General Awareness

NATIONAL AFFAIRS - September 2015

Sep 2015

Jul 06, 2017

Make Laws to Appoint ECs, Instructs Supreme Court

The SC warned the Central government that it must write a law on the appointment of Election Commissioners or face an intervention by the judiciary. The apex court has been pushing the government to make the appointment of top officials in poll panels more transparent and consensual. Presently, the government appoints Election Commissioners without consulting other political parties. There is an express expectation in the Constitution to frame a law to appoint an Election Commissioner because he has to supervise elections. He should be a neutral person between political parties. Appointment has to be in transparent manner, as per a bench headed by CJI, JS Khehar. This is the latest instance of the courts and government differing over issues that the latter considers to be under the ambit of the executive and the legislature.

Tamper -detect EVMs for 2019 Elections

A new M3 electronic voting machine (EVM) that is “tamper-detect” and will stop functioning if someone tries to tinker with it, is under production and will be used in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The M3 EVM production is starting from August at Electronics Corporation of India Ltd. plants. These machines will replace the existing machines in phases. By September next year, the required number of machines will have been produced. Apart from this, by 2019, the EVMs will be attached with voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) units. Another feature of these machines is self-diagnosis. That is, it can automatically detect any fault with the software or system and will show it in the display. The third party is digital certification. The Control Unit and Ballot Unit can communicate with each other. If someone plants a Ballot unit or Control Unit from outside, the digital signature will not match and the system would stop functioning. Besides, the vehicles carrying the EVMs will be fitted with GPS to monitor their movement. As part of an awareness programme, the EC is launching about VVPATs paper trail slips in every constituency will also be counted along with the votes upto a certain percentage.

Jul 05, 2017

Vikram Limaye May Take Charge as NSE CEO and MD

Vikram Limaye may take charge as Chief Executive Officer and Managing Director of the National Stock Exchange of India on July 17. Mr. Limaye would join NSE on 17th of this month, depending on whether the Supreme Court approves his decision to step down from Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on 14 July.

Jul 04, 2017

Achal Kumar Jyoti to Take over as Chief Election Commissioner

Election Commissioner Achal Kumar Jyoti will take charge as the 21st Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, after incumbent Nasim Zaidi retires on July 6. Jyoti- a 1975 batch IAS officer, who became the Election Commissioner in May 2015, will have one of the shortest tenure as he would retire in January next year after attaining 65 years of age. Election Commissioner Om Prakash Rawat, a retired 1977 batch IAS Officer, will be the next CEC after Jyoti.

Basara Village to be the First to have its Own Water Harvesting System

Basara Village of the Samalkha block has become the first village to have its own water harvesting system. All 235 houses in the village have made soak pits to manage waste water in houses, which would recharge groundwater. The government had selected two villages in each district to start a soak pit project to manage used water in the houses under the Swachh Bharat Mission. The project had been taken up under the MNREGA and costed around Rs. 1.5 lakh.

PUDA Made Central Agency on Housing

In a move aimed at the integration of district development authorities under the Punjab Urban Planning and Development Authority (PUDA), the state government issued a notification amalgamating the functions of finance, human resources, information and technology, and public relations of all special development authorities under the overall supervision and control of PUDA. The notification has been issued under Section 40 of the Punjab Regional and Town Planning and Development Act, 199, by Additional Chief Secretary, Housing and Urban Development, Vini Mahajan. It implies that PUDA will be the central controlling authority for all existing projects of the Development Authority.

PM Begins Historic Visit to Israel

PM Narendra Modi begins his historic three-day visit to Israel, skipping Ramalah, the seat of Palestinian authority and in effect signalling a new direction in India’s relationship with Israel and Palestine.The PM will be received at the airport by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Both countries are likely to discuss the sale and production of missiles, drones and radar systems under Modi’s Make in India Project. This is the first ever visit by an Indian head of the government- PM Narendra Modi, to Jerusalem. Political and strategic affairs pundits with leanings towards the Right-of-Centre are viewing the three-day trip as a huge leap in the way India conducts its diplomatic relations what with Modi’s ability to create many firsts both at home and away.

