General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2015

Sep 2015

Jul 13, 2019

Lakshman Jhula Shut Down

The Uttarakhand government declared the Lakshman Jhula, the iconic suspension bridge across River Ganga in Rishikesh, out of bounds for pedestrians and traffic after a team of experts termed it unsafe owing to its dilapidated condition.
In its July 5, 2019 report, a private consultant company that surveyed the Lakshman Jhula and Ram Jhula, (the two bridges are a little distance from each other), had recommended that all movement across the first should be immediately stopped while the second could be restored for pedestrian use with infrastructural changes.
The Lakshman Jhula was constructed by the Uttar Pradesh public works department in 1924 and was opened to traffic in 1930.
The bridge connects the districts of Tehri Garhwal and Pauri Garhwal.

Supreme Courts Tells Speaker to Defer Decision

The Supreme Court pressed the pause button in the legal battle for power in Karnataka by asking Legislative Assembly Speaker K.R. Ramesh Kumar to refrain from deciding on the disqualification or resignation of 10 rebel Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) MLAs for the time being.
The order comes just a day after the court asked Mr. Kumar to meet the 10 MLAs and decide on their resignations forthwith or in the course of the remaining part of the day.
A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi ordered status quo and scheduled the hearing for July 16, 2019.
The bench's decision came after an hour-long hearing in which Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy said that the rebel MLAs have dragged the court into a "political thicket".

Jul 12, 2019

10 Goa Congress Dissidents Join BJP

Ten Goa lawmakers who split from the Congress formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ending the saffron party's dependence on allies and independents to run the government.
The 10 legislators, who would not attract censure under the anti-defection law because they form two-thirds of the Congress in the state, were inducted into the BJP in the presence of working president JP Nadda and Chief Minister Pramod Sawant.
As per reports, a rejig in the council of ministers would happen soon to accommodate some of the 10 MLAs. Goa currently has 12 ministers, including Sawant, and three of them are from the Goa Forward party and two are independent MLAs
With 10 Congress MLAs joining the BJP, its strength in the 40-member assembly has gone up to 27 while the Congress's has reduced to five. The BJP now does not need support of the Goa Forward or independent MLAs.

Nagaland to Frame RIIN Norms after Consultation

The Nagaland government said that guidelines for implementing a localised version of the National Register of Citizens, being updated in Assam, would be framed in consultation with civil society groups and traditional tribal bodies.
The decision follows remarks from organisations such as the Naga Hoho, the apex body of all Nagaland's tribes, that the Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland (RIIN) was premature and could have serious ramifications.
Other groups, including the Naga Students' Federation, said that the survey should be restricted to non-locals.
The RIIN exercise was launched with designated teams surveying people living in every village and urban ward to prepare a list of indigenous inhabitants who would be provided a certificate.
Nagaland's Home Commissioner R. Ramakrishnan said that the concerns and observations of different sections was a welcome development.

Six from TN Elected Unopposed to Rajya Sabha

According to K. Srinivasan, the Returning Officer and Secretary of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Secretariat, six candidates belonging to the ruling AIADMK, DMK, PMK and MDMK were elected to the Rajya Sabha unopposed.
As per Srinivasan, N. Chandrasegharan, Muhammath John (both from AIADMK), M. Shanmugam, P. Wilson (both from DMK), Anbumani Ramadoss (PMK) and Vaiko (MDMK) have been duly elected to fill the vacancies of six members of Council of States retiring on July 24, 2019.
The AIADMK has 123 MLAs in the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly, while the DMK has a strength of 101. DMK ally Congress has seven MLAs, there is one Independent member, while two seats are vacant.
The elections were held to fill up the vacancies created by the retirement of five Rajya Sabha members -- T. Rathinavel, V. Maitreyan, K.B. Arjunan, R. Lakshmanan (all AIADMK) and D. Raja (CPI) -- and the resignation of DMK''s Kanimozhi following her victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Jul 11, 2019

India Can Repeal Article 370 at Will

The government informed Parliament that no foreign government or organisation has any locus stand in repealing Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir as matters relating to the Constitution of India are internal and only for the Indian Parliament to deal with.
While responding to a question on whether repeal of Articles 370 and 35A would in any way violate any United Nations regulation or any international obligation of the country, Mr. Reddy said that Jammu and Kashmir is an integral part of India. Matters relating to the Constitution of India are internal and entirely for the Indian Parliament to deal with. No foreign government or organisation has any locus standi in the matter.
Home Minister Amit Shah had told the Lok Sabha that Article 370 was a "temporary provision."
The two provisions let the J&K legislature decide the "permanent residents" of the State, prohibits a non-J&K resident from buying property in the State and ensures job reservation for its residents.

