General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2015

Sep 2015

Aug 04, 2019

NPR data to be collected in a year

The next round of recording biometric and family-tree details of Indian citizens under the National Population Register (NPR) will be conducted in September 2020, a government notification said.
The exercise is different from the decennial Census and is not linked to the National Register of Citizens (NRC). The objective of the NPR is to create a comprehensive identity database of every usual resident in the country.
The database would contain demographic as well as biometric particulars.

India protests over UN chief's report

In the "Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict",, UN chief Antonio Guterres said children continued to be affected by incidents of violence between armed groups and the government "particularly in Jammu and Kashmir and in the context of the Naxalite insurgency".
Paulomi Tripathi, India's first Secretary at the UN General Assembly, speaking at a Security Council open debate on children and armed conflict on Friday, pointed to the importance of credible, impartial and transparent implementation of the mandate given to the UN system.

U.S. bans ground handling by Air India

On July 30, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DoT) served an order amending Air India's foreign air carrier permit, which now reads, "the holder may not perform its own ground-handling functions (including includes boarding, baggage handling, refuelling, and catering) in the United States".
The problem between the two countries over the issue of ground-handling surfaced after India amended its ground handling regulation in 2017, barring all foreign airlines from conducting self handling at defence airports.Affected airports will be San Francisco, Washington, New York, Newark, and Chicago.

Aug 03, 2019

India again Rejects Trump Offers

Foreign minister S. Jaishankar conveyed to the US in clear terms that any talks to resolve the Kashmir dispute can only be held between India and Pakistan, and that he will not invite third-party mediation.
Late last month, the US President claimed that India's Narendra Modi had asked him to be an arbitrator between the two sides in the disputed Himalayan region - a development that seemed highly unlikely to observers and which officials in Delhi denied.
This development came on a day when US President Trump seemed to issue a qualified offer to mediate between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir dispute, though he seemed to be stepping back from his earlier position that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had asked him to mediate between the two countries.
Jaishankar's meeting with US secretary of state Mike Pompeo took place on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Asia Summit and other meetings in Bangkok.

Unimpeded Consular Access to Kulbhushan Jadhav

Pakistan was asked by India to provide unimpeded consular access to Kulbhushan Jadhav in an environment free from the fear of intimidation and reprisal, in sync with the International Court of Justice's ruling in his case.
India sent a communication to Pakistan, virtually turning down Islamabad's conditional offer of providing consular access to Jadhav.
Around three days ago, Pakistan offered India consular access to Jadhav. The offer came two weeks after the Hague-based ICJ ordered Pakistan to grant consular access to Jadhav without further delay.
Pakistan had put a set of conditions for the consular access, which included presence of a Pakistani official when Indian officials meet Jadhav.

Aug 02, 2019

India Conveys Concerns F-16 Assistance to Pakistan

India registered a strong protest over the US approving a proposed military sale worth $125 million for Pakistan's F-16 combat jet fleet.
Days after the meeting between Imran Khan and Donald Trump, the Pentagon announced that the state department had approved the proposed deal for "24/7 enduse monitoring" of the F-16s.
As per the US side, the proposed sale does not indicate any change in the US policy of maintaining a freeze in military assistance to Pakistan.

Free Electricity in Delhi up to 200 Units

As per reports, residents of Delhi would not have to pay anything for consuming up to 200 units of power.
If a consumer uses 201 units, he will have to pay the full charge.
For consumption of electricity between 201 and 400 units, about 50 per cent of subsidy would be provided.

Jaishankar Holds Meetings with World Leaders

External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar held a series of bilateral meetings with his counterparts from China, Japan, Britain, New Zealand and other countries.
Jaishankar is in the Thai capital to attend a number of conferences, including the ASEAN-India Ministerial Meeting, the 9th East Asia Summit Foreign Ministers' Meeting, the 26th ASEAN Regional Forum and the 10th Mekong Ganga Cooperation Ministerial Meeting.

