agreement that entails the building of a dam to supply round-the-year water flow to the river channel. The MoU was signed by Khattar and his Himachal Pradesh counterpart Jairam Thakur at Adi Badri in Haryana's Yamunanagar district, which is situated near the Himachal Pradesh border and is believed to be the river's point of origin.
A portion of the Som River — a tributary of the Yamuna that passes through Adi Badri — will be diverted to the Rs. 215-crore dam from where it will flow into the stream of the Saraswati River.

Cabinet Extends Tenure of National Commission for Safai Karamcharis

The Union Cabinet approved the extension of the National Commission for Safai Karamcharis (NCSK) for three years with effect from April 1, 2022. Now it will remain in effect till March 31, 2025.
The commission is responsible for giving recommendations to the government regarding specific programmes for welfare of safai karamcharis, study and evaluate the existing welfare programmes for safai karamcharis, investigate cases of specific grievances.
The commission was established in 1993 as per the provisions of the NCSK Act till March 31, 1997.

Statehood Day: PM Modi Greets People of Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 21, 2022, greeted the people of Manipur, Meghalaya, and Tripura on their statehood day and praised them for their "vibrant contributions" to the country's development.
The three States were formed on this day 50 years back in 1972 with the enactment of North-Eastern Areas (Reorganisation) Act, 1971.

Jan 20, 2022

Sena, NCP Finalise Pre-poll Tie-up

The Shiv Sena and Sharad Pawar-led NCP decided to forge a pre-poll alliance for the next month's Assembly elections in Goa, saying that the Congress didn't respond to their proposal for a joint contest.
As per reports, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Sena will field candidates on at least 10-12 seats each.

PM Modi to Host First India-Central Asia Summit Virtually

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will host the first India-Central Asia Summit in a virtual format on January 27.
The summit will be held with the participation of the Presidents of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
This will be the first engagement of its kind between India and the Central Asian countries at the level of leaders.
The first India-Central Asia Summit is a reflection of India's growing engagement with the Central Asian countries, which are a part of India's extended neighbourhood.

Meghalaya Extends Upper Age Limit for Job Aspirants by 5 Years

The Meghalaya government extended the upper age limit of government job aspirants from 27 years to 32 years for non-tribals and the upper age limit for the job seekers belonging to the tribals would be 37 years.
The Chief Minister after the cabinet meeting, chaired by him, told the media that the latest relaxation, however, would not be applicable for jobs in certain departments including police, civil defence and home guards.

Jan 19, 2022

Amit Palekar is AAP's CM candidate in Goa

The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced its Chief Ministerial candidate for Goa. Amit Palekar is AAP's CM candidate, Delhi Chief Minister and AAP's national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said. The party would be contesting all the 40 Assembly seats in Goa. Palekar joined the AAP in October 2021. Palekar is an advocate by profession and comes from the Bhandari community. The Bhandari community accounts for about 35 per cent of Goa's population.

Punjab's Rukmani New Collector of Sriganganagar

Rukmani Riar is the second Punjab born officer to take charge of Sriganganagar District Collector, which is also known as "Punjab of Rajasthan".
Kiran Soni Gupta (Ludhiana born) was the first woman to serve as the DC of Sriganganagar. Riar became a household name in 2011 when she not only cracked Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) exams, but also secured an All India Rank 2 in her very first attempt.

Jan 18, 2022

Punjab Assembly Polls Postponed to February 20

The Election Commission has postponed the Punjab Assembly polls to February 20 in view of the Ravi Das Jayanti celebrations.
According to the new schedule, the date of notification will be January 25. The last date for filing the nominations is February 1. The date of scrutiny is February 2 and the last date of withdrawal is February 4. The counting of votes remains unchanged- March 10.
The Commission said the postponement had been done as it had received several representations from the state government, political parties and other organisations drawing its attention to the expected movement of a large number of people from Punjab to Varanasi for participation in Guru Ravidas Jayanti celebrations.

Bhagwant Mann is AAP's CM Candidate for Punjab Polls

Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal announced the result of the opinion poll at Mohali and declared Mann as the CM candidate for Punjab.
The party had opened a phone line and asked people to give their choice for the candidate.
Over 93 per cent voters voted for Mann.
Bhagwant Mann is an Indian politician and former actor. Since May 2014, he is the Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha for Sangrur constituency, Punjab.