Jul 10, 2019

Police Verification Must for Foreign Volunteers

As per the Delhi government, all foreign volunteers coming to the national capital to work with NGOs working for people with disabilities would have to get a mandatory police verification certificate from the police of the country of their origins.
The Delhi High Court disposed off a plea, which had sought the formation of rules and regulations regarding volunteers and donors in special schools and institutions, based on the government's submission.
According to a senior official of Delhi government's Social Welfare Department, the government has already included the police verification of the foreign volunteers as one of the guidelines and it would now be mandatory for these volunteers to get a police clearance certificate from the police of their country.
The government's submission comes after a series of High Court orders on a plea by a social activist Prashant Kumar, who had sought framing of rules and regulations for monitoring the entry and exit of volunteers and donors in special schools and institutions. Kumar had filed the plea in 2017, following the arrest of Murray Ward, a British citizen, for abusing children of the National Association for Blind (NAB).

CMs of all NE States to Protest

If the Centre brings the Citizenship Amendment Bill once again, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that he along with his counterparts in the northeastern states, would protest jointly.
Khandu, who heads a BJP government, informed the assembly that earlier also he had urged the Centre to exempt the tribal state from the purview of the Bill.
The contentious Bill provided for according Indian citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan after seven years of residence in India instead of 12 years, which is the norm currently, even if they do not possess any document.

First Train to be Run by Private Players

The first train, operated by private players, to be run between Lucknow and Delhi would be the Tejas Express.
The Railway Board is deliberating on a second such route, which too would be within the 500-km range.
The Railways, despite protests from its unions, is going ahead with its 100-day agenda of handing over operations of two of its trains to the private sector.
The train is currently parked at Anand Nagar Railway station and would be handed over to private players after an open-bidding process for operating it.
The custody of the trains would be transferred to the Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC), which would pay for it, including their lease charges, to the financing arm, IRFC.

West Bengal Congress Chief Offers to Resign

West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president Somen Mitra offered to resign from the post, accepting responsibility for the party's debacle in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Mr. Mitra was appointed to the post in September 2018.
He said that his appointment was given by Sri Rahul Gandhi and when Rahul is not willing to be Congress president, there is no meaning in continuing as PCC president.
Gourav Gogoi, in charge of the WBPCC, had not accepted the resignation and the he had advised Mr. Mitra to start working as PCC president with all new efforts, it stated.

MP Plans Law to Reserve Jobs

As per Chief Minister Kamal Nath, the Madhya Pradesh government would soon introduce a law to reserve 70% of jobs in the private sector for local candidates.
The move is in line with the Congress government's earlier announcement that it would provide financial incentives to private companies that reserve 70% of jobs for locals.
The CM said that the proposed law would ensure that unemployed young people in the state get adequate representation in the private sector. Changes in the Industrial Promotional Policy have already been made. Now, industries would get the incentives and other advantage for investment in MP only when they provide 70% employment to residents of MP. The MP government is now going to make a law in this regard
The BJP termed the announcement as a gimmick. Ex-CM and BJP national vice-president Shivraj Singh Chouhan noted that the Congress had also promised to provide an unemployment allowance to young people but hadn't.

Jul 09, 2019

BJP in No Hurry to Form Govt. in Karnataka

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would not rush to stake a claim to form the government in Karnataka without being sure of its numbers. It has left it to the state leaders to respond to the emerging situation.
The Congress-Janata Dal (Secular) alliance government in Karnataka was on the brink of collapse since 13 MLAs put in their papers last week. Two independent lawmakers, who were ministers in the HD Kumaraswamy government, also withdrew their support.
The effective strength of the 224-member assembly would be reduced to 211 if the resignations of the 13 lawmakers are accepted. A party or a coalition would need the support of 106 members to form the government in such a scenario. The BJP has 105. The BJP would wait for the resignations to be accepted.
The BJP would request the governor to ask Kumaraswamy to prove his majority on the floor of the House.

National Population Register

The National Population Register (NPR), which is a database of 1.3 billion Indians that would be ultimately used to issue citizenship cards, would be updated with individual Aadhaar, passport, driving license, mobile, and voter identity card numbers along with the Census 2021. This is being updated for a second time since 2015.
The Union home ministry asked the Register General of India to prepare for the exercise.
About 15 additional data points per person would be added to the 20-point database of the NPR. Disclosing Aadhaar, passport, driving license details would be voluntary and up to an individual. It is not mandatory to give this data.

India Rejects UN Report on Rights Abuse

India rejected a United Nations' report on human rights abuse in Jammu and Kashmir and lodged a strong protest against it, calling it the continuation of the earlier false and motivated narrative on the situation in the border state.
In an "Update of the Situation of Human Rights in Indian-Administered Kashmir and Pakistan-Administered Kashmir from May 2018 to April 2019", the Office of the High Commission for Human Rights (OHCHR) highlighted serious human rights violations and patterns of impunity in Indian-Administered Kashmir.
It also underlined significant human rights concerns in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.
Reacting to the 43-page report, ministry of external affairs spokesperson Raveesh Kumar said that its (the report's) assertions are in violation of India's sovereignty and territorial integrity and ignores the core issue of cross-border terrorism.

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