Aug 01, 2019

Fight against Centre's Move to Scrap Article 35A

Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister and People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti urged all parties to unite and fight against the Centre's reported move to scrap Article 35A in the state.
The PDP chief said that there are rumours that Article 35A can be scrapped. With regards to that, we all should unite at the moment, not only political leaders but all political workers, from National Conference, Congress or PDP should go to every household and urge everyone to collectively fight against any attempt to scrap Article 35A in J&K.
The PDP leader said that everyone should be ready to make sacrifices to defend Article 35-A.

India's Best Student City

Bengaluru was rated as the best student city in India and London the world's best based on a ranking that focuses on the number and performance of universities, employers hiring, the city's affordability, desirability and quality of life, and the diversity of student body.
London is the world's best student city for the second consecutive year, according to the sixth edition of the QS Best Student Cities Ranking compiled by global consultancy QS Quacquarelli Symonds.
The 2019 global rankings of 120 top student cities released include the following four Indian cities: Bengaluru (81st), Mumbai (85th), Delhi (113th) and Chennai (115th).

Vishweshar Hegde Elected Karnataka Assembly Speaker

Karnataka BJP MLA Vishweshwar Hegde Kageri was elected as the speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly. He had filed his nomination for the post of the Assembly Speaker on Tuesday.
Kageri, who represents the Sirsi constituency was accompanied by Chief Minister B. S. Yediyurappa and other senior party leaders during filing of nomination. The six-time MLA has also in past held the charge of Karnataka`s education minister.
He began his political career with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad and was elected to the Assembly for the first time from the Ankola constituency in 1994, which he represented thrice till 2008.

Increasing Strength of Supreme Court Judges

Against the backdrop of rising cases in the Supreme Court, the Union Cabinet approved increasing the number of judges in the top court from the present 31 to 34, including the Chief Justice of India.
At present, the sanctioned strength of the apex court is 31.
Once the bill to increase the number of judges gets parliamentary nod, the number of judges would go up to 34, including the CJI.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Act, 1956 was last amended in 2009 to increase the judges' strength from 25 to 30 (excluding the CJI).
The decision of the Cabinet came days after Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to increase the number of judges in the top court.

Muslim MLA in Assam Becomes Deputy Speaker of Assembly

Aminul Haque Laskar, the lone Muslim legislator from Bharatiya Janata Party in Assam, was elected unopposed to the post of deputy speaker of the state legislative assembly.
Besides his own party, Laskar, who represents the Sonai constituency, had the support of Asom Gana Parishad and Bodo People's Front, the two parties who are partners in the BJP-led ruling coalition in Assam.
The opposition parties including Congress and All India United Democratic Front did not name any candidate for the post which had become vacant after former deputy speaker Kripanath Mallah of the BJP won the Karimganj Lok Sabha seat.

Jul 31, 2019

Sanjay Singh quits Cong and RS

In a setback to the Congress, Sanjay Singh, Rajya Sabha member and a close associate of the Gandhi family, resigned from the party and the Upper House, saying that he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and support Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the entire country is behind the latter.

Assam Government to Release 335 Foreigners

The Assam government is set to release 335 people who have spent more than three years in detention centres after being declared foreigners.
This follows the May 10 order of the Supreme Court to conditionally release such people lodged across six central jails – also serving as detention centres – and the Centre's message on July 23 that the Foreigners' (Tribunal) Order of 1964 need not be amended to proceed.
Replying on behalf of Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal to a question in the 126-member Assembly, Assam Industries Minister Chandra Mohan Patowary said that 1,145 people declared foreigners by 100 Foreigners' Tribunals across the State were lodged in the detention centres till July 9 this year.

BJP Tells J& K Unit to Prepare for Polls

The national leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party in New Delhi told the Jammu and Kashmir core group of the party to start preparing for the Assembly election in the State.
BJP working president J.P. Nadda chaired a meeting of State unit leaders in New Delhi, along with Jitendra Singh, BJP general secretary in charge of Jammu and Kashmir and Minister of State at the Prime Minister's Office (PMO).

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