General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2015

Sep 2015

Jan 19, 2019

New Delhi appoints new envoys for Israel, South Africa, Bhutan, Maldives

In a major reshuffle of ambassadorial appointments, the Ministry of External Affairs has decided on sending new Ambassadors to Israel, Mexico, South Africa, Argentina, New Zealand and Vietnam. There will also be two significant changes in the neighbourhood coinciding with new governments being elected in Bhutan and the Maldives.
India's High Commissioner to South Africa Ruchira Khamboj is expected to be posted to Thimphu after completing the visit of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa who will be the Chief Guest for the Republic Day parade this year.

4 skip Karnataka CLP meet; Congress shifts remaining MLAs to resort

The Congress on January 18, 2019 swiftly shifted all its Karnataka MLAs to a resort on the outskirts of Bengaluru to foil any poaching bid by the BJP after four lawmakers skipped the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) in a show of defiance.
Ramesh Jarkiholi (Gokak), Mahesh Kumathalli (Athani), B Nagendra (Ballari rural) and Dr Umesh Jadhav (Chincholi) did not show up, despite the party warning all lawmakers that their absence could lead to disqualification as MLAs.
The Congress leadership decided to keep its MLAs together after hearing about the BJP allegedly making 'irresistible' offers to its MLA.

Jan 18, 2019

Congress's Income Lowest in 11 Years

The Congress party has declared Rs.199 crore of income for 2017-18, a 12% decline from the previous year and its lowest in 11 years, according to the annual audit report filed by the party with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and data compiled by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
The ECI made the audit report public. ADR data is available on its website. The Congress party's income for the year is a fifth of the Rs.1,027 crore declared by its key opponent, the ruling BJP.
The Congress party earned more income than the BJP every year between 2001-02 and 2012-13.
The Congress party's income for the year is a fifth of the Rs. 1,027 crore declared by its key opponent, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

India's First Cinema Museum

PM Narendra Modi will inaugurate the country's first National Museum of Indian Cinema (NMIC) on January 19.
This state-of the-art museum, built at a cost of over Rs 140 crore, aims to take its visitors through an absorbing journey of over a century of Indian cinema with the help of visuals, graphics, artifacts, interactive exhibits and multimedia expositions.
The museum is housed in two buildings — the five-storey New Museum Building and the 19th century Victorian Gothic bungalow Gulshan Mahal — on the Films Division campus in Mumbai.
After decades of being used as the home of a Khoja merchant, a hospital for World War II soldiers, the Jai Hind College campus and the Films Division office, Gulshan Mahal will now house quaint artifacts of India's pre-cinema history, like 'chitrapat' — an unravelling scroll of pictures — and Magic Lantern, which shows a successive projection of glass slide images creating the illusion of movement.
It will also showcase over a hundred years of Indian cinema through nine sections, ranging from the origins of Indian cinema to silent films to the studio era to the New Wave.

SC Strikes Down Ban on Dance Bars in Maharashtra

Five years after it first upheld a 2006 Bombay high court order striking down the ban on dance bars in Maharashtra, the Supreme Court set aside most of the stringent conditions imposed by the state that hampered grant of licences and led to the closure of most bars.
The Maharashtra government has since 2005 made three attempts to ban dance bars, and this is the third time the SC has intervened to
protect the interest of bar owners and bar girls. This time, the court quashed provisions to bring the bars under CCTV surveillance and to ban serving of liquor, noting the regulations were totally disproportionate, unreasonable and arbitrary. It also said separation of dancing area from the bar area by placing a non-transparent partition was not required.
The court, however, agreed with the state in allowing dance bars to operate only between 6pm-11.30pm and to ban the practice of showering notes and coins on the dancing stage.
The SC said there cannot be complete prohibition from serving alcoholic beverages, and other measures have to be adopted to check any nuisance.

Jan 17, 2019

Astronauts for Gaganyaan to be Chosen This Year

Astronauts for India's first manned mission to space are likely to be selected this year, with the air force getting ready to identify a pool of ace pilots who would undergo a battery of tests, including psychological assessments, to fly the Gaganyaan space mission.
The Indian mission has an ambitious launch date of early 2022 — before India's 75th Independence Day — that leaves a tight schedule to identify and train the first set of astroand experimental aircraft — are likely to be part of the first manned mission.
The IAF has two sets of test pilots for fixed wing planes and rotary aircraft.
The Indian mission will also have a woman astronaut who will be selected from the pool of military pilots in India.
The IAF has recently inducted women fighter pilots who could be nauts.
While other nations, including Russia, have promised support to train an Indian crew for the mission, efforts will also be made to put an Indian system into place that will be able to select personnel and train them with the creation of special facilities here.
The IAF's Institute of Aerospace Medicine will play a critical role in the selection and training of astronauts that will involve the extensive use of simulators and the human centrifuge system.

