General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2015

Sep 2015

Jan 05, 2018

Parliament passes bills on insolvency and Nabard

The Lok Sabha approved amendments made by the Rajya Sabha in two bills- The National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Amendment) Bill, and Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (Amendment) Bill- passed by it earlier.

Minister of State for Corporate Affairs P P Chaudhary tabled the amendments which the House passed by a voice vote, giving Parliament's nod to the two crucial legislations. The amendments substitute the year 2017 with 2018 as the bills were finally passed in the new year. The NABARD bill seeks to increase its authorised capital by six times to Rs 30,000 crore and enable the transfer of Reserve Bank of India's share to the government.

The second bill replaces an ordinance which was promulgated in November to bar wilful defaulters as well as those with NPA accounts from bidding in auctions to recover bad loans through insolvency proceedings.

Bhakra Dam Adjudged the Best-Maintained

The Bhakra Dam has been adjudged the best maintained project (functional for more than 50 years) at the national level by the Central Board of Irrigation and Power (CBIP). The award was received by DK Sharma, Chairman, Bhakra Beas Management Board. Sharma was also conferred the Central Board of Irrigation and Power Special Recognition Award for Exceptional Leadership and Contribution to the Indian Water and Power Sectors by the minister.

Institutes with Top NAAC Rank Eligible for Distance Programs

Human resource development ministry officials said that the institutes and universities with top NAAC ranking will be able to offer distance education programmes and those who do not have such rankings will be given a year’s time to get the ranking. An institute might now need a rating of 3.25 from National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) to be eligible.

Jan 04, 2018

Centre Approves Zojila Project

The Centre approved the strategic Zojila tunnel project for J&K with a total capita cost of Rs. 6,808.69 crore. The tunnel will provide all-weather connectivity to the Ladakh region. The decision was taken at a meeting of Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs, which was chaired by PM Narendra Modi. The approval was given for the construction, operation and maintenance of the two-lane bidirectional Zojila tunnel with parallel escape tunnel on engineering, procurement and construction mode in Jammu and Kashmir. It excludes approaches on the Srinagar-Leh section connecting NH- 1A at 95km and at 118 km. The project once completed would prove to be “an instrument for the development of the economically backward districts” of the state.

Indian typhoid vaccine gets WHO nod

Bharat Biotech’s typhoid vaccine Typbar TCV has received the World Health Organization’s prequalification, which allows global health and humanitarian organisations such as Unicef, GAVI and PanAmerican Health Organization to procure it for public health vaccination programmes. Typbar TCV is the world’s first typhoid vaccine clinically proven for use on recipients who can be as young as six months. Though the vaccine is approved for use in India, it is not yet a part of India’s Universal Immunisation Programme.

MiG- 29K Catches Fire at Hansa Naval Base

A MiG- 29K fighter aircraft on a training sortie overshot the runaway before catching fire at the INS Hansa naval base. This is the first major mishap involving the recently inducted naval version of MiG- 29K. Due to malfunction, the aircraft could not take off and veered to the left after overshooting the runway at the other end.

Proposal for a New Industrial Package for Himachal Pradesh

The BJP- led NDA regime is proposing to come out with a new industrial package for Himachal, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and North-Eastern states, which will go a long way in helping these attracting industry with big investments. An indication to this effect has been given by the DIPP at the Centre to the Himachal Government. Under the new package, to be announced shortly, the states are likely to get capital and transport subsidies but there will be no tax concessions. The industry that is eligible for 10-year holiday under the GST will be entitled to partial refund.

Cabinet Approves AIIMS in Bilaspur

The Union Cabinet, chaired by PM Narendra Modi approved the establishment of AIIMS facility in Bilaspur. The Bilaspur All India Institute of Medical Sciences will be completed within 48 months. This is under the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana (PMSSY).

Jan 03, 2018

Trial run of the country’s tallest Air Traffic Control tower Begins

The Airports Authority of India (AAI) has started trial run of the country’s tallest Air Traffic Control (ATC) tower at the Delhi airport. The authority is hopeful of shifting operations entirely to it by October 2018. The trials will continue till April after which the 101.9 metres tall ATC tower will be operated parallelly for around six months. The operations will be shifted completely to the new tower in October.

The tower, which is among the tallest structure in Delhi, will give a 360-degree view of the airport to the controller and eventually help in on-time performance of the flight. The new tower gives controllers a view of all the three runways, aprons and taxiways. With this new tower, operational capacity of the ATC is likely to improve. The new tower will also help in handling operations at the proposed fourth runway which is expected to be commissioned in 2019.

The construction of the runway, which will take the per hour capacity of Delhi airport from 75 flights to 105, is likely to start soon.

The new tower also has a bigger working space so that a larger number of controllers can operate at the same time. The tower is adjacent to the present ATC tower and once operational, it will be tallest in the country and seventh tallest in the world.

World Class Convention Centre to Come up in Dwarka

The national capital is set to get a state-of-the-art convention centre on the lines of the ones in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Singapore for hosting exhibitions, trade fairs and summits of international standards. To be constructed in Dwarka’s Sector 25, three kilometers from the IGI airport in southwest Delhi, the two-phased project was approved by the Union cabinet in November. It is conceived as a smart, zero energy, world-class facility designed for an events like G-20 summit. It will be completed by 2025.

The contract for the first phase was awarded to Larsen & Toubro (L&T) by Delhi Mumbai Industrial Corridor Development Corporation (DMICDC) — a knowledge partner for the project — in December last year. L&T appointed CP Kukreja Architects as its engineering and architectural consultant.

