General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2015

Sep 2015

Aug 14, 2021

India-Australia 2+2 Ministerial Meeting in September

India and Australia are expected to hold their first minister-level 2+2 meeting in September 2021.
This first ever meeting between Foreign and Defence Ministers will be held as a part of bilateral plan to upgrade Secretary-level 2 plus 2 interactions.
Foreign Minister Marise Payne and Defence Minister Peter is to visit India and Indonesia in September.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison is also expected to attend a Quad summit level meeting the line of U.N. General Assembly in September in New York.
This meeting was planned during a virtual meeting between Ms. Payne and S. Jaishankar amid covid-19 pandemic.
Besides the Quad initiative, Australia and India also have to deal with travel restrictions, placed because of covid-19 pandemic.
Defence Minister Peter Dutton is also expected to invite India to join next round of Talisman Sabre exercises in Queensland.

UP Renames Kakori Train Conspiracy to Kakori Train Action

Uttar Pradesh government has renamed a landmark freedom movement called "Kakori Train Conspiracy" as "Kakori Train Action" and paid tributes to the revolutionaries who were hanged for robbing a train at Kakori in Uttar Pradesh.
Revolutionaries had robbed the train in order to buy weapons in 1925.
Family members of the freedom fighters were also honoured on this occasion.
Those revolutionaries were some passionate people who were having a single goal of independence of India from British rule. So, name was changed considering that, they did not commit any conspiracy as they were fighting for freedom.
Freedom fighters Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Roshan Singh were hanged to death on December 19, 1927 for their involvement in Kakori robbery.

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla Gets One Year Extension

Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla was given a one year extension, beyond his present tenure that was to end next week.
Bhalla, a 1984 batch IAS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, was appointed as the Home Secretary in August 2019.
His tenure was extended till August 22, 2021 in October 2020.

Aug 13, 2021

Sudhir Kumar Saxena Appointed Secretary-Security, Cabinet Secretariat

Senior IPS officer Sudhir Kumar Saxena was appointed Secretary (Security), Cabinet Secretariat.
Saxena, a 1987 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of Madhya Pradesh cadre, is currently Special Director General, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF).
The Secretary (Security) is the administrative head of the Special Protection Group (SPG) that provides security to the prime minister and members of his immediate family residing with him at his official residence.

In a First, Surat Gets Diamond Exhibition-cum-auction Centre

Gems and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) has developed India's first diamond auction-cum-exhibition centre in Surat.
The centre, developed on a 2,200 square feet area at Vesu, will be inaugurated by GJEPC chairman Colin Shah on August 16. The auction centre has come up at a cost of Rs. 4 crore, which was borne by GJEPC.
With the auction centre having all the facilities of safe vaults, locker systems, conference halls, exhibition area with advance security systems, the diamond mining companies can come to Surat for carrying out auction process of diamonds.

Aug 12, 2021

Indore Becomes India's First 'Water Plus' City

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said that Indore, which is the country's cleanest city, has now been declared as the first 'water plus' city of India under the Swachh Survekshan 2021.
Swachh Survekshan, which was launch as a part of Swachh Bharat Mission, is an annual survey of cleanliness, hygiene and sanitation in cities and towns in India.

Congress Constitutes UP Poll Panel

Gearing up for the Assembly polls next year, the Congress constituted the election committee for Uttar Pradesh, which includes state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union Ministers Salman Khurshid, Rajeev Shukla and R. P. N. Singh.
Apart from 38 members named in the panel, national president/chairperson of AICC organisations/departments from Uttar Pradesh, state heads of frontal organisations, vice-presidents and general secretaries of the UPCC will be its ex-officio members.