Jan 16, 2019

Telangana and Gujarat Allows EWS Quota

The entire recruitment process for government jobs in Gujarat has been suspended pending fresh notifications to accommodate the new quota category that came into existence on January 14.
Gujarat emerged as the first state to implement the 10 percent reservation for the economically weaker sections among the general category.
Telangana will become the second state, after Gujarat to implement the 10 percent quota for General Category economically weaker sections in educational institutions and jobs.
The formal go-ahead to the move is expected in the Assembly session starting on January 17.

Haryana Launches Cyber Security Portal

Haryana's Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu launched a cyber security portal and a toll free helpline number (1800-180-1234) for reporting cyber security issues.
It is the first time in the country that any state has launched such a portal.
The services were launched during the 'National Summit on Digital Innovation & Cyber Security' at Hartron Campus .
The users can log on 'haryanaismo.gov.in and know the ways for securing oneself against cyber threats. The portal has information about how to keep children safe online.

Entrepreneurship Programme

Niti Aayog's Atal Innovation Mission (AIM), in partnership with Dell and Learning Links Foundation, launched the "Nayee Dishayein, Naye Nirman" programme on the eve of the birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda to celebrate the Top six innovations of the country under the Atal Tinkering Lab (ATL) initiative.
The top innovations are in key social sectors of agritech, health care, clean energy, smart mobility, waste management, and water resources.
All 6 teams are being awarded a 10-month ATL Student Entrepreneurship Program with Dell, which will help them transform their innovative prototypes into fully functional products and Go to Market.

Jan 15, 2019

Delhi to showcase Gandhi tableau on Republic Day

This Republic Day, people will get to see Delhi's tableau at the historic Rajpath after a year's gap.
The theme of Delhi's tableau will be the days that Mahatma Gandhi spent in Delhi.The tableau will highlight Mahatma Gandhi's sojourns to Delhi, the first of which took place in 1915.
The theme is always chosen by the defence ministry, which was commemorating Gandhi's 150th birth anniversary this year. In its tableau, Delhi will showcase Gandhi Smriti, formerly known as the Birla House. It was at Gandhi Smriti that the father of the nation spent his last 144 days.
Last year, Delhi could not send a tableau to the annual parade because the state government delayed sending its proposal to the Centre.
The arts, culture and languages department of the Delhi government is responsible for sending the recommendations and invite tenders for the Republic Day tableau design and creation.
In 2017, Delhi had participated in the parade after three years.

Men-Only Peak Opens for Women Trekkers

Breaking yet another gender barrier, a woman started scaling Agasthyarkoodam, the second highest peak of Kerala, where the fair sex had been barred owing to an age-old tribal custom.
K Dhanya Sanal, armed with a recent High Court order which lifted the 'unofficial' ban on entry of women to the peak, began the arduous journey along with male trekkers through the traditional forest path from Bonacaud.
Dhanya was the only woman in the first batch of 100 trekkers who set out to scale the 1,868-metre lofty peak, known for its panoramic beauty and unique biodiversity.
Agastyarkoodam, located in the Neyyar Wildlife Sanctuary, opened for the annual trekking for the first time after the Kerala High Court ruled last November that no gender-based restrictions would be imposed on trekkers.
The local Kani tribes living on the foothills have opposed the scaling of the lofty peak by women.
The 47-day trekking programme to the peak will continue till March 1.

India Plans Mega Africa Push

India has planned mega Africa push amid growing opposition to Chinese debt trap in the Africa continent with January 19 earmarked as the Africa Day in the Vibrant Gujarat Summit.
Rwandan President and current African Union chair Paul Kagame besides Ministers from several African countries will be present on the occasion with an objective to seek wider Indian presence in their continent.
Various inter-African economic groupings representing various geographical groupings will be present on the occasion, informed persons familiar with the event.
Almost 200 African businessmen have registered for the Africa Day meet in Gandhinagar to explore Gujarat market and wider Indian market.
This is the first time that India has announced an African Day in keeping with high-level engagements with the continent since mega India-Africa summit here in 2015.

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