Rajinder Khanna Appointed as Deputy NSA

Rajinder Khanna, a former chief of the country’s external intelligence agency, RAW, was appointed the Deputy National Security Adviser (NSA). The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet, headed by PM Narendra Modi, has approved Khanna’s appointment on a re-employment and contractual basis.

Centre Notifies Electoral Bonds

The government notified electoral bonds as a new instrument for donations to political parties in a bid to clean up election funding. The bonds will bring substantial transparency in political donations against the present system of anonymous contributions. Though called ‘bonds’, it is an interest-free instrument in the nature of a promissory note, which can be purchased for any value in the multiples of ~1,000, ~10,000, ~1 lakh, ~10 lakh and ~1 crore from specified branches of the State Bank of India. A citizen of India or a body incorporated in India will be eligible to purchase the bond. The bonds can be bought after fulfilling SBI’s KYC norms while the payment can only be made from a bank account. The bonds will not carry the name of the donor.

Electoral bonds would have a life of 15 days during which it can be used for making donation only to the political parties registered under Section 29A of The Representation of the People Act, 1951, and can be redeemed only through registered bank accounts of the political parties.

Jan 02, 2018

Taj Visitors to Be Capped at 30,000 a Day

The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is likely to limit the number of visitors allowed inside the Taj Mahal complex to 30,000 per day, besides introducing separate tickets for entry into the crypt and “zero charge” tickets for children under 15 to ensure proper head count and crowd management. The cap on visitor numbers will be put in place on the lines of railways ticket booking systems. Regardless of whether visitors buy their tickets online or offline, the sale of tickets will be stopped when the number reaches 30,000 every day.

IIMs to Award Degrees Instead of Diplomas

The Indian Institute of Management (IIMs) in the country have got more autonomy in their functioning with restricted government role in their functioning and power to award degrees instead of diplomas to their graduates. President Ramnath Kovind has given assent to the Indian Institute of Management Bill, 2017, and it has now become a law. The new law grants statutory powers to IIMs in their running, including the appointment of directors, and faculty members. The Indian Institute of Management Act, 2017, gives the IIMs powers to award degrees instead of postgraduate diplomas.

As per the provisions of the Act, the Board of Governors of each institute shall be the Principal Executive body comprising up to 19 members. The Board of Governors will appoint the director of each IIM, who will be the CEO of the institute.

Mound in Bihar Village Yields Info on 3,000-Years Old Potsherds

A mound spotted by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar at a village in Sheikhpura district has yielded potsherds, perhaps dating back to 1000 BC. Potsherds are pieces of broken ceramic pot or other earthenware that have archaeological significance. Black slip wares and black and red wares found at the site appear to be of a period around 1000 BC. Some red furnished ware found could take back to the Neolithic period.

A team of archaeologists conducted preliminary explorations at Pharpar village in Ariyari block after getting a call from Chief Secretary Anjani Kumar Singh. The village is about 120 km from the state capital. The archaeologists also found some fragmented sculptures of Buddha, Lord Vishnu and some female deities.

Gokhale Appointed as Foreign Secretary

The Appointments Committee of the Cabinet approved senior diplomat Vijay Keshav Gokhale to be appointed as the next Foreign Secretary, replacing S. Jaishankar. Gokhale, who served as ambassador to China before his current assignment of Secretary, Economic Relations, has been appointed for a fixed term of two-years.

Jan 01, 2018

Patel Takes Charge as Deputy CM of Gujarat

Gujarat deputy chief minister Nitin Patel assumed charge of office after a word with Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) president Amit Shah. Nitin Patel was apparently placated after Shah assured him of a new portfolio fit for his “stature as number two in the cabinet and as the deputy chief minister”. Within hours of this conversation with Shah,he was given the finance portfolio to go along with a few others he was allotted earlier.

Botad MLA Saurabh Patel was initially allotted the finance and energy portfolios.

Assam Gets first Citizen Register Draft

The Assam government has published the first draft of the much-awaited National Register of Citizens (NRC) which includes names of 1.9 crore people. The rest of the names were at various stages of verification. The complete NRC would be published in 2018.

Cleanliness Survey 2018 to be Conducted in January

The government will kick off the largest-ever exercise to rank cities on cleanliness parameters, covering more than 40 crore people from 4,041 cities. ‘Cleanliness Survey 2018,’- the largest in the world, will be conducted from January 4 to March 10, 2018, to evaluate achievements in cleanliness level of our urban areas. This survey will cover a population of more than 40 crore in more than four thousand cities.

Rajini Pursues “Spiritual Politics”

Accusing political parties of “looting” people, Tamil superstar Rajinikanth said he will float a new party that will pursue “Spiritual Politics” and vowed to contest the next Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. According to him, his party would not contest the upcoming local body elections but would field candidates in all the 234 Assembly constituencies in 2021.

Madhya Pradesh records highest tiger mortality

Madhya Pradesh recorded the highest tiger mortality in the country for a second successive year in 2017, with 25 out of the 95 big cat deaths reported in the country taking place in the central state. According to the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA), the maximum number of deaths — nearly 1/4th of those in the entire country— were reported in Madhya Pradesh followed by 17 in Maharashtra and 15 each in Karnataka and Uttarakhand. With eight tiger deaths, Assam was next on the list followed by UP with seven. Three deaths occurred in Tamil Nadu, two in Kerala and one each in Rajasthan, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.

In 2016 too, Madhya Pradesh had the dubious distinction of recording the highest number of tiger deaths in the country— 30 out of 97. Once known as the tiger state, Madhya Pradesh lost the tag to Karnataka in 2010 following a census conducted by the Wildlife Institute of India.

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