Nagaland Opposition, Ruling PDA to Come Together for United Government

The opposition Naga People's Front (NPF), the ruling Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP), and the BJP, a major ally of the government, have agreed in principle to form an oppositionless "Nagaland United Government" including two Independent MLAs. This follows NPF's July 20 proposal to the NDPP-led People's Democratic Alliance (PDA) to come together for the Naga peace process.
This was resolved in a meeting held at the residential office of Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio with the representatives of all the political parties involved.
Nagaland has had an oppositionless government earlier in 2015 during the third tenure of the NPF-led Democratic Alliance of Nagaland when Congress MLAs joined the government and subsequently merged with the ruling NPF.

Aug 11, 2021

MP Assembly Clears Bill on Death Penalty

The Madhya Pradesh Assembly passed a bill prescribing capital punishment and life imprisonment in cases related to deaths caused by consumption of spurious liquor.
The bill amending the state Excise Act to enhance punishment in spurious liquor cases was presented by Finance and Excise Minister Jagdish Devda, and the legislation came in the wake of the death of a dozen people.
Assembly speaker Girish Gautam declared it passed without any discussion amid sloganeering by Congress legislators who were demanding the implementation of the 27 per cent quota for OBCs in jobs and education announced by the erstwhile Kamal Nath government.
Under the Bill, provisions of life imprisonment and the death penalty have been made in cases related to deaths due to spurious liquor besides imposing a fine of Rs. 20 lakh on culprits.

Gujarat CM Launches eNagar Mobile Application and Portal

Gujarat Chief Minister, Vijay Rupani has launched eNagar mobile application and portal. The eNagar covers 10 modules with 52 services including property tax, professional tax, water & drainage, Complaints and grievance redressal, building permission, fire and emergency services.
Gujarat Urban Development Mission has been appointed as a nodal agency for eNagar project. Total 170 locations including 162 municipalities and 8 Municipal Corporations are covered under the eNagar project.

A. Amuthan is Private Secretary to Puducherry CM

The Lieutenant Governor has appointed A. Amuthan, associate dean (Autonomy and Accreditation) and professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Pondicherry Engineering College, as private secretary to the Chief Minister on deputation.
The appointment order said that he would be on deputation for the tenure of the present Chief Minister or till his services are required by the Chief Minister.

India Invited to Afghanistan Meet

India has been invited for a meeting of regional countries on Afghanistan in Doha later this week, which will see the participation of countries like Turkey and Indonesia as well. The invite was extended during the visit of Qatari special envoy for Counter-Terrorism and Mediation in Conflict Resolution Mutlaq Al Qahtani.
The Regional Conference on Afghanistan is expected to take place on August 12. The meet comes even as Doha is hosting the Troika Plus meet on Wednesday involving the US, Russia, China and Pakistan.

PM Modi Launches Ujjwala 2.0

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched Ujjwala 2.0 -- the second phase of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) -- by handing over LPG connections in Mahoba in Uttar Pradesh.
After the formal launch, the Prime Minister distributed free gas connections to 10 women virtually.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath handed over the documents to the women on behalf of the PM.

Aug 10, 2021

Manish Tewari Calls for Vote of No-confidence Motion against NDA Govt.

Congress Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari suggested that the Opposition must consider bringing a vote of a no-confidence motion against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
As the logjam in Parliament continues over the issues including farmers' agitation, Pegasus issue and COVID-19 mismanagement, Congress MP tweeted, "Since NDA/BJP Govt is showing a level of obduracy unwitnessed before in annals of Parliamentary Democracy by not discussing l'affaire Pegasus, Farmers agitation and COVID mismanagement joint opposition should seriously consider bringing a vote of no-confidence against NDA/BJP Govt."

Chidamabaram, Jairam Ramesh Poll Observers for Goa, Manipur

Congress president Sonia Gandhi has appointed senior leaders P. Chidamabaram and Jairam Ramesh to oversee election strategies and overall coordination for Goa and Manipur respectively.
Both the states will have elections in the early part of 2022. In the last Assembly elections, though the Congress had emerged as the single largest party in both the States, the BJP formed the government with the help of post poll alliances and some defections from the Congress.

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