General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2015

Sep 2015

Jan 16, 2018

Govt will split AI into four parts ahead of divestment

The government will break up its debt-burdened flag carrier into four separate companies and offer to sell at least 51% in each of them as part of a disinvestment proposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The core airline business comprising Air India and Air India Express—the low-cost overseas arm will be offered as one company, and the process will be completed by the end of 2018, minister of state for civil aviation Jayant Sinha said in an interview on Monday. Its regional arm, ground handling, and engineering operations will also be sold separately in the same process.

Netanyahu hails PM Modi as a 'revolutionary leader'

The strong bonding between PM Narendra Modi and Benjamin Netanyahu was in full display as the Israeli premier called Modi a "revolutionary leader" who had transformed India-Israel ties and the PM reciprocated, promising big steps in cooperation in agriculture, science and defence.

Jan 15, 2018

Bengal joins Swachh contest under different name

After staying away from participating in the "Swachhta" ranking of cities and towns since Modi government launched the flagship mission, West Bengal has joined the competition for 2018. But the Mamata Banerjee administration has a caveat. The state has named its own programme as Mission Nirmal Bangla. Notably, the toilet construction in Bengal in rural areas is being carried out under the "Swachh Bharat Abhiyan". Bengal had participated in the cleanliness ranking in 2013-2014 during the fag end of UPA-II and Halisahar from the state had found place in the list of top 10 clean cities. The results were out in 2015.

India 30th on WEF global mfg index

The World Economic Forum (WEF) has ranked India at the 30th position on a global manufacturing index below China’s 5th place but above other BRICS peers, Brazil, Russia and South Africa. Japan has been found to have the best structure of production in the Geneva-based WEF’s first ‘Readiness for the future of production report’ and is followed by South Korea, Germany, Switzerland, China, Czech Republic, the US, Sweden, Austria and Ireland in the top 10. Among BRICS nations, Russia is ranked 35th, Brazil 41st and South Africa at 45th place. The report, which analyses development of modern industrial strategies and urges collaborative action, has categorised 100 countries into four groups leading (strong current base, high level of readiness for future), high potential, legacy (strong current base, at risk for future), or nascent (limited current base, low level of readiness for future).

Jan 14, 2018

EU adds India's chilli to high-risk category, Maha exports take big hit

Green chillies are bringing tears to the eyes of exporters in the new year. The European Union recently added India’s peppers, except capsicum, in the high-risk category for pesticide residues. Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) officials claimed that 10% pepper export consignments from India would now be randomly tested at European destinations for pesticide residues. Consequently, close to 90% of pepper export shipments from the state has stopped. Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Gujarat are major pepper exporters in the country. An APEDA official said the European Union Commission added green chillies from India in the high-risk category, effective from January 1. They will now be tested for pesticide residues at a frequency of 10%.

Jan 13, 2018

Haryana records its highest-ever sex ratio

After suffering the ignominy of having the poorest child sex ratio in the country, the Haryana government has now claimed to have logged its highest-ever sex ratio of 914 girls per 1,000 boys in 2017. The ratio was 900 girls per 1,000 boys in 2016 and even lower at 876 girls per 1,000 boys in 2015. The data released by the state government on Saturday shows out of 5,09,290 (5.09 lakh) children born in the state from January to December 2017, 2,66,064 were boys and 2,43,226 were girls. According to this, there has been an increase of 43 points.

Jan 12, 2018

India's Anti-Graft Steps, GST & More on Davos Table

Global investors will get an opportunity to ask top leaders of the Indian government about the country’s efforts to weed out corruption, make doing business easier, new tax system and much more at a special session on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum at Davos later this month. While PM Modi will try to hard sell India as an investment destination at the five-day conference at the Swiss town, his ministers and, more importantly, non-governmental organisations will pitch in to convince global businesses about why the country should be on their mind when they think of investment. The India Foundation, a think tank based in India, in collaboration with industry body Assocham and Switzerland based not for profit Indo-Swiss Centre, will hold an India-World Business Leadership Summit on the sidelines of WEF on January 23.

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