Republic Day Flypast this Year Will be 'Grandest and Largest' with 75 Aircraft

The Republic Day parade on the Rajpath this year will see the grandest and largest flypast ever with a total of 75 aircraft to mark the Azadi ka Amrut Mahotsav celebrations. The flypast will conclude with seven jaguar fighter aircraft flying in the 'Amrit' formation to commemorate the 75 years of Independence.
The flypast will include 'Tangail' formation which will have one Dakota and two Dornier flying in Vic formation. This is tribute to the Tangail air drop operations of the 1971 War. There will also be 'Meghna' formation of 1 Chinook and four Mi-17s.
The flypast will begin with 'Dhwaj' formation with four Mi-17 aircraft, followed by 'Rudra' and 'Rahat' formations with 4 and 5 Advanced Light Helicopters (ALH), respectively.

Chhattisgarh Rojgar Mission

The Chhattisgarh Government is to launch an employment mission called the Rojgar Mission. The mission aims to create 15 lakh job opportunities in the state in the next five years.
The mission will leverage experts from IITs, IIITs, IIMs. It is to be headed by the Chief Minister of the state. The others taking active roles in the mission are chief secretary and principal secretary of the state.
The Chief Minister is the chairman. The Chief Secretary of the state is the vice chairman and the principal secretary will act as Chief Executive Officer. The committee will also include the managing director of minor forest produce federation of the state.
According to report released by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) in 2022, the unemployment rate in Chhattisgarh is 2.1%. The state ranks fourth among the states with lowest unemployment rate.

Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs Announces 'Open Data Week'

The Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA) announced the initiation of the Open Data Week to encourage the adoption of open data and promote innovation across India's urban ecosystem.
According to the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, leading up to the 'Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav - Smart Cities: Smart Urbanization' conference scheduled to be held in Surat, during February 2022, the Open Data Week is part of a series of pre-event initiatives being undertaken by MoHUA to promote awareness and use of open data.
It will be conducted during the third week of January, i.e., from 17th January 2022 to 21st January 2022.
The event aims to show the benefits of open data such as increased efficiency, transparency, a spur in innovation, and economic growth. It is divided into two segments - first, uploading of datasets, visualizations, APIs and data blogs on the Smart Cities Open Data Portal from 17th January 2022 to 20th January 2022 and the second celebration of a Data Day by all smart cities on 21st January 2022.

Jan 17, 2022

PM Modi Address World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda

Prime Minister Narendra Modi delivered a 'State of the World' special address at the World Economic Forum's Davos Agenda via video conference.
The virtual event will be held from January 17 to 21 and will also be addressed by several Heads of State including Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio, European Commission President Ursua von der Leyen, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Chinese President Xi Jinping, among others.

Indian Railways' Mission Amanat

Operation Mission Amanat: Indian Railways launches a new initiative to track lost belongings of passengers! From now, Indian Railways travellers do not have to worry about their luggage while travelling. In case of lost belongings, one can easily track their lost items and get them back. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) plays a major role to ensure the safety and security of passengers as well as their luggage and belongings. In this direction, the RPF has taken a new initiative by launching "Mission Amanat", making it easier for the railway passengers to get back their lost luggage. According to a press release issued by Western Railways, under the new Mission Amanat initiative, the details of lost luggage and belongings along with photos are posted on the official website of the zonal railway.

Former Kanpur Police Commissioner, Joins BJP

Aseem Arun, a former Kanpur police Commissioner, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Union Minister Anurag Thakur welcomed Arun to the saffron party and said that the latter had seen how the Yogi Adityanath government crushed the mafia to restore law and order in the state.
Arun, a 1994 batch IPS officer, had resigned earlier this month to join politics and is likely to contest the Kannauj Assembly seat.

Mansukh Mandaviya Releases Commemorative Postal Stamp on COVID-19 Vaccine

As India completed one year of Covid-19 vaccination, claimed to be the world's largest and most successful vaccination drive, a total of 157 crore vaccine doses were given across the country.
As per the World Health Organisation (WHO) data, the global average of persons fully vaccinated per 100 population is 50.03, whereas that in some of the world's most populous countries such as India are (44.72%), US (61.07%), China (82.69%), Brazil (67.27%) and Russian Federation (43.57%).
Mansukh Mandaviya, Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare, released a commemorative postal stamp on Covid-19 vaccine to mark the 1st anniversary of India's national Covid-19 vaccination programme. The commemorative stamp design features a healthcare worker inoculating a senior citizen with Covid-19 vaccine, along with an image of 'Covaxin' vial, India's indigenously developed Covid-19 vaccine.

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