Jul 03, 2017

‘Saraswati’ replaces ‘Indira’s Name for Rajasthan scheme for Girls

The Rajasthan Education Department removed the name of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi from a scheme for meritorious girls in secondary schools. The Indira Priyadarshini Puruskar Yojana, given to girls who score the highest in their district in classes 10 and 12 of the Rajasthan board of Secondary Education will now be called ‘Padamakshi Puruskar Yojana’. Padmakshi is another name for Saraswati, the deity of wisdom and knowledge.

Separate Agri Budget for Telangana

In a major initiative to boost the agriculture sector, the Telangana government has decided to introduce separate agriculture budget with allotment of huge funds from the next financial year. Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has asked the officials to make arrangements for presenting the separate agriculture budget and also establish 2500 agriculture clusters, each comprising 5000 acres. Each cluster will have an agriculture extension officer to guide farmers’ committees for uniting them towards achieving good crop yield.

Eurasian Winter Migratory bird Visits Basai Wetland in Gurugram

Birdwatchers spotted wood sandpiper, a Eurasian winter migratory species in the Basai wetland. The bird usually reaches the wetland by July-end or the first week of August. The arrival of the bird has raised hopes of more migratory birds from Russia, Europe, and the Middle-East countries visiting the region soon.

411th Foundation Day of Akal Takht celebrated

The 411th foundation Day of Akal Takht was celebrated with fervour in Amritsar. Devotees paid obeisance at Akal Takht and the sanctum sanctorum of the Golden Temple, besides taking dip in the holy ‘sarovar’.

SC to go partially Paperless Post Summer Vacations

Notwithstanding an announcement by Chief Justice Jagdish Khehar two months ago, the Supreme Court will go only partially paperless, after the Summer vacation. It is proposed to implement the project gradually, as it would be a new method of working for the advocates and the judges. At the first instance, only fresh matters listed in the first five courts will be accessed by the judges digitally on an interactive display device. PM Narendra Modi had inaugurated the SC’s Integrated Case Management Information System, widely expected to herald a digital revolution in the judiciary.

Jul 02, 2017

Taksal Chief Dhumma hailed as Successor to Bhindranwale

The SGPC honoured and hailed Damdami Taksal Chief Harnam Singh Dhumma as a successor to Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale, the radical Sikh preacher and leader. Dhumma, who now leads the seminary that was once headed by Bhindranwale, was addressed as Harnam Singh Bhindranwale by the SGPC Chief Kirpal Singh Badungar.

PSEB Divested of its Exclusive Right to Publish Textbooks

As the Punjab State Education Board (PSEB) has failed to print and distribute a large number of school textbooks in time this year, the state, taking an uprecedented step, has decided to get the books published from the State Council of Education and Research Training (SCERT). The PSEB has thus been divested of its exclusive right to publish textbooks for the first time since its establishment in 1969. The move, however, is in violation of the Punjab School Education Board Act, 1969. The SCERT has been asked to publish all text books meant for classes I to XII, as per oral orders of the Principal Secretary, Education. Till now, the SCERT was not given this responsibility owing to shortage of staff and other logistics.

Haryana government suspends publication of Five Magazines

Irked over numerous complaints pertaining to the publication and circulation of five magazines brought out by Haryana government, cultural affairs minister Kavita Jain has suspended their publication indefinitely. These magazines, published and distributed free of cost by the state information, public relations and languages, include Krishi Samvad (Hindi) that sparked a controversy by showing a woman in a veil in a recent edition, with a caption saying ‘ghoonghat’ is the identity of Haryana woman. The other magazines are Haryana Samvad, Haryana Review (English), Ubharda Haryana (Punjabi) and Tamir-e-Haryana (Urdu).

Top Lashkar-e-Toiba Militant Killed

Top Lashkar-e-Toiba militant Bashir Lashkari and his aide, a pakistani national were killed in an encounter in Dialgam area of Anantnag district. Bashir Ahmad Wani alias Bashir Lashkari was the master mind behind the June 16 Achabel attack. Bashir Lashkari, an “A plus plus” category militant, was a recycled militant and joined the Lashkar-e-Toiba ranks in October 2015. He carried a reward of Rs. 10 lakh and his name was also in the 12 most-wanted militant list issued recently by the Army.

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